Out of the total 13 Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) in India, 11 IIMs will have no Group Discussion (GD) in their admission procedures.
Earlier, the admission process of all the IIMs includes CAT/GMAT scores, respective Written Aptitude Tests of individual institutes, Group Discussion and Personal Interviews. But now, except IIM Lucknow and IIM Kozhikode, rest of the IIMs has removed the Group Discussion from their selection process for management admissions from the academic session 2014-2016. Admissions in these 11 IIMs will be based on the Written Aptitude Test, Personal Interview, and CAT/GMAT scores. However, work experience and past academic records will always be add-on factors for admissions in all the IIMs.
The GD has been a part of the section procedure for it is a mean to test the communication ability, analytical skills and logical thinking of aspirants. But it has a losing point that the aggressive candidates often dominate the discussion, and many times some aspirants with strong managerial aptitude never get chances to speak. The Group Discussion often comes up as a bottleneck for both the participants and the moderator. The Written Aptitude Test in comparison has multi-fold benefits. A candidate can express his/her thoughts clearly and in an organized manner. Through written test an aspirant can be able to demonstrate his/her clarity of expression, analytical ability and structured thinking.
Admission process for the session 2014 is expected to start after the release of CAT 2013 results on 14 January 2014. The CAT scores are being used for admissions of Indian Nationals whereas international candidates get admissions through GMAT scores.
