MBA Crystal Ball

Hello Sir,

I have received an interview call for the 1 year Full time EPGP of IIM-Indore. I did my B.Sc in Electronics and I have 6 years of experience in IT (SAP Consulting). Considering the applicant pool, my GMAT score is on the lower side. Kindly guide me how I can prepare for the interview and perform well. Also please throw some light on the structure of the interview (Will there be GD, Group interview etc....).

Thanks
Walker.

Hi
I can't speak about IIM-Indore in particular , but I have interviewed at IIM A, B and C and the process is to have a personal interview , no group discussion etc.
Regarding what is asked in interview it can be anything along the following lines
- past career path and future career direction/ambitions
- how the above matches with your desire to get into a business school
- domain knowledge based on work experience
- if you are aspiring to change industry/function some possible questions around those.
- anything related to current affairs/economy/general awareness of industry and the business world.

SAP consulting is a good profile, an ideal GMAT score would be 700+ but having said that quite a few people with below 700 scores also make the cut provided you can compensate for it in some other way---highlight unique aspects of your profile which differs from the majority of the candidates in your essays as well as the interview.

Ignoring all the above, please ask yourself if you really need to do an MBA at this stage in your career to get where you want to get.

Thanks a lot iimb_epgpgrad, for your valuable advise.

I will keep all these things in mind and will prepare on those lines. I have a couple of more queries. Please address those as well.

1) Since I've been shortlisted for the interview, will my GMAT score be considered during the interview for the final shortlising?

2) How important is academics (10th, 12th and Graduation marks)?

3) Could you please elaborate more on your last statement, "Ignoring all the above, please ask yourself if you really need to do an MBA at this stage in your career to get where you want to get". May I know why exactly you suggested this? Do you think MBA is not really advisable for my profile? Kindly advice.

Regards
Walker

1. Yes GMAT score will be a factor in the final selection

2. I can't say quantitatively how much weightage it will have. Of course it is less important than your graduation %, but a consistently high academic performance proves that you have the ability to cope with the academic rigour of the course.

3. I cannot really answer regarding your own career plans. You need to think for yourself what is the purpose behind getting an MBA at this stage of your career. Is it to change roles? is it to change industry? Or is it just to get more money while being in the same role and industry?? Or is it just because you want to "tick the MBA box!"?

You need to balance this with the amount of money that you are investing. Most one year programmes in India are expensive so let this be a financial decision as well rather than just an emotional decision!

thanks a lot for your insightful replies !!
I'll definitely take all these into consideration.

Walker

@iimb_epgpgrad, Nice to see that you have created this forum. We are part of current EPGP batch and would like to get in touch with you to see if we can assist you in this.
We have a similar thread running in pg as well

pls can you give me your coordinates so that we can connect?

Hi,

I have a query regarding PGSEM program at IIM Bangalore. I have 3 years of work experience in a software company as a software developer. This program is very different where you continue to work and attend MBA classes at IIM B on Fridays and Saturdays.
1) Does this program add any real value for software professionals? Whats the connection between software development and MBA?
Many project managers in my company are not MBAs so I am not very sure if PGSEM is really useful or not.
2) Since the average age of students in that program is around 8, is it like an executive program?
3) Are full time 1 year executive programs at IIMs better than PGSEM?

Regards,
Akshay

Akshay

To answer your queries

- Curriculum for the PGSEM program is nearly the same as that for the 2 yr programme.

- "Adding value"---really depends on what you are looking for. Yes, your knowledge will certainly be enhanced. However, bear in mind that there is no campus placements etc for this course since the assumption is that you are already in a (decent) job.

- Regarding which is better --1 yr or PGSEM, it's entirely upto your own situation. If you think you are already in a decent role and you want to just add an MBA tag + the knowledge that comes with it then PGSEM might be okay.

Also you need to see if after doing PGSEM whether your organisation will recognise that and give you a better role. The cost for PGSEM is significantly lower than that for the EPGP, so you need to decide which is better for you, but the flip side is that it can drag on for 2.5 yrs and you need to do this while you are working.

Hi iimb_epgpgrad,

I wanted to know what sort of companies visit the campus for EPGP, and how do you connect with companies - is there a special event organized or is it purely driven by student initiatives?


-nitin