Saturday, March 20, 2010

My IIM C GD PI 2006

Hi ,
well I could not get any help from this forum as no one from calcuttaa bothered to post his/her experience. So here is mine:
Profile: 99.52 (BLACKIE) IIT KGP dual degree electrical fresher
X 86.2 XII 84.66 (MP state Board)
Well I did not appear for first three interviews viz L,K,I. So this was my first interview.it was on 15th march at IIMC itself - panel 7.
There were 10 people in our panel.There were 4 iitians including me.
our GD topic was a real shit "Indian IIT industry can't compete only on the cost advantage."
We were given 3 minutes to think.As soon as prof said u can start now ,the guy siiting next to me jumped without any niceties(Must have attended lot of TIME session). Now he clubbed hardware with IT and got away ewith it and kept on giving useless facts without broaching the topic.Well I tried to interject at some points but was not heard,but I took a different approach from group which was all escatic about Large english speaking population and large pool of engineers.I pointedto them that most of them are not employable and IT industry often complains about their lack of skills.I also named phillipines and east asia as reasons from where India could face stiff competition in fututre.This opened a flodd gate and everybody tried to come up with name of some countries.One guy came up with Liberia and two or three people blindly repeated that thing.I don't know whether prof noticed this or not. I had a minor scuffle with this initiater who always kept on harping let me finish first friens but could not get the support of group.
(Later in interview they asked everybody about GD being aggressive but not to me and the devil I mentioned.)
Well the good part was that they asked us to give a summary of 1 minute after GD and i was the second one to be called(random)>nad here I made most of it.I summarised putting the topic ,all the views those cropped up and finally my own views but ran out of time as one of the profs was sitting with wrist watch.
Overall leaving that scuffle my performance was above average of group as I toed a different line and only one other person summarised the toic properly besides me ,all other were repeating their own points throughout in summary.
PI:
Well profs were pretty exhausted from the morning session so they made it clear inthe beginning that interview wil last only 15 minutes and the were not interested in seeing extracurricullar certificates besides our marksheets.
Mine was 6th.To all earlier people they did not ask any acads or current affairs.Just hobbies,about yuorself and why MBA.

