Does Work Ex matter?
The answer is, as far as IIMs are concerned, work ex does not give any particular edge. If you give the exam in your final year and manage to clear CAT you stand a very good chance of getting in! 43% of IIM A’s batch of 2007 has no work experience. And the same is the case with other prominent bschools (refer table on previous page). IIM Kozhikode and S P Jain are exceptions – the ir profile is more work ex heavy. But engineers constitute 80% + even at these institutes. So are engineers geniuses? And is there no hope for the rest of us?? Well, yes and no. The % of engineers at top bschools is inordinately high for two reasons: a) Most high calibre/ high IQ students still opt for medical or engineering after class 12. These are students who could have excelled in Arts, Commerce, Science or any subject for that matter but went for a ‘professional’ degree because that’s what every intelligent student in India does. Now medical students, despite the hardships they face at PG level, general
