Hi All, It is very strange that nobody started the thread for IIM C WAT/GD/PI experiences 
o (till now :: ). So, here it is. Please share your WAT/GD/PI experiences in this thread . Stick to the below format when you share them. N…
Hi All,
It is very strange that nobody started the thread for IIM C WAT/GD/PI experiences :o:o (till now
). So, here it is.
Please share your WAT/GD/PI experiences in this thread . Stick to the below format when you share them.
Name:
cat percentile (OA):
Sec1:
Sec2:
10th and 12th Marks:
Work Ex :
Extra-curricular/Co-curricular:
Anything special ;)
Date of Interview:
Location of interview:
WAT - topic
WAT experience :
your view of your preparation(0-5) and performance(0-5):
GD discussion - topic
Duration of GD :
GD experience:
your view of your preparation (0-5)and performance(0-5):
No. of people in the interview panel:
Questions in PI:
Duration of PI:
your view of your preparation(0-5) and performance(0-5).
All the very best puys. 
This thread doesn't seem to crop up in the search! Any particular reason ? Maybe we can change the name to GDEI or GDPI experiences instead of WAT/GD/PI experiences
vineetjain111 SaysThis thread doesn't seem to crop up in the search! Any particular reason ? Maybe we can change the name to GDEI or GDPI experiences instead of WAT/GD/PI experiences
:shock::shock:
Maybe mods can help
vineetjain111 SaysThis thread doesn't seem to crop up in the search! Any particular reason ? Maybe we can change the name to GDEI or GDPI experiences instead of WAT/GD/PI experiences
"2012-14 IIM Calcutta WAT/GD/PI Experience"
Save the above keywords and use it. This thread comes up as the first result.
Let's keep the thread clean now. Request mods to delete unnecessary posts(including this
)Regards
Anish
UDT '09
"2012-14 IIM Calcutta WAT/GD/PI Experience"
Save the above keywords and use it. This thread comes up as the first result.
Let's keep the thread clean now. Request mods to delete unnecessary posts(including this)
Regards
Anish
UDT '09
No no I meant for people searching who dont know that this thread exists with this name, it will be difficult to find. Thats probably the reason for no posts so far
No exp is posted yet 😞
Name: Jayadrath Gunjal
cat percentile: 97 (88+99) NC-OBC
10th and 12th Marks: 85 & 78
Work Ex : 16
Extra-curricular/Co-curricular: -
Anything special : CFA L2 & FRM part1
Date of Interview: 16 feb
Location of interview: Mumbai
WAT - topic : 2 case studies suggest that enrollment in increasing in Indian schools & that India ranks 2nd from bottom in reading and math abilities. How would u explain the contribution.
WAT experience : 15 mins given, maximum 200 words
your view of your preparation and performance: good
GD discussion - topic : same as WAT
Duration of GD : 10 mins
GD experience: good. no fish market but some people were discussing bout ways to improve quality of Indian education system and the reasons for it (which was not the topic , in my opinion). everyone asked to summaries randomly. the guy who spoke the least was asked to summarize 1st and then moved up in that manner.
your view of your preparation and performance: good (4/5)
No. of people in the interview panel: 2 (30 something, seemed more of alumni then profs. i may be wrong)
Questions in PI: Grilled me on my acads (54% engg) asked me how did i manage to do such a tough job (scoring 54%) He said that was not tolerable.
Then they asked me y was i doing CFA?
Why a shift into finance, how did i land up there?
Why i quit my job (i'm not working currently) - more grilling
Asked me question related to work- What is an Butterfly Spread in Options (coundn tel correctly :banghead::banghead:)
Asked me bout Capital Asset Pricing Model, standard deviation, variance, Beta.
Asked me to derive how does diversification leads to reduced risk
_ i fumbled in most of these question which i could have answered properly if i could have handled well if i had revised the concepts and if i could have handled the pressure :banghead::banghead::banghead:
asked me about my hobby- reading
What is the book Barbarians at the gate bout.
Told 
What is a White knight defense in an LBO
told
What is the ideology of Albert Camus?
told
How many books have u read of Albert Camus?
One
How can u comment on the ideology by reading one book and how can u just read one book from an other such as Albert Camus??!!
- I read bout him on the internet.
Where? Wikipedia?
