VGSOM GD/PI 2011-2013 Experiences & Discussions

Thread for Discussing GD/PI Experiences.

Thread for Discussing GD/PI Experiences.


Hi Puys,

The VGSOM GD/PI process has started today and it's time to tell your experiences to your fellow puys which would help others in better preparing for their interviews.

Please follow the below mentioned format for posting experiences:Process:

JMET Rank/Percentile:

Profile

10th:
12th:
Graduation:
Work Experience:

GD Topic:

PI Experience (Questions, Time, etc...) :

Any other interesting thing:

@Mods: Please rename the thread with the year 2011-2013 so that people find it easily and update the right thread...!

Thanks!!

@Mods: Please rename the thread with the year 2011-2013 so that people find it easily and update the right thread...!

Thanks!!


That's right..the year needs be mentioned so that it can be searched easily and people, please start posting your experiences.

Seems no one want to share it

Process:

JMET Rank/Percentile: 743/96.54

Profile

10th: 85.16
12th: 79.83
Graduation: 81.9
Work Experience: Nil

GD Topic: Was a Case Study on a Firm which deals with aspirin based products in an analgesic market. The CASE was very long and I found it quite uninteresting.

We were given 1 minute each to speak on the case, and then there was an open round of 10 minutes. 10 mins were also given to think and note down the points before the start of the GD. After the GD was over, we were told to summarize our points in an A4 sheet.

Was a very average GD for me, did not speak much in the open round, and although it wasnt strictly a fish market, but many people were speaking at the same time, points were being repeated and so on. I would rate my performance- 6/10.

PI Experience (Questions, Time, etc...) :

Panel consisted of 2 Male Professors. One was young and the other middle aged. Will refer to them as P1 and P2 respectively.

As I entered, P1 left for a break. P2 started taking my interview.

P2: Okay, you are from Durgapur. Which college?
S: *****.
P2: Where is it? And how many engineering colleges are in Durgapur?
S: Answered.
Other general questions about Durgapur followed.
P2: Okay, you from Computer Science background. But I do not know anything about CSE. So let me ask you questions from something else.
S: 😁 Sure sir.
P2: You have got 85% in 10th, 80% in 12, 82% in Engg, calculate how much you will get in your MBA with the help of a graph.
S: Drew a curve.
P2: What sort of a curve is it?
S: Parabolic.
P2: Not sinusoidal?
S: Maybe.. Tried to explain something.

P1 returned.

P2: Okay, how are you in Sikh History?
S: Average.
P2 asked me a couple of questions and I answered them both correctly.
P2: Very good.

P2: So what are you good at?
S: Said I liked writing articles in my blog, especially on Current Affairs.
P2: Big Smile..
P2: So tell us what is happening in Libya. Looks at P1
S: Explained everything I knew about the Jasmine Revolution, Egypt, Libya, Gaddafi, affects on India, etc.

P2: Asked me to contrast between Gaddafi and Mubarak. Then asked me to co-relate it with the situation in India, especially in West Bengal.

Next few questions were from the Union Budget and the Railway budget, also asked me to highlight about Mamata Banerjee's plans for WB, with respect to the coming state elections.

I think I answered to the best of my ability, but mostly took a diplomatic stance when I was asked which political party is doing a better job.

P2: So in which department is your father working?
S: Computer and Information Technology.. :o

P1: So your father forced you to take up CSE? Why dont you work a few years then do MBA?
S: Tried to justify, but I dont think I did a very convincing job here.. :|

Rest of the questions were mostly about career objectives.
P2: You said you are interested in HR. Which college in India is best for HR?
S: XLRI.
P2: Is it? Or is it some other college.
S: TISS is also there, Sir.
P2: Yes I was thinking about TISS only. Why dont you go there?
S: Did not get a call from XLRI, and did not apply to TISS as the date clashed with JMET.
P2: Okay.

A few more general questions were asked.

Finally,
P2: Do you have any questions for us?
S: Asked about the student exchange programme.

Then thanked them and left.

