Iam yet to post my first feelings after I stepped into IIM Calcutta

Longest Journey to IIMC

Probably I would be one of the few who have taken a long Journey to reach their destiny. When I say this Iam not talking about my 8 years of CAT preps, 4 CAT attempts, 3 PI rejects, missing IIMC call by 1 mark last year, getting an entry this year in the last waitlist movement & soon..actually I mean the distance travelled...

Chennai to Delhi by Train (28 hours), Delhi to Lucknow by Taxi (15 hours), 5 days stay at IIML & then Lucknow to calcutta by flight (1.10 hours)....

When I got into the Taxi, from that minute I was waiting, waiting, waiting to see the IIMC gate...

Finally after 2 hours I reached the campus..

First feelings

When I first saw the IIMC gate, I asked the taxi waala to stop the car before the gate & I got down of the taxi , starring at the gate for close to 2-3 minutes. Lot of things went through my mind & heart....1 feelig was dominant out of all, " so many years to see this place :)...Will try doing justice to this place & the seat"...

After all the formalities, went to the hostel dorm...4 guys were already there ..

Initially I was feeling doubtful about the next 1 year with those guys, but today they are part & parcel of my life & dont want to shift the dorm :) and want a life time friendship..

Its 3 weeks since I have come here.."Profs are GOD level", the statement I made in my IIMC PI is true by every milli meter :)...

Having stayed out of touch in case of acads, Iam pulling every day with lots of hopes ...

Believe me, even after a gruelling day, a sleepless night, a skipped dinner, this place rocks...and when I feel worn out after being awake till 3.30 am, when I get up in the morning at 7 am, "Man, so much to doooooo", the next second the other feel erases this feel, " Iam in IIMC finally & its worth it"

Will post more soon..

Dear aspirants, keep dreaming & the dream will be real one day..

I don’t know where to start & where to end this post…My last post in this thread…
Most of you would have read my posts
2007 post: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-23.html
2008 post: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-31.html
2009 post: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/2933-all-i-wanted-speak-about-42.html
After the L debacle & XL sacrifice, I was left with no other option, except but to continue with my work. I wasn’t that sad because my JOB was very challenging indeed with lot of day to day problems which helped me as a professional to grow much more
But CAT 09 was already there in my mind. Now, mocks were going well. That was my only preparation last year & that too I was doing it without any emotional attachment.
I used to appear for the online Mocks & prepare from the hardcopy mocks. I never had the mood or patience to analyse online Mocks. This time around my partner was DonIIM an equally passionate guy. We use to solve papers & discuss over the phone.
Dec 6: for the first time, I felt I was under no pressure. 10 secs before the exam, I felt that whatever may happen to this exam Iam going to be happy. Started with Qa, moved to DI, then to VA & finally to Qa.
Total attempts: 53, QA – 16, DI-18, VA-19…Time Spent – QA – 105 mins, DI- 20 mins, VA – 25 mins
After the exam, I forgot about CAT & was busy with lots of other things in Life.
Feb 28: Results were out & I couldn’t check my scores. All I knew that time was I have a call from IIMA & I also felt that there is a high probability of an IIMC call as well as IIML call, which eventually turned out to be true.
IIMC came out with its GD/PI dates & I was called in on 22nd March. This time I didn’t want to join any coaching institute, so worked on my own. I almost had a strong feeling on the set of questions to be asked & I introspected myself to get the answers. Also, started working on the current affairs, which I fell may play a role in essay/GD/PI too. That’s the preparation I did for my next phase.
From March 16-21 , I had taken 6 PIs, 2 by Soham(IIMC), 2 by Prahalad (IIMB), 1 by Saini (IIMC) & the last one by Praveen Mantha(IIMC). By 21st evening, I was damn confident (unlike the previous here)
You can read my experiences here

