Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai (Maharashtra) has announced notification for admission into Dual Degree Programmes for the academic year 2011-12. TISS is the premier institute for education, training and research in Social Sciences, Social work and other allied disciplines such as education, management etc. The institute is one of the oldest deemed universities in the country. TISS is also known for providing good on campus and off campus placements for its students. Following are details of Dual Degree programmes for the year 2011-12:

1) Dual Degree in Management of Voluntary Organizations: 15 seats; Duration is one year / 2 semesters. Qualification: Candidates should have a PG degree in Social work. Applicants with a Post Graduate degree in any related discipline along with three years experience in social development sector also will be considered. Candidates with an MA degree from TISS in the past two academic years can also apply.

2) Dual Degree in Social Work and Mental Health: 15 seats; Duration is one year / two semesters. Qualification: Applicants should have an M.A. in Social Work along with specialization in Medical and Psychiatric Social. The degree should have been obtained from TISS or any other reputed Institute along with at least 2years relevant work experience in the area of mental health. Candidates with MA in Social Work from TISS during last two years also can apply.

Selection of the candidates will be based on personal interviews. Interested candidates can download application forms from the website http://www.tiss.edu/announcement .

Important Dates:

1) Last date for the receipt of completed application forms at the Institute by Post and in Person (For Dual Degree in Management of Voluntary Organizations): 16th August 2011
2) Last date for Dual Degree in Social Work and Mental Health: 30th August 2011
3) Personal Interviews: 16-17 September 2011.

IIMs are the dream institutes for the aspiring managers. IIMs have achieved international reputation in churning out smart and brilliant managers for the requirements of small, medium and large corporate companies. Those graduated from IIMs have been in top managerial positions of the MNCs and big Indian companies operating across the globe. But the number of institutes and seats in the IIMs remain very limited. Candidates have to work very hard to get an admission in Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP in Management) of any IIM. The cut offs / percentiles always on high range. IIMs follow their own selection procedure and short listing methods of CAT qualified candidates. Following are details of IIMs, seats in various PGP and probable cut offs to get a seat in IIM:

There are a total of nine IIMs in the country. Estimated number of seats available in all IIMs is about 1200. Each IIM will have 120 seats in PGP in Management. Out of these total seats, 75 percent seats (900) may be available for General Category candidates and the remaining will be allotter for Reserved Category Students. Candidates need higher percentiles to get a seat in top ranked IIMs such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow.

Following are the details of IIMs and Cut Offs: 1) IIM Bangalore 2) IIM Ahmedabad 3) IIM Kozhikode 4) IIM Calcutta 5) IIM Lucknow 6) IIM Indore 7) IIM Ranchi 8. IIM Shillong 9) IIM Rohtak 10) IIM Raipur.

Following are probable cut off details for various IIMs. But one should remember that IIMs only short list candidates based on CAT for further selection processes like Group Discussions and Interviews. Here are probable cut offs:

1) IIM Ahmedabad (IIMA): Should have around 99.3 percentile overall .
2) IIM Bangalore (IIMB): Overall percentile should be aroung 95.
3) IIM Lucknow (IIML): Your percentile should be around 97.
4) IIM Calcutta (IIMC): You need to secure about 98.96 percentile.
5) IIM Indore (IIMI): Your percentile should be around 98.
6) IIM Shilong (IIMS): A overall percentile of 85 is required.
7) Other IIMs: Need about 80-85 percentile.

As the IIMs have changed CAT Test pattern from 2011, we have to wait and watch for its impact on cut offs.