Students Speak: GD & PI Experience and Suggestions

By: Abhishek Desai

Giving detailed feedbacks depends entirely upon the colleges; it is highly desired that they state the reason for a candidate’s rejection since he/she can work upon it and avoid in the next interviews.

When it comes to acing both the GD and PI rounds of any B-school, a candidate needs to be thoroughly prepared for it. Having complete awareness about everything mentioned in the resume/application form is a must. These two rounds play a crucial role for the panelists in selecting the most deserving ones. The candidates are evaluated minutely on the basis of their presentation skills, leadership skills, problem-solving ability, among other traits a typical management student must possess.

Giving detailed feedbacks depends entirely upon the colleges; it is highly desired that they state the reason for a candidate’s rejection since he/she can work upon it and avoid in the next interviews. The communication done with the interviewees must be transparent and timely (which was the case with Welingkar); clearly stating if there is any chance for the candidate getting admission or not so as to avoid wasting time and efforts of the genuine candidates.

My interview at Welingkar Mumbai campus happened in the second phase on a Saturday afternoon, April 7. The entire process took about three hours to complete; the entire process being executed smoothly with the help of college students. The result was declared on Thursday evening, April 26. The interview preparation bore the desired fruits; I got selected in the first round itself in the choice of my course i.e. PGDM e-Business.

There was no official data revealed by the college authorities back then, but going by the rough estimates, some 12,000 candidates had applied for the 720 seats across all the full-time courses offered by the college. This translates to a selection rate of just 16 students getting admission out of every 100 students i.e. 16.67%.

Some common reasons I could think of people unable to clear the interview process are as follows:-

Not having an overall good profile: Welingkar lays emphasis on a candidate being an all-rounder in both the academics as well as extracurricular activities. The college admits both freshers and work experienced candidates without making any differentiation between the two and looking for only those who have the right aptitude and attitude to be a good management student as well as a capable future leader.

Lack of preparation: As it clearly states, being underprepared for any B-school interview means facing an inevitable rejection. No matter how much knowledgeable you are, it will be of no use if you are unable to present it well in front of the interviewers.  

About the Author:

Abhishek Desai is currently pursuing Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) in e-Business from Welingkar Institute of Management. He has done his Summer Internship in the field of Market Research with 'TimesofMoney'. He's also served as 'Secretary of the Green Committee' at Welingkar.