IIMA: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/51517-2010-2012-iima-pgp-essay-8.html
IIMC: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/51812-2010-2012-iimc-pgdm-pgdcm.html
IIML: http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/cat-and-related-discussion/51890-2010-2012-iiml-essay-gd-8.html
This is what my journey was this year…
There have been so many questions asked to me in this forum and I would like to answer all that today….
1.How do you feel after this convert????
If I have to answer in one line, I would say “This phase of my Life is called as Happyness”. If I just turn back & see, in these 8 by gone years , onething which was an integral part of my life was/is CAT. Every step I took I always had buffered a provision for CAT first & then anything else. Every time I failed, I stood up with a feel that Iam close, I can do it & next year I would be in an IIM. Infact for these 8 years ie (365*24*6+ 366*24*2 hours), this feel was constant. I always believed during the beginning of the season, that next year by now, I will be sitting in a classroom of some IIM (especially IIMC). Today, that dream is true and you can feel, how Iam feeling..
2.what gave you the motivation to hang on for 8 years??????
The sheer love towards my passion/dream. I always believed in onething, “Its my dream, if I don’t fulfill it, who will fulfill it for me”. I never attached any monetary benefits to my dream, its just a plain, simple & sweet dream & I hope , you will agree that, we all love dreaming & some of us take one more extra step to make of our dreams come true. Iam not a super being, Iam like any one here except but I sustained my injuries, lived with my routines & still kept on dreaming….
3.Why not a one year programme????
An MBA, I don’t know how much value addition it will be but, I wanted to go back to studies to do some justice. I was a good student till my 9th standard way back in 1992 & then disaster stuck in the form of our family issues & I could never do justice to my studies though I don’t have any issues with that now. I want to feel the college life now, which I could not.
4.Do you see any value in doing an MBA now, when you are already in a goodjob???
Value is a perception, an IIM degree is not going to hurt me. It’s the self satisfaction, its feel. When Iam in the death bed, I don’t want to say that “I tried something, couldn’t win over it, moved away with other things in life”.For me the greatest value is ,”I believed in something & I tried tried & tried and then one day I achieved it”
5. How do you find time for preparation?????
People say, “When you have will, there is always a way”. My complete struggle with preps & getting adjusted happened in 2005-2006-2007 (you can read it in my blog: http://www.catajourney.blogspot.com/). It wasn’t easy , handling a family, job, studies, part time teaching etc etc etc, but it wasn’t tough too. Mentally I was there, I was there , I was there in what role I played. Believe if some says, you need to sit down 2 hours every day & mug mug mug, that’s when you can crack, I would say he or she may not be 100% true. For me, I believed that, how much ever I prepared let it be even 10 minutes, I should feel happy, when I go to bed that,”yes I have moved atleast a few inches closer to my dream”. So don’t pressurize yourself, don’t feel bad if you cant prepare for sometime & please, don’t quit your Job for CAT preps. Believe me, Cat doesn’t need 8 – 10 hours a day & also quitting a Job would become an added pressure when you get into the exam hall. Secure your survival first & then think about doing justice to your dreams.
6.Whats your advice to future aspirants
Nothing, believe in yourself. Don’t go by what others say, listen to your heart & if possible your mind too. Never compare someone’s profile who has aced CAT & please don’t feel that you cannot crack CAT.
As you all know Iam 33 (first impediment), Married (second impediment), 58.4% BE, 61% 10th standard (third impediment), 10 years workex (fourth impediment), also not so great in Mocks –percentiles ranging from 12 to 99.9 (fifth impediment), not so great in english- Village background (sixth impediment) can convert an IIM call today, believe me – any one here can do so. All the above said are not actually impediments if you feel you can still ace & convince others about your dreams. Inspite of not having any of these impediments, you may not reach to your destiny just by one thought “I cant crack CAT”. ITS ALL WITH IN YOU & YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN TILL YOU ACHIEVE. One or two or three failures should change your thoughts & belief ie I was rejected by IIMA in 2007, still I believed, rejected by XLRI in 2008, I continued believing, rejected by IIML in 2009– I believed & converted XLRI-GMP in 2009, it added to my confidence that one day I can convert a 2 year programme. Finally in 2010, I have converted IIML, waitlisted at IIMC though I am rejected by IIMA.
Having said this don’t make your dreams your master, don’t get frustrated if it is delayed. Enjoy the process, go along the flow & believe, “ONE DAY IT WILL HAPPEN”
Use PG to make good friends (even for a life time).
Iam finally happy, because I used to preach & advice people a lot on the above said points (whoever comes to me), but there used to be an uneasy feeling that, yes Iam believing, Iam preaching but in reality Iam still a failure, I couldn’t convert a call. Today, I have a point that I was & am right.
The primary reason for my existence in PG was to set an example to people who are married, who have lots of responsibilities in life, who are out of touch, who are from a vernacular back ground, but still have a dream & also have a doubt whether they can pursue their dreams ie can they compete with fresh , young, strong minds. Now, I have done it, so can you..”Guide your dreams to destiny & you can do so, if you want”
As I used to say, today if anyone of you who want to quit your dream halfway due to any reason, just stop for a second & think….
As the “Do not Quit” poem reads, “And you can never tell how close you are, it may be near when it seems so far, so stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, it’s when things go wrong that you must not quit”
This is the story of a normal person from an unknown village to an IIM..
All the Best….

Here comes the best Essay/GD/PI experience of my LifePROFILE:AcadsX %,Board, year -61.84% (TN State Board, 1993)XII%, Board, year-89.08%(TN State Board, 1995)Undergrad Stream(BA, BE etc), Specialization(CS, mech etc), Percentage, Year, Institute. –B.E. (CSE), 58.43% ,2000, Vellore Engg CollegeWork-Ex:Sectors, Company - Number of months – IT Sales – 116 MonthsCAT (2009-10):DI-94.27%Quant-90.3%Verbal-98.98%Aggregate-98.26%(OBC)Extra acads : NILAny other special thing abt u:Social Intiative “Spurti”, College cultural club Secretary, Health Club Secretary, Lead Singer, Ball Badminton (2 silver & 1 Gold Medal)Interview & GD/ESSAYVenue: Luxury Monarch HotelDate : 07.04.2010Course(PGP/ABM):PGP
Reached the venue by 1.30 PM & the process was supposed to start by 2.00 PM.Got a phone call & when the call got over I saw my watch it was 1.58 PM & I was 100 mts away from the venue. I rsn ran & ran & got to my panel almost panting & that’s when the names were being called & I was the 9th person. I got into the essay/GD PI room with full sweat.Essay : Topic: It is destiny and not hardwork which guarantee’s hardworkNumber of Ppl present:9 out of 10 (1 absent)Time: 15 minutesBrief Snapshot of the essay:
Completed the essay in 13 minutes with both sides of the paper filled up. A good essay I would say
Rating: 4
GD: Same topic
For 5 seconds no body started & I started with the intro of the topic..
Spoke 8 times & the group carried forward all my points. In between when people were going high about Success, I came in & said success is perception & the group changed the course of the discussion accepting my point. I concluded the GD by saying how success has to be retained & all.
After the GD, 5-6 people in my panel said, boss you had an awesome GD J

Rating : 4.5/5
PI:Panel Members Intro:Old Professor (O), young Professor (P)Questions:
P: Sit down Prem, you have been working for 10 years, why an MBA now
Me: Blah blah blah
P: But you have a great profile, you don’t need an MBA?
Me: Blah Blah Blah
P: See Prem, if we take you, it would be like cheating you J
Me: more blah (ie I was sticking to my stand of education being an investment is an asset for life time)
P: But you are already a manager?, what will you learn more
Me: (I defined how my decisions are today & how my decisions will change in future once I finish an MBA)
P Your acads follow a sine curve, why?
Me: explained my mothers ailment & how I supported my family at age 14.
P: are you disappointed with what has happened, what did you learn from the disappointment?
Me: I wasnot disappointed, if I look back today, I would thank GOD, for giving me an opportunity to learn life at a very very young age, it gave me an opportunity to be a good human too ( explained about spurti & ended up saying, Sir, Iam proud to say that today, my student at spurthi is giving his interview in one of the other rooms)
P: Prem, you have almost done everything in Life, what will happen to your social thing if you join this course
Me: I explained how it can grow by doing an MBA & how I can pull people from my batch & how crucial they will play a role having gone through the process
O: Thank you, it was great meeting you
Me: sir, pleasure is mine
O: no, no pleasure is mine, sorry ours..

