My interview experiences with MDI Gurgaon

MDI Gurgaon, one of the top 10-15 management colleges (Also, the number 2 private management institute in the country), has this to say on its Wikipedia.

Pic courtesy: Official MDI Website

Management Development Institute (MDI) is one of the premier business schools in India. It was established in 1973 and is located in Gurgaon also known as Gurugram, a commercial hub near the Indian capital of New Delhi.

Here’s my interview experience of the same. (One of my best experiences in the year).

Disclaimer:
1. Some things here might be influenced by my opinion.
2. You may find some sentences being repeated in other posts, that’s just to make this post relevant as a standalone one.
3. Things may change this year (They have actually, weightage to cat is decreasing with every passing year), but the way they take interviews shouldn’t.
4. And lastly, a lot of tense confusion might be there since the actual post was written right after the interview.

Here we go:

My profile:

General /Engineer/ Male.

CAT score: 99.46

Work ex: 28 Months (I work for OFSS as a developer)

10/12/UG: 92/92/6.2 (The 6.2 translates to 62%)

I’m also a published writer and had a startup back in college.

Date: 4th March Morning slot, Gurgaon.

I reached around 9.10 AM, reporting time was 9. The document verification was done inside a room, all the students were divided into two panels. After 30 minutes we were asked to move to the interview rooms.

WAT Topic: Is bureaucracy a hindrance in the finance reforms in India. 15 Minutes. 150 words.

This was one of my not so good performances when it comes to WAT, given my experience in writing. I found the 150 words too less to create an introduction and conclusion for a topic like this. So I had to cut down on examples and kept a diplomatic approach. To make the matters worse, I spelt the world Bureaucracy wrong. But I guess many people did that, it’s not that easy to spell!

GD:  The same topic was to be discussed for 20 minutes post WAT. We were 12 candidates, I was, once again, the last candidate. But luckily the floor was open from the very first moment, so being last didn’t matter there. We literally had two teams fighting pro and against bureaucracy. Nobody won, the moderators got tired of the fish market and asked us to stop. No conclusion, nothing.

Interview:

The panel had two people. P1: Female, in her late 30s. P2: Male, in his 50s. They were calling people randomly, so being last again didn’t matter, yay!

P2 began by asking me how I would rate my performance in the GD. I said 6/10. He then asked why, to which I said that I’m normally very good at GDs, but today it took me five minutes to even start speaking, but then I raised a few very good points.

He then asked me about the flip side of the ‘Make in India’ campaign. I told him how in many ways India isn’t ready for the investments right now with the poor infrastructure and how this could backfire on our whole global image policy. He told me that I was being too general and this wasn’t specific to ‘Make in India’, to which I gave another argument, which probably convinced him.

He asked me what would happen if a man travelling at the speed of light in a car switched on the headlight. Answered. Then he gave me another statement. “God made a spear that can penetrate anything and then God made a wall that cannot be penetrated. What do you think will happen if they meet?” I told him that this is the case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, and then explained a bit more. Convinced. Then he asked me if I know what FDI means. Told. Then the difference between FDI and FII, told again. He interrupted me twice and I cracked a joke that I don’t remember, everybody laughed (Which normally doesn’t happen on my jokes!)

All this time, P1 is reading my form. Now she asks me about where I work and my job profile. Then something more about work. Then the most challenging thing I ever had to do in work. I told about a recent project I worked on. Then she asked me about what teamwork means and how would I tackle a non-performer in the team. (I believe this is because I had opted for IM course too.)

As soon as I was done answering this, they both told me I was done. I was a bit surprised that no one asked me anything about my low CGPA, so I asked if that was it. Both of them laughed and said yes.

In short, very chilled out experience unlike many other experiences I’d based my perception on. At no point did I feel stressed out. No questions about college, extra currics or anything close to that. Hardly a question or two that one may call technical.

I’m not sure how will this be rated. But I guess it was okay.

FAQs:

Same as any other posts given in the below links.

Here’s my IIFT Interview experience.

Also, it was a direct convert but I didn’t join. I joined XLRI Jameshedpur, the interview experience of the same can be read here. 🙂

My interview experience with IIM-L

Continuing my MBA interview experience posts, this one is about IIM Lucknow. Every year the criteria for calls changes, so I’d not go into that. The earlier posts in the series can be read here: IIFT, XLRI, MDI.

