[ankit_jn]

PROFILE:
Acads:
X – 83.6%
XII – 81.4%
Undergrad Major – 8.10/10.0 (IIT Kanpur)

Work-Ex: 4.5 years, S/W enginer

CAT %ile: 99.66
DI: 98.56
Quant: 98.66
Verbal: 97.37

GD: About a company called ‘Healthy Burgers’ which is reputed for its low calorie burgers and whose CEO and top management pledge to live by the HB burgers. Later the CEO dies prematurely due to a heart attack but the reason was that he was a heavy smoker and drinker and had bad food habits. This event was likely to dent the reputation of HB and the management had to protect HB’s reputation. At the same time they did not want to sound insensitive by publicly speaking about the bad habits of the deceased CEO.

There were 8 people in the GD with 20 minutes to discuss. The GD started rather chaotically but given the amount of time everyone got a chance to speak. I entered 3-4 times and made a couple of important points.

Form: I wrote a decent summary of the GD. My personality of the 20th century was Vladimir Lenin, more about that later (BTW I would love to know who the other candidates are naming as their personalities). I could write only one sentence in the why MBA question, but took solace from the fact that most others couldn’t write much either given that we had only 10 minutes for answering 3 questions.

PI: Two panellists – Y (young guy) and O (old guy).

Y: So you work on Bluetooth? What are its important applications
ME: Wireless music streaming, handsfree, file transfer, wireless printing etc.
O: Is Bluetooth a product or a protocol?
ME: (Oh come on!) a protocol
Y: So how is Bluetooth progressing?
ME: Bluetooth hasn’t taken off the way it was expected to when the protocol was first devised, primarily because Bluetooth is more of a luxury than a need.
Y: But then any technology is initially a luxury but turns into a necessity later. Take the example of DVDs.
ME: But the case with Bluetooth is that whatever it does can be done otherwise to and without much inconvenience.

O: So why do you think Lenin was the most influential personality of the 20th century?
ME: Because he led the October revolution which was the single most important event in the history of communism. And later on the cold war between communist and capitalist nations was the key phenomenon of the 20th century.
O: When did cold war start?
ME: (knowing where he was coming from) well, there is some disagreement. Although, it is widely believed that CW started at the end of World War II, but there were tensions between communists and USA even before that, even though the term CW was coined after the WWII. The event that Lenin was responsible for triggered a series of events leading to the CW.
O: What was Stalin’s role in all this?
ME: Yes, Stalin’s role was very significant and he comes very close to Lenin in terms of influence. He helped rise of communism in man European nation and was also a key figure in the Warsaw Pact which brought the CW to the forefront.
(By now O was satisfied that I had not simply farted when I named Lenin)

Y: How much was your company acquired for?
ME: told
Y: Why are companies acquired?
ME: When a company wants to diversify, it is a good option to acquire a company that already has expertise in a particular domain then starting a new operation from scratch.
Y: So what do you follow in IT news
ME: (now that’s my weak point. I am not particularly good with business news) I said my company is in wireless domain, I follow news on what’s happening in wireless business.
Y: (sensing I was not particularly interested in talking about this) That’s all?
ME: Well, I do follow news in general
Y: What has happened recently?
ME: Well, there was a bid by Microsoft to acquire Yahoo
Y: Why was that?
ME: told
O: What is Yahoo’s stand on that?
ME: told
O: What is Google’s reaction to this development?
ME: Google hasn’t taken very kindly to it. Google management has spoken to Yahoo’s management about this and Google has blamed Microsoft for taking an action that can go against the spirits of fair competition (I invented that term, and I knew I was not using good jargon)
O: What is fair competition?
ME: Actions like acquiring a company that would lead to a monopoly create barriers to entry and are not considered good for market competition
Y: How much did Microsoft pay for hotmail?
ME: I don’t know.
Y: Who was the creator of hotmail?
ME: Sabir Bhatia