I got up

P: hey, you are a moderator of Pagalguy, what is special about PG?
Me: sir, it is the place where competitors help each other, infact lot of people from IIML whom I never seen, call me up & say, “Bhai, IIML aajavo”(I used the same language)
P: but why are they keen
Me: that’s the power of pagalguy & even we don’t know the erason J
O:Prem, don’t you think 10 years is too late for an MBA to be tought about, is it your first CAT?
Me: No Sir, my 4th one.
P: what happened in the previous attempts
Me: 2006, A reject?
O&P : is it, why
Me: Sir, 2006 Iam not sure whether mine was a straight forward rejected due to OBC stay Order
P: 2007?
Me: XL reject
P: 2008?
Me: IIML reject
P: why were you rejected, did you try learning something
Me: Sir, not a great GD & some noticeable mistakes inPI
P: that’s why you spoke a lot in GD (all 3 laugh)
Me: no sir, I thought the group was really good, which helped me to contribute
O: what other calls you have
Me: Sir, A & C
O: How did A go?
Me: okayish Sir
P: So, this time you are going to reject us then (all laughs)
Me: No sir, I have a great regards for L (explained about high workex batch & all)
O: tell me what if ACL reject you this year?
Me: I will try again sir
P: Don’t you feel bored after trying so many times?
Me : (my best answer in my life), Sir, I have been believing in my hardwork & I have been believing in the process too. Iam sure, if you reject me, I will try again & Iam very sure, one day or the other, some IIM will respect my ambitions & hardwork.
O: (with a broad smile)..Definetely, definitely, it will be.
Me :Thanks sir..
O: Thank you Prem, once again it was a great pleasure talking to you

Smiled, thanked & left.

Rate your preparation(0-5): 4Rate your performance(0-5): 4.75 J

VERDICT: I Hope you know what Iam expecting as the verdict J

Here comes my date with my first love IIMA

PROFILE:

Acads
X %,Board, year -61.84% (TN State Board, 1993)
XII%, Board, year-89.08%(TN State Board, 1995)
Undergrad Stream(BA, BE etc), Specialization(CS, mech etc), Percentage, Year, Institute. –B.E. (CSE), 58.43% ,2000, Vellore Engg College

Work-Ex:
Sectors, Company - Number of months – IT Sales – 116 Months

CAT (2009-10):
DI-94.27%
Quant-90.3%
Verbal-98.98%
Aggregate-98.26%
(OBC)

Extra acads : NIL

Any other special thing abt u:Social Intiative “Spurti”, College cultural club Secretary, Health Club Secretary, Lead Singer, Ball Badminton (2 silver & 1 Gold Medal)

Interview & ESSAY

Venue: Luxury Monarch Hotel
Date : 22.03.2010
Course(PGP/ABM):PGP
Reached the venue by 1.20 PM & the process started by 1.45 PM.Happy that I met lot of puys there & to my surprise the guy who was interviewed before me & the guy who was interviewed after me were the same in IIMC PI J

Essay:
Topic: Is Information Technology a mixed blessing
Number of Ppl present: 9 out of 10 (1 absent)
Time: 10 minutes
Brief Snapshot of the essay:
Completed the essay in 7 minutes with 2 points to support (Indian GDP supported by Service sector & how people from remote areas use mobiles & TVs to keep themselves updated), 2 points against (Terrorists using IT, Cyber hacking-Obama’s twitter, Chinese officials GMAIL accounts hacked) & concluded decently

PI:
Panel Members Intro: Old Professor (O), Sr Professor (P)
Questions:
P: Sit down Prem; you have been working for 10 years?
Me: Yes Sir (Smile)
P: I hope you have worked in technical field & then you have moved to Sales?
Me: No Sir, for 10 years, I have been in Sales only
O was going through my form
P: But how come you have moved from CSE to Sales in such an early stage of your life
Me: Sir I would like to be frank with you, I wasn’t technically that strong as I could not balance my studies due to mother’s ailment. I had 8 offers in hand out of which 6 were technical. Since, I wasn’t technically that strong, I felt that it would be an injustice if I take up a technical role, that’s why, chose Sales
P showed my marks column to O
P: Are you successful in Sales (Smiles)
Me: Yes Sir, pretty much (Smiles), I would like to give an example (explained how my partner defrauded the customers) and how I went about taking additional responsibilities to rescue customers & how I eventually helped in rerouting an Order from IIMA J
P: Ohh, even IIMA has lost money?
Me: Yes Sir, but we have supplied free software & 2 days back it was installed (I also said to which Prof It was supplied & all & P said he is not a Prof but an IT purchaser)
P: You seem to have an interesting profile, Software to Hardware & back to software & that too a good company like X, how did you get that?
Me: explained how my 7 years IT software sales was & what I learnt from Hardware industry & how I have got into X & how implemented my learnings & how successful I was in terms of achievements, I also showed them my boss email J

