CAT ME IF YOU CAN

Top 10 Business Schools in India

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:25:00 +0000

Frustrated seeing the names of some unscrupulous business schools in the list of top B-Schools published by various magazines and newspapers?

Click here to check out an unbiased, honest ranking of India's Best Business Schools.

IIM Shillong Shortlist | CAT 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:47:00 +0000

Want to check if you have been shortlisted by IIM Shillong?

Click here for complete list of CAT Registration Numbers of candidates shortlisted by IIM Shillong for GD/PI

CAT 2009 Results | IIM Shillong, Ahmedabad Shortlist

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Finally, after much delay, the results of CAT 2009 are beginning to trickle in. Two of the IIMs - IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Shillong have announced the CAT registration numbers of candidates who have been shortlisted for the next round - GD and PI. Students can now check with the IIM websites to see if they have been shortlisted for these two premier institutes.

The other IIMs are yet to announce the shortlist, but we can expect the other IIMs to announce the shortlists in the next few days now.

For complete list of CAT Registration numbers of candidates shortlisted by IIM Shillong, click here.

When should I join the CAT Coaching classes?

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:13:00 +0000

Thousands of students ponder getting ready for the CAT ponder over and over again this one simple question: Should I join the CAT Coaching classes in November/December/January or after my exams in May/June? There is one simple, and best answer: Join Early. Let me explain why:

If you decide to join in May/June, and then realize that it was a bad decision you cannot correct the decision. You will either keep ruing your decision, or decide to take a serious attempt at CAT in the following year. Either ways, it is a loss.

On the other hand if you join your coaching classes early, and you are unhappy with the decision, you can always ask for a transfer to a batch starting in May/June. Most CAT Prep institutes that I know of won't charge you anything extra for this, and will be happy to accommodate this simple request of yours. The only thing you need to check out for is if there is a difference in the fee for students joining in Decemer as against someone joining in May. Generally, you will not find a difference in fee as the course content remains the same - the coaching institutes provide an accelerated programmes to students joining later. Even if there is a small difference, it is worth taking the risk - there is just too much at stake.

IIMs extend CAT deadline

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:19:00 +0000

The IIMs have extended the deadline for accepting up the CAT 2009 applications in view of the number of bank holidays in the first two weeks of October ( Gandhi Jayanti, Durga Puja, Eid, Dusshera). You can now submit your filled-up CAT forms till October 11th. The same new date is also applicable for the "edit" feature. Axis Bank will accept CAT applications till October 8th.

7 new IIMs to come up

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 08:59:00 +0000

The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of 7 new IIMs (Indian Institute of Management - India's finest management schools). These are to be located in Tamil Nadu, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana and Jharkand. This will take up the total number of IIMs in the country to 14. Currently, the IIMs are located in Ahmedabad (Gujrat), Bangalore (Karnataka), Kolkata (West Bengal), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Kozhikode (Kerala) and the 7th and last one was established a couple of years back in the north-east in Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya.

Whike the J&K, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand IIMs will be set-up in the second phase while the others are slated to come up in the 2009-10 period and become functional for the academic year 2010-11. If that happens, that's very good news for students writing CAT 2009 as it opens up four new opportunities for them. India is woefully short on good business schools, driving a number of bright students to mediocre b-schools which have mushroomed round the country. Thankfully, at least a few more hundred of the brighter lot will get to receive quality education.

We just hope that the new IIMs won't be christened on the lines of the Rajiv Gandhi IIM in Shillong. Please leave them as just IIMs.

3 Tips for CAT/ MBA / B-School Aspirants

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:24:00 +0000

This is a list of tips/advise/suggestions I have drawn up based on my own experience - both while I was a student preparing for the CAT as well as the years at IMS where my job brought me into direct interaction with hundreds of MBA aspirants. Some of these might not apply to you directly, and if that is so, ignore them - please don't try to find convoluted ways to connect them with yourself or your experiences.

1. "I am not IIM Material" - Thousands of students, every year, for one reason or the other manage to convince themselves and more unfortunately, many others that they are not "IIM material". For god's sake, please understand that there is no such thing as "IIM material". The worst thing which happens when you make this decision is not that you don't make it to one of the IIMs but that you will end up in a B-School not even remotely as good. Leo Burnett, the famous ad man once said that "When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get there, but you won't come up with a handful of mud either". So aim for the IIMs - even if you don't make it to India's best Business School, at least you will not end up in one of those fake b-shops.

2. "I am not good at Maths" - The CAT, MAT and most of the other Business School Admission Tests are designed to test your aptitude for a career in management, not your maths acumen. Yes, if you are good at Mathematics it will help. But the vice-versa is not necessarily true. A few of the questions in the CAT might require a high level of mathematical acumen, but then you need to get less than half the answers right to make it through, don't you? With sufficient preparation, you can crack enough of the questions in the Quantitative Aptitude (QA) section that can help you sail through. Remember that not every IITian who writes the CAT makes it to the IIM - they do better than others because these guys are good, diligent students - else they would not have been at the IIT. So please don't let the 'maths' thing discourage you.

3. "I shouldn't waste another year preparing for the CAT" - Didn't make it to a top B-School in CAT 2008, gave up, and joined a mediocre B-School because he/she didn't want to waste another year preparing for CAT 2009.

I don't have any empirical data handy to substantiate what I am about to say so I would recommend you cross-check this fact with a few veterans.

"Students rewriting the CAT have a higher chance of making it to an IIM than those writing the CAT for the first time." We are all human beings, and we make mistakes, more when we are trying to do something for the first time. We make fewer mistakes the next time because we have learnt our lessons. Even a maestro like Tendulkar took a few years to sort himself out before he reached the peak performance level. There are a few lessons that you will learn while writing the actual CAT that you will never learn no matter how many mock CATs you write.

And as for the idea of "wasting a year", it's the most stupid thought that should have ever occurred to you. Please understand that the kind of B-School you will graduate from will very likely decide the quality of the rest of your life. If by "wasting a year" you can greatly enhance how you are going to spend the next 40-60 years, then it's not wasting but "investing a year".

Create a secure campus

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 06:50:00 +0000

For a parent, nothing is more important than the security of his child. If you are running a school or any other educational institution, it is imperative that you put the best security system in place to ensure the safety of your students, and give parents the peace of mind with the feeling that his child is not just getting the quality education that he seeks for it,but is doing so in a safe environment.

