One of the questions that I am often asked and is most relevant at this point in time given that some of you might be looking at re-taking the CAT after an underwhelming CAT last year and others might be desperate to crack this year’s CAT.
- is it wise to quit my job to prepare for the CAT?
- will quitting my job have a negative impact on my profile?
- how can I prepare if I am working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week?
These are questions that many aspirants ask themselves since there is a huge premium on acquiring a degree from a prestigious college and for many, an MBA is the last big shot that they can take to get a big brand name on to their resume.
There might be other reasons as well ranging from a mind-numbingly monotonous IT job to a horrible boss, to the existential dread — what will become of me and my life if I am stuck in my current situation forever.
Also, there are many who have faced this situation this before as well when they had set their eyes for the first time on getting two more “I“s than what God brought them into the world with — the IITs.
For most of my colleagues, the answer is a simple NO. But I think under certain circumstances quitting your job might be the best option in front of you with the proviso that you quit at the right time and do more than just prep for the CAT.
If you quit, be prepared to face the music in every single interview
Before anything else please understand that if you quit, in every single interview that you face you will have to answer the question — Why did you quit your job?
This question is bound to be followed by others such as
- surely you did it just to prepare for the CAT!
- so it means you are not good at multi-tasking?
- more than half of our students have work-ex, do you mean to say that all of them had easy jobs that allowed them to put their feet up?
Forget at the interview stage, some institutes such as IIM-A ask this question in the FORM they send out to candidates they shortlist for the WAT-PI round — Do you have any breaks in your professional career? If YES, then please explain?
But you can rest assured that these questions have been successfully tackled by aspirants in the past and in IIM interviews at that.
But what is important is that you quit at the right time, plan your break to take up activities that enhance your profile and achieve things that will help you make a great pitch in the interview.
How will quitting affect your profile in terms of getting into an IIM?
First, let us look at the effect of quitting your job on your chances of getting a shortlist from a quantitative perspective.
There are colleges such as IIM-B and many others that give a weightage to work experience in the shortlisting process. In such cases, you will lose out on valuable points and will hence have to score higher on the test to get the shortlist than if you had stuck on in your job. So yes, there is a clear quantitative effect.
If you have two or more years of work-ex and the rest of your profile — X, XII, Grad Marks — is good you can on average score 0.5 – 0.75 percentile points lower than someone with no or low work-ex. But remember that this is only in the case of institutes that give a weightage to work-ex.
This quantitative effect as you will see will be negligible in the case of people with more than 30-36 months years of work experience since the points for work-ex are not directly proportional to the amount of work-ex in that they are capped after a point. To know more about IIM selection criteria you can read this post — The IIM Selection Criteria: Will I get a call from the IIMs?
The other way of looking at this question is from a qualitative perspective — in terms of how panelists will view you in the interview. Panelists more often than not feel that all MBA aspirants hate engineering and run after an MBA to make more money. So when they see candidates who have left what is on paper a promising professional opportunity, they tend to look at him/her in an unfavorable light and will expect them to justify the same.
How will quitting affect your profile in terms of the roles offered at top b-schools?
IIMs and other top-schools slot candidates into two categories for placements — regular and lateral.
Lateral placements are for people with a certain amount of work experience for roles that are above entry-level management roles. What is that certain amount of work experience?
It differs from college to college. Some base it on the absolute number of months such as 20, 22 or 24, others decide based on the average work-ex in the batch. Either way it usually falls into the 20-24 range.
Also, it is important to note that for some domains and firms having work-ex is a must-have and hence recruiters look purely at lateral candidates. What are the domains where relevant work-experience is a pre-requisite?
OPERATIONS roles, for example, most definitely go to people who have experience in shop-floor, product design, logistics, supply chain management etc. So engineers working in operations will do well to finish working for two years before entertaining thoughts of quitting.
IT CONSULTING roles for example again typically go to those with 2 plus years of experience in software.
Recruiters from new sectors such as e-commerce from firms such as Amazon also tend to look at candidates with a certain amount of work experience, usually IT or Analytics or technology.
General management firms such as Tata Administrative Services(TAS) and the Aditya Birla Group (ABG) also prefer people with work experience but they also take in freshers.
Roles in Marketing do not need work experience, with Marketing recruiters having a very strong preference for freshers or only those with very relevant work experience sales, marketing analytics, the same applies to HR as well.
For Finance your graduation discipline, the brand of the college you graduated from, and professional certifications such as CA, CFA, FRM matter way more than work experience. So if you are a Commerce Grad from a top-tier graduation college looking to build a career in Finance, work experience is not a must unless it is relevant.
For Consulting roles, the brand names on your resume matter more than anything else. It is not whether you have work-ex or not but firstly the brand value of the organization you worked with that matters more. IITian and NITian freshers with a strong academic profile stand a very high chance of getting shortlisted. Those from other colleges of national repute with stellar resumes in terms of academic and extra-curricular achievements also get shortlists.
Overall just to put things in perspective, about 30-40 percent of students in top b-schools are freshers.
How many months of work-ex makes it safe to quit?
So by now, it will be clear that quitting will not affect your chances if you do it after finishing 2 years of working, I would say around 24 months is maybe the ideal amount of work experience to have to go into an Indian b-school.
If you already have 3 years of experience and a relatively weak resume it makes sense to quit your job, prepare for CAT, and build your profile.
In what cases does quitting before 24 months make sense?
The only reason to quit before 24 months is if you are very clear that you want an industry and domain shift. So if you are an engineer from one of the core departments working in IT and you want to do an MBA to get away from not just IT services but also technology then it makes sense to quit your job before 24 months of experience.
The more work experience you accumulate in your industry the more likely you are to get roles within than industry or domain.
What is the best time to quit to prepare for CAT?
The simple answer is that if all you want to do is quit and prepare for 8 to 10 hours a day, you will not need more than 3 months. So working backward, your break should not start before 1-August.
It might seem as if I am speaking about aspirants who are already at a particular level, say 85 percentile. It might seem that if you are someone who is very out of touch with Math, you will need more time. But these arguments assume that you will have done no prep till August, which is not the case. Even if we consider these concerns legitimate since you know yourself better than I ever will, given that I know the CAT better than you ever will, your break should not start earlier than 1-June.
So at most your break will need to start 6 months before the CAT, not before that (unless there are some extenuating personal or professional circumstances).
