IIM Lucknow Personal Interview Experiences

Note: This page will be updated regularly as and when we receive IIM Lucknow Personal Interview Experiences directly from students and trusted sources

Preparing for CAT? It is the exam to get admission into any of the IIMs. Also, the CAT exam is considered the toughest of all exams. After the exams, it is equally important to prepare for Group Discussion and Personal Interview. In this article, you will know more about the IIM Lucknow real PI experience shared by candidates.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 40

Date: 28th Jan
Location: Bangalore

WAT

15 mins were given
Topic: Media Freedom: should it be given or should it be censored

Interview:

2 Panelist mid 40s Male

Asked me about what all calls I have
They knew my college and reviewed my resume and asked you are from good college why so low percentile

Justified it. It was followed up by why so late in attempt justified that also as Covid had disrupted a lot of things

Panelist 1: Tell me two business case studies wherein IT has revolutionised Business processes

– Talked about e-commerce Online education and online pharmacy

Had some discussions around how Blinkit can be a competitor of online pharmacy apps

Panelist 2: Tell me about your work in Amazon

Had a discussion about Inventory Management and forecasting

Panelist 2- tell me meaning about your name

Had some discussion about it which took a funny turn lightened up the mood

Panelist 2- Who are the biggest competitors of Amazon

– Walmart in Retail Netflix in Video streaming GCP and Azure in Cloud

– Had some discussions about Flipkart and Walmart

Panelist 2 – what’s the cap ex of Amazon ?

Didn’t knew it but Deduced it be doing some analytical reasoning
Knew the peak share price and based on that deduced the approximate valuation of the company

But it was wrong

But overall the interview was good and no grilling of any kind

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IIM-L Interview Experience 41

Profile- 10/9/8
Cat – 99.42%

2 Male
M1 – Tell me about yourself
Me – Told the rehearsed answer
M1- So you like cricket, then give us the technical reason due to which a ball swings
Me – gave the basic reasonings for the swinging of the ball but couldn’t give the techn answer
M1 – What are your fav subjects?
Me – ML, Oops, maths
M1- Only these many, didn’t you go to college for 4 years, tell me more
Me- DBMS also
M1 – What is BCNF
Me – Explained the entire process of normalisation(1NF, 2NF etc)
M1 – What is partial dependency?
Me – explained and even wrote an example
M1- What is inheritance?
Me – Explained
M1- why do you need parent class if child class has all the features of the parent class?
Me – explained
M1 – What is polymorphism?
Me – explained with an example
M1 – cross questioned me on the example

M2 – So what do you read, do you know anything about what is going on?
Me – Read mint and somewhere along the lines inserted my liking towards finance
M2 – Tell me about finance
Me – Started yelling him about financial statements, how to evaluate a company
M2 – Tumhe toh sabh aata hai, phir kya zaroorat hamaari?
Me- Explained how I only knew the theory and how you guys will help with practical skills, also added their slogan somewhere in between.
M2 – Started questioning me about cash flows and how a cash flow sheet looks and we had a discussion about it.
M2 – Who is president of India?
Me – answered
M2 – Vice president?
Me – dont know
M2 – neighboring countries of India?
Me – answered (but I missed China)
M2 – you missed the biggest threat to India
M2 – any female president of our neighbouring states who is famous rt now?
Me – dont know
M2 – Extempore now, what do you want to speak on?
Me – Cricket
M1 – old generation of cricketers are saying that t20 is destroying test matches – extempore
Me – spoke for about 1-1.5 min
M1 – Thank you

Overall, the interviewers were quite chill.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 42

Date: 21 Feb 2023 12:30PM
Location: IIML Noida Campus
Profile: GEM with 37 months workex in CRM

WAT: Geopolitics- Are we on a verge of World War 3?

Interview Exp:
1. Tell us about Yourself
2. What do your parents do?
3. Campus Placement? What do u do in IBM?
4. What is CRM?
5. What do u do in your work?
6. Inspite doing Civil Engg. Why pursuing career in IT?
7. Why MBA?
8. You can learn about MBA courses on youtube also, why IIM?
9. How will your peers help you in learning and not pull you down?
10. Why Punjab being so rich during independence has not been developed, infact it is continuously declining?
11. Why there is no growth of IT and industrial sector in Punjab?
12. Why brain drain from Punjab to Canada? And why only Canada not other countries?
13. What is Khalistan movement that is emerging in Punjab?
14. How a single report from Hindenberg can effect the economy as a whole?
15. Has Adani done any scam? What are your views on it?
16. What other calls do you have and your preference?

Overall a chill pannel, Interview being conversational and derived based on my opinions on various topics. Lasted for around 10-12 minutes.

WAT Assessment
Higher pay- is it a solution to corruption?

There were 8 candidates in the group exercise. 15 minutes were allotted to the candidates for testing their respective written ability skills. I wrote about the pros and cons of higher pay directly leading to the change in mindset of money-hungry people. Talked about the scams by people receiving a fat pay check, like Rajat Gupta the first Indian CEO of a Multinational firm, MCKINSEY. He was indicted for insider trading when he was finance director of GOLDMAN SACHS. I also, highlighted various aspects of ethics, which should be taught, starting right from childhood. I talked about various scams that have earlier taken place in India like the 2G scam, chopper scam, and CWG scam and stated how demonic is the stature of these crimes due to the big names linked to it. I also added the point how India is a corruption driven country, and what are the necessary steps required to provide a solution to the problems. I also gave examples of the ways the problem of corruption can be curbed in the country. i mentioned about Jan Lokpal Bill, and the initiative taken for transparent governance, which might turn out to be one of the most important steps.

Personal Interview:
The interview lasted for about 15-20 minutes. There were 2 panelists, a Lady of around 40 years and a Sir of around 55-60 years.