-Yes Sir
Do u know what wikipedia is?
told
So how can u trust the info there? If tomorrow you go and write bout finance on wiki and people trust what u have written then there would be a world financial crisis.
:shock: 
What will u do if u dont make it to and MBA and cant clear CFA?
I will look for a job.
Give me 2 reasons y we should reject you?
:o
1st- I coudn show proficiency in my chosen career field.
2nd-- i was thinking when he interrupted
I will tel u, you are not at all prepared for the interview. u were passing by Dadar and though of attending the interview.
at least u could have been mentally prepared
Ok .... All the best 
U can go now..
Duration of PI: 30 mins
your view of your preparation and performance. preparation- 3; performance- 1
(There are few more embarrassing thinks bout the interview which i haven't mentioned)
All the Best to all. Do well:cheers:
Result: 
:banghead:
Reject (as expected)
Name: Jayadrath Gunjal
Give me 2 reasons y we should reject you?
:o
1st- I coudn show proficiency in my chosen career field.
2nd-- i was thinking when he interrupted
I will tel u, you are not at all prepared for the interview. u were passing by Dadar and though of attending the interview.
at least u could have been mentally prepared
(There are few more embarrassing thinks bout the interview which i haven't mentioned)
All the Best to all. Do well:cheers:
Result:
Thanks a lot for posting your experience man, i had a very similar if not worse experience in my interview, just dont have the heart to share it
But i will share 2 q's which stumped me and some other insights
Q) Tell me something about IIM-C apart from the fact that it is the oldest,one of the best, fin and quant oriented?? Think before you answer
Q)Engineers be ready to justify how 4yrs of engg was not a waste of time. They absolutely chewed me up when i tried to tie it back to my work.
Q)Why should we reject u?? Dont give a very diplomatic answer bcoz they just go ballistic after that.
Suggestions:-Be aware of your colleagues and ur general surrounding bcoz there were several q's on your observational skills.
Make sure all ur documents are in place as they go through them with a fine tooth comb before the whole GD/PI process begins.
WAT topic:-- the internet and virtual reality will make travel redundant in the future, your views.
Best of luck Puys
Just stay calm, that's the key i guess Verdict : CONVERTED ( I guess dreams do come true)
thanks a lot for posting the experience guys, its really of great help.....well IIM C is known for its stress interviews. 😃
Fine Time to post my experience I guess.
CAT percentile: 99.55 (Quant: 98.28, Verbal: 99.26) - General
Work Ex: 48months in Equity Index Analysis, Equity Research (in 3 companies)
Acads: X - 88.2%
XII - 94.6%
B.Tech - 7.23/10 (Chemical Engg. - IIT Madras)
Professional Course - Cleared CFA level 1 and FRM level 1
Hobbies: Football & Table Tennis, Movies and TV Series
GD/WAT Topic: 2 case studies suggest that enrollment is increasing in Indian schools & that India ranks 2nd from bottom in reading and math abilities. How do you explaing this contradiction.
WAT 15 mins - I think I covered most of the issues. (Quantity vs Quality etc.)
GD - It was a sort of fish market out there. Not many ideas I guess. Chipped in with few points like RTE, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, What different do the two reports talk.
Overall I think I did ok.
Now comes the interesting part - PI
I had a panel of 3 members - P1(Work Ex guy);P2 (Behavirol lady); P3(Acads guy)
P1 - So Venakata Ramana Pavan Kumar Manda - What does the whole name mean?
Me - Explained first name, last name, middle name originating from village, god etc.
P1 - so tell me about urself
Me - Start with my current work ex.
P1(cuts short) - Start from your DoB, in a chronological order.
Me - Told him my DoB, birth place and then everything about myself.
P1 - So what are you doing at Credit Suisse(CS)?
Me - Equity Index Analysis, explaining what all I do.
P1 - You know what is Index tracking?
Me - Told him what Index tracking is then Active, Passive tracking.
P1 - Lets talk about Active tracking. What is the objective function of returns in Active tracking.
Me - I scribble some formula.
P1 - Are you sure about that? Then what is tracking error?
Me - I define tracking error. Then realised that the previous formula that I wrote was for tracking error.
P1- So tracking error and tracking returns function are same?
Me - No sir, The previous one was for tracking error. Told him the formula for tracking returns.
P1- What is Jensen's Alpha?