Overall, a pretty chilled out interview, no stress, no interruptions, loved the process. PI lasted for around 25 mins. Most of the people in my group were grilled on acads, and that too in depth. One person was only asked questions from electrical engineering. I was incredibly lucky not to have been asked any technical question. Had a great time talking with other guys from my slot. Only one girl and me were freshers, rest all had work ex. Met a few puys as well. Also met a senior from my home-town, and we had a nice discussion on the return train journey as well. Co-incidentally an aged person was seated beside us. We came to know he is a banker, and he told us a lot of things, about general terminology, banking, finance, budget, etc. Loved it..

All the best to everyone from my side. :cheers:


P.S.- My file wasnt seen. None of the documents were verified or even glanced at. No identity verification was done, not even a signature. In fact you could have gone there empty handed and still be done with the process.

Final Verdict: Rejected

Waiting for some more experiences to be shared 😃

Process:

JMET Rank/Percentile: 743/96.54

Profile

10th: 85.16
12th: 79.83
Graduation: 81.9
Work Experience: Nil

Your interview was decent and interesting 😁

PGs at VGSOM

2010target , first_timer, leyonayas , oritra during an interview process

JMET Rank/Percentile:JMET 649/ CAT 98.96

Profile

10th:91 (West Bengal)
12th:85.1(West Bengal)
Graduation: 7.95 (West Bengal)
Work Experience: 42 months

GD Topic: A case study about the customer dissatisfaction about a retail store, less than expected profit, etc. What should the manager do ?
I felt it went good for me, mostly because others were very gentle/shy, whatever. 10 mins GD, and then we were given hardly 5 mins to summarise. Summary could have been better.

PI Experience (Questions, Time, etc...) : Two panelists.
Q : Cat percentile is 98.96. What calls do you have.
A : Told them about B, RRT.
Q : Why not Ranchi.
A : Explained. (They seemed surprised)
Q : Leaving aside B, which is your preferred one among the three.
A : Explained. Some pros and cons, and told that I'll have to decide and take a call later.
Q : what about IITs ?
A : Told about KGP only. Didn't apply to Mum and Delhi cos I wouldn't have got the calls.
General comment about Mumbai and Delhi intake, their locational advantages etc.
Remarks about the same combination of IEM+IBM. (The person before me was my junior at college and we work at IBM)
A : Some general comments.
Q : What have you learned from Cognizant ? (I worked there before, recently joined IBM)
A : Explained. Cut once to explain what is BFS. Told them the full form. They seemed happy
Q : Who was your client ?
A : Told.
Q : What have you learned from
A : Explained.
Now it turned interesting.
Q : Hobbies ?
A : Told about reading, mostly classics.

One of them seemed delighted and took over.

Q : What have you read ?
A : Started with what I am reading now ( Mentioned 3 books, though I read one quite sometimes back)
Q : what else ?
A : Named one book.
Q : What else ?
A : Gave another book.
Q : No no, what else from the previous author.
A : Told.
Q : Have you read
A : No sir.
Comment about the book. I should read it, etc.
Q : So what else ?
A : Gave some names, this time named 2-3 from same authors.
Q : What's the common thread in the Three musketeers trilogy ?
A : Told. I forgot some of the minute details. He mentioned those. I accepted.

The other prof now chips in.

Q : Do you think this reading habit of yours wil help in your management aspirations ?
A : Manufactured an answer which I felt was decent. They looked kinda convinced.

Again, the "booklover" prof takes over.

Q : Have you heard of Machiavelli ?
A : Said yes. Told him who Machiavelli was, his books etc
Q : Who is the closest Indian equivalent ?
A : Told him about chanakya. I forgot the name of the book Arthashastra, though I explained the contents.
Q : Who's the chinese equivalent ?
A : Not aware, Sir.

Comment about Sun tzu, his book on "Art of war" and again "I should read it"

Now he asks whether the other had anything more to ask. He says no.
Q : Do you have anything to ask ?
A : Asked something not related to VG Som (related to KGP), but was really interested to know about it after hearing the presentation.

