IIFT 2015 GD/PI experience: Interviewers don’t terrorise applicants

The second round of MBA admissions – Written Ability Test (WAT), Group Discussions (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) – are currently going on for various business schools (B-Schools). Students are trying hard to crack these rounds and pursue MBA from their desired colleges.

Aspirants who have already appeared for WAT-GD-PI rounds are waiting for their results. And candidates who are yet to appear for GD-PI rounds want to know what kind of questions are being asked during the interview.

To know what is going on behind the closed doors, Shiksha.com caught up with a candidate who recently appeared for Indian Institute of Foreign Trade’s (IIFT’s) WAT GD PI rounds. The interview took place on February 13, 2015. Since we've decided not to disclose the person’s identity, let’s call our person ‘C’.

C is currently in the final year of graduation and aims to seek admission to a reputed MBA college this year.

Here’s C talking about the entire experience at IIFT in first person:

February 13, 2015: The reporting time was 8:50 am. I reached around 8:45 am, marked the attendance and got all documents checked. Then all the candidates were seated in a room for the WAT. We were handed over a ruled A4-size sheet for writing the essay and a half a blank sheet for the rough work.

The Written Ability Test (WAT)

WAT Topic - Incredible India: A push for the tourism industry in India

Strange topic, I mean how many years has it been since this campaign was first started. So I just jotted down the most generic points I could think of. I also wrote about the types of advertisements they have released and how they showcase a colorful image of India. Performance totally depends on how well other candidates with me have fared.
Right after the WAT, we were to go to the respective rooms for GD. Everyone was divided into groups of 12.

The Group Discussion (GD)

GD Topic - Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, more noise than action

Each one got a chance to speak individually before the GD began. The moderating panel consisted of two persons – a male and a female professor. They did not stop anyone in the middle of their speech. So everyone delivered a monologue depending on how much they knew and how many of their points had already been spoken.
I knew very little about the topic so just said only a couple of points. And then the discussion began. It started off well but then turned into a fish market. Everyone spoke all at once, and after a point there was no redeeming. Everyone was shouting at each other and the moderators seem unpleased. In the end, I was asked to summarize the topic.

The Personal Interview (PI)

I was the eight person from my group to be interviewed. Therefore I had to wait quite a while before my turn. From what I heard from previous candidates, the interviewers were mostly asking general questions.

I entered the room. There were three professors – two male and one lady. One looked in his late 30s or early 40s. The other two were quite senior. I wished them and took the seat. Let’s call them P1 (lady), P2, P3. And so it began.

P1: So when did you come back from your internship abroad?
C: I came back yesterday from my internship, Ma’am.

P1: Yesterday, itself! And today you came to the interview. Did you get a chance to prepare?
C: I prepared for the interview during my internship and I utilised my travel time to read most of the news on phone.

P1: Tell me more about the internship.
C: I did my internship in Hungary, where my main responsibility was to teach English to high school students.
(A couple of counter questions ensued where I was asked more about my internship and the work I did there).

P1: How would you rate your experience there?
C: I would rate 8 out of 10.

P1: Favorite Subject?
C: Advertising is my favorite subject.

P1: Tell me a model of advertising.
C: AIDA model. It describes the events that may occur when a customer engages with a product. AIDA stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. A system like this helps a seller in figuring out how to target a market.

P2: Tell me about a news story you read recently.
C: (I spoke about Apple and its fourth quarter earnings of 2014. It was the most profitable quarter for Apple.)

P2: Why most profitable?
C: Because Apple launched its new product – iPhone 6 during that quarter.
(A couple of counter questions were asked).

P2: Which newspaper do you read?
C: Sir, I don’t newspaper. I read online news at news.google.com. (Panelists seemed convinced with the answer).

P3: Suppose you have to hire a candidate as CEO for a technology position, who would you choose – an MBA or a Tech major?
C: Sir, I would choose an MBA graduate over a Tech major.

P3: Why?
C: Sir because an MBA graduate would have better understanding of managing employees than a Tech major.

Panelists: Ok, thank you for your time.
C: Thank you.

It was my cue to get out. The entire interview lasted for about 15 minutes. I might have missed out on a thing or two in this write-up, but this kind of sums it all up. The professors were sweet, they didn't make it their mission to terrorise the applicants.