IIM Calcutta PGP Interview Experience

IIM Calcutta PGP Interview Experience

Venue: Monarch Luxur Hotel, 67, Infantry Road, Tasker Town, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
Date and Time : 18 Mar 2019, 08:00 AM

CAT18 Score : 99.88 (Sectionals 97.5+)
Class 10 = 91.xx
Class 12 = 86.xx
Engineering : 82.xx
Work Experience : 31 completed months as Software Engineer

Document Verification started was in progress when I reached at 07:50 AM.

WAT Topic : Mobile phones are helpful for society? Also, do they have negative impacts? Share your views in 250-300 words.
WAT timings :  8:55 AM - 09:20 AM.

WAT prep : 3/5
WAT performance : 2/5 (It was a very generic topic)

I was third in the panel. My panel had 10 candidates but 3 were absent, hence only 7 people in my panel.

There were 3 panelists, all three were about 35-38 years old male profs.
I was asked for the documents which I was carrying immediately after entering the room.


Q1: Introduce yourself.
And : Generic answer, was very hungry, skipped a line or two.

Q2: What do you work on? Tell us about your work?
Ans: Told about what I do and its impact.

Q3: Tell me more about EMC deal.
Ans: Told.

Q4. Discuss market share of Dell as compared to other competitors?
And : Told them with stats.

Q5: Do you think EMC deal was worth it?
Ans : Fumbled a bit in the beginning. Expressed my personal opinion.

Q6: What's happening in Brexit?
Ans : Told with a 4-5 cross questions, could not answer 1. Shared good stats though.

Q7. What about Scotland then?
Ans : Told , but said was not very confident.

Q8: Why product management??
Ans: Copy pasted IIMB SOP stuff.

Q9. Why do you think an MBA from IIMC would help you become a product manager?
Ans : Told. Some minor cross questions which I handled well.

Q10. Sir, ye to Maths Olympiad wala hai!! Mayur,here, solve this mathematics puzzle... ??
Ans : I'm 200% sure that my solution was wrong. But he said well done. Really nice and smiled. I was confused by now.

Q11. You have mentioned you play cricket, what did you learn from the cricket and how you use it in personal life?
Ans : Narrated a true incident. They were really happy with it.

Q12. Is product management your only choice in MBA?
Ans : First choice. I am open for anything else too.

Q13: How sure are you about IIMC?
Ans : 100%.

Q14: Your score and calls?
Ans: Told.

Q15: Why IIMC over IIMA/B? And please don't sell IIMC to us. We are tired of listening to same stories, right sir(pointing to another guy)??
Ans: Told them my conversations with alumni, what I read from various sources, electives offered. They said, very good.

Q16: Your parameters to choose a college out of ABC?
Ans : Tried to push it by saying I don't have admits yet. And I have not researched a lot about A/B. They said 'batana padega'.
Named 2-3 parameters, told them an answer similar to Q15.

Panelists : Thanks Mayur. That's it. You can leave now and take your documents along.
Mayur : Thanks all.

Duration : 18-21 minutes.

Interview Prep  :4/5
Interview performance : 3.5/5 (Thoda GK aur pad lena chahiye.)

Update on 12 April 2019:
Verdict  : Straight convert, won't be joining.

MDI PGPM 2019 interview experience

MDI PGPM 2019 interview experience

Venue: Hotel Pai Viceroy, Jayanagar, 1504, 16th Cross, 9th Main Road, Jayanagar East, Jayanagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka
Date and Time : 12 Mar 2019, 1:00 PM

CAT18 Score : 99.88
Class 10 = 91.xx
Class 12 = 86.xx
Engineering : 82.xx
Work Experience : 29 completed months as Software Engineer in December

Document Verification started at 1 PM.

WAT Topic : Consolidation of banks is not good for financial inclusion.
WAT was for 15 minutes with no word limit. A big A4 sized sheet was provided and we could write on both sides. I did not know the meaning of the topic, and hence thought it is about NPAs. That would tell you where it went.

