Most CAT toppers had bagged jobs during campus placements

By Monday evening, several CAT candidates received calls from various IIMs

Results for Common Admission Test (CAT) 2017 were declared by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Lucknow on Monday morning. And continuing the trend, some of the toppers from Mumbai were students from Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). Mayank Raj, 21, final-year civil engineering student at the IIT-B, is one of the 20 students across India who scored 100% this year.

Some of the toppers from Mumbai were students from Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B). (HT photo)

“My decision to opt for an MBA depends on how well I do in the aptitude test and personal interview rounds of the IIMs that I am interested in. If I don’t get through, I might continue working for a couple of years and attempt CAT once again,” said Raj, who hails from Hajipur, Bihar. In the first phase of placements that was held at the IIT-B in the first week of December, Raj was offered a job by one of the leading Indian banks.

It is a similar situation with several other IIT-B students who have performed well in the CAT, but are unsure about their decision to pursue an MBA. Suryansh Bhargava, 22, final-year metallurgical and material science engineering student at IIT-B, has already bagged a job with a Belgian-based multinational company through campus placement. He scored 99.91% in the CAT.

Rishabh Jain, 22, final-year chemical engineering student at IIT-B, is yet to decide his next step. “Although I’ve scored 99.95%, I’m unsure whether I’ll take up MBA or look for a job,” he said.

Of the Top-20, who scored a perfect 100, is 41-year-old Patrick D’souza, a veteran at giving the CAT. A trainer for management aspirants, this was D’souza’s 13 attempt and his fourth 100% score.

“While the Verbal Ability and Reading Comprehension (VARC) section was pretty simple, most students panicked in the Logical Reasoning and Data Interpretation (LRDI) section, which had some difficult questions,” he said.

By Monday evening, several CAT candidates had started receiving calls from various IIMs, including IIM-Ahmedabad, IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Calcutta. Some of the IIMs have also announced the shortlisted names of candidates for personal interviews on their websites.