ADT is America's no.1 security company and it has been the leader in education security solutions for over a hundred years now, and today, protects thousands of educational institutes - ranging from schools to whole universities. Schools, Universities and educational institutes face a unique security challenge and need to provide a safe environment to its students within the budgetary constraints. ADT understands the specific challenges and risks that educational institutes face in this regard, and therefore is in the best position to provide these solutions. For over 131 years, ADT has been the most respected name in the business of security. Using ADT's security products, you can be assured that the parents will be reassured that their wards are getting quality security and safety.

Learn A New Language

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 12:43:00 +0000

It's the age of global placements - you might be studying at IIM Ahmedabad but may end up taking up a job with a Spanish MNC. In such a scenario, if you can learn Spanish beforehand, itre can truly add vital value to your resume making it that much more attractive for potential recruiters.

Transparent Language is one of the world's leading providers of language learning softwares for individual learners as well as instiutions. More than 12,000 schools and colleges (USA) already use products from Transparent. And for good reason - while English has been and is still the world's dominant language of business, a good number of students are finding out that the knowledge of an additional language helps. Chinese, for example is fast gaining popularity because of the rise of China and its increasing clout over the world economy. If you want to do business with the Chinese, it makes a lot of sense then, to learn Chinese . You would stand a much better chance of effectively communicating with the business heads in Beijing, and which corporate house would not like to recruit an executive who can speak fluent Mandarin, or even understand it.

Check out the Transparent website and start with exploring their free resources - maybe you can get initiated by playing 'language games'. For instance, if your objective is to learn Italian, you can begin by checking out the 'Italian Games and Learning' section. Word Seek, for example, is a fun way to build up your Italian vocabulary.

There is lots more - if you are keen, head out to the Transparent site - spend a few minutes exploring the various offerings and features, and take it further from there.

CAT 2008 Cut Offs - Overall & Sectional Cut-Offs

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 18:28:00 +0000

Expected Sectional Cut Offs for CAT 2008

Quant Section - Likely Cut Off: 33-34
Verbal Section - Likely Cut Off: 47-48
DI Section - Likely Cut Off: 29-30

Overall Cut Off for CAT 2008

You can expect an IIM call at a cut-off point of 125 or more, provided you also meet the sectional cut-offs. CAT 2008 candidates with a good academic + work-ex background can expect calls at slightly lower scores in the CAT.

* These are only predicted scores, and the actual cut offs as decided by the individual IIMs may differ, though unlikely to differ by a great margin.

Last Minute Tips for CAT 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 04:23:00 +0000

All ready for the big day? CAT 2008 is less than 72 hours away, and with so much at stake, and the immense competition to face, you might fancy this handy tips - nothing great or earth-shattering about them, but helpful nonetheless.

1. Tell yourself that you can always write CAT 2009 or GMAT or that there is XAT 2009 to follow - it will reduce the pressure, the last thing you want to do is to crumble because of the sheer pressure that you exert upon yourself.

2. If there are sudden surprises, don't panic - Remember that the changes are not for you alone, each one of the about 3 lakh students writing the CAT 2008 will face the same changes. The few thousand who will cope best with the sudden challenges will be the ones getting the calls from the IIMs - give yourself a minute to think over, don't rush into things - plan it out.

[ Note: If there are sudden changes or the paper is abnormally tough, the IIM cut-off as well as other b-school cut-offs are likely to dip. ]

3. If you have been employing a certain way of going about handling the Mock CATs for the last few months and that way has been working for you, don't give up on it suddenly. What has worked for a few months and many times over should work today as well.

4. If you are from an English-medium/convent background, or have been good at English otherwise, listen to your gut-feel in 'Verbal/RC'. Don't forget that you have been a student of the language for over 14-15 years now, and chances are that your 'gut is giving you the right feeling'.

Don't overdo Point no.4 or if you are happy ignoring this point, that is okay.

5. No one knows the cut-off while writing the CAT. The previous cut-off are at best an indicator, which may or may not mean anything. So don't keep chasing an 'unknown' number. Therefore -

"Read the Instructions Carefully" - If it says like it always does, then allott approximately equal time to all sections. If there are some major or minor changes in the instructions, give yourself a minute or two to formulate a plan to go about writing the CAT 2008. Believe me, it will be a minute worth spend.

All the very best,

MICA Admission Cut Offs | CAT 2008 | GMAT

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:16:00 +0000

For years it has been a suspense as to what the cut off for Mudra Institute of Communications (MICA) is - whether it's 80 percentile or 85 or 95? God knows how many times I have been queried about the sectional cut-off requirement for MICA. "Does MICA only check your Verbal Score?", somebody would ask. Yet others wondered if MICA had any sectional cut-off in the CAT for quant or DI or not. The suspsense is now over, and officially so.

MICA CAT Cut Off for Admission to the 2009 - 2011 PGDCM batch

MICA will shortlist candidates for the MICAT, Group Exercise (MICA holds GE instead of a GD) and the Personal Interview on the basis of their performance in the Common Admission Test ( CAT 2008 ) - Overall CAT 2008 Percentile cut off will be 90 and they will need a minimum sectional cut offs of 50 percentiles in both Quant and DI sections in the CAT. In the Verbal (VA) section that comprises Grammar, Language and Reading Comprehension, MICA aspirants will need to clear a minimum cut-off level of 60 percentile.

MICA GMAT Cut Off for Admission to the 2009 - 2011 PGDCM batch

A minimum GMAT score of 600 obtained on or after 1st January 2007

MICA aspirants can hence write either the CAT 2008 or the GMAT to get a call for the second round of the admission procedure. Unlike last year, MICA has removed XAT from its list of written test options.

Another Change in MICA Admission Process:

Unlike the previous years when all shortlisted candidates were called for the MICAT, Group Exercise/GD and Personal Interview, the 2009 - 11 admission process will be 3-stepped. Candidates shortlisted from CAT 2008 and GMAT will first write the MICAT, and only the candidates further shortlisted will be called for the Group Exercise and Personal Interview.

IIM CAT 2008: Number of Applicants Up by 25%

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:51:00 +0000

You may not yet have realized that the downturn in the US economy may have a more direct bearing on you - it reduces your chances of making it to the IIMs. With the number of jobs in the markets drying up, the beeline at the B Schools has increased tremendously.

