Common Admission Test - 2008

Come November 16 and about 2.76 lakh aspirants across the country will appear for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2008, rated as one of the world's most demanding entrance examinations for any graduate institute.

CAT is the stepping stone for MBA aspirants to get admitted in reputed management schools of India.

Apart from the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, Lucknow, Indore, Kozhikode and Shillong, CAT is also a mandatory entrance examination for several other leading institutes like Kirloskar Institute of Management, Mudra Institute of Communication (MICA) Ahmedabad, Nirma Institute of Management, S.P. Jain Institute, TAPAI and several others.

Some people feel that CAT is more of a rejection process than a selection process. 'It rejects those who can't make their minds work at break-neck speed for two and a half hours non-stop'.

The entrance exam, designed to test a student's managerial aptitude, has seen an increase of 23 percent in the total number of applications this year and nearly 40 colleges have added their names to the list of colleges that decide admissions on CAT scores.

With a 15 percent rise from last year's 2.4 lakh and an acceptance offer to just one in 138 candidates this year against one in 120 last year, CAT 2008 promises to be bigger and better.

From the NCR region alone, more than 50,000 students will appear for the entrance exam.

The increase in the number of students this year has forced the IIMs to arrange for more test centres. IIM Lucknow, which coordinates the exam in the NCR, has setup about 60 centres to handle around 59,000 students.