MBA aspirants who are willing to appear in Common Admission Test needs to have an aggregate of 50 percent in Bachelor’s Degree final examination. The eligibility criteria for CAT 2017 will be declared officially in the last week of the month of July. The eligibility criteria have remained same for many years. It is expected to remain same this year as well. The eligibility criteria, however, varies in accordance with the category of the candidate. Prior to applying, it is a prerequisite to have knowledge on the eligibility criteria.

Highlights of CAT Exam Eligibility Criteria 2017

In order to appear for CAT, it is essential that candidates should have a bachelor degree with at least 50% aggregate marks or a CGPA equivalent to it from a recognized university. Reserved category candidates need to have 45% aggregate in order to appear for CAT.

Candidates who are in the final year of bachelor degree and aspirants who are awaiting results of their bachelor degree also have the eligibility for application. They will, however, be offered provisional admission if they are capable of submitting a certificate from the registrar of the university or principal of the Institution stating that they have all the requirements to obtain the bachelor degree on the date on which the certificate is issued.

During application time, candidates require fulfilling any of these conditions: Completion of bachelor degree with the prerequisite percentage of marks2. Completion of professional degree along with the prerequisite percentage of marks3. Candidates who are in appearing in the final year of graduation degree with the required percentage marks have the eligibility to appear for the entrance test.

The percentage marks are calculated according to the practice followed by the specific Institute or University. In case the University or Institute offers CGPA or grade, the conversion of marks would be dependent on the procedures that are certified by the respective Institute. If there are no similar conversation process followed by the respective Institute, the calculation of equivalent marks are done by dividing the CGPA of the candidate by maximum CGPA, after which the result is multiplied by 100.

CAT 2017 Exam Eligibility – Reservation Criteria

According to the legal requirements, IIMs and other government institutes have to follow the reservation criteria as given below:

• 15 per cent of the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Caste (SC)
• 7.5 per cent of the seats to be reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST)
• 27 per cent seats to be reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBC) belonging to non-creamy layers
• Three per cent seats to be reserved for Persons With Disability (PWD) candidates. The three categories of disability are: a) low vision blindness, b) hearing impairment and c) loco motor disability/cerebral palsy. This provision is applicable if the candidate suffers from any of the listed disabilities to the extent of not less than 40 per cent, as certified by a medical authority as prescribed and explained in the said PWD Act, 1995 (Section 39).
• The candidates belonging to the reserved categories have to score minimum cutoff percentile at CAT 2017 along with the eligibility criteria in order to be shortlisted for the admission process.