SO here comes the big moment.
I enter.Now they had a semicircular group pf chairs for GD. after that they were sitting across a table with a chair in front of the.Now instead of approching after the semicircle I tried to make my way throught the semicircle( I realised after being halfway through it but that is my old hbit .In school also I used to climb on stage instead of using stairs as I alwaysl ocated them pretty late).
Now there were three profs L,M,R.
L: time keeper and took my file checked all the certis.
M: most "khadoos" .bearded with strange look.
R: I don't remmeber his face he did not speak anything at all.
M: Anshul ,tell us about ur self
I: blah blah ,my hometown Indore city of Devi Ahlya(They did ntot pick up the bait), from middle class Marwari community(once again they failed me)
blah blah. In my free time I sleep a lot
L&M: what?
I: sleep a lot and gossip with my friends.I was also involved with a youth organisation at IIT KGP.told the name.
M: what is that?
I: told them about various personalities we invited for guest lecture or how we got dustbins installed in our campus and my failed attempt to teach local kid basics of computer.( but I could not tell all things in the proper way).
M:(al of a sudden): Is astrology a science
I: yes
M: justify
I : well it depende on your perception.How do you define science
M: how do you?
I: blah blah
M: so do you have some sort of mathematicla formulation in astrology?
I: why you isit on employing rigid definitons everywhere.Phyis has maths as its language.Astrology has its own lanugage.It might be differnet from our vconventions but it follows a logical pattern.
M: Okay So them make all boxes and write position of stars
I: yes, grahs and chakras
M: yes.So tel me do you get same result in astrology for sam e input?
I: for that you need to pinpoit exact location which is not possible.
M: Okay so assume in bombay thousands of children are obrn at an instant
I: But still you are not exact
M: Now city is the smallest unit.It is like that.
I: (rather forcefully) No it is not like that.When my horscope was made Indore was divided into 10 regions and blah blah
M: okay assume thoeretically you have all data ,the does a person's life follow same patern as they claim
I: well even with same setup in an experiment you get different results again and agin.Moreove they never claim that these are the perfect things.They only predict broad contours of life.
M: So oit is not an exact science.
I: Well you go to a psychiatrist.he also makes predictions.Various kind of counsellers.If tey can be called science then why not astrology.
( M is visibly frust with me he aske L to take on me)
L: now you have written some unusual thing reserach in humanities after 10 yrs.Which field?
I: well I have skill set of engineer.So I don't have chances of entering in humanires at any Indian university like JNU>Only IIM can give me admission to PHd but i want to have feel of real world before go on mking theories .Wnat ot be in thick of things and blah blah
L: which field you would liek to research
I: I havenot decided the subjectyet.It could be economice,olitical sc, or history or a combination of these or interdisiciplinary.e.g. I come fro mMarwari community( I am proud of it.) so how has marwari succeeded intheir business or comparison betwenn twwo moneyl enders Jews and marwaris or FDI in defense cestor,after all most of things we buy fro mforeign companies blah blah
(L seems visibly impressed while M has a scornful look,I could not get time to notice reactions of R)
L: well since you have mentioned Marwari commnity then you write these are the papers by ( some tim tomton) on Marwari commnuity
( I brought out my pen from pocket and looked for a ppaer but in vain ,pretended to listen to him carefully.)
L: so you are form Kharagpur
I: yes sir, dual degree blah blah
L" you must have got a job
I : yeas sir, L&T
L: so why don't you join it?
I: ( i coul ont her him) sir larsen and tubro ,mumbai
L: yes I know that .but you said you want to have feel of real world .Now L&T is a godd company with very gud training programme and equal opportunities for all so why don't you go over thr?
I: ( well I myslef don't subscribe to idea of freshers doing MBA, so I had no readymade answer and lacked conviction while answering it)
Well now I would enter at middle or lowere manageemnt level.After management skill I wil enter at higher level so more ( i was about to say power) responsibilites, better perspective, blah blah. Moreover middlelevel experience won't fit in my schem of things of reserch later( This was my biggest mistake.)
L: okay .( asks M & R to ask anything and gives them my form.
M : refuses outrightly
R: refuses politely
I am about to leave.
M: so does your horoacope predict that you wil get into IIM?
I: well the chap who amde my horoscope probably did not know that something like IIM exist on earth but he did predict that I will make big in life.( I was elated to give such a witty reply)
All of them smile.M for the first time., and noe I come out.

When I had 'ego' prblem : My IIM A GD PI 2006

Well so it happened IIM A interview.
Well I will have to admit I ws impressed by all the three professers in panel.They seemed the perfect people to learn from in India as I am already at IIT and don't have much high opinion of most of the profs here.Also in C iterview profs appeared to me just that profs.But here the way they talked, responded and took care to see only right people get into THEIR institute really impressed me.

well GD topics is well known by now that sari shop thing.Our GD was very civilised partly becuase 5 of us from the IIT and knew each other but there was no pact vact thing.I contributed the majoe point of change in commission structure while the group was lost in fixing discipline issues.Moreover group tried to give some peole responsibility to boos over their colleagues with same pay which I vehemently opposed.Another proposal to put up boards annoncing price ranges was shot down by me becoz it clearly offends the senitivities of low range customers. taking customer feedback and checking thier yielding ratio was also put forward by me and won group's approval.On the whole I was satisfied with this GD compared to calcutta one, but one regret unconciously I shot down every proposal of one of the member who was nnot that assertive but accepted all of them when put forward y another member.I really feel sorry for this.Because it means I bossed over one who was weak and surrendered to assertive people.

well none of us could write summary completely because they snatched the papers.

PI::

two earlier persons had stress interview so I was pretty preapred for that but mine was very cordial.When I entered they asked me to shut the door when I proceeded to do so,one of them said don't shut it completely and laughter ,I joined meekly.
I take the seat
P1: anshul so give us your documents to us so that you stop worrying about them during interview.( I checked which one was front side and handed it to him.he playfully distributed all the components to other members.One got hold of my form,other one transcript and third one certificates.)
P1: so did you talk to other candidates about what we were asking?
Me: yes to tthe first one in this panel.
P1: what did he say?
Me:(I was about to say stress but desisted ) blah blah some derivation of comp science
P2: you did not bother about it as u r not from comp science
Me(gleefully):yes
P2: you did not ask to anybody else
Me: sir I amthe 3rd one so 2nd person has just left.
P2: no no other panels.
Me: (rather sheepishly) Sir I thought I should bother about my panel only.
P1: gud.


