The inaugural edition of the #IIMCalcutta #PGPEX Business Review, a quarterly write up by PGPEX class at IIM Calcutta.
Download link: https://programslive.iimcal.ac.in/pgpex-business-review-october-2014-first-edition
Any comment on 2014 placements. Not look appealing not to me. Closer look at the statics can tell that students had real hard time getting a job :)
When are all interviews planned? I know there is one in Mumbai on 1st Nov. Any other dates and locations?
A PPT about the PGPEX program downloaded from IIMC website tells that the number of compulsory (from 17 to 14) and electives (from 18 to 15) courses and therefor the total contact hours (from 810 to 690) are being cut. Can somebody elaborate on this?
Hey Puys, best of luck. 😃 May God give all of us strength to come out with a HURRAH! Do post your Debrief's once done.
Any expected surprise for interviews like essays etc?
DOne with interview. When is result expected ? No essay no anything. Just 20 mins interview.
Any other interview experiences from today
Done with my interview today @ Bangalore 9am...
Debrief :- There were three professors in the panel.
Explain about your profile :- Answered
Some detailed questions on the profile part.
You are having an IT background...Why MBA now at this point in your career? Answered
Some cross questions and grilling on the why MBA part and also why IIMC...
Detailed questions on waste management(I had that mentioned in my profile)...
Interview lasted for around 25-30 mins...Overall the experience was ok... Now the wait begins for the results...
Debrief: (Hope it helps others)
Interview mode : Skype
Time scheduled : 8 pm IST
Actual start time : 8:40 pm IST (Due to some technical error). Called office as there was no communication of delay till 8:10 pm.
Duration : 35-40 mins
Panel : Two professors
Essay : Was not asked
Initial questions: (Indicated that these were just for general database)
1. How many months of experience till March 31st 2015.
2. Are you single or married?
3. Will you need family accommodation?
Interview Questions:
Q1: Tell us about your profile in the present company. Answered.
Q2: Tell us what initiatives have you taken in the present role. Answered.
Q3: Tell us whether four points can be equidistant from each other and what is it. Got stumped. Asked what about 3? Answered Equilateral triangle. Immediately realized for 4 it will be tetrahedron but too late I had passed the question.
Q4: So you are coming to Kolkata. Tell us a bit more about city. Answered. Though not too much in detail. (They probably were not happy/satisfied)
Q5: What have you heard about the region in news? Answered, Burdwan blast case, Saradha scam.
Q6: Are you interested in news in general or just for this interview. Answered, I like to keep in touch.
Q7: Why and how come you developed the habit of reading? Answered, I developed the liking over the years but no particular reasons.
Q8: So what's happening in Hong Kong? Answered, student protests, democratic rule demand.
Q9: What will you gain out of PGPEX course? Answered. (However, couldn't make out from the expressions whether it was to the panel's satisfaction)
Q10: What do you wish to do immediately post PGPEX program?
Q11: You are in a very niche area. Don't you think it will be difficult for you to find a job or companies may not offer you the salary you expect? Answered to satisfaction.
All the hell broke loose now when the first prof indicated the other to go ahead with his questions. (Couldn't answer most of the questions, if not none.)
Q12: Do you recollect Math? Yes.
Q13: What in particular? Answered. General Math nothing particular.
Q14-Qn : The questions went on from what are real numbers, rational numbers, cube root of 1 ( got it terribly wrong under pressure. Recovered and answered 1. Omega and omega^2. What is omega. What is derivative of IxI, is the function defined at d/dx (IxI) at x=0. Further grilling at every possible thing I said spiraling interview down to doom. Do you know complex numbers? What is it? Answered. Why is there a need for complex numbers? Couldn't answer.
Till Qn Interview literally slipped out of my hands and felt like was already shown the door.
Qn+1: Do you have any questions for us? Asked related to my profile. The prof who grilled started laughing and waved off the answer. The other prof. got serious and answered in detail. The interview ended with the 'you will come to know all other activities such as the entrepreneurial cell etc. once you join'.
Overall: Felt it was NOT good at all. Totally dejected and lost hope.
Post that I talked with a current student. He boosted my morale indicating this alone may not be criterion of rejection. If I had given other answers convincingly, they may consider. Kind words soothed me and lifted my spirits. However, I still feel it will be difficult to make it. Also, I feel after a certain point no preparation would've helped me, so just go with the flow. Best of luck guys. Hope you all will make to PGPEX program. 😃
Hey puys, there are 214 followers of the tread but hardly 4-6 puys have posted debriefs. Post your debriefs, it will help others too.