Me - told him.
P1 - That is in theory. How do you calculate in real life.
Me - told him something. Then told him, Sir, This is not what we exactly do at work and to my academic knowledge, this is the formula.
P1- So since you do Index analysis tell me how do you look at if two indices are intergrated or not.
Me - Told him about correlation between daily/monthly returns over a period of time. ways to find correlation.
P1- So you will just look at correlation? Ok, if the correlation is a nice figure like 0.75, how will you improve it?
Me - Started talking about looking at confidence tests,
P1 - No not confidence tests, assume the number is right.
Me - May be factors are different. Macro factors are differnt.
P1 - No for that we have the remaining 0.25.
Me - Thinking
P1 - I will give you a hint. do you know about time series data.
Me - (then it strikes me) Yes Sir you can look at seasonality and heteroskadisticity.
P1 - How will you look at them and eliminate them then?
Me - (Thinking)Not sure sir. ------ This is where I could have done better. could have talked about a lag. Which just slipped my mind. Hope this doesnt come back to haunt me.
P1 - Ok Now. Since you might have a course on statistics in college. What is the difference between Seasonality and Cylicality?
Me - (Clean bowled, never heard of cyclicality in statistics) Not sure sir.
P1 Looks at P3
P3 - So continuing your discussion from there, what is the assumption regarding the error terms in this data.
Me - (Thinking) I have read that they would be normally distributed.
P3 - Can you tell me why?
Me - I just know and read it as an assumption sir. Not sure why.
P3 - Ok, since you are a chemical engineer you should be knowing about Nanotechnology. Tell me the strengths and weaknesses of India in Nanotechnology.
Me- (This has got to be the highlight of my interview. What on earth makes him think Nanotechnology and Chemical Engg. are even remotely related? I mean this is just ridiculous. By this time I started smiling outside and laughing inside at my plight.) Started answering randomly, saying improve in productivity
P3 - (cutting me short) Thats way too generic and you are an engineer.
Me - Sir, I think two of its applications are 1)in Solar cells to chemical coating 2) Biotechnology. - I know Biotechnology because my sister is a majors in Biotech. Apart from these two I am not really sure about any other applications sir.
P2 - So Why do you want to join IIM? you dont seem to be willing to stay at place long enough and your job changes seem to be for pay packages.
Me - No Mam,(Explained the reasons for my changes. ).
P2 - Coming to my original question, Why IIM then?
Me - told them why I want to do an MBA. To move to front office roles, need to have comprehensive business knowledge, while analysing a company, you need to know operations and marketing as well.
P2 - But Marketing is a dead field.
Me - No Mam, I am not saying I will pursue a career in Finance, but I need to learn all of them to look at business as a whole. holistic approach, blah blah blah.
P2 - So what specific skill set are you looking at to acquire from BSchools.
Me - Again about business kowledge, finance products etc.
P2 - These are related to knowledge, I am asking skillsets.
Me - (Thinking) Business Communication skills, Team building skills, Time Management skills.
P2 - Can you learn them outside as well? Is there any difference in the skillset required in a society and a professional organization?
Me - There isn't great difference madam.
P2 - So where did you go for coaching for your interviews?
Me - After 4 years of work ex I have seen enough ups and downds to know about myself madam. So I don't really have to go to a coaching class for all these answers. (to my relief P1 and P3 nod in approval)
P1, P2 and P3 look at each other and say All the Best. You can go.
I smile and leave the place.
30 mins of Interview. Not sure about how it went. Any feedback would be welcome. Hoping that my relevant work ex comes to my rescue in the final selection. Was left gaping at some of the questions asked. Nanotechnology related to Chemical Engg. ?? seriously??!!!!
i think you are in...
Date : 15th Feb.
Essay and GD:
15 mins for essay and 10 mins for GD...
Topic : Shopping complexes and malls is a new development in india. Write down its advantages and disadvantages.
(it was a first slot on first day...I was surprised with 15 min thing and such a topic...i had gone there expecting 5 min essay and abstract topic.)
