IIM Ahmedabad Interview Experience

I don't know why they called me for the interview... with my cgpa (=6.42), i should be as talented as that "five point someone" to get in... not just my cgpa, even my job experience is like a 100 kg stone hanging under my neck... lame!!
anyways... that was my first interview among all the calls i've got... heard from many that the panel grills a lot on the undergrad acads... i hope they'll spare me looking at my academic performance and if they ask questions related to my job... i know how to beautify it, though i did nothing there...
here it goes...
first they gave us a topic for essay writing... "indian politicians need training in communication skills"... 10 mins was the time given... i knew the standard format for any essay... intro, descri, supporting/opposing views and then an example... wrote something... couldn't think of a good example... after 8 mins... i wrote... "as an example:" and then stopped... after a minute or so the panel told us to stop... i hoped they'll pity me thinking that i couldn't get enuf time to complete the example... :D

the interview panel had two profs... p1 and p2... i didn't like one (say p1)... his looks gave me a perception that he's arrogant...
m: good afternoon sirs
p1: g.a. ... take your seat...
(i handed over my file to them)
p1: tell us about yourself
m: told them something in the most boring manner (was my first interview... thought of something but told something else)
p2: what do you do at accenture?
m: one more boring story... i support applications of a big pharmaceutical company... gave them some funda about clinical trials and all (the biggest mistake i did)...
p1: what do you know about clinical trials?
m: trials conducted on patients in discovering new drugs... and so on...
p1: what are the different processes in clinical trials?
m: discovery... so on... marketing...
p2: can you brief us on different processes??
m: did that... but i knew that i'm going astray... into a zone where i knew nothing about... 'cuz all i did in my job was running some lazy queries whenever some user raised a request... lame isn't it?... trying to beautify my job totally killed my chances...
p1: you are not able to relate how you actually fit into those processes?
m: actually i support applications... i just have some basic knowledge...
p1: but we expect more as you have two years of experience in that field...
m: hmm... smiled...
p2: do the patients agree for the trials to be conducted on them??
m: mostly they're volunteers... they'll sign some agreement and they're paid accordingly...
p2: what if something goes wrong?
m: things do go wrong... but it's all in the agreement... and they're paid for that...
p2: where do they conduct these trials?? india, africa??
m: all over the world... (i understood what the prof was thinking... whites exploring coloured people)...
p2: do you know the locations?
m: i dont have a clear idea... actually i was not told... its sensitive data...
p1: just tell us what you do at your job??
m: supporting applications... (this time i was frank)
p1: do you remember anything from your engineering??
m: a few topics sir... like agri machinery...
p1: why are the tractors tyres big at the back and small at the front??
m: this is the easiest question ever asked to me related to my engineering... answered before the prof completed the question...
p1: why is the smoke exhaust always towards the top in the tractor?
m: one more easy question... (forgot the past and felt it was my day!!)
p2: which news papers do you read?
m: times of india... mostly...
p2: tell us about any three current issues...
m: terror attacks in mumbai, slumdog millionaire and indian budget...
p2: is that budget a regular budget?
m: no... its called an interim budget...
p2: why is it called so?
m: gave a good explanation...
p2: what's the other name for it?
m: vote on account...
p2: why so?
m: gave one more good explanation... at this moment i was really feeling good about how the way things are going...
p1: handed over my file and then said... thank you mr.praveen, you can leave now...
m: thank you sirs... have a good day!!

i was pretty happy while returning... start wasn't that impressive but the end was good... people say end is really important cuz the profs start rating after we leave...

end result... cudn't make it... as expected... though i had little hopes...

IIM Indore Interview

p1: a lady prof; p2: an old male prof
m: myself

m: good morning sir/madam
p1: good morning (p2 trying to psyche me by not saying anything and looking at me seriously)
p1: tell us about yourself
m: bla bla bla
p1: why did you leave your job?
m: got bored by the monotonous work... felt like taking a break...
p1: what kind of work you did?
m: explained them till they were satisfied.
p1: seems like you gave CAT 4 times... what did you do differently this time compared to last time so that you got all the calls?
m: concentrated more on my english by reading lot of articles on economist, guardian etc... also i had some luck...
p1: if you want to start a JEE coaching center, what are your plans?
m: i want to start something which offers good coaching at lower fee... also i can get friends from IITs and IIMs as faculty using my circle...
p1: almost all the coaching centers have the same plans... do you have anything different?
m: give me a minute to think... (after thinking for a while)... nothing else...
p1: so you did agricultural engineering?
m: yes mam (i sensed the trouble)
p1: what is a greenhouse effect?
m: i told my own definition...
p1: as soon as you enter IIMB, you can see a plant with no leaves... how is that made?
m: they are for decorative purposes... by using a method called hi-breeding we can have selective features in a plant... i guess the process is called selective hi-breeding (i discovered it)...
p1: describe the process briefly?
m: (WTH!!)... its been six years since i had that course mam... dont remember anything...