Interview experience:
Mumbai, 1st nov, 2:30 pm slot, panel 2 (3 prof or 2 prof+1alum), total time 20-25 mins
My profile -automotive r&d, 6 years of experience
P1-person on the far right, P2- middle person, P3-person on the far left.
P3 asked for my documents
P1- tell us a bit about your background.
Answered
P1- how would you describe your profile to a 5 year old child
Answered, not very convincing though (i feel)
P1- how would you describe your profile to a 10 year old child
Answered, again i am not sure how convincing it was. They did not cross question me enough.
P3- questions related to my SOP
Answered, i could not clearly understand what he was trying to ask.
P3- more question about SOP, i had written about regulations for vehicle
Answered and suggested few changes in regulations for improved safety.
P3- asked about competition for the project, i am working on, in the market
Answered
P3- how well this product would do in market
Answered that i think this product has limited market in India as i have been to customer feedback visits.
P1- tell us about kota, you have done schooling there.
I said i did coaching for IIT there and my 12th as well. I said the environment is conducive for studies.
P1- tell us about kota and your perspective
I said it has been more than 12 years, so i don't remember much.
P1- ok, you said you love biking. Which places you have been to?
Answered that all places around pune and even went to rajasthan by bike
P1- tell us how different it is to go on bike from other conveyances
Answered that bike gives a sense of freedom and when you are riding alone you have the liberty to halt anywhere and change your plans.
Any questions for us?
No questions
Accommodation -single or double?
Answered
Not sure what to think of it, they didn't cross question me much. At one point of time when p3 was finished with questions there were no questions and i looked at p1 he smiled in childish way and realised it's his turn to ask questions.
Interview experience:
Mumbai, 1st nov, 2:30 pm slot, panel 2 (3 prof or 2 prof+1alum), total time 20-25 mins
My profile -automotive r&d, 6 years of experience
P1-person on the far right, P2- middle person, P3-person on the far left.
P3 asked for my documents
P1- tell us a bit about your background.
Answered
P1- how would you describe your profile to a 5 year old child
Answered, not very convincing though (i feel)
P1- how would you describe your profile to a 10 year old child
Answered, again i am not sure how convincing it was. They did not cross question me enough.
P3- questions related to my SOP
Answered, i could not clearly understand what he was trying to ask.
P3- more question about SOP, i had written about regulations for vehicle
Answered and suggested few changes in regulations for improved safety.
P3- asked about competition for the project, i am working on, in the market
Answered
P3- how well this product would do in market
Answered that i think this product has limited market in India as i have been to customer feedback visits.
P1- tell us about kota, you have done schooling there.
I said i did coaching for IIT there and my 12th as well. I said the environment is conducive for studies.
P1- tell us about kota and your perspective
I said it has been more than 12 years, so i don't remember much.
P1- ok, you said you love biking. Which places you have been to?
Answered that all places around pune and even went to rajasthan by bike
P1- tell us how different it is to go on bike from other conveyances
Answered that bike gives a sense of freedom and when you are riding alone you have the liberty to halt anywhere and change your plans.
Any questions for us?
No questions
Accommodation -single or double?
Answered
Not sure what to think of it, they didn't cross question me much. At one point of time when p3 was finished with questions there were no questions and i looked at p1 he smiled in childish way and realised it's his turn to ask questions.
My IV debrief (10AM slot at Mumbai) Panel had 3 people. The following were some of the questions that I remember
1. Why change in job after 8 years? 2. What are the major issues related to Healthcare in US and what do you know about reforms like Obama care (I work on health care domain)
3. If you were in the health ministry what are some of the things you saw in US healthcare which you would like to introduce in India
4. What are your hobbies? 5. What areas would you focus if you were asked to do process re-engineering of a public hospital in Mumbai?
6. For services such as Live Health Online(patient does not visit a doctor in person but does a video conference) what do you think are the major obstacles in India? Duration - approx 25 mins. Not much grilling. The panel was allowing me to feel very comfortable while putting across my ideas. Overall a wonderful experience. Now fingers crossed. All the best guys!
