1. General Questions
2. Questions related to Pre-MBA Preparation
3. Interview-related Questions
4. After Joining MBA

3. Interview-related Questions

Q. How did you prepare for the interview?
A. To begin with, I reviewed my application thoroughly while trying to tighten any loose ends and clearly articulated my expectations from the programme. Besides this, I kept myself abreast of the latest happenings by regularly going through the newspapers including Economic Times and Hindustan Times. Both these efforts helped me immensely during the interview.

Q. How many interview calls did you get and from which institutes? How many and which ones of these could you actually convert to a Final Call?
A. I had applied to three institutes, got call from two, and finally converted IIM-L.

Q. Date and location of Interview? Were you given the option to choose? Was the interview date fixed or rescheduled couple of times? Was the interview venue changed or scheduled as per your convenience?
A. Interview was held on 4th January 2008, 3:30 PM, at IIM-L - Noida Campus. The interview date / time was not rescheduled.

Q. Can you tell us about the panel that interviewed you?
A. The panel comprised of IIM-L faculty, one each from Marketing, HR and Finance areas (I came to know of this after the interview was over!).

Q. How long was your interview?
A. My interview lasted for about 20 minutes.

Q. What kind of questions were you asked? Were they specific to any particular area?
A. The questions revolved around my Job Profile, the kind of projects I have managed, why MBA at this stage, and my expectations post-MBA, etc. I was also asked about the latest scenario in my industry, how it impacted my company, and if I had a solution to the same.

Q. What were the first question, the most interesting question, the most difficult question?
A. The first question was about my motivation to do an MBA at this point in my career. The question that I found most interesting was about the currency crisis that was impacting the Indian IT industry, and the question that I had a difficulty in answering was elaborating a solution to this crisis.

Q. While facing the panel, were you confident, did you feel prepared?
A. I did feel confident and prepared while facing the panel. However, there is always an element of nervousness while facing any kind of interview, and more so if it is a matter or making it (or not making it) to an IIM!

Q. How would you rate your performance in the Interview?
A. On a scale of 10, I would rate my interview performance as 8.

Q. Write a brief about your Interview experience.
A. While I have already indicated a bit about my interview experience, I would like to add that the panel was very nice and made me feel comfortable before really beginning with the interview process. The interview started with questions around my SOP (Statement of Purpose), the direction that I wanted my career heading towards, the kind of efforts that I have made towards the same, etc. Then the focus shifted to specific points that I had indicated in the SOP and also in the additional information that I had submitted. I did face some challenging moments here but I feel that I could confidently (and logically!) handle the questions.

Q. Was any feedback given to you? What feedback did you receive from the panel at the end of session?
A. No feedback was given.

Q. Areas where you could have performed better in your interview?
A. There's always a scope for preparing better; however, I think I did my best in the interview.

Q. Give some handy tips regarding interview that would be of great help to MBA aspirants.
A. If one is clear about his/her career ambitions, and also keeps a track of what is going on in his/her industry, I feel that half the battle is already won. Besides this, during the interview one needs to be ready to draw upon specific instances from the career life to support an argument.

Contd.   4. After Joining MBA