IIM-Lucknow Group Discussion / Interview

Interview date : 21st Feb
Time : 10:00 AM
Venue : IIM-Bangalore

Same routine .... Got up @ 7:30 ... Had tiffin at a small eatery ... Ding (also known in literary circles as Manikandan) dropped me at the venue .... Had trouble finding out my interview location ;-)

An acquaintance pointed me down the wrong direction and I happily roamed around looking like a child lost in a fare (idhu konjam too much dhaan .... but, it is ok!)

Came to the right spot. Lot of people whom I knew were there .... It was like as if they decided to call all Chennai students today .... 2 friends from my batch @ Ascent .... 6 or 7 have-seen-their-faces-know-not-their-names from TIME .....

Chit chat .... Gyan .... Fundas ..... FCCBs .... Debentures .... GDP .... GNP .... definitions ....

Roll call :

9 guys in my panel ... no ladies .... I was 5th in order within my panel .... Profile of others

1. A 99.99 percentile chap - Anna University - CSE final year
2. A mining engineering chap
3. An Anna University - ECE final year chap
4. An Anna University - Chrompet campus final year chap
5. A classmate of (4)
6. An SVCE final year chap
7. Another fresher
8. Do not remember
9. Me

The candidates in my panel was predominantly freshers ....

GD

Format : Topic is announced . We have to write about it in a piece of paper, with a predetermined number of lines, in 150 words within 10 minutes. Submit the sheet. Discuss for 15 minutes. Exit and wait for interview.

Topic : Parliaments are a waste of public money.

Opinion : Neither an agro GD nor a peaceful one ... Average ... Everybody got a chance to view their opinions .... Dec. 13th attack on parliament ..... parliamentarians getting bribe for lobbying specific issues during question hour ..... education level and refinity of the people making it to the parliament .... how to make it better .... how to make them more accountable ...... how opposition is important to democracy as a structure .... how is it happening in other democracies .... were some of the factors discussed ...

Pretty decent .... got to start the GD .... contributed every now and then ... not a bad performance .....

Interview

Candidates called in the same order as the GD order .... So, am 5th in my group of 9.

2 panelists .... they were pretty cool .... were quite friendly .... let me lead the interview .... asked questions based on my answers types ....

P1 = Panelist 1, P2 = Panelist 2

P2 starts examining my certificates.

P1 : Tell me why do you wanna do MBA .... give me a different answer ... not one of the prerecorded ones .... Did you go to any institute to prepare for CAT ... What did you gain out of that institute.
Ans : Yes, I had been to Ascent Education .... Started with CAT .... how they helped me ... how personal attention was a strong point .... About GD/PI preparation .... About doing presentations on global topics of interest, which other institutes were not doing .... blah blah blah

If you notice, I never got to answer the "WHY MBA" question .... it started off with the institute and never went back ....

Kedar Naik, remember you were praying that you get this question !!! I hope you got this question in your interview today afternoon.

P1 : How much did you pay for it
Said

P1 : What excites you ....
Told about biking

P1 : What bike you ride ....
Told

P1 : What is the world's most popular brand
A: Harley Davidson

P1 : What do you know about it
A: Told that in the west it is more a way of life that just a bike that they drive ... the community, the cult, their own bars, their own dressing style ..... blah blah blah

P1 : Is it good
A: Blah blah blah .....

P1 : What is India's most popular brand
A: Told

P1: Why is Hero Honda named so?
A: Told

P1 : Who is the founder of Hero?
A: mmm .... not able to get it off the top of my head .... just remember that he was the Economist entrepreneur of the year .... (Actually I suppose he was the Entrepreneur - life time achievement award winner ...)

P1 : If there were 3 things that you want to improve about yourself, what would they be?
A: Told

P1 : Why is it (I told something about work life) relevant to you. You are a fresher, right? Checks form. Realizes that I am working.

Topic moves towards work related aspects.

P1 : What are the issues with Delegation.
A: Told

Sometime now, do not remember when, P2 takes over.