I wrote essay well...GD was total fish market..I could clearly see C applicants much more competitive and ruthless than L. I was 2nd to enter and made 3 good entries...5-6 times when I was speaking, many ppl were speaking simultaneously...so i stopped...the moment i stopped somebody used my point and repeated..I was not very fluent that day but one thing is sure that I spoke substance...there was 1 min summary opportunity for everyone in the end...A guy who spoke least was asked to summarize first...i was asked to give summary last...but I don't think they were considering our performance in GD for deciding summary chance order as one guy who spoke fluently was asked to summarize much before me....I wish I am wrong in analysis here
PI was total stress type...out of the 3 panels, my panel was taking stress intvws...i spoke to a guy from another panel...he told me his panel was not giving any stress...there were 2 interviewers in my panel...both were quite young..
Interview was mostly on these questions :
Why am i leaving my good paying job for MBA? Why MBA? tell us about ur work exp... They went into a case where I was suppose to consult a company...one question lead to another...there was lot of giggling, innumerable interruptions, all sorts of mocking...
Good things about my interview :
- I didn't lose my cool.
- I answered most of the questions.
- I used the opportunity to sell myself wherever possible. Couldn't do that properly as they were interrupting a lot, but still satisfied on that front.
Bad things about my interview :
- My mind was not stable that day. I couldn't speak fluently. (stress didn't affect my fluency level..it was my own mental instability).
- 2-3 times he told me to think before I speak.
- I was looking very studious with my new hair cut...I hated that.
Had I practised GD and stress interview things with coaching classes, I guess, I would have been better prepared for the process. Anyway, my performance was genuine at least. Also, my mentor from C was very helpful throughout the process.
one guy from my batch told me that he had very bad interview as they were asking too many questions and giving stress...but unfortunately, I don't know interview exp of anyone else from my batch. So, cannot comment on my relative performance.
Verdict : Converted 😃
my friend who gave his interview recently said that his was chillaxed and went on for 45minutes... no stress interview at all for him
deltalight Saysmy friend who gave his interview recently said that his was chillaxed and went on for 45minutes... no stress interview at all for him
Thats good for your friend. May I know your friend's profile? More than a chillax interview, I am curious about the 45 minutes part. Because They seem reluctant to talk for more than 30-35 minutes, in most cases 15-20 mins as they are really short of time. Anyways All the best to you and your friend.
Hi,
Any idea as to what kind of questions are being asked relating to Electronics?
Thanks!
Name: Sailesh
CAT: 99.57 (OA), 98.58 (QA), 99.18 (VA)
10th: 85.1%
12th: 89.5%
BE Electronics (Mumbai University): 65.6%
MS Electrical & Computer Engg (Rutgers University): GPA 3.8
Work Ex: 4 years (3 years at Capital One Auto Finance, USA, 1 year at IL&FS; Clusters, India)
Extra-curriculars: Appeared at National Level Olympiad in Mathematics, Consolation Prize at Mathematics Olympiad conducted by IIT Mumbai, National Winner and World Finalist of Microsoft Imagine Cup
Date: 17 Feb
Location: Mumbai
Essay and GD topic: There have been calls to abolish the death penalty. What are the pros and cons of abolishing capital punishment?
There were 15 minutes for writing the essay, which was plenty of time to write. The GD was okay. There were supposed to be 8 people in the group, but one person did not turn up, hence only 7 participants. Everyone was asked to summarize at the end, starting with the person who spoke the least in that order.
Interview:
There were 3 interviewers in my panel. The interview was not a stress interview, but it was a bit more intense than the Lucknow one. Panelists - P1, P2, P3.
P1 - So, your name is Sailesh, not Shailesh. Unusual name for a Tam.
Me - Yes, a little unusual, but I do know a couple of Tamilians named Shailesh.
P1 - Yes, but not Sailesh.
Me - No. I do know a Gujarati named Sailesh.
P1 - (waving his hand) Common name for a Gujarati.
P2 - So, what does Sailesh mean?
Me - I think it means a mountain, not so sure.
P1 - Some joke about Shell and SAIL. They all laugh. I smile.
P1 - Your 10th, 12th scores are okay, BE scores are low. So you did your Masters from Rutgers. Which field?
Me - Electrical and Computer Engineering.
P1 - What was your thesis topic?
Me - It was in Computer Vision. Explained the work done.
P1 - Why didn't you then move to California? That's the hot bed for this field.
Me - Explained I wanted to come back to India, and didn't want to spend another 5 years on a PhD.
P1 - Then you worked at Capital One, what was your role there?