suddenly p2 came into picture ( i really dont know what he did till then)... his only aim seems to be psyching me...
p2: you say yourself to be an agricultural engineer and you dont know the answers to basic questions?
m: sir... its been three years since i left my college... all i have is basic knowledge... (thought of saying "look at my marks sheet... i can't answer any of your questions even when i was in college")...
p2: what is mitosis?
m: mitosis? hmm... i guess its the division of mitochondria in cell... (remember something about mitochondria during my school days)...
p2: what are the different processes in mitosis?
m: (what's with the questions from biotech!!)... sir, i didn't have that course...
p2: then what courses do you have in agricultural engineering?
m: named a few... agricultural machinery, tractors... and by mistake food processing tech...
p1: so you have food processing?
m: yes mam...
p1: what is the process of fat separation from fatty foods?
m: (my time's over!! :(...)... actually i dont know... its been a long time since i left college (same old story)...
p2: so what do you know?
m: just a smile... said nothing...
p2: do you know programming?
m: a little... all i did was a support related job for some pharmaceutical company...
(dammit... everyone said indore concentrates more on acads... i should have avoided this interview instead of getting screwed like this)...
p1: ok praveen... you can go now...
m: thank you madam/sir
again there's no response from p2... (get lost!)

thank god i didn't say blogging as my hobby at iimb interview... they were checking it online at the same time on their laptops... had they verified what's written here... i would have shown the door straight away!!

IIMB GDPI experience

i reached the iimb campus on time... unlike for any other interviews, iimb called candidates in some order... all the candidates were praveens... we were waiting outside the interview room and doing all introductions and stuff... we saw a lady prof and young dynamic male prof (just 37 yrs old!!) coming towards us... and then my worries started... young professors always are troublesome compared to their older counterparts... because they clearly remember their college days better than the old profs... anyways here are my gd and interview details...

gd topic: few cricketers inspite of all the controversies behind them got padma sree awards, but sportsmen who won medals at the olympics didnt get any padmas... we have to discuss the criteria for a sportsmen to be awarded padma...
it was a decent discussion... everyone got a chance to say something... i put in few good points (good in my opinion!)... we were given 20 mins for the gd... but the lady prof stopped us after 15 mins... then we were told to write a summary... after doing that we were told to wait outside... i was the second guy to be interviewed... i screwed it up big time!!

lets refer young male prof as p1 and the female prof as p2... myself as i...

p1: you said you are from iit kharagpur?
i: yes sir...
p1: your cgpa is so low!!
i: yes sir... when i came to iit, i had no clear goals and proper guidance... i was not so serious about my studies...
p1: even if you are not at all serious... i know iitkgp gives a minimum of 7... are you at the bottom of your college?? (damn sure he's a passout from my college :( !!)
i: no sir... but one among the bottom...
p1: tell me about yourself...
i: i told my history... ended up saying... "then i resigned the job"...
p1: why did you resign the job??
i: i was always interested in doing an mba... being a software engineer has never been my dream...
p1: first you say you are not interested in agricultural engineering, then you say software engineering... what are you interested in??
i: management sir... i have many ideas which can be implemented if i do an mba...
p1: what kind of ideas??
i: i want to start a paper industry...
p1: why paper industry?
i: my father has been working in that industry for the past 25 years... i felt that i can use his experience to setup a paper industry in my underdeveloped region...
p1: and what do you want to do?
i: i want to take care of the finance and operational side...
p1: i'm not able to get you... what do you know about paper industry??
i: i started of saying technical details... till p1 stopped...
p1: we dont want tech details... what can you do as a manager?
i: i dont know much sir... that's one reason i want to do management...
p1: what all paper industries do you know?
i: named a few local paper industries...
p1: what's the largest paper industry in india?
i: i dont know...
p1: you say you want to setup a paper industry and you know nothing about it?
suddenly p2 (good lady prof) came to my rescue... asking for my hobbies...
still p1 doesn't want to spare me... :(
p1 continues...