Panel1: Tell me something about yourself.
Candidate: I told them about my schooling, the place where I was born and brought up, recalling my journey from a small town of Midnapore to Jadavpur and how topping there gave me self-confidence and self-belief. I also mentionded how my internship at Ericsson as a consultant gave me the required push towards management, and told them my hobbies and interests.
PANELIST2: What principles of Arya Samaj did you learn in DAV – will it help you in management?
Candidate: I was quiet awestruck, but I cogitated and gave the answer. I told them I learnt perseverance, ethics and integrity which would help me more in handling a good business rather than being only successful. I told them how we were made to perform ‘havans’ and yoga in our extra period in school, and how they help me concentrate and focus better on the work that’s in hand.
PANELIST2: Seemed satisfied, but then asked can you tell me the name of a company that works with absolute ethics?
Candidate: Was caught absolutely off guard! I told them about TATA, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and the way Bill Gates invested most of his income in philanthropic activities. But my biggest mistake was to take the name of Reliance (Beware guys, do not tell anything which is not under the purview of you knowledge or understanding!!)
PANELIST2: Haha!! Did you just say Reliance? My boy, you need to do some homework!!!
The baton was then taken by the Female Professor who was a little scary!!
PANELIST1: Okay X, you have done secondary market research. Can you tell me what this secondary market research is?

Candidate: I explained that basically when you do a market study of the paper and information collated by a huge market research or consultancy firms like Gartner, PWC, Deloitte etc., then that is called as secondary market research.
PANELIST1: Was pretty satisfied. Then asked me what I had done in the project?
Candidate: I told them that my research areas which were basically the upcoming technologies related to the internet of things like cognitive computing, mobile financial services, automation of vehicles, future networks etc.
PANELIST1: Can you tell me a real scenario where you could apply IOT?
Candidate: This was the best phase of my interview (smile)!! I started by telling them that I have a startup idea based on internet, of things which I would like to share with them. (Interviewers got excited!!).
Sir, I have got a business idea in line with OLA and Uber cabs. Sir/ma’am, we can connect sensors to our electrical lines. We would provide mobile phones to the electrician in a neighborhood and connect the sensors to the respective mobile phones. Whenever there is a fault in the electrical line, the nearest electrician would be notified of the problem. By GPS the nearest mobile phone will be connected and he can come and fix the problem. In this way we can have things connected, like the electrical line to the net and can bring it under the purview of the internet.
PANELIST1 seemed Satisfied!!
Again the male Prof. interjected and started asking questions.
PANELIST1: Asked questions on probability distributions that I had studied in my engineering.
Candidate:I told them about normal, Poisson and Gaussian distribution (Was expecting cross questions and got extremely tensed as I am not a stats guy).
PANELIST1: What is basic difference between Poisson and binomial distributions?
Candidate: I explained with examples, but he was not satisfied.
The next question that was asked to me was quite shocking and a little funny.
PANELIST1: Have you ever visited a saree shop with your mother? Do you know which is the most famous saree available in Midnapore district?
Candidate: Completely surprised!!! What sir? I don’t sir, absolutely no idea!
PANELIST1: You would become a manager one day, but to be a good one you have to be aware of your surroundings. The place where you stay – what is it famous for?. Which handicraft industry is famous in Midnapore district?
Candidate: I said terracotta, and how the idols and utensils made of terracotta are very famous.
PANELIST1: Not really satisfied. Asked PANELIST2 if she had any questions?

PANELIST2 said no.Then both of them said thank you and asked me to leave. I thanked them and took a breath of relief as my most difficult interview finally got over.

Verdict: Converted!

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IIM-L Interview Experience 2

Date: 19.2.2021 3:00 PM
Profile:
10th/12th/grad (GEM): 95/95.4/85.7
18-month work ex @ EXL
P1 & P2 – Both male around 30-40 years old
Started at 3:30PM

P1 – How are you?
(Greeted both the panelist)
P1 – show me your ID card (Shown the aadhar)
P1 – Your username is “Suyash Mishra 4yr Ceramic Engineering”! Good, we won’t be asking anything from your B.Tech then (Lol moment…I just smiled)
P1 – You are working right? Are you on leave today or working? Did we disturb you?
P1 – what other calls you have? (Replied ABCLKI)
P2 – Is this your first interview? (I replied Yes)
P1 – It’s great then.
P1 – I see you are creative and have various achievements. With this stellar profile, you can get into any consulting firm…What’s the purpose of doing an MBA? (Told them, but was interrupted after 3-4 sentences)

P1 – That’s ok. Didn’t you had a clarity of career goals prior to choosing Ceramic Engineering? (Told, was interrupted again)
P2 – You said you explored things in your first half of graduation…How did you choose MBA? (Told but interrupted again) few cross-questions on my internship at EY (answered)
P1- How did you prepare for the interview? What do you expect us to ask you in this interview? (I told I read about past PI experiences and I expected few clichéd questions like “tell me about yourself…MBA purpose etc)
P2 – What did you prepare? (I said personal questions, work ex and few of the current affairs questions)
P1 – Tell me Binomial distribution. (Told). Did you expected this question? (Said no, but I prepared for it)
P1 – Name your clients and what work you do for them. (Told I cannot disclose the names….and was about to describe my work but he interrupted)
P2 – We read it in your form what you do. Save it. Just name few other organizations in the same category as your client. (Told)
P1- You seem to be a gym-goer. Tell me what’s the motivation? (Interesting exchange)
P2 – You have leadership experience. Do you plan to spread gym culture at IIM Lucknow… (Didn’t expect this…lol)
P1 – Why don’t you start a gym? (I was like …what?!) (handled it …pheww)
P1 – Ok..I’m done (and he walked away)
P2 – Tell me one thing you like about BHU. (Told)
P2 – What do you dislike? Is politics involved in every IIT?
P2 – You can easily get into EY. (Told and justified my stance for MBA again)
P2 – Ohk…That’s it from me. (I said “Can I have a question moment?” and then smiled)
P2 – Yeah… sure. No one was asking today anything, so I didn’t bother you.
Here they said that will be all
All the best to you.
(Extremely chill interview … no acads …nothing substantial from work ex…. just casual conversation… I don’t what happened there)
Duration: ~15 mins

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Venue: IIM Lucknow Campus, Noida
Profile:
10th: 95%
12th: 91.8%
Graduation: B.E Mechanical (Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh) – 85.7%
Work Experience:
10 months – Alstom India Pvt ltd. (7/17–4/18)
2 years -. ZS Associates India (5/18- 5/20)

WAT Topic
Greed is good… (Time limit: 20 mins)
I wrote about how historically greed has been an initiator of change. How greed is the cause of competition and the need to be innovative and evolving. Though I maintained the fact that greed has always had negative consequences. Ended with mentioning Mahatma Gandhi’s quote “There is enough for everyone’s need but not for anyone’s greed”.

