GD-PI Experiences

Congratulations everyone for reaching the GD-PI stage. Below are the some of the GD-PI topics followed by the GD-PI experiences of some of the students who cracked the process last year(in 2011) and are currently studying at XIMB(PGDM).Also find a related you tube video in the 'On the Web' section of this portal. Hope it will give everyone a fair idea of how the process was conducted last year.

All the best to everyone. Hope you make it to XIMB.

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XIMB GD-PI Topics 2011

· We live in corporations

· Which railway minister is better: Mamta banerjee or laloo yadav?

· Newspaper?

· At the end of tunnel there is light!

· Capital

· No decision is also a decision.

· Commonwealth games: a true sporting event or a promotion campaign for brand India

· Gone are the days when we used to say time is money. Now, we say money is time

· The Government should or should not give into the demand of Naxalites

· Social networking sites boon or time wasters

· Morality is the creation of the weak to deter and limit the strong

· Education is a progressive way of discovering ignorance

· Kashmir: Egypt in making

· The growth of India is endangered by scams

· Quarter Life crisis is today's mid life crisis.

· Unveiling the Veil

· It is necessary to have more oil than vinegar to make a good salad.

· Environment and development

· If I were the PM of Pakistan

· Easy to stand a pain, but difficult to stand an itch....

· Winner takes it all

· Budget 2011 and Agriculture Sector

· Should MBBS people be forced to serve in the rural areas for at-least one year before joining other institutions or organizations

· Rural India Shining

· Rural Market - A myth or reality?

· Admiration and Familiarity are strangers

· The poor are lazy

· Life is a musical chair

· Coins make more noise, Currency notes are silent

· Wisdom doesn't come with age

· A stumble is better than a fall

· In love and war everything is fair

· Mediocre but Arrogant

· Land of scamsters or a rising economy

· Oil and Democracy

· Map is not the territory

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -1

Name – Sandeep Kumar Ram

Call – PGDM (BM)

GDPI Location – Mount Carmel Institute of Management, Bangalore

Profile – Xth – 91.2%

XIIth – 86.7%

B.Tech (Electronics and telecommunications) – 8.52 DGPA

Work-ex – 59 months at Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd.

XAT score – 98.07% tile

GD topic: People who think the absurd achieve the impossible.

There were 8 of us if I remember correctly. The topic was announced and we were given 2 mins to think about it. The discussion started thereafter. It was a good GD wherein everybody put got ample time to speak and put forward his/her points. This could probably be attributed to the fact that the topic was quite abstract. I was the second speaker in my group. I entered the GD on 4-5 occasions and put some valid points citing a few examples. In fact, it was one of those GDs where the time seemed an eternity. After about 15 mins we wound up.

No. of panellist: 3

I entered the room and greeted the entire 3 panellists. I was asked to sit. I was carrying my file with me which I handed over to one of the panellists, A.

Flipping through my file, A was the first one to begin:

A: Is this your first interview?

Me: Yes Sir.

A: Really?

Me: Yes Sir, this is my very first interview ever for a B-school.

A: So, you have considerable work-ex, why MBA?

Me: Sir, during the course of my work I learnt a lot about the technology aspect of business. I also had opportunities of leading teams but I there was always something missing and that was understanding the business aspect of whatever I was doing. An MBA would provide me with the business acumen and along with my experience help me immensely in career progression.

A: You are from Asansol…..name a famous personality from Asansol?

Me: (I was totally caught off guard but then luckily a name struck me) Sir, Arjun Atwal the golfer. (A was a bit taken aback). I went on…Sir he was born in Asansol and is the first Indian to win the US based PGA tour.

A: So your hobbies include watching movies…..which was the first Indian movie to have sound in it?

Me: (I should have known this but at that moment it just slipped my mind. I tried remembering but gave up) Sir, I can’t recall it now. I know Raja Harishchandra was the first movie but can’t recall the one to have sound first. (The answer is Alam Ara)

A seems done. Now it’s B’s turn.

B: What is Asansol famous for?

Me: Sir, for minerals. It lies in a stretch of mineral rich zone of India. We also have one of the oldest steel plant of India there (IISCO, SAIL).

