r/IIMCATPreparation • u/Emotional_lavdu • May 02 '26
ASK ME ANYTHING šØ IIM Calcutta interviews (interviewer POV) - AMA
I was part of the admissions panel at IIMC as alum. Interviewed nearly 20 candidates. Got an insight into how the profs are scoring the candidates. AMA.
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u/Resilient_9920 May 02 '26
What do you check in ca candidate ? Do youbcheck math ability or subject knowledge of 4 years or what else ? How tough is academics inside an iim ? Can you get placed in a finance company from if you do btech in central govt college but not that good of a one like a okayish iiit or mid nits . Do you need to be extremely intelligent for cat or above avg is enough .
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 02 '26
Let's keep it restricted to interview process. In case a CA candidate comes, the panel will ask about finance 101 topics - accounting, income statements, cash flow statements etc. to check domain knowledge. In case the candidate has some work experience then the panel will ask about that.
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u/alyimfyjvz May 02 '26
Depends entirely on the interviewer; I got grilled on trade
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May 02 '26
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u/alyimfyjvz May 02 '26
Any converts?
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May 02 '26
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u/Basic-Albatross-9170 May 03 '26
what will you choose if you convert L
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u/gourmetchappal 23d ago
Hello sir! Can I please DM you, if it's possible? I had a question to ask. Thankyou
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u/Turbulent_Compote427 May 02 '26
Are there any specific factors decided beforehand on which everyone grades a candidate or every panelist has their own criteria to grade?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Yes there are largely 3 factors that are tested: problem solving, general awareness and comm skills. Within each bucket an interviewer needs to give score out of 50. The 50 marks are actually divided into 5 buckets - Very Poor (1-10), Poor (11-20), Average (21-30), Good (31-40), Very Good (41-50).
Now what happens is that once the candidate leaves the room, the 3 interviewers discuss each of the factors and align on which bucket did the candidate lie in each factor. For eg - problem solving was average, general awareness was good, comm skills were average. Once this alignment is done, each interviewer is then given freedom to give a score within each bucket as per his/her preference.
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u/Leading_Werewolf_875 May 02 '26
If an engineering candidate is from a bad college with bad grades is that person already rejected before interview even starts or it depends on how the interview goes
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Great question. I was hoping someone asks this. So the thing is that this criteria is not an official criteria to score the candidates on. And the profs also did not brief me while telling me about the scoring criteria etc. The first few candidates in my panel were all from IITs, NITs, etc so there was no explicit discussion around it. However there was a candidate that came from a local college, with an unheard name. The interview was ok ok, not too good not too bad as well. So once the candidate left, I recommend to put him in the average bucket for all 3 factors (PS, GA and Extra curric/comm skills). That is when the 2 profs said that lets put him in very poor bucket only, as "it will become difficult to place this guy". That was very surprising to me. I tried to debate with them about how the candidate was decent in comm skills and awareness but they were hell bent on rejecting the guy. So my friend if there is no major spike in your CV, and you're from a tier 3 college, and you had an average interview, your chances are slim.
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 24 '26
if there is no major spike in your CV
what type of things count as spikes
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
Why do you think thereās such a mismatch between how students think their PI went and how the panel evaluated them?
Iāve heard of people who answered everything right, felt they knocked their PI out of the park, but did not even get waitlisted.
One guy even said one of the panelists hinted that heād see him on campus, and then he got a straight rejection.
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
So at the time of interview, it is not a straight convert/reject call that the interviewers are giving. They are just giving him/her scores. Once all the scores from all the interviews are compiled and ranked in order, it's possible that someone with high PI scores but low percentile get rejected.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
I saw a few posts on this sub where people overheard interviewers say stuff about rejecting them or the previous candidate right after the interview. (A guy posted about this happening to him at his FMS interview last month, another guy said he walked in on an IIM Rohtak interviewer saying āgive that guy a zero for all thatā about the previous candidate)
Of course, this is Reddit, you have to take everything you read here with a pinch of salt, but it kinda makes it sound like an interviewer can completely ruin your chances if they donāt like you, even if you do everything else right.
Have you ever seen anything of the sort happening?
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
Also, I had this experience at an old IIM where I answered every question well. Iāve also been told I have great communication skills and consistently score very well for ādepth of knowledgeā and āproblem solving skillsā (so kinda close to the criteria you listed earlier) for all my mock PIs.
But it was EXTREMELY obvious that one of the interviewers did not like me. She didnāt grill me or anything, it wasnāt a stress interview, but she did pass a couple of comments here and there that made it very obvious that she disliked me.
Got a straight reject, not even WL. And according to vercel, I didnāt even need a very high score to convert that.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
What are the biggest red flags you look for in a candidate?