Hi folks. had mine yesterday. Panel had 2 guys. Both were kind of young. It was late in the evening and I thought they were quite exhausted. And ya the centre IIFT delhi, they have no facilities except space. It was a bad feeling. We waited for hours but nobody asked even for a glass of water, forget cup of tea.
Anyways, the interviewer did ask me domain questions, the general ones (they did not seem much interested in the questions as well as answers). It started with whether I was feeling nervous etc etc and about my level of confidence. Then came the golden question that what PGPEX will give me in my career.
There were a few more on the core sector, Infrastructure. Then came one math and one General aptitude ques. It was all over in not more than 15-17 mins. I asked at the end if it was all.
Overall, I don't feel it was great at all.
My IV debrief
Slot - 10 Am Delhi, 2nd Nov
Profile - 9 years IT R&D experience, no managerial experience(services + product + startup)
Panel - Two Professors
One of them was calm(P1), the other one was aggressive.
When I entered the room, P2 had gone to take a look break.
P1. What are you doing currently in your job.
Told
P1. What are recent schemes the govt has introduced to boost the agriculture secture.
P1. What has the govt done for women empowerement.
P1. What % of reservation is provisioned in the women's reservation bill.
P1. What are contrasting features of Indian and Chinese economy.
Told.
P1. Where are you from?
I said originally from bengal but born and brought up in Delhi.
P1. How many districts are there in Bengal.
I said no idea
P1. Who is the governer of Bengal.
Again said no idea
At this point P2 joins.
P2. Is Delhi a state?
P1. How many districts are there in Delhi
Again screwed up. I said there are no districts.
P1. Where do you live in Delhi.
Answered
P1. Which district does it fall under?
I said - dont know about district, but i mentioned which constituency it falls under.
P1. Where is the police station of your constituency and who is the head.
I said DCP (again screwed).
P1. What is the state equivalent of a DCP.
I said SP, but answer is SSP.
P1. What is the jurisdiction for an SP. Is it an area, city, district?
Again could not answer.
P1. Do you think you are overpaid?
I said underpaid and explained my reasons for it.
P2. Do you think by only paying a high salary a company can keep its employees happy?
Now P2 takes the charge with a grim face.
P2. How did you manage to score 720 in your third attempt whereas you were stuck at 650 in the first two.
Answered.
P2. So you are a person who just wants to write GMAT and get an MBA?
I explained my reasons.
P2. How many B schools have you applied to.
I said A B and C.
P2. So how do you think your interview is going in compared to IIMA.
I said IIMA asked open ended questions(subjective) where they were checking my opinions on various subjects and open for a debate. You are asking me objective questions(gk). So till now I would say IIMA was better.
P2. What do you expect to gain out of this course?
Told. Some cross questions.
P2. Why have you shown your experience till Aug 31st, 2014 in the application. Are you not working now.
I said 31st Aug was the cutoff for IIMC application, so I have shown my work ex till 31st Aug.
P2. Are you really working now? Do you have a pay slip for last months salary.
Unfortunately I did not have it and I told them I will mail it to them before EOD today.
P2.How do you lead a team.You have 9 years of experience and no managerial experience.
Told them that I am working as Tech Lead and I lead small teams for project completion. i said gone are the days when you could become a manager in 7-8 years. IT sector has become saturated in terms of growth.
Unfortunately I forgot to the answer the first part of the question and he really gave me a bad stare. I did not understand why and gave a sheepish smile to P1. I then recalled the 1st question and answered it.
P2. Is the team that you lead happy with you and why?
Now the most interesting part.
P2. Do you have any questions for us?
I asked, why is IIMC not able to attract foreign nationals to this course. It would add to the diversity of the class?
P2. Where did you hear this question from? This cant be your question.
I said it is my own question.
P2. Which forum did you find this question in? Or did you ask any of the candidates outside.
I stuck to my point its my own question.
P2. You are the 4th person since morning to ask this question?
I said it may be a coincidence. And most importantly does that not make it a valid question. So many people have the same concern. I even asked it in IIMA.
P2. What answer did they give you?
I explained.
P2. Not it does not. Why did you not apply to courses abroad.
Gave me reasons.
P2. If a given a choice between UCLA and IIMC, which one would you join?
I said that depends, if I get full 70-80% schol then I may think of joining UCLA.
P2. That precisely answers your question which is anyway copied. I have been doing this 5-6 years and I know where you guys get these questions from.