Me - Explained.
P2 - Okay, so tell me about a big global project related to Computer Vision.
Me - Biometrics is one area. Face recognition is an application of computer vision.
P3 - Tell me about a more controversial topic.
Me - Not able to think of a large scale one, but there are some in sports.
P3 - Which?
Me - Hawk eye in cricket. Application in 3-D placement of the ball and tracking it.
P2 - Have you heard of google street view?
Me - Yes.
P2 - Tell me about it.
Me - Talked about what it is, the privacy concerns, it being blocked in Bangalore, issues over accidental collection of private data from France (not sure which country), though no major issues in USA.
P2 - What are the technical challenges here?
Me - You need to determine the exact geographical location of each image, the orientation, and then correct for distortions when rendering from a differing viewpoint, stitching images with perfect overlap.
P3 - How do they get the images?
Me - I have heard they drive an SUV through the streets with 8 cameras mounted on the top.
P3 - Do they use GPS? How do they do it in real-time?
Me - It is not real-time, the images are taken once and are static.
P2 - Immediately cuts in and starts explaining to P3, who then engage in a small conversation.
Me - (After they are done) GPS is used though, since you need to get the exact location of each image.
P3 - Fine. Let's talk about social media. How will you do the valuation for Facebook?
Me - Started talking about the business model.
P3 - You are speaking about the business model. Tell me how you will value it.
Me - Started talking about past revenues, future potential, etc.
P1 - Why do you want to do an MBA now?
Me - Explained.
P3 - How will you explain what is NPV to your grand-mother?
Me - Explained in layman terms.
P3 - How will you calculate it mathematically?
Me - Explained, talked about discounting future cash flows, etc.
P3 - How will you determine the discount rate?
Me - Explained.
P3 - Discount rate is the correct term to use. But what else can you call it?
Me - (Blank)
P2 - You used the term in your answer.
Me - (Still blank) Don't recall what term I used. Sorry.
P3 - Thats okay.
P1 - Thank you Sailesh.
Me - Thank you.
The panelists were polite through-out, not aggressive, but certainly looked like they wouldn't tolerate any nonsense.
Verdict: Converted!
Hi puys,
Sorry for putting the experience late, but was busy so, here it is. And first of all this might be a long post, for my interview was almost 45-50 minute long.
CAT score
Total: 99.99
Sec1: 100
Sec2: 98.88
10th and 12th Marks: 82.4, 85.4
Work Ex : 32 months, Infosys Ltd.
Extra-curricular/Co-curricular
Chief election commissioner of college
Treasurer of annual festival committee
Worked with an NGO for a period of around 7 weeks
Played handball nationals during school
Some of the sketches were displayed at a few art exhibitions.
Venue and Date
Catering college, Mumbai
15th February, 2012;
2:00 pm
Essay Writing/ GD
Topic: Reasons for growing popularity of reality TV shows and television game shows, Discuss.
WAT experience: Should say the GD was pretty good, all the people pitched in great points, everyone remained on the topics, didn't digress. (I put in a point about transition of people's liking from classical music to kolaveri di which was later asked in interview)
your view of your preparation(0-5): 4
and performance(0-5): 3.5
Interview
Panel:
Professor 1 - Easy going one, 50+ (P1)
Professor 2 - Again easy going, 50+ (P2)
Professor 3 - Young guy, 35-40 (P3)
1st of all had to wait for 10+ minutes for the interview to start, after they took my form, was going nuts outside. Was waiting since 1 in the afternoon already, my chance came at 7:00 pm 
Me: Good evening sirs.
P3: So saurabh, you have worked with an NGO, what was the ngo?
Me: told
P3: What was your work? Why did you not go back and work for them again? What was it a part of etc.?
Me: Told everything, also how I still contribute socially nowadays.
P2: In your GD, you mentioned that there is a transition from classical music to kolaveri di? What did you mean? And what is classical music?
Me: explained my stance. For classical music - told that sir, it is very difficult to explain in words what is classical music?
P2: So what did you meant by classical music?
Me: Gave examples of Bismilla Khan, Ravi Shankar, zakir hussain and others
P2: oh, ok you meant that. So, have you heard classical music? How much time did you hear it? What did you hear and how did you come to hear it?
Me: Told that I took it up in college from a friend who was a fan, and gave it ample try etc etc.
