MBA Part 2 : GD/PI experiences

Here it goes,

My XLRI interview experience (3rd March, at XIC, Mumbai)

3 panelists P1, P2, P3 and Me in a small room at XIC. This is how it went,

P1- so, are you aware of the kind of questions we have been asking to the other candidates?
Me- some of them Sir
P1- and have you prepared the answers to those questions?
Me- yes sir
P1- so tell me what all have we been asking?
Me- blah, blah, blah……
P1- ok. So I will not ask you any of those. Start with your strengths and we will take it on from there
Me- (spoke about them)
P1- Give me some instances to support what you just said
Me- (gave him an example)
P1- so you are saying you sold yourself (had mentioned something like that) to get the project. Sell the Bush nuclear deal to the US congress.
Me- blah, blah…..(focus a lot on economic benefits)
P1- ok, economy is one aspect of it. Any other?
Me- (mention ‘friendship building measure’)
P1- so you mentioned something about your BE project. Tell me more about it
Me- (gave a summary of it)
P1- you are doing it alone or ….
Me- a group of three sir
P1- so what role do you play in getting the project done?
Me- (explain to him how we divide the work and then discuss periodically)
(all this while P2 was watching me very closely, while P3 was a lot more relaxed. Now P2 gets into the act)
P2- What do you think about the nuclear deal, good, bad or ambivalent
Me- good. (and explain a bit)
P2- so you support it despite anti-Bush protests?
Me- (stick to my view and explain)
P2- tell me the difference between alumna, alumnae, alumnus and alumni
Me- may I take a moment to think about it?
P2- yes, sure
Me- (answered alumni correctly, but got confused about the others and did not answer)
Me- (tell him that all of them are related)
P2- haven’t heard of alumna? Aren’t you an engineering student?
Me- oh..did you mean alumina as in A.L.U.M.I.N.A (spell the word)
P2- yes
Me- tell him that it is an ore of aluminium
P2- but what is it?
Me- you mean, its chemical formula?
P2- yes
Me- (tell him the correct chemical formula)
P2- now tell me what is alumnae and alumnus
Me- (knew what alumnus meant, but somehow it did not strike at that time)
Me- (think for a few seconds and finally say, “I am sorry. I do not know sir”)
P2- never mind. But you were right, they are all related terms
P2- which news paper do you read?
Me- TOI sir.
P2- how often?
Me- a little everyday
P2- little means?
Me- 15-20 mins. everyday
P2- which page do you turn to first?
Me- the sports page
P2- (laughts gently) sports page only?
Me- no sir the others too.
(now P3 joins the party)
P3- of late, germany and france have started to agree on a lot of issues. What are your view on it?
Me- (stumpted, totally. Finally end up saying that I don’t know)
P3- What is the relation between China and Taiwan?
Me- Their relation is strained, sir
(P2 interrupts. Smilingly asks “is this the answer to the question he asked?”)
Me- no sir, it isn’t an appropriate answer.
P2- So you are not into international news, you are domestic guy. (laughs)
P3- Who is the editor of TOI?
Me- no idea sir, but I am aware that it is a Bennett and Coleman publication.
P3- What is known as the ‘Old lady of boribunder’?
Me- (start thinking)
P3- you know what Boribunder is, right?
Me- yes sir, Bombay VT (now Mumbai CST) was previously known as Boribunder (thank god I remembered that the first train in India ran from Boribunder to Thane)
Me- The Deccan Queen is the old lady of boribunder.
P3- Deccan Queen, you mean the train between Bombay and Pune? Why would that be called the old lady of boribunder?
Me- (tell him that the train is 77 yrs. Old and hence probably called so)
P3- the correct answer is The Times of India
Me- I was unaware of that sir
P2- People say that the quality of TOI has gone down with time. What do you think
Me- (Agree and support my answer)
(now P3 suddenly says, “actually, Deccan Queen is also the right answer” and smiles)
P1- what is your position in class?
Me- (tell him)
P1- out of how many students?
Me- (tell him)
(P1 looks at P2 & P3 probably conveying the end of the interview)
P2- Can I take a look at your file please?
Me- (give him my file and P2 browses through the documents)
P2- (sees a certificate regarding a german course that I had done) you have learn’t german but you don’t know about germany?
Me- (quiet)
P2- can you speak german?
Me- yes sir
P2- you should know about germany then
Me- (explain that I had done the course 6 years ago)
P2- oh..ok. (all of them start laughing)
P2- (goes through all my certs)
P2- (after looking at my XAT scorecard) you have a very nice percentile
Me- Thank you sir
P2- How many IIM interviews do you have?
Me- none
P2- That is all. Please sign against you name
Me- (sign & thank them)
Me- Shall I send in the next candidate?
Panel- yes please do so