P2 : Tell about your role / responsibility @ work
A: Told

P2 : What is the product all about?
A: Told

P2 : How do you do impact analysis?
A: Told

P2 : What is the biggest problem that you face
A: Told about regression testing (I know my teammates are also going to read this post !!! Please do not feel offended .... This is not specific to just our team ... It is a firmwide issue .... And I have been the reason for this problem for a longer period than yours ;-))

P2 : How does a client get metadata from your system
A: Could not get the question. Tried to answer - but did not meet what he wanted

P2 : Clarifies on what he is looking @
A: Told

Thank you. You may go.

Came out - Wished the best for others.

A pretty cool process .... thanks to my panelists .... Do let me know your comment ....

IIML experiences of others can be checked out at : http://mbaforum.ascenteducation.com/viewtopic.php?t=450

IIM-Indore Group Discussion / Interview

Interview date : 14th February
Time : 2:00 PM
Venue : IIM-Bangalore

Before reaching the venue :

Last minute photocopying of IIM-I form and IIM-B form. Today also, Manikandan dropped me at the venue. We had lunch in a hotel called 'Status' right opposite the IIM-B campus.

Before I went to IIM-I interview spot :

Went to the admissions office of IIM-B. Had to submit the form of IIM-B. An elderly person accepted the form. Just by looking at my blank face, he construed that I came to submit the form and asked me for the same !

IIM-I interview spot :

I was comparitvely more nervous today. Was I feeling sick ? I actually felt if I had contacted some temperature.

Met two people from my interview in IIM-K. Friendly catching-up. How are you ... How was your week types ...

All of us were asked to wait in 1 classroom. There were 24 of us. 22 guys and 2 girls. I suppose the girls must have felt that they had gatecrashed into a fraternity party !! 4 guys from IIT-Madras hostel. One person was actually filling up the interview form in the venue. Some guts !!

Roll Call :

We were divided into 3 groups. Each group had 8 candidates. Profile of candidates in my panel :
1. A pretty girl.
2. An IIT-M chap. He has already got a fellowship admit from Cornell University for his Ph.D. He has got 6 IIM calls. Wondering what to select .... Had pros and cons for each route.
3. A chap who had a single call from IIM-I. The fire in his belly to convert his one call was tangible.
4. A short chap from Bihar or Orissa.
5. A guy who is working in Infosys, Bangalore campus. Born in Jharkhand, school junior of Dhoni (cricket chap) and college education in Kerala.
6. Another IIT-M chap. He found it a little tough to air his opinion in the GD
7. Do not remember
8. Me

GD:

We were called in and assigned seats. I was sitting in the 7th position. Case study GD. Centered around ethics. A person who has to inspect and approve the conditions of dairies. One particular dairy - very dirty/unhygienic conditions ... bad machinery. He cannot give a bad rating because corruption was prevalent, a boss who would never give a bad rating to a dairy (because he had joined newly), his company is in a cost cutting mode and is trying to give VRS to its employees, the employees of the dairy will go up in arms if a bad rating is given.

We were given prior intimation that each person will have to WRITE down her/his own summary and submit it to the panel at the end of the discussion.

Not an agro GD. Pretty peaceful. I got to start the GD !! I have done it only once in my past in a mock GD in Ascent. Talked about ethics again and again - the panel might have watched out for it. Was able to give newer perspectives. The group agreed with me on one count. Tried to move towards a conclusion.

I did pretty well in it. It would have been all the more relevant had I quoted the Manjunath - IIM Lucknow - which was a pretty parallel situation. My case hero was in Milk sector and Manjunath was in Petroleum sector. No issues. I hope I do not sound as if I am trying to capitalise on an unfortunate incident for my own benefit. It was a news which is relevant to the case on our hand.

GD ended. Panel asked all of us wait outside and not to go around. Reason : the candidates will be called in random. Not in the original order in which they were called for the GD.

10 minutes pass. Everybody is all ears wondering whom they are going to start with. I am called in. Panelist goes in. "All the best" chorus from the other 7 !

Interview:

2 panelists.

