How IIM Selection Actually Works: CAT Cut-off to Final Merit List

Every IIM admission is the same three-movement machine — a printed CAT gate, a shortlist composite, a post-interview formula — but the dials on each movement differ enough to change who gets in. This page walks the machine using only what the institutes print in their 2026-28 policies, all re-opened on 11 September 2026.

Movement 1: the CAT gate

Each IIM prints a minimum CAT percentile, overall and per section, that a candidate must clear before anything else is read. The spread across the twenty IIMs we track is enormous: IIM Kozhikode’s General gate is 85 overall with 75 sectionals plus a 60% floor in Class 10, Class 12 and graduation; IIM Rohtak prints an aggregate-only bar of General 97 with no sectionals; IIM Bodh Gaya’s CAP 2026 notice prints 90 for the General Gender-Neutral pool and 85 for Supernumerary Girls. The institutes are explicit that the gate is a floor, not a call — Trichy’s page says clearing it is “necessary but not sufficient”, and Rohtak’s policy repeats that meeting the minimum does not ensure shortlisting.

Movement 2: the shortlist composite

Above the floor, IIMs rank candidates on a composite that adds academic record, work experience and diversity points to the CAT performance. Kozhikode’s Stage-1 arithmetic is printed to the point: a CAT Index built from scaled section scores at 50%, Class 10 at 15%, Class 12 at 20%, diversity at 10% and work experience at 5%. This is where a 99-percentile candidate with thin academics can fall behind a 92-percentile candidate with a consistent record — the composite, not the percentile, writes the interview list.

Movement 3: the post-interview formula

After WAT-PI, a second printed formula produces the merit list. The interview’s weight varies by more than two-to-one across campuses: IIM Visakhapatnam gives the PI 48 of 100 points, Kozhikode runs CAT 35 / PI 35 / WAT 20 / resume 10, Trichy runs CAT 52 / PI 20 inside JAP 2026, and Rohtak weights CAT percentile 60, PI 20 and diversity 20. Two campuses print a kill-switch: Bodh Gaya’s CAP policy excludes anyone below a Minimum Performance Requirement in the PI, and Udaipur reserves the same discretion — no CAT number outvotes a failed interview.

The procedural traps that actually eliminate candidates

• Separate registrations. CAT registration does not register you with the IIMs. Rohtak’s own window ran tentatively 26 December to 9 January at Rs 3,095; Udaipur requires a mandatory email-invitation registration after results and drops candidates who miss it. The two consortia — CAP 2026 (Bodh Gaya, Jammu, Sirmaur) and JAP 2026 (Raipur, Kashipur, Ranchi, Trichy) — each run one shared registration for their members; Nagpur, Kozhikode, Rohtak and Udaipur stand alone.
• Score versus percentile. Some final lists rank on the scaled CAT score, not the percentile — the difference is explained in CAT score vs percentile.
• The waitlist is mechanical too. Trichy publishes its round-by-round movement; the waitlist analysis shows offers moving strictly by rank within category — there is no informal lane.

And the boundary every family should hold: no IIM prints a management-quota or paid channel anywhere in these policies. The process above is the only door, which is precisely why the printed formulas are worth reading closely.