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This is the season of MBA interviews. Those who appeared for CAT 2021 and got decent percentile must have been going through this rather tedious process. I have appeared for eight interviews namely SP Jain, IIT Bombay’s SJMSOM, IIT Delhi’s DMS, IIT Shillong, IIT CAP, and the star IIMs of Lucknow, Kozhikode, and Indore.
Before I mention my interview experience, I would mention my profile. I got 97.75%ile in CAT 2021. I am a graduate of St. Stephen’s College (with a percentage of 88%) and am currently in my final year of MSc Chemistry at IIT Delhi with a percentage of 85%. I have above 95% in the 10th and 12th classes and internships as well.
There were two interviewers in every interview except for IITs where there were three interviewers.
IIM Lucknow Interview (24th Feb):
It lasted for 10 minutes or so. It was a decent interview, with not too much grilling on any topic.
It started with them asking me about the Russia-Ukraine news. They asked me what was happening and what are the implications of this war on India. I answered. Then, they asked me if India had to mediate between Russia and the USA and ask them to stop the war, what should India do in such a situation. Then, they asked me why I want to do an MBA.
I told them that I want to bridge the gap between science and business. They asked me a few questions related to my vision. From this, questions of patent emerged. They asked me how the struggle between the vaccine manufacturing companies expected to sell vaccines at low costs and them wanting to maximize their profits could be resolved.
IIM Kozhikode Interview (8th March):
It started with my introduction and then they asked me chemistry questions. Then, another professor told me that he was confused looking at my profile because he did not understand my motivation to do an MBA.
We had a seven-eight minutes long discussion over this. He asked me why can I not bring change by just remaining in science and why an MBA was necessary.
It was a so-so interview. I am not sure how the professors liked my answers and how convinced they were with my justifications. Only the result would tell.
IIM Indore Interview (8th March):
It started with my introduction. They asked me chemistry-specific questions. Then they asked me why I want to do an MBA. The first professor seemed convinced.
The other professor asked me about my interests. I told him that I like to write and currently write for ED Times. He visited my author page on the ED’s website and asked me for my opinions on Ashneer Grover’s controversy.
It was a short interview, which seemed to have gone well.
Read More: Breakfast Babble: Why I Hate Indian Parents And Their Obsession With UPSC/MBA
IIM Shillong Interview (2nd March):
There is an extempore component in it. My topic was “Vacation days should be made mandatory for employees”. I gave all the arguments in the favour of it. I think they wanted me to take a balanced approach. The questions that followed were about the problems that the company may face if all its employees go on vacation.
Then, they asked me questions regarding chemistry and a few questions on general issues that I don’t remember now (it becomes hard to keep up with so many interviews).
IIM CAP Interview (16th February):
They complimented me on my profile first. To be honest, they were very happy with my profile and this showed during the course of the interview. They were extremely nice. They asked me for my introduction, which was followed by chemistry questions. It was a short interview.
IITs Interviews
IIT Bombay’s and IIT Delhi’s interviews were starkly different. The first one was a grilling interview. They only asked me questions related to my subject, chemistry. The questions were quite advanced. It was the worst interview out of all.
IIT Delhi’s interview was the shortest and the easiest. They also focused more on academic questions. They also asked me questions about the financial market like the difference between NSE and BSE, who regulates them, the chairman of SEBI, the controversy around the stock market, and three regulatory bodies of India.
SP Jain’s Interview (4th February)
They have a group interview in two rounds. Unfortunately, I could not make it to the second round, but it was my first interview and it gave me numerous insights and a chance to work on my weak points. It lasted for 50 minutes and the discussion was on finance and management topics only.
The interview took place more than a month ago and it was not worth remembering. I do not remember a lot from it, but they asked me banking questions like repo rate, RBI’s policy on controlling inflation, etc.
Conclusion
Be prepared with HR questions and have a strong knowledge of your graduation subject’s basics. You should be very clear with “why MBA” and should be able to answer the follow-up questions. It is crucial to be updated with news events. It truly helped me a lot in my interviews.
Also, it is very luck-dependent. If the interviewer is such that he wants to create a difficult situation, then that would happen regardless of how much knowledge you have. Having faith in yourself is important.
I wish you all the very best for your interviews and the results!
Sources: Blogger’s Own Experience
Image Sources: Google Images
Find The Blogger: @TinaGarg18
This post is tagged under: IIM lucknow, IIM kozhikode, IIM Indore, IIM shillong, IIM CAP, business schools, SPJIMR, SP Jain institute of management and research, FMS, top b-schools in India, CAT, CAT 2021, IIT Delhi graduate, st. stephen’s college, academic diversity, non-engineer, interview experience, IIMs
Disclaimer: We do not hold any right, copyright over any of the images used, these have been taken from Google. In case of credits or removal, the owner may kindly mail us.
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