After worst-ever application numbers, IIMs extend CAT 2015 registration deadline by 5 days

After witnessing the worst-ever application numbers for Common Admission Test (CAT) this year, prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have been forced to extend the application deadline by 5 days. The last date of application is now September 25.

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"Till Friday, we have received around 1,38,000 registrations,” CAT 2015 officials confirmed to Careers360. The last date of registration, however, was September 20.

According to the IIMA officials, the total number of registrations received till the original registration deadline is way lower than that of last year’s 1.90 lakh recorded on the original deadline.

Given the moderate kind of response that the extended registration window brought to CAT last year, the number of application this year seems to be heading to a record low. Last year, despite an extended registration window, IIMs could add only 4% more applications. The total number of application till original deadline was 1.90 lakh and the extended window could add only 7000 more applicants last year. 

The following graph brings numbers on how registrations have dipped, except a few occasions, over the years. The application number of CAT 2015 represented below is that received till September 18, 2 days before the original application deadline.

CAT 2015 Convenor Prof. Tathagata Bandyopadhyay is, however, hopeful about getting 2 lakh registrations with a 5 day registration window extension. “Last year, there was an extension of CAT registration for 1 day and the number increased by 7,000. With the same ratio, we are hoping that by extending the application by 5 days, even if we receive around 10,000 registrations each day, we will get around 2 lakh applications.”

Reality Check!

The IIMs may be faced with yet another crisis if the number of actual test takers on the D-day falls in the line with past years trend. Last year, about 14% of CAT applicants had skipped the test on the actual test day.

Thus, the actual number of test takers may turn out to be even lesser than the actual number of registrations. For CAT 2014, the actual number of test takers out of 1.97 lakh registrations was 1.67 lakh only.

The Number Game!

In the year 2008, around 2, 90,000 candidates had registered for the prestigious MBA entrance exam. Since then the number has dipped barring a few exception where it showed signs of revival.

With the decreasing trend in the application and test taker numbers, it is feared that several seats will go vacant in the newest batch of IIMs and the situation would be even worse for the private B-schools.

The irony is that, while the registration numbers is undergoing a perpetual dip, the number of IIMs has increased. Last year onwards, the total number of IIMs is 19. For the six new IIMs, launched last year in the states of Maharashtra, Bihar, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, seats offered is approximately 60 per IIM.

The following table brings to you the details of number of CAT applications vis a vis the total number of IIM seats in the academic years since 2010-12.

The application process of CAT 2015 had started from August 6 and was scheduled to end on September 20. On September 19, the officials announced the extension of the application deadline by 5 days, till September 25.

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CAT 2015 Registration Deadline extended till September 25

Stay tuned to bschool.careers360.com for more news on CAT 2015 registration trends.