here are two kinds of folks who aim to clear the CAT -- the 'MBA nahin to kuch n

ahin' and the 'Kuch nahin to MBA.'

The first category discovered at an early age that M, B and A spelt the magic an
d politically correct answer to the inevitable question: "Beta aap bade hokar ky
a banna chahte ho?"
The second took the medicine-engineering route only to be disillusioned with the
ir course of study or future prospects. No particular pyaar for management but c
halo, paisa to kam se kam zyaada milega.
The MBA programme -- which allows graduates from ANY stream to apply -- thus off
ers one final hope of personal and professional salvation.
In India, the MBA magic has worked on two fronts. Say you plan to do an MBA and
parents will be a lot less worried about your taking up Eco or Commerce and avoi
ding the PMT/JEE.
Secondly, in case you did make it through those toughies and find you haven't th
e faintest interest in electronics or electrocardiograms, you can at least dream
of leaping off the wrong bus onto the MBA bandwagon. The 'luxury coach' that of
fers a ride in the fast lane!
Unfortunately, these coaches are very few and very hard to get a seat on. And al
though in theory ANYONE from any background has an equal chance at making it the
re, the statistics paint a different picture.
Check IIM Ahmedabad's Class of 2006 profile -- 70% engineering grads, 8% commerc
e, 4% IT, 4% science 4%, 3% arts, 1% medicine. Incidentally, Ahmedabad has tradi
tionally had a much more diverse class profile in the IIM fraternity -- the Clas
s of 2004 at IIM-B, C and L all boasted 78% engineers!
The stats should bust a few prevailing myths:
Fact #1: Doing a management course at the undergrad level gives you absolutely n
o edge. Only 1% of IIM A's 2006 class had an BBA/BMS background.
Fact #2: Humanities are a bad choice if you dream of making it to an IIM. Even a
mong the 3% Arts graduates who've made it, most would be students of Eco -- a qu
asi-numerical subject.
To put it extremely bluntly, only exceptional 'ordinary graduates' -- the kind w
ho could probably have made it to an engineering school but chose not to -- make
it to an IIM A. Many in fact come from colleges like SRCC and St Stephens where
the cut-offs for Honours courses are mercilessly high.
Even among the engineers who make it, a large percentage are from the creme de l
a creme schools -- the IITs, RECs, VJTIs and DCEs. The IIM Calcutta batch profil
e in fact lists 'engineering' and 'IITs' as two separate categories! Together th
ese grads hog close to 80% of the seats at the Institute.
Why should engineers dominate so completely in an area which purports to offer e
ntry to any kind of graduate?
According to UGC figures (as of March 2002), India's 253 universities and 13,150
colleges churned out 2.5 million graduates annually. Of that number, just about
300,000 -- or 10% -- were engineers.
Now logically one may argue that those who make it through highly competitive en
gineering entrance exams represent the cream of the nation's Class 12 crop. So f
our years later they are again more likely to excel when it comes to another com
petitive exam.
Engineering as a course enjoys such a halo that all but a small sliver of the in
telligent school age population ends up in that stream by default!
There is another, more disturbing explanation. Engineers have a huge advantage w
hen it comes to numerical ability. The vast number of ordinary graduates, especi
ally those who have not been in touch with mathematics since Class 10, simply ca
nnot cope.
But the crucial question is this: Does wizardry with numbers a good manager make
?
It is unclear why the CAT exam must make such a big deal of how fast you can pol
ish off sums on permutations and combinations. Sure, accounts and finance and op
erations all deal with numbers. But the level of number crunching undertaken dur
ing one's MBA has hardly any co-relation with the actual work profile of most ma
nagers later in life. Because as you rise higher up the ladder, success is incre
asingly defined not by what you know or do, but how you manage and motivate your
people.
Engineers are trained to believe every problem in the world has a logical soluti
on. But, people -- whether as employees or consumers or clients -- are far from
logical. Why, then rely on a uni-dimensional exam like CAT to identify talent? Y
es, it is the fairest and toughest MBA entrance exam in the land -- but are the
people being selected through the process the best potential managers?
Top B schools in the US use the GMAT score as ONE of several evaluation criteria
. In 2003, 18% of applicants who scored 700 or greater were offered admission by
Kellogg. But more than 13% of applicants who scored between 650 and 690 were al
so admitted. Chicago's Graduate School of Business clearly states that 'successf
ul applicants not only have the credentials but they tell a compelling and well-
rounded personal story through their application.'
Fat chance, here!
Sure, there is an interview and GD stage, but to get there you must first score
in the 99th percentile (ie be in the top 1% of test takers). And this works for
one simple reason: Most admissions are tainted by 'less deserving' candidates us
ing influence or money power. The fact that neither works when it comes to CAT h
as built a solid equity for the IIM brand. To protect this equity, subjective cr
iteria comes in only at the second stage -- after the CAT hurdle has been crosse
d. Any other, more holistic form of admission would never achieve the same rever
ence in this country!
The entire management entrance scene in India, then, boils down to selection of
the 'brainiest' and then grooming them towards a management career. Rather than
selecting the brains best suited for the purpose. Going by the old Cats and Dogs
theory, the funda is to identify and aggregate all the cats in the graduate uni
verse. Add the IIM chhaap and the world and his uncle will accept them as kings
of the corporate jungle.
On the flip side, scratch the batch profile of an MBA school and the percentage
of engineers you find can give you an accurate picture of where the school is ra
nked. The Big 4 -- IIM A, B, C, L as well as S P Jain and IIM-K -- admit over 70
% engineering graduates. At XLRI (BMD) the figure is above 60% while the likes o
f MDI, FMS, Bajaj, XIM B and IIM-I boast 55% to 60% engineers.
As you go further down the ladder the number of engineers dips -- a strong local
 school such as NMIMS had 23% while Welingkar just 6%. At these schools, Commerc
e graduates dominate -- comprising 50% to 60% of the batch. Again, this reflects
the inherent bias in the education system at an earlier stage -- 'students with
marks' inevitably join Commerce over Science or Arts!
The engineering overload at B schools is rooted in the fact that there is a stro
ng opportunity cost for an engineer seeking to do an MBA. If he or she is to spe
nd about Rs 4 lakhs for a 2 year course, also forgoing asimilar or greater amoun
t in salary (perhaps even a chance to work abroad, given the software boom) -- t
he course had better provide a great return. Only the top few schools provide th
at kind of long term brand value and short term job prospects.
IIM A, B and C placed on average 46% of their students in consulting, finance or
banking (the high salary, top dollar variety of jobs). Just about 11% of the ba
tch went into marketing/ sales.
At top B schools other than IIMs only 27% of the batch was placed in consultancy
, banking or finance roles while almost 30% went into marketing.
As you go down the ladder marketing jobs dominate even more -- and the prestige/
salary value of the job to an engineer declines.
In the final analysis,"Kuch nahin to MBA" may sound bechara, but the strategy it
actually works. Those engineers didn't 'waste' 4 years, they were just biding t
heir time. Conversely, "MBA nahin to kuch nahin" is going to remain a pipe dream
for the majority. Koi MBA to mil jayega -- there are 900 + institutes offering
the course in this country - but top B schools will continue to elude other grad
uates.
As far as CAT is concerned, non engineers remain the underdogs.