p1: which hall you used to stay in iit?
i: rajendra prasad hall of residence...
p1: when was it setup?
i: 1953 (??)
p1: (with an awkward smile)... do you atleast know when was iit kharagpur setup?
i: 1952(??)... 1951(??)...
p1: you dont know when was your college setup even after staying there for 4 years??
i: (please madam save me from him... :(... )
p2: ok tell us about your hobbies...
i: i play age of empires, a multiplayer strategy game... and...
p1: so you played it all your college days?
i: (please madam please...)
p2: which newspaper you follow??
i: i follow economist... i follow their forums also... they are very interesting and informative... i also read times of india...
p1: haha... none reads times of india for news...
i: i understand sir... but it has its good features...
p1: i know what those good features are... (clearly got his sarcasm... i responded with a smile)
p1: do you know what kind of news they give on sports section?
i: yes sir... mostly cricket.. and then football, f1 etc...
p1: no... its about cricketers and their girlfriends...
i: yes sir... i've seen that news... but mostly its about sports news only...
p1: tell me one thing that's good in TOI compared to other newspapers?
i: hmm... its not so biased like rest of the news papers... i gave few examples like sakshi in AP biased to congress... eenadu to TDP etc...
p1: do you know who's the owner of TOI? so that you can say if it's biased or not...
i: i dont know the owner sir... i never tried to learn about it... i only follow the news...
(by this time i came to know p2 can never help me... this guy will never allow her... )

p1: but you know the owners of your local newspapers? you say you follow international news like economist and your knowledge is limited only to your state?
i: govinda! govinda!
p1: ok... you can leave now...
i: sir... you didnt ask for my certis...
p1: no need...
i: i look confused... and shocked...
p1: we already have your certis on our systems...
i: thank you sir/madam... for breaking all my pride into pieces... :(

19th feb 2009 - the day of my first interview for IIMA-ABM...
as usual... i'm in a hurry filling the application form... i saw the form the previous night only, but couldn't get any ideas... my mother always used to say for good ideas you need to wake up early in the morning... early for me is after 9AM... i only got 3 hours!!
anyways... what's the use of creative ideas to fill an application form where you need to state facts about yourself... hmm, that goes well with people who did something in life... but for me, i'll surely get screwed if i state any facts... chaggi in IIT, job with a f*ing company and no damn co/extra curriculars... all i did was 7 years back cracking JEE and other nuts...
here are few questions in that form:

role in my previous project?
Fact: I was in a project for 20 months where I had no work... whenever some work was assigned, i assigned it to someone else (my managerial skills at work!!)... but you can't fool people for long... as soon as my manager (ever saw homer simpson??) came to know about this (he took 20 months to learn about me!! he he) he rolled me off from the project... and from then on i was on bench for 8 months... no company can pay you for free for long... and so the day came...

Stated: I joined a project in blabla company as a junior software engineer... i used to take night outs as my job required constant interaction with the client located in USA... apart from that i used to support client applications like CTS, CTMS, AOE, NFS etc etc (use as many abbs as possible)... i also automated a process called blabla by leading a team of four junior SEs (i can never state on what technology i worked... u can guess why!!)...

precious lessons from job exp?
Fact: how to earn money doing nothing!!
Stated: team working, comm skills bla bla...

reasons for leaving the job?
Fact: who can leave a job where one gets paid for reading wikipedia and a tabloid called times of india??
Stated: I have some personal issues to settle which were pending for a long time... also i thought of taking a break after 30 months of my hard work!!

problems you faced and how you resolved them in your job exp?
Fact: i can state problems i created, not faced...
Stated: one more creative story!!

why mba?
Fact: what's this stupid question??
Stated: to serve the nation!!

why agri mba?
Fact: a back up, in case i can't convert any other calls...
Stated: to serve the villages!!

details of the interview... i don't know when...

I was never interested in blogging... I dont even know how to blog... but now I need to blog... why??
Last year last month, I resigned from a lame ass company for my lazy ass attitude... This year first month, I got calls from kick ass IIMs... its cool, you know!! ... second month, i thought of preparing for the interviews...
Interviews are all about attitude... this is what my heart said to my brain (cinematic!!)... if you dont know the answer of any question they ask... just give them a smile and say "i don't know"... keep on doing this... at one point they feel like asking a question you can answer... like tell us about yourself... the panel looks for how you answer but not what you answered... so attitude rules!!
about the GDs... follow either the old adage "be a roman in rome" or the new one "be a terrorist in ***istan"... if everyone's shouting you also shout... if everyone's silent be silent... but the problem comes when everyone said something and waiting for you to say something... and then its about attitude again... i've found few solutions to counter this...
if you remember all the points discussed, then summarize it... if you remember atleast one point already discussed, say it again in such a way that meaning would be the same but construction is different... if you remember none then reiterate the topic of discussion and say "friends we are going off topic, lets discuss about our actual topic"... if you dont want to speak at all, then give a smile to all of them...
about the sops and essays... do they really dare to read them?? so no suggestions... if they do read... then "best of luck!!"...
but with all my experience and attitude... i'm not able to answer three questions...
why was my cgpa so low??
what I've been doing since i resigned my job??
why mba??

first question is past... its history... i can't change it...
second is present... may be the one reason i started blogging... he he... i have other plans tooo...
third is future... only god knows...