Personal Interview Experience
2 panelists

I greeted the panelists and they asked me to sit down.
P1 asked me to show my 10th, 12th and graduation mark sheets and looked through my personal data form.
Interviewer1: Looks at my form and asks Sharma Ji aap bhi Punjab se ho ! Because of my graduation in
Chandigarh

Me1: (Smiling inside for the positive start of the interview but trying to not get carried away)
I answer with a smile. No sir, I am from Himachal Pradesh. I studied in Chandigarh from 13–17.
Interviewer1: Looking at my pre-interview form. You have mentioned your current work experience in ZS Associates. Tell me about it?
Me1: Told them about how I am currently working on sales and marketing projects for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies, my current project estimated around $3 million of budget for a marketing campaign that involved segmentation.
Interviewer 2 was looking at me with a poker face.

Interviewer1: So, how does the pharma market work as he was quite curious about it?
Me1: I explained about the patient cycle and once the HCP wrtites a prescription the process in availing the drugs and the claim process theroff. I had some understanding about the US market and could answer properly.
Interviewer 1: Asked me about the metrics to be used and the matrix of qualitative and quantitative fields?
Me1: Told. (They cross questioned me but most of them were clarifications related to the market)
Interviewer 2: Still had a poker face on. He gets up and starts to walk out. I keep calm and focus on the conversation ahead.
Interviewer 1: *With a satisfied look on his face* Ye sab to theek hai but koi leadership role ka experience hai?
Me1: I had a long list of my experiences for this. I was in lead of LMRC metro project (I had stars on my side that day) and had led a team of 30 operators to carry out production activities for other international Metro projects as well.
I told him how I managed the workforce with diligence (leave management, daily activity tracker, 5s ,Lean blah blah…) on top of the production pressure that we faced to deliver the cars due to UP state elections.
Interviewer1: Questions me on my work in detail.
Me1: I am able to answer few questions but make sure that I tell them about my experiences more.
Interviewer 2 comes back and sits again. Still no questions asked or comments made.
Interviewer 1: Seemed satisfied with the answer and started a casual conversation. Online series dekhte ho?
I say yes to which he says kahaan dekhte ho?
I tell him that I have Hotstar, Netflix subscriptions to which he says ki tum to Ameer ho!! (He was having chai biscuit and felt more like a chai sutta conversation I would have with my colleagues)
Me1: No sir, it’s feasible when you share the subscription and told him about how Netflix has these various plans and price brackets.
He then asks to calculate the cost per person for these plans. I am able to answer correctly.
Interviewer 2 finally gives in and starts asking.
Interviewer2: Okay, tell me whether correlation is causation?
Me1: Answered. I had this discussion one day at my home with the flatmates so was able to explain in detail. Also I brought in the example of Regression to explain the difference and how it established a mathematical relationship between the variables.

Interviewer2: Draw the graph of correlation R= -1
Me1: Took a pad and drew the graph. He looks at it and gives no reaction.
Interviewer 2: (Who didn’t feel like much questions starts a casual conversation) Do you see Stand Up comedy.
I say yes. He asks if I know Kunal Kamra.
I had seen his new stand up two days back and had posted the John Lennon quote on my Insta story .
Me1: Discussed how Kunal Kamra uses comedy to do political satire. Also told him about the post as to how the system is equipped with the means to handle violence and want us to react that way but humour is something they do not have an answer to and acts as a means of expression while making the system uncomfortable and helpless.
I assumed that he had some interest in the political ideologies as he specifically asked me about Kunal Kamra so I brought up the Post.
Interviewer 2: (Shook his head in affirmation and went on with some additional details on the topic being discussed)
Me1: Nodding till he was done.
He lays back and looks at the old professor.
Interviewer1: Goes through my profile and asks me about the revenue of the companies I have worked in, my extra-curricular activities (I mentioned I was a part of my University Cricket Team and the Dance club).
Then he stops and asks me about why I didn’t join the army (I had mentioned that I got through NDA SSB and was in the merit)
Me1: Told him on the lines of the need to explore on my own and I felt engineering was a better option for me. (I spoke what I felt when I made the choice. A bad choice though) No reaction.
Interviewer 1: Okay x, I think we are done.
Me1: I get up. Thank you, sirs. Have a nice day.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 4

Profile: Class 10 – 93
Class 12 – 95
CGPA – 6.9
Interview: 1 Interviewer

Int: A very good morning. How are you?
Me: Sir, a very good morning to you too. I am great and excited to participate in the interview.
Int: Well great. May you introduce yourself?
Me: I am ABC XYZ. I have completed my 10th standard in the year 2014 and my 12th standard in the year 2016 from PQR. In the year 2019, I have completed my graduation from STP. I have worked as an SME at EHT for a period of N months. During the year 2020-2021, I have been involved with QWE club, being a core member and engaging in multiple activities of the club.
Int: You come from a good college. So, I hope you are through with all the Physics concepts. Can you tell me about the third law of thermodynamics?
Me: Sir. The thermodynamics talks about the entropy. It states that the change in entropy is equal to the amount of heat transferred divided by the temperature of the system. Moreover, the entropy of the universe is increasing.