1st panelist starts asking. 2nd panelist is browsing through my certificates. Happily handed them over to him

Q: What is the meaning of your name?
A: Told.
Q: What is the meaning of the name Chennai?
A: Was not sure myself. Gave some fundas about the old Chennai Presidency .... which became the 4 states .... reason for Madras being renamed to Chennai.
Q: What are the important archeological sites in TN?
A: Rambled about Mahabaliburam ... Pallava kings building it .... 6 rathas .... 5 for Pandavas .... 1 for Draupadi .... some destroyed .... (A big hug to Srivatsan is due when I meet him next, for all these information that he had provided me)
Q: Any other archeological site?
A: Mmmm .... Tanjore Periya Koil.
Q: Anything else (he has something in mind ... but what ?!?)
A: mmm ... not able to think of others .... not sure
Q: How about Madurai Meenatchi temple?
A: Ya ... Ya ... It is a good temple/archeological site ...
Q: How many MPs from TN in Lok Sabha
A: 29 or 35
Q: mmm .... Which one?
A: 35
Q: Sure?
A: Yes (checked now. it was 39, not bad !)
Q: What are the parties in TN?
A: Told
Q: When is election coming?
A: Told
Q: CM of TN?
A: Told
Q: Which party?
A: Told
Q: What are the other small parties?
A: Told

Information Technology

Q: You talked about value chain more than once in the form. What is the value chain in IT
A: Drew. Seemed satisfied.
Q: Where does Infy and Wipro fit into this picture?
A: Told.
Q: Why is China more productive than India in IT. Do you know their productivity indices?
A: Do not know the numbers as such. But, it depends on the type of work we do. They are into manufacturing which is about replication. We are into higher end/research/software development to which no strict timelines can be drawn.

1st panelist is done with his set of questions. 2nd panelist takes over. 1st panelist browses through my certificates.

Tech stuff.

Q: What is mobile computing?
A: Told
Q: Give examples
A: Told
Q: Why is Centrino called a mobile processor whereas Pentium is not
A: Dunno (but blabbered just so that he realizes that I atleast know that it is a Intel chip based on which they have even changed their slogan)
Q: Give some mobile computing protocols
A: Dunno
Q: Heard of bluetooth and infrared?
A: Yeah. But not sure.
Q: What is the difference b/w them?
A: Not sure. Think they operate at different frequencies .... Dunno.
Q: What is a hotspot?
A: Dunno. Have not heard of it.

Moves over to telecom. Now I am pretty happy. Had attended a seminar only on sunday by Kedar Naik at Ascent. Ascent is the only institute which conducts these knowledge transition sessions after CAT and before the interviews. No other institute in the CAT/GD-PI preparation space does it. Bless the institute !

Q: How many mobile phones in India?
A: Told
Q: How are they divided?
A: Told about GSM and CDMA division. Told I do not know about Airtel/Hutch/Reliance breakup
Q: What is the difference b/w GSM and CDMA.
A: Told (Giving a hug to Baskar mentally - for having told the funda on sunday)
Q: What is Wi-Fi
A: Dunno
Q: What is one-India plan?
A: Gave all the gyan about Reliance doing it first .... BSNL delaying it twice and finally announcing it sometime last week.
Q: What is Access Deficit Charge.
A: Told (Giving a big big bear hug to Kedar. He may not want to be anywhere near me today !!!)
Q: Why GSM and CDMA conflict?
A: Told that infrastructure is a main reason for the GSM players not giving in to CDMA even though it is superior.
Q: Is infrastructure the only reason?
A: Dunno
Q: Can a GSM phone used as a CDMA one?
A: Dunno
Q: What are the countries which are into GSM and those which are into CDMA?
A: Dunno

Sorry Baskar, you might have talked about the last 3 questions ... but, it just did not strike me.

Thank you. You may go.

I ask : Your good names please (very amicably)
They say : No problem. It does not matter.
Thank you (bulb mama !!!)

Gave a brief of what was asked to those eagerly waiting outside. Wished all the best to the lady and the gentlemen and walked out.

Pretty good overall. Open for comments ....

IIMI experiences of others will soon be posted in the following forum also : http://mbaforum.ascenteducation.com/viewtopic.php?t=435

IIM-Kozhikode Group Discussion / Interview

Interview date : 7th February
Time : 9:30 AM
Venue : IIM-Bangalore


The venue of the interview, IIM-B was an amazing campus to start with. A very big one indeed. It seems that IIM-B was outside the Bangalore city once upon a time. Not any more. The city extends to about 7 kms beyond IIM-B. So, a very serene/green dont-worry-about-space campus amidst the traffic and fast paced Bangalore City.

