Can You Get Into a Top MBA College With 60–70 Percentile in CAT?

The Common Admission Test (CAT) serves as the primary entry requirement for MBA programs in India, which attracts numerous aspiring candidates. Your admission process will mostly depend on the percentage you achieve in the test. 

But what happens if you score in the 60‑70 percentile range? Does that mean you’ve missed your chance at a meaningful management education? 

The good news is you haven't. The job market still offers numerous opportunities to individuals who fall within this salary range when they choose their career paths and specialisations carefully while creating their professional profile. The blog will show you how a 60‑70 percentile score keeps your admission chances alive while showing you which colleges to apply to, which specialisations to focus on, how to build your profile, what other exams to take, and what mistakes to avoid before ending with a conclusion. The guide will assist students in the specified percentile group to form a practical plan for their education instead of giving up their MBA goals.

Why you shouldn’t lose hope with 60 to 70 percentile

First off, scoring in the 60 to 70 percentile band doesn’t close the door on a good MBA or PGDM programme. Many strong institutions accept candidates in that range because they look beyond numbers. For instance, sources suggest that several colleges in India accept CAT percentiles in 60‑70 for admission to MBA/PGDM. Also, exams like XAT show that their cut‑offs for many institutes are in the 60‑70 percentile range. 

The key message is that your percentile is one part of the story. Your academic background, extra‑curriculars, work experience (if any), clarity of goals, interview/GD performance all matter. If you accept that 60–70 is a realistic base and build smartly around it — pick the right colleges, pick specialisations with demand, and polish your profile — you can still end up with a credible MBA path. Maintaining hope means shifting from “top‑IIM only” mindset to “the right fit for me” mindset. This proactive shift is what allows you to use your current percentile as a stepping stone, not a dead end.

Types of Colleges Accepting 60 to 70 Percentile in CAT 

When you score in the 60‑70 percentile range, your college options expand in what might be called “Tier‑2 and Tier‑3” institutions, as well as well‑run private B‑schools, university‑affiliated MBA departments and autonomous PGDM institutes. Here are the broad categories:

• Tier‑2 and Tier‑3 private B‑schools: These are private institutes (not the top‑tier IIMs) but they often have good infrastructure, placement support and accept lower CAT percentiles in the 60–70 range. For example, many colleges like Indus Business Academy in Bengaluru and the KIIT School of Management in Bhubaneswar accept CAT percentile of around 60‑70.

• University‑affiliated MBA departments: A university’s management department offering an MBA often has moderate cut‑offs, good recognition and can be less expensive. These can be solid value targets when percentiles are moderate.

• Independent PGDM institutions: These institutions offer their PGDM programs on an independent basis, with most courses being offered with a very industry-appropriate curriculum. As they are independent, there is often a more flexible cut-off and they tend to give more weight to a student’s profile, work experience, or specialisation fit rather than just their raw percentile.

By aligning your college search to these categories you widen your chances. The objective is to pick institutes that match your percentile realistically, then focus on how you can stand out elsewhere in the process.

Top Colleges Accepting 60 to 70 Percentile in CAT 

While selecting an MBA college in India, it is crucial to keep in mind: the paid fees, specialisations, and CAT cutoffs. Certain colleges, like ISBR Bangalore, are expensive and offer many choices of programs, while others like PES University and Rajagiri are more affordable options with lower percentile cutoffs. Christ University Bangalore is also a good inexpensive option that has competitive admission requirements. This combination of institutions provides aspirants with various selections covering diverse budgets and scores while fulfilling each aspirant's needs with the most choices without a loss in quality or chances of admission. Refer to the table given below for a more detailed analysis of the top Colleges accepting 60 to 70 percentiles in CAT.

Top Colleges Accepting 60 to 70 Percentile in CAT: Placement Trends  

Placements ‌stats are the major deciding factors while picking an MBA college. So it is very important to gain an idea about the average and highest salary figures along with the fees of the top B-schools. The next step for aspirants would be to see the figures and names of companies hiring to evaluate their possible return on investment and the ease with which jobs can be landed. This information will help you to compare colleges efficiently and choose wisely according to your career aspirations and financial ​‍​‌‍​‍‌plan. The table below shows the placement trends of some of the top colleges discussed above.

Best specialisations to target with 60 to 70 percentile

While your percentile determines your chance at entry into various colleges, your selection of specialisation will be even more consequential in terms of how you will once again characterise yourself and your future career. With a 60-70 percentile, you would want to consider specialisations where the demand is growing and the selection is not solely based on ultra-high percentile scores. Think of specialisations like:

• Marketing & Sales: Many private b-schools focus on marketing because nearly every company will recruit for marketing, and there are many opportunities present to hire. 

• Human Resources: This field of specialisation demands is relatively constant, and many institutions still offer HR as a specialization with leaving decent placement opportunities while going through for an MBA program. 

• Business Analytics/Data Analytics: These fields are competitive and one has to deal with the cutthroat competition that comes in these domains. Many of the new or tier-2 institutions offering these specialisations are more than happy to fill their analytics seats if the candidate at least has a finite quantitative aptitude. Operations/Supply Chain Management - Companies are placing an increasing importance on operations and supply chain management skills. 

• Finance: While a finance specialisation at a top IIM will be competitive, post-IIM, there are relatively decent finance specialisations at other institutions with mid-level percentiles. Finance graduates land top-notch placements not just in India but globally as well.

Choose a specialisation that you are actually interested in, which fits your profile (projects, internships, interest) and where there is a clear institute-level placement strength. If you are at around a 60-70 percentile level, select a niche where you can truly excel and have the potential to shine, instead of competing against the high­-end percentile crowd for the same specialisations.

How to plan Next steps after CAT

Upon receiving your CAT scores in the 60–70 percentile range, here's how to work through your next steps:

• Create a short-list of realistic colleges:  Based on your percentile ranking, do some research to short-list colleges that accept your percentile range, come in your budget, and are near your location, also keep your specialisation interests in mind, along with the placement history.

• Register for PI and GD rounds: A lot of schools will ask you to come for a group discussion and personal interview rounds after meeting the first round of the selection criteria. Keep up with dates and get ready.

• Plan out your timeline: Write down the deadlines for when to apply for, when to submit paperwork, when interviews are conducted, deadlines on when to accept an offer. Create a calendar you can refer to, so you can, at a minimum be in contact with the school of your choice on.

• Apply broadly but smartly: Even when you know which schools you want to go to, make sure to apply to a lot of schools in all groups private business schools, MBA programs at universities, PGDMs, and so on. So you have multiple choices.

• Build your profile for the interview: Start working on not only your resume, but also, your story of why MBA, your specialisation choice, any extra-curriculars, your work experience (if available), and what are your motivations.

• Decide Plan B/ retake strategy: If you think you can improve significantly, which is possible, you will want to decide if you can bring yourself to retake the CAT next year, but you will want to also keep a credible plan for admission this year so you aren’t feeling stranded.

Conclusion

Achieving a score between the 60th and 70th percentile in the CAT is not the conclusion of your journey; it is just the beginning. As long as you have the right mentality, target strategy, a realistic short-list of colleges, an authentic profile and a smart choice of concentration, meaningful and effective MBA options are available for you. 

The percentile you achieved on the exam is merely a dimension of your candidacy. The other dimensions of your candidacy are the clarity of your goals, how well you present yourself, your choice of college and concentration to study, and how you leverage your MBA experience. There is always hope--use the experience of this university-affiliated/autonomous/private B-school experience as your launching pad. Your journey starts now: plan and take action and keep an eyeful focus. You can do it!