O: So what are your hobbies?
ME: Reading ….
O: (interrupted) what do you read?
ME: I have been reading only non-fiction for last 3 years or so …
O: (interrupted again) what do you read in non-fiction?
ME: Philosophy …
O: (interrupted again!) what in philosophy
ME: Story of Philosophy by Will Durant, History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell and Indian Philosophy vol. I by S. Radhakrishnan
O: Oh Will Durant! What does will Durant say about Plato
ME: Well, it’s been some time since I read him, but …
O: (interrupted) What was the first chapter of the book? How did he start the book?
ME: First chapter was titled “Plato”. The first section was on “Socrate”
O: What does Durant say about Philosophy and Science
ME: (made a guess) He does consider there is a strong connection between Philosophy and Science. He devotes one full chapter to Francis Bacon in the book who was a prominent philosopher of Science.
O: What does Radhakrishnan say about Pagan religions?
ME: (again I did not quite remember. I should have turned a few pages of the book before the interview) He accepts the Aryan invasion theory. And he says that the epic of Mahabharata is perhaps inspired from a battle between Aryans and Indian aborigines.
O: He says so? (looks surprised)
ME: Yes, he does. (I was sure of this)
O: So did the Pre-Vedic Gods influence the Vedic religions
ME: (ask me something about post-Vedic Sir!) I think yes, many pagan Gods were adopted in Vedic relgion
O: You are contradicting yourself
ME: Some unconvincing defence

O: One last question. Why do you want to do an MBA after 4.5 years?
ME: I have changed as an individual, I did not think I wanted to be a manager about 2-3 years ago etc etc.
O: You are earning Rs. XXXX. How much do you expect to earn post MBA?
ME: Gave some number and then added…salary is not the topmost thing on my mind. I want to be able to do something else…blah blah.
O: You know about the PGSEM program?
ME: The executive MBA?
O: No, the one meant for S/W engineers. If you do that you can continue to earn your salary and get the MBA.
ME: I am going to do an MBA only once. I want to go into complete depth and take the full advantage of the MBA program.
O: You think the part-time MBA doesn’t go into depths? Have you tried to find out about that program?
ME: I haven’t, but I know a few people…
O: Ok, thanks. (He was not amused with my answer on part-time MBA. I should have simply said that managing time would be difficult in part-time MBA)




Guys, what do you think about my interview? I felt I goofed up a few times in between and big time at the end.

[anir-iim2005]

Originally Posted by DavidHyter

Yo,
I just thought i'd post my GD/PI experiences . Seniors i am very unahppy as it did not go well at all. :( :( :(
Please tell me your thoughts on this.

Profile :

Name : David Hayter
Xth - 93%
No twelth marks as i went directly into training.
Cat percentile : 99.33

Location: IIMB
Date: 1/04/08
Time: 2 P.M slot

GD :

Topic : It was about a chemical company in which pollutants were released into a river. This had gone on for a number of years when a local TV channel broke the news out. As a damage control mechanism , the company admitted that they did not know of this problem and will rectify everything as soon as possible. However , the CEO of the company , Mr.Arun has found out the MD , Kamal Nath actually knew about the pollution. Mr.Arun decides to take this to the board but Mr.Kamal Nath in true villain fashion kidnaps Arun's pet dog and says he will kill it if Arun takes further steps. What is arun to do in this case?
My fellow Members : A lot of them were old with all people having experience greater than 2 years except a fresher. I however was the only person with 15 years experience

Discussion: It was a round table with panelists sitting at either end of the table. This was the first interview in which they had placed bottles in front of us to drink during the GD - which was pretty cool or so i thought at the begining. The discussion started out peacefully with moi starting with a overview of the case. Some of the important points were:
*There could be other reasons as to why Kamal Nath reacts in this illogical manner
*The fact that river is being polluted implies many dogs drink from it , so danger to many dogs overrides danger to one dog
*A guy did offer a counter point of actually giving in to his demands – did not get much traction with the group – but a different angle nonetheless
*Where is the dog being held - could arun rescue it on his own?
The discussion was going along about the last point , when somebody suggested going to the police as a possibility. This was where things started to get out of hand with someone suggesting that police do not do anything useful. However , the fresher's grandfather was a policeman and he took great offense at this comment. He aggressively stated that , in the time we were discussing this , the police would have thrown a stun grenade and knocked out Kamal Nath. The commerce guy (who was the one who stated the crack against the police) , didn't back down and jokingly said 'they'll aim at Kamal but it will probably go to the neighbors house.'. I don't know what this guys problem was , but the fresher exploded at that and said 'Well lets see the aim of a policeman's grandson' and flung the bottle at the commerce grad !! It hit him right in the face. Everyone was shocked at this and could not react , except the commerce guy who took his own bottle and threw it. However his aim was as bad as he claimed the policemen's aim was and it actually travelled in the direction of the cute girl sitting next to me - However moi caught the bottle and saved her . However my happiness was soon deflated when the panel told us all to 'STOP!!' and start writing the summary. Man they looked irritated as hell when we were doing it – I’ve never heard of a worse GD in my life.
I think i wrote the summary well but i left out the fight in the end. Was that a good move?

