Got Into IIM at 19! This Student’s Journey Is Breaking the Internet

What was the actual post about IIM at 19?

A week back, Eashan Jindal expressed his happiness at getting a chance at IIM Kozhikode through a LinkedIn post. Eashan scored a whopping 99.89% percentile in CAT 2024, the percentile that is enough to get a decent IIM, and chose the PGPM course at IIM Kozhikode.

In that post, he mentioned how people express their astonishment upon hearing his age. Yes! Eashan is just 19 years old and got admission at one of the top MBA colleges of India, IIM Kozhikode. According to his post, the people even asked if he could time travel or whether he had skipped classes to make it to IIM at such a young age.

In his post, Eashan mentioned how he did not attend the nursery classes, which might have given him an edge over others regarding his age. He also mentioned that everyone has their own journey and like that, rather than climbing up the ladder of conventional ideas, he is on his way to make his own ladder. Eashan also encouraged being clueless in his LinkedIn post at one point of time in order to chart out own’s path.

Can you actually join IIM at 19?

In the recent NEP 2020, the GOI has categorically pointed out that no student should be admitted to class 1 before they turn 6. The minimum qualification for the CAT is to have a graduation degree in any stream. Therefore, looking at the regulations now, it is difficult to join IIM at 19.

Because one needs to complete 15/16 (10+2+3/4) years of education after getting admitted to class 1 at the age of 6. So that automatically takes the minimum age to appear for the CAT examination to 21/22. So, going by the norms, if anyone wants to join IIM at 19 through CAT for the MBA courses, it is not quite possible for them to do so now.

Earlier, as there was no such strict regulation of class 1 by the age of 6, people were admitted to class 1 at a very young age or skipped classes to get admitted to higher classes, which eventually meant management aspirants could get into IIMs at a young age. Now with regulations in place, getting IIM mentioned in that norm.

However, management aspirants can join IIM at 19 without CAT. Several IIMs offer an Integrated MBA programme through IPMAT or JIPMAT. So applicants after their class 12 examination can join the IIMs by clearing the IPMAT examination for the integrated management programs.

Fuss about IIM at 19: How people have reacted

But from Jindal’s post, it became evident that he attended a graduation course at DTU and then applied for the CAT 2024. So, a user at Reddit took a screenshot of the post, questioning the tradition of skipping the early days of school and getting admitted to the higher classes at a very young age.

While people praised Eashan for his achievement of clearing IIM at 19, Reddit users used humour and sarcasm to question the trend. One Reddit user named ‘ Macro boy’ sarcastically pointed out that he will skip the idea of sending his kids to school, as the whole idea was pointless. Some pointed out that by getting admitted into the higher classes at a very young age, Jindal might have missed the fun of a youth and a great experience of life.

However, Eashan got some support too from the users. A user named ‘Final Coconut6142’ said “That's actually quite possible. I could've been to an IIM or some other MBA at 20 if I went for it. Sometimes it's just a couple months difference and getting into school a little earlier or skipping a class or two makes the difference.”

Another user named ‘hippo_potto’ pointed out that “it’s actually possible. Everyone in my batch is a 2002 born but some of us are 2003 borns, and one of my friends was born in July, so technically she joined college when she was 16 and if it was a three year degree she would have graduated at 19 before turning 20 in like 2 months.”

Despite getting support from netizens, the majority of the users thought that he was faking his age and questioned how he could join IIM at 19. But apart from this debate, getting admitted to an IIM at just a young age of 19 with 99.89% is a commendable achievement for anyone. Now Eashan has cracked the code of breaking into IIMs at only 19, but what were you doing when you were 19?