More discussion on what IIT KGP is trying to achieve. 2 more minutes passed.
Q : Anything else.
A : No sir.

Ok, All the best.
Interview ends.


Any other interesting thing: No document verification. Interview was totally chilled. No acads whatsoever, though they mentioned they are not from Computer Sc. background.

Verdict : Direct convert or straight reject, no WL for me I feel.

Hmm.. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Other puys???

JMET Rank/Percentile:JMET 649/ CAT 98.96

Profile

10th:91 (West Bengal)
12th:85.1(West Bengal)
Graduation: 7.95 (West Bengal)
Work Experience: 42 months

GD Topic: A case study about the customer dissatisfaction about a retail store, less than expected profit, etc. What should the manager do ?
I felt it went good for me, mostly because others were very gentle/shy, whatever. 10 mins GD, and then we were given hardly 5 mins to summarise. Summary could have been better.

PI Experience (Questions, Time, etc...) : Two panelists.
Q : Cat percentile is 98.96. What calls do you have.
A : Told them about B, RRT.
Q : Why not Ranchi.
A : Explained. (They seemed surprised)
Q : Leaving aside B, which is your preferred one among the three.
A : Explained. Some pros and cons, and told that I'll have to decide and take a call later.
Q : what about IITs ?
A : Told about KGP only. Didn't apply to Mum and Delhi cos I wouldn't have got the calls.
General comment about Mumbai and Delhi intake, their locational advantages etc.
Remarks about the same combination of IEM+IBM. (The person before me was my junior at college and we work at IBM)
A : Some general comments.
Q : What have you learned from Cognizant ? (I worked there before, recently joined IBM)
A : Explained. Cut once to explain what is BFS. Told them the full form. They seemed happy
Q : Who was your client ?
A : Told.
Q : What have you learned from
A : Explained.
Now it turned interesting.
Q : Hobbies ?
A : Told about reading, mostly classics.

One of them seemed delighted and took over.

Q : What have you read ?
A : Started with what I am reading now ( Mentioned 3 books, though I read one quite sometimes back)
Q : what else ?
A : Named one book.
Q : What else ?
A : Gave another book.
Q : No no, what else from the previous author.
A : Told.
Q : Have you read
A : No sir.
Comment about the book. I should read it, etc.
Q : So what else ?
A : Gave some names, this time named 2-3 from same authors.
Q : What's the common thread in the Three musketeers trilogy ?
A : Told. I forgot some of the minute details. He mentioned those. I accepted.

The other prof now chips in.

Q : Do you think this reading habit of yours wil help in your management aspirations ?
A : Manufactured an answer which I felt was decent. They looked kinda convinced.

Again, the "booklover" prof takes over.

Q : Have you heard of Machiavelli ?
A : Said yes. Told him who Machiavelli was, his books etc
Q : Who is the closest Indian equivalent ?
A : Told him about chanakya. I forgot the name of the book Arthashastra, though I explained the contents.
Q : Who's the chinese equivalent ?
A : Not aware, Sir.

Comment about Sun tzu, his book on "Art of war" and again "I should read it"

Now he asks whether the other had anything more to ask. He says no.
Q : Do you have anything to ask ?
A : Asked something not related to VG Som (related to KGP), but was really interested to know about it after hearing the presentation.

More discussion on what IIT KGP is trying to achieve. 2 more minutes passed.
Q : Anything else.
A : No sir.

Ok, All the best.
Interview ends.


Any other interesting thing: No document verification. Interview was totally chilled. No acads whatsoever, though they mentioned they are not from Computer Sc. background.

Verdict : Direct convert or straight reject, no WL for me I feel.


i didnt recieve my call letter by post... would that be a problem???
what could i do?? have the interview on 7th
plz reply

VGSOM Interview experience

In my slot,students were divided into 3 groups A,B and C each comprising of 9 members.There were 3 panels.Panel 1 took gd of group A and pi of Group B and so on with panel 2 and 3.

GD:There was an alumnus of VGSOM also a professor.and a lady professor who came a bit late as she was taking classes.

