Achintya Bhattacharya’s WAT-PI experience at IIM Bangalore

Achintya Bhattacharya

Securing a seat in an IIM is undoubtedly a proud moment, but behind this success lies a lot of hard work. Just like numerous management aspirants, Achintya Bhattacharya too tried his hand at CAT 2015 and cleared the exam with a good percentile. The next thing on his mind was to clear the WAT-PI round, and make it to any of the IIMs.

As students received calls for their respective WAT-PI rounds, an anxiously waiting Achintya received a call from IIM Bangalore. This is when he knew he had to put in all his efforts and make the most of this moment. Finally, the D-Day arrived, and a super excited Achintya headed towards the interview room.

Shiksha spoke to him, and here is what he recalls of his WAT-PI experience:

Written Ability Test

Candidates were expected to complete the essay within 30 minutes.

Topic: Artworks often lead to social unrest. How to strike a balance so that rule of law can be maintained?

Ans: I wrote with an underlying tone of sarcasm, while taking veiled potshots at the saffron army. I wrote strongly against both vandalism of artworks, and also how some wannabe artists are trying to hog the limelight by deliberately inserting controversial material in their artworks. Conclusion was more in the line of hoping for more tolerance and sensibility. The key focus was to keep the essay, simple yet entertaining.

Personal Interview

The next to follow was the PI. There were 3 members in the panel, one middle aged female Prof. and 2 middle aged male Professors.

The PI lasted for around 15 minutes. Here’s the PI encounter:

F1: So Achintya, are your 7th semester results out?

Me: I was stumped. The result was out just the day before (I was like “How did they get to know about it!!..Umm..but, do they actually know?”), and my GPA was poor to say the least. Though I could have taken a big risk and could have just said “NO” with a poker face, at that moment somehow, I experienced a sudden surge of honesty inside me. So I said, “Yes, It was announced only yesterday”. I spent the next five minutes defending my ‘not that great’ GPA against their infinite curiosity about my academic seriousness.

M1: Okay so tell me about why do we prefer digital communication over analog?

Me: Highlighted a lot of technicalities to which they all seem pretty uninterested. Sensing the mood, I veered the discussion towards the only point I thought might interest them: money. And, luckily it worked. The senior professor smiled as soon as I started speaking about the cost effectiveness of digital communication.

M2: So, engineering is a digital domain, while management is completely analogue. Why are you going for analogue then?

Me: Again stumped with this fascinating analogy that made no sense at all. So tried to keep the analogy aside, and slowly turned the conversation to the standard “why MBA” answer.

M3 seemed pleased with my “dodging the bullet” strategy.

M2: Give me names of two successful entrepreneurs with MBA degree.

Me: Told them about Phil Knight and Kunal Bahl. Then they also asked about their respective colleges which I could answer almost instantaneously. (Thanks to all the last minute readings. I read an article about them just an hour before the interview).

M1: So who’ve wrote about Martin Luther King Jr. here (in the sop). Who was Martin Luther

King Sr.?

Me: ( I had never heard of him, so went ahead with a guess) He was the father of Martin Luther

King Jr..

F1: You know of any more Martin Luthers?

Me: Told them about the other Martin Luther, the reformer of Catholic Christian religion and founder of protestant ideology. F1 was impressed.

M2: Why are you interested in playing only guitar and not any other instrument?

Me: Told them about my passion for 60’s and 70’s rock music, and how I was influenced by the likes of Clapton, Hendrix and Page, and how guitar is an instrument that embodies the spirit of rock’n roll.

M2: So, being a Bengali, why don’t you appreciate Rabindra sangeet more?

Me: Told them about my unsuccessful attempts of learning Rabindra Sangeet as a kid. Also, admitted I liked Rabindra Sangeet more as just poetry than as songs. This discussion further went to Tagore’s philosophy of education. I was well read about this, so I talked about it until they were tired of listening. It ended on a positive note with M2 telling me nice talking to you, and asked if I had any questions?

Me: Asked them about the prep course, to which M2 said you don’t really need it. Enjoy the summer and then join us (Yess...he actually said it).

Verdict: Converted!

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