WAT timings :  1:52 PM to 2:07 PM.
WAT prep : 3/5
WAT performance : 0/5 (I did not know the meaning of the topic)

GD started at 2:07 PM. I started it,but there was no relevant point about it and everyone's interview was based on their inputs in GD..

GD timings :  2:07 PM to 2:22 PM.
GD prep : 2/5
GD performance : 2.5/5 (No points, good start)
I was the seventh to be interviewed in the panel. Total 10 candidates were to be interviewed by my panel.
All people before me had very chilled 8-10 mins interviews. After every interview they immediately were calling the next candidate.

There were 2 panelists, one male professor who was about 40 years old and another male professor of about 45 years of age.

Prof 2 started reading my name,designation, marks, salary etc from the form very loudly. This went on for 1 minute. He asked if all the details are correct. I nodded.

Q1: Tell me the supply chain revolution of Dell?
Ans : Spoke a few lines, they seemed slightly convinced.

Q2: What were you saying about mission and vission of Public Sector banks in India??
Ans: Spoke about upliftment and not just profits.

Q3: Do you think it was a good GD??
Ans: Lack of content, but good discussion about NPAs.

Q4. Is this your CTC or fixed or takehome salary? Do you know tax calculations?
And : Told.

Q5: Your score and calls?
Ans : Told.

Q6: Why did not Indore call you ?
Ans : I have filed an RTI.

Q7. Why did you file an RTI? Institutes don't like RTIs.
Ans : Told about this as a powerful tool to get info.

Q8 : Any of ABC calls?
Ans : All 3.

Panelists : OK BYE.  Send in the next guy and don't close the door.

Duration : 6-7 minutes maybe?

Interview Prep : 4/5
Interview performance : 1/5

Update :
Verdict  : Straight convert, won't be joining.

IIM Shillong interview experience

IIM Shillong interview experience

Venue: Monarch Luxur Hotel, 67, Infantry Road, Tasker Town, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
Date and Time : 08 Mar 2019, 08:45 AM

CAT18 Score : 99.88
Class 10 = 91.xx
Class 12 = 86.xx
Engineering : 82.xx
Work Experience : 30 completed months as Software Engineer

Just attendance, No Document Verification, direct Case discussion.

Case : Middle class family needs to buy car and there are 3 options.
Discussion was for 10 minutes
Case Dis. timings :  2:10 : 2:30 pm.
Case Dis. prep : 0/5
Case Dis. performance : 1.5/5
One person made complete raita of the situation, rest folks were fine. Truly horrible discussion with no final solution.



I was the fourth to be interviewed in the panel. Total 9 candidates were to be interviewed by my panel.
All people before me had very chilled 20 mins interviews. After every interview they waited for 2-3 mins to assess and then call the next guy.

There were 2 panelists, one male professor who was about 35 years old and another male professor of about 45 years of age.
I was immediately asked for the documents which I was carrying.


Q1: What do you know about South China Sea?  Which countries have interest in it? Why it is so important for China? India has something to do with it?
Ans : Spoke very little , they were not pleased.

Q2: List all the stakeholders in Ayodhya matter?
Ans: Named 2. They asked only 2? I said IDK.

Q3: You know something about tension in middle east??
Ans: Spoke 1-liner, he was disgusted and rolled his eyes.

Q4. I'm sure you don't have any idea about 'some_place_I_dont_know'?
And : Nope. Never heard.

Q5: Any idea about history of your company??
Ans : Spoke at great length. They had lost interest by this point of time.

Q6: Have you met the founder/CEO of your company? When was the last time he was in India? ?
Ans : Told.

Q7. What impresses you about your CEO?
Ans : Told along with reasons. (spoke something like cryptocurrency somewhere in between)

Q8: Any idea about bitcoins and how their technology is useful?
Ans: Yes, with some random gyan. They started rolling their eyes again.

