Great Lakes - PGDM & PGPM Admissions 2026
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IIM vs Non-IIM is a relevant query among the CAT aspirants. The Common Admission Test is the most sought-after examination in the management domain. The reason is that apart from 22 IIMs, CAT provides an opportunity for the candidates to get admitted to Non-IIMs 2026 as well the which are regarded as the top MBA institutions to study management courses in India. However, in the dichotomy between IIMs vs Non-IIMs 2026 recent times, a trend has engulfed the management sector. The students are opting for the Non IIMs after CAT rather than IIMS other CAT-accepting B-schools rather than the IIMs. As management aspirants await the CAT 2025 exam on November 30, 2025, this dilemma regarding IIM vs. other B-schools needs to be addressed. Earlier, students have left IIMs for Master's Union or they have opted for FMS in FMS vs IIM. Even in the public discussion forum, heated arguments have surfaced time and again regarding IIM vs. non-IIMs. In the debate between IIM vs Other CAT-accepting B-Schools the reason for opting for other CAT-accepting MBA colleges rather than IIM is multifaceted that including diversity, better placement compared to and the trending MBA specialisation.
The students preparing for the CAT 2025 should know that there are top non-IIMs in India 2025 that accept the CAT 2025 score, other than IIMs. While it comes to IIM vs Non-IIMs 2025, these non-IIM management schools can compete with IIM BLACKI regarding the MBA placement and MBA average package. Though this can be one of the reasons to prefer Other CAT colleges rather than IIM, the comparison between IIMs vs Non-IIMs is much deeper. Here are some of the reasons for choosing another non-IIM B-school over IIM.
IIM BLACKI Higher Cutoffs: In most cases, IIM BLACKI typically have very high CAT cutoffs, between 95 to 100 percentiles. The higher competition is due to a smaller number of seats and a higher number of CAT applications. Due to this, management aspirants get lower chances of clearing the IIM BLACKI CAT cutoff. So, despite the CAT 90 percentile, candidates might opt for the other CAT accepting Non-IIMs, while they need to choose one management school between IIMs and Non-IIMs.
Diverse Management Courses: Compared to the conventional management course, the non-IIMs offer more diverse specialisations related to the current trends. For example, IBS’s Business Analytics course has a special focus on AI. The diverse management courses that might attract management aspirants to choose Non IIMs over IIMs 2025.
Lower Cutoff: The comparatively lower cutoff that the non-IIMs can attract the CAT aspirants to shift their focus to non-IIMs, while they have to choose between IIMs vs. non-IIMs schools.
Multiple Exam Options: Though CAT is the most sought-after all-India entrance examination for management courses, there are other national-level management examinations like XAT, GMAT, MAT, etc. While the IIMs only accept CAT, other B-schools also accept exams like XAT, GMAT, and MAT apart from CAT. These different opportunities to appear for the various qualifying examinations make management aspirants choose other B-Schools rather than IIMs.
Flexible Admission Criteria: Apart from the CAT score, IIMs also consider another IIM admission criterion, a strong academic score throughout. Without a strong academic score, it is difficult to break through the top IIM admissions. That can be one of the reasons for choosing other non IIMs rather than IIM
One of the top non-IIMs that accepts CAT is FMS. Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, is a top choice among the CAT qualifiers from non-IIM B-schools fro its ROI. Here are some reasons that help management aspirants to choose FMS Delhi over IIM, when it comes to choosing IIM vs non IIMs, 2025.
FMS Delhi ROI better than IIM: FMS Delhi has the lower fees despite having a higher ROI compared to many new IIMs. FMS Delhi, which has a course fee of 2.32 lakhs can fetch the FMS Delhi average package of Rs. 34.1 LPA and the FMS Delhi highest package of Rs 1.2 CPA as a part of FMS Delhi placement 2025. In comparison, IIM Lucknow placement 2025 has Rs 75 LPA as the IIM Lucknow highest package and 32.3 LPA. As is evident, FMS Delhi ROI is better in IIM vs FMS Delhi.
Similarly, one can earn almost a similar management average package between IIM Ahmedabad vs FMS Delhi, despite the lower FMS Delhi Fees 2025. Compared to the FMS Delhi average package of 34. 1 LPA IIM Ahmedabad average package is Rs. 34.45 LPA. But IIM Ahmedabad Fees 2025 is Rs. 26.5 Lakhs, which is 10 times that of FMS Delhi MBA fees of Rs 2.32 Lakhs.
