HRM, Mumbai, 13th March, 8:45 slot
X – 88%
XII – 85%
UG – 6.56
XAT – 95.96
Work ex: Teach For India/ Fellow/ 21 months
Other major achievements : XII grade School math topper, Highest percentile in gulf region for ACER english exam
Any achievement / USP of yours: The past 2 years have been the most challenging.
Group Discussion topic: Trade unions help boost productivity
GD description: Only 4 out of the 10 people showed up and we took about 20 minutes (one person showed up late and he was asked to join GD with the afternoon group). All of us started with strong points but soon settled into an easy conversation and worked out a consensus.
Professor’s description in brief: 1: Prof. M. Srimannarayana (HRM), 2: Prof. S. George (Organizational behavior), 3: Unknown prof
Prof 2: Praveen explain to me your philosophy for life.
Me: explained about what I believed and how I viewed my life.
Prof 2: tell us about your family and share something special about your father. (That stunned me for a bit but that was the theme for the remainder of the PI. They stunned me all along and grilled me prof 1 went through every aspect of what I answered)
Prof 1: If I make a statement that you wasted two years of your life at TFI and now are trying to make up for it. How will you reply?
Me: Explained how TFI benefited me and how I reached decision to do HRM.
Prof 1: If I make a statement that you are applying to this college as a last resort. How would you respond?
Me: I Explained that though I was not interested in many other colleges I would still be looking for a job in HR elsewhere.
Prof 1: Who is this (person who significantly shaped my life)? Tell me more about her.
Me: Replied as best as I could.
Now here was the twister in the PI
Prof 1: Praveen in your application you did not apply to BM instead gave global MBA as a preference. Why did you not apply to BM? And did you know global MBA has 5 years work ex required?
Me: Started to explain how I did not bother which other course I applied to but stopped in between because I realized that I had applied to BM but not reaching the cutoff. So I bring it up and then Prof 1 practically shoves the paper in my face saying,” See right here. You have applied to Global MBA,” So I decided not to verify and said that it did not matter to me which other course I applied for either Global MBA or BM because I wanted to focus and only wanted HRM and I believed that Global MBA required 3 years work ex.
(Turns out I did apply for BM and not Global MBA)
Prof 3: Okay Praveen you mentioned you don’t like working under someone’s thumb. Can you elaborate?
Me: Explained how I meant that I liked looking at the forest rather than the trees. So I elaborated on how I preferred having a supervisory or managerial role.
Prof 2: You may leave.
Me: Thank you sir.
Prof 2: If you have anything else to say you can do so now.
Me: Actually sir I do have something to say. I would like to elaborate on how I reached my decision that XL is the perfect b – school for my future.
Prof 1: I think you have explained all that and there is nothing more to say.
Me: But sir there is more that I haven’t explained.
Prof 1: But you have already.. Okay go on.
Me: (Sat down again) Explained how the philosophy of the college matched with my personal philosophy and how I admired the transparency shown in the admission process with regards to the answer papers.
Here is my advice to the aspirants: The panel was hell bent on proving or disproving something with regards to my candidature. Just keep it cool and answer with confidence and honesty.
It is a highly unpredictable interview but the panel knows what exactly they are looking for in each candidate. So every question is an opportunity. Honesty is the best course in my opinion.
ONE MORE THING: For the GD out of 4 of us I was the only one with a notepad. As soon as I mentioned that I had a notepad I saw Prof 1 write down something. So it might be useful carrying a notepad. Shows that you are prepared.