Anyone who completes the HRM program from XLRI gets the same facilities as any other who has completed the program. Excluding the students who have taken year drop(s), many of your peers will have the same background.

• If you have scored high in your XAT/CAT nothing will stop the administration from granting admission to the candidate. The administration chooses to overlook the gaps in your applications if the scores meet the eligibility criteria. 
• If you keep your grades high, you will definitely be called up for interviews. Then it is up to the interviewers if they want you to explain your year gaps.
• Students in XLRI HRM can get placed in a variety of roles. Many of these roles include maintenance, where the processes are already spelled out. 
• Companies often come up with ‘leadership development programs where they make you cycle through various HR processes and profiles before assigning one that fits you.

On the other hand, there are companies that specialize in HR consulting profiles like Hay, Hewitt, EY, KPMG, etc where you will have to engage clients in more HR work related to design and less work of administration/maintenance.

Both are among the top 10 B-schools in the country and each of them excels in certain areas. Picking out a simple winner among them is not really a great idea to identify their true potentials. But still, let us try to compare between the two on some aspects –

• • Best known programs – IIM Ahmedabad is known for its general management and marketing courses in particular. XLRI is best known for its human resource program and is considered to be the best program in the country.
  • Teaching methodology – IIM Ahmedabad is more practical and case study focused while XLRI follows more conceptual and theory-based teaching.

• Job Roles - IIM Ahmedabad will build competencies around consulting strategy while XLRI is apt for management-related roles.

So, in the end, it depends on you, what career path you want to choose to determine which institute is better suited for you. You would not regret getting into either of the institutes.

Your profile is apparently not as bad as you are considering it to be. Nonetheless, you are clearly eligible to be admitted to XLRI, given that you actually have good scores in your XAT examination. You should not stress about your past percentages.

There are candidates with somewhat similar profiles, and it is not quite a major constraint in the selection procedure. XLRI is one among very few institutes that do not necessarily dismiss a candidate for low scores in their academics and rather judge them after a complete test on their personality.

But, there is one thing you should have an idea about. It is that, during the summer placements, the first shortlisting is generally conducted distinctly on the basis of these percentages, (basically, because several recruiters naturally have to go through more than 50 resumes in about a day or two, making it quite usual to shortlist on the basis of academic records. It is rather very common.)

It is not that you won’t get any chance in the shortlist process, but your shortlists might usually be fewer than most of your peers. Thus, it clearly depends on how you prepare for it, or your skills to achieve the same. Hope this clears most of your doubts. 

In most cases, XLRI interviewers don’t give much attention to the previous academic scores. But, if you are a low scorer, then the institute usually expects a better XAT score and a good enough profile.

The points below state the requirements that you should meet in order to secure a seat at XLRI

1. It is true that cracking XAT and having an excellent score is somewhat difficult than cracking CAT. There are additional data manipulation questions asked in XAT, other than basic questions. You need to prepare a lot in order to have a decent score in XAT.
2. Every student should study with an interest in what he/she is gaining. Solving puzzles, attempting previous year’s XAT verbal questions, understanding the pattern of the exam, etc is what students need to indulge in.
3. If you have an average score in graduation, then it cannot be changed anymore. So, it is advised to have at least 97 percentile in XAT to expect a call from XLRI.

Therefore, although XAT is tough, students need to prepare with their full enthusiasm in order to succeed in getting a good score. Having a good score in XAT and performing well in the interviews is enough for you to get a seat in XLRI.

Yes, you can get admission at XLRI with 60% marks in graduation but you need to score very well in the XAT examination. XLRI does not give much weightage to the past academic scores. You need to perform well in XAT and personal interview.

The cutoff for male candidates at XLRI was -

• For the BM program: 95 percentile.
• For HRM program: 93 percentile.

While for female cutoffs were -

• For the BM program: 93 percentile.
• For the HRM program: 91 percentiles.

If you are looking to enter XLRI without any prior work experience then you need to have other good skills like good communication skills. This will help you in getting a job because competition among the freshers in this college is very high.