Int: So, do you really think that entropy of the universe changes?
Me: Yes sir. The entropy of the universe increases indeed, and nothing has been found out which can disprove this theory.
Int: What do you mean by change of entropy in layman’s terms.
Me: To some extent, increase in entropy can be corelated with increase in disorder of the system. The more the entropy, the more the system is less orderly, or more chaotic.
Int: Well, tell me something. You know that we humans originate from monkeys. You must have observed monkeys. They jump up and down all the time. It can be said that they are in a state of high disorder. Whereas we humans are much calmer and do are not as outrageous in our ways as the monkeys. But we developed from these monkeys. How does the second law of thermodynamics hold in
this case?
Me: Sir, as I have said earlier, it the entropy of the entire universe that is on the increase as per the second law and not individual components of the universe. Moreover, the disorder of an entity cannot be revealed through its physical activities alone.
Int: Still can you give an explanation for this?
Me: Well, even if we consider this, I can give you an alternate explanation. Monkeys may seem to be in a state of disorder, they keep springing and leaping from here to there, but their explorations are mostly restricted to a specific area, a forest, or a park. On the other hand, humans travel more. A person, on a daily basis, travel to multiple places, which are often far away from home. A person may travel to a different continent altogether, to holiday or for business purposes. In this regard, a man might live in a more disorderly fashion than a monkey. This again is in tune with the second law.
Int: That seems fair. Well thought of. With this we come to the end of the interview. All the best for the coming days.
Me: Thank you very much sir for giving me this fantastic opportunity to sit for the interview. I hope I have given apt answers to your questions.
Int: you may leave…

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IIM-L Interview Experience 5

Profile: 95, 93.4, 9.16 (CAT: 99.95)
BITS PILANI Chemical Engineering
20 months workex in Logistics
Professors: P1, P2. Shivam: S

P1: What are you doing?
S: Started speaking about a video (he stopped me)
P1: No, no I mean are you working?
S: Yes Sir. At Delivery Private Limited.
P1: What is your job role?
S: (his video froze, I adjusted my screen) explained my role.

P1: What is your educational background?
S: Sir I have done my undergraduate in Chemical Engineering. I also went to NUS Singapore for my final year thesis.
P1: Explain your thesis project
S: Explained in great detail.
P1: So your project was related to Plastics. Which marine animal one should use to prepare plastics and why?
S: I said brine shrimp because my project at NUS was related to that. But I gave random reasons. (He didn’t cross question)
P1: Which ministry will you approach if you want to amend a policy in plastics industry?
S: said don’t know.
P1: Who is the Chemical and Fertilizers minister?
S: Sir, is it Devanand Gowda? (It is Sadanand Gowda)
P1: I am asking you this. (I smiled and said I am not sure)
P1: Who is the petroleum minister?
S: Couldn’t recall. Said sorry.

Over to P2
P2: Tell me three application of math’s which is used in Chemical Engineering.
S: Sir Newton Raphson, Simplex for LPP, differentiatial eqn for heat and Navier Stokes.
P2: When is simplex method used?
S: Explained. Talked about slack and surplus variable (he cut me in between)
P2: No no don’t tell me the method. What is the starting solution?
S: I said first feasible solution would be X1=X2= 0. Then we find the intercept and perform next iterations.
P2: What is bisection method?
S: Sir it is for root finding where root lies between (X1, X2) if f(X1).f(X2)<0.
P2: which theorem is used which leads to conclude root lies between (X1, X2) if f(X1).f(X2)<0?
S: Said mean value theorem. (I was not sure). But tried to explain.
P1 enters again.
P1: who is xyz? (Don’t remember the name what he said)
S: I don’t know
P1: So you don’t follow news.
S: Sir I follow it, but I am unaware of this person.
P1: So you come from Muzaffarpur. What is the historical significance of Muzaffarpur?
S: Told about how Muzaffarpur got its name. And then I told about Khudiram Bose and how his activities led rise to revolution in Indian Freedom movement.
P1: Any medieval significance?
S: Talked about Magadha, Patliputra which is near Muzaffarpur. Gupta Dynasty. Maurya Dynasty.

P1: What other calls do you have?
S: Sir I have calls from all the IIMs.
P1: old and new both?
S: Yes Sir.
Ok you can log off. Thank you.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 6

Lucknow had also very generously provided a fact sheet to brush up recent events in India and globally, which I went through diligently. So I was somewhat more confident on D-day. Visited Taj Bengal for the first time in more than 10 years. The panel consisted of a lady (L), and an older gentleman (G).

The moment I took my seat,

L: So Sambit you are into the theater! What kind of plays do you do?
Me: (Aha! Area of strength!) I have done most of my acting in Bengali. In college, we generally re-enacted existing plays by the likes of Badal Sarkar, Bratya Basu, Utpal Dutta, etc. In Jamshedpur, we tried to put a little more of our creativity into the plays. We took some well-known stories of Tagore and others, and put in some original chunks to concatenate them, and presented them as a common theme.

L: No I mean what have the themes of your plays been?
Me: We have done everything from comedies, tragedies, political satire, to mythology.

G: (cutting in) So being in the theatre circuit and all, what are your views on the debate going on about Freedom of Speech?
Me: (Thank god for Google News) Sir I feel that whatever JNU students have said are definitely objectionable, however, morality and legality cannot be considered to be the same. It was wrong to have taken legal action against the students.

G: (Slightly agitated) What are you saying! Have you seen the video where he is saying all that anti-national stuff?
Me: Yes, but…

L: (to G) Oh that video was doctored. It was a ploy of the politicians or the media.
G: (to L) But how is it possible to edit a video so convincingly?
L: They will do anything to create an issue.
G: But they also had banners and signs saying the same thing.
Me: sitting in awkward silence while the two panelists continue debating among themselves about the issue.

Finally,
L: So Sambit your final views on the matter?
Me:(Remembering a quote but not who it was from) Ma’am all I would like to say is that I do not agree with what the students have said, but I will defend their right to be able to say it.
L and G both look pleased.

I hope this article helps you with your preparation.

Keep going and All the very best!

