One lesser-known fact about IIM Calcutta is the unhygienic conditions caused by the dirty lakes surrounding it. Mostly this truth is underestimated. But the reality is the pictures of the lakes at IIM Calcutta are misleading. They are nothing near surreal or beautiful. If anything they are the brooding ground of mosquitoes. Snakes and other poisonous creatures are also present here. Anyone who comes in contact with its water is bound to get skin infection or other ailments.
These lakes have been used as a marketing element for IIM Calcutta and it’s shocking that people believe such lies.
My brother is in IIM Calcutta and over the period of 2 years he has studied many valuable courses. But 3 of them top the list of his favorites.
Statistics for Management: Taught by Prof. Rahul Mukerjee, this course is a mandatory Term-I course. More than the subject itself it’s the professor that makes it an amazing experience. He is the recipient of many national awards and has taught all over the world at reputed universities like Harvard.
Options, Futures and Derivatives: IIM Calcutta is without a doubt the finance campus of India. The finance faculty is the best you can get and this course does justice to finance completely. It’s quite a tough subject based on derivatives and technical finance. But for a true finance lover, it’s the best. It is taught by Prof. Binay Bhushan Chakrabarti (BBC) who was the Gold Medalist of the Batch of 1980 from IIM Calcutta.
Management of Self: Another eye-catching course at IIM Calcutta is Management of Self taught by Prof. Leena Chatterjee. She is a motherly figure in college. This is the only course here that teaches you about nothing but your own self. It’s a sort of personality grooming course that requires you to take a few personality tests and write an autobiography. This course helps you get more familiar with yourself and overcome internal struggles. It’s a Term-V elective course.
Although all courses offered at IIM Calcutta have their own benefits, these 3 are among the best maybe because of the respective professors.
Yes, all you need to do is focus on your CAT score and score around 99.5 or more.
The first stage for admission is the PI rounds which take place on the basis of your composite score. The composite score has
CAT score
Class 10th score
Class 12th score
Gender Diversity
Your class 10th and 12th scores will be calculated as follows
Class 10- Greater than or equal to 80 gets 10 marks
Class 12- Greater than or equal to 70 gets 6 marks.
This score is not a bad one and still can get you into IIMC as long as you get a high CAT score.
For the next round, your work experience comes into consideration. Your above-average 10th marks and average or below average 12th marks demand a high CAT score along with above-average work experience to get into IIM Calcutta.
Let’s discuss the changes in getting admission into IIM Calcutta through past figures (general category only).
Apart from CAT score, the chances of getting into IIMC depend on various factors such as
Academic profile (i.e. marks in 10th, 12th, and undergraduate)
Academic Diversity
Work experience
Gender Diversity
Category-based evaluation (EWS, NC-OBC, SC, ST, PWD)
IIM Calcutta has around 200-220 general category seats. Also, it rejects 4 students for 1 selection which means around 1100 students are shortlisted. To be among these 1100 students you need to have at least 99.33 percentile.
The chances increase if you are a favorable candidate apart from a high CAT score. Being a female, non-engineer, decent work experience. If you aren’t then your cutoff increases to 99.5.
Your chances drop to 0.5% and passing the interview round becomes more difficult.
So work around the factors I have mentioned beforehand to become a favorable candidate for admission into IIMC
Trust me if you get into any IIM, banks will be after you to get loans from them. Banks consider an IIM student a good investment and therefore offer educational loans at a very low interest rate.
My uncle’s son had cleared CAT and got into IIM Calcutta. He got a loan from a bank at an extremely low interest rate. He had to deposit a demand draft of INR 3,23,050 at the time of the MBA registration process (second week of June). The rate of interest is 8.4%. After MBA, you will be in the 30% tax slab. The interest paid on an education loan is tax-deductible. So, your effective rate of interest is 8.4(1–0.3)=5.88%. This is the cheapest loan one can get in India. So it’s recommended that you take a loan even if you have money.
Banks like SBI, CBI, BOI, and PNB will give you loans as high as 30 lakhs without any collateral.
Apart from loans, IIM Calcutta also offers a lot of financial assistance to financially weak students. Need-based-scholarships are offered. IIM Calcutta provides Financial Assistance to students whose family income is less than 8 Lakhs.
Rather than worrying about money focus more on your goals and academics.
The table below will give you a clear understanding of the placement stats for IIM Calcutta this year
IIM Calcutta Placement Report 2022
Particulars |
Placement Stats (2020-22) |
Total Number of Students |
479 |
Number of Recruiters |
192 |
Number of offers |
640 |
Highest CTC(Domestic) |
INR 42.5 LPA |
Average CTC |
INR 34.2 LPA |
Median CTC |
INR 31 LPA |
Major Sectors |
Consulting |
Top Recruiters |
Amazon, Flipkart, Microsoft |
Every institute has its own shortcomings. If you choose IIM A/B/L or XLRI or FMS over IIM Calcutta, do you think you will not face any problems there? It’s just that their flaws haven’t been exposed yet. The fact that someone had the courage to come up and challenge IIM Calcutta is enough to prove its worth. The revelations were made by an IIM Calcutta student itself. This also proves the confidence level and leadership skills of these students are remarkable.
Besides, IIM Calcutta is among the best for a reason. Some casual claims cannot rain its reputation.
Contrary to the general opinion, IIM Calcutta is not just a place to create college memories and enjoy. The academic pressure and rigour is no joke here. The classes, assignments, exams and strict attendance policy is like any other IIM.
But IIM Calcutta is considered a relaxing place because of a specific reason. The harmony between the juniors and seniors is one of the most distinguishing features of IIM Calcutta. In this age of ragging and bullying, here the seniors are ready to do anything for their juniors. You will get a lot of support from your seniors and batchmates here.
The academic pressure is the same but the friendly ambiance makes it a better experience. You don’t survive life here, you experience it!
Surely IIM Calcutta is the oldest and yet stands out the most from other IIMs. But trust me it has nothing to do with its campus, alumni, education, placement, extracurriculars or any other features. All the IIMs are equally good in all these aspects.
What makes IIM Calcutta different from them?
In reality, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore welcome students only who have been toppers throughout their life. Their academic reports are flawless. Be it their 10th or 12th or Undergraduate. They have never seen failure in their lives.
But in the case of IIM Calcutta, it has both genius students with flawless reports and people who have great CAT scores but below average undergrad or 10th and 12th scores. IIM Calcutta welcomes a mixed crowd and this is what sets it apart from other IIMs.
At IIM Calcutta, you will find peers who have failed or been to the lowest level once. But they have climbed the ladder of success with determination. Studying alongside people with such qualities makes education much more than just learning your subjects. You grow as a person. You don’t find people here, you find profiles. A manager needs to have these qualities in order to excel.
All the IIMs are great but it’s only IIM Calcutta that welcomes a mixed crowd.
I know a friend who had cracked ONGC and almost touched 100 percentile in CAT. He decided not to go for ONGC but rather to prepare for CAT. But as luck would have it, she couldn’t make it into IIM A B C.
She did not give up and studied hard for the same and got into IIM Calcutta and graduated in 2016. After a couple of chances, she opened her own company in the conventional manufacturing space.
The conclusion from this experience is that you should forego the IIM Calcutta offers if:
you want immediate monetary gains
you do not want to take risks
you are not interested in entrepreneurship
You should go for IIM Calcutta if:
You are looking for a brand name
A huge IIM L network access
If you want an opportunity to pierce into the corporate management space
If you are interested in entrepreneurship
It depends mainly on your risk undertaking ability and what you want from your job.