The interview stage of B-school interviews is considered the most crucial of all. Even a 100 percentile does not guarantee a select if you perform below average. It is that cutthroat. One can check the FMS lists to know that even with a hefty 60% weightage to CAT score one stands a strong chance of getting rejected at 99.9 percentile. And with the diversity brigade at its peak GEMs are being rejected helter-skelter.
So when a GEM converts XLRI BM at 96.74, it is truly a spectacular sight and motivational for many aspirants who are eyeing at XL (considering their purely percentile-based initial shortlist)
Hello Vikram. Please tell our readers a bit about yourself.
I'm from a small district Kaithal in Haryana. I completed my B.Tech from PEC Chandigarh. As a part of the course, there was a compulsory 6 month internship semester in which I joined a start-up in financial markets. Since then I've been trading in different markets, like Crude Oil on NYSE, European Interest Rates on ICE and finally Indian Equity Markets for past 2 years. My hobbies are reading magazines (The Economist etc), following Cricket and Tennis, reading Bloomberg and keeping track of what's latest related to Global Economy.
My academics are 93/92/79.
How were your CAT, XAT and other exams? What calls did you have?
CAT - 98.19 | XAT - 96.74 | SNAP - 99.49 | PGDBA - 122/150
What calls did you receive?
IMT, IMI, XIMB, VGSOM, CAP, SIBM P, SJMSOM, SPJIMR, MDI, XLRI-BM & IIM K PGP Finance.
How were your motivation levels at that time? XLRI was your best shot but it’s unheard of to convert at your percentile.
I knew that majority of my calls like SJMSOM, XLRI, IIMK PGP Fin were due to a borderline cut-off and I need to work very hard for interviews if I want to convert them. So I was pretty much motivated as I knew this will certainly be my last attempt at CAT/XAT and other exams. And I knew that XLRI was a shot in the dark, I was going to try my best for it. I never thought about giving up even once.
How did you start preparing for the interviews?
I started
reading magazines (The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, IFR Asia) and watched YouTube videos of Vox, Bloomberg Quicktake, opinions on latest happenings around etc.. I aligned my past (Experience in finance - trading) to my future (Some cliche finance roles) and it came out good. I
rehearsed my introduction again and again & covered aspects from which further questioning can be done from that. It took a lot of brainstorming to come up with precise answers.
Which was your first interview? How did it go?
The interview process started with SIBM P on 6th February. It was a top 20 college and I was very serious about it. The interview went on India foreign relations, our family business and my future goals. Overall a very good experience to start off the interview season. Next was SPJIMR on 21st Feb, what I believed was my most important call.
In GI-1, Panelists liked my work experience as it was related to finance and asked 3-4 questions out of it, in which I was comfortable. Only 1 person of our group cleared GI-1, Me. Although GI-2 was supposed to be chill, as said by many people to me, but it was a very tense one for me. It was based on Moral values, situational questions etc.
Next were IMI, IMT, XIMB & VGSOM, which although I was certain of not joining, but were a huge learning experience.
What were your learnings from these interviews leading up to the big one, namely XLRI?
In my XIMB interview, I was
humiliated for my poor knowledge in history for example I was asked to name major Empires in India, the difference in kingdom & empire. In the SJMSOM interview, I was asked guestimates and politics-related questions on my home state, which I couldn't answer. The
things which I was taking for granted were the things that I faced most difficulty with. So I learned not to take anything complacently.
How was your XLRI interview?
They started with my work experience in detail. There was a professor of finance, who got interested when I mentioned about working in Financial markets as a trader. He asked 3-4 technical questions which I answered and then discussion switched to my family business. He even asked me why I want to an MBA when I have a good business already, to which I clearly stated my future goals and business was not among them. The discussion went on to latest happenings around the world, Saudi Russia Price war & Yes Bank crisis were trending back then. I knew in detail about both and explained with facts & figures. They further asked my experience with Indian Equity Markets, strategies for day trading & how I decide to invest in a particular share to conclude the interview. After the process, I felt that journey leading to this interview was the most important!
How did you feel immediately after the interview?
My immediate reaction after coming out of the interview room was that I aced it.
Although I'm not sure whether I'll make it or not, I knew that I was able to prove my candidature to them.
How was the day of results?
I was literally in tears after I saw Congratulations, and thought all that struggle and hard work has finally paid off. I can proudly announce it to my parents that I was not so Nikamma (we can find synonyms to this XD) after all!
Truly inspiring! Why do you think they selected you?
Most importantly, I was able to align my future goals (to work in Fin roles like Equity Research, Corporate Finance, IB) with my past & present (trading in financial markets). Also, being aware of current affairs was very critical
What are your tips to future aspirants?
My first advice to all future aspirants would be to do a
lot of brainstorming before attending an interview. The introduction is a key thing in an interview as in most cases, your further interview is picked upon from that. So mention 3-4 open-ended points in your intro, in which you're comfortable. Secondly, All of you must be prepared with the general ques like Why MBA & Work ex related ques as these will definitely be asked from you.
Vikram in his natural trading element.
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Recommended Reading For You:
- How I Overcame My Obstacles And Made It To XLRI Jamshedpur | Saloni Malhotra
- How I Scored 99.46%ile In CAT 2019 In 40 Days | Suhani Singhal, IIM Bangalore '22
- How I Made It To IIM Ahmedabad In My Second Attempt | CA Priyanka Saraf