Well its been a really amazing few days. I was out for a trip, and the CAT results, after being delayed for 2 months or so finally came up. I really was unsure of what to expect. I was scared of results being unfair. And everything about CAT that has scared me, comes true. This has truly been the Indian Institute of Mis-Management’s (IIMs) biggest blunder ever, supported fully by Prometric.
Right from buying the CAT voucher by going to a bank. ( This should have been online rather ). Then the totally crazy website to fill up your data, designed by people who have previously never designed a single HTML page i guess. The whole madness of buying new vouchers, filling up data, messing it up, new voucher and so on. Then the form filling got extended to cover up the madness. This was the starting signs of what is to come. Then the exam days turned disastrous. Papers canceling, Technical Glitches, Cheating, Computer shutdowns and hangs. Everything that could go wrong with CAT did.
Even the examination date. I gave up a job interview to settle for a appropriate date, only to get rescheduled. They never called back, and it was me who after 3-4 tries, managed to get a new date for exam. I finally got rescheduled for 7 days later, and managed to complete the test bug free (as i was thinking then).
Then came the crazy wait to results. From 7 Dec 2009 to 28 Feb 2010. And finally the results, overall: 99.58%ile. DI: 99.95%ile, VA: 98.70%ile, Quant:87.07%ile. Quant screwed up. They mean to say 30,000+ people are better in Maths than me. That after getting 99 in 12th, 92 in 10th, into IIT-JEE rank 1180, and CA phase 1 cleared. LOL . They need to get themselves checked, ‘psychometrically evaulate themselves rather’.
Then started the calls fiasco. Randomly people are getting calls. Unexpected things happening.
1) Guys with 99.7%iles with no calls yet ( IIM-A,C,K,L,S ).
2) People with better profiles not getting calls, and lower ones do.
3) Guys with A,C,L calls and not from K.
4) People who are 99+ but ~85% in 10th, 12th standing no chances of any calls. Can we go back and change the past. Do we really know in 10th, that this might be needed for post-grad! Are they totally nuts!!
5) Guys in GEN with 96.4 getting IIMK calls
6) In my college, about 3-4 students who are having backlogs got calls from IIM-A.
7) In my college, the really deserving candidates with no calls, and then ones who had no hopes ( and interest ) with 2 or 3.
8) A friend with 99.96%ile in XAT and 99.2 in CAT
Where is justice in such a result? Are they trying to tell us that we are worthless without a 100%ile and 90+ in 10th, 12th? Do we really should call IIMs the best B-Schools. Its a pain, that continues with IIM-B,I still to go. I just want it to stop. If i dont get a call from IIM-I even, it would be like ‘Winning a war single-handedly, and then getting killed by a stray bullet from my own people‘.
Let there be Justice. Let there be peace. Scrap the online CAT. Scrap the results. Start afresh!