MBA Admission Process: Selection Procedure for MBA

MBA admission process in top MBA colleges opens every year in the month of July/August and closes after 2-3 months from the opening date. While IIFT, IIMs, XLRI, NMIMS, SIBM among others open their admission process in July-August, other top MBA colleges like FMS, MDI, SPJIMR, IMI, IMT begin their admission process in September-October and close it in December. For MBA admission 2024, the process is open in top MBA colleges including IIMs, NMIMS, XLRI and others. If you are planning to do MBA from one of the top MBA colleges in India, you must be aware how to take admission in MBA college and understand very well the MBA admission process of the MBA college where you want to apply.

All the top MBA colleges have one or other different component that determines the eligibility for MBA admission and a different MBA admission procedure. To know the MBA Admission process 2024 you should also be aware about the procedure for MBA Entrance Exams. You need to appear in one of these MBA entrance exams to get through the MBA admission process of the B-school.

Although MBA admission process in India for all the top MBA colleges is almost similar, the difference is their acceptability of MBA entrance exam score. For example, IIMs accept CAT exam score, XLRI accepts XAT exam score, NMIMS accepts NMAT exam score, Symbiosis accepts SNAP exam score. From the academic session 2024-25, IIFT has also announced to accept CAT exam score instead of its own IIFT entrance exam score which will not be held from now on.

MBA Admission Process: Selection Procedure for MBA

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Table of Content

1. MBA Admission Process in Top MBA/PGDM Colleges
2. MBA Admission: Four Step Process
3. IIMs Admission Process
4. IIMs in India
5. Eight Top & Old IIMs
6. Six New IIMs
7. Seven Newest (Baby) IIMs

1. MBA Admission Process in Top MBA/PGDM Colleges

MBA colleges like FMS Delhi, IIFT Delhi, XLRI Jamshedpur, MDI Gurgaon, SPJIMR Mumbai, NMIMS Mumbai, IMI New Delhi, IMT Ghaziabad, IITs follow the 4 steps Admission process to their flagship MBA/PGDM programmes.

While FMS, IIFT, MDI, SPJIMR, IITs will accept only CAT scores, XLRI accepts only XAT score. IMI, IMT, XIMB, TAPMI, and many other top MBA colleges accept both CAT and XAT scores. NMIMS accepts score of NMAT by GMAC and 15 Symbiosis colleges accept only SNAP test scores. However, despite accepting scores of different MBA entrance exams, the rest two steps of admission process namely Shortlisting and final admission round are similar to a large extent and are conducted individually by the respective B-school

The top MBA/PGDM colleges, with their acceptability of different MBA entrance exam scores are:

Name of top MBA college	Acceptable exam score for MBA admission	MBA shortlisting process	Final MBA admission process
FMS Delhi	CAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT	GD, Extempore speech, PI
XLRI Jamshedpur	XAT	Overall and sectional score in XAT	GD, PI
MDI Gurgaon	CAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT	GD, PI
SPJIMR Mumbai	CAT	Profile based and Overall and sectional score in CAT & XAT	2 rounds of Group Interviews
IMI New Delhi	CAT & XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT	GD, Psychometric tests, PI
IMT Ghaziabad	CAT & XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT & XAT	PI round
NMIMS Mumbai	NMAT	Overall and Sectional Score in NMAT	GD-PI-WAT
XIM Bhubaneswar	CAT, XAT, X-GMT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT, X-GMT	GD, PI
15 Symbiosis Institutes	SNAP	Overall and Sectional Scores in SNAP test	GD-PI-WAT as per individual Symbiosis College policy
IRMA Anand	CAT, XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT	Appear in IRMASAT, GD, PI
MICA, Ahmedabad	CAT, XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT	Appear in MICAT, GD, PI
TAPMI, Manipal	CAT, XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT	GD/PI
IMNU, Nirma University, Ahmedabad	CAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT	GD/PI
GIM Goa	CAT, XAT, CMAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT, CMAT	GD/PI
K J Somaiya, Mumbai	CAT, XAT, CMAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT, CMAT	GD/PI
Great Lakes Chennai	CAT, XAT, CMAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT, CMAT	GD/PI
IFMR, Chennai	CAT, XAT, CMAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT, CMAT	GD/PI
BIMTECH, Greater Noida	CAT, XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT	GD/PI
LIBA Chennai	CAT, XAT	Overall and sectional score in CAT, XAT	GD/PI

2. MBA Admission: Four Step Process

MBA Admission process in India in all the top MBA colleges is a four step process. These 4 steps of MBA admission process are applicable to all the MBA colleges including IIMs who offer admission after a rigorous selection process to select the most suitable candidate.