What you should be doing if you quit before August
If after going through the post so far, you have made up your mind to start your break for CAT prep by June this year then you should do more than just prepare for the CAT. Else as discussed above, interviewers will have a great time turning you over on both sides on a red-hot grill.
In all the cases where my students have successfully made it to a top b-school despite a break of 8 to 10 months by the time they faced their interviews, the students had taken up things to improve their skills and profile.
What are the things they took up?
- Those who wanted to improve their communication & public speaking skills joined Toastmasters, cleared a few levels and got to hold a few positions of responsibility at Toastmasters.
- Those who wanted to get some diversity into their profile worked with start-ups for Teach For India or a while.
- Those who wanted to add some academic weight to their resume took up certification programs in their area of interest on Coursera.
- Those who lacked any social work-related activities on their resume took up working with an NGO
You need not limit yourself to this; you can take up anything that you have a strong interest in — learning a dance form or languages or singing or photography — as long as you invest quality time and have something to show for it.
For a more detailed insight on how you can improve your profile to align it to your chosen domain post-MBA, you should read — How to build your profile
Too much of anything, even CAT Prep can be harmful
Apart from resume building these activities also ensure that you do not become obsessed with the CAT and pile up the pressure on yourself leading to test-day.
They offer a good break from CAT Prep in terms of taking your mind off the test and also helping you peak at the right time.
Peaking at the right time is very important because if you are doing nothing but doing CAT prep for 8 or more hours a day, you will peak in about 3 months time and come test-day you will have exhausted yourself.
This is the reason why sometimes teams that do not start off well in a tournament such as World Cups manage to get their act together over a period of time and peak in the final (Australia in the 1999 Cricket World Cup) whereas teams that seem to be hot favorites crash out.
I have tried to be as extensive as possible in terms of covering all the things that you need to consider before taking a call to quit. Even so, I am sure that each one of you might have unique backgrounds and aspirations making it tough for you to take a call. Feel free to post your queries regarding quitting in the comments section and I will answer them.
The CAT Writer 
Hi Sir, by September I will have 24 months of experience in IT sector as an Associate Consultant in a MNC . Two doubts sir.
1) How much percentile should I aim for , GEM 95%(10),94%(12),86%(Btech) Exp : 18 months as of now ?
2) In context with Indian scenarios, do I need to limit my experience months ? Would there be any hurdle in the shortlisting of profile if I have around 30 months of experience when I join a business school?
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Hi Mohit,
Since you have 24 months of work-ex you need to get in excess of 98.75 percentile to get calls from a few of the IIMs, if you score above a 99 you will get calls from 2 to 4 of the old IIMs.
No work-ex of 30 months is not counterproductive. If you enter a b-school with more than 40 months of work-ex that will make your profile a bit of an outlier, otherwise it is fine.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I have 32 months of work experience in IT sector in a top MNC. I gave CAT and other exams in 2019 but couldn’t score good percentile. I have converted two tier 2 colleges though. But I am confused weather It is worth joining them. I tried hard to manage both my demanding job, traveling for more than an hour just one way and studies on weekend and in office, but it just didn’t work for me to get more than 90 percentile. I wish give a try this year too but this time by quitting my job. But by the time I would finish serving notice period, my total work experience would be 36 months as of July.
I want to ask what should I do? Join tier 2 college this year or prepare for exam again? Also, my work experience would be a hindrance when I join any B-school next year?
Thanks in advance.
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Hi Ria,
If you have a good profile, feel that you can easily score above 95 if you have the time to prepare, and are not looking forward to joining the colleges you have in hand right now, then quit your job around July or even before that, 34 months, and prep for CAt as well as build your profile.
36 months is not too much experience, the average is around 22-24 months and anything above 40 is an outlier.
Also being a female candidate, both admissions committees and recruiters will not fuss too much over the specifics of your profile.
So if you really believe that you can land in a tier 1 school, go for it.
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I am working in an MNC as a system engineer and will have a work-ex of 24 months in IT by September.
1) How much percentile should I aim for , GEM 83%(10),86%(12),78%(Btech) Exp : 18 months as of now?
2) I do not want to continue in IT. Would like to switch my domain to Marketing/General management. In that case, is it recommended that i quit my job after September?
Otherwise, I am afraid the increasing work-ex in IT might hamper my chances of getting shortlisted for companies in my preferred domains.
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Hi Animesh,
Since you have about 18 months of work-ex you need to get in excess of 98.75 percentile to get calls from a few of the IIMs, if you score above a 99 you will get calls from 2 to 4 of the old IIMs.
If you want to aim for Marketing then the more work-ex you have in an unrelated field the tougher your chances; for Gen Mgt, Ops, and Consulting, 24 months will suffice.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I am a Software Developer in a gaming company. I am working for about 8 months as a full-time employee in it. I gave 2019 CAT, amid a very tough hardcore coding line and 11-12 hours company timing, I could manage to get a percentile slightly above 91(Grad(95%),10th(95%), 12th(95%)). I primarily have interests in HR or finance. But my work ex is completely different from what these jobs require. I do not see my lifetime career as an engineer. I don’t feel a need to quit job along with studies as now I am well settled in the company and find myself able to manage time but my big question is, should I switch my job in some other field as more experience in such a field will hamper my dream as a future HR or a finance corporate because as per you, HR is primarily preferred to be a fresher or experience in that field and if I opt finance also, this should be from some well-known college of graduation(mine is Jaypee Institute of Information Tech, Noida) or I should possess some professional certifications?
Thanks In advance.
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Hi Nupur,
You have a good academic profile, diverse work-ex, and a 91-percentile while managing with hectic work-day is quite commendable.
The catch for you I feel is that you seem to have no idea as to what your core skills are since Finance and HR are as different as chalk and cheese.
You have to decide on one or the other, are you more interested in designing the people strategy of a firm or are more interested in managing or multiplying money?
Will you love creating large, happy workplaces or will you like being a part of small teams acquiring and selling firms?
You have to ask yourself these questions, you can get into HR with your work-ex since relevant HR work-ex is hard to come by.
If you choose Finance then clearing a CFA L-1 before your interviews or even before you start your MBA will be the best thing you can do.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir!
I am a Chemical Engineer who’ll complete one year in June, 2020 in a startup as Graduate Engineer Trainee (rotational roles, will have 3-4 months of Sales/ Business Development experience by June). I wish to have a career in Finance. I don’t have any relevant experience/ certifications in Finance. Do you think quitting my job in June to prepare for CAT and build a profile in Finance makes sense? I dont have a great profile – X (90.5%), XII (69.23%), BE (68.68%), not working in a popular organisation.
