One of the most upsetting situations that I encounter as a faculty is to interact with a student who did not fill up the application/admission form correctly and hence has to settle for a sub-optimal institute or program. Identifying the right institutes for applying and filing up the forms carefully are as important as preparing and taking the test. While I will be writing separately on which institutes to apply, let me start the series on filling up of application/admission form with NMAT 2014 application.

Admission to the seven MBA programs of NMIMS offered in three different campuses, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, is through a common written test – NMIMS Management Admission Test (NMAT).  Let us go through the NMAT application form and identify the possible mistake areas.

  • Registration: Register for NMAT 2014 at https://nmat.formistry.com/, make sure you fill up the data carefully. Multiple or duplicate registrations can lead to rejection of application and forfeiture of the fee.
  • Personal Details
    • Parent’s Name: You need to enter your Father’s Name exactly as it is printed in your HSC/SSC mark sheet or certificate. Copy the name exactly as it is on the mark sheet. Do not convert initials to full name or vice-a-versa. Mother’s name is not an issue.
    • Identity Proof: NMAT requires identification proof for Photograph and Signature. While your passport can take care of both the requirements, it is advisable to have two different IDs for photograph and signature. Some of you may not have a PAN Card or Passport, apply for it immediately. While a Passport will take time you can get a PAN Card in a couple of weeks. You can apply for PAN Card at http://www.utiitsl.com/
      • Photo ID: Only your Passport and PAN Card are acceptable Photo ID. Go for the ID that has a more recent photograph.  Many a times the passport photograph is dated and in such cases the PAN Card should be preferred.
      • Signature ID: The acceptable IDs in this case are Passport, PAN Card, ATM Debit Card, Credit Card and Driving license. Please ensure that your signature is clearly visible.
    • Special Needs: NMAT is among the few MBA entrance tests that cater to the requirements of differently-abled students. Do mention your specific disability. The students who have any specific requirement must fill in the details in the online application while registering, scan their Disability Certificate and email it together with their NMAT ID and name, to nmatspecialrequirements@pearson.com at least five days prior to their scheduled test date. Each application will be reviewed and appropriate assistance will be made available at the test centre. Pearson VUE will contact the candidates to ensure proper assistance.
  • Education/Work Experience
    • Class 12th / Diploma Details: Students who have attended a Junior College for class XI and XII should choose State Board for XII/HSC Board.
    • Graduation Details:
      • Candidates who have not completed their graduation should choose “appeared”.
      • “Appeared” (final year of graduation) students should give their last available percentage.
      • “Do you have academic break” should be answered in affirmative if you dropped a year after class XII or had to drop out of college for some time during graduation. If you have completed graduation but do not have a job, it is not an academic break.
  • Program Details: This is extremely important and an error here can be damaging because the preferences given here cannot be changed later. Go thorough the program details on www.nmims.edu, spend some time understanding the programs, consider your interest areas and then finalize your order of preference.
    • Program Name: While NMIMS Mumbai  is among the top 25 MBA institutes in India and offers a MBA degree from of NMIMS University, the NMIMS Bangalore and Hyderabad campus are ranked significantly lower and offer an AICTE approved PGDM. My suggestion will be to apply for MBA (Full Time) and PGDM. Even if you are not very keen on the Bengaluru and Hyderabad campuses, it will be prudent not to close these options at this point of time as the incremental cost is only Rs 400/-
    • MBA (Full Time Preferences): Based on the reputation and the placement opportunities of the various MBA programs of NMIMS Mumbai, my order of ranking is given below. Apply for MBA HR only if you are sure about specializing in this area.
      • MBA
      • MBA HR
      • MBA Banking
      • MBA Capital Market
      • MBA Pharmaceutical Management
    • PGDM Preferences: Bengaluru should be preferred over Hyderabad because it is an older program and offers location advantage as well.
    • Campus Preferences: Mumbai is the first preference followed by Bengaluru. Hyderabad is the least preferred among the three.
  • Test Date and Number of Attempts
    • NMAT allows you to 3 attempts, however; do not do not plan for a retake. Consider the retake option as an insurance that you should hopefully not need. So choose a date based on when you think you will be well prepared. NMAT declares the results in batches (once every two weeks) so an early date is preferable as it will give you sufficient time to improve on your weak areas if you need to go for a retake. Since NMAT takes the highest score of the three attempts you do not lose anything in a retake except the retake fee of Rs 2000/-.
    • The NMAT test window is from 5th October to 18th December 2013 while the CAT window is from 16th October to 11th November 2013. You can consider CMAT and NMAT as two extra Mock CATs. It will be hence advisable to schedule NMAT about 10-12 days before your planned CAT date so that you have sufficient time to work on the weak areas identified in NMAT. However, those of you who may not be well prepared till October end should plan to take NMAT 10-12 days after CAT.
  • Photograph
    Use a recent photograph as per the guidelines given by NMAT. In the past, students have faced problems at the test center because of photograph mismatch.
  • Editing the application form
    You can edit certain fields like present address and academic background in their application form till you receive confirmation from NMIMS of receipt of fee paid for registration. Pleasecheck the information entered in the online registration application form carefully while registering and again before making payment as changes will not be allowed at a later stage.

Finally, do not delay the registration process. Test slots are filled on a first come first served basis hence apply early to ensure that you get your preferred date.