IIM Lucknow
Please Share A Brief About Your Profile
Arkaprobha is a 2021 graduate in Computer Science and Engineering. His Xth/XIIth/Graduation scores are 9.6/93.4/9.13 respectively. He took CAT 2020 as a GEM Fresher and scored 99.68 percentile. Following multiple interviews from some of the top B-schools, he decided to pursue his MBA from FMS Delhi. Apart from academics, he takes a great interest in sports and is a national athlete.
Please Share Your Interview Experience
Venue: My own study room.
Panel: Two elderly gentlemen. One is slightly younger (let's call him Y) and the other is in his later 40s or early 50s (let's call him P).
Joined and start
P: How do I pronounce your name?
Me: Told him the correct pronunciation.
P: So, Arkaprobha, what does it mean?
Me: Sir, Arka means ‘Sun’ and ‘Probha’ means ‘Rays’. So, combined I am the sun's rays (smiling).
P & Y burst out laughing.
Y: So, what was your percentile in Quant in CAT?
Me: Sir, it was 99.26.
Y: Oh! So you must be good at Mathematics.
Me: Sir, I find my way around.
Y: Do you know what a normal distribution is?
Me: Yes, sir. It is shaped like a bell. The equation is….(Y stops me)
Y: No no. I don’t want the equation. Tell me practical instances where we can observe a normal distribution.
Me: The weight of the population of India or any country.
Y: Okay, good! Give me another one.
Me: The graph of COVID cases….(unsure)
Y: No no…that is not at all a normal distribution. Tell me what is a standard normal distribution.
Me: Sir, a normal distribution with mean 0 and standard deviation 1.
Y: Okay. Do you know the Traveling Salesman Problem?
Me: Yes sir. I do know it. (Tells the problem statement)
Y: Is it an NP-Hard problem?
Me: Sir, I don’t recall exactly whether the time complexity is exponential or not.
Y: Okay, no problem. I am working with algorithms at this point. So, I was curious. Anyway, I am done.
P, who was sitting quietly reading a sheet of paper, takes over.
P: So, Das, you are from Kolkata?
Me: Yes, sir!
P: What are your thoughts on the Trinamool Congress government?
Me: (inhales as political questions can be a landmine) Sir, I think the government has done XYZ positive things and ABC things can be improved upon in QPR ways.
P: So, you think West Bengal should be industrialized?
Me: Yes. (Cites the example of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Also, points out that the government is taking initiatives such as giving out fields earmarked for SEZs to corporations such as Infosys).
P: (totally grilling) And what about the farmers? You take their land and build corporate houses? Do you profess that?
Me: Sir, the lands that have been earmarked are barren and not meant for agriculture.
P: So, why did you say fields? Is this how you are going to converse in important situations?
Me: I am sorry, sir. I meant barren lands.
P: You can log off.
Me: Thank you, sir!
I thought I was going to be totally rejected thanks to the fiasco at the last stages.
Final Verdict: Converted, Didn't Join
Any Advice For Upcoming Aspirants?
They are looking for reasons to select you and not reject you. So, don’t be afraid if you mess up most of the questions. Try to ace a couple of them and you would be good to go.
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