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Hi Saloni,
If you want to build a career in Finance then there are two paths — one marketing/business side roles in the BFSI (banking and financial services) sector and the other core Finance roles such as Corporate Finance, Investment Banking etc. For the former, you need not need any major professional certifications, a specialization in Finance would do, but for the latter, you would need some solid certification like a CFA or an FRM.
With the CAT in November, I do not think it will be possible for you to take the CFA in December, the earliest you can take it next June. So unless you cannot work and prep for CAT, do not quit, you can continue working.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I have 33months of work experience in the core Sales & Marketing field. I am from an electrical engineering background.
1) How much percentile should I aim for, 75.75(10),70.80(12),80%(Btech)? (Female-NC OBC)
2)Can I quit my job in August to boost my CAT preparation?
Please help me out.
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Hi Susmita,
Since you already have more than 2 years of experience you can easily quit your job to prep for CAT.
Given your academic profile, you should score above 96 percentile to get calls from the old IIMs, you will get calls from the old and baby IIMs at above a90 percentile.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Thank you so much for the valuable reply Sir.
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Hello Sir, by July 2020 I will have 48 months of experience in Real Estate Company as a Mechanical Engineer. I gave CAT and other exams in 2019 but couldn’t score good percentile. I tried hard to manage both my demanding job, traveling for more than an hour just one way and studies on sundays and in office, but it just didn’t work for me to get more than 70 percentiles. This year I am planning to quit my job in June & will prepare for full time for CAT & other entrance exam.
1) How much percentile should I aim for, (Open Category)10th (89.82%) Diploma (87%) & B. Tech (84%) Exp: 44 months as of now?
Kindly suggest what should I do? Also, my work experience would be a hindrance when I join any B-school next year?
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Hi Saba,
At 48 months your experience will be slightly on the higher side for a 2-year program. This will mean that the number of roles that you will be eligible for will be fewer than those open to candidates with 3 or fewer years of work-ex. It is not that you are not eligible, you can always apply but all recruiters might not shortlist. If you are a female candidate then things will be easier for you since recruiters are more generous given the diversity requirements.
So you can quit by July or earlier there are no extra points you will gain for finishing 4 years.
As far the percentile requirements go, you will need in excess of 98.5 to get a few calls from the old IIMs and above 96 for calls from the new and baby IIMs.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
Currently I am working in MNC as a software developer,next month I will complete my 1 year in the company.But being from mechanical background its very difficult for me to manage here so I am thinking to change my domain and take release from my current project but it seems my manager is not willing to release me and also I don’t enjoy doing coding.So I am unable to prepare for CAT and I want to crack CAT this year and change my domain .Should I quit my job to prepare?
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Hi Sanket,
If you want to change your domain then you can quit but as discussed in the post, you should take up enough profile-building activities.
All the best!
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Hi,
I am a Chartered Accountant by professional, will be completing 3 years of Work Experience in Sep 2020. 10th (91.45%), 12th (86.83%) and TY B. Com (72% from IDOL – correspondence). I am teaching in an NGO since last 6 months. I am planning to appear for CAT 2020. Can you please help me with which B Schools I should be targeting and what would be requisite percentile to get a call from them.
Also will it make more sense to appear for GRE/ GMAT with 3 years of experience.
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Hi Azhar,
I think given that you are a CA with 3 years of experience you stand a good chance of getting a call from the IIMs if you score above a 98.5 percentile.
You should target schools that maximise your chances of landing a good job in Finance or General Management, the two areas that are aligned to your profile, more so the former. So an NMIMS-Mumbai will easily get you access to good Finance jobs given the location and your professional degree.
I do not think the GMAT or GRE are options for 3 years is not that high a work-ex; the CA-MBA combo is quite sought after profile and should not have any difficulty getting placed.
Also, the options through GMAT and GRE in India are quite limited.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I want to ask you one thing, may be not related to the above post. In CAT 2019 , I scored relatively good percentiles in Quant and LR/DI but due to verbal section(in which I got 62.4 percentile),my overall percentile dropped. I want to ask you that I have not purchased any test series yet for CAT 2020 and even I did not prepare last time for English as I was not aware from where should I practice and prepare myself. Everyone told me to read The Hindu and articles from various sources which I read also but not on regular basis , but I did not practice RC and verbal questions except for SIMCATS which I gave for CAT 2019. So , can you please guide me regarding this, which material or place will be good to practice for English section as I want to give this attempt very seriously?.
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Hi,
Pardon my bluntness but It is shocking that someone with a good percentile in DI-LR and QA will leave their VA-RC preparation just to solving SimCATs which would mean that you will have solved less than 100 passages if you solved all the passages of all the 16 SimCATs. And reading editorials does not really substitute for actual RC practice (it is something to be done in addition).
So, if you want to again spend money only on tests then you can try to find the soft copies of the GMAT OG and Verbal Review and practice from them.
If you are willing to spend more then buy a higher-priced variant of the IMS Test Series that gives you access to more practice material — https://www.imsindia.com/CAT/e-testseries-plus.html
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I graduated in 2016 in Electrical and Electronics engineering, worked for two years and left my job in September 2018 to prepare for CAT.I got 95 percentile in 2019 CAT but couldn’t convert any good college.I am planning to join the job again as soon as the corona thing is over as the gap would increase. My concern is Shall I give one more shot at CAT or try GMAT , my concern being my age which is 26 right now and my 59% in graduation , will that be a problem in final placements in IIMs if I convert next year?
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Hi Sir, by August,2020. I will have 24 months of experience in IT sector as a Programmer Analyst in a MNC . Two doubts sir.
1) How much percentile should I aim for this year, CAT2019 – 90 PERCENTILE, GEM 95%(10),79.5%(12),68%(B.E.) Exp : 19 months as of now ?
2) I wish to quit my job mid-september and focus on CAT,will that be preferrable for me or should i continue the job and CAT both at the same time?
3) I wish to crack CAT2020 and make this attempt my last one for CAT.
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Hi Nikhil,
For the old IIMs, you will need above 98.75 to get calls from a few IIMs, and above 99.5 to get a call from all of them. For other schools as SPJIMR, NITIE, MDI etc, you will need a percentile above 97.