P3: What do these people play ravi shankar etc.
Me: Said sir they play shehnai, tabla etc, but I am very confused as to who is associated with who.
P3: How many types of music from MP are there and how many have you heard? 
Me: Told I don't know sir.
P2: Have you heard of Devas (its near indore), ok, so how is it associated to music? :|
Me: Sir, I am not too sure.
P1: to P2, P3, are stop asking him about music, he does not know much about it. :thumbsup:
P2: Ok, tell me are you happy with Infosys?
Me: Yes sir, and related discussion when he trying to negate me, was able to justify him.
P1: What is your role at Infosys? How many people are working under you? Told
P3: So, you are happy at Infosys, and have a decent enough salary, and would be in line for may be promotion, now, why do you want to leave Infosys MBA? Told
P1: You would be leaving your salary, paying such large fees etc have you ever done the calculation? Then still you want to leave?
P3, P1: How much are you expecting as return after MBA? What is the salary you are thinking for paying back your expenses? 
Told that I look at it as qualitative value addition than quantitative one, and that the teachings would help me pay back my expenses in the long run.
P3: What is the role you are looking at joining? What companies do you have in mind etc? Told
P1: Your reason of doing your MBA is not agreeing with us, either u say that you aren't happy with your job at Infosys, and we will take you. 
Or tell us a very good reason. Explained in brief properly about time benefit, holistic view, multiple career options etc.
Then some discussion about my handball nationals
Then some about my hobby of sketching, asked me to sketch something in 2 min. :
Then about books, 3 latest books - told Iacocca, Midnight's children and P.G.Wodehouse book.
Everyone was very anxious when I mentioned P.G.Wodehouse. 
:
P2: how many books has he written? How many have you read? What are the different books/ plots he has written? Who is the central character in book1, book2 etc. Who are the aunts etc etc. many questions
I wasn't able to answer all the questions, but was convicing enough to show that I read Wodehouse 
P3: Went on to midnight's children, some question about the significance of powers to the children in the book, which I wasn't able to answer.
P1/ P3: Then they tried to mock me saying I must have chosen these books at the last moment just to make an impresssion. Was able to justify pretty well. 
P3: About Iacocca, some questions, which I was able to answer properly. Again tried to mock, but was able to convince them again. :thumbsup:
P1, P2, P3 looks at each other: Okay, your interview is finished, what we are going to ask you now is out of your interview selection. Which calls do you have and what are your preferences?
Me: Told A,B,C are my preferences and between them, I don't have any priorities and all are equivalent in my opinion.
Prof: So, are you going to throw a dice and choose?
Me: Was able to tell them a convincing answer about choosing based on discussions with seniors, mentors, professors etc. :cheers:
your view of your preparation(0-5): 4
and performance(0-5). 3.5
VERDICT: Converted 😁 :D
Any comments/ suggestions would be very much appreciated.
Hi puys,
P2: In your GD, you mentioned that there is a transition from classical music to kolaveri di? What did you mean? And what is classical music?
Me: explained my stance. For classical music told that sir, it is very difficult to explain in words what is classical music?
P2: So what did you meant by classical music?
Me: Gave examples of Bismilla Khan, Ravi Shankar, zakir hussain and others
P2: oh, ok you meant that. So, have you heard classical music? How much time did you hear it? What did you hear and how did you come to hear it?
Me: Told that I took it up in college from a friend who was a fan, and gave it ample try etc etc.
P3: What do these people play ravi shankar etc.
Me: Said sir they play shehnai, tabla etc, but I am very confused as to who is associated with who.
P3: How many types of music from MP are there and how many have you heard?
Me: Told I dont know sir.
P2: Have you heard of Devas (its near indore), ok, so how is it associated to music? :|
Me: Sir, I am not too sure.
P1: to P2, P3, are stop asking him about music, he does not know much about it. :thumbsup:
VERDICT: awaited, hope for the best, expect the worst. Fingers crossed.
Any comments/ suggestions would be very much appreciated.
itni si baat ke liye itna music ke bare mein puch lia.... khatarnak..
gr8 post.. adb 4 result... cnvrt hia bhai....
This has got to be the most dormant experience thread in the whole of PG. Guys please post in your experiences. RGing started already??!!!:o
C'mon puys...All the best and share ur experiences.