:eek::eek: What was that? No offence meant, but I just hope it is not an attempt at April Fool.

I am totally speechless. Looking at it objectively, your Profile is awesome and your PI is one of the best PIs I have seen this year. I just hope the GD doesn't affect your chances (even then, you acted well in the chaos). Otherwise, you are through for sure I think. All The Best..


Anirban

[iamsimpleguy]

Originally Posted by anir-iim2005

:eek::eek: What was that? No offence meant, but I just hope it is not an attempt at April Fool.

I am totally speechless. Looking at it objectively, your Profile is awesome and your PI is one of the best PIs I have seen this year. I just hope the GD doesn't affect your chances (even then, you acted well in the chaos). Otherwise, you are through for sure I think. All The Best..


Anirban

Yup.... seems so

ANy idea till what date the interviews go on?
when shall we expect the final shortlist?? also a slew of experienced people this time.....lets see how the final list is...

[Manu246]

Venue : Mumbai
Date : Mar 31

Time : 9AM

Profile:

98.49 %ile

B L

B.Tech (Mech) from BITS Pilani. 9.13/10. 2006.

L&T Projects 20 months till Jan end.

XII : 95.5

X : 92



Group/ GD / Summary

Group of 6(3 absent)

The case was somewhat like this " Imagine yourself to be the employees of Tata who have been given the responsibility of coming up with a suitable reply to the environmentalists' concern about the Nano. Keep in mind the image that Tata have in people's minds and also the ideal of nation building that Tata's foster "


10 mins to think. 20 minutes to discuss. 10 minutes to write summary and two more questions.

Since it was a group of 6, the discussion was very positive. No pushing/jostling etc. The approach was set very well by the first speaker. A lot of good points were made, but at the end we ran out of points and ended up summarising twice, even before they asked us to summarise!


Couldn't complete the summary and the other two questions. Time was very short.

Interview

Panel of two


Started off with my SOP. "You seem to like L&T a lot and the work you do there. So tell us about it".
I gave a gist of what I am doing. They kept focussing on my workex for quite sometime
Do you have anyone working under you? Give us some examples of some of the tough situations that you have been through? How did you handle them?Rest of the questions revolved around my profile. However no data/ general awareness questions like what is the turnover etc.
The second half of the interview was widely HR related. Asked me a few questions about my hometown. I gave some data gyan which was quite well taken. Gave a compliment saying you have done your research well ! Some of the other questions were "Why did you not choose a software job? Why L&T?" What other info can you give us about your hometown? Some questions also specific to my SOP, but no why MBA and career plan questions
I should have given a more detailed interview but since I am running out of time right now, I can only hope to come back and edit it sometime.
The whole GDPI has been a great experience. Thanks and good luck to fellow Puys.

[muru_chn]

@DavidHyter

that was an amazing p.i... tht is if u r not makin it up.... n a really crappy g.d... i cant imagine somethin of tht sort happenin... i really don expect ppl to be tht stupid...
if it was true... it was an amazin p.i i wud say...

[hurricane]

Originally Posted by DavidHyter

Yo,
I just thought i'd post my GD/PI experiences . Seniors i am very unahppy as it did not go well at all. :( :( :(
Please tell me your thoughts on this.