Compared to the 2,30,000 applications received in CAT (Common Admission Test) 2007, the number of applications for the 2009-11 sessions have increased by a whopping 60,000 to reach to a figure just under 3 lakhs. Last year, there was at least one new IIM in the form of Shillong to cheer things up.

In terms of mathematical probability, an IIM aspirant this year stands a meagre chance of about 0.6 % of making it to one of the seven IIMs (including the Rajiv Gandhi IIM Shillong and the additional increase of about 200 seats across the various IIMs). Delhi has now firmly established itself as the MBA Entrance hub of the country; IIM Lucknow which receives applications from Delhi candidates has been flooded with over 62,000 applications.

CAT Year	No. of Applications
2009	2.9 Lakhs
2008	2.3 Lakhs
2007	1.9 Lakhs

However there are about 15,000 seats on offer at the many non-IIM b schools that accept CAT scores. Only a handful of them - MDI, MICA and a few more are any good and not much can be said about the others.
For a list of the non-IIM b-schools that are accepting CAT scores, you can click here.

It will be interesting to watch this trend next year if the Common Admission Test does indeed go online.

What's your dream B-School?

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 06:48:00 +0000

You must have noticed the 'Dream B-School' poll on this blog some time or the other in the last few months. Already 1164 votes have been polled and we have decided to finally close the poll now, as we have arrived at a very unambiguous conclusion.

B-School

No. of Votes

IIMs

584

MICA

MDI

FMS

106

GIM (Goa)

XLRI

136

TISS

Other Indian

B-School Abroad

Total Votes Polled

1164

No surprises at all at no.1 - the IIMs are definitely India's most popular B-Schools. Little wonder that the number of CAT takers is now swelling to close to the 3 lakh figure. XLRI Jamshedpur was ranked no.2 in our poll with 136 votes. FMS was not far behind, ranked at no.3 with 106 votes.

The two specialized B-Schools, MICA and TISS together garnered over 12% of the total votes indicating a huge marketing for specialized Business Schools. 28 MBA aspirants showed their keenness to do their studies from GIM, Goa. Located on the beautiful Mandovi, the Goa Institute of Management is the most picturesque of the Indian B-Schools, and the ideal place to mix partying and studying. What was the most surprising was the lack of interest shown in overseas B-Schools. Less than 5% of the voters said they want to study abroad; an indication of the student community's faith in the booming Indian economy. But given a choice between Harvard and IIM Ahmedabad, will they prefer the Indian school? I have my doubts there.

XAT 2009: Reach XLRI in 5 simple steps

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 07:35:00 +0000

How to obtain the XAT bulletin?
- Available at select branches of AXIS Bank on payment of Rs.800 ( 121 branches in all, how select depends on where you are - 3 options for the whole of north-east, 7 for Delhi alone. )
- If the select branch is not close enough, you need to make a draft in favour of "XLRI Jamshedpur A/c XAT" and send it to XLRI Jamshedpur.

Next steps:
1. Go to the XLRI website and fill in the online XAT form. You need to fill in basic details like the XAT bulletin no, AXIS Bank Branch Name, your personal info and you will be immediately issued your XAT ID and password. In case you just have a draft with you, you will be required to fill in the draft number, date and personal info.
2. You need to further furnish details of your applications to the other XAT associate B-Schools and once you do this, you can proceed to take a printout of the XAT Payment Advice cum Photo Form ( lovingly referred to by the XLRI as the XAT PP form)
3. Fill in the details asked for in the XAT PP form and since the second P is for photo, you will obviously need to stick one onto the form in the designated box provided. ( this b-school guys are not too emotional types, so no point in getting all nostalgic and sending that cute pic of yours when you were only 10; they deserve much less - send a boring looking recent pic)
4. Remember your visit to the Axis Bank? Let's hope you have retained those pay-in slips. (If not, wait for my post on the IIFT entrance.) Take out the 3rd slip ( I can bet a 1000$ at least half the guys confirm it with a friend/mom/sister as to which one is the 3rd slip, here is a hint: it's the one that's immediately after the 2nd slip) and put it in the special envelope given to you by the Axis bank guy. Don't forget to also insert into the envelope the lovely looking XAT PP. For those of you unlucky ones, far removed from an Axis Bank, please insert the draft instead of the pay-in slip.
5. This is the most crucial step, the one step that will finally bring you in direct contact with your dream b-school - Post that envelope. Let me add that the XLRI guys are not as uncaring as the IIM ones, in case you are late, you don't have to be dependent on the sarkari Speed Post only. You are even allowed to courier your application - wow, isn't it?!

******
The XAT is India's second most premier MBA Entrance Test after the CAT. Organized by the XLRI Jamshedpur, the exam serves as the entrance exam for various other B-Schools in India including SP Jain (Mumbai), Alliance Business Academy (Bangalore), Goa Institue of Management (Goa), Welingkar (Mumbai) and XIM (Bhubaneshwar).

XLRI has announced the dates and registration process for XAT 2009 ( for admissions to the 2009-2011 MBA programmes). Here are the important details:

XAT - Exam Date & Time:
Sunday, 4th January 2009, 10:00 am - 12:30 pm

XAT Test Centres:
Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Behrampur, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Cochin, Coimbatore, Dehradun, Goa, Gurgaon, Gauhati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Noida, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Ranchi, Rourkela, Trivandrum

Last Date for receiving the application:
5th December 2008

CATch 'em if you can

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:44:00 +0000

You might find this piece on a topic a bit deviated from the regular 'cat' and 'gmat' stuff, but then only four months from now I am getting married! Confused? Well, let me clarify.

Her name is Sashi and she happens to be a lawyer. Till a few months back, she was as interested in the management world as I was in the legal but things have changed dramatically in the past twelve weeks. Today, she knows what the 4 P's of marketing are and fancy sounding words like mandamus and habeas corpus are already enriching my vocabulary. And me being me, a google fanatic, I have started scouring for more and more info on her world. That's how I landed at the doors of an 108 year old institute called Rasmussen.

Remember the dramatic call- to- action line in those Army recruitment ads : "Do you have it in you?". Rasmussen's online criminal justice degree programme tries to raise a similar emotion in you - "There's no higher calling than keeping America’s streets safe." This degree programme can be your starting point for an exciting career in crime management in the US. You can go on to work as a Police Officer, Correctional Officer, Customs officer and in other similar areas .The programme can be completed either in the classroom or through a blending learning programme wherein there is a mix of online and offline classes.