P3( old guy he was froom lectrical engg I guess):
So why do you want to do MBA after M tech and not working in the industry?
Me: blah blah high level entry better perspective
P3: you don't sound convince are u convinced urself
Me: ( well I am not actually) yes I am this is what I think it may not sound convincing but it si truth.( i was about to say I don't want to give bokish answer but then once again desisted)
P2: (khadoos) so u r an instrumentation engineer.
Me: no sir elctrical and instrumentation ( i was not confident of instru fundas but was confident about elctrical,well my worst fears came true)
P2: so let us design an ECG sensor to measure a pulse of x duration y magnitude at z distance from chest.
we had long discussion along magnetic sensors.I could not satisfy him with my concept but gave him enough indication that i know the prerequisites and understand all possible scenorias.
so he decidedto give me a second chance
P2: let us design anothe sensor you ewant to know whether interview of your friend has ended here or not from outside without any accoustic device.
Me : RFID (tried to give him a bait)
P2 : ( refused t otake) no the moment he finishes.
Me: okay put some transducer on his chair as soo n as he gets up yuo get a wireless signal.( my mistake I could use pressure sensor but let's see)
P2 : what frequency
Me: any it should not interfere with things operating in the room
P2: you decide that
Me: ojkay radio waves
P2 : what frequency
Me : that needs to be work out
P2: ork out
Me; okay they have wavelength of 5-12 metres so ytou know c and can get the frequency
P2: thats a wide range ,tell me exact
Me: ( speechless) i don't know
P2: have you heard about WAN blutooth
Me: I have but don't know exactly hoeww they work.( gadhe once I ccame out of room i remebered frequency hopping thing to avoid interfernece and increase bandwidth but damage was done.)
P2; you are from electrical na so it also involves communication you should know this things..
Me: ( wahi purana kissa) No sir In KGP it is only electrical .here both electrical and electronics are separate .At other places they are same.
P2: okay okay
P3: forwards a sheet of parer to me
Me: i have one alreeady sir
P3: no I have something for you
Now I look at the paer ,This guy is devil within 5 minuteds of knowing iam from elctrical he has made a complex LCR circuit and asks me to write KVL and KCL for this.At first I don't get him but then peacefully writesthem
P3: now how do you solve that
Me: using differential equations
P3: solve it
Me: ( slightly puzzled as ihad completely forgotton particular and complementary integral then strikes to me laplace bhai) Well it is already differential equation and we can have an easy approach by laplace transform if we know initial conditions.
P3: do it
Me: ( iski pyas kab bujhegi) : starts taking transgform one is integral
P3: now you are using a formula derive it
Me: (goes to do that)
P1: what is laplce transform
Me: it is a kind of mapping
P2: what kind of
Me: well it is a mapping from t domain to s domain
P3: how do u evaluate it
I wrote the formula but follishly put a condition of continuous function which was demolishe d by P3 and I had to eat humble pie.
P3: now derive integration vala formula
I proceeded and had idea that I ahve to use two variables but somehow could not make at the moment while coming to KGP back i figured complete derivation but it was too late.Actually i did not try to think while P# was giving me sufficent hints.Advice to all engineers they do give you ssufficient hints you should be able to pick them up
Me: sitr i don't remeber derivation at the moment
All ofthem in chorus: but you are elctrical engg you should know
Me: well it is a mathematical too land we use this tool and I know how to use tool.
P2: but you don't know how to make it
Me: not at present
P1: so you have written lot of quizzing thing in your form do you stil ldo all this tihngs
Me: I try to do as time permits and opportunities exist
P1: so you should know everything about everytihng being a quizzer
Me: ( kya main robot hoon) Well I try to know but afterall I am a human
P2; Do you follow cricket
Me: ( truthfully, I have not seen a single match after India's defeat by Zimbabawe in 1999 world cup)) I don't
P1;( thinks i am lying) : tell me difference between doosra and googly