O takes over

O: Do you know the technical part also?
Me: Sir, not too much, I understand the applications & suggest the tools & incase if you ask me technically, I would say, I will get back to you (All 3 laughs)
O: what is the difference between soap sales & software sales?
Me: Gave a decent answer (difference in customer base, soap sales- personal touch, Software sales – technical touch & looks more like a consultant rather than a sales guy)
O: But your software is good, but your company has not done much into allowing users to explore?
Me: tried defending saying you are right, but we do have a gecko system & we are in process of developing better systems and all
O: You are active in Pagalguy??(Mentioned it in form & had placed a certificate from PG)
P: why did you join PG & how did you become a Moderator?
Me: Explained how I was looking for people like me who had pursued their dreams & since I couldn’t find one, how I wanted to become an example for the future generation & how I was selected as mod.
O: oh, you sing isn’t it? Can you sing now?
Me: Oh sure sir, (Sang a song)
O: is it a Kannada song
Me: No sir, Telugu one
O: it’s all sounds the same (laughter around)
O: Prem, you are earning well right?
Me: yes sir (smile)
O: why do you want to drop such a good job & come to PGP?
Me: blah blah (half way through, O cuts)
O: but people like you come there & don’t get jobs of your choice? Why do you want to compromise on your salary?
Me: I explained him how I look at a job & money. I said Iam ok to take up a management trainee job & continue working forward towards my long term goal.
O: No prem, have you thought about the operational cost?
Me: yes sir. (before the next word O cuts me)
O: Can you draw a Parabola?
Me: Drew
O: can you write the equation
Me: thought…can’t remember
O: (smiles) see this is such a basic equation you could not draw one, people like you (high workex) struggle during the course?
Me: I don’t agree Sir (smile), there have been precedence..(Cuts me)
O: no, no you will come in, feel the academic pressure, develop soft skills & go out as a bad manager
Me: I don’t agree sir, I once I come in, Iam committed to (cut again)
O: No Prem, you could even solve basic maths & you feel you can do well?
Me: Yes Sir, even CAT has Qa & (cuts)
O: That’s very basic maths; you guys have not allowed people to explore your software too (!!!!Ab yeh kahan sae aagaya?)
M: Sir, we are working on (Cuts)
O: Prem, you won’t be happy if you do PGP & you won’t justify your operational cost?
Me: sir..(Cuts)
O: You people don’t allow users like us, infact even your previous company kept upgrading so fast that the old products were not supported (Againnnnnnnnn)
Me: Sir, in my previous company I didn’t had access to top management, but here I have. I will definitely take your feed back..
O: Prem, you will not do well there for sure, you haven’t dirtied your hands on your software, you could not answer a moths question, which is related to your software, so Iam sure you will not a perfect fit to PGP, Thank You.
Me : Thank you (smile)
P: shows his hand towards the toffee bowl

I took one & walked out…

Overall 27 minutes..First 20 minutes were awesome, but the last 7 minutes I thoroughly enjoyed (yes don’t be shocked), I kept defending with smile & the prof was saying that I was unfit with smile..

If they select, my intuition of a stress interview, well handled would come true..

If iam rejected, I would say that the prof was right that I may be a mismatch..

Whatever it is, the first 20 minutes they covered all relevant stuff & the next 7 minutes either O was stressing me or was venting off his frustration on me or on our company J

Request you all to PM me your views please..

Rate your preparation(0-5): 4
Rate your performance(0-5): 4

VERDICT: Love to see the outcome.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROFILE:
Acads
X %,Board, year -61.84% (TN State Board, 1993)
XII%, Board, year-89.08%(TN State Board, 1995)
Undergrad Stream(BA, BE etc), Specialization(CS, mech etc), Percentage, Year, Institute. –B.E. (CSE), 58.43% ,2000, Vellore Engg College
Work-Ex:Sectors, Company - Number of months – IT Sales – 116 Months
CAT (2009-10):
DI-94.27%
Quant-90.3%
Verbal-98.98%
Aggregate-98.26%(OBC)
Extra acads : NIL
Any other special thing abt u:Social Intiative “Spurti”, College cultural club Secretary, Health Club Secretary, Lead Singer, Ball Badminton (2 silver & 1 Gold Medal)
Interview & GDVenue: Luxury Monarch Hotel
Date : 22.03.2010Course(PGDM/PGDCM):PGDM
Reached the venue by 8.00 AM & the process started by 9.30 AM
GD : Topic: IPL is a death knell to Indian cricketNumber of Ppl present:8 out of 11 (3 absent)Time: 10 minutes
Brief Snapshot of the discussion:
Came in as the second person & the group as such was not fish market. Every one spoke. I made five entries & 4 were towards the end L ie after my first entry I was quite for 3-4 minutes because the guys sitting to my left were dominating the GD
Points put across by me.
1.IPL gives a chance for the retired players to participate which will help young domestic players to learn a lot from the seasoned players.
2.IPL gives a chance for the local players to learn from domestic players
3.Coaches find it difficult to train bowlers as it is a pure entertainment game.
4.BCCI gains Rs.750 crores which can be used to enhance Test cricket (some body said Test Cricket is dying)
5.IPL can also look at ODI/test cricket & shuffle players across the country which can again draw attention.
I was the second person asked to summarise (:( )
(Sinchan told me that if you speak well you will be asked to summarise towards the end). Even the summary part I didn’t do well I feel (finished off the summary in 45 seconds or so)
Rate your preparation(0-5): 0 (No mock GDs)Rate your performance(0-5):2.5PI:Panel Members Intro:Lady Professor (L), Alumni(A), Professor (P)Questions:
L: Do you work? (was happy that she thought that iam fresher J)
Me: Yes Mam, in company X
L: What does your company do?
Me: Mam, we are the subsidiary of XX & we manufacture & sell software y
L: what does your software do?
Me: Gave the exact definition & applications
L:Who are your competiton?
Me: gave 3 names & in my vertical my software is my competition ie piracy
L: what are you guys doing towards Piracy?
Me: We are working on university wide licence and also on the student edition, currently they are available in US & unfortunately as the pricing is the problem, we are taking sometime
L:who are you customers?
Me: Iam working in a private company so I cannot reveal that
L: How is your software priced?
Me: I said I cannot disclose the price but gave them the pricing model overview
A: Ok Prem, you were saying about piracy & all, why don’t you allow students to learn in a subsidized way?
Me: (read about my competition doing the samething in yesterday’s), I said “Sir, I appreciate what my competitors have been doing (explained what they are doing), since we are just 14 months old in India, we are currently in the process of understanding the length & breadth of the Business, so we will take some more time to arrive at some thing similar to this.

