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CoolAvenue's Interview with:
Simanti Talukdar
Symbiosis Centre for Management & Human Resource Development (SCMHRD), Pune

1. General Questions
2. Questions related to Pre-MBA Preparation
3. Questions related to Group Discussion / Group Exercise
4. Interview-related Questions
5. After Joining MBA

4. Interview-related Questions

Q. Date and location of Interview. Were you given the option to choose? Was the interview date fixed or rescheduled couple of times?
A. 14th February 2007 at Delhi. We were asked for our preferred location and a second preference out of a few given options. I had to get my date and venue re-scheduled a couple of times, because it was clashing with other interviews and they were very co-operative about it.

Q. Can you tell us about the panel that interviewed you?
A. I had two faculty members in my panel - a lady who was the HR faculty and a gentleman. Most of the questions were asked by the gentleman who asked me a range of questions from politics, demographics, as also about the different things I had put in my CV. The lady asked a few general questions like 'Tell us about yourself', 'Your strengths and weaknesses' and 'about an incidence when you went against a superior'.

Q. How long was your interview?
A. My interview was for around 15-20 minutes.

Q. What was the first question? The most interesting question? The most difficult question?
A. The first question was "Tell us about yourself", the most interesting question as also the hardest question was "Do you think capital punishment to a terrorist is justified?". When I said that I wasn’t an advocate of capital punishment, but a terrorist was an exception who had killed thousands of innocent victims and, therefore, deserves capital punishment, the panel negated saying that the terrorist may have a wife and kids who will be left without any support. It was a long discussion and in the end, I surrendered but gave a balanced view.

Q. How did you prepare for the interview? While facing the panel, were you confident, did you feel prepared?
A. I read up on current affairs from the Internet and newspapers, as also brushed up on the subjects in graduation (Economics). Apart from that, I tried to be thorough on my work and my company. I was a little nervous, but I had no expectations, since I wasn’t expecting to get through the Group Discussion, so it was a bit of a surprise. I went with an open mind and was very relaxed which brought out the best during my interview.

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

Q. Did work experience help in getting the choice of your school and also in dealing with the curriculum?
A. I think work experience definitely gave me some extra points, both in terms of maturity as well as diversity. However, dealing with the curriculum is not related with my work experience, at least in the first semester.

Q. Getting into and sailing through a B-school is easier for a Science Graduate than for someone from Humanities background. Your comments please.
A. I think a B-school admission or surviving in one is more of a personal issue which has very little correlation with educational background. Being from a Humanities background myself, I have never felt any disadvantage, either during my MBA preparation or during the short time I have spent in a B-school. At the same time, I have seen some Humanities students struggle because they weren’t from a Math background. At the end of the day, it boils down to your comfort level with a particular subject rather than your undergraduate stream.

Q. Will an MBA degree add on to your existing career plan or did you decide to switch/start a career in management?
A. I embarked on my MBA because it was a challenge, because it was childhood dream, and because I wanted to be a part of the holistic learning that it offers. The degree itself or the career path wasn’t such a big consideration.

Q. Why did you decide to do MBA from this school?
A. SCMHRD is known for its multi-faceted learning environment where we are offered an array of subjects with equal emphasis on academics as well as extra-curriculars and even spirituality. So I wanted to be a part of this holistic learning. Also it has amazing infrastructure, good placements and has the Symbiosis brand name that is respected all over. It is one of the fastest growing B-schoolS in the country and is well respected in the industry.

Q. Were you able to get the school of your choice or did you compromise and opted for the best option that was open/available for you?
A. SCMHRD was one of my better options. While I had a call from SP Jain, Mumbai, I couldn’t convert the call. I also had calls from SIBM, MICA, TAPMI, XIMB, NMIMS, Delhi School of Economics. But I was more keen on SCMHRD, which was my second option after SP Jain.

Contd.   5. After Joining MBA