Me:( what the hell is this why don't world believe in truth speaking people): well i don't know exactly but murlidharan bowls doosra and all others google I guess.
P2: what murlidharan is doosra???(laughs)
Me: ( you rasckal you just want to laught at people) but pe pitches in clarifies what i said.
P1: tell me anytihng else you follow
Me: Sir sports or any thing( give me a chance to prove myself )
P1: anything
ME: well Indian culture, history, economics ,political science( no it wil open a pandora's box) ,politics sir.
P1: tell me difference between Indian and USA govrnments
ME: explained parliamentary and presidential form.How you can win lection in USA even without hving majority votes I India it is not like that.P3 pitches in and gives me sufficint hints that in india laso it is possible.I take his hints and end up saying firat past post system etc.Theni dwell upon how US president can appoint anybody minsiter while we get old scums to head important ministry.
P2;Who is S&T minister
ME: kapil sibbal
P2: what is his profession
Me: he is a criminal criminal lawyer
everybody laughs i am happy that they share my viewpoint
P2 : then according to you he should not be S&T minister
ME: (protesting) no sir I just said person should possess basic skill set and sibbal has that.moreover i believe that govt is truly run by bureaucrates not minister .Explained why ithink so .told about "yes Minister" .but they did not picjk up bait.( they r really intelligent i will hve to confess).
P1" sp bureaucrates are responsible to whom
ME: to their political masters IN THEORY and explained their security of tenure and whole concept of accounatability or lack of it.
P1: so you don't like this tihng.
ME: no I am perfectly comfortable with bureaucrates running govt.
P!:(sarcasticxally) so I n USA corporate controls them
Me: I don't know about USA sir.( well obvioulsy they don't moreover thr it is specialist while we have a generalist system .I am real fool to not tell all these things there.)
P1: so you are from MP tell me sometihng about it
I wondere what to tell what not then explained lack of development and its possible reasons.they were visibly impressed.I told about laid back nature of our people.He asked the reason.I put forward my own theory of original populace being tribal and marwaris, gujaratis and marathi people being outsider and not emotinoal attachment, resources concentrted in one reginon ,no powerful political leadre at centre after 1947.
P1: before independence
Me : well even before independence no one .Talked about british policyy towards central provinces
P1: after independ
ME: well PT dwarkaprasad mishra father of Brajes mishra( they are both real chankyas but it seems these people have not heard about them)
At this point P2 goes to P1 and whispers sometihng to P1 about my resume. ican guess wht it is as I had written me bien hindi literature buff but no question came as sadly today;s elite doesnot read Hindi.Then i ahd written my weakness as sleeping too much and speaking fast or in accomlishments i being a RSS swayamsevak or involvement with youth organisation at campus or the incident which affected you beingrelated to hindu-muslim question. ireall y exopected a discussion along these lines but it seems they had sensed that here they won't be able to get over me.
P1so you have NNC B cretificate not C why?
ME: explained
P2: about placement at KGP and lehman package ( first guy had job with lehman)
I expalined
P1: so you seem to be more conversed with politics why did you choose engineering do u tihnk it was a mistake.
ME: ( well it was) : no sir I nejoy engineering It is just that being a responsible citizen i try to keep my eyes open to surroundings..
it is almost end
P1: you don't have all the certificates you have mentioned
ME: no sir they r thre starts counting by name
P1: well did german embassay had quiz in hindi
ME : they had in both hindi and english I being in Hindi medium went for hindi one.
P3: (reads my continuously dropping CG and asks reason .I tell him project etc thing but he doesn't agree then I say extracurricullar activities.HE says at IIM A we have so many of the then how will you mangae.I said I will learnto manage tihngs.He siad but u have ont in five yrs. I said i.e. why I am joining mangement course.They all laughed and asked me to take a toffee).