B: What is the economic situation of Asansol?

Me: Sir, there is a disparity of income between the people. Some are rich but the majority of them are of the middle- middle class or lower middle class. Many people are engaged in small businesses and some work in the factories in and around Asansol. Asansol also sees an influx of people from neighbouring areas who come in search for work. The growing population has tested the town’s infrastructure which according to me is in bad shape.

B: Which one thing would you like to change in your school?

Me: Sir, our school was started by Irish brothers who had a vision of providing cheap education to the children of the working class. Over the years, education has become quite commercialized in my school. While I agree that expenses increase over the years, yet in my view, my school should not have hiked fees so drastically over the last few years. If I were to change something, I would have reduced the drastic and continuous hike of fees in my school and kept in focus the mission of my school to provide quality but relatively cheap education.

B: What is common between Orissa and Bihar now?

Me: (I think I could not draw the right link.I believe he expected the Naxalite Issue) Sir, I think both have two hardworking and good chief ministers who are doing lot of work in both the states.

B: Have you heard of Kalinga?

Me: Yes Sir, it is famous for the battle which was fought there.

B: Do you remember a fellow called Ashoka and what did he do there?

Me: (Sheepishly) Yes, Sir. He conquered Kalinga in the Kalinga War but after killing so many people and saying so many dead, he renounced his crown and became a Buddhist.

B: Asansol lies between Durgapur and Bokaro, two very well planned cities. Do you think some injustice has been done to Asansol?

Me: Yes Sir, both the other cities are quite well planned but we cannot forget the plan that these towns are relatively new. Asansol is a very old town so it’s quite obvious that its infrastructure is not as good as the other towns. I won’t say that injustice has been done; rather I would want the government to improve the infrastructure of the city as it is an important city of Bengal from commercial perspective.

B: Do you have any other calls?

Me: I had applied to just two colleges Sir – XLRI and XIMB. I’ve got a call from XLRI-HR.

B: So if you get final offers from both XLRI and XIMB, will you join XLRI?

Me: Sir, I more interested in pursuing Business Management. It is in line with my work-ex and I want to leverage my work-ex. XLRI is one of the top institutes of the country but I think a business management specialization from XIMB will suit me better.

B has a smile on his face.

All this while, C was quietly observing me.

B asks C to ask any question if he has to.

C nods and says he’s fine. But then asks me just a single question.

C: Which specialization do you plan to take?

Me: Sir, I would like to pursue Systems.

That was it. They all nodded and told me that they were done.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -2

Name: Christopher Jegam

Call details: PGDM - BM

GDPI Location: Chennai

Your profile (acads & work-ex):

Xth – 92.1 ;

XIIth – 91.25;

UG (B.Tech – Anna University, Chennai) – 86%;

11 months work-ex in Cognizant Technologies Solution.

XAT score: 97.05

GD topic: Business and Terrorism

My GD group consisted of around 7-8 people. It was typically of boys and the topic was given with 2 minutes of thinking and 5 minutes of discussion with around a minute to summarize. I started the GD and had a fairly good discussion. Came into the GD two more times with relevant and importantly crisp points. One person in the group summarized the GD to conclude it.

PI:

The panel I was facing had three men. The questioning was mainly from one person while the other was seated observing me probably. The other person was walking around the room and most probably hearing and observing me.

The interview started with me handing over to them my certificates which they looked and seemed to be pleased. The person who ran the complete started questioning or in other words grilling me on my acads. Since I was from IT in my UG, questions were all over the place from Computers. I had been very prepared and ready for coding related questions but to my chock the questions were more towards checking hardware and software knowledge.

Some of the questions were:

1. What is malware?

2. What is a port?

3. What is asynchronous digital circuit?

And so on… This is as much as I could remember... There were about 10 questions on the same line and as far as I can remember I answered around 4-5 questions only but the most important thing in such an interview is to be composed and I think so I was just that.

After that they asked me about the other calls and Why XIMB? So had to talk to them and importantly convince them that I really needed XIMB which I think so I did well.