Profile :

Name : David Hayter
Xth - 93%
No twelth marks as i went directly into training.
Cat percentile : 99.33

Location: IIMB
Date: 1/04/08
Time: 2 P.M slot

GD :

Topic : It was about a chemical company in which pollutants were released into a river. This had gone on for a number of years when a local TV channel broke the news out. As a damage control mechanism , the company admitted that they did not know of this problem and will rectify everything as soon as possible. However , the CEO of the company , Mr.Arun has found out the MD , Kamal Nath actually knew about the pollution. Mr.Arun decides to take this to the board but Mr.Kamal Nath in true villain fashion kidnaps Arun's pet dog and says he will kill it if Arun takes further steps. What is arun to do in this case?
My fellow Members : A lot of them were old with all people having experience greater than 2 years except a fresher. I however was the only person with 15 years experience

Discussion: It was a round table with panelists sitting at either end of the table. This was the first interview in which they had placed bottles in front of us to drink during the GD - which was pretty cool or so i thought at the begining. The discussion started out peacefully with moi starting with a overview of the case. Some of the important points were:
*There could be other reasons as to why Kamal Nath reacts in this illogical manner
*The fact that river is being polluted implies many dogs drink from it , so danger to many dogs overrides danger to one dog
*A guy did offer a counter point of actually giving in to his demands – did not get much traction with the group – but a different angle nonetheless
*Where is the dog being held - could arun rescue it on his own?
The discussion was going along about the last point , when somebody suggested going to the police as a possibility. This was where things started to get out of hand with someone suggesting that police do not do anything useful. However , the fresher's grandfather was a policeman and he took great offense at this comment. He aggressively stated that , in the time we were discussing this , the police would have thrown a stun grenade and knocked out Kamal Nath. The commerce guy (who was the one who stated the crack against the police) , didn't back down and jokingly said 'they'll aim at Kamal but it will probably go to the neighbors house.'. I don't know what this guys problem was , but the fresher exploded at that and said 'Well lets see the aim of a policeman's grandson' and flung the bottle at the commerce grad !! It hit him right in the face. Everyone was shocked at this and could not react , except the commerce guy who took his own bottle and threw it. However his aim was as bad as he claimed the policemen's aim was and it actually travelled in the direction of the cute girl sitting next to me - However moi caught the bottle and saved her . However my happiness was soon deflated when the panel told us all to 'STOP!!' and start writing the summary. Man they looked irritated as hell when we were doing it – I’ve never heard of a worse GD in my life.
I think i wrote the summary well but i left out the fight in the end. Was that a good move?

Waiting:
I was fourth. Nobody actually spoke for 1 min after coming out. After that it was mostly talk in twos and threes with the fresher and the commerce guy being as far apart as possible. I was spending time talking to the girl who was next – She was really into my stories about my various experiences around the world during the course of my career. In what seemed like seconds, three people before finished their interview – they said the panel really fried them about the GD. Went inside ..
No introductions. Lets call them One(O) and Two(T) and Moi (M)
O: So what do you think of the GD?
M: It was like testing firing a prototype , only louder . (Had thought of this answer outside since I wanted to shift from GD topic ASAP)
O: You are an army weapons consultant. Don’t they teach you how to take control of a group and be in charge of it?
M: Well , you have to agree that the discussion up to the point of throwing the bottle was fine and in fact some good points were discussed. And I did lead the group in discussion and made sure we did not go out
So what do Seniors think? L

The way I see it,

I havn't heard of a more stupid GD Topic than this one ever in my life. That too from IIMB I dont think so.

Clearly a case of some body trying to do an April Fool's prank.

Common guys.....no body throws bottles in an IIMB interview....This is a hoax someone's trying to pull.

[starshades]

Haha. If it really is an April Fool's Day joke, it surely was funny. Don't know if it fooled too many, but hilarious.

[monk4lif]

i knw its too late to post dis kinda stuff.......bt na se tu kuch bhala...........

some basic stuff involving finance is what u need to know..
this would include :

1. india budget 2008 - you can get the highlights of the budget here (Budget 2008: Highlights)
..... sum more reading on specific parts of the budget would be helpful ....

2. subprime crisis and its impact - (Subprime mortgage crisis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
here .... u shud have sum knowledge about the companies that were impacted by subprime .. (bear stearns for instance)

3. some idea about the financial markets - (Financial market - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

[IAYF]

Originally Posted by DavidHyter

Yo,
I just thought i'd post my GD/PI experiences .

