PGPM: Full Form, Admission, Eligibility, Syllabus, Colleges, Fees, Value, Jobs 2023

PGPM Admission Process

Admission to the PGPM course takes place on the basis of entrance exams conducted by national bodies, institutes, or a group of institutes. After qualifying for these exams, candidates are called for further rounds like written tests, group discussions, and personal interviews. Final admission is provided to students based on their performance in these rounds.

PGPM Eligibility Criteria

Candidates who are interested to pursue PGPM program must fulfill the following eligibility criteria:

• A candidate must have completed a Bachelor's degree from a recognized college/ university with a minimum percentage of 50% or equivalent CGPA.
• A valid score for accepted entrance exams like CAT, MAT, GMAT, etc.
• Some colleges like IIM, MDI, etc. also consider the work experience of the candidates to grant admissions, hence having work experience can be called important criteria for PGPM admission.

Students in the last year of their Bachelor's degree can also apply for the PGPM program if they are able to produce a certificate from their Principal or Head of the Department of Registrar certifying that the candidate is currently in the final year and has secured at least 50% marks or equivalent based on the previous semester or latest available grades or marks.

PGPM Admissions 2023

Most of the B-Schools accept admissions in PGPM courses on the basis of entrance exam scores.

• The eligibility criteria for PGPM courses is a Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university with 50% aggregate marks or CGPA
• PGPM Entrance Exams: CAT, MAT, XAT, GMAT, SNAP, CMAT, ATMA
• PGPM Entrance Registration Exams will open for CAT between August to September 2023.
• PGPM colleges with applications open are SPJIMR for the class of 2023.
• PGPM is a professional 2 years degree course in management stream, which is offered by top colleges such as IIM, MDI, FMS SPJIMR, Great Lakes-Chennai..
• PGPM Admission fees range between INR 8 Lakh - 20 Lakhs.
• According to academics, candidates should choose the right B-School that can have an edge over the rest even after scoring 99% in CAT.

PGPM Entrance Exams

The following are the most popular and important management Entrance Exams in which a candidate must qualify in order to secure admission to PGPM course:

• CAT: The Common Admission Test or CAT is one of the most popular entrance exams for admission to postgraduate management courses in India. The computer-based exam is conducted every year by IIM, and the scores are officially used for granting admission to all the Postgraduate courses in all the IIMs of India. 

Apart from IIM, almost all the top B-Schools in India accept CAT scores for granting admission to PGPM courses. The exam usually takes place in the month of November, and the results are available by the end of January. The application forms are usually available in the month of August, each year.

• CMAT: Common Management Aptitude Test or CMAT is a computer-based entrance exam conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) at the end of January each year. CMAT scores are accepted by almost all the colleges (except the IIMs) for admission to PGPM courses. 

It is compulsory for all the AICTE-approved colleges (both government and private) to accept CMAT scores for admission to postgraduate management courses. The application process generally takes place in the month of October - November, and the results arrive in February.

• GMAT: Graduate Management Admission Test or GMAT is a global management entrance exam conducted by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). This test score is accepted in more than 100 countries worldwide, including India.

Apart from IIMs, most of the private management colleges in India accept the GMAT test score for admission to PGPM courses. Nowadays, GRE, which is primarily for admission in MS and PhD courses in the US, is also accepted by many colleges in India for admission into management courses.

• XAT:  Xavier Aptitude Test or XAT is an online entrance exam conducted by XLRI. XAT scores are accepted by many reputed private colleges for admission into PGPM courses.  

The application process generally takes place in November, exams are conducted in early January and the results are published either by the end of January or by early February each year.

Important Dates

How to Prepare for PGPM Entrance exams?

The primary examination concerned for entrance to all PGPM courses is the Common Aptitude Test. However, most of the entrance tests follow similar patterns and mainly attempt to test the aptitude of the candidates. 

The following tips can be considered to enhance one’s performance:

• Focus on strengthening your basics: For an examination like CAT, one requires absolute conceptual clarity and a clear understanding of the basics. Attempt to identify your weaknesses and strengths, and work towards the same. 
• Practice managing your time: Time yourself and make sure you stick to the allotted time for each question while preparing. Also work on accuracy on the attempted questions, instead of attempting all questions hurriedly. Keep practicing mock tests and solve previous year's papers.
• Organization of work: There is no shortage of study material for a popular exam like CAT. However, having multiple study resources can be confusing and stressful. Therefore, students are advised to research well about their choice of study material and stick to the same instead of trying to cover topics from everywhere.
• Comprehension: Candidates should primarily focus on the reading comprehension passages as a majority of questions will be from this topic. For a good attempt to score 95 percentile, candidates should attempt to answer 26+ questions.

Tips for PGPM Entrance exams

• Build your vocabulary as strong as you can. Also, practice for this section every day, preferably in the morning, by reading newspapers and blogs, and also writing something (even diaries and blogs) using the new words you learned every day.
• While solving those questions, always try to represent the given data and situations pictorially on a piece of paper, instead of just reading questions. This will enhance your understanding of the questions.
• For Quantitative Ability the candidates are generally advised to go through NCERT maths books and other good school level maths help books for Class 8, 9,10, 11, and 12.
• Practice at least one question paper every day and mark your progress.
• Also, practice the questions from the preparation books which are recommended by the industry experts and management study gurus.

How to get Admission in top B-Schools in India?

• Most of the PGPM colleges take admission solely on the basis of entrance exam scores.
• For getting admission to top IIMs, you will have to achieve a very high percentile in CAT entrance exam, at least 98 percentile.
• Topmost IIMs, like IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta, call candidates with scores well above 99 percentile.
• Other reputed private colleges also prefer to have candidates with scores above the 95 percentile.
• Apart from entrance exam scores, you should also make sure that you have adequate work experience, writing abilities and communication skills.
• Try to build a strong resume describing each of your achievements in minute detail.

How to Apply

The Application process for PGPM courses in most of colleges is a four-step process, which can be described as follows:

• Fill out the Application Form of the College: The candidate who fulfills all the eligibility criteria for the course will need to apply to the college in which they want to take admission, either online or through the post, as per instructions from the selected college(s).
• Entrance Exam: Almost all the colleges accept admission to PGPM courses on the basis of entrance exam scores. So, the candidate is required to check which entrance exam is accepted by the college and make sure to appear and qualify for that exam in order to get admission in your selected college. Generally, IIMs take admission through CAT exam, while other colleges accept any one of CAT/CMAT/GMAT scores.
• Writing Ability Test (WAT): After clearing the cut off set by the PGPM college, you will be notified about the next rounds of admission, which is mostly Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI). Some colleges (Other than IIMs) often take Group Discussion Round at first followed by WAT and PI. WAT usually tests a student's analytical ability skills and capability. The students who pass the exam are finally selected for the PI round. 
• Personal Interview (PI): After WAT, this is the second most important step of PGPM admissions. Only the final shortlisted candidates are called for the PI round. In this round, a candidate's personality, academic background and working experience are assessed, and their managerial and leadership qualities are judged.