IIM Lucknow, one of the top 5 management colleges in the country and arguably the 4th best IIM right after ABC. There’s a lot that goes with just the IIM tag, not to mention the kind of culture and brand Lucknow carries with itself (It’s called Hel(L) for a reason). I’ll right away say that this interview wasn’t a convert, and Lucknow doesn’t declare a waitlist so I’m not sure where was I placed. In case you still want to read just to know how’s the process, here you go:

Image courtesy: InsideIIM

Disclaimer:
1. Some things here might be influenced by my opinion.
2. You may find some sentences being repeated in other posts, that’s just to make this post relevant as a standalone one.
3. Things may change this year (They have actually, weightage to cat is decreasing with every passing year), but the way they take interviews shouldn’t.
4. And lastly, a lot of tense confusion might be there since the actual post was written right after the interview.

My IIM-L WAT/PI experience.

My profile:

General /Engineer/ Male.

CAT score: 99.46

Work ex: 28 Months (I work for OFSS as a developer)

10/12/UG: 92/92/6.2 (The 6.2 translates to 62%)

I’m also a published writer and had a startup back in college.

Date: 1st March Morning slot, Noida.

I reached around 8.45 AM, was 15 minutes late, it didn’t seem to matter too much. Everybody was given a serial number and document verification was being done in that order, I was the last guy.

WAT Topic: Indifference to ideas challenging national unity can be disastrous. 15 Minutes.

It took me around 2-3 minutes to even understand and think about what to write. Managed to finish within the word and time limit. Assuming that everybody was going to relate to the recent incidents, I tried diverting a bit and didn’t give too much stress on the current affairs. Don’t know if that works in my favor or against.

After the WAT, the verification was done in my case, then I was asked to take the data form to the other building where the interviews were being taken.

Interview:

I was the last guy to be interviewed. There were two people (Both Male, in their 40s) in the panel, and I guess there were 14 panels, with every panel interviewing around 12 candidates.

Interviews had begun when I reached, on an average everyone was in there for about 15 minutes, ours was Panel 1 which wasn’t grilling any candidate too much.

P1 came out and called my name for the interview. No questions about myself to begin with, they directly asked me if I was interested in ABM. I said no and that I’d already unchecked it in the data form. They asked me to write it again and sign it.

Then P1 started reading out my profile to me. Told me how I have cleared so many exams before and about my good score in Boards. I knew where this was going so I started smiling. And without further ado I was asked, why the low CGPA. I didn’t try to defend it and said that it was a mistake, I lost focus and I shouldn’t have. Then I told them about the reasons I lost focus, to try and get them to ask me something about my book or startup. But no, P2 asked if I think going for engineering was a wrong decision. I said no and said that despite being a 6 pointer I don’t think I’m a bad engineer or I’m bad at academics and told them how I was one of the best performing employees in my office. They still kept asking me if I’m satisfied with what I’ve done, if I could have gotten a better job had I scored better in college. This was followed by some more explaining.

Next P1 asked me about the three key takeaways I have from my job. I answered that. I was then asked a few follow up questions on that. Normal HR stuff. I had mentioned that creativity is a very important part of life and P2 asked me to prove that I’m creative. I gave him an example of a project at my work which was entirely different from what we normally do. I also mentioned writing a blog/book. While answering I realized that he wanted me to do something creative right away, but it was too late for that, and he seemed convinced too.

Then the big question, why MBA? I told them a 3 point answer of why I want to go for it. They seemed quite convinced with it. No follow up questions.

Then P2 asked what an algorithm is. Answered. How do you decide that an algorithm is better than the other for same program? I said time complexity is one criteria, they asked me for more, I answered but they didn’t seem convinced. Then I was asked if I’m updated with the current affairs, to which I said yes, expecting my knowledge of finance and budget to save the day for me. But they only asked me the definition of Budget. Which I told. Then the difference between Economic survey and Budget. Told that too. Then I was asked what is a 5 year plan and who makes it, and I still can’t believe it happened, but I forgot who makes it. Then P1, who was a very friendly person throughout, told me the answer and asked me if there’s been any recent developments there. I said a few things about the NITI Aayog but I wasn’t sure so I shut up soon.

