MBA Mania

IIM Kozhikode student, Aayush Madhogaria, PGDM Batch of 2012, share his personal interview experience—most interesting and the most difficult question he was asked and how he managed to convert it finally.

Q. How did you prepare for the interview?
I did not pay a princely sum at any of the coaching institutes. However I did attend a one-day boot camp for a couple of them. My advice to all candidates would be to do a thorough introspection and then articulate your thoughts. Besides, reading a newspaper is a habit which should have already been there. More than mugging facts, focus should be on developing perspectives and opinions on contemporary issues.

Q. How many interview calls did you get and from which institutes? Which ones you actually converted to a final call?
I had calls from IIMK and MDI.

Q. Date and location of Interview. Were you given the option to choose the date and place for interview? Was the interview date fixed or re-scheduled couple of times? Was the interview venue changed or scheduled as per your convenience?
My interview was held in Kolkata. We were not given an option to choose the date and place. However, I am aware that many students did get their interviews rescheduled to avoid clashes with the interviews of other IIMs.

Q. Can you tell us about the panel that interviewed you?
The panelists were professors from IIM Kozhikode – Prof. Kulbhushan Balooni and Prof. S.K. Srinivasan

Q. How long was your interview?
My interview lasted for about 25 minutes.

Q. What kind of questions were you asked? Were they specific to any particular area?
My interview began with me having to do an analysis of my GD performance. I was then asked my opinion on some contemporary issues. I was also asked an academic question from Economics area (probably because I was a commerce grad or because one of the professors is from that area). Towards the latter part, my interview mostly revolved around my work experience.

Q. What were the first question, the most interesting question, and the most difficult question?
The first question was about describing myself. The most interesting part of the interview was when I was called “chaloo” by the panelists to which I replied in vernacular and explained how it was important to be so. The most difficult question to me was probably the economics question as I struggled with it but answered it partly right after multiple attempts.

Q. While facing the panel, were you confident, did you feel prepared?
The interview began on a formal note but I managed to get the conversation to be a little casual with some humorous replies. I was a little concerned in the beginning but as the interview progressed, I became more confident.

Q. Write a brief about your Interview experience.
The interview was one of the best that I have ever had. Though all was not right about the interview, I did manage to leverage on the questions that I was well prepared on. I fumbled with the sole academic question that was asked to me but after multiple attempts, did manage to make some sense of it. I consciously ensured that I was articulate, candid and precise in my answers. The panelists did try to stress me on couple of occasions but I managed to keep my calm.

Q. Was any feedback given to you? What feedback did you receive from the panel at the end of session?
There was no feedback given as such. However, I was given the sheet of paper on which I solved the economics question and asked to keep it with myself.

Q. How would you rate your performance in the Interview?
9/10

Q. Areas where you could have performed better in your interview?
I should have been able to solve the economics question given to me better. Besides that, I handled other questions reasonably well.

Q. Any tips for aspirants.
The kind of questions asked can be broken down in three parts – HR, Academic/Work-Ex & GK.
For HR type questions, do introspect and be sure on everything that you have done and wish to do. For academic and work-ex, the usual gyan applies. For GK type questions, very rarely is one asked factual questions and what is tested in one’s opinion/perspective on various issues.

IIM Interviews: Rohit Karan – IIM Ahmedabad, Banglore, Calcutta and Kozhikode

Background Details

School: English Medium School, Rourkela
College: Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
Branch: Electrical Engineering
GPA: 8.4/10
Work Experience: Nil
Hobbies: Reading Books

CAT 2006 Performance: 99.98 percentile
Number of calls: 6

Rohit is Currently Pursuing his MBA in IIM Ahmedabad. He is in the second year.

GD and PI Experience

(Q) Which interviews did you appear for?
(A) I appeared for 4 interviews, namely – IIM Ahmedabad, Banglore, Calcutta and Kozhikode

(Q) Why Kozhikode instead and not IIM Lucknow or IIM Indore?
(A) The IIM Kozhikode interview was scheduled just one day before the crucial IIM Banglore interview. I chose to take it as a practice interview. Moreover both were scheduled in the same city – New Delhi.

(Q) DO you remember anything about the setting of the GDs?
(A) The IIM A GD had people from similar background. All were engineers, more specifically they were IITians. On the other hand, the IIM K and IIM C GDs had people from a diverse set of backgrounds.

Q) Did this have any specific outcome for your GD experience?
(A) Yes. In the IIMA GD, it was easier to communicate, since we had a common ground and instant bonding (if you can call it that). However, in the other GDs, it was not so easy to talk to people.

(Q) How do you recall the GDs on a qualitative basis?
(A) At the moment, I recall that the IIM A GD was more structured. As a group we were pretty relaxed and at total ease. Overall, we talked a lot of sense. On the other hand, the IIM Cal GD was a bit on the aggressive side. The topic was a bit esoteric and more often than not, we ended up digressing from the point.

(Q) Can you give us specific information on the respective GDs?

(A) The IIM A GD topic concerned an FMCG firm which wanted to launch a cola in rural and semi-urban areas. We were given some facts and figures and supposed to come up with a “Go/No” recommendation. We were given 10 minutes to read the details, 20 minutes to discuss and 5 minutes to write out our respective summaries. As I mentioned before, the GD was a good one, with everyone contributing and talking sense.

