Students’ Speak: Share the Group Discussion Topics & Personal Interview Questions asked

By: Ayushi Pandey

Always at the end of the interview, interviewer many times ask whether you want to ask something? Always keep a few questions ready for it as it gives a positive impression to the interviewer that your interested & active individual.

In my GD I got the topic “Pollution & Development are the two sides of the same coin”. Generally, it may sound but the task with this topic was since it was a highly discussed topic over the years, it was necessary that the point I put forward should be different from others. So, I chose to begin with sustainable development, use of eco-friendly products, development of infrastructure in Japan and the US with the least harm to the environment and concept of sustainable fashion.

In recent times, the following are the topics which have been largely given for discussion:

1. Citizenship Bill
2. Article 377
3. J&K situation
4. BJP ideologies
5. Trade War
6. Donald Trump
7. Freedom of Press
8. Role of educational institution in a modern democracy
9. Current political scenario in the country
10. Current climate change

It is important for the candidate to not provide general information already known to everyone in the discussion and try to provide a different or new perspective to the discussion.

Common PI Questions

• The most frequently asked the first few questions are, “Tell me the something about yourself?”, “Why MBA? Why our institute?”. For all such questions be honest. For the first question tell things that are already not in your resume because they already know that. And for the second question, try to justify it with some previous experience. For instance, you managed any events in the past and realised you are good at managing so decided to pursue MBA, or maybe any of your relatives have done MBA and when you have visited them you liked their work and lifestyle and that motivated you to pursue MBA. Stories like these will make your answer more realistic and
• Next, you will be asked about your hobbies and areas of interest. These kinds are questions are for understanding what kind of person you are. Always keep at least two hobbies for such questions and you should be able to back it up with relevant experience, if you say traveling, then you should be able to tell them where you have traveled till now, what you experienced and what you have learned. If you like writing, then you can show them your blog or any account where you post you If you have an interest in Geo-politics, keep yourself updated with the latest happenings and also its future impacts. With these questions, the interviewer analyzed your awareness and understanding of diverse topics.
• Questions regarding your previous job experience or any internships or if you are engaged with any NGO; and what is/was your role the
• Justifications for gap years, about which you can mention your reasons or may say that you decided to take a break to so that you can get clarity what you want to do further, or you tried some other things but they did not work out, so it motivated you to pursue MBA.
• Always at the end of the interview, interviewer many times ask whether you want to ask something? Always keep a few questions ready for it as it gives a positive impression to the interviewer that your interested & active individual.

About the Author:

Aayushi Pandey is a BCom graduate from DAV PG College, Dehradun. She is currently pursuing PGDM from IMI, Bhubaneswar. Her hobbies include reading fictional stories & writing while her areas of interest are Research, Strategy & Human Resource.