Step-1: Register & Apply for MBA Entrance Exam
The admission process in top MBA colleges open in August/September first week and closes in November last week. Candidates desirous of seeking admission in top MBA colleges should register and apply for the relevant MBA entrance exam like CAT/XAT/NMAT/SNAP within the specified registration window. Most National level MBA entrance exams like CAT, XAT close the registration process in September and November respectively. Usually, the CAT registration process remains open for 45 to 50 days.

Step-2: Appear in MBA Entrance Exam
Those who want to pursue management course PGDM/MBA programme from top MBA colleges must appear in CAT, XAT, NMAT or other relevant entrance exam.

Common Admission Test (CAT), will be held on November 26, 2023; XAT 2024 on January 7, 2024; NMAT from Oct 10 to Dec 19, 2023 and SNAP 2023 on three dates on Dec 10, 17 & 22 for admission to 2024-26 batch

Step-3: Shortlisting Process
After declaration of MBA exam result in January, most of the top B-schools will shortlist the suitable candidates for final admission round on the basis of exam scores, academics, diversity, work experience among other parameters as per the respective B-school admission policy and weightages. The process is completed by each institute individually.

Step-4: Final Admission Process- GD-PI-WAT Round
All the shortlisted candidates shall have to appear in the Group Discussion (GD), Written Ability Test (WAT) followed by Personal Interview (PI). Some of the B-schools like FMS will conduct GD & Extempore before PI round while few other like MDI will conduct GD-PI and a few like IMI will conduct Psychometric test also. Some of the IIMs like IIM Shillong, IIM Kozhikode also conduct GD round based on the WAT. On the basis of their performance in final selection round, weightage awarded to entrance scores, academic profile & diversity, work experience and gender diversity, final merit list will be generated and admission offers will be made by the respective B-school.

3. IIMs Admission Process

All the IIMs announce their admission process and criteria after the CAT registration begins. While older IIMs announce their admission process in a few days from the date of commencement of CAT registration, newer IIMs announce their admission process a little late. The admission process includes the CAT cut offs, admission eligibility, shortlisting criteria and weightages and weightage to different components in final selection round.

Alert! MBA Admission 2025 & MBA Entrance Exam \| Apply Now
IMI New Delhi PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now	FORE New Delhi PGDM Admission - Apply Now
IBSAT Exam Registration Open- Register Now	K J Somaiya MBA Admission Open - Apply Now
SDA Bocconi IMB Admission Open - Apply Now	TAPMI Manipal Admission 2025- Apply Now
XIM University MBA Admission Open - Apply Now	GIM GOA PGDM Admission Open- Apply Now
Amrita Coimbatore MBA Admission- Apply Now	NIA Pune PGDM Admission Open- Apply Now
IFMR GSB MBA Admission Open - Apply Now	BIMTECH PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now
Woxsen University MBA Admission - Apply Now	SDMIMD PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now
Jaipuria Noida Admission Open - Apply Now	Jaipuria Lucknow Admission Open - Apply Now
MDI Murshidabad Admission Open - Apply Now	Welingkar Mumbai Admission - Apply Now
IBA Bangalore PGDM Admission - Apply Now	FLAME University MBA Admission - Apply Now

4. IIMs in India

IIMs in India can be divided into 3 categories – Old IIMs, New IIMs and Baby (Newest) IIMs. In August 2023, one of the top B-schools in India with 60+ years of legacy-NITIE Mumbai has also been awarded IIM tag and is renamed as IIM Mumbai. Following are the category wise division of IIMs:

5. Eight Top & Old IIMs

IIM Ahmedabad
IIM Bangalore
IIM Calcutta
IIM Lucknow
IIM Kozhikode
IIM Indore
IIM Mumbai
IIM Shillong

6. Six New IIMs

IIM Kashipur
IIM Raipur
IIM Ranchi
IIM Rohtak
IIM Tiruchirappalli
IIM Udaipur

Alert! MBA Admission 2025 & MBA Entrance Exam \| Apply Now
IMI New Delhi PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now	FORE New Delhi PGDM Admission - Apply Now
IBSAT Exam Registration Open- Register Now	K J Somaiya MBA Admission Open - Apply Now
SDA Bocconi IMB Admission Open - Apply Now	TAPMI Manipal Admission 2025- Apply Now
XIM University MBA Admission Open - Apply Now	GIM GOA PGDM Admission Open- Apply Now
Amrita Coimbatore MBA Admission- Apply Now	NIA Pune PGDM Admission Open- Apply Now
IFMR GSB MBA Admission Open - Apply Now	BIMTECH PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now
Woxsen University MBA Admission - Apply Now	SDMIMD PGDM Admission Open - Apply Now
Jaipuria Noida Admission Open - Apply Now	Jaipuria Lucknow Admission Open - Apply Now
MDI Murshidabad Admission Open - Apply Now	Welingkar Mumbai Admission - Apply Now
IBA Bangalore PGDM Admission - Apply Now	FLAME University MBA Admission - Apply Now