[2002] IIM-K GD/PI experiences

[kunalrana999]

hi frenz,
i had my iim k gd/pi today at chennai
there were 8 guys my group
and our gd topic was "developed nations want to regulate the use of natural resourses by developing nations....is it acceptable "(somethin like this, i don remember it exactly)
gd was ok but there wer'nt many points to discuss....everyone was on the same side i.e. that such regulation is unacceptable
finally i broke the jinx of bad interviews and had a gr8 interview at iim k
my previous ones at iim a and iit krgpr were quite forgettable to say the least
they started off with asking me about the gd
then they asked me how an lcd monitor works,asked some details about how different colours are obtained ,rgb,pixels,etc
then they asked me about tqm and six sigma
they asked me about what i had filled in the form
asked me about my strengths and weaknesses and we had a long discussion on them
asked me what stream of mgmt i wanna pursue,and tried to tell me that marketing is the toughest for freshers and the pay is also low etc etc but i convinced him that it is not the pay which i seek but the experience of being in marketing
asked me about my college,who founded it?what else is owned by that group,etc
interview lasted 20-25 mins i guess
thats it i guess
all in all i feel iim k guys are asking less techno and math as compared to iim a guys
best of luck to all,
kunal

[pushkarparthasarathy]

hey people ,
i'm new to this forum..
just registered today..thats the 2nd of march..
had my IIMA interview this morning..major bummer buddies...
tangents on every question...just watch out..those with interviews pending...
not much technical..but an ov\bvious strategy to stress people out..mayb that was just our panel..

i have lucknow on the 9th...any pointers??

best of luck
pushkar

[philiptj]

Hi,
Me too had the IIMK interview at Chennai yesterday. Same session(0900 AM) as Kunal, but different panel. Same GD topic. 10 mins for 8 people. There was not much to say. Hence a very peaceful GD and did kinda average in it.

I was the second to be interviewed, after shama. They informed that even the interview for the last guy would be over by 11.15. The next group of students had interview starting 11 AM. The first few interviews were very short including mine, just about 10 minutes.

There were 2 profs per panel. They asked only 2 questions. First one was the normal introduction question. Took abt 2-3 mins to answer. Then they asked about my work and that was it. That went on for about 6-7 mins, and it was something like a discussion. They were just directing me to which aspects of my work they wanted to know. It included my role, my functions, the difference I felt between the various assignments I have been in, about services firms & product firms, abt indian product companies, working for a startup vs working for MNC. All these questions were asked based on my previous answers only. More like a proactive discussion.

They did not check my folder or dint even ask for it. In the beginning they said "Give us just your form" and even I dint request them to go thru my folder as there was nothing serious in it. They didn't look at the form also, and I missed some sure shot question which I expected from the form if they had gone thru it. The same happened for my A interview also. I intentionally left some qns unanswered in the form, so that I get a chance to speak on it. But as they did not go thru the forms those remains unanswered.

Even the guy after me also had a very short interview and was on the same lines. As we were requested to leave the place once the interview was over, did not spend much time there.

Those ppl will not be giving you any blankpaper to you for GD. You have to come with your's. Upon asking they said they have sent call letters to 1500 ppl and it is not practically possible for them to provide everyone with sheets.

Anyway overall a pretty cool affair. Got L& I lined up for next week. Meanwhile others also plz update your K&I experiences..
Philip

[gjay]

Hi,
I had a pretty disgusting experience at IIMK interview today.

GD First....
Topic: "For small entrepreneurs, doing business is a livelihood than a commercial act."
The GD was amazingly quiet. 6 of us in the grp since 2 of the 8 decided to ditch....
We were asked to start and all were quiet. I did not want to start but had to since everyone was keeping quiet. Took the initiative and started. Decent GD went on.

