IIM Admissions 2021: Sai Prabhu Shares His WAT-PI Experience at IIM Bangalore

Sai Prabhu, 99.72 percentiler in CAT 2020 shares his WAT-PI experience at IIM Bangalore. Read the article below to know his WAT-PI preparation strategy and more.

Sai Prabhu, an engineer from BITS, Pilani scored 99.72 percentile in CAT 2020. He has been an academicaly bright student and he has been shortlisted for the WAT-PI rounds of some of the top IIMs. He applied in the institutes such as IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM Calcutta and IIM Lucknow. He has decided to join the prestigious IIM Bangalore. Sai shared his IIM Bangalore PI experience with Shiksha. Read more in the article below.

Q: What was WAT topic?

A: I don’t exactly remember, but it was on lines of: Only 1% of India’s population pays income tax. As the tax base hasn’t grown over the year, should the government look to other sources of income? If yes, where?

Q: Please provide a summary of what you wrote.

A: On a broad level, I mentioned that the Indian government must look at creating new arms of existing PSUs which cater to private enterprises and individuals exclusively (Such as ISRO’s Newspace India Ltd, etc.), and disinvestment, IPOs are few other options. I also elaborated each suggestion using examples both from current Indian economy and in other countries. I didn’t dwell into details of finance / economics simply because I know zilch about them. I played to my strengths here.

Q: Did you have any preparation strategies for WAT?

A: I had a fair bit of writing experience since school days. But for folks in general, I’d suggest you to read up on trending news both in India and abroad. Also, just pick up one international magazine and read short articles in it every week for two months, and practice timed essay writing picking up last year’s topics (1/2 per day for 4-5 days). This should certainly work as a quick fix for those who lost touch with writing.

IIM Bangalore Personal Interview Experience

Three male panelists (P1, P2, P3)

Few initial questions on where I’m currently located at and my day at office

P2: Great, so you work on sales force optimization as well. I have some idea on that, but can you describe one project in detail?

Me: I can, but I was more involved in launch strategy and targeting projects which I can explain in better detail. Would you like to know about that?

P2: Sure, please go ahead

Me: Explained all the steps involved, their importance and final results. P2 cut me short in middle and asked where do you get the data from. I told him about third party vendors and named a few companies.

P2: Got it...hmm..okay

P2: Okay, in your SOP it says Cosmos is all there is, and that we should take care of our world etc. (I’m interested in environmental conservation). Can you tell me why I should even care about saving the environment? I’d like to maximize my happiness at a personal level, I feel the government should impose policies then we can follow them. But I can do anything right now.

We had a 5-7 min discussion on this. I asked for 30 sec to collect my thoughts which he gave. He cross-questioned me on every statement I suggested. Finally, I asked him if he has kids. He said yes. I asked him whether he’d be willing to continue his current lifestyle if I scientifically prove that his kids would be living in bad conditions and government is clearly not doing enough. He then conceded saying it’s a good point.

P1: So, are you aware of any other global policies around this climate change, sustainability, etc.?

I told him about country level in Europe, Paris Treaty, Rio Summits' Goals, Green Funds, etc. He said yes, but I’m looking for something else. Told him that I can’t recollect more at this point.

P1: Can you tell me about clinical trials?

Me: Told him that I know a few things like sequential trials with growing sample size in each trial but couldn’t talk about specifics in each trial properly. Told them they test the efficacy with other standard drugs in tandem for few combination therapies.

P2: Are you sure about growing sample sizes?

Me: Yes sir, but I haven’t worked in this field. There’s a separate team at my company which handles this.

P3: So, I just want to say something. All this talk of sustainability is just not practical. India’s carbon footprint is much smaller and we are yet to develop.

Me: Sir, if I may talk? I have a view point on this. Talked about how conventional idea is flawed although it has shown results. Emphasized that we should move away from carbon based economies etc.

P3: Fair enough, understood

P1: So what after MBA?

Me: I talked about my interest in strategy consulting.

P2: Why consulting? These companies are probably the entire opposite of your ideals. Lot of ethical troubles.

He grilled me on this for a while. I told him that I agree with what he has to say, but I’m interested in few niche spaces where they help clients in clean tech, sustainability initiatives, etc. He also asked on that too saying it’s all bogus, there’s no such thing as purely clean tech. I told him that it’s incremental and that we have to aim to be better than yesterday. He agreed.

Panelists: Do you have any questions for us?

….Good day.

Q: Any particular question that you found the most difficult?

A: Maintaining the dialogue with the professor took a fair bit of effort. I wouldn’t say any one particular was difficult or easy to answer.

Q: Did you have any strategies before appearing for the interview?

A: I’d suggest to cultivate a habit of reading news in general and then try to get a deeper understanding on any topic of your interest. For people with work experience, try to brush up your basics in at least two subjects of your choice from UG (freshers might be expected to have good knowledge in 3-4 core subjects). More than academics, IIM Bangalore is one unique college among IIMs which focuses more on your profile and what you wrote in your SOP. You’re expected to have an in-depth understanding of what you wrote and be ready for any sort of grilling (goes without saying, don’t fake stuff on your SOP, answers, etc.)

Q: Any tips for future aspirants?

A: There’s too much pressure to get a good CAT score. While that is necessary, many tend to neglect developing other aspects of their personality, leave jobs and become reclusive. Please don’t do this – the current system is bad, but the B-schools still want well rounded individuals. And don’t be too harsh on yourself during the journey. Nothing will go wrong if you can’t make it to some dream school. In the end, all that matters is that you, your friends and your family are happy. MBA isn’t going to solve for that, it’s your mindset which will.

Status: Converted