Management College in India | MBA Fees (Rs.) | MBA Average Package (Rs.) |
2.32 Lakhs | 34.1 LPA | |
20.55 Lakhs | 32.3 LPA | |
IIM Ahmedabad | 26.5 Lakhs | 34.4 LPA |
27.0 Lakhs | 30.0 LPA |
FMS Delhi’s New Branding: One LinkedIn user pointed out that FMS Delhi's new branding, other than IIMs to find a new perspective among the new management placement offers, helps candidates to choose FMS in comparison to IIM vs FMS Delhi.
FMS Delhi Batch Size: Ruchika Agarwal, who chose FMS Delhi over IIM Bangalore 2 years back, highlighted that the small batch size not only helped her to make better contacts with the students but at the same time helped her in the FMS Delhi placement as well.
FMS Delhi Experiential Learning: According to Ruchika pointed out that as a part of experiential learning, FMS Delhi students were given real-life management problems to solve, which would prepare them for future management arenas. This factor helped Ruchika to choose FMS when she was confused between FMS Delhi vs IIM Lucknow.
Pursuing Other Interests: FMS Delhi provide students enough space to pursue their own interests apart from the preparation of management degrees. This burdenless aspect of FMS Delhi lured Ruchika to choose FMS while she had to decide between non IIM vs IIMs.
FMS Alumni Base: Ruchika pointed out that the FMS Delhi Alumni base helped her to choose FMS Delhi while deciding between FMS Delhi vs IIM.
In recent years, another prominent non-IIM, ISB Hyderabad, has become the centre of attraction among management aspirants. In 2024, ISB Hyderabad grabbed the highest rank in pre- to post-degree salary increase. According to the Financial Times global report, ISB Hyderabad gained a salary increase of 229% which was even more than IIM Bangalore or XLRI.
Let's look at how some of the management students have rated ISB in the public discussion forums.
ISB Diverse Cohort: A couple of years back, Nirvisha Mankad, a student of ISB, highlighted that one of the reasons for her to choose ISB over IIMs was the ISB diverse cohort. To her, as ISB demands a minimum of 2 years of work experience for the ISB PGP courses, the rich work experience of a diverse ISB batch provides an edge over other Baby IIMs.
ISB Diverse Faculty: Nirvisha pointed out that apart from the permanent ISB faculty, the visiting faculty of the Indian School of Business, who belong to the prestigious management colleges of the USA, bring a different approach and worldview to the case studies, which temped
Great ISB Placements: Anshul Mehrotra, who graduated from IIM Ahmedabad in 2019, highlighted a key difference between IIMs and ISB. To him, ISB makes one management aspirant employable, while IIM makes one knowledgeable.
Top Women Management College-ISB: Looking into the gender diversity factor, ISB batches have more women students than some of the reputed IIMs. With 40 % female students in 2024 and 47% students being female at ISB in 2025, ISB is turned out to be the best management college for women in India.
IIM vs Non-IIMs: ISB vs IIMs Gender Diversity | ||
Top MBA Colleges 2025 | Male | Female |
53 % | 47% | |
70% | 30% | |
62.5 % | 37.5% |
While the average ISB work experience of 4.4 years in previous years and the huge ISB batch size (870 in 2024) might turn out to be an area of concern but the ISB placement records can be a sole tempting factor for the management students to choose ISB over IIMs.
The most important factors about ISB 2024 Placement Statistics, which would be worth noting, are that 80% of the ISB 2024 batch gained more than Rs. 35 LPA. There are IIMs like IIM Kozhikode, IIM Calcutta, where the top 20% gain between Rs 40.79 LPA and Rs 54.27 LPA, more than ISB. But if one looks at the number of students earning that amount of money would be more in ISB compared to IIMs.
IIM vs Non-IIMs: ISB Placement Record vs IIM Placements Record | |
Management Institutions | Average Package Highlights |
ISB | 80% of the Cohort of ISB 2024 gained more than Rs. 35 LPA |
IIM Bangalore | Median Salary (2025): Rs. 32.5 LPA |
Median Salary of IIM Kozhikode (2024): Rs. 27 LPA, Top 20% Rs. 40.27 LPA | |
IIM Calcutta | Median Salary of IIM Calcutta (2024): Rs. 33.67 LPA, Top 20% Rs. 54.27 LPA |
Median Salary of IIM Rohtak (2024): Rs. 17 LPA, Top 50% Rs. 24.13 LPA | |
Median Salary of IIM Shillong (2024): Rs. 25.67 LPA, Top 20% Rs. 38.43 LPA | |
Median Salary of IIM Nagpur (2024): Rs. 16.00 LPA, Top 20% Rs. 19.49 LPA | |
IIM Lucknow | Median Salary of IIM Lucknow (2024): Rs. 27.00 LPA, Top 50% Rs. 37 LPA |
IITs are some of the management institutions that accept the CAT score for their MBA admission, other than IITs. If the management aspirants need to choose between Baby IIMs vs IIT MBA, preference might be tending towards the IITs.