I was the 5th to be interviewed. All the previous 4 said it was full about personal stuff like Why MBA and Strengths and weaknesses. 2 of the 4 were freshers and I have 34 months of experience. So, I entered with a similar frame of mind. Asked me to give my Application Form. Shot abt 4-5 questions on Calculas, Fourier Transforms, Telecommmunications. I managed to answer some of them and told "I don't know" for rest. I had filled my form with a lot of extra-curricular stuff. Nothing was asked about it. Nothing was asked about my company Lucent Technologies. 5 minutes into the interview, they asked me to name some industrialists in Bangalore. I said Vijay Mallya. Asked abt his contribution to B'lore and if he is ethically right in doing liquor business. Then they wished me and asked me to leave with a big cheerful smile.....???!!!
Just as I was leaving, one in the panel asked me about other IIM calls I have. I said I have call from IIM Indore apart from this. Wished me All the Best again and asked to leave.

Interview went on for just 8-9 minutes. There was not a single personal question asked. I wanted to drag them to personal questions a couple of times. But, they were determined to ask me only about maths and engineering. I was not given opportuinity to tell about other awards and achievements I could not mention in the form. I just don't know why they opted to restrict themselves to technical stuff for me.

I am totally disgusted with my experience in todays's interview..........

GJ

[philiptj]

Originally Posted by gjay

Hi,
I had a pretty disgusting experience at IIMK interview today.

GD First....
Took the initiative and started. Decent GD went on.
..............
2 of the 4 were freshers and I have 34 months of experience.
...........
Then they wished me and asked me to leave with a big cheerful smile.....???!!!
..............
Interview went on for just 8-9 minutes.
.................
I am totally disgusted with my experience in todays's interview..........

GJ

I dont see any reason to be worried. The have sent 1500 calls compared to 800-900 of others and they are spending just 2 days a centre compared to 5-6 days others are spending. Also they have multiple sessions at 0900, 1130, 1400, 1530 etc and they really dont have much time for the interview.

You profile looks pretty good, as K has a stromg bias for workex. In fact they have an avg workex of 2 years, and they need workex guys for easier placements. So it may be just that they were happy with your profile and GD performance itself, and did not want to spend so much time in interviewing you.

BTW which panel did you go? I went to panel 2 in the corner room. Even most of us there had very short interviews. I dont think that there is anything to worry about it.
Philip

[gjay]

Thanks for giving a good feeling.. Philip.....
I had interview in the other panel.......just at the entry...

Hope as you have said they decided against spending time due to positive reactions about me...!!!

GJ

[ravi]

Hi.
My IIM-K intw was yesterday (6th of March).
After the near death experience at the Ahmedabad Intw, K came as a nice surprise. The panel was actually very nice to me. But sadly enough, they were nice to everybody. No one said they had a tough interview. As 4 the GD, out of our grp of 8, only 5 turned up so that it was a very peaceful affair. the topic was "Fashion shows r a display of the ridiculous by designers out of
this world". Tht that the topic was a bit too cliched 4 an IIM GD or maybe they were testing our creativity and c if v could avoid the cliches associated with a topic like that. But sadly enough 3 guys out of the 5 had FTV on their minds and kept blabbering abt how fashion shows were agnst our culture with the way they expose blah blah blah. I said that if cultural sensitivities are offended, then designers would be out of business as they wouldn't have customers. I also said that most of the creations showcased on the ramps were not intended for practical real life
everyday wear, but rather to showcase a designer's creativity. Fashion being a business where most of the value attached to a creation comes from the designer's name, he has to keep proving his creativity and continue shocking people. And also spoke abt the new trend globally of designers like Rohit Bal and Paul McCartney's daughter (Linda, 4got her name then, damn ! ) were
designing with practicality in mind. And all of us seemed to agree that most of the creations shown on ramp shows were ridiculous and not really practical. One guy tried asking the grp if all of us agreed. I agreed immediately, but the other guys ignored this. After the discussion drifted agn with each guy making a rehashed vrsn of their initial stands, i asked the grp if, as the other guy had asked earlier, we did agree? Only that guy responded to this and then the GD was stopped.
The interview started with them (2 male profs) asking me abt my work and then when i said i was using COBOL, interrupted me and said that he thought that it was outdated. I said that development of new pgms i COBOL was limited and as a matter of fact my module was being moved to a client server envrnmt in another 2 yrs. He said that that is precisely the problem with IT - u guys force customers to upgrade to sthng new every few years or make them come back 4 things like
the Y2k bug which should never have been a problem in the first place. I said that that problem was not specific to IT.If u take a look at India's roads, which were designed centuries ago, nobody tht that they would have to carry this vol of traffic. And anyway, v weren't forcing our customers to migrate. V had no prob supporting the app the way it is and they r upgrading 4 a perceived benefit. In our case, i said it might b bcoz of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) which required HMOs to be able to transfer info seamlessly. With this ans the Qns abt work ceased and they started off on my college edn. they asked me where my college was located and when i said that Chengannur was where u got down from the train 4 Sabarimala. Then they asked about crowd control in sabarimala and why was it different from Tirupati. I said that in Sabarimala there were no separate paid queues. They asked me if i tht that paid queues were wrong. I said that All people were supposed to be equal in the eyes of God and I tht that
paid queues were not fair bypassing people who had been standing there longer. Then they asked me a couple of Qns on Kerala - abt the recent Global Investor's Meet there and abt why industry was lagging behind. I knew these fairly well. Then came a real surprise - they asked me abt Fourier Transforms and its use. I said that it could be used to solve differential eqns. They asked me abt the domain and the range and I didn't know. Then they asked me abt my interests. I said i liked reading and listening to music. When asked abt the type of music i listened to I said that i listened to Heavy Metal, Trance and Techno. They asked me y i didn't listen to Carnatic music. I said that i didn't have much exposure to it. They asked me where i had been exposed to Rock etc. I said that my father had been a big fan of the Beatles. They asked me if I planned to pursue any other higher studies like sthng technical if i didn't get admission to a mgmt course(i had said in my form that i plan to continue in my present career if i didn't get an admit) - I confirmed that i didn't plan to pursue any other higher edn. That was it. They wished me luck and i left. Feel this went OK excpet for the Fourier Transform thing.