Till here the interview was normal..Now starts the show J

A:Prem, you have worked for 10 years now, why an MBA?
Me: Sir, I have been working in Sales, in IT for 10 years & whatever decisions I take today its all primarily influenced towards maximizing the revenue. Now my longterm goal is to head an MNC. I have seen in my past, how management takes decisions at times which are not catering towards Sales.Thats what makes to think that beyond maximing revenues there are other aspects in a business which are equally vital. For me to be an efficient leader in an MNC, I need to acquire these decision making skills & where else,apart from a B School can I gain the expertise in a short time and also get to learn the Best/Worst practices of a Business from the professors who are GOD like.
A:GOD like or GOD
Me: Sir, GOD (everybody laughs), also I have started an intiative called spurti (explained in detail & also on the calls whatmy students have got), I feel an MBA will also help me in making SPURTI a national success
L: But Prem you have taken a long time to decide to do an MBA, is this your first CAT?
Me:No mam, my fourth CAT
L: What happened to the last 3 CATs
Me: Mam, 2006-IIMA reject, 2007-XLRI Reject & 2008-IIML reject. 2009- iam sitting in front of you (Laughter around)
L: What other calls do you have
M: IIMA & IIML
L: But even if I discount the 4 attempts, you have decided after 6 years of working?
Me: Mam from 1993 to 2002 I had to support my family a lot because of my mothers ailment. 2002 I wanted to appear for CAT, my dad said he cannot support me financially as we had spent a lot towards my mother’s hospitalization. 2003, I wanted to appear, but my dad wanted my help in supporting him financially. 2004, my parents wanted me to get married(Everyone laughs here).2005, I became a parent & in 2006, I thought I had addressed all my immediate responsibilities & started getting serious about getting into a BSchool & I have been trying mam
(there was broad smile in L’s face & she said Good)
P: OK Prem, do you know that we also offer PGPEX, why not that course?
Me: Sir, Iam not sure about the PGPEX time table, but having interacted with lot of friends, who have done /doing 1 year MBA from other BSchools, what I have learnt is that the classes start at 7 AM & go on till 9 PM. There are lot of things related to management which are learnt outside the class as well
P to A: This guy will not sit inside the class (Everybody laughs)
Me (after Laughing): its not that way sir, a 1 year MBA will give me an opportunity to learn from 60 odd peers wherein a 2 year MBA will give me a chance to meet so many people (I gave the nos also) from where I can learn a lot. Also,I feel that education is an experience & since Iam investing a portion of my Life, I would prefer a 2 year program.
P: Prem, incase of PGDM, you will be looked like a liability & might not get glamorous roles, anyway its just my opinion, you are a better judge.
Me (Didn’t reacted as he was not expecting an answer.
P: What else do you do apart from the social intiative.
Me: Sir, I spend time with my kids
P: if you get into PGDM you will not get time & also as far as the married people accommodation goes, our 1st preference is FPM, 2nd is PGPEX & then PGDM/PGDCM, so what will you do?
Me: Sir, not a problem, my dad is getting retired this year. So, I will be moving my family to Calcutta & even if I get 15-20 minutes time to meet up my kids that should as you are aware, Iam in sales ie a travelling Job, even now Iam managing time for my Kids.
P to A: This guy will definitely not sit inside the class (Everyone laughs again)
P: Are you a reader, do you read books?
Me: Not really sir
P:Don’t you feel, you are a stereotyped Sales guy who wants to talk & who doesn’t want to learn?
Me: Sir, I learn a lot through listening (Explained the problems I had at work & how patiently I listened tocustomers & learnt)
P:But you haven’t touched the reading part
Me: Sir, I do read papers & magazines whenever I get time, but I don’t want to proclaim myself as a vivid reader.
P: Prem, if you come to campus, we will give you huge books to read, how will you learn & assimilate?
Me: Sir, if I just request you to recollect one of my answers to Mam, you might understand that I have struggled a lot to reach this place & the primary reason was my Passion & commitment. If after getting into the campus, if I know that Iam supposed to study to achieve my primary goal. Iam very sure of doing that because Iam extremely committed to whatever I do.
P: Thank You
Me: Thank you Sir
A: Any questions to ask?
Me: Nothing at this stage sir

Smiled, thanked & left.

That’s it friends. It was a chill interview. Nothing to infer as most of the guys are having similar interviews. Your comments via PM are welcome.Overall 25 minutes

Rate your preparation(0-5): 4Rate your performance(0-5): 3-3.5 (cannot interpret much because of my previous rejects)MISC.
Go with a chill mind. Speak confidently. Worst case you might get a reject, but you will feel good, if you have delivered your best. All the Best
VERDICT: Million dollar question at this stage J

It took me 7 years to see this day in life & write this post...

Many mocked at me,when I said I wanted to do an MBA.

Most of my batchmates said I cannot crack an exam like CAT or for that matter XAT...Everytime I gave the exam, I always use to feel, why dont people understand my aspirations..

2 rejects, it undermined my confidence..One guy wrote in blog as well that I might lack the quality...But today Iam happy that, some institute has finally understood my aspirations ....First MBA convert of my life...

.: !! CONGRATULATIONS !!:.

You have been selected in GMP Programme for which you have applied to XLRI Jamshedpur.Please wait for the official letter from the Chairperson, Admissions, XLRI Jamshedpur.
... Chairperson , Admissions

Transcript of my IIML PI :-)

March 25, 2009

Profile:Workex: 9 Years in IT Sales

Panel :1

Essay/GD topic: Money is a good servant but a bad master…20 mins Essay. No rough sheets are allowed..I explained why money was invented & wnet about explaining how money is important today. Also explained how money cannot buy things like affection, peace of mind etc etc..I also wrote how money is beyond servant as in how a person moves towards unethical things when he doesn’t have money & how money as master pushes a person to safeguard it…

GD: 20 mins

No of People: 12

Out of the 20 minutes, close to about 15 minutes it was an absolute fish market..More than 5 people were speaking at a time..I came in as the 4th guy..Even that time, 2 people started along with me. I increased my volume, pierced through & ensured the other 2 stopped totally. I entered 8 times J in equal intervals & my point was the last one to end the GD.Points I spoke:
I spoke about how unemployement forces people to go directionless & gave the article about Mangalore Pubs as an example where the author spoke about the unemployment as the prime issue.
I spoke about the Bernaud Madoff $60 Bn fraud.
I spoke how money can be utilized properly like Karnataka government spends 7 Cr for health Checkups for school going kids, Madhya Pradesh government has implemented Ladli Ladki project for the upliftment of Girl Childs & also in UP how the Government has spent the money for correcting the Sex Ratio (This complete things I spoke in 1 shot, 1-2 mins everybody kept quiet J)
When some body said about greed being the reason, I spoke about the recent Mumbai rape issue, where a father went about doing that atrocity as a tantric told him that his business will improve.
I spoke about how excessive money pushes a person towards insecurity ie forced to safe guard his money.
I also spoke about how animals survive .They don’t have money J (Somebody said Money is the atmost important thing for Life)
Somebody said our culture is corrupted. I replied saying that “We respect people from poor background in this country who have come up in an ethical way. Examples: 2006, an IIMA passout who is a son of an Idli shopkeeper. 2007, a railway clerk who got 6 IIM calls”.
Panelist said stop.