In the last few years, several CAT toppers have left IIMs for other B-Schools for their management journey. Master's Union, FMS are such colleges that are accepted by students rather than IIMs. Janvi Sukla, who got into the Master's Union in 2024 in a LinkedIn post,t pointed out several important points which led her to choose Master's Union rather than any IIM.
Learning by Doing: Rather than delving into the theoretical aspects of management courses, the trends “outclass” curriculum led her to choose MU rather than IIM.
Tech-Focused: Master's Union offers a tech-focused MBA. So that has lured her to Mu rather than nay, IIMs
Learning from Leaders: Masters Union, one gets to learn directly from CXOs who are running successful businesses and tackle real business problems.
Diversity in the selection criteria: According to Janvi, the diversity in the selection criteria, with no specific cutoff, helps her to choose the Master's Union over others.
Apart from Ruhcira, in 2025, another candidate left their IPM course at IIM Bodhgaya after three years to study for a Masters Union in Gurgaon.
CAT top percentiles leave the Baby IIM at the top for the other B-Schools for the following reasons:
Contrary to baby IIMs, prominent B-schools like FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, and XLRI have stronger brand recognition and higher prestige compared to the newer baby IIMs. At the same time, they have a good reputation for management placement and alumni network.
Baby IIMs generally have newer placement records, which might not yet match those of the other prominent non-IIM B-Schools. For example, the IIM Amritsar placement 2025 has the highest package of more than Rs 20 LPA, which is even lower than the JBIMS average package 2025. Because of the highest average package, prominent management colleges are the top choices among the CAT aspirants rather than newer IIMs.
Some toppers view admission into well-known older IIMs or reputed non-IIMs as offering a more competitive edge in the job market compared to newer IIMs, prompting them to opt accordingly.
According to the trends, CAT 2025 examination is to be held on November 30, 2025.
The CAT 2025 notification came out on July 27, 2025.
No, CAT exam is held once a year.
One can give CAT one time in a year.
No. One can either appear for the CAT examination if they have completed a minimum of 3 years of graduation, or are in their 3rd year of graduation. One cannot give the CAT examination in the 2nd year.
Hello,
Thank you for your question!
KL- MAT syllabus: Quantitative Aptitude, Reasoning, English/Verbal Ability, and General Awareness (similar to MAT/CMAT pattern).
CAT scores are valid in many private universities including KL University, but always check the year’s admission notification.
CAT vs other exams: CAT is toughest (IIMs + top B-schools), while MAT/CMAT/ATMA are relatively easier and accepted by many mid-level private universities.
Hello it will clear your doubt!
Hello Aspirant,
I saw a cat. The cat found an old map inside a drawer of the king's palace.
Here's why:
"a cat": It's the first time we mention the cat, so it's indefinite.
"The cat": Now we're talking about that specific cat we just mentioned, so it's definite.
"an old map": It's the first time we mention a map, and "old" starts with a vowel sound, so "an."
"a drawer": It's one of possibly many drawers, not a specific one known to us yet.
"the king's palace": This is a specific, unique place, so "the."
Hello Kapish
You can find the last 5 year questions of DILR for CAT at Careers360 website. Moreover, you can find the previous year papers of all the subjects i.e. DILR, Quants and VARC. I am attaching the link through which you would be able to access the same.
Here's the link:
CAT Previous Year Papers by CAREERS360
Sample paper of DILR:
CAT Sample Paper (DILR) by CAREERS360
Thank You!!!
Hello Divya,
Yes, candidates with an online BBA can sit for both CAT and GMAT provided that the degree is from a recognized (UGC approved in India or accredited abroad) institution. The leading B-schools in both India and abroad do not look down upon online degrees as long as the degree is from a recognized body, they will mostly be looking at your test scores, academic performance, work experience, and profile holistically. What matters is the legitimacy of the institution and how you showcase your abilities, not whether your degree was obtained online or in-person.
Yes, someone with an online BBA can sit for both CAT and GMAT, provided the degree is from a UGC recognized university. Top B-schools in India (like IIMs) and abroad generally accept online degrees if they are valid, and you won’t be marked down just because it’s online. What matters more is your entrance exam score, academic record, work experience, and overall profile.
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