That’s how it ended. Keeping fingers crossed about the results. The interview lasted for 20-25 mins. All panelist and myself smiled/laughed quite a bit during the course of the interview.

coming up next is a NITIE GD/PI session on the 10th of March

Had a VGSOM (IIT-Kgp) GD/PI session @ 8.30 on the 10th of Feb @ IIT-B.

The details,
The process started with a presentation by VGSOM students namely Aparna, Abhishek, Anshuman (ans_bhai of PG fame), Harish and Trishun.
These people also did a great job of coordinating the whole process thereafter thus the whole process was smooth and very well organized.

Lots of PGites were present in my batch namely theginsoakedboy, couger, the_constantine, and a few more.

GD: A case study. 9 people in my panel.

PI: 3 panels, 27 students. I was the last guy in panel 3. The panel consisted of 2 people, one was a VGSOM prof.(P1) and the other panelist had a very pleasant smiling face (P2). The interview was as follows,

P2- please take a seat
Me- thank you
P2- Tell me something about yourself
Me- blah, blah, blah for 30 seconds……end my answer talking about how I built my coin collection from scratch.
P2- so tell me which is the rarest coin in the world
Me- give him an answer (the correct one, I think. He seemed satisfied)
P2- how much does that coin cost?
Me- 550$ (if the coin I referred to was correct, then so is the price)
P2- only 550$?
Me- justify the answer & blah, blah ,blah
P1- (all of a sudden starts speaking) which period does this coin belong to?
Me- sorry, I am unaware of that.
P1- (prompts) I mean which century, is it very old or what?
Me- it was minted after 1980. blah, blah..
P2- Which is the rarest coin in your collection?
Me- blah…….
P1- tell me which subject you have studied in your course
Me- (listed 4 of them, optic fiber being one of them)
P1- tell me how an optic fiber works
Me- blah……..
P1- (shuffles the papers on the table giving me an impression that he wants me to draw whatever I want to explain)
Me- (ask him if he wants me to draw it)
P1- no, not necessary
P1- (more questions on optic fiber, this time he draws something on paper)
Me- (work on his drawing)
P1- (more questions on optic fiber and some question on what is the speed at which electric current in a transmission line travels)
Me- (answer all his question cdorrectly, but he manages to confuse me on one question)
P2- so you are a fresher, why not get some work-ex before doing an MBA?
Me-(agree that work-ex is important, but mention that IT work-ex is not too relevant to an MBA programme)
P2- (seemed satisfied)

(P1 & P2 have a word with each other and then P2 tells me that the interview is over)

just as I stand up to leave, P2 gets a brainwave and asks me, “is there anything you would like to ask us?”

Me- (sit down and ask him some question on how exactly an MBA will be useful to an aspiring entrepreneur, a 5 minute informal discussion between P1, P2 and Me took place where we talked about some survey conducted by Harvard, blah, blah, blah)

That ended the interview. It lasted for not more than 18 minutes. No idea what the outcome of it will be.



coming up next.....XLRI (yes, the BIG one) on March 3rd.