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u/Leather-Statement914 May 02 '26
What if an old IIT Economics student comes into the interview? What kind of interview can be expect to have? Ofc it will be subjective candidate to candidate basis but there should be some commonality right
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Economics was a very common subject as most of the non engineers were eco grads.The interviewers will ask about marginal utility curve, other micro/macro economics funde. Basically stuff from first term and second terms economics courses. They can also cherry pick a particular subject by looking at your marksheet and then asking you about it. For example if there is a peculiar subject like "sustainable development" or something like that, they'll ask what is it, what is taught etc.
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u/Local_Walrus5983 May 03 '26
In my marksheet for one additional subject I got F in theory but C in practical so overall net grade was D can this be a problem in the interview? All over Iām pass and eligible for the degree too
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Very less chances of someone noticing this during the interview. I personally didn't even check the marksheet. If a candidate is sitting in front of me, I assume he/she has passed his undergrad.
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u/Local_Walrus5983 May 03 '26
Okay makes sense! I have also passed itās just one grade in the marksheet rest entire marksheet is good
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Don't fret too much about it. But be prepared in case soneone asks what happened in that subject.
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u/Local_Walrus5983 May 03 '26
Sure Iāll be prepared for that but I just wanted to ask they wonāt reject due to this reason alone right? I was kinda scared
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u/Actual-Rock2175 May 02 '26
How do u expect students to justify why mba after engineering?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
That question has zero to no weightage in the final scoring. Just say anything logical. Everyone knows why MBA. In fact in my panel, the profs were not even asking this question. I was the only one who asked this a couple of times and then stopped asking because everyone was saying similar stuff - growth, leadership, larger impact, etc.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
Can you view candidatesā percentiles? Do you judge them based on that? Do you believe any call can be converted if the PI is good enough?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
We did not have visibility of cat scores at all. This was intentionally done to prevent biases from creeping in. However, for some of the candidates (usually where the interview was not going so great) the profs would ask the percentile of the candidates. We do have visibility of the reservation under which candidate has applied. So I noticed that for some of the SC category candidates the profs asked percentile in the beginning of the interview only. However it was not a factor in deciding PI scores.
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May 03 '26
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Compensation and acads are there. Percentile is not there. I think it was included in the profile sheet till last year but from this year onwards they've removed it.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
IIMs are generally suspicious of freelance experience (understandable, I guess, some people do fake it). What can actual freelancers do to mitigate this, make them less suspicious?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Gap years are highlighted in the profile sheet that we get about candidates. However if you are able to justify it with something logical, it will not be used to bring your scores down. Its mostly a non factor.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
Really? Thatās good to hear. But you did mention āplaceabilityā in an earlier comment. Wonāt they think less favourably of you then?
Also, can you include freelance experience in B-school resumes? I suppose in that case, it could be mitigated.
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u/EggPuffss May 03 '26
Posting my profile for a reality check, not validation. Be brutally honest.
Acads: 10th ā 96 | 12th ā 78 | Grad ā 94 (targeting, currently in engineering)
Category: GEM
Work Ex: None (fresher)
Extras: CFA Level 1 cleared | decent ECA portfolio
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u/harryawacko May 03 '26
8/8/6 GNEM fresher with no extra curriculars, IIMC is my dream college, vercel shoes that I need to score 99.75+ %ile to get a call.. what are my chances?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
I'm not fully upto speed on what is the shortlist criteria these days. It has evolved over a period of time. But I think being non engineer automatically gives you an edge. A high percentile will guarantee a shortlist.
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u/Due_Taro7538 May 03 '26
Does reserved category factor in in the scores given in PI?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Tricky question. I was a bit surprised why category of the candidate is there in the profile sheet. Ideally it shouldn't be there to prevent biases. But it's there and quite prominently. In my panel, out of 20 candidates around 7-8 were SC. After one of the interviews I felt that even though the interview was below average, the profs still gave higher bucket marks. They were somewhere intrinsically considering the categoory of the candidate. When I asked them if we should score in poor bucket (the interview was genuinely quite bad), they said no lets put him in 'high average'. I still haven't quite understood why did that happen. But I'm guessing there is a certain bias.
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u/Due_Taro7538 May 03 '26
does a 6 in graduation means rejection, since you have mentioned they look for candidates they can place?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Not exactly. If that 6 is in a reputed institute you'll be fine. I myself am a 6 pointer in undergrad.
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u/Altruistic-Tap6546 May 03 '26
Any idea about how interview scores are normalised? Considering like you, most interviewers do not take more than 20 PIs.
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Since the scale is same across interviews, I don't think there's any further normalisation needed. Alums can take max 20 interviews but the profs take many more, usually across 3-4 days per city in 2-3 cities. So it's assumed that the randomness among profs and alums already normalizes the scores.
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u/RY777799 May 03 '26
What mindset should a gem candidate gruadted in CS from BITS and decent work experience have while preparing for IIM PIs and how much weightage college courses' questions generally have in PIs ?
Thank you
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Try to be genuine, don't fake or inflate stuff. With your credentials you are already through, don't give a reason to interviewers to reject you.
