IIMs dont appeal to Gujarat?s CAT topper

Updated on: Thursday, January 12, 2012

As students across the country are crossing their fingers to get into one of the IIMs, Gujarat's top scorer in the Common Admission Test (CAT) this year, Vipul Tyagi, does not intend to study in any of these coveted institutes. In fact the 23 year-old appeared in the valued Common Admission Test (CAT) to prove to students in the state that it does not take a topper to get into the IIMs.

With a score in the 99.87th percentile, the Vadodara resident was shortlisted for interviews at several IIMs and other institutes. None however tempted Tyagi enough. "I have been shortlisted for IIM-Kozhikode, IIM-Calcutta and others institutes till now. I believe I will be shortlisted for the other institutes as well," said Tyagi. "However, I have no plans to appear for any of these interviews."

Soon after completing his bachelors degree in engineering in 2009, Tyagi took CAT-2009. Tyagi scored in the 99.14th percentile. However his sectional score in verbal ability was low at 66 percentile and he was not called by the IIMs. "So I went ahead and became an entrepreneur training students for entrance examinations."

Tyagi saw that there is a need to boost students' confidence and decided to appear in CAT-2011 to prove to students that they can do it. "Many students think that they are not brilliant and those at IIMs are only students who always stood first in their classes. So I decided to take this step to try and play my part and prove to the students that they must believe in themselves."

Performance of the state's students in CAT has dipped this year. While three students form the state were in the 99.99th percentile in last year, the highest for any candidate in the state this year was 99.87.

Tech snag at IIM-A

A technical snag at the country's top-ranking institute left top scorers high and dry on the day of CAT results. Students who scored higher than in the 99 percentile kept checking the list of shortlisted candidates for IIM-Ahmedabad in vain.

About the snag with the institute's server a faculty member said, "The technical experts are working on the institute's servers. In fact even we cannot access our email." A student from Ahmedabad Harsh Vora who scored 99.78 said, "I have already been shortlisted for IIM- Kozhikode. I have been trying to access the IIM-A list since the afternoon but can't." Another 99.93 percentile scorer, Shrey Sahay said, "I am eager to see the IIM-A shortlist but the site is not responding."

Times of India

IIMs dont appeal to Gujarat?s CAT topper

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