MBA After CFA: Benefits, Career Prospects, and Opportunities

MBA After CFA: Benefits, Career Prospects, and Opportunities

Suvam MaitiUpdated on 18 Nov 2024, 05:11 PM IST

As the corporate job market is gradually evolving, the MBA is becoming much more important than ever before. Therefore, students who are charting their career path after B. Arch can pursue an MBA for better career opportunities. MBA prepares students in the domain of finance, marketing, management, international business, human resources, operation, and global supply chain management, to fit into the corporate world. MBA helps students, who are familiar with the theoretical aspects of their undergraduate courses of Commerce, to develop a job-oriented vision in the courses. So, an MBA after B.Arch turned out to be a great career opportunity that the students can explore.

LiveIIM CAT 2025 Result (OUT) LIVE: MBA scorecard at iimcat.ac.in; IIM cut-offs, marks vs percentileDec 24, 2025 | 9:11 PM IST

The selection process for MBA admissions to IIMs is mainly based on CAT cut-offs percentile. However, several IIMs carry out their own selection criteria, constituting performance of Class 10 and 12 board exams. 

Here is the institute-wise selection criteria for MBA admissions. 

IIM Amritsar

CAT score

50%

Class 10

10%

Class 12

10%

Graduation

5%

Gender diversity

10%

Work experience

15%

Post- Personal interview

PI = 70%

Work experience = 10%

Gender diversity = 10%

Academic diversity = 10%.

Aggregate score

0.6 x Pre-PI Score + 0.4 x Post-PI Score

I IM Bangalore

Pre-PI selection criteria


CAT score

55%

VARC = 19

DILR = 21 points

QA = 15 points

Class 10

10%

Class 12

10%

Bachelor’s score

10%

Work experience/ professional course

10%

Gender diversity

5%

Post-PI selection criteria


Personal interview

40%

WAT

10%

CAT

25%

VARC = 8.75 points

DILR=10 points

QA=6.25 points

Class 10

5%

Class 12

5%

Bachelor’s degree

5%

Work experience/ professional course

10%

IIM Calcutta

Pre-PI weightage


CAT score

56

Class 10 marks

10

Class 12 marks

15

Gender Diversity Factor

4 points will be awarded for female and transgender candidates only

F inal selection

CAT score

30

Personal Interview (PI)

48

Writing Ability Test (WAT)

08

Academic Diversity

06

Work experience

08

I IM Lucknow

Pre-PI criteria


CAT score

60%

Class 12 marks

10%

Graduation

10%

Work experience

10%

Academic diversity

5%

Gender diversity

5%

Final score calculation

MBA & MBA-SM

MBA-ABM

CAT score

30

35

Class 12 + Graduation

5+5

5+5

Diversity factor (academic + gender)

5+5

5+5

Work experience

5

-

Writing Ability Test (WAT)

10

10

Personal Interview (PI)

40

40

IIM Mumbai MBA final selection


Rating score for Class 10

Class 10th multiplication factor=0.7

Rating score for Class 12

Class 12th multiplication factor=0.7

Graduation

Bachelor’s degree multiplication factor = 0.7

Work experience

Less than 12 month = 0

>= 12 and <= 36 months = Multiplication Factor (0,20) x (number of months of work

experience – 11)

> 36 months 5

Academic Performance and Work Experience Score

AR= [0.70*(A+B+C)+ 0.20*D]

CAT 2024 Score

60

Personal Interview (PI)

20

Academic performance and work experience score

20

IIM Tiruchirappalli final selection

CAT percentile

47%

Written Analysis Test

5%

Personal Interview

20%

Read More

This Story also Contains

  1. MBA after CFA - An Overview
  2. Top Reasons to do MBA after CFA
  3. MBA after CFA - MBA Entrance Exams
  4. MBA after B.CFA - Eligibility Criteria
  5. Top MBA Colleges for MBA after CFA
MBA After CFA: Benefits, Career Prospects, and Opportunities
MBA After CFA: Benefits, Career Prospects, and Opportunities

MBA after CFA - An Overview

Degree Type

Post Graduate

Course Duration

2 Years

Semester

4

Entrance Exam

CAT, MAT, GMAT, CMAT, XAT, NMAT

Eligibility Criteria

Bachelor’s degree

Course Fee

10-30 Lakh

Top Reasons to do MBA after CFA

One might wonder what could be the possible reasons to shift the career from CFA to MBA as both of them are professional degrees. Despite the fact that both of these courses provide job opportunities, MBA after CFA might be a good option for candidates for several other reasons like-

  • MBA after CFA opens up with a lot of different career opportunities, rather than restricting oneself with the purview of CA and CFA related jobs.

  • Furthermore MBA after CFA would help one to gain managerial skills such as problem solving and soft skills like communicating ideas.

