How I converted my IIM Lucknow call

Biswanath Chakraborty's journey to IIM Lucknow

Once the results of CAT exam are declared, the next question that runs in the mind of every CAT aspirant is – ‘Which B-school will I get a call from?’ Securing a seat in any of the IIMs is the dream of every management aspirant. 

When CAT 2015 results were announced, an elated Biswanath Chakraborty knew that he had scored fairly well in the entrance exam, and was anxiously waiting for calls from top B-schools. His excitement was doubled when he received calls from IIM Bangalore, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Indore and IIM Lucknow.

Shiksha got in touch with Biswanath to know about his WAT and Personal Interview experience at IIM Lucknow. Here is a detailed account of his experience.

Recalling his interview experience, Biswanath said, “It was a well-coordinated process that commenced with document verification and ended with a tough PI.”

Essay Topic

Higher pay- is it a solution to corruption?

There were 8 candidates in the group exercise. 15 minutes were allotted to the candidates for testing their respective written ability skills. I wrote about the pros and cons of higher pay directly leading to the change in mindset of money-hungry people. Talked about the scams by people receiving a fat pay check, like Rajat Gupta the first Indian CEO of a Multinational firm, MCKINSEY. He was indicted for insider trading when he was finance director of GOLDMAN SACHS.

I also, highlighted various aspects of ethics, which should be taught, starting right from childhood. I talked about various scams that have earlier taken place in India like the 2G scam, chopper scam, and CWG scam and stated how demonic is the stature of these crimes due to the big names linked to it. I also added the point how India is a corruption driven country, and what are the necessary steps required to provide a solution to the problems. I also gave examples of the ways the problem of corruption can be curbed in the country. i mentioned about Jan Lokpal Bill, and the initiative taken for transparent governance, which might turn out to be one of the most important steps.

Personal Interview

The interview lasted for about 15-20 minutes. There were 2 panelists, a Lady of around 40 years and a Sir of around 55-60 years.

Panel1: Tell me something about yourself.

Me: I told them about my schooling, the place where I was born and brought up, recalling my journey from a small town of Midnapore to Jadavpur and how topping there gave me self-confidence and self-belief. I also mentionded how my internship at Ericsson as a consultant gave me the required push towards management, and told them my hobbies and interests.

P2: What principles of Arya Samaj did you learn in DAV – will it help you in management?

Me: I was quiet awestruck, but I cogitated and gave the answer. I told them I learnt perseverance, ethics and integrity which would help me more in handling a good business rather than being only successful. I told them how we were made to perform ‘havans’ and yoga in our extra period in school, and how they help me concentrate and focus better on the work that’s in hand.

P2: Seemed satisfied, but then asked can you tell me the name of a company that works with absolute ethics?

Me: Was caught absolutely off guard! I told them about TATA, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the way Bill Gates invested most of his income in philanthropic activities. But my biggest mistake was to take the name of Reliance (Beware guys, do not tell anything which is not under the purview of your knowledge or understanding!!)

P2: Haha!! Did you just say Reliance? My boy, you need to do some homework!!!

The baton was then taken by the Female Professor who was a little scary!!

P1: Okay Biswanath, you have done secondary market research. Can you tell me what this secondary market research is?

Me: I explained that basically when you do a market study of the paper and information collated by a huge market research or consultancy firms like Gartner, PWC, Deloitte etc., then that is called as secondary market research.

IIM Ahmedabad WAT- PI experience of Shubham Varshney

P1: Was pretty satisfied. Then asked me what I had done in the project?

Me: I told them that my research areas which were basically the upcoming technologies related to the internet of things like cognitive computing, mobile financial services, automation of vehicles, future networks etc.

P1: Can you tell me a real scenario where you could apply IOT?

Me: This was the best phase of my interview (smile)!! I started by telling them that I have a startup idea based on internet, of things which I would like to share with them. (Interviewers got excited!!).

Sir, I have got a business idea in line with OLA and Uber cabs. Sir/ma’am, we can connect sensors to our electrical lines. We would provide mobile phones to the electrician in a neighborhood and connect the sensors to the respective mobile phones. Whenever there is a fault in the electrical line, the nearest electrician would be notified of the problem. By GPS the nearest mobile phone will be connected and he can come and fix the problem. In this way we can have things connected, like the electrical line to the net and can bring it under the purview of the internet.

Gursimran's IIM Ahmedabad WAT-PI recall

P1 seemed Satisfied!!

Again the male Prof. interjected and started asking questions.

P1: Asked questions on probability distributions that I had studied in my engineering.

Me:I told them about normal, Poisson and Gaussian distribution (Was expecting cross questions and got extremely tensed as I am not a stats guy).

P1: What is basic difference between Poisson and binomial distributions?

Me: I explained with examples, but he was not satisfied.

The next question that was asked to me was quite shocking and a little funny.

P1: Have you ever visited a saree shop with your mother? Do you know which is the most famous saree available in Midnapore district?

Me: Completely surprised!!! What sir? I don’t sir, absolutely no idea!

WAT-PI recall at IIM Indore

P1: You would become a manager one day, but to be a good one you have to be aware of your surroundings. The place where you stay – what is it famous for?

Then my interview started taking absolutely a wrong turn!!

P1: Which handicraft industry is famous in Midnapore district?

Me: I said terracotta, and how the idols and utensils made of terracotta are very famous.

P1: Not really satisfied. Asked P2 if she had any questions?

P2 said no.

Then both of them said thank you and asked me to leave. I thanked them and took a breath of relief as my most difficult interview finally got over.

Also read:Nishant Shah’s journey of making it to IIM Ahmedabad

Verdict: Converted!