Small but important advice I would like to give to the candidates is not only for XIMB but for any interview stay calm and composed, interviewers look out for your behaviour especially when you cannot give answers and look for composure and this for XIMB’s case will be very evident.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -3

Name: Ankit Anil Saxena

Call Details:

Applied: PGDM (BM)

Calls: PGDM (BM)

GDPI location: Delhi
Profile: 10^th 83.2% 12^th(PCM) : 72.80

B.Tech (Electronics & Comm., Up Technical University, Lucknow): 71.38%

Work-Ex: Mobile Communication Networks(2G & 3G): 26 Months

Companies: Huawei Telecommunications & Alcatel Lucent Managed Services

XAT score: 99.02% Overall
GD topic: Attitude or Aptitude
PI Experience: Entered the room and the panel consisted of 3 people. There were no introductions and they directly started with questions from B. Tech subjects from (like - What is ULSI, What are probes, What is testing) then moved onto general knowledge questions. It was short and simple.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -4

Name: Arijit Bose

Call Details: PGDM BM

GD PI Location: Calcutta

Profile: BE Telecom, Infosys Technologies Ltd. (36 months)

XAT Score: 93%

GD Topic: 'Isko laga daala to life jhingalala'

The whole panel agreed on the fact that it was a well-designed and well directed marketing campaign which served its purpose. I was the only participant who agreed that it was a misleading campaign which promised a significant improvement in your standard of life through the mere acquisition of a set top box - an impossibility. I drew parallels with the Coke campaign of 'Open Happiness' which ran on the premise that joy is something that can be reduced to a fizzy drink, bottled and sold for ten rupees. I was vehement on the fact that such campaigns were juvenile and were a symptom of our society where we seek fulfillment of the gaping emotional vacuum in our lives through acquisition of meaningless goods. I thought it was my contrarian viewpoint that got me through.

PI:

Q: Tell us about your interests and hobbies.

A: Talked a bit about my interests in post-modern literature, history, classical music and Tibetan Buddhism. Talked about my interests in alternative cinema and my fascination with Japanese language and culture.

Q: Centered on my work and why I chose to quit.

A: Talked in detail about the project I was working on in Infosys. Was direct about the fact that I quit because I had grown bored of my work and wanted to keep learning, an opportunity that seemed limited in my organization.

Q: Was asked about the impact that the IT industry was having on my generation?

A: Gave a balanced view. Though I felt that it was work that limited one's possibilities and had a numbing effect on the various faculties, it did provide the promise of a good life to many in my generation, making a certain lifestyle available to many. I remember saying that the sole reason the IT industry is still surviving is because it runs on a dream... a dream of early affluence and a sense of financial independence that was not available to our parents at our age.

Q: Was quizzed on the six months that I was out of work before the interview.

A: Talked about the book that I was working on - something on the lines of Marcel Proust. Elaborated on his literature - the way it distilled French culture at the 'fin de siècle' and how i saw parallels with turn of the century France and India in present times.

Q: Was asked about my preferences in terms of choice of stream.

A: Mentioned my interest in HR and talked about how I felt the need for better employment relations in the IT industry particularly. Talked about my experiences with my corporate HR and their restrictive policies. Further mentioned the growing anti-unionism in America (that was the time of the right wing republican anti collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin).

Q: Was asked if working as an HR, I was asked to let go of employees, would I do it.

A: I said if I was convinced of the justice of my actions I would do it.

Q: Prof Ganesh asked me if I were not convinced would I quit my position.

A: I answered in the affirmative.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -5

Name: Arnab Neogi

Call Details: PGDM

GDPI location: Chennai

XAT Score: 94.36 (VA 98+, AR&DM 80+, QA 70+)

Profile: Xth 91% (district topper in Computers- 95), XII 87.5% (district topper in Physics- 95), B.Tech 77.7%, 15months work-ex at TCS and as a contractor with Bank of America .Published a collection of poems titled ‘Inspiration’. Free -lance correspondent with the Hindustan Times (HT School Times) for two articles.98.41 percentile in NSTSE-2000. Organizing Secretary of BITAA- registered as an alumni body with the Registrar of Companies. Twice winner of All India Painting competition organized by ‘Lalit Kala’.

