3-Year Gap, 95.02 CAT Percentile, IIM Waitlists & a Low-Paying Job Offer — What Should My Friend Do?
My friend completed his B.E. from Anna University CEG. After graduation, he didn’t take up a job for around 3 years because he was fully preparing for bank exams and later shifted focus towards CAT.
He appeared for CAT 2025 and scored 95.02 percentile under the OBC category. He received interview calls from IIM Indore, IIM Udaipur, and IIM Mumbai.
The interviews for Indore and Udaipur actually went well according to him, but because of the 3-year gap and no work experience, his interview scores turned out to be very low. Finally, the results either got rejected or converted into very difficult waitlists.
Ironically, the IIM Mumbai interview went comparatively bad, but the current waitlist movement is giving him some hope. I’ve attached the waitlist screenshot for reference.
Now the real problem:
He has received an offer from a Creo design company with:
# 6 months training period
# ₹15,000 stipend during training
# Final package after training: around ₹3.5 LPA
# There is also a bond involved
The company wants him to confirm immediately because the joining date is Monday.
So now he is confused:
1)Should he wait and take a chance on IIM Mumbai?
2)Is there realistically any hope for conversion considering the waitlist movement?
3)Or should he stop waiting and join this job/training program to avoid extending the gap further?
Would really appreciate honest suggestions from people who have faced similar situations or know about IIM waitlist movements.