Sothis was it. I would like to have comments ( imprtial) as to whether I stand a chance.One thing MY CG is 8.1 and last time lowest CG of KGP guy admitted was 8.5.But i did not take any coaching for CAT and I mentioned this tihng in form.

My IIM Lucknow GD PI experience 2007

Posting after results but nevertheless might be useful for next yr's batch.
Profile :
X- MP board 86.2 ( with 100 in maths & 99 in science)
XII - MP Board 84.66
B TEch in electrical & M tech in Instrumentation & minor in ECE from IIT KGP - 7.83/10 ( 2006)
Working with L&T since June 2006 as Mangment Trainee. Executive assistant to GM

15 April - Hotel Monarch - Panel 3 - Morning session

Reached Just in time after Auto whcih I took did not know where the Hotel Monarch was.( I was staying with a friend in Indiranagar).

There were people for four panels.Seemed like Mela.

GD topic: In business situation Rearview mirror is clearer than frontview.
mirror
5 minutes to write your thoughts before GD. Did a good job as this was a repeat topic ( thanks pagalguy). Mentioned some real incident from my worklife.

10 minutes for discussion. One very loud fellow jumped the gun & he kept on interferring with everyone like but we should not forget. After a time it was repetion & people starte talking aobut mangment books & theories.
Came twice or thrice tried to support guys who could speak less. Becoz of this bully some other people also got agitated & whole GD was destroyed but here my work expereince came to my rescue & i made only orginal points & otherwise kept mum.Tried to stick to what I had written in sheet already.

Interview : 9th guy to be interviewed so long wait. APnel 1 was very fast & they had finsihed when 7th candidate was being interviewed in ours. while panle 2 was slowest .Ours was okay.

When entered was asked to latch the door .
two people : P1 I guess Mr Panigrahi who is MTEch in agri from IIT KGP.
other fellow I did not get time to see his face as he was engrossed with my certis.
P1: U r from indore why it is famous?
I told aobut Indore being Namkin capital & potential as iinvestment hub .Why not developed & then
P1;who are NRI & PIOs?
A sequel to first question as when I told him aobut destination of Indore's namkeen exports.
P1: who is Vindod Gupta? About VGSOM? Why is KGP famous?
I said railway staiton , IIT , Air bases nearby , Tata bearing factory but he kept on asking anytihng else .Seems was trying to stress me out.
P1: difference between B Tech & BE?
once agian tried to stress me.
Then they started looking for some mangment course which I had taken.Zeroed on Human behaviour In organsiation.How it is different form organisation behaviour?
First I said they are same ,then said no & tried to justify.
P1: ( sequel to earlier question) what is tactic? what is strategy? are they same ? & endless stream of quaetions but I stood my ground after giving one opinion.
P1: u r with Medical SBU.why it is called SBU? how it si different from OD?
Gave him good funda aobut L&T organisation structure but gave wrong answer as to why we switched to SBU model.

P2: first time looks out of my certificates .So waht is nature of your work?
I promptly put forward my work exp certificate detailing my responsibilites.
( it was helpful though they did not ask for one)
Then said you are anyway doing what we wil lteach you or what you will do after MBA?
I gave usual gyan & pitched in with example of one M&A study I had done at workpalce.


I nhindsight Ithink Lgive mroe importance to your profile & percentile astheir form si also very short which does not tell anything aobut you.

PS: I made it to L finally.

My IIM Indore GD PI experience 2007

Posting after results but nevertheless might be useful for next yr's batch.
Profile :
X- MP board 86.2 ( with 100 in maths & 99 in science)
XII - MP Board 84.66
B TEch in electrical & M tech in Instrumentation & minor in ECE from IIT KGP - 7.83/10 ( 2006)
Working with L&T since June 2006 as Mangment Trainee. Executive assistant to GM

Percentile - 99.59 with VA - 91+ , Quant - 99+ , DI - 98+
14th feb , 9:00 AM PESIT , Bangalore

This place is far form main city .Start early.
We were made to wait in institute's mangment faculty's library & then called for GD. 8 guys in a group.
GD : To select a candidate for a social sector organization

My performance : Not active participant , supported Lavanya’s claim as physical discrimination would be wrong. Supported fellow without degree as he would stick to us. (provisional job) & once came out strongly against all people disqualifying Obese candidate by telling that is not it ironical that we are discriminating among candidates on physical ground while running a soacial sector organisation.