(B) The IIM B GD was a case study about a person who had to impersonate another man. The individual in question was an honest man and therefore faced with an ethical dilemma. We had 10 minutes to read up, 15 minutes to discuss and 10 minutes to write a summary.

(C) The IIM Cal GD was a case study concerning attrition rates (the rate at which employees leave a firm) in a BPO. The GD group was a totally chaotic one, with no one ready to listen to anyone else. I didn’t contribute much. We were given 5 minutes to think, 12-13 minutes to discuss with 1 minute per person to summarize (in random order).

(Q) Did you make any mistakes during the GDs?
(A) Yes. In one of the GDs, I ended up getting into an argument with someone. It took someone else’s intervention to stop us. I guess that could have been avoided very easily. In the IIM Cal GD, I did not speak up much. As a direct result, I was grilled a bit in the personal interview.

(Q) How were the PIs like?
(A) IIM Ahmedabad panel had 3 people. A lady (LP), an old gentleman (OP) and a younger professor (YP). I suspect that the OP was a quants professor and the YP was possibly from an operations background.

The other candidates were interviewed before I was. Based on the general mood, I was able to guess that the panel was not grilling interviewees. However, the panel was testing academic knowledge.

LP: What HSS courses have you taken so far?

Rohit: I recall doing a course on Philosopy

LP: What did you learn in that course?

Rohit: I read about a couple of philosophers. I can recall Descasrtes and the 5 stages of existence…

LP: What did you learn from the course on Organizational Behavior?

Rohit: I learned about motivational theories, blah blah

LP: What kind of books do you read?

Rohit: Mostly Biographical

LP: What books have you read recently?

Rohit: Feynman, Michael Schumacher, Gandhi, Lance Armstrong….

LP: What do you like about Schumacher?

Rohit: His motivation, blah blah…

OP: So Rohit, you are from Rourkela. What is so special about that place that a lot of students get into the IITs?

Rohit: I don’t think there are that many IITians from there.

OP: If you look at results every year, you will find a lot of people from Rourkela and Bhilai.

Rohit: Well, given the academic environment and high levels of competition, blah blah

OP then proceeded to give me an easy question on compound interest and limit, which I solved right away. He then asks me for interpret the limit and then I falter.

YP asks me about my Btech Project and I am able to answer his questions properly.

They then ask me where I have been placed. When I tell them I have been placed with ITC, they ask me whether I smoke, to which I reply “No”, with a smile. They then ask me what is a non smoker doing in ITC? The next couple of questions were based on ITC and the ban on smoking.

YP then asked me a question on probability. The question stem involves an unbiased coin being tossd a 1000 times, with 400 heads and 100 tails in the first 500 tries. They asked me what I was expecting in the coming 500 tries, to which I answered – 250 heads and 250 tails.

I left the room after that and I was asked to take 3 chocolates

(B) The IIM Banglore interview was not a cake walk. The panel consisted of 2 people and I was the second per son to be interviewed on that day. I was first asked to introduce myself. I responded with the usual intro, mentioning that I hail from a small town, etc. They then asked me how I found the GD and I told them that we did well as a group, but we could have done better. One of the panelists then asked me about my weaknesses and stumped me by further asking me if I was an introvert. The next question was whether I was less of an introvert before coming to IIT Kanpur? I was totally stumped and so I asked them for a clarification. They responded saying that usually, people from small towns either go insane or get into a shell, when there is a change of environment. I responded by saying that I am pretty much the same. They changed the topic and asked me why I wanted to do an MBA. I responded saying that I wanted to become an entrepreneur. They grilled me further, asking why I couldn’t be an entrepreneur right away and how would an MBA help me? I was then asked about my internship and my proficiency and varying grades in maths. They then asked me why I got the NTSE. I replied saying that I worked hard for it. In retrospect I believe, it was a bad answer to give. We then had an argument over the purpose of NTSE and the interview ended.

(C) The IIM Cal Interview panel had 3 people. I was the last candidate to be interviewed. My name had a misprint and had come off as Rahit (meaning devoid in Hindi), instead of Rohit. The panel made a few jokes about it and asked me what I was devoid of and had a laugh. They asked me about my stint in IIT and I replied with all the extracurricular activities that I had engaged in. I totally forgot to mention the academic stuff that I had done. They then proceeded to ask me how I felt about my performance in the GD and whether my friends in IIT heard my opinions or not. I was then given a question in probability and stopped midway to answer how bilateral relations between India and Pakistan can be improved. To my answer, which was basically a reiteration of the current efforts, I got a curt questioning “that’s all?” I was then asked for my opinion on protests against infrastructure protests, to which I gave a weakly worded answer. They then changed the topic and to my amazement inquired as to why my grades were so poor? I was shocked. I was then asked to compare my CAT percentile with my percentile in my college and then to explain the discrepancy. After a weak attempt on my part, I was wished all the best.

(Q) What do you think the interview panels were looking for?
(A) The panels were basically looking for consistency in my responses. They wanted to make sure that you had thought through your responses. In particular, I feel that the IIM Ahmedabad panel wanted to make sure that the candidates were genuine.

(Q) Where do you think you scored, in terms of your profile?
(A) I guess my strong academic performance and the fact that I defended/stood my ground on my hobbies, gave me the edge.