My first ever B school interview!!!

Shailesh J Mehta School Of Management (SJMSOM), IIT-Bombay... This was the first B school from which I got a call from and where I attended the interview. I got the call on february 9th. I remember the date well as its just one day after my mother's b'day and the day i got my new laptop!!

My dad accompanied me to Bombay. That was my first visit to Mumbai, the city which i have heard so much about and which is my father's fav city. So my dad had to take leave and come with me. These are the one of the very few situations were I wish I was a boy... I could have gone alone without disturbing anyone. The slot allotted for me was february 29th, afternoon slot.

We reached there on feb 28 by 6.30pm. The campus was well kept... everything in order with sign boards at every nook and corner. We stayed in the staff hostel as we were late to get the guest house... The guest house over looks the lake.... There is a small pond in front where we can find the gaggle of geese.

We had an early dinner and slept off.... I woke up early to luk thru my main, mini proj and seminar.... did a thorough revision. Had lunch, got dressed and went to SJMSOM.
I had the fright of my life wen i got into the seminar hall. About 55 candidates were sitting inside and just 4 gals including me. About 85% of them were in full suit. About 90% of them having work ex of 2yrs +.

There was a presentation by one of the students at SOM, which i found out was an ex-MECian, Prasanth Narayanan :)... I had also contacted another ex-MECian, Joe, who was studying there. But since he didn't have duty that day, he didnt come over. After the presentation, we were asked to assemble according to our panels. My number was A4. It means I am the 4th person in panel A.I had reasons to feel intimidated.... when i was there i knew that they will chick me out, if at all they do only coz of 2 things ... my jmet rank ( which was the last rank to be called) and coz i am a fresher.
The whole process was very well conducted and bang on time. So at 2 pm we were send in for the group discussion.

GD:
As some have discussed, it was a case study. A group of hourly based workers were not motivated and hence they have poor productivity.So what will you do if you were the personnel manager?
The gd was ok. I started first. Then i found it difficult to get in for the next 5-10 min. After that i got in with 2-3 more valid points. (valid .. for me ;)) It was not exactly a fish market but there were at least 2 ppl trying to put forth their point at any point of time. So it was hard unless you had a good voice to fight your way into it.

After the gd we were taken back to the seminar hall.... we were supposed to fill up a form. We have to enter each sem's marks... just engg marks.. The extra curricular column has to be filled only if you have certificates and that too no school level achievements... only those starting from college... The certificate shud also state clearly whether it is state, national or college. Each entry is thoroughly verified by the students in charge.

We were provided snacks (samosa) and tea.... My father was also allowed to sit thru the presentation and all the students were very friendly and helpful.

PI:
There was a professor and an alumnus.(the same panel as the gd) ... one was the hr head of deloitte and the other was the prof who takes international business and ipr for the students ..

Some of the questions asked were:
Introduce yourself.
Seeing that I was electronics and communication engineering student, one of the panellists asked me to start by explaining mobile communication.
I left it half way as I haven’t learned it till last sem.
Which all papers have you studied last sem?
What did you study in electronic product design?
Explain aesthetics and ergonomics.
Tell me how to design the room aesthetically.
What are the different types of layers? Explain physical layer.
How does google come up with the search results so fast?
What is the basic features differentiating linux and windows.
How is linux maintained free from virus attacks?
I answered wat ever I could. It didn’t go too good as the questions were way beyond my comfortable zone. ... But i tried my best to make an attempt to wat ever i cud...
The interview lasted around 15 min. The other 3 who went in had it for about 20-25 min... i guess the prof had made up his mind in the 1st 5 min he saw me.... Have to wait till april 7th for the results...

The whole process was so conducted so well that everything went right on time... Just Perfect...

We left the campus next day m'ing (me looking longingly to come back )