GD Topic: Market Marriage Music

This GD was one of my best GD performances in that year. Stepped into the discussion after the second speaker had finished. Talked about a case study of UMM- undergroung music movement which is combination of market and music. In order to combine the three, mentioned that love marriage is a forwards market (invest in love today and reap the benefits at future date) and arrange marriage is just like mutual funds trading. Finally, my last point was that I imagined the above three as 3 M’s of basic human instinct just as there are 4Ps, 8Cs in management jargon. My GD group was well behaved and everybody chipped in with their points. The discussion was quite structured and too far off from being a fish market. The trick is to think out of the box and chip in at the right moment.

PI: The interview was scheduled roughly half and hour later than the GD. I was the third person to go in my batch. I was late in entering the room so one of the panelists actually walked outside the PI room and asked me to follow him. I wasn’t perturbed by this and said confidently that I wasn’t sure how many minutes I was required to wait outside. The PI began this way:

Panelist 1 : Who is the CEO of PepsiCO. (I replied)

Panelist 2: (looking at my B.Tech final sem marksheet), Your ‘Values and Ethics’ grade is good. Do you remember any theory in this subject.

Myself: Sir, it has been over two years I have left college and at present I cant recollect anything.

Panelist 3: (interrupting) Do you know what is Utilitarian Theory?

Myself: told in vivid detail. (he seemed impressed)

Panelist 1: (looking at my c.v) So you are from west Bengal?

Myself: In a way yes Sir, Born in delhi, brought up in lucknow, b.tech in Kolkata.

Panelist 1: (at that time the west Bengal state elections just got over) So do you think Mamta Banerji would make a good C.M?

Myself: Sir, change is not harmful and we have already seen that even after 34 years of communist (it was a trap) rule, things are where they were before.

Panelist 1: So do you think Mamata will make a good C.M?

Myself: Sir, it all depends upon what principles she makes her govt move.

Panelist 1: So what do you understand by communism?

Myself: (I thought this was my chance) (explained in detail, quoted from Das Kapital by Marx, some of Stalinist and Leninist principles, said that I admire Che Guevara).

Panelist 1: (was not convinced) So what is socialism then?

Myself: (realized that the beginning of any communist regime is always a transition phase called socialism, infact an aggressive version of socialist definition is communism, nevertheless explained socialism by citing examples from Jayaprakash Narayan’s movement)

Panelist 1: Your definition is vague but your examples are fine.

Myself: That is all that I am aware of communism and socialism.

(All this while, the third panelist, who appeared to be a psychologist, was watching me intently. I had the imputs from various resources that such a panelist tests your temperament and looks for emotional clues. So I tried to appear as calm as possible and even kept up a smile throughout. Finally the panelist 3 spoke:)

Panelist 3: So, how old are you?

Myself: Sir, I am 25.

Panelist 3: But you look quite younger than your age?

Myself: Sir, my friends have often pulled my leg on this issue by calling me a kid.

Panelist 3: So don’t you get offended?

Myself: Sir, I have got accustomed.

( After a silence of a couple of seconds, all three said that it was nice talking to me and they liked me very much during the GD.

I got up and shook hands with them, said a humble thank you and walked off. )

What I realized was a general air of confidence and humility, coupled with a slight dry sense of humor is handy at any situation even if it is a stress interview.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -6

Name – Lipsa Mahapatra

Call – PGDM (BM)

GDPI Location – Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar

Profile –

Xth – 89%

XIIth – 84.2%

B.Tech (Electronics and telecommunications) – 85.3%

Work-ex – 23months, Infosys

XAT score – 92.2 %ile

GDTopic - "Gone are the days when we used to say time is money. Now, we say money is time".
PI - This one's going to be long. Please proceed at your own risk

There was a panel of 3, same panel as in GD. I was 4th in sequence.
Let's call the professors Left(L), Center(C) and Right(R).

