With an overall CAT 2025 percentile of 82.71, you are unlikely to get calls from the IIMs (including new or baby IIMs), as most of them generally shortlist candidates at 90+ percentile, even after considering category and profile factors. However, this percentile is still quite decent and opens doors to many good Tier-2 and Tier-3 MBA colleges in India that offer solid academics, reasonable placements, and good industry exposure.

At around 80–85 percentile, you have a strong chance of getting shortlisted by institutes such as IMI Bhubaneswar, IMT Nagpur, IMT Hyderabad, XIME Bangalore/Chennai, TAPMI Manipal (borderline, profile-dependent), IFMR GSB Krea University, FORE School of Management (certain programs), GIM Goa (specialised programs), LIBA Chennai (borderline), K J Somaiya Institute of Management (profile-based), Great Lakes Chennai/Gurgaon (PGDM – profile matters a lot), and Welingkar Mumbai (especially through profile + GDPI). Many reputed state universities and private institutes like PUMBA Pune, Delhi School of Management (DTU – if accepting CAT that year), BIMTECH (some programs), NDIM Delhi, ITM Navi Mumbai, and Jaipuria Institute of Management campuses are also realistic options.

Your sectional percentiles (VARC 80.56, DILR 75.81, QA 84.56) are fairly balanced, which works in your favor, as several colleges apply sectional cut-offs around 60–70 percentile. Final selection will depend not only on CAT score but also on academic background, graduation marks, work experience, diversity factors, and GD-PI performance. If you have work experience, it significantly improves your chances at colleges like Great Lakes, FORE, IFMR, and Welingkar.

In summary, while top IIMs are not achievable at 82.71 percentile, you can still secure admission into reputed mid-tier MBA colleges that provide good ROI and career growth if you perform well in the GD-PI process. It is advisable to apply broadly, focus on profile-based institutes, and prepare seriously for interviews to convert the best possible calls.

Hello,

With 82.71 percentile in CAT 2025 , getting calls from top IIMs and elite MBA colleges is not possible, as their past cutoffs are usually 95 percentile and above .

MBA colleges you can target (based on previous year cutoffs)

Good Tier-2 MBA colleges (80–90 percentile range):

• XIMB Bhubaneswar

• IMI Delhi (borderline)

• IMT Ghaziabad (borderline)

• FORE School of Management, Delhi

• Goa Institute of Management (GIM)

• TAPMI Manipal

• Welingkar Mumbai

• BIMTECH Greater Noida

• MDI Murshidabad

• IMI Kolkata

Your chances :

• Top IIMs, FMS, MDI Gurgaon, IIFT : Not possible

• Tier-2 private MBA colleges : Possible

• Tier-2 / Tier-3 colleges : Good chances

Final selection also depends on GD, PI, academics, work experience, and profile. Overall, with 82.71 percentile , you should focus on Tier-2 and reputed private MBA colleges rather than IIMs.

You can also use our CLAT College Predictor Tool to predict which colleges you can get based on your score and rank.

Hope it helps !