No technical questions, no current affairs, nothing about my profile or extra currics, no maths… basically nothing that I’d studied for in the past 7 days. But it still went for 15+ minutes. I didn’t feel it was a bad interview at any point, but a B-School like IIM-L definitely needs more. So, let’s see. (Update: Not a convert)

Some FAQs:

1. Duration: The whole thing gets over in 2-3.5 hours, depending on your turn. I was the last guy and I was out in 3 hours. But there were candidates in other panels still waiting.

2. Take your personal data form and fill it properly, make no mistakes about your preferences etc.

3. For all I know, the ‘why MBA’ question is the most important part of the interview.

4. I’ll update as I remember more. Not a convert, but I guess my cgpa had a lot to do with it. All the best for your preparation.

I’m currently a student at XLRI, you can read this blog for more of experiences about the same and some other general crap that I write. 🙂

My XLRI Jamshedpur GD-PI Experience

Recently I wrote about my interview experience with IIFT. In continuation to that series, (and my worthless attempts to keep the blog alive and kicking), here’s my GD-PI experience at XLRI Jamshedpur. This post is special for two reasons, one that this is one of the longest posts on this blog, and two, I ended up joining XLRI and am sitting in a class as I post this, so there’s a personal connect to it (and a faculty’s constant looks).

XAT 2016 was taken by over 75000 students and was considered by many major b-schools of the country much like the previous years. XAT 2017 has been bigger and better in both magnitude and execution. As the score cards for XAT are out and soon the results will be as well, here’s something to help you gain some insight on how the process is.

About XLRI Jamshepdur:

As the Web says: One of the top 5 Management colleges in the country, Xavier Labour Relations Institute, widely known as XLRI was founded in 1949 by Fr. Quinn Enright s.j. in the Steel City of Jamshedpur. Fr. Enright visualized XLRI to be a partner in the liberation and development journey of the independent India with a vision of “renewing the face of the earth”.

The oldest b-school in the country, XLRI’s HR specialisation is considered to be one of the best not only in India but across Asia as well. XLRI’s business management course is also one of the best in the country and is highly regarded for its academic rigour and quality of education. Not to mention the USP of the institute, the alumni that are everywhere in the industry.

Disclaimer:
1. Some things here might be influenced by my opinion.
2. You may find some sentences being repeated in other posts, that’s just to make this post relevant as a standalone one.
3. Things may change this year, but the way they take interviews shouldn’t.
4. And lastly, some tense confusion might be there since the actual post was written right after the interview.

So here is my XLRI-BM GD/PI experience.

My profile:

General /Engineer (NIT Jaipur- ECE)/ Male.

XAT score: 99.395

Work ex: 28 Months (I worked for OFSS Pune as a developer)

10/12/UG: 92.6/92.2/6.2

I’m also a published writer and had a start-up back in college.

Date: 13th March Afternoon slot, Mumbai (XIMR).

I reached around 1.15 PM, a few candidates were already there, and the process started at 2, no document verification was done.

GD Topic: Is religion an economic activity? 40 Minutes (We were 8 people).

In the time that we had waited outside, we had discussed how GD at XLRI is different from others and decided not to let it become a fish market. So, one of the guys began with a point for the topic and rest of us added to it. After about 20 minutes we started discussing the points against, which was quite a difficult task. Many of us deviated a lot. This was the time I gave some good points. By the last 10 minutes we were discussing the criteria for the arguments and decided the best arguments in unison. Overall it was done quite well; I do believe my performance could have been better. It was quite a long GD and everybody got a chance to pitch in multiple times.

Interview: (It’s a long one, went for around 30 minutes)

I was the second last guy to be interviewed, yet again; I don’t know what these b-school interviews have against me. There were three people (All Male, in their 40s) in the panel.

Every interview took around 25-30 minutes, started at 3 PM, my turn came at 6.00.