Ravi

[sunil_012]

hii

had my iim-k on 6th march in chennai.... GD topic was " shld J&K issue to be resolved by a dialogue is justified ? " GD was calm and everyone got a chance whenever they wanted n over tht 2 of the guys out of 8 were absent

interview went on smoothly... was asked the current IT scenario and effect of MNC's investment in india... spoke on it for abt 4-5 mins.. then was asked abt my work-ex.. followed by interests.... it was over in 10 mins.... almost everyone had their interviews for 10 mins... lotsa guys wit gr8 work-ex and lone IIM-K calls were there on tht day

Sunil

[atrangi]

hi guys !
my iimk interview left me mesmerised !

GD was cool 4 guys strangely !
TOPIC : Instead of making profits by all mean businessman should earn profit only by ethical means !
Interview : P - Panel,
P : Introduce yourself
I : started by saying i come from sindhi family.....
P : Does it hold any significance
I : for me yes but i guess here no.
P : then why did you say it
I : I continued the regular stuff.
P : What are your strengths and weakness.
I : Answered.
P : Give me instances where you have shown Innovative thinking
I : I answered
He tried to refute my answers but i justified.
P : What did you learn in financial management.
I : Replied shortly.
P : You trying to preclude answers.
I : no sir.
Then asked me some technical questions and everytime refuted saying you are not talking like an engineer. explain to us like we are comman men. i tried again. he said y r u so sad. i said i am not sad.
Then he came again to maths. asked me what should we ask you in maths ? He asked me two matrices questions. I answered one other said I dont know. he asked me again what should we ask you in maths. i said i have been workin in technical field and have not been in touch with maths. he said but the course requires maths. so you cannot do it. you continue working in technical field. i said i will learn the skills required before and during the course. he said you cannot do that.
Then he asked me about do you know anything about tribals in kerala. i told him the recent incedent. then he asked me do you know where is naxalbury ( i hope spelling is correct, cause i dont know ) i said i know naxal problems. where do you find them. i said andhra pradesh and may be assam.
He said not assam but chattisgarh and naxalbury is in west bemgal.
ok you can go

[foundation2er]

well. i dint go for iimk gd pi , coz ive got thru iitb-som

so nothing to post...

n allwin....take back ur iimk bet on me...coz ur gonna lose points...

regds,Lyndon