How I converted my IIM Bangalore call: Parth Agarwal

Once the result of CAT 2017 was declared, numerous test-takers geared up for the GD-PI rounds of top B-Schools. Parth Agarwal started preparing for CAT in September and put 10+ hours daily practicing every single days, and scored 98.62 percentile in the exam. His hard work finally paid off when he received calls from IIM B, IIM L, IIM K, MDI, SJMSOM. 

Having a work experience of 27 months, Parth decided to attend the GD-PI at IIM Bangalore. The GD-PI session took place on March 17, 2018 in Delhi. His profile is as below:

Xth – 93.2%

XIIth – 90.4%

BTech ECE (NIT Allahabad) – 9.31 pointer 

Shiksha got in touch with Parth to know how he handled the GD-PI rounds. Read his full interview here: 

WAT Topic

Digital tech, AI, machine learning can help eradicate farmer's distress

I started with industrial revolution 4 and current farmer’s distress. Wrote about GDP contribution of agriculture and population. Upskill is required and movement to other sectors is of prime importance. Improving productivity. These technologies can help in direct linking of the retail markets with farmers, linking with processing industries. AI can help in balancing supply and demand and in scheduling which crop to be sowed and how much, so that there is a fine balance between the supply and the demand of the disparate crops. Tech can help in proper irrigation etc. But educating farmers and upskilling them is the most crucial step. 

Personal Interview

My interview panel had 3 interviewers. One of them asked me to put all my documents aside as I won’t be requiring them. So I kept it on the side table. 

P1: So Parth you are in Airtel, nice!

Me: Sir actually I left Airtel. 

All Ps in cohesion: Why? Woo!!! What!? 

I was taken aback by this consonance. 

Me: I wanted to learn about business. While working in Airtel I realised that irrespective of any vertical, all work for customer satisfaction. Thus I wanted to develop a holistic vision and for that doing an MBA was important. 

P1 cutting me off: You left to prepare for CAT right!?

Me: Well yes. It was one of the reasons. 

P2: You know what impression you are making- that you can’t multitask.

Me: (Started feeling nervous, but I held onto my nerves) Well sir, CAT is not an ordinary exam. To do justice to it and to secure a good percentile I realised that it was essential for me to contribute my full time to it. I was giving it more than 10 hours daily. It wouldn’t have been possible to do it along with a job that demanded 12+ hours of work. And I felt it wasn’t ethical for me to scrimshank my job responsibilities. 

P2: I am highly unethical. It doesn’t matter to me. You are still not able to justify that why u left.

P1: Yeah, we are not convinced. Wasn’t it a risk that you left a high paid job for it?

Me: (Started again) Certainly sir! It was a risk that was worth it and that is the reason I am sitting in front of you all for this esteemed interview. 

P1: What if you would have got a higher percentile while working!!

Me: Sir, it was a part of the risk. I couldn’t have known it but I was sure that if I put my all to the preparation, I will be able to achieve it, and thankfully I did. 

P2: You remember my first question that what impression you are making!? It shows you can’t run multiple projects in a corporate.

Me: Well sir, I have run a lot of projects throughout my 27 months of work experience and I have been awarded as well. 

P2: You scored 9.31 in UG. Was there only 1 subject that you studied? How many subjects were there per semester?

Me: Sir 6 subjects. 

P3: Right.. See, you can manage 6 subjects then why not job and CAT preparation!?

Me: (By this time I was really nervous, I felt it wasn’t going right.) Yes Sir, I did it in my graduation, but this time it was about setting priorities and working to achieve the set target. And for me this was my priority and I didn’t want to take it for granted. 

P1: Tell me about your job role.

Me: My role was to improve the 3G and 4G network experience of the customer. I was able to improve the throughput of 4G network by 33% for which I was awarded by the CEO. 

P1: What is the global 4G throughput average?

Me: 20 Mbps 

P1: Then, how much did u achieve?

Me: Well sir, in 4G we have TDD and FDD. In FDD it was 10+ Mbps and in TDD, more than 30+Mbps. Thus effectively more than 20 Mbps. 

P1: What was the team size?

Me: Airtel works on outsourcing model. Airtel team had 3 members, and Ericsson had 10. 

P1: So what was your role in improving throughput?

Me: Sir I studied about equipment and features in depth, analysed drive results and was able to suggest and implement features that improved the throughput. 

P1: This should have been done by Ericsson right? Why you?

Me: Well sir, when I joined Airtel, 4G was the new technology and not many people had experience. I used it as an opportunity and did my best to understand it and read about the equipment and this helped a lot in achieving the result. 

P1: Can u give one example?

Me: I gave an example of one of the features that were implemented. (Was technical so no further questions) 

P1: What are your interests? What do u do these days?

Me: (Felling happy and relaxed) Sir I write poems in English and Hindi and I have a blog on WordPress where I share them. 

P1: What is the ID?

Me: told 

(He checked it on his laptop) 

P2: Which languages did you say you write in?

Me: Sir, English and Hindi. I have brought my poems with me too, in case you would like me to recite it to you. 

P1: Yeah sure!

Me: Sir which language would you like me to recite in? 

P1-P3: Any, just make it fast.

Me: (In hurry) I recited them a short Hindi poem. 

P2: Was it Spanish! I couldn’t even understand a word! 

(I went blank! Apparently, he didn’t know Hindi, which he said later.) 

P3: It was marvelous, loved it!

Me: (With my eyes on P2) Sir would you like me to recite something in English? You would like it? 

P2, P3: No thank you. It’s done. Do you have any question?

Me: Yes sir. 

P2: Make it quick.

Me: I inquired how to be a part of the placement cell. 

P1 was going to answer but P2 interrupted and said it is a student activity and the students do it.

Me: Ok sir, thank you. 

P1: Thank you, all the best!

Me: Thank you sir. 

One thing I realised from this experience is that we should never try to judge if the interview went good or bad. And we should not let it affect the imminent interviews. 

As long as you are convinced, you can make everyone convince!

Status: Converted!

“Got a question about top MBA exams? Ask students who have already made it to top B-Schools.”