IIM Admissions 2022: Harshil Satasiya Recalls IIM Ahmedabad WAT-PI experience

Harshil Satasiya, CAT 2021 topper shares his WAT-PI experience at IIM Ahmedabad. He shares his experience and IIMs that he has converted to in his interview with Shiksha.

Harshil Satasiya, CAT exam topper who bagged 99.93 percentile has successfully converted for IIM Ahmedabad. Along with this, he has also converted for IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Sirmaur, IIM Indore, MDI, SJSOM, and NITIE. Harshil is Gujarat based and a graduate in Mechanical Engineering with a 17 months work experience. From a wide list of toppers converting to IIMs, Shiksha here brings you the exclusive interview of Harshil wherein he recalls his WAT-PI experience at IIM Ahmedabad.

Brief Introduction: Academic and professional

• Category: GEM
• Class 10 (CBSE Board): 10 CGPA
• Class 12(CBSE Board): 91.2%
• College (Nirma university) -Mechanical engineering: 8.74 CGPA
• Work experience: 7 Months as of July 21 (on CAT 2021 application)

CAT 2021 percentile

• VARC: 99.07
• DILR:98.44
• QA: 99.93
• Overall:99.93

Calls received: IIMA, IIMC, IIML, IIMK, IIMS, IIM I, MDI, SJSOM, NITIE

Calls Converted: IIM A, IIMC, IIMK, IIMS, IIM I, MDI(IB), SJSOM, NITIE

Shiksha: Hi, tell us about yourself.

Harshil: Hello, So My name is Harshil Satasiya, I come from Vadodara – The cultural capital of Gujarat. I have done Bachelor's in Mechanical engineering from Nirma University and graduated in 2020, Before joining the IIM, I was working as a procurement specialist in ABB Nashik for about 17 months. Apart from all this, I play football in my free time and for me, football is a game of chess on a green pitch

Shiksha: Was IIM Ahmedabad your first choice? Why?

Harshil: To be honest, I never imagined that I would be able to get admission to IIMA, but yeah IIM Ahmedabad was my first choice the reason being simple IIMA is known for academic rigour which I wanted, and this was once in a lifetime opportunity. So, I took it!!!

Shiksha: What was your WAT topic and how did you present your argument.

Harshil: So IIM A conducts WAT as part of its screening process, and WAT is more of like a CASE study, wherein you are a given a case to critically analyze and mention your assumption, Inferences and conclusion. I was given a case study regarding a middle-aged married woman who after being promoted at her workplace suffered mentally as well as physical too due to increased workload and additional responsibilities and the conclusion mentioned in the case was It is difficult for working women in India to manage work-life as well as House daily chores. For this entire activity I was given 20 mins we had to mention our thoughts on the conclusion you could be against, For or present both sides.

So, I Started my WAT by mentioning the assumptions that I could think of, after that I presented inferences for both that are points in the favour and against the conclusion. and ended with all the data and information I would be requiring to make the informed conclusion for this case.

Shiksha: How was your PI experience? Tell us about your high points or low points during the interview.

Harshil: So, my PI lasted for about 45 mins, The Panel consisted of one male and one female conference.

P1 (Male), P2 (Female

P1: So Harshil you have been working in Supply chain management in ABB tell me what exactly you do?

Ans. Told about my day-to-day work and other projects that I was working on

P1: Tell me how you devise the sourcing strategies for different items

Ans. Told based on lead time, Geographic location from where it is sourced, its usage and Criticality for our component, explained by giving examples.

P1 Seemed convinced, Ok let's move to mathematics, Tell me your favourite subjects in math

Ans. Told integration & differentiation

P1 ok what could be the Maximum volume of a cylinder that can be carved inside a solid sphere of radius “R”

Ans. Took 5 mins, solved correctly was about to calculate the final answers P1 interrupted

P1 This should take not much time to walk me through the process

Ans. Explained the process and showed the calculations that I had done on the Sheet of paper

P1 Seemed satisfied you are correct ok I will ask you one more question A flight has 80 seats, you can occupy your allotted seat or take another seat in the flight, Probability that the 80^th guy gets his allotted seat

Ans. Thought about 5 mins but could not solve it correctly

P1 ok Let me ask you another question let’s say (X-a)(X-b)…..(X-z)= B ? What is the value of B?

Ans. Thought of about 5 mins but answered it wrong

P1 ok let’s move forward so you are a mechanical engineer, tell me why piston is always round in cross section and not in any other shape?

Ans. Told

P1 Seemed convinced Now P2 took over

P2 Do you want to talk about anything?

Ans. Talked about my research paper on Renewable energy resources that got accepted for an oral presentation at an international conference.

P2 what is the scenario of EVs in India?

Ans. Talked both positives and negatives and what needs to be done to increase the popularity and also compared with other nations and how we can learn from them

P2 any Major EV company which has worldwide presence?

Ans. Told Tesla

P2 Any other?

Ans. Told apart from tesla there are other major companies but I don’t think that they have the presence equivalent tesla has, Told Volkswagen, Kia etc.

P2: Any Recent news you are following?

Ans. Told about Russia -Ukraine war

P2(Smiled): it seems all of you are preparing for the same topic

Ans. Smiled back and told yeah mam but it is very important that how the war at such a far distance still affects us as a nation this simply shows how we are interconnected and dependent on others, and talked more about India’s stance and how Indian foreign policy will be redefined post-war also talked the importance of both Russia and Ukraine in the global market.

P1 Why MBA?

Ans. Told the prepared answer (Talked about how in future want to expand my family business in fashion industry)

P2 wow but you are working in an entirely different industry so how this experience will help in your family business?

Ans. Told similarities between the industry I was working in (Electric industry) and Fashion industry and key takeaways from my experience working in supply chain management that will help me in my family business.

P1, Do you want to still try to solve the math questions that I had asked you earlier?

Ans. Tried for a bit but was not able to solve it, Asked for the answer of the Polynomial question.

P1: Answer is 0 I will not tell you the process think it while going back home.

Ans. Thanked the professors and left the room

*Interview Ends*

Shiksha: At what point of time during the interview, you think you made it?

Harshil: To be honest I was not sure that will be able to make it, even when I was checking my result, I was sure that I would have been rejected.

Shiksha: Was there a trick question in PI? How did you handle it?

Harshil: The Trick question I feel was the math question that they were asking. If I remember correctly, they asked me 2- 3 times to take time and solve it. I think I tried to remain calm and showed whatever calculation I had reached irrespective of whether my answers were correct or not

Shiksha: How much credit will you give to your academics and professional experience for IIM Ahmedabad selection?

Harshil: Very much!! As everyone knows in IIM A, A stands for academics so surely my academics have helped me and my professional experience too helped me to understand how a business works!!

Shiksha: Any tips for future aspirants?

Harshil: If someone looks at my transcript, He/she will surely notice that my interview was not an ideal one, By going through this process I felt that interviewers don’t expect you to know everything and it's ok if you could not answer a few questions in the interview what matters most is your attitude and integrity.

So, I will suggest for the future aspirants to remain calm and composed during the interview, but at the same time if you are preparing for IIM A interview be thorough with your academics and industry that you are currently working in.

Shiksha: What is your future plan?

Harshil: In short term I am not so sure would like to explore the other fields and in long term definitely join my family business

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