PI

Prof1:Prof.Saji.K.B.Nair, Chairman Admissions, Marketing Group
Prof2: Dr.Roshan Lal Raina, Communications Group
Me: Yours truly…

Prof 1 comes to call me in at 12.41 PM
Me: Good Morning Sirs.
Prof1: Its almost afternoon now (laughs)Me too laughed..
Prof2: Prem, what were you doing from 1995-1996 (I have a break after my 12th class)
Me:Sir, In tamilnadu, we have a provision to improve our 12th standard scores, if we want to. Hence I appeared for my Phyics, Chemistry & Biology exams & improved my total by 152 marks.
Prof2: What did you do from 2000 to 2004..
Me: Sir, I was working with M/s.Rolta India Ltd..Prof2: When did u get placed
Me: Sir, in May 2000..through Campus Placement
Prof2: Campus Placement, hmmm...
Prof1: (going through the file) Oh, you were in Sales from the beginingMe : Yes (Smile)Prof2: But you haven’t mentioned it in the form?
Me: Sir, Iam working in the fourth Organisation, but we have space to mention only 3 jobs.
Prof1: oh, but you could have mentioned below the box.
Me: Sir, I wasn’t sure if I can do that. Also it would have looked so clumpsy.
Prof1: That’s ok (starts marking the same with pencil in the form & starts going through the certificates)
Prof2: Your scores during Engineering seems very low (With a not so happy face)
Prof1: He would have been preparing for CAT then (in a mocking tone)Me: Sir, I didn’t prepare for CAT
Prof1: No no you would have, else why would have your scores gone down ??(Mocking with a sarcastic smile)
Me: Sir, actually I went through some problems in life.(Started with my moms hospitalization & told the actual issue).Along with studies, I had the responsibility of taking care of my family members.I was a day scholar travelling 120KMs + 120 KMs every day.
Prof 1: (stopped mocking) with an empathetic tone, “Are you the only kid?”
Me: Sir, Iam the only son & I have a younger Sister. I also had the responsibility of bringing her up.Prof1: Whats your dad???
Me: He works as a clerk with SBI
Prof1: From where to where, were you travelling?Me: From Thiruvallur to Vellore Sir
Prof2: Prem, you are working a good company, why do you want to do this programme??
Me: Sir, as you see , it has taken me 9 years to reach where Iam today.If I have look at my present organization itself, my next role would be to head the complete education business. Now for me to do well in this role, I need to understand the complete business dynamics & an MBA will help me do understand that well…
Prof1: Prem, hope you got the question wrong, what Prof 2 was trying to ask you was, why not a 1 year MBA, why a 2 year programme now?
Me: Sir, I actually thought about this, when I started my CAT preparations. During the process of understanding the course, I understood that a 1 year MBA is like a crash course. Focussed more towards on academics with strict dead lines. Since Iam coming back to studies after a long time, I want to start my studies from the basics and also want to balance my academic as well as college life including extracurriculars.Also as you mentioned, I couldn’t do much towards my academics during my college days. Now I really want to do academically well.
Prof 1: is this your only call???
Me: Yes Sir
Prof2: But Prem, you know the current situation, do you think it to be wise to leave such a good job now??
Me: Sir, You are right & even I have thought about this.After understanding the current situation, Iam sure after 2 years , things wont be this bad. Iam not saying it will improve drastically, but it would be better than today. Also Iam trying to work out a sabbatical option as a back. If you just look at my latest job shift, it happened in November, even that time the market was bad. I strongly believe that opportunities, though less are available & it’s the responsibility of an individual to find that & it also depends on an individual’s capability
Prof2: You did BE, CSE. Can I ask you some questions from Networks??
Me: Sir, its 9 years since I have done my BE, I hardly remember any subjects now(Smiles around)
Prof1: Prem, you work for Mathworks right??
Me: Yes Sir
Prof1: You report to Mr.XXXXXXX(I was shocked because he knew my boss )
Me: Yes Sir
Prof 1: You sell Matlab, Can I ask you questions on that???. You cannot sell a product without knowing it (Smiles)
Me: Sir, I have joined 4.5 months back only, I will try my level best (Smile)
Prof1: In Matlab, you guys say Matrices, what is that?
Me: Matrix is the representation of elements in an array , in rows & columns or in simpler words, it is the pictorial representation of Linear Equations
Prof1: What is a determinant?
Me: It’s the value of a Matrix
Prof1: (Draws a 3X3 Matrix) Find the determinant ??
Me: (started solving)Prof1: Don’t solve, explain me how to solve it.Me:Explained it properly
Prof 1: Tell me Prem, does MATLAB has any limitations on the number of rows & columns of a Matrix
Me: (wasn’t sure) No Sir, we don’t have (Which turned out to be true
Prof1: But OS will have limitations Me: Yes Sir, but we say that our product doesn’t have limitations & that’s one of our strengths & USPs (100% correct, which I found later)Prof1: What about Excel???
Me: (Wasn’t sure) No sir, even they don’t have (Which turned about to be wrong )
Prof 1: Are you sure???
Me: (confidently) Yes Sir.
Prof 2: What is this “SPURTI”
Me: Sir, Inspired by what has happened to my mom, I started participating in lots of social activities. I have been a regular donor of blood from college days..Sir, hope you won’t mind if I explain you from the past
Prof2: That’s fine, go on (Prof 1 &2 were listening seriously)
Me: We as a family celebrate our birthdays in Orphanages. Having done all this, I wanted to do something more, that’s when I met a person who has some disability due to Cerebral Palsy & his only dream is to crack CAT. Seeing his determination, I got determined to help him achieve his dreams.Thats when I started this institute called SPURTI along with my Friends & its running successfully..
Both Prof 1 & Prof 2 spontaneously said, “Thank You”I thanked them & walked out…PI lasted for 9 mins.....Iam happy except but Excel goofup…Looking at the process now, I feel I couldn’t have done any better than this. Iam leaving results to the destiny.

