IIM-C PGPEX interview preparation

I prepared more for arranging certificates and folders rather than the interview. While preparing for interviews due to my house owner's pressure I had to shift to a new location. It was a tedious job and I was staying in the home-made-godown (warehouse) till my wife came. I will write a separate story on my search for folders.

IIM-C short listed moment was one of the important and unforgettable moments in my life. Though I absolutely knew that IIM-A is going to be a ding, I was disappointed when the ding was officially announced. But IIM-C short list message came as a relief. I was overwhelmed. I started preparing on some basic questions like:
1. Tell me about yourself
2. What are your roles and responsibilities?
3. Why MBA?
4. Why MBA at this point of time?
5. Why IIM-C PGPEX?
6. What is your short term goal?
7. What is your long term goal?

I started reading news papers for the interview. Also I prepared for some basic calculus questions. I read some concepts about IMF, GDP, information about cities that I have lived (population, economy, political parties, generalities in people etc.,). I used to recite my answer in front of the mirror to get some confidence.

I visited the interview spot one week before and booked Hotel Ameya in Dadar West after shopping for some other hotels. The hotel is strategically located for reaching many places. Main disadvantage with this hotel is NO HOT WATER in bathroom AFTER 6 PM. But on request one will get a bucket of hot water supplied to your room.

While going for interview I made a mistake of going by taxi. But I should have preferred a government bus. Since it was a Saturday, all government buses were full. Reached hotel in the evening, had some dinner, but went to loo 2 times in between my sleep (Problem?). There was a sweet news waiting for me at 10 pm. I called my sis-in-law to check my gmail account and I was short listed for IIMB-EPGP also.

With enthusiasm, I reached the interview spot 1 hour before the scheduled time. There were some 5 people waiting. I was just doing some general chit-chat and kept my mind focused towards interview and my turn came. There were two professors and my interview started with the question about my mother tongue Sourashtra. They asked some details about the language and connection between Mahatma Gandhi and my native town Madurai. Later I understood that the prof has done a M.A. in Political science. Then the focus shifted to why I stayed in my company for 11 years and whether I could continue to work in the same company. Then there were some discussions about Tata Nano and latest developments in auto R&D.

There were some hypothetical questions such as how will you reduce the cost of automobiles, what methods do you adopt for that and Why I am not keen about PGPEX-VLM? Recession in auto industry, my company's performance in market were also discussed. In the end they asked for my certificates and they verified my marks given in the application sheet. That was the end of the interviews. Lasted around 20 mins.

I was quiet confident to get an admit by the way the interview had gone. But I did not get the good news in the first list declared on November 7 (IIM-B i/v day). Later I researched that no one for IIM-C had the real "interview". For every candidate it was like a tea-time talk. Nothing to blame. Let me improve my GMAT marks and SOP. Waiting for second list results on or before December 22.