The entire post was devoted to the second doubt! You can quit after 24 months that should not be a problem; hopefully, you have read the whole post.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I graduated in 2016 in Electrical and Electronics engineering, worked for two years and left my job in September 2018 to prepare for CAT.I got 95 percentile in 2019 CAT but couldn’t convert any good college.I am planning to join the job again as soon as the corona thing is over as the gap would increase. My concern is Shall I give one more shot at CAT or try GMAT , my concern being my age which is 26 right now and my 59% in graduation , will that be a problem in final placements in IIMs if I convert next year?
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Hi Yogesh,
I have to admit that age and graduation will be a problem in terms of getting into IIMs unless you crack a very good percentile.
During final placements, your profile will be a bit of an outlier profile, so you will not have a shot at all the firms that visit campus. But if you get an admit getting a job on campus will not be that tough.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I graduated in 2016 with engineering degree, worked for two years and left my job in September 2018 to prepare for CAT.I got 95 percentile in 2019 CAT but couldn’t convert any good college.I am planning to join the job again as soon as the corona thing is over as the gap would increase. My concern is Shall I give one more shot at CAT or try GMAT , my concern being my age which is 26 right now and my 59% in graduation , will that be a problem in final placements in IIMs if I convert next year?
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Hello Sir,
I graduated in 2017 and working as Customer service associate in Amazon since then. By May 2020, I’ll be completing 36 months of workex.
[10th-83.5%, 12th-90.4%, Grad(B.Tech)-64.4%]
I’m planning to quit job. Please suggest when is the best time to quit if it is good to quit. And also what percentile do I need to score to get into IIMs and top b-schools considering I’m NC-OBC?
Thanks!
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Hi Prithvi,
You can quit anytime since you have crossed 34 months, the max limit for IIM-B, which has the maximum weightage for work-ex.
You need to score above 97 to get calls from the old IIMs, if you score above 92 you will get calls from the new and baby IIMs.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I have a 42-month work-ex in supply chain management from a reputed company, contrary to the post I am not willing to leave my job and would want to continue the CAT 20 prep along with the Job for my own reasons. By the time the exams get over I will be having more than 50 months work-ex. Would that be a negative point in the interviews as well as after joining the college?
PS: 1) Profile (X/XII/Grad (Mech Eng))- 82/76/78; CAT 2019 76%; XAT 81%
2) CAT 20 will be my Third and Final Attempt.
3) Not planning to write GMAT or pursue an executive MBA.
Thanks!
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Hi Siddarth,
Firstly, the post does not encourage quitting, it is intended to give people an idea about the things to consider if they want to quit in order to prepare better for CAT.
To answer your question, yes having 50 months of work-ex will make your profile an outlier in the batch, since about 30-40% are freshers and the average work-ex is usually around 24 months.
So, this means that while can apply to a good number of firms especially Gen. Mgt or those looking for Ops profiles, a lot of roles will also be out of reach, say Marketing and Finance roles.
It is not about interviews but a shortlist in the first place since firms visit 2-year programs for roles that need around 0-3 of work-ex, whereas they visit 1-year programs for those with 4 or more years of work-ex.
So as I mentioned above, the number of jobs that you will get shortlisted for out of the total number of jobs on campus will not be high, placements will not be as easy but there have been enough people with your amount of work-ex who have managed to get good jobs.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I am currently working with an automotive MNC, with a decent repute and have a work-ex of 33 months, GEM (Engineering), 10th(96), 12th(71), & Undergrad(77). I would be interested in strategy roles after pursuing my Master’s. With my grades, and work-ex is it best to go for an MBA? If yes, will I be able to atleast get a call from some of the good colleges?
Or is it best to pursue it from a college outside India?
I’m in quite a fix now. Please suggest the best strategy that I can adopt.
Thank you!
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Hi Pranav,
If you want to take up leadership roles on the business side then you need to an MBA, if you want to take up similar roles in the R&D side you need to do an MS. So hope that clarifies your query about whether to do an MBA or not. A student of mine with 4 years of experience in Leyland in bus body design got a Sales Head role in the same firm after his 1-year program from ISB.
Apart from your XII marks, your profile is decent and you should be able to get a call from the top 30 colleges if your score above a 98.5 percentile. MAke sure you take not just the CAT but other exams such as the XAT, IIFT, NMAT and SNAP as well and apply to a good set of colleges apart from the IIMs such as SPJIMR, MDI, IIFT, NITIE, IIT-B, NMIMS, and SIBM.
As of now going abroad is not a great idea given the whole COVID situation, our economy might be affected lesser and recover sooner than the ones abroad.
All the best!
Hope this
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Hello sir
I am currently working in OYO Rooms as an Area Supply Manager From the past 11 months and prior to that, I am a 2019 B.Tech graduate from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT, Vellore) with a CGPA of 7.55, XII( 85%), X(92%). Will it be advisable for me to enroll myself in an MBA degree in 2021 and if so what will be the percentile required according to my profile. Also, would you advise me to continue with my job considering the current economic scenario
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Hi Pratyush,
Since you have work-ex that is not run-off-the-mill I would suggest continuing and accumulating the 22 months of work-ex.
As far as taking the CAT goes, give it a serious shot this year so that you can get into an IIM with the right amount of work-ex not more not less.
You would need in excess of 99 to get a couple of calls from the old IIMs and above 99.5 for all.
Also, do not forget to take XAT, IIFT, NMAT, and SNAP as well and apply to FMS, MDI, IIT-B, NITIE, and SPJIMR as well.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I’m from Commerce background. Got 93.60% in 10th and 93.07% in 12th. After completing my schooling, I started pursuing CA along with B.Com. I have cleared CA Intermediate and completed 3 years CA Internship & also completed my graduation [with 6.58 CGPA].
Currently I’m working as an InterCA in the Taxation/ Finance department of a Pvt Ltd Company based in Real Estate Sector since 15 months.
So my question is What should I do about my job? When should be the correct time for leaving my job? Is is worth collecting the work experience if the cost is the uncertainty of my CAT results?
Apart from that, would also like to know your opinion regarding which colleges I should target & approx. how much percentile I should aim if Finance as my core target? [Though IIMs are preferable but certainly not limited to IIMs only]
Thanks in advance.
Have a nice day:)
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Hi Bhaumik,
Since you are a Commerce grad with a CA background you already have the requisite credentials to get a job in Finance so the work-ex is just to get whatever marks are awarded for it you can quit whenever you feel you cannot do justice to your prep and as I wrote in the post there is no point quitting before the end of June.