Your comments are welcome..

March 1, 2009
Reached the venue by 8.30 AM (My Interview was scheduled at 9.40 AM). Couldn’t see even a single living thing inside the campus. Had a gutt feel that the Interviews might happen in the same building/floor like last year, hence went to that building & was waiting there. Got to see the banner near the building, which was speaking about LIBA’s event (not sure cultural or business fest) called Chrysantis and in the online partner column, could see “Pagalguy.com” :-)
My feel came true, when 2 Professors got into the building and to the same floor :-)
The PIs started on time (9.20) & I was the second guy..
The first guy came out and warned me of an aged Professor who was trying to stress him out :-(
Professors and their Profiles
1.Aged Professor -A. C. Jesurajan ,S.J. , B.Sc., L.Ph., M.A. (Leicester, UK), Communication,General Management
To be referred to as AP
2.Young Professor- L Gurunathan , B.Sc. Mathematics (Madras), MBA (Coimbatore), Fellow (IIM Ahmedabad), PM & IR To be referred to as YP
3.Smilling Professor- Ram Kumar Kakani , B. Tech. (Andhra Univ.), FPM ( IIM Calcutta), Finance,Strategic Management To be referred to as SP
And Yours truly
Sharp at 9.40 I was called in by SP.
Me: May I come in Sirs
YP/AP-Come in, Come in
Me: Good Morning Sirs (Smile )
AP/YP/SP: Good Morning (Smile)
SP started going through my file, YP was busy looking at my questionnaire, AP started the process
AP: Where are you coming from?
Me: Bangalore
AP: What do you do there???
Me: Sir, I work for Mathworks. I take care of the Sales of MATLAB software for the Education territory.
AP: How long have you been working there ???
Me: Sir , for the past 3 months
AP:Prior to that???
Me: Sir, I was with HP taking care of HW sales in Education Vertical
AP: So , you were again with Education (Smile)
Me: Yes Sir (Smile)
AP: Why did u leave HP???
Me:Sir, out of 8 years and 9 months of the Sales experience, around 7 years I was in Software Sales. I moved to HP to see how the Hardware industry is. I was with HP for about 15 months, but got to understand that more than Technology, it is a price driven industry. This was the time, when the discussion between me & Mathworks started. From the discussions, I understood that Mathworks is setting up an office in India & more than a Sales role, its going to be designing the complete business plan for the education vertical. Frankly speaking the role seemed interesting and as it was a software company I decided to move to the Mathworks
YP was nodding his head through out & AP looks convinced
AP:You should be drawing a good salary (Smile)
Me: Yes Sir (:-))
AP: Then what do you want to do after GMP????
Me:Sir, if you look at my career path , I have started my career as a trainee executive & have reached this stage after 9 years. Also I have worked only in IT sector but in 4 different Verticals. After this course, as of now, I would prefer to come back to IT industry. During this course, I hope I can know much more about roles available in IT as well as other Industries. If Iam convinced about some other Industry , I might take a role there. Basically it’s the learning & understanding of the various Industries what I want to know and frankly speaking,for sure Iam not hungry/desperate for money (I didn’t give them a lengthy story on why MBA, because it was already written in the questionnaire which was submitted online)
AP looks at YP..
I started wondering, the 1st guy said AP will stress me..But he looked cordial
YP: Who are your competitors???
Me: Excel
YP: Excel???
Me: Yes…
YP: Hmmm, true ..But Mathworks might not like you saying that??
Me: True, but frankly speaking that is the fact…
YP: Who else???
Me: C..
YP: Programming Language C..Hmmm Good…Whoelse???, whats your market share like
Me: Labview from National Instruments… Frankly Speaking , these softwares are competitors only for certain modules, but none of them can compete with our complete suite. Explained the user friendly applications, debugging capabilities, Interactive nature etc . For MATLAB, MATLAB is the competition
YP: what ??? (With Smile)
Me: Yes Sir, Matlab is such a wonderful package that everyone wants to own it & the easiest available option is the pirated version & for me to sell to a customer, these pirated copies are the major competitors
(Everbody Laughs including me)
SP: How about Statistical Packages like SPS, what does customer feel?Whats your market share like??
Me: Sir, SPS is one of the Statistical tool what a customer prefers, but many a times, the customer also has additional requirements based on pure Mathematical functionalities and more.In such cases, it becomes easy for us to bundle our Statistical Tool Box for better integration. Market share of ours is more than 70%
SP: The Statistical Tool box is in built in Matlab???
Me: No Sir,it’s a separate tool box.
YP: You told AP about some business model you have to create, Whats that???
Me: I spoke about Piracy & what we are doing to create a university wide licence, which is popular in US
YP: Like Microsoft academic version???
Me: Yes Sir
YP: Good…But you guys could have done it long back..
Me: Frankly Speaking..
YP starts laughing and says We know you are frank , every time you needn’t have to say that you are frank (every body joins the laughter including me)
Me: To put it straight (Again everybody laughs as it sounded like a replacement for frankly speaking)
But we have started our operations only 3 months back
YP looks convinced & looks at SP
SP: Prem, I went through your complete certificates, I am actually worried about 2 things, you have low marks + your extra curricular is running into pages (:-)), can you concentrate on the course???
Me: Sir, I had a problem when I was in class 9
SP: Iam perfectly fine with class 10 & 12….Iam worried about your engineering scores..
Me: Sir as I said, I had a problem from class 9 till my BE 3rd year. My mom was ill. I could focus on studies when I was in 10 and 12, because I was with her always. When I moved to do my engineering. I had attended college only on alternate days & whenever I went to college I had to travel 120 KMs oneway. Now coming to extra curriculars, I was undergoing so much of emotional stress at home. It was paining, I wanted to divert myself..So started participating in almost all the other extracurricular activities. Now when my mom started recuperating in my BE final year, I got 74% :-)..
SP looks convinced (Throughout AP/YP were nodding their heads).