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IIM-L Interview Experience 7

15/02/2021
Panel 2
Two panelists, both male

BE ECE
Workex – 24 months, Data analyst

P1: How has life been treating you these days?
Me: I’m good (discussed my packed interview schedule with them)

P1: So that’s good, you’ll get done early. So tell us about yourself.
Me: (prepared answer)

P1: How have you prepared for this interview?
Me: spoke about life history, current affairs etc.

P1: Acha, what should we question you on?
Me: umm, football will be a good topic.

P1: No, why football, why not cricket?
Me: Not a big fan very honestly, gravitated towards football.

P1: Okay what else then?
Me: my work?

P1: Everyone wants to talk about their work. Chalo tell us about your job.
Me: (prepared answer)

P1: What about statistics?
Me: Okay sure sir.

P1: Okay tell me a distribution other than the normal distribution.
Me: gave a detailed answer on the binomial distribution.

P1: What are type 1 and type 2 errors? Give examples.
Me: Answered. Gave examples from my work itself.

P2: What books have you read recently?
Me: Spoke about Delhi by Khushwant Singh, The palace of illusions by Chitra Banerjee devakurni. Specifically spoke about the latter and the context of the book (written from the POV of Draupadi).

P2: which other famous book has been written from the POV of a Mahabharata character?
Me: didn’t know (stupid answer, it’s obviously the Gita)

P1: So you’re an expert authority on the Mahabharata, which character do you relate to from the Mahabharata?
Me: chuckled and said I’m no expert, both of them started laughing. I then spoke about Karan at length and how I’m a moral person.

P1: You’re a moral person then why Karan? He was evil. So you support evil too?
Here we had a really long back and forth on the definition of evil. How I felt it is very subjective and the Gita literally talks about a similar dilemma on Arjun’s mind. The panelist told me I would probably support Hitler but I stood my ground and told him that was clearly wrong, but in the Mahabharata’s context the moral ambiguities are quite apparent.

P1: So will you sell poison to increase shareholder value?
Me: Wouldn’t that be illegal?

P1: Suppose you find a way, then?
Me: I won’t, it doesn’t align with my principles.
P1: Okay that’s what I wanted to know.

P2: There’s only one great book by Khushwant Singh, in my opinion, which one is it?
Me: this is the first time I’m reading him, so I don’t know that.

P2: So this book on Delhi, what is it about?
Me: Said it’s about the history of the city from the 13th till the 20th Century.

P2: A very famous history professor passed away recently, who was he?
Me: I’m unable to remember his name but I’m sure he was a faculty at DU.
P2: Yes he was a professor at DU.

P2: Why did you pick up this book by him?
Me: Said how I was at the airport and was interested in the topic.

P1: Any questions for us?
I asked one question

It felt like a borderline stress interview, but a good panel with quality questions.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 9

Electrical and Electronics Engineering/NIT Calicut/Fresher
Two panelists(Both males) M1 around 45-50 in age, M2 around 30-35

M1: So You got the first position in a quiz on Engineer’s day. Tell me who is (a very complicated south Indian name which I had never heard before) (grilling)

M1: 1-2 Questions related to power systems (grilling)

M1: Your grades were low during the 1st year…any reason?
(gave the well-prepared answer, panelist nods in satisfaction)

M1: so have you studied any management-related subject during your engineering?

M1: Give your opinion on farm laws
(after listening to my opinion, he initiated the conversation and gave his opinion on the same)

M1: what are your interests?
(told that I like to cook, playing badminton, football and have an interest in Stock Markets)

Over to panelist 2
M2: So you mentioned stock markets, have you traded before?
(shared my experience during the stock market crash due to covid and lockdown)

M2: tell me how do you choose a stock
(explained in detail about the 4-5 parameters that I consider)

M2: what is the P/E ratio?

M2: what value of P/E ratio you would choose while choosing the stock?
(explained the ideal P/E ratio and how it changes year on year basis and can’t be solely relied upon and other factors to be considered) (satisfied look from panelist)

M2: what if I purchase a stock of P/E ratio lying between 30-40
(explained with example)

M2: okay one math question: draw the graph of y=square root (x)
(drawn)

M2: does it touch anywhere on the x-axis
M2: Okay, thank you

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IIM-L Interview Experience 10

2 panelists Both Male one in 40s and other in his 50s

P1- Asked where are you from

P2- Give a short intro ( talked about that and last mentioned Saskhar Bharat Mission and my Job offer from TCS)

P2- Asked about literacy

P2- Asked why MBA and then told me to go to work with TCS rather doing an MBA( I gave my reasons for why I want to do MBA)

P2- then mail to TCS and say that you don’t want their boring job

P2- Asked about flip flops ( couldn’t answer and tried to divert but he came back)

P2- Asked about Fourier transform

P1- Gave me sequence questions and asked about it

P1- if price of Wheat and data is increased what would I choose.

P1- who manufacturers Ashirwad atta and how do they regulate the prices

P1- what other calls do you have

P1- you may leave

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IIM-L Interview Experience 11

2 panel members 1M (40+): Mostly a professor 1F (30+): Mostly an Alumni

P1: Good morning
Me: Good morning Sir and Ma’am

P1: So you have graduated in 2018….your specialization?
Me: Mechanical Engineering

P1: Where do you work and what does the company do?
Me: Answered

P1: What does your team do?
Me: Answered

P1: As you work in the Oil and Gas sector, do you think India can move towards Renewable energy? What is your opinion
Me: Gave an elaborate answer

P1: What sources of news do you read?
Me: Gave an answer and included that I’m interested in world affairs. Since I am interested in geopolitics I have also read S. Jaishankar’s “The India Way” which was recently published

P1: So you are interested in geopolitics.. does geopolitics play a huge role in Energy sector? What is the impact of politics on the energy sector?
Me: Gave an elaborate answer

P2: What makes someone a huge failure?
Me: Answered with example (They seem impressed)

P2: You have mentioned a quote “Life is too short to learn from your own mistakes so learn from others”, some people say that MBA is a mistake so why not drop the idea of an MBA and take their advice?
Me: Answered (Answer was okayish I guess)

P2: You have written in your form that “With greater power comes greater responsibility”
Give me an example of a person you follow, which has or had great power but failed miserably

Me: Answered but I couldn’t think of a good example at that moment
P2: Thank you! You can leave. Best of luck

Pretty chilled out interview. Panelist were also in a good mood.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 12

CSE Major – 2019 passed out

They were eating and asking

1. I thought you were going to come in normal dress why did you wear all formals?

2. For which course are you chosen? PGP / PGP ABM

3. What is your preference?

4. If you don’t get anything except PGP ABM – Will you join? – I said no

5. Show me your ID – showed PAN card

6. Which department issues PAN card?

7. Types of Taxes?

8. Difference between personal tax and GST?

9. √-12 x √-14?

