Qual: Btech CS Acads : 83/70/85 28 months of workex at an old Silicon Valley tech company Cat%ile ~ 98 No GD or PI since it was still Covid

Date : Mid March, 2022

Panel : P1 male ( mid 40s ), P2 female ( mid 30s)

P1: TMAY

Me: standard revised answer

P1: why mba

Me : i talk about my aspirations to break into product, talk about how CSE +MBA puts me in a good position to achieve my goals

P1: If you like tech so much, why not Masters in Comp Science

Me: Talks about how I want to contribute in more business oriented roles rather than staying in the tech side

P2: ( Unconvinced ) but I don’t think you need an mba for product roles, is it mandatory ?

Me: Talks about how it will make me achieve my desired goals faster than the traditional gaining experience and moving

P1: Tell me about repo rate Me: Told

P2: ( jumps in ) what about reverse repo ? Me : Told

P2: did you happen to go through the budget Me: talks about K shape recovery, Talks about PLI in budget, talks about push towards msme

P2: that’s great, what didn’t you like about it

Me: talks about budget cut in education and healthcare

P1: So what are your hobbies

Me: told, F1, reading, gardening, cooking

P2: can you tell me what was the last book you read

Me: Told, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, give a brief of it

P2: Who was the publisher ?

Me: (awkward silence) Can’t seem to recall that at the moment

P2: so what was the last dish you made ?

Me: Butter Chicken

P2: Can you tell me the steps

Me: told

P2: ( questions me about my prep of making tomato purée ) why did you boil and remove the skin of the tomato when you are already passing the gravy through a strainer later

Me: ( panicking since I just followed recipe and didn’t think about it ) The tomato skin would add negatively to the flavour

P2:but that’s inefficient

Me: my favourite chef says that good things take time * grins *

P1( luckily jumps in ): so what growth did you notice by pursuing these hobbies

Me: I have become more patient with things, and have learnt to detach myself from outcomes and just put efforts

P1: How long have you stayed in Bangalore ?

Me: answers ( its about 3/4th of my life )

P1: Quizzes me about karnataka, seats in lower house, seats in upper house, speaker of the houses, governors name, total districts

Me : Told ( had prepped for this )

P1 : same set of questions about Jharkhand ( since I’m born there )

Me: told

P1: Quizzes me about india, lower and upper house, speakers name, VP’s name

Me: told ( nothing unexpected)

P1: why do people leave bihar ? Why is it so poor ?

Me: talks about freight equalisation policy and how it negatively affected bihar

P1: Since you have been in Karnataka for so long , can you tell me why karnataka does not like Tamil Nadu ?

Me: explains the Cauvery issue

P1: so what do you think is a solution

Me: ( total bouncer) I think it’s a complex matter, SC has to give a verdict

P2: ( notices my dodgy behaviour, cuts me ) think that you have to solve it, give us a tangable solution

Me: dividing water according to the population seems fair to me

P1: Where does Cauvery start ?

Me: told

P1: don’t you think it belongs to karnataka since it starts there

Me: Talks about how nobody owns a river, talks about Indus Valley water distribution policy and how it’s a humanitarian way of sharing resources

P2: can you tell us the 5 rivers that flow through Punjab

Me: told 2, can’t recall the others

P2: what’s the longest river in India

Me: Ganga

P2: how long is it ?

Me: ( struggles) should be around 2500, can’t recall the exact number

P2: tell me 5 tributaries of it

Me: Yamuna, Gomti , I can’t recall others

P1: name 3 rivers that flow east to west

Me: told

P1: west to east

Me: told 1, informed that I can’t recall more

P1: why are your grades so low in 12th

Me: I was not that keen about physics, maths and Chemistry, thus the lower score, but I was very much interested in comp science, and scored high in that, and later built a career in tech.

P2: tell us a challenging situation at your work place,tell us how you navigated it and what you learnt

Me: told

P2: tell me three weeknesses of yours

Me: told weakness, told how I’m trying to navigate them

P1: so you have applied for three courses, which one would you choose if you get in all three

Me: Talks about MDI-IB program

P2: why? Most people select core

Me: talks about how I get to spend a year in Europe and how that aligns with my wishes to experience student life in a different country , talk about ESCP’s repute on how it’s listed as a top 3 mim program in the world, talk about how I get to spend time in two campuses

P1: can you explain crypto to me

Me: told

P2: what is machine learning?

Me: told, with use case, talk about my paper in ML ( no further questions asked after explaining )

P1: who is your role model

Me: talks about Jamshetji Tata, his philanthropic work, talk abort how Tata

P1: when was Jamshetji born ?

Me: 3rd march, I can’t recall the year, but it was early 1800s

P2: Can you tell me about the Ukraine Russia war

Me: told

P2: how does it impact india and the world

Me: told( impact on oil, energy crisis in Europe, Ukraine being bread basked of the world )

P2: so who do you think is right

Me: I think there are better ways to solve international issues than war, I think Russia is in the wrong

P1: tell me India’s stance and why

Me : told

P1 : can you give us a brief history of China Taiwan issue

Me: told

P1: what other calls do you have ?

Me: told

P1: so why MDI

Me: talk about Gurgaon being close to industries, talk about how no other college has a dual degree program, talk about my ambitions to study in europe for the experience, talk about how my desired roles open at mdi

P2: give me a solid reason to select you

Me: talks about how I bring tech perspective to the batch, research paper showing my academic inclination to learn , pitched revised points about my strengths

P1: I’m done

P2: no further questions

Verdict : Selected in first list for HR and IB, converted Core in subsequent list