As I went in, I was asked if this was a tiring day, to which I said yes. Out of the three people in the panel, two (P1, P3) had my forms (the questionnaire etc. that we’d filled). The one person in the middle (P2) asked me to hand over my folder. And this happened for the first time in the last 9 years since I gave my first interview that somebody wanted to look at my certificates!

This is how it went on after that.

P1: So Shubham, as I can see in this form, class X 92.6, class XII 92.2, and then MNIT Jaipur, 6.2. How much did you enjoy your life in college?

Only if I had a penny every time I was asked that. I’d started laughing midway when he was asking the question, and the other two panelists too were smiling, knowing that I know the question.

Me: There’s no excuse for that performance, sir. I lost my focus and performed badly.

P1: What made you lose your focus?

Me: Although I’m not blaming my activities for my bad academics, but I had my own startup in college, and I also was too much into writing and published my first book in 2012 and I guess somewhere I had to pay the price with my academics.

(From there on it was all about my book)

P1: Tell me how the MRP of a book is decided. What are the important factors?

(Answered; told in detail about the pricing in the industry)

P1: So how do you explain the prices today, do you think self publishing is better than traditional?

(There were a few more questions in the same topic)

(Answered)

P3: What was your book about?

(Told. I kept smiling throughout, since it was a humor/fiction book and the name is ‘My EX Fell in Love’, one ought to get nervous saying that to such a senior person)

P3: Tell me a three things that you’d tell a new writer who wants to get published.

(I told him about the issues I faced and the mistakes I made. As soon as I mentioned the second point, i.e., define your target customer, he cut me off and asked me about my target customers)

(I told him about their age and other demographic data. He wasn’t convinced and asked me for more. This went on to the extent that I even told him the eating habits of a few of my readers. (I didn’t even have to make anything up; this was actually easy to tell))

(P2 (who was looking at my certificates till now), asked me a few more questions about the book, the publisher etc)

P1: Ok, enough about the book. Tell me about your startup.

(I explained the b-plan and why we’d started it.)

(P1 then asked a few cross questions about the start-up and its domain that I answered)

P2: So how do you think management is going to help you in your career?

(One of the 50 shades of why MBA question)

I answered it, connecting this to my start-up and before I could complete, P1 interrupted: I think you’re only coming to MBA to get a good brand name in your profile, that will make it easier for you to get funding.

Me: Sir as much as I agree that XLRI would be a big addition to my resume, I don’t think NIT Jaipur is a small brand name or the fact that I was a student entrepreneur was not enough to get me funding.

P1: So why didn’t you go full time with your start-up, or writing for that matter?

Me: For writing, it was never the plan. I wrote the book because I wanted to, not because I thought I’d make it a profession. For the start-up, I didn’t have a vision.

(And then I said a few more things like where I lacked and how I plan to learn that in MBA)

P3: So does your family know about your writing?

Me: Of course!

P3: Did they like your book?

Me: My parents did, so did most of my friends. My sister didn’t.

(Everybody laughs)

P3: So how did you take her criticism?

Me: (Told how she disliked my work and gave me a few things to improve which I did, and how she really liked the things I wrote next)

P2: By the things I wrote next, do you mean another book?

Me: Yes sir. (Shouldn’t have said it I guess. Blunder!)

P1: So why didn’t you publish it?

Me: Sir I had to halt the project, I couldn’t think of an ending that’s worth the story I’d written.

P1: So what if you come to XLRI and then think of an ending and end up compromising your studies here?

(This started sort of an argument where all the three panelists tried to tell me that I’m a good writer, that was evident to them from the questionnaire too, and I should not even think of MBA and go to full time writing instead and I kept defending my decision till what seemed like an eternity)

As soon as this ended, all three looked at each other and asked me to go. 20 minutes, and the interview was over! I stood up, and then P3 realized he’d something to ask and asked me to sit again.

(This was followed by some basic questions about publishing and business, and some more grilling on why I am not going for writing full time)

(I was also asked about my performance in GD, to which I said it was average, and I’d rank myself at 4 out of 8. When they asked me who the best was, I named one guy, then I also named one for the worst, which kind of surprised them, but I was pretty confident with my reasons for both)

P2: Can you tell me someone who started writing around the same time as you but managed to make it big?