10. If travel half the distance from source to destination and then again half of it and I will keep repeating – how much time will it take? – I said it will become an infinite series

11. How does it become infinite – the distance is limited right?

12. How do you find the continuity of a function?

13.1 If graph is not given?

14. Minister of social welfare? – couldn’t answer

15. Minister of external affairs, Finance minister?

Time: 15-20 min

Couldn’t answer anything properly.
Overall it went very bad

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IIM-L Interview Experience 13

1M 1F (Both Soft Spoken)

BBA (Finance and Accounting)

Hello, How are you….Da da da

F: So what are you doing nowadays? Walk us through your day to day activities
Told (I mentioned that I’m trying to learn Intraday Trading)

M: So when do you think markets are going to crash?
Told him that I’m no expert in this

M&F: Which all subjects did you have? What was you favourite subject in which you scored highest
Told them the subjects
Told them that favourite subject and highest score subject are different

M: Asked a random case, what kind of investment will you suggest a 60years old
Short Discussion happened

F: You’re young, why don’t you travel or gain some experience and then get into the MBA? (Basically Why MBA)
Told

F: Jatin tell us something about yourself, like your greatest achievement or anything
Asked them if I can mention an achievement from personal front
They said sure
Then told.

F: You’ve grown above your age Jatin. Be happy and all the best 🙂
Thankyou 🙂

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IIM-L Interview Experience 14

Two panelits: F and M

1. M: We tried to connect to you but there was nothing, never mind. Tell something abt yourself
Told the practiced one

2. M: So you want to do a MBA, thus you will resign from your job or take a study leave.
Sir my company gives sabbatical after 5 years of service only, although I would request them to offer me a sabbatical but if they don’t then will go for resignation.

3. F: So you work in a oil rig right?
Yes Mam I am currently at a rig

4. F: So the oil prices are rising how your company is going to benefit from that.
Mam the oil price have increased due to extra tax put on by state and central government. The crude oil prices are somewhat stable. But if crude oil prices increase my company is going to benefit from that as it has low price per barrel.

5. F: But if your company buys a downstream firm then how the petrol price fluctuation will affect you.
Mam my company bought a downstream firm two years back. It helps to form a buffer zone to accommodate fluctuations. If crude oil prices increase then by default we benefit otherwise the downstream company will help us to earn benefits

6. M: So what are your hobbies?
Sir Cooking, Reading and Watching Movies

7. M: So what you like to cook?
Sir the most I like is to make chicken

8. M: You know only one thing to make and you say like cooking.
No sir I can make from chappati to full course meal, chicken is something which I love to make.

9. M: How many types of chicken do you make?
Sir I don’t have any count but I keep doing experiments. Recently during lockdown I learned to make a Turkish style chicken in which we fry the spices initially and add it to chicken in the end.

10. M: I love to cook myself thats why I am so eager. Ok what else was your hobby?
Sir Watching movies and reading

11. M: What type of movies do you watch?
Sir I like the movies from the director Christopher Nolan. Inception and Dark Knight Trilogy are my favorite. I also watch movies based on underworld and crime thrillers of Scorsese.

12. M: Ok So you watch Netflix series also?
Sir I am not a Netflix series fan. I like the concept of Movie rather than of series

13. F & M: Ok Akshay It was nice talking to you. You may now log out.
It was pleasure to talking you as well. Thank You

Overall the interview was very calm. Both the interviewers were very accommodating and let me answer completely. I panicked in Tell Me about yourself as it was more than 90 minutes and there was no reponse from Admission Office. After a couple of calls I was able to activate my link. The interview took approx 10 to 15 minutes to complete.
Thanks.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 15

GEM
7 months experience in telecom.

P1
Why MBA after engineering?

What are EM waves ?

Explain 5G STA implementation of 5G? (My Btech Project)

Questions on implementation of 5G and India’s struggle

P2
The questions related to my SOP

P3
Now Why MBA?

You should continue with engineering related field I believe, you will do well.

Current Affairs- Reliance Oil to chemical biz.

Stress Interview, panelists were cutting down every now and then.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 16

Two panelist male(very old and arrogant) and female (young and smiling) entire interview::

1. Tell me about yourself

2. Why grad marks are low

3. Are you good at maths

4. Political leaders from your state

5. 1+logx graph

6. X intercept of above graph

7. 5/10+55/100+555/1000+5555/10000…….

8. (1+x)**n expansion

9. Definition of π

10. No of constituency

11. Why scored low in 3 rd year as I gave reason for first two years only

12. Why are you double minded

13. What will be your specialization??

14. What do you do in your free time (said cricket)
Answered all of em and they were satisfied except one question thought interview was going well)

15. Don’t you read books ??
(I said I don’t read )

16. Even one book??
Chetan Bhagat answered
(All of us laughing)

17. Are you good at English??
(This was the worst mistake I did )
I said i am okay with it not as good as maths
They asked spelling of accessories
If you answered you will be selected if not rejected serious and sad faces from them????
Spelled wrongly
Finally they said it’s ok
Try it for next year you will be doing fine you don’t get selected this year.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 17

Bsc maths hons.
Fresher

Asked about sri Venkateswara college

Then applications of mathematics in business
(I gave the example.of marginal cost and revenue) .

Next follow up quesn. On marginal revenue.