Rasmussen College's School of Justice Studies ' programmes delve into several different aspects of the legal process. With a degree in criminal justice from this premier school, you can aspire to reach the top in your field of work. Besides this programme, there are a variety of different course to select from, depending on your areas of interest. For instance, if you love lawyers (like I do) and wish to be close to a lawyer always, you can look at the Paralegal Associates' Programme from their paralegal school minnesota. Of course, there is always a possibility that you don't want to be as close to lawyers as I want to be, or you may simply not be in Minnesota. Not to worry, just hop over to their website and you will find lots else to opt from, or simply call toll free: (888) 5-Rasmussen.

Institute Strengths/Good Points:
- 108 years of experience (yes, they began operations as way back as 1900, this month - September),
- flexible scheduling enables you to create a fit with your work life,
- Personalized Support.
- Another thing I quite liked is their easily navigable website, with highly relevant and easy to understand content.

CAT 2009 will be online...well..

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:47:00 +0000

Will the CAT 2009 go online or will it not? The debate has been raging for almost a year now, and we are as near to a definite answer as we were then - only the pendulum keeps swinging, from one side to the other.

The latest swing seems to be in favour of the "CAT will go online from next year". Latest media reports suggest that the IIMs, " which had rolled out the process for inviting tenders from various companies for conducting CAT have already shortlisted four companies." (source: Mint, 5th September)

Notice that this by itself doesn't really indicate much about the nature of the testing method itself. What it does indicate is that the IIMs are seriously considering outsourcing CAT. However the nature of the organisations that have been shortlisted does point clearly in the direction of a computer based CAT.

The companies which have been shortlisted are
1. ETS Prometric ( have handled GMAT before)
2. Eduquity Ventures ( conducts the BITSAT)
3. Attest (An Aptech concern, it is into computer aided assessment. But it also manages traditional paper and pencil tests)
4. Pearson VUE (Virtual University Enterprises) - (they are into computer based testing solutions)

A few months back the IIMs had officially denied that a decision had been made to make the CAT a computer based test (CBT), much like the GMAT , from 2009. What they did say was that the IIMs were exploring alternatives to the traditional testing method. This official denial was prompted by media reports and statements by various CAT coaching institutes that the test was indeed going online from next year. Even then it had all started with the news of the IIMs inviting tenders from interested parties for conducting the CAT.

Once again there is no confirmation or denial from any authority at the IIMs though the Mint report does include anonymous comments from an IIM official. Well, you can never be sure about that - whether it is truly an anonymous IIM official or the creative imagination of a journalist!

Watch this space for more.

****
post-script:
An online CAT doesn't mean a internet based test. It is actually a misnomer in that sense. What will likely happen is that the CAT will actually become CAT, which expanded means Computer Adaptive Test vis-a-vis GMAT.

List of non-IIM B-Schools accepting CAT 2008 scores - II

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 10:25:00 +0000

For the List 1 of non IIM B-Schools accepting CAT 2008 scores, click here.

19.Delhi School of Professional Studies & Research
9, Institutional Area
Sector-25, Rohini
Delhi – 110085
Phone: 011-27062290

20.Department of Business Management
Punjab Agricultural University
Ludhiana – 141004
Phone: 0161-2401960-79

( The Punjab Agricultural University offers an MBA in Agri Business Management. Established in 1962, the University campus is spread across 580 hectares, and the no. of faculty members exceed 800 in number. Source: official website of the University)

21.Department of Management Studies
Indian School of Mines University (ISM Dhanbad)
Dhanbad – 826004
Phone: 0326-2296631

22.Dr.GaurHari Singhania institute of Management & Research
Jaykaylon colony
Kamla Nagar
Kanpur – 208005
Phone: 0512-2231417, 2232444

23.Department of Business Management
University of Calcutta
1, Reformatory street
Kolkata – 700027
Phone: 033-24499418

24. Department of Commerce, University of Calcutta
87/1, College Street
Kolkata – 700073
Phone: 033-22410071-74

25. Department of Management Studies,
Pondicherry University
R V Nagar
Puducherry – 605014
Phone: 0413-2655244

26.EMPI Business School
P.O CSKM Educational Complex
Satbari, Chattarpur
New Delhi – 110074
Phone: 011-26654422

27. EMPI’s Ajot Haksar Institute of Advertising, Communication & Marketing (AdCoM)
P.O CSKM Educational Complex
Satbari, Chattarpur
New Delhi – 10074
Phone: 011-26652373/2375/3927

28.Enterpreneurship Development Institute of India
Near Village Bhat
Via Ahmedabad Airport & Indira Bridge, Bhat P.O.
Gandhinagar – 382428
Phone: 079-23969163

29. Faculty of Management Studies
Banaras Hindu University
Varanasi – 221005
Phone: 0542-2307430/31

( The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was established by Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya in 1916 and has for years been one of India's premier seat of learning.

The students to MBA/MIBA programmes at BHU are admitted through CAT conducted by the IIMs. Taking cognizance of its expertise and deep commitment to learning, the Faculty has been identified as one of the five Quality Improvement Programme Centres by the AICTE for developing and updating the teachers of management institutions of the country. )

30.Fortune Institute of International Business
Plot No. 5, Vasant Gaon
Opp. Army R R Hispital, Rao Tula Ram Marg
New Delhi – 110057
Phone: 011-26144319-20

31.Fore School of Management
B-18, Qutab Institutional Area
New Delhi – 110016
Phone: 011-41242424/26863396

32.Galgotias Business school
1, Knowledge Park, Phase II
Greater Noida – 201306
Phone: 0120-3272004, 3256832

33.Globsyn Business School
XI – 11 & 12, Block–EP
Sector-V, Salt Lake Electronics Complex
Kolkata – 700091
Phone: 033-40003600, 23573610-12

34.Graduate School of Business & Administration
Plot No-HS-02, Block-F
Sector Alpha-02
Greater Noida (NCR) – 201308
Phone: 0120-2320521-524

35.Haryana School of Business
Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology
Hisar – 125001
Phone: 01662-263111/263182

