IIM Bangalore Previous Years Personal Interview Experiences

Academics:
10th: 93.67% (Maharashtra State Board)
12th: 88.62% (Maharashtra State Board)
UG: 8.25/10 (BITS Pilani, Electrical and Electronics)
6 months of work ex as on 31/01/2021

Interview duration: 36 mins

(Started after lot of issues in seeing my ID card getting focused, we started. They were hesitant in me sharing screen and showing my ID)

M1:

1. So you have experience of interning in an EdTech company, how was it?

2. Tell me about your project there and what you learned.

3. So is that the only internship you did? Tell me about others (Also told that I got a PPO in WD)

4. So what is your role in Western Digital?

5. You have shown interest in the PGPBA program also, why do you want to get into analytics?

6. Do you have exposure to analytical tools? (Said that have completed a course in Data Mining in my UG to get exposure but don’t have an experience with the tools)

7. So what did you work on analytics in UpGrad? (Told that my project was to improve the product management program and not use any tools myself buy related to the content of it)

8. Are you familiar with C, C++, Java, and Python? (Answered yes)

9. What do you want to do after completing an MBA? (Answered Product Management)

10. How do Product Managers use analytics or data?

11. What all courses are offered by upGrad?

12. You have done well in mathematics in your life, there has been a piece of news recently of making mathematics an optional subject for engineering, or people are given an option to drop mathematics in their 9th grade, what is your opinion on that, what should be done?

F1:

1. Tell me about Western Digital? Not your role, but about the company.

2. What is the turnover of WD?

3. Do you ever interact with customers? (Answered no, I have an engineering role)

4. Who do you interact with outside of your team? Who are the key stakeholders?

5. So coming back to your EdTech exposure, what do you think is the future of EdTech?

6. How has the past year affected the industry?

7. Tell me the disadvantages of online education

8. What is the impact of online education on MBA? (Talked about networking on campus is an enriching experience and was the biggest learning from my 4 years at BITS)

9. What if I tell you today that we will be having online classes for the next 2 years, how will it affect you? (Talked about how I will adapt and learn to make the most out of my 2 years. Talked how eventually many large organizations might have WFH full time, so networking online is a good thing to learn if MBA goes online)

10. Is networking the sole motive for education? Tell me about primary education, UG as well as MBA. (Told that networking for me is not just about knowing someone who will be a future CEO of some organization but also learning from peers in the classroom. Told that classroom education is the most important during school, but our parents ensure that we are put in school which will have a good environment in the classroom and we learn other things as well. For UG and MBA, networking comes along with learnings about communication as well as presenting your thoughts. Told about my learnings from my 10+7 months of experience. Maam was quite happy with this answer)

11. What are the advantages of online education?

M2:

1. BITS has so many entrepreneurs coming up. What is the reason for this? What is BITS doing differently which other colleges are not? (Told about complete responsibilities given to students in managing activities, and how institute just monitors and does not work for you. Helps students in taking responsibility and coming up with innovative solutions. Told how my personal experience in clubs and departments has helped me in problem-solving. Talked about the elective approach in the curriculum enabling students to pursue subjects they like. Missed stupid points like no attendance policy and internships/research)

2. What about the no attendance policy in BITS? Does it not help? (Told from my personal experience how it had disadvantages as well as advantages and how it gives students flexibility in pursuing what they really like)

3. If students are so intelligent making it to top institutes and doing well without attending classes then why have classes at all? How are students managing it? (Couldn’t share my personal experience here of not attending and studying from friends. But explained well how it is important to attend classes to gain proper understanding of those subjects and how the no attendance policy will help you in learning what you really like. Gave an example of a friend who did not study electronics at all but utilized his time on personal projects and electives and landed a job in FB. Prof was happy with the answer)

4. Do you have any questions for us? (Asked about their experience of teaching online and how they find it. Prof shared his experience and how currently is teaching an empty classroom physically. Also shared about the advantages he felt of the online world)