Why I Got Rejected By SPJIMR

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WAT: Demonetization after 3 years; is it a success or a failure?

Let me start from the very beginning. SPJIMR is the only college which requires you to submit your choice of specialization with your application (Finance/Marketing/Operations/Information Management). Every other college gives you the freedom to study different subjects from all the baskets in the first year, and then find your calling. I implore you to come up with a really strong reason for pursuing the specialization you choose, for apparently that is the only thing that matters.

Now SPJIMR releases its calls two times; the first one is a profile-based call (before the declaration of your CAT results). If you are able to make it through, all you have to worry about in your scorecards is clearing the cut-offs. The parameters on which a profile is decided is known only to SPJIMR authorities and God himself. No other person has been able to decipher it yet.

The second time, the college releases profile-cum-score based calls. Your acads and percentiles are taken into consideration, but still, you will find aspirants with their percentiles ranging from as low as 87 to as high as 99.5. Again, the criterion is obscure.

I was lucky enough to be called for an interview for the Finance specialization. We were given about 30 minutes for the psychometric test (6 out of 20 choices had to be explained) and the WAT. If you insist, you might be able to stretch your time limit to 35.

Now SPJIMR takes group interviews. My group had 5 other people. The interview panel consisted of a lady in her early 40s and a gentleman in his 70s. They were asking the questions collectively. I would refer to them as T.

Let me give a short overview of the candidates.
B: 31 months’ work-ex; Non-engineer; Finance; Male
C: Fresher; Non-engineer; preparing for CAT since graduation; Finance; Female
D: Fresher; Engineer; Finance; Male
E: 31 months’ work-ex; engineer; Information Management; Male
F: 24 months’ work-ex; non-engineer; Marketing; Male

The interview started with everyone introducing themselves one by one for about 45–60 seconds.

T to B: Why Finance? Why not CA or CFA? Views on demonetization. Asked to discuss the Budget 2020. Some cross questioning on work experience.

T to C: Why Finance?

T to D: Why finance?

T to me: Why Finance?

T to E: What work did you do? Why Information Management? Tell us about an instant when you were able to make a difference.

T to F: What work did you do? Why Marketing? Why did you leave your first company? Isn’t your background more inclined towards Information Management?

Verdict: Only E and F were selected for the second round of group interviews. No one was selected for the finance domain.

The people with no work experience were not even cross questioned. I was asked just one question other than the introduction throughout the interview. No questions on current affairs, under-graduation subjects, co-curricular activities or achievements. For the rest of the time, I was listening to the discussions between the experience holders and the interviewers.

All this took around 25 minutes.

Apparently, your acads and percentiles will only help you get a call, but are of no use after that. All that depends on you moving from round 1 of group interviews to round 2 is the impression you cast on the interviewers. To be honest, I don't know if even my WAT was considered for making this decision. It seemed as if they had already made up their mind just by glancing at my profile sheet. Rest all was a mere formality. But then again, luck plays a small part as well. One of the candidates in another group made it to the second round only on the basis of his introduction. He was asked nothing else than that. It really has to be your day.

So, I would suggest an SPJIMR aspirant to make sure that the specialization you choose and your profile are tightly knit. Like in my case, an engineering student without any professional experience or educational background of finance portrays no inclination towards the field. Internships and projects are not relevant. You must have relevant work experience or achievements in the chosen field. It will be next to impossible to get a specialization just because you have an 'interest' or 'inclination' towards that particular domain. This is how this schools selects its future students, and judging by the growth of the institution, the strategy is working just fine.

No doubt SPJIMR is one of India's leading b-schools. But make sure to be smart enough to adapt to the college's selection process appropriately.