  • Moreover, MBA provides the opportunity to interact from a different academic background which might be helpful to gain a new perspective as well as collaborative skills which is very helpful in the job market.

  • Many students find CFA courses difficult to clear. However after clearing the CFA courses

MBA after CFA - MBA Entrance Exams

To pursue an MBA after CFA students need to appear for several MBA entrance examinations.

  • It can be national tests or it can be the state-wise tests as well for either IIMs or several other B-Schools, including the IITs. There are several important entrance examinations for MBAs like CAT, XAT, SNAP, MAT, CMAT, ATMA, etc.

  • Students can get through to different institutions by clearing these exams.

  • Colleges may also conduct an aptitude exam followed by personal interviews and group discussions

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MBA after B.CFA - Eligibility Criteria

To do an MBA after a CFA course one must have

  • a bachelor's degree from a recognized university with a minimum of 50% of marks. However, there is a 5% relaxation for the students of the reserved category.

  • Work experience is though not mandatory , however students might get preferences depending on the colleges

CAT 2025 College Predictor
Use CAT 2025 College Predictor to check your chances for IIM and top MBA calls based on CAT percentile, profile, work experience and cut-off trends.
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Top MBA Colleges for MBA after CFA

Here’s the list of some of the top MBA colleges in India that students can pick after completing their CFA

College Name

Rank (NIRF 2024)

Fees


IIM Ahmedabad

1

20-26.50 Lakh

IIM Bangalore

2

26 Lakh

IIM Kozhikode

3

10 Lakh

IIT Delhi

4

12.10 Lakh

IIM Calcutta

5

21.92 Lakh

IIM Mumbai

6

14-15 Lakh

IIM Lucknow

7

9 Lakh

IIM Indore

8

20-23 Lakh

XLRI-Xavier School of Management

9

14-30 Lakh

IIT Bombay

10

14.02 Lakh

Also See: MBA NIRF Ranking 2024

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Questions related to CAT

On Question asked by student community

Have a question related to CAT ?

Hello,

The results for the CAT 2025 entrance, which is conducted on November 30, 2025, were declared on December 22, 2025. Candidates can download and see their results on the official IIM CAT website. On the website, click on the "CAT 2025 Result/Scorecard" link to download the result by entering the required details.

I hope it will clear your query!!

Hello,

The link to the website where you can check the published result is attached herewith.  The result will be out soon. You can also check the cutoffs on the website of Careers360.

https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-result

Thank you.

CAT does not restrict eligibility based on stream. Candidates from commerce, arts, science, engineering or any other background can appear for CAT and apply to MBA programmes offered by IIMs and other top B-schools.

The basic eligibility criteria for CAT are:
You must hold a bachelor’s degree in any discipline from a recognised university with at least 50 percent marks (45 percent for SC, ST and PwD categories). Final-year graduation students are also eligible to apply.

Being a commerce graduate can actually be an advantage in areas such as accounting, finance, economics and business studies, especially during MBA coursework in finance, marketing and operations.

After qualifying CAT, admission depends on multiple factors including CAT percentile, academic background, work experience (if any), performance in GD, WAT and personal interview rounds. Many IIMs and B-schools follow a diverse academic background policy, which means non-engineering candidates, including commerce graduates, often receive additional weightage.

Apart from IIMs, several reputed institutes such as FMS Delhi, SPJIMR Mumbai, MDI Gurgaon, IMT Ghaziabad, and many state and private universities also accept CAT scores for MBA admissions.

So, as a commerce graduate, you are fully eligible to appear for CAT and pursue an MBA, provided you meet the minimum academic requirements and perform well in the selection process.

If you want, I can also help you with realistic CAT percentile targets based on your academic profile or suggest suitable MBA colleges.


Hello aspirant,

With a CAT 2025 raw score of 84 and strong sectionals, your expected percentile may fail in the high 98 range , depending on scaling. Your excellent academics and 2 years of work experience strengthen your profile .IIM Lucknow calls are possible but competitive for EWS engineers , while FMS Delhi looks mainly at CAT score and VARC , so you have a reasonable chance there . Final calls depend on cutoffs and composite score.

FOR REFERENCE : https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-cutoff

Hope the details will help you.

THANK YOU

Hello aspirant ,

For MANAGE Hyderabad MBA , the OBC cutoff in CAT 2024 was generally around 85-90 percentile for shortlist consideration , tough exact figures vary by section and profile . For CAT 2025, if fewer candidates appeared , the cutoff might slightly adjust , but percentile based cutoffs dont change drastically year to year. A minor decrease is possible , but you should still aim for 90+ percentile to be competitive. Factors like VARC, QA-LRDI and overall profile influence the final shortlist.

FOR REFERENCE : https://bschool.careers360.com/articles/cat-cutof f

Hope the details will help you.

THANK YOU