This is the second part. To read the interview experiences mentioned in the first part, click here.
Here, I have made an attempt to collate interview experiences of my friends who are from various backgrounds and are currently, first-year students at MDI Gurgaon.
Read on!
Dipshika Damani – 10th (93%) – 12th (85%) – BTech (8.16 GPA) – Work Experience of 15 months at TCS – CAT Percentile (98.49%) - General Engineer Female Non-Fresher
GD WAT Topic: “Reservation in higher education is a risky proposition”
Panel Composition: Only one professor was present. Other person who took our GD went home. I was the last one in my panel during my interview.
Interviewer: Tell me something about yourself not in the form.
--Explained everything from my social work, hobbies and strengths. They asked me what design thinking was because I had completed a course on it from Coursera. I also told them why it interested me and what I liked about the course. I told a line “I always like to smile” and I tried making it a very candid conversation.
Interviewer: I hate system engineers. I think they are useless. Tell me something to prove yourself. (Tried to intimidate here a bit but I kept calm)
-- Answered how my work in TCS is related to data, how I dealt with structured and unstructured data etc. I spoke about how my work helped me to better understand the organizational structure and will provide with a foundation.
Interviewer: You mentioned about your hobbies. Which book you have read recently?
-- Told him about last, current and planning to read also.
Verdict: He was smiling throughout. Overall good
Tip to aspirants: Talk to people who have been through this stage as that will help you get a better picture. Interviewers intend to know you and be candid in your conversation.
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Also Read: What Makes MDI Gurgaon The B-School Of Choice?
Aashima Garg - 10th (10 CGPA) – 12th (94.2) – Graduation (75.78%) – Fresher – CAT Percentile (96.45) – Economics Honors - General Non-Engineer Female Fresher
GD WAT Topic: How would AI disrupt the job market and how it can be adopted by developing countries like India?
Panel composition: One male and one female interviewer
F Interviewer: Why are you not doing a job or pursuing another degree before MBA, given you are too young now?
Answered why MBA
The male interviewer then checked my mark sheet and upon realizing that I was an economics grad, started throwing academic related questions.
M Interviewer: Who is Thomas Piketty?
M Interviewer: Okay, so what do you understand by crony capitalism?
F Interviewer: Manmohan Singh is the alumnus of your department. Now he is such a brilliant economist. I still feel you should pursue economics like him.
- Explained my inclination towards management
F Interviewer: Why do you think the sex ratio of Haryana is so bad?
M Interviewer: Imagine you have done your MBA and you have entered the corporate world, what would you like to change there in support of females?
- Talked about the existence of a glass ceiling upon which he asked why you still feel that the glass ceiling still exists?
M Interviewer: What do you think is missing in the corporate world?
F Interviewer: Can you give us an analysis of this year’s budget?
M Interviewer: What is your hobby?
Upon mentioning “reading”, they asked me about my favourite author. Coincidentally, the male professor was also a fan of Khaled Hosseini. So he asked me if I have read all his books. I answered, “yes”.
M Interviewer: Tell me 3 managerial lessons that you have derived from the book, “The Kite Runner”.
M Interviewer: You are from Chandigarh and it is such a planned city. What do you think are the economic benefits of it?
F Interviewer: Tell us a little about your family. What does your name mean? Do you think you have been able to do justice to your name? Are your parents supportive of your decision to do an MBA?
M Interviewer: You quoted some facts in the group discussion. What’s the source of that?
Verdict: Overall chill and not at all grilling. They appreciated my perspective and my performance in the group discussion at the end.
Tip to aspirants: It really helps if you are well researched and well-read so that you only talk about things you know. This helps you drive the interview irrespective of what they ask. Keep a calm head even if they throw unrelated, seemingly random questions at you like in my case.
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Also Read: How To Answer 'Why MDI Gurgaon?' In Your Interview
Siddhant Dhawan - 10th (10 CGPA) – 12th (89%) – BTech (80.2%) – Work Experience – CAT Percentile (99.28%) - General Engineer Male Fresher
GD WAT Topic: One nation one election. It turned into a fish market, especially because of one guy but two of us tried to moderate in between.
Panel composition: One male and one female (from data analytics background)
I was the last in the panel for the interview. All the other interviews went for as long as 30 minutes and everyone was asked very abstract questions on life and art.
M Interviewer: Hi Siddhant, how do you think was the GD?
- On saying that one person tried to dominate a lot, I was asked why did you not control the situation? I assume you failed at that task? I took my stand and explained.
M Interviewer: Okay, tell us something about yourself.
- Being a fresher, I always mention about my inclination towards data analytics and the courses that I have done in my introduction. Coincidentally, the female interviewer was a professor of the same.
F Interviewer: How can you guess if Modi will win elections or not?
F Interviewer: How will you analyze the best candidate from all the forms submitted with the help of data interpretation?
F Interviewer: Do you know R programming? Explain us 2 functions in R programming.
Verdict: My interview was very short and went for only 7-8 minutes. Answered all the questions. I was scared if I would convert or not but I did!
Tip to aspirants: It’s a myth that long answers win. Answer in brief but to the point. There is no harm in taking some time to answer the questions but answer correctly. Don’t be in a hurry because of anxiety and beat around the bush.
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Recommended: MDI Gurgaon Student's Guide To Crack The GD-PI Process
Shreyansh Agarwal - 10th (95.4%) – 12th (98.5%) – Economics Honors (8.31) – Work Experience of 1 year in Mirae Asset Capital Markets in Private Equity Division – CAT Percentile (97.84%) - General Non-Engineer Male Non-Fresher
GD WAT Topic: Today’s parents work hard to give gifts and a good life to their children but don’t spend enough time with them. What are your views on this?
Panel composition: Two male panelists
- What do you think about the GD? How did it go according to you?
- Whose GD conduct did you like the most from your panel?
- Introduce yourself
Started with my educational qualification (Economics honors from SRCC), analyst in Mirae and what are my responsibilities, and spoke about my college PORs and hobbies. Drove it towards work experience.
- Tell us more about the deals you have worked on in your company (I had been in a PE firm)
Here I spoke for the maximum time.
- Explain how you evaluate a company (for investment)
- They asked me different ratios and other finance concepts like WACC, IRR, CAPM Model, etc.
Verdict: It went on for around 15 minutes. I tried to divert all their attention towards my work experience and it was mostly me talking in the whole interview. Quite a lot in my favour, so pretty chill!
Tip to aspirants: Be genuine in your answers and say that you don’t know if any answer is not known to you.
To read the third part of this series, go to: MDI Gurgaon Interview Experiences - Part 3| Tips By MDI Gurgaon Students
Hope this was helpful! If you wish to know anything further, let us know in the comments below.
Wish you all the best for your preparation!
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