We bring you this week’s episode of Interview experiences, tips and advice from the current students of IIM Calcutta. We hope this is as helpful as we hoped it would be.

Ankit Rattan Arora, who currently holds the top rank in his batch of PGDM 2008-10 had this to say:

“First of all I would like to convey my congratulations to your readers for clearing the first hurdle. I hope this section will help you get an idea of what to expect during a typical IIM-C interview.”
Ankit warns prospective candidates to not come with any preset notion of the interview being ‘Chill’, as many people like to put it. “A lot of people at a lot of coaching classes lead us to believe that IIM Cal interviews are laid back. Well, they need not always be and mine wasn’t.”
He gave out a few tips on how to tackle Group Discussions. “First, they don’t test the extent of your knowledge in GDs as they have ample time to do that during the interview. It is obvious that they check for something else. I’m sure it won’t come as a shock if I tell you that what they’re actually testing is group dynamics.” And so he listed out a few pointers.
1. Try and give structure and direction to the discussion but avoid using textbook techniques like SPELT or SWAT and the other acronyms you may have learnt. The panel can see through that stuff.
2. Don’t cut off anyone until and unless he’s going on and on about some useless point. Don’t appear cutthroat, ruthless or in IIM-C lingo “RG”.
3. Don’t engage in desperate participation. Try and think of something useful to say before jumping in. If not, just summarize or give direction.
4. If someone cuts you off, avoid cursing, screaming, yelling or showing frustration. Instead, just smile. The interviewers will like you for it.
5. Finally and most importantly, try to be different. You don’t want to be a clone of everyone else.
Ankit detailed out his interview for us.
“I had 3 interviewers in my panel, two professors and an alumnus. I was asked questions on Calcutta and what I thought about the city. I was also asked me about my college, and how I liked my experience there. I would say a bad answer would be “Sir it’s good”, an even worse answer “Sir, It’s very good”, and possibly the worst answer would be “Sir, you won’t believe how amazing it is!”
I would say the correct answer to this would approximately sound like “Sir, we have some of the best faculty in the electrical engineering department. 5 professors have PhDs from IITs. We have some of the brightest students in our batch. 15 of my batchmates have published international papers”
What I’m trying to say is have a conversation with the interviewers. Don’t give them just yes or no answers. Substantiate what you’re saying with data.”

“The panel quizzed me for a while on ethics; if I thought what my organization did was ethical.
They spent a lot of time quizzing me about ICT in rural areas (information and communication technology). We also discussed marketing in rural areas and some more questions were on credit risk, credit rating. These were asked by the head of the Finance and Control department of IIM-C.
And finally the interview closed with one question on probability, a rather simple one.”

Sreedhar Gali, a PGDM student from the 2008-10 batch had this to say:

“My interview mostly revolved around the logic behind choosing to pursue PGDM after a rich and long experience (in the IES), that too after attaining a good position in the organisation where I worked previously. I was probed on my future goals and whether PGDM would be of any help in achieving them.” Further Sreedhar had a few words of advice to prospective students. “Be clear about what you expect from PGDM. Your clarity of thought for the next 5 year horizon is essential.”

Deepika Raj, a PGDM student from the 2008-10 batch had this to say:

“My interview was taken by a panel of three. It started on a rather bad note in fact, as the professor started by asking me what I was good at among Arts, Politics, History and Geography. I made the wrong choices and could not answer the questions. But, the professor was very encouraging and smiled, so I did not get nervous at all and I kept a calm and happy exterior.”

“Later, I was asked questions related to my own discipline, Information Technology- some algorithms and problems, which I thankfully answered correctly. I was subsequently asked why I wanted to do an MBA and also what my thoughts were on the steps involved in starting of a company of my own. I did not give an amazing answer but a practical answer according to my understanding.” Deepika’s experience lies testimony to the fact that one does not need an amazing interview to get through to an IIM. Practical answers combined with a good understanding of your core domains can be a big asset in clearing the interview barrier.

Compiled by
Chandrima Das