A quesn. Of the shortest path for an ant to travel along the longest diagonal of a cube but not through the longest diagonal.

Cabinet minister in delhi and about legislative assembly.

Then quesn. On signature bridge. (What’s special about it)

Why have I done Mathematics if I wanted to do an MBA as maths required for an MBA is done by 12th. . (Countered him by saying the importance of mathematical modelling in Business)

Next quesn. On Covid mathematical modelling. (That there were many models done in march -april on covid, are they are all in futility?) .
(Countered it )

Then what do you like apart from mathematics and why?
(Said marketing)

Difference between sales and marketing?

Since I’m a Goyal- Baniya , next quesn about that. Who was the first baniya? ( I didn’t knew)

And then he told me answer was Maharaja Agrasen, then I remembered.

And that was it.
(There were two people in the panel but only one asked the questions throughout the interview)
(Seemed like a friendly conversation rather than an interview)

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IIM-L Interview Experience 20

F1, F2 – Male (40 years)

F1 – Show us one of your identity proofs
Shown

F1 – Introduce Yourself
Gave an well prepared answer

F2 – So, you are from Civil Engineering!!
Yes, Sir.

F2 – Why your grades are low in Undergraduation
Told that organized more than 10 events continuously. But topped in the 8th sem in the batch.

F2 – What is Cantilever Beam
Answered

F2 – Draw a Cantilever beam
Drawn

F2 – Show me the cross section of a cantilever beam if I cut that at a point P
Drawn

F2 – Draw the Shear Force Diagram and Bending Moment Diagram of that thing.
SFD was correct, BMD was wrong

F1 – Why there are gaps in the Roads?
Told about to bear stress and all.

F1 – Draw what have you said
Out of scope. So, Don’t know.

F1 – While marching on a Bridge, the footsteps are not matched. Why?
Don’t know sir. But will take a guess.
Due to slight Oscillation of the bridge

F1 – So, you are from Odisha. Tell me one famous person from there apart from Naveen Babu
Said about Dharmendra Pradhan

F1 – So, is there not any other famous personalities other tham him in the pas too?
Told about Ex-PM P V Narsimha Rao contesting from my constituency (he said ok, great)

F1- Ok, X. Thank You for your time.

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IIM-L Interview Experience 33

Date: 23 Jan 2023
Venue: WelcomHotel by ITC, Bangalore
Time: 12:30
Panel: 4

Profile:
GEM
10/96.6/9.5
99.78%ile
Work ex: 13 mo (till 31 July ‘22)

Documents verification till 2PM
WAT Topic: Equity is a utopia (10-15 mins. No additional time to think)

Interview Duration: ~20 minutes
Panellists: M/M (Both in 40s)
Good cop-bad cop strategy. One of them (say, P2) was smiling and friendly and the other (P1) barely made eye contact and was mostly turned away at 45° and scrolling on his phone.

P2: Good morning. Please hand over your applicant form. Keep your certificates ready. And introduce yourself.
P2: You have a good record. What other calls do you have?
P1: Then in which situation will you join IIML? Will you choose it over IIMA?
P1: Where do you work?
P2: What is brain drain? What is the situation in India wrt brain drain right now?
P1: What are the different arms of investment banking? How is it different from merchant banking?
P1: What does engineering have to do with consulting?
P2: Do you know about WTO? How does it differ from GATT?
P2: Isn’t the imposition of import duty against the motto of WTO? Who pays this duty and who benefits?
P2: What is a circular economy?
P2: How can we measure unequal distribution of wealth in the economy? Is there a measure for it?
P1: What is the difference between Python and C#?
P1: How would you implement the use of AI in your workplace?
P2: What is a public good? How would you solve the problem of inequitable distribution of public goods? Is there any government policy to address this?
P2: In a small country, domestic demand and support curves are as expected but the global supply curve is a horizontal line. Explain. Is this true for large countries too?

I obviously could not answer everything. There were a couple more questions that I couldn’t answer and now don’t recall.

Also read: IIM interview questions

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IIM-L Interview Experience 34

Profile:
X: 95
XII: 95.6
B.Tech CSE: 82.6
Gen, CAT: 99.88
Working from Jul 22, so only 1 month

WAT topic: India is not an emerging economy, rather a re-emerging economy, 15 mins and 300 words

Tell me about yourself
How can a hacker get access
What issue do you think was there with AIIMS servers
Difference between python and c#
How to convert C# to python
Why MBA now, why not work for some years
Are you applying because you don’t like your job?
Asked about other calls and asked why I did not convert some of them
Inflation rate in India

WAT (15 min)- Next recession will be due to cryptocurrencies

PI (20 min)
1. Why you choose PGP & ABM both? What kind of exposure in ABM? Grilled on ABM for 5 minutes

2. Many random things about Ahmedabad (native place)

3. About my college

4. Day to day activities in current work ex & tools used in project management

5. What calls you have? (Told that I have B, C, L, I) then asked Which one you will choose?

Also read: IIM L interview experience  

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IIM-L Interview Experience 35

Profile BE mechanical NC obc 96.71 percentile
10-94, 12-94, grad 8.2
Work experience 58 months

WAT: Equity is utopia..