Remark on L,C,R -

L - Smiling and nodding with right answers. You could understand when he was happy with your answer.
C - Tried to stress you or at least confuse you. Didn't smile much but wasn't expressionless too.
R - Expressionless. No nodding, no smiling nothing.

Here goes my PI-
R - So, what work do you do in your company?
Me - Told. I mentioned SSRS reporting.

R - What is SSRS report?
Me - Told.

R - What is your domain of work?
Me - Told.

C - Do you know the different scales of temperature? Celsius, Fahrenheit and all?
Me - Yes sir.

C - Tell me the relation between Celsius and Fahrenheit.
Me - Told. C - If I have a change of 2 degree in Fahrenheit, what will be the change in Celsius? He tried to confuse me a lot here.
Me - I wrote the equation and showed him step by step.
C - You are right.
Me – Smile J

R - How many states are there in India?
Me - 28 (Should have I told 29? I'm thinking now )

R - How many north eastern states are there?
Me - 7, which are called as 7 sisters.

R - Name them.
Me - Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, Sikkim...
C - Hey Sikkim is not among the 7 sisters!
Me - Oh, sorry sir! Thought for few seconds. Sorry sir, don't remember the rest
R - Which is the state China is continuously trying to enter? (He was actually trying to make me recall Arunachal Pradesh)
Me - I think its Sikkim sir
C - There's an IIM in the north eastern side.
Me - Yes sir, IIM Shillong.
C - Which state does Shillong belong to?
Me - Uh..
C - Something like Meghlam?
Me - Meghlam?? Oh, sir it's Meghalaya
L & C start laughing.
C - Yes

L - Do you know economics?
Me - Sir, I had a subject in engg.
L - What all did u study?
Me - Sir, Break even analysis, demand, supply..
L - What is break even analysis?
Me - Told.
L - Why do we need it?
Me - Told.
L - What do we calculate at break-even point?
Me – Told

L - What is demand?

Me - Anything that we want
C - Anything that I want? I want a car of Rs 96 lacs. Is that a demand?
Me - Provided you have Rs 96 lacs to buy it sir.
L - Anything that you need and you have the ability to buy it.
C,L - That's right.
L - What is equilibrium pricing?
Me - Sorry sir, I am not aware of it.
L - What is equilibrium?
Me - Told.
C - How do you apply break even analysis to a power plant considering technology upgradation? (No idea what that meant but had to answer anyway)
Me - Thought for some time and told something.
C - You are almost there.
Me – Smile J
R - Which is more south of Orissa, Hyd or Blore?
Me – Blore

R - What is the new name of Blore?
Me - Bengaluru sir.
C - How is your college?
Me - Told
C - Did you meet anyone from yesterday's batch?
Me - Yes sir, One of my colleagues.
C - What did she say about the interview?
Me - Told.
C - Smiling, so very difficult to predict eh?
Me - Yes sir, indeed.
L - What's your XAT %ile?
Me - Told.
L - What's your CAT %ile?
Me - Told.
L - Any other calls?
Me - Told.

All 3 looked at each other.
L,R,C - Okay. Thank you.
Me - Thank you.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -7

Name: Abhishek Jobanputra

Batch: PGDM (BM)

Call details: PGDM

GDPI Location: Bengaluru

Academic Background:

Graduation: BTech (Mechanical), SVNIT Surat

Work Ex:

Duration: 33 Months

Company: ONGC

Position: Assistant Executive Engineer

XAT Score:

Overall: 94.87%ile

VA: 92.16%ile

QA: 83.92%ile

Reasoning: 86.99%ile

GD Topic: Don’t Remember

PI:

· Brief Intro

· I was then quizzed mainly on my work ex background

· Main questions: What is shale gas (related to my work ex)

· How did you contribute creatively to your work?

· Do you have any questions for us? I asked about CENDERET.

The interview was over within 7 to 8 minutes.

Additional observations:

In our GD group we were 6 people... a rather small group compared to my other Gds. In my GD there were only two active participants making the topic more monotonous, which could have worked badly for others, because I don’t remember anyone joining from my GD group. There were 3 panellists in my interview who asked questions in a rather predictable manner.