As far non-CAT options go, ensure that you apply to IIFT and NMIMS-Mumbai along with CAT and XAT since both of them offer decent Finance options. You can also apply to MDI and SPJIMR.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I’m currently working in MNC and will be completing 24 months in June and have planned to resign in July to prepare for CAT. I’ve been working in business analytics and have scored 93 , 88 and 74 respectively in 10 th , 12th and grad. I wish to go in consulting. What can I do to improve my profile and which colleges are best to join for consulting? Do I have a shot at IIMs and other top tier colleges? Also what kind of additional course or experience would add to my profile?
Thank you,
Shivani
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Hi Shivani,
You have a decent profile. Consulting roles are offered only in the top 15-20 schools, so the higher the rank of the school you get into the better.
If you score about 98.5 you will get a call from a few of the IIMs at least. If you cross 99 you will get a call from a few of the old IIMs.
You can take up certification programs on Coursera to add to your profile. Since your grad marks are below 80, you should take up the CFA at some point (after the CAT) if you want to get into the tier 1 consulting firms.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I am.working in a MNC in business analytics and in june I will be completing 24 months. I’ve resigned to prepare for CAT and other exams and July 5th is my last working date. I’ve scored 93,87,74 in 10th,12th and grad respectively. I wish to get into consulting . Which colleges are best for consulting ? What should I do to add to my profile and does it matter which institution I graduated from?
Thank you,
Shivani
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Hello Sir, I am Chartered Accountant By profession i am working with CA firm and my work ex is of 12 months as present.
10th(81.64%), 12(82.15%), B.com(6.15 CGPA). As going through above post you have Work ex given 24 Months . then what to be done by me.
One more not related to the above post but will my B.com CGPA is big hurdle for me ?
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Hi Pankaj,
I think you did not read the post carefully. 24 months is not a mandatory work-ex requirement at the IIMs. For lateral placements, some firms and some IIMs have a 22-2 month CAP. For IT and Operations roles having 2-year work-ex is preferable.
Since you are a CA and will be looking at Fin roles, the CA degree matters more than anything else. CA-MBAs are the most sought-after profiles on a b-school campus. You B.Com CGPA should not be that big a hurdle since the educational diversity and professional degree will compensate for that.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
Need your advice, Please, please help.
I’m one of your almost- regular follower although I don’t usually comment. I’ve been following your articles and your webinars since last year around July as and when you post.
I will try to be succinct.
Sir, just fir reference, my dob is 1997 n completed my btech in 2018 from State University in UP (Not a a very reputed college on natonal level but has quite a name in UP). Worked in Zomato in Logistics for 10 months and then left around may for cat 2019. And what you mentioned was exactly what i went through. Just when everyone around ( my fellow Ims buddy’s) were being aggressive I somehow detached solely as Simcats score were going down. And by mid of September i completely left and thought to play it by ear on D-Day. As expected, I ruined my Cat. But by October i also began to think of what could be my back up plan. So i also applied for bank exams. There were plethora of forms back then by the end of year. Cleared pre but couldn’t clear mains cause of GK but there’s a exam called bank clerk, result is pending- but I’m 110% sure of clearing it now after given 2 bank exams and will join it so as to have a work ex n also to engage myself into something.
Now, 10 months of work -ex in Zomato n 8-9 months work ex in govt. bank. With totally mundane profile – 7.0 cgpa(10), 67.4(12), 65(btech). But a weird combo of govt+ private job.
Sir please guide on what should i do. Should i completely shed my cat aim and focus ahead in govt sector? Age is also the factor. Already m 23 this year, by next year I’ll be 24. Please suggest sir.
Thanks a ton in advance.
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Hi Amit,
Let us start by acknowledging the real and separating the real from the imaginary problems.
1. Age is not a problem, I do not know what train you have to catch that you will miss because you will be 24 next year! If it is generally a social thing then you need to stop thinking about it as a problem.
2. Your marks are a problem but not one that will deny you a chance at a good MBA degree.
Instead of looking at it as a CAT or nothing story, look at the whole thing as a CAT, IIFT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP story. If you crack the best colleges through any of these tests you will have a good career without a doubt.
So stop saying CAT, say MBA from a good college and a career in management and give it your best shot this year.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
My Profile is 87/54/71 – I Faltered Badly in 12th
I am a GEM and After Graduating in 2017 – Studied For Civil Services and Did Not Take up a Job. Couldnt Clear in 2018,2019 – But in 2018 Aug i Started Working in Siyaram as a Management Trainee (Sales and Marketing) as i always Had a Backup of MBA in Marketing [I Have 18 Months of Work Ex) and Left My Job in March 2020 [as they were promoting me with a Contract to work for another 2 Yrs]
Then The Novel COVID 19 Happened and Looking for a Job now would be a Little Strenuous.
I Will Give CAT 2020
Do I Stand a Chance To Get Calls From the Baby IIM ? If Yes, at What Percentile? Also Can You Guide Me whether I Should Take a Job or Give CAT Solely. Pls Guide
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Hi Akash,
Your marks are a problem but not one that will deny you a chance at a good MBA degree.
Instead of looking at it as a CAT or nothing story, look at the whole thing as a CAT, IIFT, XAT, NMAT, SNAP story. If you crack the best colleges through any of these tests you will have a good career without a doubt.
Whether you need to quit or not depends on where you stand right now with respect to your skill-level wrt CAT.
Take a call based on the first SimCAT. If you score above 85 then I feel you can definitely work and prep.
If you score below 80 then it is not necessary that you do not take up a job.
The job market is not going to open up until June so you can use that time and the current time to prep full-time.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I am currently studying TYBSc Comp Sci , i got placed in Infosys. My 10th % is 84, 12th % 68.
I am confused whether i should join the job or continue with my CAT studies.
And one more question whether to do MBA in Finance Or IT as i am a comp sci student , which will be best for me. Need your Guidance.
Thankyou.
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Hi Bhagyashree,
It completely depends on what your level is wrt CAT. Otherwise, there will be standard for every fresher.
You need not decide on your right now since the joining date of everyone will be postponed or it will be a work from home both of which should give you time to prepare.
Use this time to prep as well as possible for the CAT and after a few SimCATs if you feel that you need more time then take a call.
As far as the specialization goes it not about what is good for you, it is about what you will be good at and are interested in.