A case was given.we were allowed to read it for 10 minutes.and then the gd started(mind u not a case study).and finally another 3 minutes were given to write down at least 3 salient points that were discussed in the gd.The entire process was evaluated on the gd as well as writing capability(how much good listener are you to summarise).

PI:There were two professors.

It was basically of 15-20 minutes duration.I dont remember all the questions.

It was an HR interview for all candidates having their PI in kharagpur.

Panel 1 was busy verifying my certificates and score cards almost throughout the entire pi process.

P2:So tell me about yourself.
Me:Told
P2:So your entire family has a medical backgorund coming from a family of doctors.but you chose engineering?
Me:yeah generation gap sir.u see all my cousins are either engineers or studying engineering
P2:Why did u chose printing engineering?
Me:told
P2:mention the prospects of printing engineering
Me:told.
P2:Mention some subjects related to management in your syllabus
Me:colour management,industrial management,estimating and costing,planning and finishing,engineering economics
P2.asked me about gregor's law and matrix style management
Me:told
P2:every advertiser wants the exact colour of thier product logo.so suppose a big hoarding of pepsi is to be put on the centre of a metro city.during the night time lights from different sources like the traffic lights neon lights and so on falls on the hoarding and it affects the exact red+blue colour of the pepsi logo.So how will u manage it tirtha?

Me:(thought for a while).Sir this is very difficult to tackle.but I can make some arrangements for illumination within the hoarding.the illumination will be switched off during the daytime.and during the night time,the amount of light from the illumination would be adjusted from an external source as per necessity to tackle the effect of stray lights from outside

P2:So why MBA?
Me:gave my gyaan which i prepared

P2:so u got job offers from Hindustan Times and Accenture?But why arent you joining those?You can also supervise your workers in Hindustan Times.There also u can manage your jobs.Why is the need of this additional degree of mba?

Me:Sir I believe managerial skills are necessary to excel in any fields.Be it a shopkeeper or a bus driver.My engineering background will obviously help me in these industries.But my managerial knowledge becomes more relevant when i come from an engineering background and finally join such a company.

At this point panel member 2 asked me to show my original jmet score card.I showed it to him

P2:What are your hobbies and extracurricular activities?
Me:told.Had a long gossip regarding those.and he was impressed.

P2k Tirtha thank u.and check all your certificates before leaving.

plz puys....share your experiences..

JMET Rank/Percentile:JMET 1085/ CAT 91.92

Profile

10th:88 (CBSE)
12th:86.4(Haryana)
Graduation: 8.19 (Let's say it's pretty damn good engineering insti)
Work Experience: 42 months
Location: d-d-d-d Delhi

GD: Panel 1 Really cool :drinking:
GD Topic: A case study about the productivity and how it affects the nation as a whole and the different companies. The case study had three questions, for which we had to first mention the answers on the white sheet of paper, followed by one min of monologue.
Most of us just repeated the answers we had written. However, one or two good fellas spoke on their understanding of the whole topic...one nervous lady hadn't probably spoken anything since morning before her monologue but man...she just compensated for all the silence by her powerful monologue...she just went like tuc tuc tuc tuc :w00t: but she deftly packed all her points in that one min of time...I stuttered a little bit and was cut short too(within 20 secs or so :oops:). This was followed by 10 mins of GD...all in all it was peaceful. No fish market situation. Everyone was everyone else a chance to speak but some amount of effort was required to enter the GD. For a min or so, I couldn't speak anything but then I too jumped in...All in all it went fine for me...
We were then asked to write three salient features of the GD just conducted.