I sir , I cant change what you can think. But from my side I can assure you that its my own question. You have not been able to give me a satisfactory answer.
P2. Why do you think people from US and Europe come for this course when they so many good B schools in their own countries.
I said , I never spoke about US or Europe. You can get people from emerging markets like asian countries such as sri lanka, thailand australia, eastern europe or may be africa.
P2. Do you know about the economy of these countries.
I said somewhat. Most of these countries have an higher per capita GDP than India.
P2. Then why do you think they would come to India.
I said why not. IIMs are one of the best Institutions of the world. India has so much potential for economic growth.
P2. He gave some vague answers.
I dont know what to make out of the interview. Lets see.
Just for convenience of other puys
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AdhobtNyH9ndOBWoZm_xqwCq-9iGVKdmVuDPfxfT29E/edit
Puys, Anymore debriefs from 2 Nov interviews???
Interviewed on 2nd Nov, Delhi in the afternoon slot. There were 2 professors Young professor (P1) and Elder professor (P2).
P2->I want to know some details. He asked things like experience and all and was noting down. Asked if I wanted family or single accommodation.
Ans-> I said single.
P2 looks at me.
I said I will need single as I am not married, but I said that's subjective.(Actually I wanted to mean that my marital status may change. Subjective was wrong choice of word).
P2-> I am not interested in how you define single, whether you are married or not, or what do you mean by single. We have limited accommodation.
Ans-> I had written in my application I need family accommodation but there I said I will need single.
P1->What do you do? Tell us about yourself and we want to understand your profile.
Ans-> I said I will start with my education. I did my 10th from India and my 12th from abroad, since both my parents are in transferrable jobs, so throughout my education I kept on moving from one place to another.
P2-> What do your parents do?
Ans-> My mother works in MEA, she gets transferred outside India to Indian embassies abroad.
P2->While Inspecting my documents, from my offer letter, what is garden leave?
Ans->If a company is not interested in your services, it will ask you to leave. It will send you on garden leave for a period of 3 months and then your employment is terminated. Basically it is saying you can leave.
P2->So the period is 3 months?
Ans-> Generally its equal to notice period which is 3 months but it may vary from company to company.
P2-> Its better to read the offer letter properly.
Ans-> Actually I never faced this situation so don't know.
P1-> So we were discussing your profile.
Ans-> So post doing my engineering, I got several offers from both from public sector and private sector, from public sector namely Indian Oil , but I decided to join private sector, as I was interested in the banking domain. Since then I have stayed and continued in the banking domain such as working for blah blah blah...
P1->What do you do?
Ans->I am into financial reporting where we report the data as per Basel III norms in which banks have to fulfill certain capital requirements.
P1-> What financial data do you report?
Ans->Answered
P1-> Where do you come into the picture?
P1-> I work on data modelling, designing, development, I am from database side.
P2-> What is your strong area?
Ans-> Finance.
P2-> Finance is a big term. Which area?
Ans-> Stocks, derivatives, bonds etc...
P2-> What is free floating stock?
Ans-> Don't know.
P2-> These are basics.What is sensex?
Ans-> In BSE, it is the indicator of top 30 stocks by market cap.
P2-> What is market cap?
Ans-> Number of outstanding shares in mkt multiplied by market price.
P2-> You are wrong. It is number of shares that are there in the market does not include owners capital.
Ans-> That's why I said number of outstanding shares in market which does not include owner's equity.
P2-> How is sensex calculated?
Ans-> There are number of factors like liquidity,volatility, market price etc...I don't know the formula.
P2 not convinced.
P2-> What does sensex signify?
Ans-> The financial health of the economy.
P2-> So if sensex is doing well and other stocks not doing well, does it mean economy is doing well.
Ans-> I started giving crap answers. To which he started asking counter questions etc..In the end he said you are contradicting your point.
P1-> Before 2008 some crisis happened. What is that?
Ans-> Explained in detail.
P2-> You said something margin. Indian banks keep margin, what does that mean?
Ans-> Indian banks give loan on 80:20 basis. You pay 20 pc home money from you pocket, rest 80 pc bank will fund.
P2-> What is foreclosure?
Ans-> If a person decides to do away with its loan and cant fulfil its obligations, he may close the loan, bank can seize the asset and sell it to get its money.
