IIM Calcutta Admission Experience

Last Updated : 30 May, 2023

5^th March 2023, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi:

Time: Reporting time was 8 am, I went at 7:15 am. Got out of the interview around 1:10 pm

WAT Topic: Young people migrate from home for better opportunities. Is it justified? (300 words, within 25 min)

Interview: There were 3 panels (D-4, D-5, and D-6). I was the 8^th person of D-5 [10 persons in each panel, in my panel 10^th person was absent]. There were 3 panelists – two females (F1, F2 both seemed to be in their late 20s or early 30s) and one male (M seemed to be in his 30s). The interview was around 20 min.

M called me in and the interview started
Me: Greeted them “Good morning”.
F1: Good afternoon (M1: he is waiting from morning)
M: When have you arrived?
Me: Told the time.
F1: Are you coming from outstation?
Me: Noida.
F1: So early (they had a bit of conversation among themselves that we also had to write the WAT).
F1: So what was your WAT topic?
(Suddenly I couldn’t remember and went blank for a sec)
F1: Have you forgotten your WAT topic already? (with surprise)
Me: No ma’am, suddenly I was not able to recall that. Actually, the WAT topic was (said all these because I was still recalling what it was and then told the topic)
F1: Was it specified migrating to where?
Me: No.
F1: But it was specified that migration of people?
Me: Yes
F1: So what you wrote?
Me: Told them (I had taken a balanced approach while writing the WAT)
F1: Good, you have taken a balanced stance.
M: So what is the scenario in West Bengal right now about this?
[I just started answering and said one or two words but F1 interrupted]
F1: Ok so you went outside and again now trying to come back to Kolkata how is that (with a smile)?
Me: Mentioned the reason (slightly included the point of disadvantage for migration that I mentioned in the WAT topic) and also said that I also will have the opportunity to stay close to my hometown.
F1: What is your hometown?
Me: Answered.
F1: Took a pause, but you won’t be given a chance to stay at home, you have to stay in Kolkata. Will you be able?
Me: Said that I wouldn’t have any issue as I have already stayed outside the home during my graduation and also currently staying away due to my job.
F1: Where you stayed during your graduation?
Me: Answered
M: So why you left Infosys after 3 months of services only and you mentioned in your personal data form that it was not in line with your interest? How is it?
Me: Gave the well-prepared answer
M: So you are currently happy with your job?
Me: Said that compared to the previous one, I am happy.
M: So what is your role here?
Me: Told
M: So in these months you have written several pieces of content, who are the reader of those?
Me: Told them about the target audience.
M: And what is the growth from the time you joined till now?
Me: Told them the difference in numbers.
[They were quite impressed by the growth of the number]
F1: So have you heard about Wordle?
Me: No.
F1: Ok see here how it is played. I need you to tell me how will you try to approach the problem and code for the same.
[I read the rules. She showed me the Wordle for that day on her laptop and asked me to try to solve it and tell her my approach]
Me: Thought for a few seconds and then told an approach regarding that I would have choices for 30 letters and I would try to figure out which letter will go where by initially going through the most common letters and vowels because it has a higher probability to be in a correct position and present in the word. By using this idea I was able to get the 2^nd position letter correctly in the 2^nd guess. [this whole thing took time]
F1: Ok so now tell me how will you devise an algorithm?
Me: Told her about that and also mentioned that I may also pre-train the device to find relevant words when a few letters are already found.
F1: (Seemed a bit interested) Ok so you will pre-train?
Me: I may take help with that.
F2: Ok so solve this question [Gave me a question of probability: P(either A or B) = P(either A or C) = P(either B or C) = ¼ and P(A, B, C) = 1/16, what is the probability of at least one of A, B or C?]
Me: I initially thought that P(A, B, C) = P(A U B U C) and started on that way and suddenly ma’am said that drawing the Venn diagram properly, it may help. At this, I was a bit taken aback and asked if P(A, B, C) is the same as P(ABC) [i.e., the intersection of the three].
F2: Yes.
Me: Now tried to solve it but got stuck for a moment because I couldn’t find P(AB) [I considered P(either A or B) as P(A U B)].
F2: It is written P(either A or B), how can you not read it (with a smile)?
Me: No ma’am I read it but I misunderstood it. Now here I did a silly mistake P(at least one of A, B, or C) is the same as P(A U B U C) and I used P(either A or B) = P(A U B) – P(AB) but I didn’t expand this and so missed that adding all of the given [ except P(ABC) ] and dividing it by 2 and then adding P(ABC) will solve the problem. So I was stuck at intersection terms.
M: Are you stuck?
Me: Yes sir, I couldn’t get the intersection term. [I tried to solve this after I got back from the interview and finally found the mistake].
F2: What is a convex function?
Me: (I didn’t know it) Sorry ma’am I don’t know.
F2: Ok, so what else from Math?
Me: You can ask me something. Though I have read these (referring to the previous two questions), I don’t recall it right now.
F2: Ok, tell me about binary search.
Me: Told her.
F1: (to M) Do you have anything else to ask?
[M initially said no, but then asked]
M: So you are in the content writing field right? What do you think about the current technical sector layoff that is going on?
Me: Said them what the perspective businesses are presenting as the reason for the layoff.
M: That is their point, what do you think about that?
Me: Said as an example a company (renowned one, but currently I couldn’t remember the name that I said in the interview) which had not laid off any employee but restructured their salary and said to revert back once the reason of concern for the sector is over. Also mentioned that others could have taken the same path, cut off other expenditures or generate sources of revenue. But I think laying off in such a large number is not a good thing.
[M gave a certain expression but couldn’t figure out what he meant by that]
F1: Ok, we are done with it. Thank you.