IITB GD/PI: A Different Experience

[ Disclaimer : This Post may not make sense to a casual reader. But if you are one of those MBA aspirants prowling for some info. on the GD/PI process, go ahead, u will find enough. ]

Last time when I visited Mumbai, it was on a cool November evening. Even then, I got a clue as to how hot and humid Mumbai climate might turn to be in the summer. Two years being a long time, I forgot the observation. But when I stepped out into the Dadar Rly. Station for my IITB GD/PI, I felt it. The sweat that couldn't be contained even by a double spray of Deo, the heat on the head and the hot breeze on the face .. Gosh! Summer has already arrived in Mumbai.

I could rant on and on on Mumbai, But I shouldn't Digress..

Coming to my GD/PI, mine being the afternoon slot, I had plenty of time to rest and laze around. And then when I was dressing up( gearing up ) for the GD/PI, my roommate walked in with an exasperated expression on his face. He completed his GD/PI that morning and obviously he had screwed it up. 'WIERD', he said and sat down. After cooling off, I tried to find out what exactly was weird. He narrated his PI to me esp. those Questions which he considered ( and I thoroughly agreed ) were weird. To cut short the long story, the questions were not the typical MBA ones: No why MBA ?. No Tech or Acads or Workex related ones. The Questions were biased towards maths and stats, co-ordinate geometry to be precise. And there were some GK questions like Women CMs of India, Tax slabs etc. I knew then, that it would be an altogether different ball game this time.

At 12:45 PM, the process started with a presentation on SJMSOM and a small photostory on SOMites. Certificate Verification followed and then our GD followed.

GD was actually a HR case study. A classical case of labour union problems. A very old and boring case I would say. Though there weren't many fresh perspectives, everyone got a chance to put forward their ideas. Due to lack of overtly aggressive guys, we had a pretty cool GD. Barring a few, everyone else should have scored the same points.

Then the PIs started. Being the 12th person in our panel, I had another 3 hours to laze around. And now, being the last person also has its advantages. One gets a chance to guage the expectations of the panel from the initial feedback. The first person came and left without talking. The second person came with another just-outta-hell kind of expression. And his feedback, again the same single word:'WEIRD'. Lotza GK questions, a few math and few workex related questions. Well, my GK stinks and my Math sucks...so I left it to my guardian angel to take care of me and patiently awaited my turn.

At 5:45 PM, taking a deep breath, I entered the room. After wishing the panel a Good Day( hoping the day would end Good too !! ), I tried to draw thier attention to my SOP, so as to steer them to a discussion on my career goals. See..MBA aspirants generally mug up answers to the typical career-related questions and hence find little difficulty in answering them. Perhaps, the panel knows this too, they didn't fall for my trick.

"What is Theory of Computation and Explain Its Significance in Computer Science ?" -- was the first question. Hmm... After dusting my three-year old memory shelves, finally gave a vague answer. Then followed a volley of questions on PPP, GDP, rupee appreciation, imports and other economy related questions. I was answering in a cool manner and everything seemed to be going fine..

Then came the googly: "How do you find the inverse of a 3x4 Matrix?". I started recollecting my secondary school math. Although, I suspected that the question was tricky ( Does it really have an inverse ?!!) .. I started explaining about how I would come up with a 4x3 matrix. After a bit of cross-questioning by the prof., I finally acknowledged that only square matrices have inverses :( . Basics, boss, Basics.

With a condescending look, he asked me why I was not able to come to that answer sooner. I accepted that I was rustic in Maths and that coding has nothing to do with Maths. He looked surprised and asked me again if coding and maths are not at all related. I firmly maintained my stand. I had been in S/W field for almost 2 years, but with a few exceptions, never had I strained my brain even a little .. I dunno if it was positive or negative, point was taken.

OK..then onwards questions moved to more generic ERP stuff. And in between, there was another interesting question. "Given 6 refrigerators from 6 different companies, how would you decide on which to select ?". After struggling for a few minutes I got it this time : Weighted Average of Different Parameters. Well, a simple answer.. afterall B-Schools select their students that way!! And then the last Question: "What are the states in North East India ?". Well, took some time again, and came up with the correct number of states: Seven. But I missed Tripura and added Sikkim. Finally, with a thank you, it ended.

Whether I had done well or not can be decided only on the D-Day : 30th March. But overall a different experience. It wasn't like the stereotypic MBA interview. It was more like a Job/PG interview. All objective Questions, a very cool panel, supportive not stressing out...A memorable experience.

SJM SOM... sure ROCKS!!!