Prasanth Narayanan
Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management (SJMSOM), IIT Bombay.
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General
Questions
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Questions related to Pre-MBA Preparation
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Questions related to Group Discussion / Group Exercise
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Interview-related Questions
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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
re-scheduled couple of times?
A. The date was sometime in mid-March. The location was SJMSOM, IIT
Bombay. There was only one center. The interview was on time, in fact, dot on
time.
Q. Can you tell us
about the panel that interviewed you?
A. There were 2 people in the panel. An academician and an industrialist.
So there was a good cover of both academic and industry knowledge.
Q. How long was your
interview?
A. 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 was to point out three things great and bad about
my home state Kerala.
The most difficult question was, "Who is the President of Sri Lanka?" I had to
say, "I don't have a clue, Sir." Pretty embarrassing.
Q. How did you prepare
for the interview? While facing the panel, were you confident, did you feel
prepared?
A. Preparation was mostly practicing for the various questions that they
could ask me and having answers ready. Then there was the usual surfing through
sites and newspapers. Did feel a tad bit underprepared on the academics part.
Q. Was any feedback
given to you? What feedback did you receive from the panel at the end of
session?
A. There was no feedback.
Q. Did work experience
help in getting the choice of your school and also in dealing with the
curriculum?
A. Yes. SJMSOM, IIT Bombay does place a slightly higher importance on
work experience.
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. As far as SJMSOM is concerned, that's the only way. You have to be
from Science background.
Q. Will an MBA degree
add on to your existing career plan or did you decide to switch/start a career
in management?
A. It will add to my career plan of starting off an entrepreneurial
venture. It will also involve a switch from IT into reality sector where I have
my focus on.
Q. Why did you decide
to do MBA from this school?
A. SJMSOM, IIT Bombay is unarguably the best B-school to join if you have
entrepreneurship on your mind. The business incubator here is one of the best in
the country and provides an excellent platform. Add to it the strong SJMSOM
pedagogy and the huge brand value of IIT Bombay, joining this school was a no
brainer.
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. I must admit that I had IIM Calcutta in my mind as finance was my
focus area. But after that, SJMSOM was my next choice.
