IIM Calcutta WAT/PI Experience – 09th March, Monarch Luxur, Bangalore, 8:00 AM.
Profile:
X/XII – 94.2/93.2
B.E. (Chemical Engg) – 7.92
19 months of at Oracle Applications.
CAT ’15 – 99.75
WAT – Something about freedom of and no corruption in media being vital to a successful democracy. Straight forward topic, with valid recent examples of events, so I’m guessing everyone would’ve done a decent job here.
PI – 1 F (), 2 M (one 50ish, other one )
I was the last one in my slot. I guess they were probably bored of all the regular questions (and answers) by because none of the expected questions came my way.
I walked and asked to be seated.
M1 – Why are you asking? The chair is for you to sit, who else? (laughs at his own joke, then proceeds to tell me how this was an example of a rhetorical question)
M2 – Can you give us an example of a rhetorical question?
Me – explain a similar scenario involving a glass of water which is *obviously* meant for drinking, in much the same way as the chair was *obviously* meant to be sat upon.
M1 – Hmm, you sound confident but I’m not sure about your example.
– Said that it might not exactly be a rhetorical statement, this was the best I could come up with on the fly.
M2 (who was meanwhile going through the form, and no doubt asks this question since he notices that college is in Goa) – why is Uber not operating in Goa?
Me – Explained about how the taxi union has influence there etc.
M2 – Granted, but can you think of a more obvious reason?
Me – (Realising what he is hinting at) Talked about how demand is not that high in Goa, in proportion to its large area, since it’s a state and not a city. Explained how cab aggregators work and why the model would fail in Goa.
M1, M2 seem satisfied with this.
F steps in at this point, and it becomes clear that she was the one tasked with asking the quintessential-IIM-C-interview-maths-question.
F (going through my transcript) – Hmm, seems like you did courses on Operations Research and Optimization in college.
Me – (shit.)
F – Do you remember what topics you studied?
– Mention a few random things like Linear programming, Shortest path algorithms, network models etc.
F – (face lights up) Great! So you will be able to answer questions on those!
Me – (With an equally wide smile) No ma’am.
F – Okay what about integration?
Me – No.
F – Differentiation?
Me – No.
F – Matrices?
Me – No.
This back-and-forth went on for a until I finally gave up and made a “fine, ask whatever you want” face. She finally settled on probability. Luckily had already encountered a question similar to the one she asked (a conditional probability question), so was able to solve.
M2 – Recently there was news about a case in the SC involving your college (BITS Pilani) and their right to award degrees outside the main campus. (I am from BITS Goa).
M1 – Suppose SC passes a ruling in favour of UGC, and your degree becomes invalid. Then we can’t give you admission. What will you do?
Me – (wtf!) Said that first of all, any such ruling would not be retrospective, it would take into account that people who have already graduated, their degrees would remain valid.
M2 – Chalo, what if I say that even that is not considered, and your degree is actually made invalid. this is unfair. Now who will you sue? IIMs, BITS Pilani, or UGC?
Me – Sir I can’t make a judgement call on a legal issue without having all the facts. In case what you said actually happens, I would need all details about the ruling of the SC, and only then can I decide course of action.
M1 – So you are saying that you’re a cautious sort of person?
Me – Said that rather that calling it cautiousness, I just like to have all the information I can get before making a decision, especially in a situation like this. Would not like to assign blame to one party without all the facts.
F, M1, M2 look at each other.
M2 – Rohan, we are done. Any questions?
Me – Asked about the football culture at IIM C, since I love playing.
M2 – Explains a bit about how some people do play, etc. Ends up calling Futsal something totally different, and I have to hold back a smirk.
M1 – Don’t worry, you won’t get any time to play football there.
– Sir, I will try my best to make some time for it.
Thanked them and left. All this was a little over 10 minutes. And nothing at all from my profile, academics, work experience, or career goals.