PI :
We were called in random order. I guess it was the one who spoke most in GD was caleed last. I was third last.

I filled up the form only after reaching the venue in the mornig so feviquick had elft some mark on form her & there.
Prof Salwan ( P1) ( he has one og the best profile at IIM I ) & Prof Panigrahi ( P2) were the panelists

Interview :
P1: so u r from Mhow? ( I had written a real life incident mentioning this)
Me: no, from Indore .Mhow my nanaji lives.
P1: interested in politics?
Me: no I have seen enough of it.
P1: why Indore is called Indore?
Me: funda of indoor , indrapur but missed the temple of indrapur.
P1 : interested in history? ( i had written history & politics as my interest)
Me: no of state & Uts & NCR. Integration of pricely states. Why Bhopal became capital? Different states that came to form MP. Karbala issue. India’s defence relation with neigbours ? Maldives – greenhouse effect. Bhopal lake – man made indore famous for? Western indore less developed ?

P2 ;: faraday’s law of EMI, coulomb’s law. Its applications. Lightening? IPV6? Sparse matrix? Control theory ? door locking application.

P1 : Any questions for us ?
IIM I & IIM A similar methods of study?
What sets you apart ? USP ?


PS: I made it to B,L & I.

My IIM B GD PI experience 2007

was going through past mails and blog posts to find out similar stuff as a dear friend needs them...
a window to my past..

Posting after results but nevertheless might be useful for next yr's batch.
Profile :
X- MP board 86.2 ( with 100 in maths & 99 in science)
XII - MP Board 84.66
B TEch in electrical & M tech in Instrumentation & minor in ECE from IIT KGP - 7.83/10 ( 2006)
Working with L&T since June 2006 as Mangment Trainee. Executive assistant to GM
Percentile - 99.59
Calls - BLI
COnverted - BLI
1st March - IIM B - (;00 AM
Prof padmini Srinivasan & Dr Ojha


GD: Dr gupta approved a drug oging agianst unanimous rejection by other members under pressure of patients' relatives, drug failed now what to do with Dr gupta?
Good enough. Started. Gave various points such as this is accredition agency so they can't really take steps to mitigate the side effects. What Dr Gupta did was perfectly within rules so need to take a relook at rules giving more power to scientific community. Committee's recommendation are accepted by pateint community so Dr Gupta made a mistake .In medical profession even one mistake is enough to wash all gud past track records.
His job requires him to work indpenednt of pressure group tactics .Made a point reagrding provisional approval & limited releases.

Super civilised GD .Everyone was giving everyone else time. Being 7 people helped our cause a lot.


Third one to be interviewed. The guy before me was made to sing karnataka Music ( his hobby ) so I rehearsed three- four hindi poe ms before going inside. ( My hobby is hindi poetry).
P1 - Dr Ojha , P2 - Prof Padmini Srinivasan

PI : favourite subject?
Separater?
PE : project?
Real life application? ( my project was on power electronics but my specialisation is in instrumentation)
Trains have motors? ( topic was magnetic trains ,I said now u r going to mechanical domain .Then he siad u should know this thing .To this ireplied one shoudl be master in one's own domain similar to pint I made in GD aobut Dr Gupta)
Job what u do?
Valuation can be right? ( I did an M&A study at job. P1 said u can never do correct valuation .I said thr r always some hiddne synergy which only insiders know , not normal public .Gave example of one suct M&A at our workplace. Then he said private scompanies do valuation no one craeates a nosie , but when govt. does it people cry hoarse. I said You & I can't question valuations by Tata or Vodafone as we are not their shareholders but can question GOI as we vote for it. Led to a good discussion)


Economics ? industrial economics?what they taught you?

P2:

History ? why required? Book of neerad choudhary? ( my hobby)
Context?
Academic flexible? ( I had mentioned in SOP)
Prediction on cricket team?
Marwari? Why not successful in marwar itself?( I had mentioned in other reason )
Why not reduce duty ? consumer is the king? ( I mentioned about duty being reduced on medical products in budget harming our business .I am with medical industry)