GD/PI!Part 2-IIM Ahmedabad......

The big one came next........my IIMA interview was scheduled for the 16th of Feb at the IIM Ahmedabad campus itself........first off this was the first time i was visiting ahmedabad and i must say i loved it as a city.........it so gave me the feeling that i wanted to spend the next 2 years of my life here......the time for the interview was 8.45 AM........i again reached around an hour early......this time there was someone already present and we struck up a nice conversation......the people came in gradully and finally we had 24 people in 3 panels.....my name this time was the first to be called out which clearly meant that i was to have my interview the earliest......

The IIMA PI process has an essay instead of a GD........we went into the room where we were to write the essays and the topic given was-'professional management is a mere rhetoric in family run businesses'.........we were given 10 minutes to complete the essay........i think i wrote a good essay overall although i was left with the summary when the time ended........

I was called in for the interview.....it just happened like 2 days back so i pretty much remember whatever i was asked......there were again 2 people in the panel and this time both were guys......we will call them P1 and P2.........here is the interview as i recall it-

P2-So tell us something about yourself......
me-Stressed on being an army officers son hoping theyll ask some questions on it but they didnt.....

P1-So u have mentioned that u had a an years gap in ur studies so were u preparing for something......oh u have mentioned IIT...right so unfortunately you did not make it
me-Yes sir.....

P1-So are you placed somewhere?
me-Yes sir........Accenture.....

P1-But obviously you are interested in MBA........What are your MBA plans?
me-Sir i basically look to work in the retail sector and for that i want to join an FMCG or a research firm in my summers.....i saw that AC Nielsen is one of the recruiters for IIMA.....so i am pretty interested to join them......

P1-Ok.....but why AC Nielsen?
me-Sir i have always been good at analytics and research.....

P1-How do u say that?u have any experience?
me-Well on a micro level sir........i have one of my certificates saying that i created aptitude tests for a firm which they are using in their selection process......

P2-seems impressed.....ok.....So why retail?
me-Sir basically coz of two reasons.....i think it will be beneficial to me and....cut short

P1-Beneficial as in......
me-Try to explain about profit margins and stuff........

P2-But why do u look at profit margins?ok so u want to start a chain of ur own?
me-Yes sir 7-8 years down the line......

P1-So what differentiators do u look for in ur chain.....
me-Sir there are basically 2 categories of people who buy something........lets take the example of a mobile phone.....theres a category which just looks at price and then one which looks at features......cut short again......

P1 to P2-ask him some questions on comp......

P2 asks me about my project......i fumble a bit and he finally lets it go......

P2-so what is your fav subject in comp?
me-sir databases......

P2-So do you know about normalisation?why do we do it.....
me-Explained him well.....gave him an example too.....

P2-Seemed satisfied.....do u know about cascaded delete?
me-???......no sir but i do know what delete is.......

P2 and P1 laugh....
P2-Ofcourse u know what delete is......

P2-So have u done something other than relational databases?
me-Sir i read about tuple databases....

P2-What is a tuple......
me- Realized that a tuple db is a relational db only......so sir i have mostly done relational dbs only......although i did have distributed and parallel dbs in my last sem......

P2-so what is the difference between parallel and distributed?
me-explained........he seemed satisfied.....

P2-So what sort of ops can be parallelized?
me-Sir functions like join,sort,select etc.......

P2-ok....

P1-So u have tennis as a hobby.......do u have a certificate for it?
me-yes sir........it was a intercollege event......

P1-Ok......u have certificates for quiz and gds too......what is this gd?
me(dint u used to have it in ur selection process like 2 years back)-sir discussing topics basically.....like the essay topic today.....

P1-ok one of the hobbies u have mentioned is numerology....
me-yes sir....

P1-why do u believe in it being an science guy?
me-sir it works perfectly with me......

P1-is that how scientific laws are verified?
me-no sir........u probably look at a larger sample space.........mine is pretty small....talked some more about numerology
and the 5 nos there........

P1-i still didnt get why u believe in something so unscientific......
me-sir i love working with numbers basically.....

P2-u give 2 nos from every person and ill tell u that he has two eyes,two ears and one nose......so i can predict too...
me-well sir i talk about personality traits......

P1-i guess that will be enough......thank u u can leave......
me-thanks for ur time sir......

Overall i believe it was a pretty chilled out interview but IIMA is the last among all the places one can be sure about admission........So lets watch and hope for the best..........:)

Next stop-IIM Lucknow.........26 Feb........See you then.....