While securing admission into the prominent management institutes in India through breaking the barrier of more than 90 percentile in the Common Admission Test (CAT) is considered the conventional way, being in the 60, 70, and 80 percentile categories will not close all avenues for you to secure admission to some of the decent management colleges. Many of the students consider being in these percentile categories as the end of their hopes, but there are plenty of good management colleges that assess the students belonging to these percentiles. In addition, most of these colleges do take into account your academic background, work experience, gender balance, and personal interviews along with your score in the entrance test.
Check| CAT Score vs Percentile 2026: Check The Safe Score For 99+ Percentile
What is CAT Percentile? How is it Calculated
The CAT percentile denotes your relative rank among all those people who took the test, and not your test scores. The percentile also indicates the percentage of test takers whose score was lower than yours. So for instance, if your percentile is 90 then you know that you have outperformed 90% of all the test takers of that particular year.
Since the CAT test can be attempted at different times of the day and each session being of different difficulty level, the organizers of the test use a particular equation to convert your raw scores to scaled scores. This is then used along with the overall rank of the test taker to derive their percentile.
Factors Affecting CAT Cut Off 2026
-
Exam Difficulty: If the difficulty level of the exam is high, then the cutoffs will go down because the average marks scored by all the candidates will be low.
Number of Students Appearing for the Exam: The more number of students who appear for the test, the more will be the competition. Hence, the cutoffs will go up.
Number of Seats: If the total number of seats offered is more, then the cutoffs will come down due to reduced competition.
Reservation: Candidates from each quota have separate cutoffs as per government guidelines. Repute of the Institution: Top-ranked business schools have extremely high cutoffs because of very high demand.
Top Management Colleges for 50-60 Percentile in CAT
|
Top College / University
|
Type
|
Degree
|
Course / Specialization
|
|
Rajasthan Technical University (RTU), Kota
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management
|
|
Institute of Management (Barkatullah Univ.), Bhopal
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
Finance, Human Resources
|
|
VTU PG Center, Belagavi
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management
|
|
I.K. Gujral Punjab Technical University (PTU)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management, Marketing
|
|
BIMS (University of Mysore)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management
|
Top Management Colleges for 60-70 Percentile in CAT
|
Top College / University
|
Type
|
Degree
|
Course / Specialization
|
|
Ambedkar University, Delhi
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Venture Dev.
|
|
School of Management Studies, JNTU Hyderabad
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management, Finance
|
|
Canara Bank School of Management (Bangalore Univ.)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
Finance, Marketing
|
|
LUMBA (Lucknow University)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
HR, Finance, International Business
|
|
University School of Management (Kurukshetra Univ.)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
Marketing, Finance
|
Top Management Colleges for 70-80 Percentile in CAT
|
Top College / University
|
Type
|
Degree
|
Course / Specialization
|
|
IISWBM, Kolkata
|
State Govt Aided
|
MBA / MBA-PS
|
Public Systems, General Management
|
|
School of Management Studies, NIT Calicut
|
NIT / Public
|
MBA
|
Finance, Systems
|
|
University of Hyderabad (UoH)
|
Central Govt
|
MBA / MBA (HHM)
|
General, Healthcare & Hospital Management
|
|
USMS (Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha Univ.)
|
State Govt
|
MBA / MBA (FA)
|
Financial Analysis, International Business
|
|
Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI), New Delhi
|
Central Govt
|
MBA
|
International Business, Entrepreneurship
|
Top Management Colleges for 80-90 Percentile in CAT
|
Top College / University
|
Type
|
Degree
|
Course / Specialization
|
|
Delhi School of Management (DTU), Delhi
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
General Management, Business Analytics
|
|
PUMBA (Pune University)
|
State Govt
|
MBA
|
Pharma-Biotech, General Management
|
|
Department of Management Studies, NIT Trichy
|
NIT / Public
|
MBA
|
Business Analytics, Finance
|
|
Institute of Management Studies (IMS), BHU
|
Central Govt
|
MBA / MBA (IB)
|
Finance, Marketing, International Business
|
|
School of Management, NIT Warangal
|
NIT / Public
|
MBA
|
Human Resources, Operations
|
Also Check|