Why MBA, why not executive..??
Answered… Lots of talk on that..
Working principle of electric vehicle.. Answered..
Working principle of hybrid vehicle…
Asked about work experience details.. Answered..
Again talk on why are u wasting time to do on MBA..
How many promotion u got..
Why are u staying in same company for this long.. Answered
Why inflation is happening..??
Current inflation rate in India..??
How to control inflation..??
Why entire global is facing inflation..??
Why lots of lay off happening..??
Whats happening currently in Pakistan…??
What’s happening in turkey..??
Why europe is facing energy crsis…??
Integrate log x

That’s all…
Overall it was very chill interview… No grilling… Expect that why not executive…?? Grilled a lot on that…

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IIM-L Interview Experience 36

23rd Jan – Mumbai – 12:30pm – Panel 1
Profile – 9/7/6
Cat – 90.11%

WAT – Markets are a great equaliser.
(No time to think, 15 mins time)

Two Panelists Say P1 and P2.
P1 in his mid 30s
P2 in his mid 40s

I went inside. Greeted them.
P1 – Have a seat .
He started directly with, “Did you notice the paintings in the waiting room where you were sitting right now?”
Me – I think I have missed it but I’ll make sure to take a look afterward.
P1 – Didn’t you see clearly around you? ( He started grilling right from the start)
Me – I’ll take a look afterwards. I missed it .
(Note – I went in the waiting room after the interview to check the paintings, there weren’t any. so yes they were successful in bringing my confidence down)
P1 continued – Let it be. What is AI.
ME -Answered
P1 – What is chatGpt?
Me – Answered.
P1 – Don’t you think if the AI becomes mature , we humans are going to lose all our jobs.
Me – I took a stand saying complete elimination of the Human workforce is not possible. We’ll need less workers who’ll be highly skilled and task will be supervision of this AI.
P1 – He counter questioned with how did I come up to the interview location? ( He was trying to establish a point that We are already dependent on Google Maps)
Me – I stood firm on my perspective. That maps have also been prepared by Human. He seemed satisfied with the answer.
P1 – is technology bringing us closer ?
Me – Answered
P2 enters. He was playing a bad cop roll.
P2 – Explain your work ex .
Me – Answered
P2 – Few questions related to Work ex ( grilled me a little) he went into statistics as I’m a Data Analyst)
Me – Answered.
So I have a Mtech Degree already and I’m going for MBA now. So he said in Hindi. Umar kya he tumari? I said 25. He was like aarey tum toh shadi vaadi karlo yaar. Kyun padhna he . I told him why. Seemed satisfied.
P1 comes back – what do you do in your leisure time
Me – answered.
P1 – some questions related to hobbies. He went deep in it.
Me – answered everything.
P1 – Who’s the CEO of Microsoft, Who’s the owner of Microsoft, What is the parent company of Google, Who is the CEO of Meta.
Me – Answered all
P1 – so don’t you think instead of going out our youth should stay back in India and work here only
Me – I agreed with him and told him why it is not happening. He seemed satisfied.

P2 – Okay that’s it. Thank you.
Interview was around 25 mins. I was shattered by the first two questions. No tell me about yourself nothing. They caught me in the Paintings question but I somehow managed to keep it together.

Overall Good experience. They are not letting you to be the driver of the interview.  So, just keep calm and be confident.

Also read: WAT PI for IIM

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IIM-L Interview Experience 37

8/7/8
Cat – 95.3 with 27 month work-ex
Many extracurricular

IM spec
3 panelist – late 40s, early 50s, late 30s – all male
Pretty cool interviewers but might dig deep and go to the core of what made you say certain answers

1. about yourself apart from resume/application (mentioned trekking)
2. Asked me a trekking experience
3. Why MBA even tho in MBB
4. Follow up on above
5. Follow up 2,3,4… on above
6. Still not clear but why SPJ
7. Why not other IIM
8. What specific in tech industry you like

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IIM-L Interview Experience 38

Date 28th Jan

WAT

15 mins were given
Topic: Media Freedom: should it be given or should it be censored

Interview:

2 Panelist mid 40s Male

Asked me about what all calls I have
They knew my college and reviewed my resume and asked you are from good college why so low percentile

Justified it. It was followed up by why so late in attempt justified that also as Covid had disrupted a lot of things

Panelist 1: Tell me two business case studies wherein IT has revolutionised Business processes
– Talked about e-commerce Online education and online pharmacy
– Had some discussions around how Blinkit can be a competitor of online pharmacy apps

Panelist 2: Tell me about your work in Amazon
– Had a discussion about Inventory Management and forecasting

Panelist 2- tell me meaning about your name
– Had some discussion about it which took a funny turn lightened up the mood

Panelist 2- Who are the biggest competitors of Amazon
– Walmart in Retail Netflix in Video streaming GCP and Azure in Cloud
– Had some discussions about Flipkart and Walmart

Panelist 2 – what’s the cap ex of Amazon ?
– Didn’t knew it but Deduced it be doing some analytical reasoning
Knew the peak share price and based on that deduced the approximate valuation of the company

But it was wrong

But overall the interview was good and no grilling of any kind

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IIM-L Interview Experience 39

Date: 23 Jan 2023
Venue: WelcomHotel by ITC, Bangalore
Time: 12:30
Panel: 4
Profile:
GEM
10/96.6/9.5
99.78%ile
Work ex: 13 mo (till 31 July ‘22)
Documents verification till 2 PM
WAT Topic: Equity is a utopia (10-15 mins. No additional time to think)
Interview Duration: ~20 minutes
Panelists: M/M (Both in their 40s)
Good cop-bad cop strategy. One of them (say, P2) was smiling and friendly and the other (P1) barely made eye contact and was mostly turned away at 45° and scrolling on his phone.
P2: Good morning. Please hand over your applicant form. Keep your certificates ready. And introduce yourself.
P2: You have a good record. What other calls do you have?
P1: Then in which situation will you join IIML? Will you choose it over IIMA?
P1: Where do you work?
P2: What is brain drain? What is the situation in India wrt brain drain right now?
P1: What are the different arms of investment banking? How is it different from merchant banking?
P1: What does engineering have to do with consulting?
P2: Do you know about WTO? How does it differ from GATT?
P2: Isn’t the imposition of import duty against the motto of WTO? Who pays this duty and who benefits?
P2: What is a circular economy?
P2: How can we measure the unequal distribution of wealth in the economy? Is there a measure for it?
P1: What is the difference between Python and C#?
P1: How would you implement the use of AI in your workplace?
P2: What is a public good? How would you solve the problem of inequitable distribution of public goods? Is there any government policy to address this?
P2: In a small country, domestic demand and support curves are as expected but the global supply curve is a horizontal line. Explain. Is this true for large countries too?
I obviously could not answer everything. There were a couple more questions that I couldn’t answer and now don’t recall.

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