2 Mumbai boys among CAT toppers

During the second edition of the online CAT,eight engineers emerged as the toppers by securing 100 percentile. The top eight includes three from Maharashtra — two from Mumbai and one from Pune — and one each from Delhi,Indore,Kolkata,Chennai,Bangalore. Following this,overall 19 students scored 99.99 percentile,the second best CAT score.

Shashank Samant,an IIT Bombay 2009 passout and Gaurav Malpani,a fourth-year B-tech student from IIT-B,have secured perfect 100 percentile.

Samant,a computer engineering,is now working with an international bank as quantitative analyst. “I had appeared for CAT in 2008 but scored 99.98 percentile. This year I hardly got any time to study as I was working. I appeared for a couple of mock tests and just two days before the test I started studying. I am happy that I could score 100 percentile. I wish to get through IIM-Ahemadabad,Bangalore or Kolkata. After doing engineering from IIT,studying management was important to me as I want be a successful entrepreneur someday,” said Samant.

Gaurav too is studying computer science at IIT-B. He wants to become a consultant after completing engineering and management.

“After acquiring technical skills for four years I want to study management so that I have an edge over others. Nowadays many engineers are opting for management courses to enhance their skills and profile,” Malpani said.

Meanwhile,on January 2,rumours of CAT results being leaked on its website 10 days ahead of the schedule led to frenzy amount students. However,CAT 2010 convener Prof. Himanshu Rai denied the news.

“I wish good luck to all the candidates who have successfully qualified for the next round. There are 2,500 seats in IIMs this year. At the same time those who have not secured well can explore other options and can also prepare for CAT next year. We are now collating the number of total students who have qualified,” said Professor Rai.

Based on the percentile score of the written examination,the various institutes prepare their selection lists. The final selection is based on the performance at all three levels — written exam,personal interview and group discussion (GD). The test,which was conducted at 78 centres in 33 cities,saw 30,296 applicants from Maharsahtra.