My friend Manikandan, dropped me at the venue in the morning by abut 8:35 AM. Walked in towards the big block (dunno what its name is) where the interview is. Realized that I had not collected information about a place called Mahabalipuram near Chennai. I had claimed in one of the forms that I have been to Mahabalipuram on my bike. Called (over phone) my friend Srivatsan, a specialist in South INdian architecture. Got the funda about Pallava kings building the town.

Reached the reception where other candidates were waiting.

Quite a few people were already there. Submitted my interview form, degree certificate copy and work-ex letter copy. Start waiting .....

Picked up a conversation with the others .... There was one from Amdocs, Cyprus .... another from Infy Hyderabad ..... another from TCS Hyderabad .... a fresher from IIT-M .... About 3 girls .... one was from one of my classes in Chennai .... witnessing the events at the reception which collected the forms .... one guy was filling up his form only then .... another guy had not bought his photo (I believe he was sent to get one, wonder what happened to him) .... By the way, I had my own share of goof-ups ! I had missed my pen ! Looked around - realized that one guy had 2 pens neatly in his pocket ... walked up to him and borrowed ... confirmed that I will return it after the interview is over (the pen is still with me, though).

Roll call .....

I was categorised into Panel-2. Each panel had 10 candidates. All- guys in my group. 2 interviewers. One person had not turned up. I later realized that he was caught in the traffic - wonder what happened to him. That leaves the 9 of us.

GD ....

A combination of "Abstract GD" and "article based GD". Yeah, an abstract article ! Difference b/w nerves and mind. It is the nerves which builds up experiences and not mind .... Can anybody explain the fund to me ?!?

My take ...

Not so bad .... I was able to give 2 or 3 perspectives .... In fact, the entire group agreed to one of these .... I was not the starter .... Probably, might have been the 3rd to start ...... not an agro GD .... pretty peaceful .... everybody got a chance to air their views ....

Interview ...

I was the 5th chap .... each of the first 4 had 20 or 25 minute interviews ....

Went in .... asked me as to what information I had gathered about the interview from the 4 predecessors .... I said that it was about acads and work experience ..... May be it was because of this that they steered cleared of these 2 topics !!!

The questions were based on what I had written in the interview form.

Alternate career : I had mentioned Data warehousing ....
Q : What is a database
A : Information which is stored in a sturctu .... interrupted.
Q : Is information different from database?
A : Yes
Q : What is the difference?
A : Said ...
Q : IF they are different, then why did you define database in terms of information ?
A : mmm .... well ..... informal definition .... blah blah blah
Q : why are you informal in such an interview ....
A : mmm .... It depends on what the interviewer is expecting .....
Q : What is "knowledge"?
A : mmm .... well ..... well .... blah blah ..... Lot of beating around the bush ...
Q : Why did you not admit it if you had not known in actual terms
A : Yeah, I did not know the clear difference ... was just trying to convey whatever I had knwn ....

Over to Math.

Q : What is partial differentiation
A : Dunno
Q : What is differentiation
A : Said
Q : Geometric interpretation of differentiation
A : Drew on the black board and said
Q : What is integration
A : Said

Pretty OK

Q : What is the size of 2 wheeler industry in India
A : dunno
Q : Who are the makers?
A : hero honda, bajaj, escorts, kinetic ....
Q: where is the head quarters of Kinetic
A : dunno
Q : where is the head quarters of Royal Enfield
A : Chennai, Tiruvottriyur .... Said so .... (Vatsa, is it correct?)
Q : How was the company fomed ....
A : Said about UK "Royal" and Indian "Enfield" collaboration and the former ultimately exiting .... Am not sure if it was right .... (Vatsa, is it?)

Mmm ..... OK ... Not so OK .... Confused ....

OVer to Government of India.

Q : Who is the head of Rajya Sabha
A : Dunno
Q : What is the size of Rajya Sabha
A : Dunno
Q : What is the current 5 year plan
A : Dunno
Q : How long is a 5 year plan period?
A : mmm .... 5 years ?!?
Q : Are you sure ???
A : Ya ... (Is it correct guys???)

You may go. Thanks.

My interview was shorter than that of others ....

Was directed to another desk where they cross verified whatever I had claimed on the form with the original certificates / work-ex certificates - No problems here

Dunno how it is gonna be .... Open for comments ....