Kudos to Mr.Hyter for making up this experience...
he surely did trick most puys into believing that his was a real experiences...anyway, what a great read it was!

and guys, if you are still wondering if it is fake or not, ask any guy from 2 PM slot @ IIMB on April 1, they all had the same topic as Sukrut's group...

[prashant_iitiim]

PROFILE:

Acads:
X - 94% (ICSE)
XII - 92.5% (ISC)
CGPA - 7.89 (IIT Kharagpur)
BTech Ocean Engg and Naval Architecture(final yr)

Work-Ex: NIL


CAT %ile:
DI : 99.63
Quant : 98.3
Verbal : 96.4
Aggregate : 99.76

Venue: new kenelwort hotel,kolkata
Time: 2pm


GD:
Topic: Women demand equal rights as men but at the same time they also demand special needs such as leaves,fixed working hours,refusing certain type of work etc..isnt this a case of hypocrisy..they want the best of both worlds.discuss
Number of Ppl present : 9
Time: 10 mins to think,15 mins to discuss
Brief Snapshot of Discussion:
Was an average gd according to me from both personal and group point of view...got in only 2-3 times..its difficult to cut in between,often 2-3 persons would speak at the same time and i would let go most of the times..most of us were pro woman as expected while 1-2 felt that women were taking advantage..i stressed that it was a proven fact that women are as competitive as men and some jobs like handling people women do better..hence it made sense from organizations point of view to have women..merit shud be sole criteria when it comes to hiring for a job..and spcl needs hav got to be considered..society has to change bfor we can do away with special needs like security etc..also healthy intermixing of both genders at wrkplace/education is desired for better wrk environment
Other Salient Details:
10 mins for summary and 2 other qsns which are being given everyday: 1>most influential personality of the 20th century
2>career aspirations and how pgp from iimb will help

PI:
Panel Members : 2 (medium age person(MP) and young person(YP))
Medium aged person was very pleasant and was smiling and laughing during the interview and did most of the talking
Questions:

MP: ok so uve written bill gates as the most influential person..why
me: explained abt his laying foundation of IT boom and personal computer revolution..he said that bill gates was an accident,ibm was the real hero and lost out by not licencing the technology..i said thet bill gates strted from nothing and look where he is now..controlling entire software market..etc etc
MP:asked who was ibms president den
me: said i didnt know
MP: oh this bill gates is a publicity seeker...so every1 knows him but ibm fellow stays within himself so know1 knows him
me: i dont thnk he is publicity seeker..he has done wrk which makes him deserving to be famous ..plus he was the richest person in the wrld but donated billions of dollars to charity
MP: asked abt my fathers work..had mentioned on form that he handles mergers and acquisitions (in a medium sized Indian MNC)
me: answered abt wat he does basically and wat r the advantages of mergers and acquisitions..he wanted to get into more depth and was countering the advantages i offered with alternatives but i said i dont know too many details abt fathers wrk
YP: ok ocean engg and naval architecture..wat is ur fav subject
me: marine production and planning and a ship designing course we had
YP: ok so how do u go abt designing a ship
me: told,was asked 1-2 more qsns as to how much of ship market is custom designed..didnt have the exact data but said that a large part
MP: asked do ships hav sections or a single stretch
me: explained why ships hav sections and are divided into compartmets
YP: asked what to do if i want to carry different types of cargo
me: answered
MP: gave a situation that there is an aeroplane. a boy is sitting in it with a helium balloon in his hand and looking at it.as the plane takes off where does the baloon move or it remains in its position
me: answered that it will move backwards because of a pseudo force acting backwards as the plane accelerates forward
MP: what if i say ans is forward
me: thought abt it but said i cant imagine how it can move forwards
MP: said that it was a helium baloon
me: still cudnt see how helium would exactly make the balloon go forward rather than backwards
MP: gave some vague exlanation abt baloon being lighter than atmosphere so when atmosphere moves backward baloon goes forward..didnt get this part but nodded
YP: told to link this part to the ship being divided into compartments if possible
me: said it wont be directly connected and diverted to another point abt free surface effect..seemed satisfied by my ans tgh its not at all connected with the helium thing i suppose
MP: so u live in joka..been to iimc campus
me: yes sir
MP: so what hav been the changes over the yr
me: :unhappy: sir it hasnt changed that much..its more well maintained and maybe some hostels hav been added..didnt hav much idea what hav been the changes,havent noticed much changing,mentioned abt the bank and its renovation.knew this coz i use it
MP: so do u like it
me: yes sir
MP: asked abt career goals
me: (kitne baar puchenge:-|)told abt wanting top management position in reputed organization.challenging and rewarding career
MP: u shudnt come to iimb else u will never bcom famous
me: (maine kab kaha famous banna hai:-|) !!!
MP: no1 famous in business is mba..not even ur role model bill gates
me: sir they had some idea and dey became entrepreneurs...such ppl who bcom successful are very few and they had some exceptional idea...i dont hav ny idea or business plan yet so im not looking into entreprenurship..so i wont bcom famous widout mba as well and being famous is not an issue..if i get some idea in next 2 yrs...i will look into it
MP: but if u join us,,rest assured u wont get ny idea
me: sir i wud prefer to rise up the ranks... i frankly dont hav ne idea on which i can do nythng presently
MP: asked to name any famous entrepreneur who was mba...dont mention ceos...thr r plenty of ceos
me:(are to ceo hi ban jau kafi hai) sir i accept these guys like dhirubhai ambani etc werent mba..but they became successful cause of exceptional skills and ideas.. cant place ny1 with an mba
mentioned abt sabeer bhatia being an entrepreneur who mite hav got an mba(was hoping that he had)
MP: but forget mba,he isnt even an engg..
me: sir ,he is from bits pilani
MP: no he isnt,he is st xaviers grad in physics
me: (!!!!!!!) no sir im sure he is from bits pilani
MP:(laughing) no no u r mistaken
me: :unhappy: ok sir i will chk out
MP and YP: ok,thanku
me: thanku sir

was a feel good interview...didnt hav too many difficult qsns and it was a good environment with MP making me feel comfortable and we were smiling most of the time....i dont know if his explanation for the balloon qsn was ok..cant think why balloon will move fwd wen plane is acclerating fwd during takeoff
also dont know if he was chking my confidence during insisting that sabeer batia wasnt from bits pilani or he was genuinely mistaken
overall-pi went pretty well but gd was pretty avg...with acads and cat score being good..feel i have a decent chance of making it..waiting for 11th april to know



P.S
found out abt the baloon qsn from net..it will indeed go forward ...the explanation is very high funda..i dont know how many ppl wud have explained it correctly..maybe they were expecting too much from me
i have pasted a puzzle and its explanation related to this phenomenon below..interesting physics..mainly stemming from the fact that its a helium balloon


Afriend, Professor Arthur D. Yaghjian {Concord, Massachusetts, USA) was once travelling in a car with his
family, carrying helium-filled balloons. He noticed that whenever he accelerated the car, the balloons surged forward
and crowded around his shoulders! Every time he put on the brakes, the balloons moved backwards and pressed
against the rear window! Why did the balloons behave in such a crazy way?


The explanation hinges on the “Archimedes principle” and “pseudo-forces”. Ahelium-filled balloon experiences
an upward buoyant force equal to the weight of the air it displaces (Archimedes principle). Since helium is less
dense than air, this buoyant force is greater than the balloon’s weight. It therefore floats upwards against gravity.
Now, when a car accelerates, say in the forward direction, a backward force is generated on massive bodies inside
it because of their inertia of rest. When a car brakes, the inertia of motion produces a forward force inside it. Such
purely inertial forces which originate in the use of accelerated frames of reference, such as an accelerated car, are
called “pseudo-forces” to distinguish them from “impressed forces”. Unlike “impressed forces”, “pseudo forces”
do not arise from the proximity of other physical bodies and do not fall off with distance. These horizontal forward
and backward pseudo-forces inside the car play the role of gravity, and the helium-filled balloons move against
them because of the buoyant force resulting from the Archimedes principle.