IIM Ahmedabad Admission/Selection Criteria 2026-28: Eligibility, AWT/PI Shortlist, CAT Cutoff
IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria for the upcoming academic year has been released on the official website. The admissions will be based on the CAT 2025 exam, which will be conducted on November 30, 2025, and the final admission list is expected in April 2026.
IIM Ahmedabad Admission/Selection Criteria 2026-28: IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria 2026-28 for MBA admissions have been announced on the official website. There will be three phases for the admission process. The three stages of criteria for admission are: stage one, CAT 2025 score; stage two, WAT and PI; and stage three, final composite score. The qualifying CAT 2025 cutoff is likely to be 95 percentile for General, 80 for NC-OBC, 60 for SC, and 45 for PwD and ST categories. Once you have taken the CAT, assess your performance and prepare for the next steps to enhance your chances of joining IIM Ahmedabad. Find out more about IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria 2026 below.
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Important Dates for IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria 2026
Given below are the IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria for 2026 dates:
Events | Dates |
CAT 2025 Registration Window | August 1 to September 13, 2025 |
CAT 2025 Admit Card Release Date | November 5, 2025 |
CAT Answer Key Release Date | December 2025 |
CAT 2025 Exam Date | November 30, 2025 |
CAT 2025 Result Date | December 2025/January 2025 |
Availability of IIM Ahmedabad Admission Form 2026 | August 2025 |
List of Shortlisted Candidates | January 2026 |
Online Interview Application Deadline | January 2026 |
Final Admission List | April 2026 |
Stage-wise IIM Ahmedabad Selection Criteria 2026-28
IIM Ahmedabad admission criteria are based on specific factors. So, the three-step IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria/process 2026 is as follows:
1. Preliminary Screening for IIM Ahmedabad
The preliminary screening is done based on the Application Rating (AR) and CAT score secured by the candidate. The candidate has to clear the defined overall cutoff as well as sectional cutoffs to qualify for the first stage. The minimum cutoff requirements for IIM Ahmedabad are as follows:
Minimum Cut-offs of CAT-2025 Percentile Ranks
Category | VARC Percentile Ranks | DILR Percentile Ranks | QA Percentile Ranks | Overall Percentile Ranks |
General, EWS | 70 | 70 | 70 | 85 |
NC-OBC/Transgender | 65 | 65 | 65 | 75 |
SC | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
ST | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
PwD (General/ EWS, NC-OBC/transgender, SC) | 60 | 60 | 60 | 70 |
PwD (ST) | 50 | 50 | 50 | 60 |
AR is evaluated based on your academic performance and marks scored in class 10 board exams, class 12 board exams as well as graduation. AR is computed based on the following tables:
Class 10 Board Score
Percentage in Class 10 Board Exams | Rating Score A |
<= 55 | 1 |
> 55 and <= 60 | 2 |
> 60 and <= 70 | 3 |
> 70 and <= 80 | 5 |
> 80 and <= 90 | 8 |
> 90 | 10 |
Class 12 Board Score (Commerce)
Percentage in Class 12 Board Exams | Rating Score B |
<= 50 | 1 |
> 50 and <= 55 | 2 |
> 55 and <= 65 | 3 |
> 65 and <= 75 | 5 |
> 75 and <= 90 | 8 |
> 90 | 10 |
Class 12 Board Score (Science)
Percentage in Class 12 Board Exams | Rating Score B |
<= 55 | 1 |
> 55 and <= 60 | 2 |
