Seven of 11 CAT 2018 toppers are from Maharashtra

Eleven candidates scored a perfect 100 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2018 for post-graduate management courses at top colleges, and seven of them are from Maharashtra. All 11 of them have studied engineering and technology. In CAT 2017, 20 students scored cent percentiles.

This year’s CAT results saw IITians dominating the examination. A statement released by CAT 2018 convenor highlights 30 of the top 32 scorers of the exam this year are from engineering/technology background. “From the graduation records, seven of the top scorers are from various IITs followed by two candidates from Jadavpur University. Seven of these candidates belong to Maharashtra, two from West Bengal and one each from Karnataka and Bihar,” said Sumanta Basu, admissions chair for IIM-Calcutta, and the convenor for CAT 2018.

Jagesh Golwala, 21, a final year electrical engineering student of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) is one of the seven students from the state to have scored a cent percentile. “Even though I’m graduating in electrical engineering, over the past few years my interest in finance and economics kept growing. Therefore, I decided to try my luck with MBA and now I’m hoping for the best,” said Golwala, a resident of Parel. Apart from a seat at any Indian Institute of Management (IIM) of his choice, Golwala also has a job offer on hold and is yet to decide if he’ll continue his education or take up the job.

This year’s CAT results saw IITians once again dominating the examination. A statement released by the CAT 2018 convenor highlights that 30 out of the top 32 scorers of the exam this year are from engineering/technology background. “From the graduation records, seven of the top scorers are from various IITs followed by two candidates from Jadavpur University. As per their permanent address, seven of these candidates belong to Maharashtra followed by two from West Bengal and one each from Karnataka and Bihar,” said Sumanta Basu, admissions chair for IIM-Calcutta, and the convenor for CAT 2018.

For some of the 100 percentile scorers, this was their second attempt at the all-India entrance test. “I appeared for CAT 2017 to simply test waters and had scored 99.89 percentile. This time I worked really hard and managed studies along with my work schedule and I’m very happy with the score,’ said Rounak Majumdar, 22, an IIT-Kanpur graduate who currently works at a finance company in Gurugram. This was also the second attempt for 22-year-old Amit Bikram, a finalyear aerospace technology student of IIT-Kharagpur, who is also a cent percentile scorer.

Some of the 100 percentile scorers this year were CAT trainers from various coaching institutes. Patrick D’souza, 42, has scored a 100 percentile for the fifth time. “Most students found the mathematics section difficult, which could be the reason for the drop in total 100 percentile scorers this year,” said D’souza, who is a trainer with a city-based coaching institute. This was his fourteenth attempt at CAT.

First Published: Jan 06, 2019 11:52 IST