Q9 : Tell me the steps to trade/buy cryptocurrency.
Ans : Told them about Unicoin exchange and how they can register, buy and sell. There is some commission involved. They were listening with great attention. They asked if I ever traded? I said no. They asked for stocks? I replied in negative. They asked me about any other investments? I told them a few, which were very safe and very little. They told, you are an old school guy, I replied my money is 'very hard earned'. They laughed. I smiled.

Q10. Explain binary tree.
Ans : Told. Example of why it is more efficient in searching. Gave example of my company directory. They were disinterested.

Q11 : Explain circular link list with example.?
Ans : Defined with poor example.

Q12 : Why MBA??
Ans : Was telling this in great lengths when they saw my score card in the extra documents which I was carrying in a big envelope. They told me to get up, not letting me finish the sentence, and leave.

Panelists : Leave now. Take a toffee. I asked if I can take 2? They agreed, I picked 2 and left.

Duration : 10 minutes maybe?
Worst part : They did not even take 5 seconds to assess me and called the next candidate within 10 secs of me leaving the room.
Bridges burnt.

Interview Prep : 4/5
Interview performance : 1/5

Update :
Verdict  : Straight convert, won't be joining.

XLRI Jamshedpur BM interview experience

XLRI Jamshedpur BM interview experience

Venue: ITC welcome Hotel, 46, Richmond Rd, Victoria Layout, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025


XAT18 Score : 99.08 %le
XAT18 GK : 22.498 %le (I know)
XLRI program selected : Business Management
Class 10 = 91.xx
Class 12 = 86.xx
Engineering : 82.xx
Work Experience : 32 completed months as Software Engineer till March 2019.

No document verification happened. There was only 1 panel, 9 candidates.
We were directly taken to a small room for WAT+GD.

WAT Topic :India will benefit immensely when Walmarts of the world acquire Flipkarts.
WAT was for 15 minutes with no word limit. A big A4 sized sheet was provided and we could write on both sides.

WAT timings :  1:52 PM to 2:07 PM.
WAT prep : 3/5
WAT performance : 2/5 (Good points, poor presentation.)

GD started at 2:10 PM. I started, put 3-4 points but it was a complete chaos and looked like a fish market.

GD timings :  2:10 PM to 2:25 PM.
GD prep : 1/5
GD performance : 2.5/5 (Good points, good start.)

I was the first to be interviewed in the panel. Total 9 candidates were to be interviewed by my panel (which was the only panel).

There were 3 panelists, one male professor who was about 35-38 years old, another male professor of about 30 years of age and a third male professor about 40-42 years old.
I was asked for the documents which I was carrying as soon as I sat.


Q1: Your designation and where do you work?
And : Told. Started explaining in detail, they stopped me.

Q2: Do you know about the business model of your company and revenue figures?
Ans: Yes. Started explaining in detail, they told, don't explain unless asked.

Q3: Why leadership in most software companies from US and not Indians, we locals are never promoted?
Ans: Sir, I think my company is truly global....
Was cutoff in middle and asked to answer what was asked. Told them Indian head is Indian. Gave a few examples, they sounded pissed. (Also told, my product's senior management is in Ireland.)

Q4. Let's say I want to invest in a company, where should I invest given 2 choices, a country with high inflation or a country with low inflation?
And : Tried answering, they cut me in between. They said I was wrong. I told them I don't know the answer. They persuaded me to think of some points. I said something, again was attacked. I said sorry and again was pushed into thinking.

---5 mins done, nothing fruitful happened------------

Q5: What do you think are the bad qualities of your manager as thought by your colleagues?
Ans : I turned on my thinking mode. Said, 'His farsightedness might have hurt people's short term goals.' The youngest panelist, who was in middle, was not impressed. He said that is the most stupid and diplomatic answer he has ever heard. I was like oh.. and moved back a bit. He was sitting 2-3 feet away from me. I was scared by then.

They asked another point. I said, 'his firmness on ethics and vision..' was not able to complete the sentence and he again shouted, do you think I am stupid? These other 2 panelists are stupid? I started sweating by then. He said,'You are a fool' twice.