P1-> So is it possible in India?
Ans-> Yes, that's why there are bad debts, NPAs, restructure debt.
P1-> I am not asking from bank perspective, I am asking from your perspective.
Ans-> Yes its possible. If u have taken 50 lakh, you cant repay it, bank will first restructure it, ask you to give say 35 lakhs, and in case you cant pay that also, it will go to civil court.
Some counter questions on that.
P1-> What is sovereign debt crisis?
Ans-> I said are you referring to Greece defaulting on its bond payments.
P1-> I don't know.
Ans-> Explained him what Greece did and how it defaulted.
P1-> Why bonds are required?
Ans-> To bridge fiscal deficit, fund infrastructure projects, growing the economy.
P2-> What is fiscal deficit?
Ans-> Expenses - Revenue.
P2-> What are the other ways to reduce fiscal deficit?
Ans-> Disinvestment, which govt is doing in ONGC, NHPC, CIL etc...
P1 and P2-> Do you think it's a good way. Don't you think it is wrong...its like breaking your fixed deposit. Will you do it if you go for higher studies, breaking your fixed deposit.
Ans-> About to say, breaking a FD is better than taking a loan...that's the difference between Bond and disinvestment...but they did not let me speak.
P2-> Don't you think govt can mint more money to bridge the gap?
Ans-> That's not the ideal way to do it.
P1-> Why? Which currency does Greece have?
Ans-> I said Euro.
P1-> Who mints it?
Ans-> Not Greece.
P1-> That's why they couldn't do it, but India can do it.
Ans-> It will devalue India rupee.Rupee will get weaker.
P2-> Good. Exports will increase.
Ans-> Imports will decrease leading to -ve current account deficit.
P2-> In the history of India since 1991 only twice current account deficit has been +VE, otherwise it has been -ve all through.
Ans-> That's why the economy was not doing well. Also, minting more money will increase inflation.
P2-> What is interest rate? What is repo rate and reverse repo rate.
Ans-> Explained.
P2-> Why it is called repurchase rate?
Ans-> Gave some weird explaination.
P1-> What do you do apart from work.
Ans-> Too much into reading(weird way of saying it).I said I read economic times, Dan Brown, Agatha Christie.
P2-> What is real rate of interest and nominal rate of interest?
Ans-> Don't know.
P2-> What is call rate of interest and marginal rate of interest?
Ans-> Don't know.Are you referring to derivatives.
P2-> No.These are basics, I will suggest you come out of this Economic Times and Financial Times and study beyond that. You don't know anything.
Some more questions. To some question I said that govt has no business to remain in business.
P2-> Why? Which university have you studied from?
Ans-> Answered.
P2-> Is it private?
Ans-> It is state funded.
P2-> So is govt not giving grant for it.
Ans-> That's a different thing.
P2-> How does govt generate money to pay interest on bonds.
Ans-> I gave example, it asks private companies to build roads and collects revenue.
OK. Any questions for us?
I asked, what is the scope with regards to consultancy, which companies come and what profile they offer.
They said they don't know.
I told I know the name of companies that come like capgemini consulting, Accenture business consulting and Cognizant business consulting. I want to know the roles offered.
They didn't know. In the end P1 professor answered, what he will do by knowing, as if he will reach there(IIM Cal). That was the end.
So I had 2 hugely different interviews in a span of less than 7 days... I was interviewed in Hyd on 28 Oct and Yesterday 2 Nov I was interviewed in Delhi for IIM C. The approach was a contrast. While ISB was clearly trying to ask me things I worked on and more and more about my work... IIM C was interested in checking out how much I knew about Calculus and Trigonometry. Never understood IIM Cs logic behind doing this. It was one of the most freakish interviews I have been for...
IIM C Interview questions: (15 to 20 mins) Tell us something about yourself... Why do you want to do an MBA? How much of school Math do you remember? What is the specialty of a tetrahedron? (bouncer) If you had to explain quadratic equations to a 6 year old how would you start? (tried my best) What is the cube root of 1? How will you cope with the rigger of the program? Have you been to Calcutta before? Do you have any questions for us?
Last but not the least I must thank @Llewellyn75 Sir for all the mocks and the warning about the IIM C interview process. The prep and mock interviews helped a lot. Thanks to you sir I have a call from all the schools I have applied to this year.
Now hoping for a selection at least at one school!