For that, you need to learn more about each of the specializations.
You need not take a call on this right now, read this post first — https://thecatwriter.com/2017/04/22/preparing-for-an-mba-and-not-just-the-cat/
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
My profile is GEM, 78%(10th), 78%(12th),60%(btech) and i have a work experience of 28 months now in marketing domain. Preparing for CAT 2020 now. So by the time i get any interview call my work-ex would be around 38 months. Please guide should i quit my job, if I should then what would be the ideal time to keep it safe. Also what percentile would be required to receive a call from any baby IIMs if possible.
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Hi Kuldeep,
You have enough and more work-ex in Sales and Mark, so more work-ex will neither benefit or hurt in terms of Marketing placements.
If you feel that you need to put in a lot of effort to prep and therefore quit the job you can go ahead at any point since you are past 24 months.
Since anyway it is a WFH time, continue till the lockdown continues and then quit.
For Marketing there are many good colleges apart from the IIMs, so apply to and take the other tests as well.
Get the percentile you can, you would need in excess of 95 percentile.
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I am very thankful for your guidance towards job and work ex. Currently I am working in manufacturing company with 16 months of experience. I wants to do a MBA for better salary and secure future. But in my 12 th I got 55% percents due to which I had faced many problems in my placements while UG. So in MBA also will I face similar problems?? Do they ask for specific criteria for academic records
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Hi Shubham,
Your XII marks are low and it is understandable that it had an impact on your UG admissions.
With respect to admission into MBA schools, you will lose whatever points they will award for XII Marks but that can be made up by higher exam scores.
As far MBA placements go, you will get a dece3nt break for sure if you get into a good school. All firms do not have fixed cutoffs academic profile, barring a few premier consulting firms that look for stellar academics as the first step.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
1) I will get 24 months of experience by this July, Shall i quit my job now or later ?
2) My academics are like Grad(88%), 12th(96%), 10th(9.7 GPA), what is the percentile i should get to get a call from IIM’s ?
3) Currently working in MNC in services management role will my role gives weightage in resume for MBA ?
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Hi Ravi,
As I said there is no point in quitting to prepare unless you are really weak and need a lot of prep. It is not as if once you have 24 months everyone should quit. Do it only if you are not able devote the time you need at your ability level.
You would need a percentile in excess of 98.75 for a couple calls from the old IIMs and above 99.30 for more. For new and baby IIMs, 97 will suffice.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
1) I will get 24 months of experience by this July, Shall i quit my job now or later ?
2) My academics are like Grad(88%), 12th(96%), 10th(9.7 GPA), to expect a call from IIM’s what is the percentile that i should get ?
3) I am working in MNC Company and my role in it is Service Management, will this role adds weightage in my resume ?
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Hi Sir,
I have 10 months of work experience in an Audit firm. Should I quit my job and prepare for cat ?
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Hi Sir,
I’m a non-math undergrad with 12 months of work experience in Finance as of now. I’m planning to quit in a couple of months to prepare for CAT since this is my first attempt. Do you think this is advisable since I’m looking for a domain change to HR?
Also, what is the minimum percentile I might require considering my previous marks have been – 9.3 CGPA(UG) ; 96.4%(12th) ; 9.8 CGPA(10th) [I’m looking at colleges apart from IIMs as well]
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Hi Sir,
I am going to repeat CAT this year. In CAT 2019 I scored 84.10 and converted TAPMI and Great lakes PGPM. But given the current economic scenario, I decided to repeat CAT and get a higher percentile if possible. I have already started my preparation and targeting 98+ this year.
I have a very avg profile 80/70/70 in 10th/12th/Grad. I will be having 36 months of experience by Nobvember 2020. If I quit around August with two months of notice period, I will be able to keep my work ex below 36 months. But if I quit after the CAT scores are out, I will have 39-40 months of experience. My question to you is, will it be an advantage if I can keep the work ex below 36months?
And what disadavantage will I have if I quit after 39-40 months of experience?
Thanks in advance.
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Hi Mayukh,
Firstly, any work-ex above 2 years in a domain makes a domain shift almost impossible, barring the few General Management Roles.
So if you want to continue in your domain there is absolutely no problem at all in getting more than 3 years of work-ex. Say you are working in IT you will get great business-side roles in IT.
Marketing and Finance take either freshers or those with a relevant academic background or professional certifications.
Operations and IT roles go to people with relevant domain experience.
Consulting and Gen. Mgt. roles go to people with a stellar profile.
If you want to switch your domain it will be next to impossible.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Yes I work in the IT. And I want to continue working in IT after MBA too. I will be taking up Operations.
I will like to join an IT company or e-commerce post MBA.
Thanks a lot Sir.
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Then it should not be an issue Mayukh, all the best!
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Hi Sir,
This month I have completed 24 months in the IT sector I took CAT2019 but got calls from only IIM Rohtak because of low weightage: I am worried should I start to prepare again and by when i want to score 98+ so that i can get few old iim calls.
Profile:
10th-81.70
12th-75.20
Grad(Mechanical):79.40
Please guide at what time i should start preparing and keeping in mind support job sometimes i have to work continous 12hrs so please guide me when i can quit and let me know if not quitting how to start my prep .
Thanks,
Ajay
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Hi Ajay,
If you feel you cannot prep and work at the same time then you can go ahead and quit. But you will be the best person to assess how many months of uninterrupted time you will need to make the percentile jump, during my prep I needed one month, you will need to figure out on your own when you need to pull the plug on your job.
I will do a post on how to prepare for a CAT retake soon.
All the best!
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Hi Tony,
I have graduated as mechanical engineer, working in IT firm as system engineer with work ex of 24 months. I got 81%(10th) , 75%(12th) and 66%(b.tech). I have few doubts:
1.can my 24 months work ex neutralise my low academic percentage.?
2. I want to take marketing , but have work ex in IT and graduation in mechanical. Should I aim for marketing stream ?
3. Will IT/operations be better option for me placement wise, looking at my work ex domain.
Thank you in advance .
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Hi Chinmaya,
Schools allot marks for X, XII, Grad, WE, Ed Div, Gender Div. So no or low marks in one need not necessarily compensate for the other. It just boils down to this — you get an overall score for your profile and CAT Score — if the total is good enough then you get the call.
