Applicants who had paid Rs 2,600 to Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad to apply with both CAT and XAT scores would receive a refund of their second application fee starting from April 2006, MICA Director Prof Atul Tandon told PaGaLGuY.com.
The refund might not be of the entire Rs 1,300, as the fee kept by coaching institutes to sell the forms would be deducted from the amount, he added. The refund would be sent to the applicants’ addresses, no action would be required on the applicant’s part. For those applicants who take admission into MICA, the extra sum would be adjusted into the tution fees, Prof Tandon further said.
Several applicants to MICA’s 2006 admissions process were asked to pay Rs 1,300 for a second time if they wanted to apply with their XAT scores over and above the XAT scores. However those who had applied in later stages had paid only Rs 1,300 for applying with both scores. The discrepancy had invited the wrath of many applicants.
Why did the discrepancy take place at all? Out of a messy management of admissions on MICA’s part.
According to sources in MICA, the institute had to submit a list of its CAT applicants to the IIMs, who conduct the CAT, by December 15, 2005. At that time, the XAT application process was in progress and the students did not have their XAT IDs in hand. When the same students wanted to apply with XAT IDs, they were asked by MICA to pay another Rs 1,300. However in late January the IIMs allowed MICA to add more applicants using the CAT score. MICA extended its application deadline, and those who applied at that time could do so using both the CAT and XAT IDs on a single application form.
This is not the first time that there has been sloppiness in MICA’s application process. In 2004, for example, MICA’s short list was removed from its servers within hours of its announcement and replaced with an entirely new list. Some older names had disappeared while newer ones came up, causing many avoidable heartbreaks.