Richa
Kholkute
Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune.
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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
rescheduled couple of times.
A. The date and the location of the interview was as mentioned in the
call letter and there was no option to choose. All the interviews were held only
on the SIBM college campus at Pune.
Q. Can you tell us
about the panel that interviewed you?
A. The panel had the Dean of SIBM, Mr. Vishwanath, who is an alumnus of
XLRI Jamshedpur, and has had several years of work experience in the corporate
world in India and abroad. It also included Mr. Jagdish Kini who was the CEO of
Bharti Enterprises and now runs his own consultancy.
Q. How long was your
interview?
A. My interview lasted around 15 minutes.
Q. What was the first
question? The most interesting question? The most difficult question?
A. I was first asked to make a presentation as the President of Union
Carbide defending the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. This was an extempore speech that I
had to make. Several cases were thrown in front of me that were related to
ethics in advertising, celebrities in advertising, etc. These were the questions
apart from the usual questions of why MBA, work experience related questions,
goals in life, passions, etc.
Q. How did you prepare
for the interview? While facing the panel, were you confident, did you feel
prepared?
A. I had prepared for the frequently asked questions apart from keeping
myself updated about the latest updates in the corporate world. I was confident
when I faced the panel.
Q. Was any feedback
given to you? What feedback did you receive from the panel at the end of
session?
A. I didn't receive any feedback.
Q. Did work experience
help in getting the choice of your school and also in dealing with the
curriculum?
A. Yes, my work experience has definitely given me an edge since it has
given me an insight into the working of the corporate world apart from honing my
people management skills and enhancing my analytical skills.
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. With respect to the entrance examinations that are conducted, the
Humanities stream students may find number crunching a more difficult
proposition than the science students. They also may not have the analytical
abilities that engineers possess.
Q. Will an MBA degree
add on to your existing career plan or did you decide to switch / start a career
in management?
A. An MBA will make a drastic change to the direction of my career path
that was initially heading the technical way. Marketing in the FMCG industry
that I am looking at is a totally different ball-game than the profile of a
'Process & Proposal Engineer' in B2B industry.
Q. Why did you decide
to do MBA from this school?
A. SIBM was the only institute offering Marketing Communications. Marcom
interested me since it is a blend of marketing and subjects such as Brand
Management, Advertising, PR, Media etc., which are an intrinsic part of
marketing.
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 aimed for the IIMs, but I do not regret settling for SIBM.
