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Your child is in the final year of college and has two choices: sit CAT now and go straight into an MBA, or take a job and apply later. The right one depends on what business schools look for, what each path costs, and whether your child knows why they want an MBA.
Can my child do an MBA straight after graduation?
Yes. The CAT 2026 eligibility notice lets final-year students apply, provided they hold at least 50% marks (45% for SC, ST and PwBD candidates). If they are selected, they can join only provisionally, and must submit a certificate from their college confirming they have completed all degree requirements.
Freshers do get in, but at IIM Ahmedabad they are a minority. The institute reported that about 77% of its 2026-28 PGP batch had prior work experience, and that the batch's average work experience was 24 months. ISB says its one-year PGP is designed for students with a minimum of 24 months of full-time work experience. Its separate PGP YL programme is for applicants with a maximum of 24 months of work experience, so a final-year student can apply to that one.
How much does work experience count in IIM admissions?
IIM Ahmedabad publishes its formula. In its admission policy for the PGP 2027-29 batch, work experience under 12 months earns 0 points. From 12 to 36 months it earns 0.2 × (months − 11), and anything beyond 36 months earns the maximum of 5 points. Those points are added to points for Class 10, Class 12 and degree marks and gender diversity points. This application rating, once normalised, makes up 35% of the shortlisting score; the CAT percentile makes up the other 65%.
For example:
Fresher, 0 months: 0 points
18 months in a job: 0.2 × 7 = 1.4 points
30 months: 0.2 × 19 = 3.8 points
40 months: 5 points, the same as 36
So at IIM Ahmedabad, a job of under a year adds nothing at the shortlisting stage, and experience beyond three years earns no extra points. The same policy gives the personal interview 50% of the final selection score. Real work can give your child better answers to interview questions like "why an MBA, and why now?".
What does each path cost your family?
Count two costs: the fees, and the salary your child gives up during two years of full-time study. Fees change yearly, so take them from each school's current notice. For one reference point from a different kind of programme, IIM Ahmedabad's blended PGP for working professionals lists a programme fee of INR 20,00,000 for 2025-27%20(1)%20(1).pdf), not counting travel and stay for campus modules. It needs at least 3 years of full-time work after graduation, and it is taught mostly online so participants can keep working.
A simple cost sheet to fill in together:
Total fee, hostel and living costs for the full course.
Salary your child would have earned during those years (zero for a fresher with no offer; the offer amount otherwise).
Loan amount, interest rate and the monthly EMI after graduation.
Savings your child could put in after two or three years of work.
If a loan is likely, our guides on applying for an education loan step by step and explaining an education loan to your teenager cover the paperwork and the conversation.
How can parents help their child decide?
Your job is to ask good questions, not to choose for your child. Work through these together:
Can your child say what job they want after the MBA, and why it needs an MBA?
Is there a job offer in hand that would teach them something real?
Would their CAT score today reach the schools they would actually join?
Can the family cover the fees without a loan your child cannot repay?
If they work first, what is the plan: which year to sit CAT, and what counts as a good job?
A script you can use: "I'll back either choice. Help me understand what you want to be doing at 28, and which route gets you there with fewer regrets." Then listen more than you talk.
If your child chooses to work first, the next question is which job; this comparison of a startup versus a big company for a first job can help. If they choose CAT now and their school maths has gone rusty, the Fermi Concept Library has a lesson for every mathematics concept, so they can rebuild the basics before moving on to practice papers.
Working first rarely closes the door. IIM Ahmedabad's announcement of its 21st MBA-PGPX batch says the one-year programme's 2026-27 batch averaged 7 years and 6 months of work experience.
Sit down this month with the cost sheet and the five questions, and agree on a date to decide together.