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -8

Name: Smriti Pratishruti

Call details: PGDM

GDPI Location: XIMB, Bhubaneswar

Profile:

· 10^th : 93.8%

· 12^th : 80.2 %

· B.Tech (CSE): 9.2 CGPA

· 2 years work experience at Infosys

XAT score: 88 percentile

GD topic: ‘Light at the end of the tunnel’

Personal Interview:

I was interviewed by 3 professors.

P1: Professor of Microeconomics

P2: Professor of Data Warehousing and Data Mining

P3: Dean Academics and Professor of Statistics

It was a 5-7 minutes interview for me. The account of it is as follows.

P3: He glanced through my XIMB form and asked me questions about my job profile, what I did, my responsibilities and the technology I worked in.

Me: I replied

P1: He asked me if I knew Economics.

Me: Yes, at a very grass root level

P1: What have you learnt?

Me: Annuity, Depreciation, Demand....

P1: He asked me what ‘demand’ meant. He asked me what ‘depreciation’ meant. He then showed me his mobile phone and asked me “How would you calculate the demand for this phone?”

Me: I explained - with the help of a customer survey etc...

P3: What do you mean by Normalization?

Me: I replied

P3: What is NF1, NF2, NF3, BCNF

Me: Could reply all except BCNF as I could not recall its definition. That’s all .....

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -9

PERSONAL DETAILS/CALL DETAILS:

Name: Vedabrata Basu

Course: PGDM (BM) 2011-2013

XAT ID - XAT423666/ XAT Score: 98.94 percentile

GD & PI Center: St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai

Work-ex: Nil

Degree: BBA (IT) 2008-2011, Symbiosis International University, Pune

GROUP DISCUSSION & PERSONAL INTERVIEW DETAILS:

My GD & PI for XIM-B was held at 9.00am on Monday 7th March at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai. The topic for the GD was "News Channels create news rather than reporting it". As only 6 of the 9 people had showed up it was a pretty relaxed affair. Almost everyone agreed with the topic and gave examples about what an important role the media was playing and how it was guarding our nation and its institutions. Everyone talked well and I interjected about 3 times, finally summing it up with the Latin phrase "Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes" - "Who shall guard the guards themselves".

The PI was a whole other affair. There were 3 panelists (the same from the GD)
P1 (Saveeta Mohanty), P2(Sridhar K Dash), P3 (Rahul Thakurta)

P1: You have an interesting name. What does it mean?
Me: Ma'am it means one who takes the teachings of the Vedas as the guiding principles of his life.
P1: So do you?
Me: No Ma'am.
P2: So why have you not proven your name right?
Me: Sir actually, when my mother was in labor and my father was flying back home, he sat next to economist Mr. Debabrata Baruah (then member of the Planning commission) on the plane. As my father was an economics graduate, he named me after him.
P1 - smiles | P2: Good Story
P2: Tell me something, your marks in college are pretty good (3.57/4.0), but your marks in your X and XII boards aren't that good. Why is that?
Me: Sir there were some personal reasons. Told them the personal reasons.
P2: OK.
P3: What is your favorite subject?
Me: Sir, history.
P2: So why Business? Why not history?
Me: Sir, in my mind, history is not just the deeds of Kings and Generals, but the decisions and stories of the common man. No history syllabus teaches this. Although I was selected to the Dept of History at the Presidency College, Calcutta - I left because what they were teaching me did not interest me much.
P2: What book did you read recently?
Me: The Rediscovery of India - Lord Megnad Desai
P3: What was so great about this book?
Me: The books starts with the lines ''This books has been written partly to address the commonly held belief the Independence & subsequent growth of India is directly attributable to the Nehru-Gandhis and to them alone". It addressed the independence of India and subsequent events though a non-political/non-partisan economic approach.
P3: Have you heard of Romilla Thappar? Do you like her books?
Me: Yes, I’ve heard of her but, she likes to pontificate and I don't like that.
P2: I want you to relate Tagore & Gandhi through a historical perspective.