I was shocked. Third prof came in.
Q6 : What did you study for this interview??
Ans : Explained. He asked if I was taught all this in a coaching? I said no. I joined as a test series student but never joined any coaching for GDPI prep. He asked the names of test series which I joined, I named 2 (IMS+TIME).

First prof comes in now.

Q7 : How much do you rate yourself as being ethical?
Ans : 6-7. Why? Told 1 incident from office. Started narrating other experience from internship, they said we don't want internship experiences.

Q8 : How much do you rate your colleagues as being ethical?
Ans : Same. 6-7. Why? Started with reasons. The middle prof started getting angry and shouted, 'Do you think we are stupid? We are fool? You are making yourself look like a fool.

This is where I lost my calm and started shaking.

Prof 1 again.

Q9: What makes you the current day Mayur?
Ans : Told 2-3 points, he asked for more. When I started explaining, he grilled me by saying that I just want points, not explanation. I told a total of 5 points. He said, nothing about family? I said that was point number 3.

Some random small questions which I don't remember have been left. I was in shock after the treatment I received.
I was also asked what will I do if someone slaps me in washroom in office and I was unable to see him, what will I do?
Tried explaining and they laughed.


Profs : We are done. Thanks a lot. You can take a toffee. Picked one, thanked them and walked out.

PI Prep : 4/5
PI Performance : (god knows)/5
PI Duration : 23-25 mins

Verdict : NOT OUT YET. (But still, it is going to be a reject)
Update :
Verdict  : WL-88, but converted in second wait-list movement, won't be joining.

IIMA interview experience

IIM Ahmedabad interview experience

Venue: Monarch Luxur Hotel, 67, Infantry Road, Tasker Town, Shivaji Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560001
Date and Time : 01 Mar 2019, 1:15:00 PM

CAT18 Score : 99.88
Class 10 = 91.xx
Class 12 = 86.xx
Engineering : 82.xx
Work Experience : 30 completed months as Software Engineer

My Document Verification was done post interview. We were split in 7 panels (6-7 candidates each) and were sent for AWT at 1:40PM.

AWT Topic :Media pressurizes people coming on news channels and tricks them to speak what media wants. We should monitor media. Something on that note.
AWT was for 20 minutes with 250-300 word limit. A big A4 sized sheet was provided and we could write on back side only. Front side was for filling details only.

AWT timings :  1:47 PM to 2:07 PM.
AWT prep : 3/5
AWT performance : 2/5 (Good presentation, less points.)


I was the third to be interviewed in the panel. Total 6 candidates were to be interviewed by my panel. The interviews were very short for all people before me (12-15 mins).

There were 2 panelists, one male professor who was about 35 years old, another male professor of about 30 years of age.
I was not asked for the documents which I was carrying and kept those on my lap in the beginning.


Q1: Tell us something about yourself not mentioned in this form?
And : Hobbies - Cricket,Cooking and Trekking. While I was answering, they asked me to put my docs on another table. I did and continued with the answer.

Prof : Can we ask some questions from your work experience?
I nodded.

Q2: Since in form you have mentioned your hobby as quizzing, tell us the history of your company.
Ans: Told from bare beginnings in 1984 till today when we acquired plenty of companies to diversify business. (Screwed up the name of the college of my company's founder. They asked me if I was sure about his college, I replied - I'm not. They seemed to move on.)

Q3: What other major tech happening was there in 1984?
Ans: Launch of Apple Mac 1. (Missed another, DOS based OS launches by MSFT.)

Q4. What all were the companies Dell faced challenge from in the beginning??
And : IBM, Apple.  (Forgot many others to tell)

Q5: Not HP?
Ans : Only up to a certain extent, but we catered to a different segment in market. Tried explaining HP products but they were not convinces about HP.

Q6 : Explain what do you do?
Ans : Explained the product we develop.

Q7 : Asked what matrices do we use at work?
Ans : Told. And said we are planning to use ML, AI soon.