36.IFIM Business School
No.8P & 9P, KIADB Industrial Area
Electronics City, I Phase
Bangalote – 560100
Phone: 080-41432888

37.IILM Institute for Higher Education
DLF Golf Course Road, Opp. Suncity
Gurgaon
Phone: 0124-4559300

38.Indian Business Academy
Lakshmipura, Thataguni Post
Kanakapura Main Road
Bangalore – 560062
Phone: 080-32961373

39.Indian Institute of Forest Management
Post Box No. 357
Nehru Nagar
Bhopal – 462003
Phone: 0755-2775716/2773799

40.IEC Business School
Plot No.4, K.P-1
Greater Noida
Phone: 0120-2326537, 2326665

41.IILM Graduate School of Management
16, Knowledge Park-II
Greater Noida – 201306
Phone: 0120-4029318/4029300

42.IMRT Business School
Management Park, Vipul Khand-6
Gomti Nagar
Lucknow – 226010
Phone: 0522-4066823,3206771

43.Indian Institute of Finance
Post Box 8486
Ashok Vihar-II
Delhi – 110052
Phone: 011-27451212

44.Indian Institute of Information Technology
Deoghat, Jhalwa
Allahabad – 211012
Phone: 0532-2430006, 0539-2922178

45.Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management
Management House
College Square (West)
Kolkata – 700073
Phone: 033-22191684/22418694

46.Institute of Engineering & Management
Salt Lake Electronics Complex
Calcutta – 700091
Phone: 033-23578189/8908

47.Institute of Management Development & Research
DES Campus
Deccan Gymkhana
Pune – 411004
Phone: 020-25653186/25652754

48.Institute of Management Sciences
University of Lucknow
Lucknow – 226021
Phone: 0522-2740412, 2741012

49.Institute of Management Technology-Nagpur
35 KM Milestone, Mouza Dorli
Katol Road
Nagpur – 441502
Phone: 0712-2805591

50.Institute of public Enterprise
Osmania University Campus
Hyderabad – 500007
Phone: 040-27098060

51.Integrated Academy of Management and Technology
(INMANTEC)
Adhyatmik Nagar, Delhi-Lucknow Highway (NH-24)
Udyog Kunj
Ghaziabad – 201009
Phone: 0120-2768951

52.Institute of Agri Business management
Rajasthan Agricultural University
Beechwal
Bikaner – 334006
Phone: 0151-2252981/82

53.Institute of Management
Nirma University of Science & Technology
S-G Highway
Ahmedabad – 382481
Phone: 02717-241900/01/02/04

54.Insitute of Management Education
G.T Road, Sahibabad
Ghaziabad – 201005
Phone: 0120-2621424

55.Institute of Management Technology
A-16, Site-3, UPSIDC
Industrial Area, Meerut Road
Ghaziabad – 201003
Phone: 0120-2705628

56.Institute of Petroleum Management, Gandhinagar
Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University
Raisan
Gandhinagar – 382007
Phone: 079-23276911-14

57.INRECH Institute of Business Management
960, 24^th Main, 38^th Cross
4^th ‘T’ Block, Jayanagar
Bangalore – 560041
Phone: 080-

58.International Institute for Special Education
Kanchana Bihari Marg
Off Ring Road, Via Kalyanpur
Lucknow – 226022
Phone: 0522-2751066

59.International Management Institute (IMI Delhi)
B-10, 30 & 31, Qutab Institutional Area
Tara Crescent
New Delhi – 110016
Phone: 011-26529240

60.International School of Management Excellence
CAP-1, Export Promotion Industrial Park
Near ITPL, Whitefield
Bangalore – 560066
Phone: 080-65606200/6300

61.ITM Business School
Plot 25 & 26, Sector-4
Kharghar
Navi Mumbai – 410210
Phone: 022-27742793/98

62.International School of Business & Research
(ISBR Business School)
No.62, Electronics City, Phase-I
Opp. Electronics city Post office
Bangalore – 560100
Phone: 080-41668111/222

63.Invertis Institute of Management Studies
Invertis Village
Bareilly – Lucknow National Highway-24
Bareilly – 243123
Phone: 0581-2460442/443

64.Jaipuria Institute of Management
Vineet Khand
Gomtinagar
Lucknow – 226010
Phone: 0522-2394296/2398096

65.Jaipuria Institute of Management
1 Bambala Institutional Area
Pratap Nagar, Sanganer
Jaipur – 302033
Phone: 0141-2771330-33

66.Jagan Institute of Management Studies (JIMS Rohini)
3, Institutional Area
Sector-5, Rohini
Delhi – 110085
Phone: 011-27042284, 27042296

67.Jaipuria Institute of Management
Plot No. A-32A
Sector-62
Noida – 201307
Phone: 0120-2403850-54, 2403379-81

68.JK Padampat Singhania Institute of Management & Technology
Damdama Lake Road
Bhondsi Village, Tehsil: Sohna
Dist: Gurgaon
Phone: 0124-4268031,4267641

69.KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research
Vidyanagar
Mumbai-400077
Phone: 022-66449300/66449350

70.Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies
Yantrapur
Harihar – 577602
Phone: 08192-241269/241483

71.K R Mangalam Global Institute of Management
S-Block, Greater Kailash-II
New Delhi – 110048
Phone: 011-29219274/9810534726

72.Kohinoor Business School & Centre for Management Research
Old Pune – Mumbai Highway
Khandala
Pune – 410301
Phone: 02114-269230

73.Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management
Shastri Sadan, Sector-III
R.K. Puram
New Delhi – 110022
Phone: 011-26191081/26172407

74.Lotus Institute of Management
16 KM Stone, Bareilly-Lucknow Road
P.O. Rajau
Bareilly – 243123
Phone: 05821-231364

75.Lal Bahadur Shasti Institute of Management & Technology
29, Theatre Road
Cantonment
Bareilly – 243001
Phone: 0581-2429203/205

76.Lovely Professional University
Jalandhar-Ludhiana G.T.Road
Near Chaheru Railway Bridge
Phagwara – 144402
Phone: 01824-500701

77.Management Development Institute (MDI Gurgaon)
Post Box No. 60, Mehrauli Road
Sukhrali
Gurgaon – 122001
Phone: 0124-4560800/4013050-61

78.National Institute of Bank Management
NIBM Post Offfice
Kondhwe Khurd
Pune – 411048
Phone: 020-26831584