SP: How is your mom now
Me: She is fine Sir :-)
SP: (Removes a mark sheet from my file)..Keep looking at this
SP(after 5 secs)Now you have this mark sheet which gives me some information about you, if I ask you to add/delete some data here and ask you to give me a new marksheet which gives me much more details about your performance, what modifications will you do????
Me: (looked at the marksheet from my school, meanwhile YP/SP were laughing without making any sound) Sir, I will….
SP: Hey, don’t reply me immediately, you can take your time, use paper pencil if you want..
Me : (Killed 20 secs, didn’t use paper pencil).Sir, I will introduce the Percentile concept here like XAT.
SP: Percentile???
Me: Yes,it will give me a nice overview of the students performance across the board..Also I would like to put his rank in that sheet
SP: Percentile seems to be ok with me, but why rank??..Do you want to put both..
Me: Not required Sir, I will stick to only percentile in that case. If I know the total number of test takers along with the percentile, I can actual know his rank..
SP: What else can be added???
Me: I would like to give ranks to the school & would like to mention that in the score card??
SP: (Little surprised) But what will we do with the rank of the school??
Me: By giving rank to the school, We can actually see the quality of the school from were the student has done his schooling which also plays a role in the student’s quality..
Silence around for 15-20 secs
SP:You seem to be very very active & deeply associated with PAGALGUY (Smiles around):-)
Me: Yes Sir (Was expecting questions from this zone as I have mentioned about the same in the questionnaire)
SP: What do people feel about XLRI (Every body laughs including me)
Me: Sir, XLRI is one of the colleges which people rate as the best one. We have something called as PAGALGUY BSchool rankings which is a survey taken from 5500 people. As per the survey XLRI is one of the Top 10 B schools which a student prefers to join
SP:What do people say about our interviews (again everyone laughs)
Me: Frankly Speaking, I haven’t gone through the interview experiences as I was busy preparing for my interview..
SP: This one, you are not Frank (Every one laughs)
YP: One more “Frankly Speaking” from your mouth (Every one Laughs)
SP: But why should people post their experiences at all??
Me: Sir, for a person who has got selected for an Interview, he doesn’t know where to start & where end the preparations for his interview. One of the good things at Pagalguy is that, people post their experiences, so that the person who doesn’t know how to prepare gets a fair chance.People look at simillar profile and get an idea as to what to prepare.Many of us also know that the questions might not be repeated, but still we get a broad idea..
SP: Most cases questions do repeat (Smiles)
Me: Agreed Sir,the questions might be repeated. But for a person who hasn’t visited Pagalguy.com, doesn’t know about the repitition.You might also not repeat the questions to a person, who says he is a part of Pagalguy. Most of them wont reveal this like how I have (Laughters around)
After the Laughing got over, the body language of the Professors conveyed that the PI is over.
But AP bounces with a serious face :-(
AP: Taking a que from SP’s question tell me why do we want the School Rank??
Me: Sir, the quality of a school plays a major role in a student’s..(Cuts me)
AP:Forget about school, lets talk about the universities, Do you agree Madras University is a Good University (with a serious face/tone)
Me : Yes Sir :-(
AP: You have come here with a mediocre score
Me: Sorry Sir (:-()
AP: Lets also take a student from Punjab University who has scored well, Now do u accept you are Mediocre???Why do we need the rank of the University at all
Me: Sir, when I say about rank of the University, I am looking at parameters like age of the University, faculty, Infrastructure (AP cuts me)
AP: Why do we need these things at all
Me: Inspite of studying from a good ambience, if a student scores low, then there is something wrong with the student. :-(
AP: Net net it boils down to only the student’s performance and nothing to do with the University
Me: I opened my mouth (AP says enough enough enough) :-(
AP: You seem to be jumping on to conclusions, you are not thinking enough, you don’t want to take time, use paper pencil & saying some thing like rank of a school extra on the fly :-(
Me: Sir, Rank of the school thing, I told you from my recent experience
AP: what is that??
Me: I was looking at these parameters for my Daughter’s school admissions.
AP:You seem to be a person who just stick to your own things, you catch something, conceptualise it , don’t think about consequences, Iam surprised how have you survived for 9 years in the corporate world. You say that you are brutally rude or you flatter people..I am worried how you are going to finish the course. Please correct my opinion.
Me:-(
Sir, when…did…I …..Say..this (was very slow while asking this)
AP: look at this questionnaire, this is what you have written (he reads out the paragraph)
Me: Sir, I have written about what I feel uncomfortable in a person (confidence back :-))..I have said that I cannot tolerate a 2 faced person. If a person flatters on my face & goes and talks ill about me behind my back, I get confused about what I have done..I start thinking ,whatever I have done, was it really good or really bad..Instead if someone, with out the fear of our relationship comes and tells me the facts in a brutally harsh way on my face, I accept it and try looking at and correcting my mistakes…
AP finally looks extremely convinced..Smiles at me & asks me to sign the register..AP offers me a pen & I say no thank you..Took my pen started signing…From the time AP started grilling till this minute, YP/SP were not even looking towards me, they were either looking outside the window or their pens in their hands..
After signing I said THANK YOU SIRS..AP spontaneously said “GREAT”..YP/SP nodded their heads..
I don’t know what he meant by the word Great..But I felt really good after the PI, much much better than my last year PI…Except but the last 5 mins, the PI was more like a discussion.Lots of Laughters…:-)
PI for sure lasted around the 30 min mark (when it was scheduled for 20 mins)
So XLRI is over, let me start working towards IIML which is on 25th March..Between your comments are most welcome..