Me: Nikita Singh. Her first book came around a few months before I started writing and today she’s one of the bestselling authors in the country.

P2: So what does it take to be her?

Me: (I mentioned the need of a network and many other things and how I wrote a story with her)

P2: You have all that don’t you? You’ll probably ditch us in the middle of your studies!

Me: Even if I do, and even if I can make it as big as her, I don’t think I’d be ditching anybody. (Followed by how her work has degraded with time and how I don’t want to be a part of that Engineer turned MBA turned Author clan, and write good books even if I do)

P3: Shubham, look me in the eye and tell me one thing, don’t you think if you manage to get one bestseller in the coming years, you’d leave everything and take up writing? Am I wrong?

Me: No.

P3: (Looks at the other panelists) told you.

Me: I’m sorry sir but by no I meant I’m disagreeing with you. Sorry for not making it clear. I don’t know if what you say can happen or not, but saying that by succeeding in one thing I’ll fail in the other is wrong. I’ve paid the price once in my academics and it’s not happening again. No matter what B-School I go to, I can tell you I’ll be one of the best there, regardless of what I do apart from academics.

This is the time it came to an end. P1 asked me if I have a copy of the book to gift him, I said I wish I’d brought one. To which P1 jokingly said bring a copy to the college if you get selected.

As I stood up to go out, they offered a candy, and then asked to take one more as I took one. And then asked to take another one (Well, more candies for me!)  by this time everybody was laughing, I don’t even know why.

Some FAQs:

1. Duration: XLRI-BM interviews go on for about 25-30 minutes on an average. I reached the centre at 1.15 and my interview was over at 6.30, I’m assuming the last guy left at 7.
2. Your certificates matter. Take them.
3. Make sure you know your questionnaire responses and video inside out.
4. Be very very clear about your reasoning and opinions. Express yourself.
5. For all I know, XLRI interviews don’t focus that much on your knowledge of academics or the world around you, it’s more about how much do you know yourself.
6. Sorry for taking so much time of those who read this, this was probably the longest and the most in depth yet chilled out interview I’ve had, I just had to share this.

The post was originally published on PagalGuy. My other interview experiences can be read here: IIFT, MDI, IIM-Lucknow.

Since I am a student at XLRI, my experience of the campus life can be read in this The Hindu Business line article 🙂

PS: Consider this disclaimer number 2, I am a member of ExLink, the committee that takes care of admissions at XLRI. As much as I’ve tried to remain neutral in this post, this is my personal opinion and does not reflect the committee or institute’s at any point.

My interview experience with IIFT

Preparing for CAT, XAT, IIFT, NMAT and a thousand other exams is a story of almost every engineer who is either too specific about his targets or is essentially aimless. But that’s a conversation I’d never have on this blog (What else would you expect from an engineer turned writer turned IT employee turned management graduate, sounds too cliched eh?)

So I’ll come right to the point. About a quarter million people appear for CAT and other such exams every year to be marked on a 100 percentile scale in order to join the rat race called admissions. The whole saga of IIMs and other b-school admissions then begins taking them through various processes like GDs, Interviews, WATs (Written ability tests) and what not. Having been through all of this in 2015-16, I believe my experiences could prove to be useful for some people. So here’s my interview experience with IIFT (Indian Institute of Foreign Trade).

What is IIFT?

As the wiki says: One of the top 10-15 Management colleges in the country, The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is an autonomous public business school established in 1963 by the Government of India (Ministry of Commerce and Industry) to help professionalize the country’s foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analyzing and disseminating data; and conducting research. Its flagship program is the Master of Business Administration in International Business (MBA-IB)

Picture credits: CollegeDekho.com

Disclaimer:
1. Some things here might be influenced by my opinion.
2. You may find some sentences being repeated in other posts, that’s just to make this post relevant as a standalone one.
3. Things may change this year, but the way they take interviews shouldn’t.
4. And lastly, some tense confusion might be there since the actual post was written right after the interview.

My IIFT WAT/GD/PI experience.

My profile:

General /Engineer/ Male.

IIFT score:  58.66 (99.55 %ile)

Work ex: 28 Months (I worked for OFSS as a developer)

10/12/UG: 92/92/6.2

I’m also a published writer and had a startup back in college.