You can aim for Marketing jobs on campus but whether you will crack that or not depends on how you build your profile for that since as of now it is aligned to IT, you will get roles in IT — Business Development, Pre-Sales etc. — very easily. Thus for the b-school interview, you should say IT, what you aim for after you reach campus is upto you!
Hope this clarifies,
All the best
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Hello,
I have a work ex of 16 months in the media and entertainment industry as a Marketing professional. I was planning to quit in June and start full-time studying July onwards. The reason why I want to go ahead and quit is that I want a shift to the brand side (in marketing) which is only possible if I get an MBA from a top tier institute. I understand I don’t have a 24 Months Work Ex, but currently, my schedule is so hectic I can’t find time to study even on weekends. Do you think I should go ahead and quit my job?
My profile is
10th – 96%
12th – 94%
Graduation(BMS)- 83%
And if I quit my job, what should I be doing to build my profile further more?
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Hi Manali,
Your assessment is fairly spot on and it makes sense to quit and start prepping since there is no point working on th4 agency side for longer if you want to get into the brand side.
Since you are a female candidate and you have Marketing experience (both in a minority on campus, the latter much more than the former) the 24 months for lateral placements won’t be necessary for you; you will get great placement.
So go ahead quit and ensure you get into a top 30 school, ensure that you take the CAT, XAT, IIFT, SNAP, and NMAT. The top colleges through these tests all off almost the same Marketing roles (the difference between say an IIM-A and an IIFT or NMIMS will be in the Consulting & Fin roles offered and not the Marketing roles).
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I’m a non-math undergrad with 12 months of work experience in Finance as of now. I’m planning to quit in a couple of months to prepare for CAT since this is my first attempt. Do you think this is advisable since I’m looking for a domain change to HR?
Also, what is the minimum percentile I might require considering my previous marks have been – 9.3 CGPA(UG) ; 96.4%(12th) ; 9.8 CGPA(10th) [I’m looking at colleges apart from IIMs as well]
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Hi Akshaya,
If you are interested in HR, the IIMs are the last colleges you should join since HR is a specialised course with a completely different curriculum in the second year, unlike those offered in the IIMs, which is why recruiters looking to hire for HR roles do not really visit the IIMs.
So you should be taking the CAT (for MDI-HR), XAT (XL and XIM-B), SNAP (SIBM & SCMHRD), and NMAT (NMIMS-HR) and TISSNET (TISS).
For MDI you will need around 96-97 percentile, for the others since the number of takers are lower a slightly higher percentile.
Quitting by June to prepare is not a bad idea if you want to join a b-school next year and not have to take another attempt.
All the best!
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Would that be considered a gap year if I quit by June? If yes, what options can I pursue to cover my gap?
Regards,
Akshaya
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It will be considered a gap year. It is not about covering your gap as much as taking up courses and certifications that will be useful for your MBA. This post should help — https://thecatwriter.com/2020/03/02/how-to-build-your-profile-for-an-mba-3/
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I am a Mechanical Engineer with 15 months of work ex (left job in Ocober,2019) from an EPC company. I gave the various MBA admission exams and have not done well and secured OA: 88.95 percentile in CAT and 92+ in SNAP and XAT. Due to my scores got average college. But my query is should I take an year drop to reappear for the exam. I tried to get another job but due to current scenario this seems quite difficult. Please advice .
My Profile:
General, Male
X- 90%
XII-93.33%
B.Tech- 8.75 C.G.P.A.( 80%)
Work Ex-15 months(left job in October,19)
Interest Domain: Operations
Got Calls: SIOM,Nashik
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Hi Abhishek,
You can take a drop year but you should know that the gap will make itself manifest in the interviews. So if you want to take another shot then you have to take up certifications and other things to make your profile impressive it should not come across that all you have done since Oct 2019 is sit around and prepare for CAT.
Also, do read this post as well — https://thecatwriter.com/2020/02/17/to-re-take-or-not-to-re-take-the-cat-3/
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I am a EXTC engineer working as software developer in a MNC for past 18 months. I am doubtful whether I should quit my job for preparation. Also I am interested in Marketing domain but my work experience is not valid for it. Kindly suggest if I should quit my job or try for another job in line with Marketing and what score would I have to get to get admission in IIMs.
My Profile
General, Female
Grad – 81.78%
12th – 90.61%
10th – 95.64%
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Hi Pratichee,
The only reason you have to quit your job is if you are unable to prepare for MBA and are desperate to get in this year.
If you are interested in Marketing and can work and prepare for the CAT then sure a relevant job will come in handy. In terms of campus placements, women have it easier and you will be able to get into Marketing roles despite your work-ex.
As far as CAT percentile goes, you will get calls from one of the old IIMs if you score above a 98 percentile and almost all barring a couple if you cross 99.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I prepared sincerely for CAT’19 along with my job and secured 97.92 percentile but did not have great calls or any good converts. (Still waiting for MDI & IITB results). My Profile is GEM, X-93%,XII-92%, Grad-89%. I have work ex of 23 months till date in Sales & Marketing. I have an inclination towards Finance but do not have any certifications or background. Should I leave my job to prepare for CAT’20 and developing profile as I don’t see any perks in continuing with domain which I don’t intend to go ahead with. Can I look forward to CFA L1 in Dec’20 along with CAT’20? What other options can I pursue to make my profile stronger for Finance? Also should I opt for IITB if I convert this year? (Looking forward to opt for MDI if I convert). Kindly help.
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Hi Meet,
Firstly, be sure that you want to opt out of a career in Sales & Marketing since an MBA from MDI is a great beginning for that. Make sure that you are not basing your decision on the basis of your current experience. If you do not want Marketing as a whole then your choice is right.
Even if you got into the best schools for Finance without a CA or CFA you will only get S&M roles in the Financial services sector.
So instead of taking another shot and a CFA, you will be better for doing your MBA specialising in Finance, finishing your CFA, L1 and L2, by the time you graduate.
This means that by the time you graduate you are ready to embark on a career in Finance.
If you take another shot in addition to the CFA you have another big variable the CAT and that monster called pressure.
IIT-B is a good school, even if you feel the slightest hesitation about another attempt, join.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I am working as a Fashion Buyer for Shoppers Stop Ltd. (since June, 2019). I completed my undergrad from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), Mumbai (2015-19). I had scored 97.2% in 10th (ICSE) and 95.25% in 12th (ISC: Science + Computers). By May, 2021 I will have 24 months of work ex. What would be a safe score to get calls from the top IIMs and other top B-schools? I belong to the General Category. Female.
