{"id":11099,"date":"2021-02-25T17:20:44","date_gmt":"2021-02-25T11:50:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.2iim.com\/cat-exam\/blogs\/?p=11099"},"modified":"2021-03-13T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T09:52:12","slug":"mba-interviews-the-symbiosis-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.2iim.com\/cat-exam\/blogs\/cat-wat-gdpi\/mba-interviews-the-symbiosis-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Interviews: The Symbiosis Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"MBA<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

MBA interviews – different B-schools seem to have different processes to shortlist candidates. Especially with the interview season becoming online, many campuses decided to do away with the Group Discussion (GD), with SPJIMR<\/a> being a notable exception, sticking to its guns, and conducting the Group Interviews as per their conventions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Symbiosis institutions also had three rounds in the selection process – WAT, GE (Group Exercise, if you are wondering what it is) and PI. Let us see how these experiences went for a candidate who attended the process for three institutes – SIBM Pune, SCMHRD and SIOM Nashik.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Quick recap<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To be clear, this is a series of articles based on different MBA interviews and the interview experiences. To read the other articles of this series, click on the following links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Great Lakes<\/a><\/li>
  2. IMT Ghaziabad<\/a><\/li>
  3. IIM Rohtak<\/a><\/li>
  4. NMIMS<\/a><\/li>
  5. IMT Ghaziabad #2<\/a><\/li>
  6. IIM CAP<\/a><\/li>
  7. S P Jain<\/a><\/li>
  8. IIM CAP #2<\/a><\/li>
  9. IIM Rohtak #2<\/a><\/li>
  10. IIM Lucknow<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The MBA interviews and the WAT round<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Just for a difference, we will go round-by-round, covering all the colleges one candidate appeared for using their SNAP score; this will put things in perspective on the sharp contrast each of the exercises offered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1) SIBM Pune: The plain vanilla WAT<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    This was, by far, the most straightforward question (the SIOM one was a bit weird, and we will come to that in some time).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    “You are given a time machine and Rs. 50 lakhs. You can travel backwards or forwards as per your wish. What would you do?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The time given to complete this one was 12 minutes, and the word limit was 120-150 words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2) SCMHRD: The slightly tricky WAT<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    This one was not as straightforward as the SIBM Pune WAT. The SCMHRD WAT was slightly tricky in the sense that there was not a direct question\/statement given, based on which the candidate could write an answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    There was a picture followed by a one-liner. The picture had a hotel waitress trying hard to balance three plates – one in each of her hands, and one on her head – while the one-liner stated something on the lines of “The local mail system is ‘not pressurized'”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The time allotted was 20 minutes, and the word limit was 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The candidate who shared their experience mentioned that they had taken that ‘not pressurized’ (within quotes) part as the pivot of their answer, stating it was an irony and bringing in the picture to convey the actual situation of the local mail system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3) SIOM Nashik: Was this a WAT at all?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    Out of all the MBA interviews and their processes, this was the weirdest. It resembled a Statement of Purpose (SoP)<\/a> than an actual WAT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The question was: “What are the things that matter the most to you? Why do these matter to you in the context of you becoming an Operations Management Expert in the future?”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Again, the time allotted was 20 minutes and the word limit was 500.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4) SIIB: The most challenging and the most interesting of ’em all<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    For a change, this WAT process had three questions, all of which had to be answered within a total span of 30 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The following are the three questions that were asked:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
    1. Strong leadership sometimes undermines participative democracy.<\/li>
    2. A long RC-esque passage that talked about how market operates on sentiment, with emphasis on COVID-19 and the post-COVID ‘green shoots’. There was a comparison of how China’s economy has been witnessing a rebound, while some other countries were still plunging downward. This particular question asked the candidate to reframe the guidelines mentioned in the passage in simple terms, along with a few suggestions.<\/li>
    3. This was again a continuation of the previous question, with the same passage to be used for reference. The question had something that dealt with how the markets are speculative based on the popular perception.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      (Sidenote: The candidate in question chose not to attend the subsequent rounds of the SIIB process. (And it had nothing to do with the kinds of questions that were asked in the WAT :P))<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Moving on! To the next round – the Group Exercise (GE)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      The process stayed true to its name. The Discussion was one part of this round, while there were other components as well. All the three GEs the said candidate was<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The process proceeded along the following lines:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

      Topic given to the candidates – prep time of one or two minutes – each one presenting their view in a minute – floor open for discussion and arriving at a consensus – one of the members to close the discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1) SIBM Pune: The truest sense of a Group ‘Exercise’<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      The candidates were given a set of 8 blocks. Each of these blocks contained some text or an image. Each image was worth 200 points, and each text was worth 100 points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The candidates were given 600 points each (there were 6 members in the group, and 2 panelists). Each of them had to spend those 600 points compulsorily, choosing some sets of pictures and text. From those, they had to form a coherent narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The ‘Exercise’ started with each candidate justifying for 45 seconds the reasons they chose the blocks. Now, some of them had chosen the same set of blocks, while the others had different choices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Not a fish-market GD; quite the opposite<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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