Date: 2nd Feb Afternoon slot, Mumbai.

I reached around 1.25 PM. There was no document verification done. The process started at 2.

WAT Topic: Urgent requirement of a public transport infrastructure in India.  20 Minutes.

Basically I wrote about the traffic problems in India and lack of connectivity which indirectly affects the economy. Gave a few examples and ended with some potential solutions. Not sure how good it was, but I’m definitely getting 2 less marks for my handwriting.

GD: Are the companies in India socially responsible.  Everybody speaks one by one for two minutes each, and then the floor is open for 10 minutes to be summarized in the end by 1-3 people.

We were 11 people, I was the last guy. Everybody chipped in a few points, but it got quite repetitive with everybody mentioning how Tata, Infosys and Reliance are using the CSR to do social activities. I mentioned the work by MSMEs and startups, and how CSR shouldn’t be the only parameter. The floor was open for around 10 minutes where everybody contributed. The moderator didn’t really look very impressed with the points. He asked 2 people to summarize, I felt like the 2 summaries didn’t really capture the whole thing so I requested for a chance and summarized it myself.

Interview:

Once again I was the last guy to be interviewed. The students were divided into three batches. The panel taking the GD wasn’t the one that took the interview.

The interview process started around 3.10 after a short coffee break. As expected, the interviews were quite chilled out with no candidate being grilled too much. They were asking questions on current affairs, academics and the interview form; nothing too deep. Most candidates were free within 10-15 minutes. My turn came at 5.30.

As I entered the room, I was asked to sit down and explain the things I did in the waiting period of two hours. I said I took a walk, had a coffee, asked others a bit about their interview. They asked me if that helped, I said it didn’t. Both the interviewers were quite jolly. They asked me to entertain them, since they are tired after so many interviews.

I told them that I have some experience in Radio Jockeying and I could do a bit for them. They were surprised, and asked me to go ahead. I did something like what we hear on radios, and included them in the things I said, even played a song for them. They started laughing.

Now comes the part where they ask me the question that nobody could ever ignore, WHY THE LOW CGPA!!? (Sorry for the extra loud writing) And I started defending it with my usual answer. But they told me not to defend my cgpa, as the extra-currics are more than making up for it. I still said that I could have done better.

They asked me what I do in OFSS, why I want to go for an MBA and if selected, which field would I choose to go for.  I answered it all. Then I was asked my CAT and XAT score, and on hearing that I have other calls, they asked me what if IIML also selects me. That’s where I probably screwed up, and instead of defending one institute, I started criticizing the IIM admission policy (Even I’m asking myself why). Although the interviewers took that too casually and started discussing what should be the criteria in my opinion, where I supported the way IIFT and XLRI select candidates.

In short, the interview was quite relaxing, with no academic questions or even current affairs/Finance for that matter. It was over in 10 minutes, give or take two. I’m sure the upcoming interviews are going to be very different from this.

Not expecting anything yet. But I guess it was a good start to the season.

Some FAQs:

1. Duration: The whole thing gets over in 2-4 hours, depending on your turn.

2. The IIFT administration is absolutely student friendly, no matter what’s your issue, they’re always supportive.

3. Take a look at things like the IIFT Website, Foreign trade policy of India, Demonetisation and the GDP controversy, might come in handy.

4. Your parents can accompany you, at least in Mumbai and Kolkata there is space for waiting.

5. I’ll update as I remember more.  It was a direct convert to IIFT Delhi, which I ended up not joining owing to some other results.

So that’s how we roll

“If you’re reading this in or after the year 2013, please note that this was my first post. Don’t judge me! Except for this smiley 😛

well this is my first post and i am not gonna lie to you (not that i will in the next post or not that u know if i am)

this blog is gonna suck.. more than edward cullen.. more than abhishek bachchan.. less than CHELSEA (i can’t beat that)

so if you think you’re gonna utilize your time reading this.. you just wasted a minute (in thinking that)

and one more thing.. as i know you still haven’t closed this page..

“if you like things that are funny in a way no one gets them, if u love to spend time reading others blogs, if you love to read witty one liners and sarcastic comments.. you’re gonna love this blog (and you’re weird) “