Me: I started by saying the Tagore gave Gandhi the title of Mahatma. I recited lines from two of Tagore's poems. (They were in Bengali and I was asked to repeat them). I talked about the just-ness of a non-violent approach and civil disobedience. I also spoke about the need of eliminating human wants in order to be truly happy and that true learning - about life et al - could not be done in a class with a rigid hierarchy vis-a-vis the student and teacher. I spoke about how their ideas complemented one-another and how each dew inspiration from the other.

P2: I'm a student of history and that is a very interesting perspective. Why did you not pursue this more?
P3: If given a chance, what discipline of Management would you like to make a career in?
Me: Sir I think I'd like to do Marketing and/or Finance - especially the strategic bits. I realise that that’s not going to happen anytime before at least five years after I join a job.
P3: You love history, you're studying IT and you want to do finance/marketing? Why?
Me: Sir, from what I know, I like Financial Management. I find it interesting.
P3: Given a choice between history, Marketing & IT, which would you chose and why?
Me: Marketing. As it combined all three.
P2/P3: How?

Me: Marketing means that I'll have to sell an idea, concept or product. That can't be done without knowing the person I'm dealing with. History will help me there. It helps in the 2 parties reaching out to one another and communicating. Ultimately as all Management is decision making; and cause analysis and case study are nothing but management seen through a historical perspective.

P1: Your school (La Martiniere College, Calcutta) is in a lot of trouble with the law.
Me: Yes ma'am. As alumni and more over as a student of both teachers named, I think its unimaginable that things could be so bad. How a student could take his own life is beyond me. How could the lines of communication between the students and teachers be so broken that such extremes steps need be taken? I've been canned, so have my friends, but we know that it was not personal and not vindictive. We tool it with a pinch of salt and even reveled in our hero-status while it lasted. It was all part of growing up. Discipline never hurt is. We learned from it.

P2: What is Simple Interest and Compound Interest?
Me: Told them.
P2: What is nominal rate of interest and effective rate of interest?
Me: Told them.
P2: See, Mr. Basu, I have this feeling, this perception in my mind - and I may be wrong - but I think that you are too casual in your approach to things. This is just my feeling, nothing more. How do you react to this?
Me: Sir, I am very sorry you feel that way. I assure you, its not the case.,
P2: No, no don't feel sorry, its just my gut feeling, nothing more.

Me: Sir, I am sorry. I would not have worn a black heavy suit in a Mumbai summer's day heat if I weren't serious. Also, as you can see, my marks have considerably improved since school, whereas the usual trend is to the opposite. I am laid back at times, I'll admit, but not with the things that I care about, that I'm passionate about - or those that fall within my duties and responsibilities.
P2: So I am partially correct? You see I ask this because we have a rigorous curriculum at XIM-B. We have about 42 subjects out of which 25 are compulsory. If we select you and you don't pass, then it becomes a problem. And passing grade at XIM-B is 4.5/8.0.
P1: That's 60%.
Me: Yes sir/ma'am, I assure you that if selected, I shall do what is necessary and required.
P2: Now we must give you this sum to do.
[it was Y=1/f(x) - where f(x) is the greatest integer function of x - I tried for about 5-6 minutes but couldn't. They gave me a lot of hints but I still couldn't]
Me: Sir, I was never very good at this sort of thing. I'm sorry.
P2: No problem. Please don't apologize. Thank you that will be all.
Me: Thank you Ma'am and Sirs, Have a lovely day.
P1: Thank you, it was nice talking to you.
I left the room and went outside. I found out then that I'd been inside for about 45 minutes. No one outside (5 techies with work-ex - from the 11.30 batch) knew the graph I'd been given. Just as I was telling the last remaining member of our group what happened, P2 came out and asked me to come back inside for 5 minutes.
P2: Show me all your math’s marks till date. Every exam you've given.
Me: I showed him all the X and XII and Sem I-V maths(or math based papers’) marks.
P2: Look, we've got math based papers at XIM-B and that why we have to be so rigorous with you. Do you understand? We have to make sure that the person we select can cope with the pressures.
Me: Sir, I can do almost all math apart from calculus and trigo. In MBA , we'll have stats and OR. My BBA had Statistics and Operations Research, which is the same. My marks there are fine 4.0/4.0.
P2: That's good. OK. You may go. Thank you
Me: Thank you Sirs, Ma'am. Good day

