Introduction –

It has long been a myth that engineers are favoured while selecting in a B school and have an edge over non-engineers in the most prestigious MBA exam that is CAT. The trend in the past years showed quantitative aptitude is the toughest section and test-takers felt that it is in favour of the candidates from an engineering background which is not at all based on facts. The fact is that the number of engineer candidates appearing for CAT is more than that of non-engineers. Also, many colleges have changed their norms related to selection procedures to increase diversity in terms of academic background.  The exam is designed in such a fashion that a student who studied well from class 6th to class 10th would do quite well in the quant section. To plan out the strategic diversity IIMs and other top B schools have relaxed their admission criteria. For example – IIM-A reduced the CAT score weightage from 35% in the previous year to 28%.

Busting the Myth – 

The most common myth between the aspirants is that CAT is just like a walk in the park for the engineers whereas for non-engineers it is like climbing a mountain and that’s where all the problems start. This can be shown with help of statistics that it is not true:

1. Most of the CAT quant syllabus is covered till Class 10th. Even CAT has simplified the quant section in the last few years.
2. A common myth on the internet and among aspirants is the number of students ending up getting good B-school are mostly the engineers this is because the number of aspirants appearing for CAT is engineers – which is around 63%.
3. Even top B-schools are looking for diversity, so they usually give interview calls to non-engineers with a lower percentage in undergrad than engineers.

So, all you need to do is to brush up on your basic concepts and Practice! Practice as much as you can, then it will not matter whether you are an engineer or non-engineer, you will achieve your goals.