> 60 and <= 70 | 3 |
> 70 and <= 80 | 5 |
> 80 and <= 90 | 8 |
> 90 | 10 |
Class 12 Board Score (Arts)
Percentage in Class 12 Board Exams | Rating Score B |
<= 45 | 1 |
> 45 and <= 50 | 2 |
> 50 and <= 60 | 3 |
> 60 and <= 70 | 5 |
> 70 and <= 85 | 8 |
> 85 | 10 |
Bachelor’s Degree (AC-1)
Percentage in Bachelor’s Degree (AC-1) | Rating Score C |
<= 55 | 1 |
> 55 and <= 60 | 2 |
> 60 and <= 62 | 3 |
> 62 and <= 65 | 5 |
> 65 and <= 70 | 8 |
> 70 | 10 |
Bachelor’s Degree (AC-2)
Percentage in Bachelor’s Degree (AC-2) | Rating Score C |
<= 50 | 1 |
> 50 and <= 53 | 2 |
> 53 and <= 55 | 3 |
> 55 and <= 57 | 5 |
> 57 and <= 63 | 8 |
> 63 | 10 |
Bachelor’s Degree (AC-3)
Percentage in Bachelor’s Degree (AC-3) | Rating Score C |
<= 55 | 1 |
> 55 and <= 60 | 2 |
> 60 and <= 65 | 3 |
> 65 and <= 70 | 5 |
> 70 and <= 80 | 8 |
> 80 | 10 |
Bachelor’s Degree (AC-4 & AC-6)
Percentage in Bachelor’s Degree (AC-4 & AC-6) | Rating Score C |
<= 60 | 1 |
> 60 and <= 65 | 2 |
> 65 and <= 70 | 3 |
> 70 and <= 77 | 5 |
> 75 and <= 85 | 8 |
> 85 | 10 |
Bachelor’s Degree (AC-5)
Percentage in Bachelor’s Degree (AC-5) | Rating Score C |
<= 50 | 1 |
> 50 and <= 55 | 2 |
> 55 and <= 60 | 3 |
> 60 and <= 65 | 5 |
> 65 and <= 75 | 8 |
> 75 | 10 |
Rating Scores for Work Experience (Rating Score D)
Work Experience in Month (as filled in the Application Form) | Rating Score D |
< 12 months | 0 |
>= 12 and <= 36 months | MF * (number of months of work experience – 11) |
> 36 months | 5 |
Work-experience Multiplication Factor (MF) = 0.20 | |
Following is the list of disciplines according to the CAT Application:
AC-1: Medicine, Surgery, and other Professional courses (70% + required in CAT)
AC-2: Charted Accountants (CA), Company Secretaryship (CS), and Cost and Works Accountancy (ICWA) - (63 Percentile and above required in CAT)
AC-3: All commerce, finance, economics, hospitality, and management degrees (80% + required in CAT)
AC-4: All Computer Application, Technology, Engineering, IT, and Architecture degrees (85% + required in CAT) and All agriculture-related fields apart from agriculture engineering, medicine, and surgery (80% + required in CAT)
AC-5: All Humanities/Arts, Design, Education, Fashion, Law, and Rural studies-related degrees (75% + required in CAT)
AC-6: Any other discipline not mentioned in AC-1 to AC-5.
The AR score for class 10, class 12, and graduation are added together. However, a normalized AR score is the total AR score divided by the top 50 AR scores among all the applicants.
Application Rating Score: AR= (A+B+C+D) |
2. Shortlisting for AWT and PI at IIM Ahmedabad Admissions 2026-28
The shortlisting, part of the IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria, will be carried out in two stages. These are:
Stage 1: Candidates who have performed very well are shortlisted in this process. This is done by either selecting the top 100 performers or by selecting 1% out of all the applicants of IIM Ahmedabad from all categories. These candidates appear for AWT and PI based on their composite scores (CS) which are calculated as follows:
CS (Composite Score) = ARF_CS * Normalised AR score + CATF_CS * Normalised overall score in CAT-2024 |
The Criteria are as follows:
Criteria C1-C3
C1 : PT >= 80, PQA >= 70, PDILR >= 70, PVRC >= 70
C2 : P ≥ Minimum cut-offs (specific to the category and the stream as shown in the table provided below), where P is the average of the percentages of marks scored in 10th and 12th std. examinations.
