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11 engineers scored 100 percentile in CAT 2018
This year’s CAT results saw IITians once again dominating the examination. A statement released by the CAT 2018 convenor highlights that 30 out of the top 32 scorers of the exam this year are from engineering/technology background.
All the 11 candidates who scored a perfect 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2018 for post-graduate management courses at top colleges are from the engineering and technology background. Seven of the toppers are from Maharashtra. In CAT 2017, 20 students had scored cent percentiles.
Jagesh Golwala, 21, a final-year electrical engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) is one of the seven students from the state to have scored a cent percentile. “Even though I’m graduating in electrical engineering, over the past few years my interest in finance and economics kept growing. Therefore, I decided to try my luck with MBA and now I’m hoping for the best,” said Golwala, a resident of Parel. Apart from a seat at any Indian Institute of Management (IIM) of his choice, Golwala also has a job offer on hold and is yet to decide if he’ll continue his education or take up the job.
This year’s CAT results saw IITians once again dominating the examination. A statement released by the CAT 2018 convenor highlights that 30 out of the top 32 scorers of the exam this year are from engineering/technology background. “From the graduation records, seven of the top scorers are from various IITs followed by two candidates from Jadavpur University. As per their permanent address, seven of these candidates belong to Maharashtra followed by two from West Bengal and one each from Karnataka and Bihar,” said Sumanta Basu, admissions chair for IIM-Calcutta, and the convenor for CAT 2018.
For some of the 100 percentile scorers, this was their second attempt at the all-India entrance test. “I appeared for CAT 2017 to simply test waters and had scored 99.89 percentile. This time I worked really hard and managed studies along with my work schedule and I’m very happy with the score,’ said Rounak Majumdar, 22, an IIT-Kanpur graduate who currently works at a finance company in Gurugram. This was also the second attempt for 22-year-old Amit Bikram, a final-year aerospace technology student of IIT-Kharagpur, who is also a cent percentile scorer.
Two of the other students who have scored 100 percentile in the entrance test could not be reached as they were preparing for another entrance exam scheduled to take place on Sunday.
Some of the 100 percentile scorers this year were CAT trainers from various coaching institutes. 42-year-old Patrick D’souza has scored a 100 percentile for the fifth time. “Most students found the mathematics section difficult, which could be the reason for the drop in total 100 percentile scorers this year,” said D’souza, who is a trainer with a city-based coaching institute. This was his fourteenth attempt at CAT.
By Saturday evening, IIMs had released the names of shortlisted candidates eligible for the personal interviews and other rounds of admission at the respective institutes. “A total of 1,990 candidates are called for interview with percentage of female candidates approximately 43%. One transgender candidate is also included within the shortlist,” said Basu, for IIM-Calcutta.
(With inputs by Mansha Bhandari)