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XIMB GD-PI Experience -10

Name: Raam Kumar

Call: PGDM

GDPI Location: Delhi

My Profile:

Xth : 87.4%

XIIth: 85.8%

Grad: 71%

Work ex: 34 months in an IT company in Financial Sector domain

XAT Score: 95.6 %ile (All 3 sections above 80 %ile)

GD Topic: Do not remember the exact topic, but is generally on an abstract topic given for discussion for 10 mins. The number of GD participants in our GD panel was 8 (generally for Delhi it is 9 members)

A general observation: Looking at the given short time of 10 mins, aspirants try to pour in their ideas quickly thus end up making a fish market. Avoid such instances as it becomes detrimental to both the individual and the group as a whole.

PI:

The GD –PI call for me was on the evening slot (4:00pm). I was the second last to be interviewed among the 9 aspirants in the slot. The Panelists for both GD & PI were the same (make sure you make the same sense in both the rounds)

Panelists: 3 members, all full time professors of XIMB.

The questions asked were mainly related to work experience and interests. Following is a brief excerpt from my interview. Representing the three panelists with A, B, C.

A,B,C: Looking at each other and my form that I had filled up for the institute. Suddenly C says, whoa he is a finance guy, it’s your turn B.

Me: (thinking) well that’s a googly, how much of finance do I know, have just worked in that domain.

B: So you are from an IT company and worked in Finance domain. What type of work was urs?

Me: (aah relief) gave gyan on the work I had done

B: So you know about securities trading as you have worked in Capital Markets division.

Me: (o_O) yes sir (wish I could say something else)

B: Threw some jargon at me and asked the meaning

Me: Not very sure sir, but this what it is I think… (gyan again)

B asked few more financial terms and this went on for around 10 mins (Tip: know your field of work upside down)

C: (taking over from B) So what are your hobbies

Me: Playing online computer games and reading books.

C: which books do you read?

Me: Sir, both Fiction and Non-fiction but depends on the mood at that time which book I prefer.

C: Ok, which book you recently read.

Me: Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

C: Any other book of the same author that you have read.

Me: (Excited) Sir, blink and outlier.

C: So tell me what do you think about the author.

Me: (Time for Gyan) gave details and my observations clearly.

A: Who is your role model in life?

Me: (Where did he come from, was silent the whole time) Sir, in professional career I would say Mr. Narayana Murthy.

A: You are from IT sector and you don’t see Bill Gates as your role Model?

Me: Yes Sir, Mr. Bill Gates has also been a great inspiration for many but Mr. Narayana Murthy’s Indian connect makes me more aligned towards him.

A: You said, you read books. Have you read any book by Bill Gates & Narayana Murthy?

Me: Yes Sir, Business @ speed of thought and A Better India, A Better World.

A: So in Bill Gates book did you find his way of approach somewhat different?

Me: (o_O which difference is he referring) spoke some arbit stuff about the book.

A: Don’t you think Bill Gates is Narcist?

Me: (o_O last man I know such was Hitler, Gates isn’t the same :p) (long pause)Sir, I don’t think so.

A: So he is more of a perfect role Model to you?

Me: (Why is he adamant at making him a role Model???) Yes Sir, in a way we can say so.

B: looking at others and asked what other calls do you have?

Me: XLRI BM

B: Any other calls from CAT?

Me: Mentioned that the CAT %ile was 95 and wasn’t expecting any calls.

A,B,C : Thank you, you can leave for the day.

Overall the interview went on for 15-20 mins, it was a decent one except for the Bill Gates question. Other aspirants were asked on the GD topic, and their views on the topic. But I wasn’t quizzed on it in the interview.

Just a word of advice for PI’s: be yourself and be confident you will make it through.

Final Verdict: Convert

Pages

Aspirants Corner(BM)

PERSONAL DETAILS/CALL DETAILS:

GROUP DISCUSSION & PERSONAL INTERVIEW DETAILS: