IIM Calcutta Interview Experience by 99.81%iler Shantanu

(Taken from Quora)

IIM Calcutta is one of the most prestigious Bschools in the country and a a part of the IIM Holy Trinity. Sharing his amazing IIM Calcutta interview experience, we have Shantanu Wali. He is a GEM candidate who scored 99.81 percentile in CAT 2017.

Detailed Profile

Shantanu’s past records include 91.8% in X, 82.4% in XII and 76.4% in his under graduation. He also has a work experience of 20 months at Infosys Ltd.

WAT Topic for IIM Calcutta Interview

Vertical development of cities is better than the unorganized and unstructured horizontal growth. What do you think?

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IIM Calcutta Interview Experience Transcript

There were 3 panelists: P1 is a male professor aged around 50, P2 is a male professor aged around 35, L1 is a lady professor aged around 40.

Me – Good afternoon.

P2 – Please tell me you’re not an engineer.

L1 – Please take your seat.

Me – (While sitting down) I am an engineer.

P2 – So Shantanu Waaaaali, konsi waali engineering ki hai aapne?

Me – Mechanical Engineering.

L1 – Why MBA?

Me – I want to learn about management as it interests me. (interrupted)

L1 – Why engineering then? You could have done BBA or B. Com for MBA.

Me – Explained how I was interested in engineering after school.

L1 – (Kept interrupting) So now you are not interested in engineering?

Me – Explained how I want to grow and develop myself.

L1 – Why not do M. Tech in your own field?

Me – Again explained why MBA while saying I want to develop myself.

L1 – What do you mean by develop yourself?

Me – There are a lot of things that I don’t know about…(interrupted)

L1 – Do you know about quantum theory? Spirituality?

Me – No

L1 – Why not learn about them and develop yourself in that field?

Me – I am interested in learning about management.

P2 – So you’re a mechanical engineer.

P2 – What is Reynold’s number?

Me – It is a constant. Can’t recall.

P2 – What is Bernoulli’s equation?

Me – It is related to kinetic and potential energy.

P2 – Everything in mechanical is related to those two.

P1 – You are very weak in academics.

Me – I have been working at Infosys since the past 20 months as an Oracle apps developer, that’s why I am not able to recall.

P2 – So what do you do at work?

Me – I am an Oracle application developer.

P2 – Arre krte kya ho? Coding?

Me – Yes

P2 – Which language?

Me – PL/SQL.

P1 – What’s the difference between PL/SQL and SQL?

Me – Told.

P1 – Still, why not only use SQL and save it in a file?

Me – Explained how it would be redundant.

P2 – Why are you smiling so much?

Me – I think it’s because I am a little nervous.

P1 – Can we exchange 2 numbers without using a 3rd variable?

Me – No.

P1 – Are you sure? Your selection depends on it.

Me – Yes. (I was wrong . We can swap two variables without a third one.)

P2 – You don’t look like the person in the application photograph. Draw your moustache.

Me – Drew it.

P2 drew an x-y plane, shaded 2 semi-circles over moustache, turned the page and asked me to tell which function has this graph.

Me – (After taking a good 20 seconds wrote) |sin x|.

P2 – Beautiful.

Me – Smiling (A much needed boast of confidence).

L1 – Why do you have so many C’s in your grades?

P2 – The world is full of seas (C’s). How many seas (C’s) are there in the world?

Me – None, sir. Its spelled W-O-R-L-D. No C.

P2 – I didn’t ask you to spell it *serious tone*. I meant SAMUNDAR.

Me – I’m sorry, I interpreted it differently.

P2 – How many seas are there in the world?

Me – I’m not sure, but there are 5 oceans.

P2 – What’s the difference between a sea and an ocean?

Me – I’m not sure.

P2 – Which water is more viscous – sea water or ocean water?

Me – As I don’t know the difference between sea and ocean, I won’t be able to answer that.

P2 – Which is more viscous – sea water or mineral water?

Me – Sea water as it has salt.

P2 – What’s the chemical formula of salt?

Me – Sodium………(Forgot)

P1 – Graph ke time top par, ab fir se neeche..!?

Me – *Nervous smile*

L1 – So you have a diploma in Tabla. What’s the difference between Kehrava and Teen taal.

Me – Teen taal is 16 matra and kehrava is 8 matra.

L1 – Play teen taal.

Me – It’s better if I sing it as there is no Tabla here.

L1 – Okay.

Me ­- (Sings teen taal with all the hand movement and notations)

P2 bangs the table with my rhythm as I sing.

P2 – Okay. If I toss a coin from the Syahi of the tabla, what is the probability that it will land on the maidaan?

Me – Maidaan is the thinnest part of the Tabla so probability is very low. Also it depends on the size of the Tabla as they come in different sizes.

P2 – Do an analysis in 30 seconds and then leave.

Me – (After 10 secs) The coin will never completely land on maidaan as it is not thick enough.

P2 – (Interrupting me) Thank you. You may leave.

Me – Thank you (Smiling).

Verdict – Converted.

This was a very interesting IIM Calcutta interview experience indeed. Be confident and honest with the panel. That’s the key.