IIM Shillong Interview experience

Hi Guys,

It has quite a long time since I sat down in front of my system to blog and much long since I read other’s blog posts.

I decided to pen down my experience of attending the Group Discussion and Personal Interview for IIM Shillong.

After getting a decent CAT score of 95.4 percentile, I thought that no IIMs would call me for the next process. A few days later I received a mail from IIM-S, stating that I have been selected for GD and PI and I was excited. And I was allotted the most special day of the year for GD and PI. It was February 29, a day that comes only once in four years. The venue was Bangalore and it ended up to be my first visit to Bangalore, after two failed attempts during the previous years which were cancelled due to various reasons.

I was in the afternoon batch and I reached the venue by 1 pm (we were supposed to be there by 1.45 pm). The venue was Institute of Hotel Management and the place of interview was maintained so well. I was the third person to reach and the whole atmosphere was so nice and fear started creeping inside. Slowly other students started coming and by 1.35 all the students were assembled. There were totally 20 boys and 4 girls.

A representative from IIM Shillong introduced himself and took attendance. I prayed silently that my name should come in the beginning and it came up at around 18th position and I was quite upset. He said that professors would come up and call the students for their respective groups. He also said the process may take time and asked us to comfort ourselves and there refreshments were available nearby the waiting place. A professor came out after some time and called Karthick and I was left shell shocked as I never expected this after the attendance list. After that he called seven other guys and took us downstairs. We waited for some 5 minutes before he called us in and arranged us according to the positions.

There were 6 boys and 2 girls. I was left in the corner as I was the first. The topic was related to genetically modified crops. There was a half page write up stating its advantages, disadvantages, etc. We had to write a case study for 10 minutes. It took me some 2-3 minutes to read and then I started to write. I started writing neatly and towards the end started scribbling. However I wrote for a page and concluded it properly.

Next GD started and the time was 15 minutes. After a good initiation by a boy, another boy and a girl started pouring and they were dominating not allowing the rest to come in. I and some other boys waited and then jumped in. The dominating persons had said all they had and then they were left empty minded. 15 minutes was a huge time for a group of 8 and so all others ended contributing some good points. I chipped in with 4-5 points with some examples. Everything was good except that no one took care of the time. No one summarized the GD and it ended abruptly.

After that we were asked to wait outside and we were informed that interview time were 25 plus or minus few minutes for a candidate and the order would be the same. I came out and was speaking with two of the neighbors and it relaxed my mind completely. Some 5 minutes later, a professor came out and called my name.

I went in, greeted the professors and they asked me to sit. There were three professors and lets call them P1, P2 and P3.

P2: Introduce yourself. Before that pass your file to P3.

Me: I started introducing within a minute I was stopped.

P2: So, you call yourselves an efficient blogger?

Me: yes sir, I have been writing a blog based on …….. for the past 30 months.

P2: So, how do you called efficient? Are there any parameters?

Me: Said about rankings, communities, hits, comments, etc.

P1: you have put you are interested in photography. What type are you interested in?

Me: general photography… went on saying few things… later, thought could have given a better answer, after thinking what I really do…

P2: farmers using BT Cotton are said to commit more suicides (related to GD)…. But it is not so… even other farmers do commit… what do you think is the reason?

Me: explained using government policies, climate change, crop price, etc

P2: some farmers commit suicide so that their family will get compensation. What do u think?

Me: expressed my thoughts on government policies.

P2: asked few questions on the farms…

P1: so, do you know about banking?

Me: yes sir

P1: so, what banks do?

Me: explained deposits, loans, etc

P1: what do banks do when someone fails to repay the loan?

Me: explained about securities they get when giving loan.

P1: what is RBI? What do they do?

Me: explained they govern all the banks… banks have deposits… can take loans, etc

P1: who prints the money?

Me: RBI

P1: where is money printed? How much money is printed?

Me: at Nashik… it depends on lot of parameters such as economy, liquidity…

P1: so what is ISRO? What do they do?

Me: expanded and said about space research.

P1: government spends a lot of money on research… is there any use? Will we make any profits?

Me: said some of the possibilities of getting money…

P1: what is DRDO?

Me: explained…

P3: how do you manufacture a pencil?

Me: (luckily have seen the video on youtube)… explained…

P3: asked few questions on process planning which we haven’t studied…

Me: haven’t studied those things

P3: so, what did you study in process planning

Me: (suddenly everything went blank)

P3: so, what did you study in cost estimation?

Me: Suddenly remembered process plan and answered for that…

P3: so, how to calculate standard time?

Me: gave a half satisfying answer

P3: what are fixed and variable costs?

Me: answered with a good example…

P3: how to manufacture a gear cutting tool? Explain me the process

Me: (went blank for few secs)… said donot know

P3: what are the subjects you study now?

Me: said

P3: what is preventive and breakdown maintenance?

Me: (was in confused mood) answer idiotically for this easy question.

P1: gave a case study on products, maintenance, costs…

Me: didn’t understand and asked again…

P1: repeated more clearly

Me: answered quite well

P2: (was looking at clock… think it was 25 minutes)… Thank you Karthick. You may leave.

P3 (P1 & P2): please take some candies.

Me: thanked them, took an Alpenliebe and stood up.

P2: please close the door behind you.

I came out and everyone asked me how it was. I sat down in an empty seat and was speaking with the mates with whom I spoke before the interview. After ten minutes, I wished them good luck and came out. I was quite tired and ate a few biscuits, drank water and came out.

Overall it was a good experience.

You can find more IIM-S interview experiences at http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/78131-iim-shillong-2012-2014-gd.html

Thanks to all the people who had earlier shared their interview experiences. It helped me in a huge way to perform well.

If any of my GD mates are reading this one, thanks to you people for being so friendly and creating a great atmosphere.

All the best to other call getters who are going to attend the interviews in the coming days.

Happy Reading!!!