Kindly advise. Thanks in advance.
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Hi Aanchal,
Given the education diversity factor you can get into IIM-A if you score above 85 percentile.
I have had a student with exactly your background make it to A.
For all the other schools, you will need a percentile or above 95 to get a couple of calls, and above 98 to get a call from all.
So put in the effort and you will not be disappointed.
Hope this clarifies,
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I am working as Systems Engineer in Infosys. I have an experience of 23 months as of now. I had attempted CAT 2019 while working and managed to score 76%ile with little preparation of only theory and sectional tests (no proper mocks given). I am thinking to quit my job to prepare for CAT 2020 full time. Will that be a wise decision? And if so, should i prepare with only test series or should i go ahead with classroom program?
Thanks
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Hi Richa,
It will not be an issue if you quit and now prep, since you have a good quantum of work-ex, provided you are sure that you cannot balance work and CAT Prep.
If you quit it means that you have to crack the test this year.
If you had scored above a 90-percentile then maybe I would have suggested preparing on your own but I think that to ensure that you crack it this time around you would need help. I would suggest joining the next e-CATaoult LIVE batches that IMS has and if I am not wrong it will be taken by a colleague of mine who is very good (QA, mulitple 100-percentiler) and I think the batch is starting today.
You can find out more about the program here — https://www.imsindia.com/CAT/e-CATpult-liv-2020.html — and here — 8657459321.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I am working in GE power company as a GET from 24 April 2019 and I’m preparing for CAT from 2 years.
Right now in IMS mock test I’m getting only 42 score only and have a lot of confusion about my future so I thought to leave my job and prepare for CAT.
Please suggest me right decision and what I will do for next 3 months.
Please sir reply me.
Regards,
Vivek Chauhan
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Hi Vivek,
Unless you want to get only into Sales and Marketing you are better of working and getting at least 24 months of work-ex. else, you will have to score a higher percentile since you will get barely any marks for work-ex. So I would not advise quitting.
As far as the prep plan goes the CAT Start portion of the blog has everything need to devise a plan for yourself.
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I quit my job to prepare full time in July. I have a 1-year work ex in analytics, and now have offers from consulting companies for the associate role. Is it advisable to join a company post CAT? I mean will this affect my chances of conversion?
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Hi Rahul,
You can take up the job it is not an issue. They can and may be will put you under pressure saying that is it not unethical to join a firm knowing that you might leave it soon.
It is very easy to answer the question:
Sir, Not joining would mean that I presume that I would get a final admit when the mathematical chances of the same are only 25%. So at the time of accepting the probability of quitting the firm was only 25%.
Also, all firms take on every employee knowing that the employee might quit and have built-in mechanisms such as notice period to handle such events, even employees themselves know that they can be fired at a moment’s notice in the event of an economic downturn.
So I feel I have tried to be a thorough professional to the best of my abilities.
All the best!
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Hi Sir,
I have a work ex for 2.3yrs as of now in an IT industry. I am appearing CAT 2020 but i don’t expect much as my prep is too low. I have joined IMS for my prep and to appear CAT’21. I am a lil worried as well as skeptical as i would be having above 3.3years of work ex while i appear for CAT’21. Wanted to know will it be a good or bad for my resume as i have no intention of quitting my job.
Scores:X/XII/UG-83.28%,85.4%,72.58%
Thanks.
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Hello Sir,
I am currently working as Associate consultant in Basware private ltd, Panchkula. I hardly get any time to prepare for CAT, I gave CAT this year too as I was preparing side by side but due to lack of time nothing happened this time. and i don’t want this to happen again in 2021. I have done my B-tech in Computer science this year in October 2020(due to pandemic, should have ended in April). And i joined Basware in January 2020, so the experience will not count till October right?
Sir Should I leave my job ? I am planning to leave it in February so that I can have enough time to prepare for CAT.
X/XII/UG – 74.1% , 80.2% , 75%
What should i do, Please advise something Sir.
Thank you In advance !
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Hi Bhavya,
I did an entire post on the same — https://thecatwriter.com/2020/03/23/should-i-quit-my-job-to-prepare-for-cat-2/
All the best!
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Hello Sir,
I apologize in advance for the very long query that you’re about to read and I hope that it doesn’t deter you from answering it. I’m a CAT 2021 Aspirant and I’m just beginning to warm up for the ‘CAT Race’. This is why I find myself reading your blog at 4 in the morning, thinking about my life choices and prospective MBA profile (or the lack of it).
I completed my BA(Hons) in Journalism from Delhi University in October 2020 (which was initially supposed to be June 2020). My final graduation CGPA was 7.48/10.
Scores in Class X & XII:
Class 10- 9.4 CGPA
Class 12- 82.6% (PCM)
Other than this, I have no work experience but I have done internships with organizations like Network18 Media, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Doordarshan National and Thumbpin Advertising. I was also an active participant in extra-curricular activities and have a fair amount of experience in that sector.
I don’t plan on getting a full-time job because knowing myself, I will get comfortable with the constant influx of money and lose my drive to study further. So, I will have a gap of approximately one year in my profile from the date of receiving my degree to the date of CAT 2021. So, to fill the gap year, I’m planning on doing certificate courses like digital marketing, luxury brand management etc., and also maybe do a few more internships. Will this suffice or what more can be done? (You can also tell me that this might turn out to be the worst mistake of my life.)
Also, my dream college is MICA and my primary reason for giving CAT and XAT is that they are a requirement for MICA. So, please answer the above question with regard to MICA and their profile requirements.
Eagerly waiting for your response to put me out of my misery!
Thank you and a Happy New Year.
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Hi Abha,
Your plan is fairly solid, you can take up internships and do courses in the space of Marketing and Advertising.
Having a job is not necessarily a pre-requisite, especially so for Marketing.
So you are on the right track, just ensure that you plan the timing of all the courses and internships well.
Finish most of them before the end ofJ uly so that you have three months of prep to CAT.
You can even then take up something if you do not want to be stuck with CAT books all the time.
Hope this helps,
All the best!
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Hello sir,
I will be completing my under graduation in political science in may this year and wish to work for 6 months before giving my cat 2021 exam.I want to specialize in finance so could you tell me if this work experience would suffice and if not how else can i build up my profile and what percentile would be enough to get into the top iims and bschools.
10th marks-92.5
12th marks-95.6
graduation- 7.5 cgpa
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