What things should I do in order to get into IIM Ahmedabad? I am a second-year mechanical engineering student, scored 96.4% in 10th and 75% in 12th.

It is quite tough to get into any of the three management institutes even with the percentage you have scored. You will need a 100 percentile at least, even if you want to get into IIM Bangalore or even Calcutta. Since competition is so high, it is imperative that you do your best at the undergraduate level and try to score as high as possible. From the previous trends, it is clear that the selection criteria is only going to get tougher.

Eligibility:

Here’s some detailed information regarding eligibility at all three colleges. 

According to the past admission trend, the eligibility criteria is as follows.

IIM Ahmedabad:

Academics with 90/90/85+ with 99.85+ in CAT. If you score lower than 90/90/85 in 10/12/graduation then the required CAT percentile to get a call boils down to 100.

IIM Bangalore:

• 90/90/80+ in academics and CAT 99.75+. You will also need two years of work experience. Without work experience, you need 90/90/85+ along with CAT 99.8+.
• If any score in 10/12/graduation is lower than 80, there is no chance of getting in. 
• Most students with a profile of 90/80/80 and work experience have a chance of getting into IIM Bangalore with a percentile of 99.95+.

IIM Calcutta:

10/12 - 80/80 and CAT - 99.64+. If you score lower than 80 in 10/12, the required percentile would be 99.99/100.

A classmate from my school scored 92/72/80 and 99.98 in his CAT but did not get a call back as his 12th grade was below 80. Thus, it proves to be quite tough. Based on the previous trend it won’t be surprising if IIM B assigns more weightage to diversity and IIM C starts considering graduation marks.