Indian Institutes of Management today announced registration data for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2013. “While overall registration has declined, the ratio of female candidates over two years has continued to steadily increase, to 29 per cent,” said Professor Rohit Kapoor, CAT 2013 Convenor. “The rise of candidates with two or more years of work experience, registering for CAT, has risen to 16 per cent over the same span, while candidates with little to no work experience have declined to 66 per cent. It is understandable, in our current economy, that many working professionals are choosing to acquire greater work experience before diverting attention from their present employment to undertake an MBA. We now set our focus on delivering the CAT for nearly 2 lakh aspirants seeking to earn a place among this year’s available IIM seats.”
Female aspirant registrations are up from 28 per cent in 2012, and candidates with two-plus years of work experience are up from 13 per cent last year. Candidates with little to no work experience are down from 68 per cent last year. Across all IIMs, 115 seats have been added for B-School admissions this year, a total of 3,335 seats.
Other trends include Technology/Engineering backgrounds comprising 70 per cent of candidates, an increase of 6 per cent from last year, continuing a two-year increase. Economics, Management and Science make up the remaining 23 per cent, while all others make up the remaining academic backgrounds.
There is a 2 per cent rise in DA candidate registration.
By region, Maharashtra had the highest number of CAT registrations, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
“In 2012, Prometric and the IIMs delivered 191,642 CAT exams,” said Soumitra Roy, General Manager, Prometric India. “This year we can expect similar participation as seen by the registration numbers. Together with the IIM Convenor, we have tirelessly worked to ensure all test centres are prepared for this year’ CAT window. We wish all candidates the very best for CAT 2013 and encourage all test takers to prepare well and arrive for their exams one and a half hours before their scheduled appointments.”
CAT 2013 will be conducted over a period of 20 days from 16 October to 11 November 2013.