Stream in 12th | General-cum-EWS Category | NC-OBC-cum-transgender Category | SC Category | ST Category | PWD (General, NC-OBC-cum-transgender, SC) | PWD (ST) |
Science | 80 | 75 | 70 | 65 | 70 | 65 |
Commerce | 77 | 72 | 67 | 62 | 67 | 62 |
Arts & Humanities | 75 | 70 | 64 | 59 | 64 | 59 |
C3 : Percentage of Marks obtained in Bachelor’s Exam >= Minimum cut-off percentage set by the institute based on the candidates in the ACRC pool among those who have applied for IIM Ahmedabad. This is evaluated based on AC (check the above tables for reference).
Criteria C4-C6
C4 : PT >= 80, PQA >= 70, PDILR >= 70, PVRC >= 70
C5 : Percentage (10th and 12th standard exams) >= 80 (Science), 77 (Commerce), 75 (Arts/Humanities)
C6 : Percentage of Marks obtained in Bachelor’s Exam >= Minimum cut-off percentage set by the institute based on the candidates belonging to AC-1 to AC-6.
Stage 2: this is the category-wise selection of candidates. Once the students from all categories (General, NC-OBC, SC, ST, DA) have been evaluated basis stage 1, additional candidates are shortlisted for AWT & PI following a procedure similar to the process of stage 1. Only criteria C1 and C2 are followed at this stage.
3. IIM Ahmedabad Final Selection 2026-28
Finally, as per the IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria 2026, the ranks of students in each category are separately evaluated based on their final composite scores (FCS). For this, the normalized PI and AWT scores of candidates will be calculated by dividing the actual scores by the top 1% scores in PI and AWT respectively.
FCS = PIF * Normalised PI Score + AWTF * Normalised AWT Score + CATF_FCS * Normalised CAT Score + ARF_FCS * AR |
AWTF: AWT Multiplication Factor = 0.10
CATF_FCS: CAT Score Multiplication Factor for Final Composite Score = 0.25
ARF_FCS: Application Rating Multiplication Factor for Final Composite Score = 0.15
PIF: Personal Interview Multiplication Factor = 0.50
IIM Ahmedabad PGP Final Score Calculation
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Check out how th final score for IIM-A MBA admission is calculated mentioned in the table below:
Component | Weightage (Approx.) | How It Is Calculated |
CAT 2025 Score | 25% | The CAT score is normalised and scaled. IIMA gives high importance to sectional balance, especially VARC & QA. The final CAT weight is applied after normalisation. |
Class 10 Marks (AISSE/SSC) | 10% | Marks are converted into a standardised score using a pre-decided rating scale based on percentile brackets. Higher board scores contribute significantly to the pre-PI score. |
Class 12 Marks (HSC/AHSC) | 10% | Similar normalized scoring as Class 10. Weightage varies slightly depending on the candidate’s academic stream (Science/Commerce/Arts). |
Graduation Marks | 10% | Graduation percentage or CGPA is converted using IIMA’s normalisation process. Different academic disciplines have different weight parameters. |
Work Experience | 5% | Points are awarded based on the number of months of full-time work experience. A peak value is allotted at ~36 months; beyond that, the score plateaus. |
Personal Interview (PI) | 50% | This is the most influential factor. Performance is evaluated on communication, clarity of thought, analytical ability, and overall personality. |
Academic Diversity Factor | (+ Bonus Points) | Non-engineering backgrounds receive diversity points to balance classroom diversity. |
Gender Diversity Factor | (+ Bonus Points) | Additional points awarded to female/transgender candidates to promote inclusivity. |
Final Composite Score | 100% (Scaled) | The sum of CAT score, academics, work experience, and PI evaluation. Candidates with high PI scores often witness major boosts in final merit ranks. |
Other IIMs Selection Criteria 2026-28
Click on the links given below to check the selection criteria of other IIMs:
Candidates must also check out the articles mentioned below to learn more about the IIM selection process 2026 and the CAT exam in general!
Related Links:
If you have doubts regarding the IIM Ahmedabad selection criteria 2026, you may ask questions in our Q&A zone . You can also use our CAT 2025 College Predictor to know to which MBA college you have a chance of getting admission.