79.National Institute of Technology Calicut (NIT Calicut)
NIT Campus P.O..
Calicut – 673601
Phone: 0495-2286100

80.National Power Training Institute (NPTI Faridabad)
NPTI Complex
Sector-33
Faridabad-121003
Phone: 0129-2275448

81.Nanyang Business School
Nanyang Techonlogical University
Nanyang Avenue
Singapore – 639798
Phone: (65) 67905622

(Nanyang Singapore, one of Asia's finest B-Schools, is accepting CAT 2008 scores for admission to its MBA programme)

82.National Institute of Technology (NIT)
Thiruchirappalli – 620215
Phone: 0431-2503001

83.National Insurance Academy
Balewadi, Baner Road
NIA P.O.
Pune – 411045
Phone: 020-27204000/4444

84.New Delhi Institute of Management
60-61, Tughlakabad Institutional area
New Delhi – 110062
Phone: 011-29956566-68

85.Pearl School of Business
46, Institutional Area
S 32
Gurgaon – 122001
Phone: 0124-427500

86.Proton Business School
Narayan Kothi
Race Course Road
Indore – 452003
Phone: 0731-3245424, 3245425

87.S D M Institute for Management Development
No.1, Chamundi Hill Road
Siddarthanagar Post
Mysore – 570011
Phone: 0821-2429722/9161

88.S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research (SPJIMR)
Munshi Nagar, Dadabhai Road
Andheri (West)
Mumbai – 400058
Phone: 022-26237454

89.School of Management Science
Khushipur
P.O. Bachhaon
Varanasi – 221011
Phone: 0542-2271771, 3259266

90.Shobhit University
NH – 58
Modipuram
Meerut – 250110
Phone: 0121-2575091/92

91.Sri Mata Vaishno Devi University
Karyal
Post Office: Katra
Katra (Jammu & Kashmir) – 182301
Phone: 01991-285687/285524

92.School of Management Studies (SMS)
University of Hyderabad
P.O. Central University
Hyderabad – 500046
Phone: 040-23135000/23011091

93.Shri Ramswaroop Memorial College of Engineering and Management
Tewariganj
Faizabad Road
Lucknow – 227105
Phone: 0522-2815015-16

94.Suryadatta Group of Institutes
2074, Sadashiv Peth
Vijayanagar Colony
Pune – 411030
Phone: 020-24336000/24330425/35

95.T.A. Pai Management Institute (populary referred to as TAPMI)
Manipal – 576104
Phone: 0820-2570361/2571358

96.Thiagarajar School of Management
Pamban Swamy Nagar
Thirupparankundram
Phone: 0452-2484099

97.The Business School
University of Jammu
Jammu – 180006
(Jammu & Kashmir)
Phone: 0191-2430133, 2435529

98.University Business School
Panjab University
Chandigarh – 160014
Phone: 0172-2541591/2534709

99.University School of Management
Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra – 136119
Phone: 01744-238565

100.University of Petroleum & Energy Studies
SCO 9-12, Sector-14
Near HUDA Office
Gurgaon – 122007
Phone: 0124-4240300

101.Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management
Vignana Jyothi Nagar
Bachpally, Via Kukatpally
Hyderabad – 500072
Phone: 040-23044901/23044902
Fax: 040-23044953

102.VIT Business School
VIT Universtiy
Vellore – 632014
Phone: 0416-2202157/2125
Fax: 0416-2245544

Note:
That a B-School accepts CAT scores admission to its MBA/Other PG Programmes is not an indicator of the quality of the B-School. Please check with other reliable sources before applying to any B-School.

List of Institutes accepting CAT 2008 Scores - 1

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 06:22:00 +0000

1. Accurate Institute of Management & Technology
Plot No. 49
Knowledge Park – III
Greater Noida - 201306
Phone: 0120-2328234-35
Fax: 0120-2320355

2. Algol School of Technology
Behind Sector 34 Marble Market
Sector – 34
Gurgaon – 122001
Phone: 0124-3212001

3. Amrita School of Business
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University
Ettimadai P.O.
Coimbatore – 641105
Phone: 0422-2656422
Fax: 0422-2656422

4. Aravali Institute of Management
Marwar Bhawan
Polo No.2, Paota
Jodhpur – 342006
Phone: 0291-2550070/255356
Fax: 0291-2543600

5. Asian School of Business Management (ASBM)
Shiksha vihar
Barang-Khurdha Road, Chandaka
Bhubaneswar – 754005
Phone: 0671-2111204/207/208
Fax: 0674-2111205

6. AICAR Business School
Village Damat
Neral, Karjat
Raigad – 410101
Phone: 02148-236714-20
Fax: 02148-236713

7. Alliance Business Academy
19^th Cross, 7^th Main
BTM-II Stage, N.S. Palya
Bangalore – 560076
Phone: 080-26681444
Fax: 080-26684137

8. Apeejay School of Management
Sector-8
Dwarka Institutional Area
New Delhi – 110075
Phone: 011-25363979/81
Fax: 011-25363985

9. Army Institute of Management
Judges Court Road
Opp. Alipore Telephone Exchange, Alipore
Kolkata – 700027
Phone: 033-24398335/37/38/24794494
Fax: 033-24794929

10. Asia-Pacific Institute of Management ‘
4, Institutional Area
Jasola (Opp. Sarita Vihar)
New Delhi – 110025
Phone: 011-42094800 (30 lines)
Fax: 011-26951541

11. Bharathidasan Institute of Management
M.H.D. Campus
BHEL Complex
Tiruchirappalli – 620014
Phone: 0431-2520796/502
Fax: 0431-2520733

12. BLS Institute of Management
Opp. Mohan Meakins Factory
Mohan Nagar
Ghaziabad – 201007
Phone: 0210-2658405, 2657654
Fax: 0120-2657714

13. Birla Institute of Management Technology
Plot No. 5
Knowledge Park–II
Greater Noida (NCR) – 201306
Phone: 0210-2323001-10
Fax: 0120-2323022/25

14. Calcutta Business School
11, Lord Sinha Road
Kolkata – 700071
Phone: 22427488/22821450
Fax: 22826350

15. Center for Management Training & Research
CMTR Campus, Khanpur
P.O. Textile Colony, Kharar
Distt: Mohali – 140301
Phone: 0160-5009000
Fax: 0160-2282493