PI: Panel 3 (Strict ma'am(M) and soft spoken sir(S) interviewing me(V))
M left the room as soon as I entered...I was happy for a while but...
S: So, Vikas tell me about yourself.
V: told
S: What is your extra-curriculars?
V: was telling...cut short
S: So, Vikas your profile is really good...why are you doing MBA?
V: told
S: No but you are such a nice engineer. You can go for research if you want to further contribute to the organisation you are working for? (I let S speak for a while as I did not know the answer) Won't you waste your engineering if you go for MBA? (There you go Sir...)
V: gave answer for the 2nd question only
S: Which stream do you want to major in?
V: IT and Systems. Sir, I want to come back to this field and make a mark here.
.....M arrives(takes my file and starts reading)... ....
S: So, what all calls do you have?
V: IITKgp, Kanpur and Roorkee...and IIM-X also...
S: So, which one would you choose between X and Kgp?
V: told why X over Kgp...
S: But Vikas, won't you waste someone else's chance if you leave Kgp for X?
V: gave a trick answer...
S looking at M: good...acknowledging expressions from M
V: :lookround:
----S was kinda satisfied and asks M to take over----the good times end here
M: flipping through my file...
M: Vikas, you have done a course named OR(really?). What is it for? I am looking for a specific term...
V: aaaaaooooOptimization(?)
M: Good
V: :lookround:
M: So, what is class-1 and class-2 errors?
V: (what? Doesn't everyone do the same mistake in his/her lifetime(get married), which should belong to a universal class ) I am sorry ma'am I don't remember...
M: What is alpha and beta testing?
V:(crap..I was reading this last night but didn't pay attention to alpha and beta) stuttered for a while and then said don't remember...
M: You have done some POM...Do you know about scientific management?
V: (seriously what?) I don't remember...
S: Tell me 5 roles of a manager...what he does etc etc...(giving me support actually)
Flashback: 10 min before I had searched it on my mobile...
V: told...mentioned Leading also...
S: (broad smile) But leading is not a function
V: (damn you unreliable website!) I think you are right sir...it's got to be controlling then...
S: satsified
V: (Jai Mata Di)
M: Where do you see after 5 years?
V: working in a small organization so that learning is maximum...cut short
M: But they would pay you less?
V: I know ma'am...cut short
M: Tell me na you are after the package of X
M takes up the issue of IIM-X over Kgp preference issue......
M: so, you want to join X because of the package you would get?
V: stressed on learning part
M: But see you have been frank so far...tell us if it's package of X you are after...
V: No ma'am...I would disagree with you...stressed on the learning part...
M: But learning is same in KGP and X?
V: True ma'am but peer group also plays a role...told her how?(could have done a lil better)
M:(thought that I was mocking Kgp) You know a great many people have come from small villages and small places...
V: Ma'am, I am not disputing whatever you just said...it's so true but as a student, I have to prioritize my calls...
M: So, you think it's our faculty?
V: (God No!) No ma'am...I believe it's wrong to compare faculties of one b-school with another...Kgp has got as excellent faculty as X...but as a student, I have to make a choice...looking at S for some support or change of topic
M and S looking at each other...
M: Vikas we are done now.
I got up and stopped to ask one question...
M answered properly (see Vikas, this is how you convince people)
M: Good luck Vikas(with an encouraging smile...I hope I read the expressions right)
V: Thank you Ma'am...Thank you Sir

They didn't ask me anything from my essay questions(damn..I spent days improvising on these babies)
Difficult to make out whether it went good or bad or just ok...Actually M was more concerned about whether I would join Kgp or not...I tried to handle it in the best possible way but I feel if I had mentioned my current package(7+), it would have lent some credence to my argument that learning is what I am after...

Advice: 1) stick to what you say...M was just testing if I would break down after her cross-questioning
2) If get time, read Optimization, Principles of Management and other relevant college subjects.

Need to some clarification on the GD process.

guys..need a help..
do we need to take attested copies of the marksheets?
i have my interview on 21st at mumbai..

guys..need a help..
do we need to take attested copies of the marksheets?
i have my interview on 21st at mumbai..



Please ask your questions in the VGSOM doubts thread. And not here. To answer your question, it is not mandatory to take your attested copies if you had mailed them earlier. They did not do any verification when I attended the GDPI.
JMET Rank/Percentile:JMET 1085/ CAT 91.92

Profile

Hey Vikas I am Tarun A6
Cool interview but yes we have to struggle for core basics .same operations questions were asked to me n I was clueless.Lets see wts there in fate for us .meanwhile I can say panel A,C both were nice to us.