How do humanities, commerce, and engineering students compare in new IIM placements?

Engineering graduates consistently outperform commerce students, who in turn outperform humanities graduates in new IIM placements, and this gap is wider at newer IIMs than at the older ones. This is not anecdote; it is a recruiter-driven pattern that repeats across batches regardless of CGPA.

Why the Hierarchy Exists

Recruiters at new IIMs, especially those hiring for finance and consulting, use academic background as a cheap proxy for quantitative ability. An engineering student from IIM Shillong or IIM Rohtak gets less scrutiny on financial modelling aptitude than a history graduate with the same GPA.

This is not formal policy, but it shows up in shortlist rates for BCG, McKinsey, and investment banking roles at firms like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, where quant framing in case interviews matters.

The contrast with older IIMs is structural. At IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, admissions actively weight academic diversity, so by the time students reach the placement floor the cohort is already more balanced.

Newer IIMs lack that corrective, leaving background-driven bias more room to operate.

How Each Stream Actually Fares

Commerce students face the smallest disadvantage because their coursework already maps to roles at firms like HUL, Deloitte, or mid-size banks. Humanities students face the steepest climb, particularly for roles that explicitly screen on Excel, financial modelling, or structured problem-solving.

What Non-Engineering Students Can Do

The gap is real but not permanent. The most reliable offset is earning CFA Level 1 before placements begin.

A single-level pass signals quant seriousness; the full CFA charter differentiates more strongly, but Level 1 during the first year of the MBA is achievable and visible on a resume. Beyond credentials, summer internship selection matters enormously: an internship at a BFSI firm or a strategy role at a manufacturing company rewrites the narrative for autumn placements.

• Humanities students should target marketing and HR tracks at FMCG firms (HUL, ITC, P&G) where communication skills price in more directly.
• Commerce students should lean into BFSI recruiting and not concede consulting tracks without trying.
• Both groups should front-load quant coursework and electives in the first semester to build a visible transcript signal.

The Honest Takeaway

This is hard, and pretending otherwise helps nobody. A humanities student at a new IIM competing for a McKinsey or Goldman role is playing the game on harder difficulty.

That does not make it impossible, but it makes preparation sequencing before Day 1 of MBA non-negotiable. The stream disadvantage is a known variable with known solutions: credentials, internship targeting, and role selection.

Candidates who treat it as a surprise mid-placement season typically run out of runway.

The salary gap at new IIMs between top engineering placements and median humanities placements can run 8-12 LPA within the same cohort, which is material enough to plan around, not dismiss.