16. College of Agribusiness Management
G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology
Pantanagar – 263145
Phone: 05944-233884
17. Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna (CIMP)
Hindi Bhavan
Chhajubagh, Post Box No.42
Patna – 800001
Phone: 0612-2200453
Fax: 0612-2200453

18. Cosmic Business School
B-1/E-II, Mohan Co-operative Indl. Estate
Mathura Road
New Delhi – 110044
Phone: 011-40520815-816
Fax: 011-26945323

Rajiv Gandhi IIM Shillong: An anomaly

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:22:00 +0000

As a marketing communications professional, I pay a little more than average attention to things like ad copies, headline, logos et cetera. Most logos flummox me no end. Try hard as I may, their original meaning is almost always indecipherable. Yes, I might be creative enough to provide a wonderfully sensible sounding meaning to the logo. But did my 'imagination' match the 'imagination' of the creator, well, that's a different ballgame! Can you guess what the IIM Shillong logo signifies?

" The Logo heavily uses the color and the imagery from nature like the sun, the sky and the mountains. The portrayal of the sun with its rays spreading across in the half circle above gives a feeling of progress and light. The curves in yellow within the round give a shape of the mountain, where the institute is situated. The blue color stands for the sky. The definite linear lines at the bottom of the circle show energy can be channelized. This can also be compared to the skill of the students, which would be enhanced and guided properly. " (source: Wikipedia)

If you guessed that accurately, don't forget to give yourself a big pat in the back. You have a bright, imaginative future ahead!

The IIM logos, with the exception of Ahmedabad, are invariably sarkari looking, dull creations. So, I was hardly surprised to see what the new IIM Shillong dished out. Just look at that hideous logo again - shudders! Shillong is a breathtakingly beautiful place; the institute itself, set amidst tall, stunning pines looks most pretty. Why then such an unaesthetic symbol for such a lovely institute. Why the sun in the logo, for an IIM located in a place known more for its cloud bursts than a fiery sun. Wouldn't that be more apt for IIM Jaisalmer, whenever that happens!

CAT 2008 notification

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:09:00 +0000

The IIMs have released the notification for this year's Common Admission Test (IIM-CAT) to the IIMs, which also serves as the entrance test for quite a few other reputed business schools. Notable among these are Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA), Nanyang Business School (Singapore), MDI (Gurgaon), SP Jain (Mumbai) and Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) (Bhopal).

These are some of the important dates relating to the application process.

Issue of CAT Bulletins at Axis Bank starts : JULY 14 (Monday)

Issue of CAT Bulletins at Axis Bank ends : AUGUST 8 (Friday)

Issue of CAT Bulletins by the IIMs ends : AUGUST (Wednesday)

Last date for receipt of completed CAT Applications by the IIMs : SEPTEMBER 5 (Friday)

COMMON ADMISSION TEST : NOVEMBER 16, 2008 (Sunday)

Will the CAT go online from 2009?

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:30:00 +0000

See what the official IIM website has got to say on this:

"An article appeared in Business Standard dated February 4, 2008 which gives an impression that a decision has been taken that IIMs will introduce online CAT from CAT 2009. This is totally incorrect. In view of increasing number of candidates IIMs are considering various alternatives for modifying the process of conducting CAT, if necessary. Online testing is one of those alternatives. The proposals are at the preliminary stage of discussion."

While talking to newspersons earlier during this year after the news of the CAT going online from next year first surfaced in the media, the IIM-A director appeared to be pretty confident about the possibility of the CAT going online from 2009. What had strengthened the belief in this stand further were reports of the IIMs approaching various organisations for the conduct of an online CAT.

Various established players added to the rumour by publishing unconfirmed reports. This is an excerpt from the website of Career Launcher.

Look at the story in the bottom half of the image above (cached from http://www.careerlauncher.com/mba/news/mbanews.jsp). It says without a hint of doubt, " The common admission test(CAT) will finally go online from 2009. " This is utterly irresponsible journalism. Making things funnier the last line of the story ends saying, "According to sources, the IIMs are contemplating conducting CAT" !!! There ain't a full stop there, so obviously someone forgot to complete the sentence, and no one at Career Launcher has bothered to have a second look at the page, i guess.

So, is the CAT going online from 2009? The answer is "no one knows for sure yet, and if somebody at the IIMs does, he ain't coming out with a forthright answer". My take is - the IIMs are highly interested in going online, but are not sure yet if they will be able to put the required infrastructure in place by the next year end.

Watch this space for more.

Preparing for CAT 2008?

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 15:00:00 +0000

It has been quite a while since I wrote a general post for students planning to write CAT 2008 or any of the other MBA Entrance tests towards the end of the end of this year or in the beginning of 2009. Now that November 2008 is just six months away, it's time to take stock of your preparation.

Have you taken your first MockCAT for CAT 2008? (or SimCAT or AimCAT or CopyCAT, whichever be your preference) What was your score like? More than the absolute score, what was your percentile score like?

But even before you start gloating over your 99th percentile or feeling saddened that in the rat race called CAT 2008, you are left far behind with your 60th percentile, think things over in the overall perspective.

When did you start preparing for CAT 2008 seriously? May 2008, November 2007 or January'08 ? You surely can't compare apples with oranges, can you? If you started your preparation in early 2008, then you surely had a headstart over quite a few other competitors and they will soon be better geared to give you a tougher fight in the next mock-cat. So, stay happy, but don't get over-confident. Similarly if you started your preparation as late as May 2008, then don't worry if you haven't fared as well in the mock cat. Afterall, you are still on with your quant and verbal fundamentals, and by the time the second mock cat arrives, things will have changed drastically. You can now attempt that permutation and combination question, which you couldn't last time, simply because you know now the formula!

Now, for them, who started early, yet are lagging behind now. Surely, you can't give up on your hopes. Not so early, dear. Maybe you won't make it to the IIMs, but I won't be so sure, not just yet. What you need to do is stop, and spend time understanding what went wrong.

1) Re-open the Mock CAT paper, alongwith the answer key. Group your responses under these heads - did not attempt, attempted and got right, attempted and got wrong. Now, try and see if you can form some clusters. For instance, did you get a bunch of RC questions wrong? Or did you not attempt all quant questions of a certain type?