Q8 : Explain ML with models.
Ans : Could only define ML. He told me 3-4 models, I said I don't know as I never worked in Machine learning.

Prof : Can we ask some academics questions now? We will ask maths and CSE, alright?
I said yes, meekly.

Q9: Explain differentiation and integration.
Ans : Told basic definitions.

Q10 : Do you know about matrices in maths??
Ans : I studies long time back, hence not very confident.

Q11. What is the differentiation under integration?
Ans : Told them they are inverse of each other. They said tell us something else. I said IDK.

Q12: Do you know about sorting algorithms? Walk us through 1 maybe?.
Ans: Oh Okay. I picked 2. Insertion and Bubble. Explained well.  They asked complexity, told bubble sort complexity correctly, messed up with insertion sort complexity.

One prof left to talk on phone but was back in under 30 secs.

Prof : Are you confident about stats?
Ans : Somewhat. Not much.

Q13. What's normal distribution?
Ans : Took average Indian male height example and plotted graph. Could not speak the definition. (I wanted to move to GK/Hobbies now)

Q14 : Tell us about standard deviation.
Ans : Told definition, said don't remember formula and told how mean can be found from graph we plotted sometimes back.

Q15 : Plot 2 graphs with same mean and high SD and low SD.
Ans : Plotted graphs correctly but marked them wrong. Messed up here. They said are you confident? I said yes. They laughed and moved on.

Q16 : You want us to ask more maths?
Smiled and said nothing.

Now, they asked me about my stance on AWT topic. I spoke a couple of points. They nodded and moved on.

Prof : Let's move on to Hobbies and GK now.

Q17 : Were you a quizmaster or a participant?
Ans : Both at different levels of college/job. They asked if the quiz was themed or mix in office? I replied and explained various levels.

Q18 : Tell me the treks you have been to?
Ans : Told, with some stats like height etc and where it started.

Q19 : That place has some hot water sources?
Ans : Nope. It has hot water sources on the way, but not at the location. The pond there is like freezing even in summers.

Q20 : Let's do GK. You know about relations of India with other countries?
Ans : Sir, I know well about Pak and Bhutan.

Q21 : Tell us about Bhutan. Pak to everyone knows na?
Ans : Explain treaties signed between India and Bhutan and Dabolam issue. Mentioned the wrong year but they were happy.

Q22 : Which Index does Bhutan tops globally?
Ans : Happiness Index

Q23 : Do you know how it is calculated? Tell us some factors.
Ans : Told 2. Both correct.

Q24 : Any news about Abhinandan?
Ans : Pakistan foreign minister told today morning that he will be released today in afternoon. (Could have spoken on protocols and Pak measures. :\)

Q25 : What was his designation in IAF?
Ans : Wing Commander, he was inducted in IAF in 2004.

Q26 : Since you play cricket, tell us in how many ways can a batsman get out.
Ans : 9 or 10?

Q27 : List all those you mentioned in Q24.
Ans : Told 9.

Q28 : Where are you from? How long in Bangalore?
Ans : Told. Any nearby big city? New Delhi.

Some discussion about India being Republic or Democratic? Difference between the 2? I tried explaining but then said, I don't know much but they are slightly different. (Very easy question. :( , 1 mins gone)

Q29 : Diplomatic relations with Pak, you want to tell?
Ans : I was speaking and then I stumbled. All black in front of eyes. Repeated a word 5-6 times. (This happens to me due to overheating of brain!!). Completed the sentence. They asked me to stop the answer right away seeing that I might faint/panic.

Q30 : What's the chief of Army,Navy,Air Force in India called? We don't want their names. Just tell the designation.
Ans : Told all 3, IAF wala slightly incorrect. Could have told about 4/5 star ranks and their difference . But I was very drained by then.

A few minor hiccups, lots of patience from their end and GK were the highlights of the interview.
I got my docs verified post interview, had a cup of tea and came back home.


PI Prep : 5/5
PI Performance : 2.5/5

Verdict : NOT OUT YET.
Update :
Verdict  : Straight reject.