Courtesy- The Economic Times

After the IITs, it is now the IIMs that are changing their selection process. This year, the IIMs are putting more emphasis on written exams, as both IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Lucknow have asked the students to write short essays. IIM-A, in fact, has done away with the group discussion altogether, much to the surprise of students who spend months preparing for the GD and interview.

Although the admissions team at IIM-A could not be contacted, the institute confirmed that the format had been changed this year. “We asked them to write a short essay instead of doing the group discussion,” a professor at the institute said.

While IIM-L did hold a group discussion this year, they asked the students to write an essay on the group discussion topic for which they were given 30 minutes. The essays will also be evaluated by the institute. IIM-A gave the students around 10 minutes to write the essays. According to experts, the IIMs have done this as writing skills are often an important part of the MBA course and it will allow them to analyse a student’s thought process. The students will also be questioned on their essays during the interview. Written tests are also big part of the selection process in most foreign B-schools.

“Every IIM has its own selection procedure and we are not planning to scrap the group discussions. We believe it is equally important,” a spokesperson at IIM-B said. All the IIMs put together call approximately 4,500 for the interview and group discussion of which, this year including IIM Shillong, 1,600 will be selected.