If that is the case, then all you need to do is go back to the fundamentals in this areas, study hard, and take another Mock 10 days from now. But before that, I'd suggest you should take sectional tests for those areas.

2) Where did the Mock CAT go wrong for you? Did you make too many mistakes, or was it simply a question of not attempting enough questions?

3) Did you attempt too many RCs? ( for instance 7 questions from 3 RCs, out of the total 10 on offer) - See, there are no hard and fast rules here: but if a certain approach is not working for you, you need to re-think, that's all. If you still think that this was the best approach, great. Now get the answers right. Somehow!!

Now you know the line of thinking - every once in a while, spend time analyzing. The CAT is a thinking manager's test. It's not a test of quant or verbal only. Remember you are not applying for a M.Sc in Mathematics or a MA in English. It's actually the MBA - and it's all about managing it well. Maths and English are mere tools.

The Mock CAT Battle

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Thu, 29 May 2008 08:07:00 +0000

It's crazy, and outright shocking the way the various CAT coaching institutes misguide students to achieve their own commercial ends. I was associated with IMS Learning Resources, the oldest coaching institute for CAT in the country, for close t0 3 years - during this period and before it IMS offered 8 SIMCATs (the IMS mock CAT) for students getting ready for the CAT and other MBA Entrance Tests. While other coaching institutes were offering more and more Mock CATs with an idea to lure away students from the competition, I was proud that my organisation stuck to its guns because as an organisation we believed that 8 mocks were sufficient for a student preparing for CAT. The counselors had a tough time explaining the logic as it is far easier to sell "more than less". But we were doing a fair job, though we could see that our competitors were gaining strength because they were offering 'more for less' and gullible students (read customers) were being misguided into taking the wrong decision.

The logic behind 8 SIMCATs was simple - a Mock CAT has certain objectives:

1) to find out where do you stand vis-a-vis other CAT takers (so the overall percentiles and the sectional percentiles are important)

2) to help you find and assess your strong and weak areas so that you can correct/balance your further study plan accordingly

3) to gauge your progress as you move towards the CAT day, expose students to various likely papers/patterns and improve his Test Taking Techniques.

4) and as a result of point 3 above, you get a fair idea of which b-schools you stand a chance of getting into and can thus apply accordingly.

and most importantly:

5) we insisted on 8 SIMCATs and no more because we wanted students to get time to assess his performance, work on it and gradually improve his performance over the 8 tests.

What is funny is that the above logic was perfect and IMS was producing results year after year, yet now they have taken a complete about turn. I just checked out the IMS website and was horrified that they have not just increased the number of SIMCATs for CAT 2008, but actually gone ahead and doubled it. The new SIMCAT package for CAT 2008 has its selling line saying (and read this and see the irony of it all): "The 1st commandment of CAT Prep comes back with double the strength and double the power..but at the same price.." Sham, Shame!

But the biggest culprit is still not IMS. That i would think are the other 2 biggies in the CAT Coaching arena - Career Launcher and TIME. This trend of more and more Mock CATs has been shamelessly advocated by TIME for years - and what's more they sell it for a bargain price so that students enrolled with other coaching institutes also enrol with them for their Mock CATs. ( It's called AIM CAT, but the students never knew what the real aim was!!) Their objective was to get more and more students so that they had a larger number of IIM seats that were filled up by TIME to claim. That has been their chief marketing ploy for years now. They now even shamelessly claim that they send the largest number of students to the IIMs, compared to even IMS. What an utter distortion of truth!! ( and their marketing managers are stupid enough to believe that someone outside Hyderabad or Secunderabad would even believe this crap, they have now gone ahead and got this distortion of truth approved by KPMG) - yeah and don't forget what their tagline claims: No.1 institute in India. My IMS office was in Barakhamba and every time we passed their centre in CP, we used to have a hearty laugh - "forget India, they are not even no.1 in Connaught Place, and yes not even no.2". ( To understand how TIME sends the largest number of students to the IIMs, i strongly recommend you to first brush up your fundas on Set Theory - else ask me, i would love to explain further!)

And let me say a few nice words about Career Launcher too - the trendiest and the most youthful of the lot, they started off well, with noble intentions maybe. I was one of the earlier CL students, and the quality then was not great, but not too bad either - with the founders themselves playing teachers way back then. But if one organisation is to be blamed for dirtying the CAT Coaching atmosphere, this honour has to go to CL. They are out and out commercial, playing every game - right or wrong to increase their numbers. Every month they have a "fee incentive ending soon" campaign!! If you have ever gone there for an enquiry and left your number behind, they will keep calling you till you have enrolled with them or till you ask them to buzz off saying what hurts them more than the choicest four-letter word: "I have joined IMS".

I am a marketing man myself and have nothing against people trying to promote their product/service - afterall that's how i have been earning my bread this last 7 years. But blatant lies and misguiding your customers - that's not fair, and not right. What's more, it's not required. There is a right way of going about it, and it ain't that difficult either.

Great News for CAT Aspirants in Delhi

noreply@blogger.com (Amit Bajaj) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 12:56:00 +0000

If you are readying yourself for CAT 2008, chances are you are already a regular visitor of http://www.totalgadha.com/ - just in case you are not, don't delay any further. It is the only online study place for CAT and a fine one at that. Check for yourself the quality of the lessons, articles and quizzes.

Now for the big news - these guys have opened their first centre in the New Delhi and have already 4 batches running. Known by the name of Tathagat, the first centre is at Kailash Colony (GK-1) and next week they are opening their second centre in Connaught Place. The first batch in Connaught Place starts 26th April and enrolments are open. For more information you can contact 9999658139 or 9891147846.

I have been a great fan of the website myself and was myself associated with it for a good part of last year. You must check out some of the articles yourself. You may start with this article on the Study Plan for CAT 2008 . ( I think login is required for this page so you will have to register but it takes less than a minute so that should be okay)

Tathagat has kept its fee on the slightly higher side (Rs.30,000) - market leaders IMS and CL are priced in between Rs.25,000 and Rs.28,000. But the quality of the material and the faculty justifies the price. For verbal they have two of Delhi's best English teachers for CAT including Kumar Abhishek, who had a long and successul stint with Career Launcher. As for Quant, it is being handled by Sanjeev Singh - the chief architect behind TG and the head of the content development team for totalgadha.com . Need i say more?!

Conclusion: Tathagat is Highly Recommended.