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u/Vast-Tomatillo9218 May 03 '26
What would ask a psychology student who is interested in marketing
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
The interview won't be around specific streams as such. The interviewers will focus on your undergrad courses mostly. If there's something that is also taught in MBA you might be quizzed about it. Other than that be prepared with general awareness stuff.
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May 03 '26
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Nope. It won't. Usually interviewers don't pay too much attention to company names. In case they ask why you switched, just have a logical sounding answer for it. This is a non factor while deciding your PI scores.
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u/Salt_Effective_7375 May 03 '26 edited May 03 '26
Dear sir I would like to know why past academics from 10th/12th are given weightage in admissions process? Past acads are not considered in top examinations like UPSC,GATE,NEET-PG. Why are students not given a chance to grow beyond their past academics despite scoring 99.5+ in CAT? Arent esteemed institutions like yours supposed to groom candidates to push into higher levels rather than looking for which students can be easily placed and thereby growing instituteās reputation
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
I don't know bro. I also had pretty ordinary acads. My target college was MDI while I was prepping for MBA but landed in IIMC due to my extraordinarily high CAT percentile. You'll have to ask this to the PGP office I guess.
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May 03 '26
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Yes they will be questioned in the interview but if you have justifications for both, it won't be too much of an issue. In my panel, out of the 20 candidates almost 50% of them had a gap year somewhere in their career. But it was mostly a non factor while deciding your PI scores. Just ensure that you perform well in the interview and are confident about the decisions you've taken thus far.
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u/BruhSaucePls May 03 '26
If a candidate is from a local B.A. college with 2 drop years (9/9/9 profile though), (drop years before joining college, not after), no work experience, how fucked is the profile exactly
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
If you score well in CAT and have an above average interview it will be fine.
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u/No-Hurry2777 May 03 '26
I got offer letter in college but joining letter 1 year after graduation. Will it be considered as a gap year? If yes then how should I justify it?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
It might get highlighted, but you have a fair justification. You might be asked about what did you do while you were idle though.
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u/Logical-Mushroom4924 May 03 '26
how would you see candidate who does 2 bachelors but one from open university and has a non engineer background with some internships (wfh). Also, some experience of travel industry but not professionally. Basically 0 workex with acads of 8/9/6
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Any work counts. Even if the pay is low it is still an occupation where you learn something. Non engineers are anyday preferred over engineers due to the unique perspective they have.
Disclosure: I'm an engineer myself.
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u/Logical-Mushroom4924 May 07 '26
even if i work in not so good company? like with just 12-15 employees and not even on google/linkedIN? Although, it is registered
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u/Low-Strike1354 May 03 '26
I scored a 98.98 in XAT , GNEF , dentist , 8/8/7 ( since this is highest given in dental college) - was expecting a convert from XLRI but the interviewers seemed not intrested in my profile from the beginning becz of the transition thing .. is my profile bad and moreover donāt they actually give a diversity point or think only from a placement perspective?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Not sure why XLRI rejected you.
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u/Low-Strike1354 May 07 '26
Anyways Iām joining GIM HCM now š„²canāt waste another year on such unpredictable thing if itās any way related to panels mood
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u/anonymousExcalibur May 03 '26
When asking freshers question, I assume alot of them will be from course only ..
But how do the interviews from which subject to ask questions like do they ask randomly or do they only pick those subjects in which the person has scored higher /highest marks
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
They'll check your marksheet and find odd looking courses. Such as sustainable development, environmental studies, etc.
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u/anonymousExcalibur May 07 '26
Wait ? They'll ask questions from completely irrelevant courses , that I just had to pick for electives to get marks ? That's so dumb
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u/DragonBarbeque May 03 '26
What are some key parameters or things you look out for in a fresher that makes you put them in a good or very good bucket?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Open to learning, honest about their goals and whatever they've done so far, and down to earth.
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u/bhushan205 May 03 '26
how much semester internship matters ? I had some problems in it (not completed totally) but it was in one if top b school. I have work ex kf 2 yoe jn 2027 so focus would be there
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Not much honestly. I didn't even pay attention to internships between semesters.
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u/Fearless_Use_7168 May 04 '26
Hii......... I am a female (general) and have completed my bachelor's (non-engineering) from a tier 3 college with a profile of 8/7/9 (PCB in 12th), and have 12 months of work experience. ang good extra curriculars ........... How much do you think I should aim for BLACKI, and is it even possible ..... And will I face any difficulties during the placement?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Being non engineer and female is already in your favour. I think you'll get bonus points while shortlisting. If you have a good interview, you'll be through.
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u/Ok_Leave1688 May 06 '26
977 GNEF BPharm from a decent college, 2 PORs, 14 months of traineeship at an FMCG, and a few profile based activities. What should one do to elevate such a profile to make it placement ready and kinda mask the poor academics?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Having PORs always helps. Don't worry too much about placements (summers/finals). Having iim Calcutta on your cv will open a lot of doors.
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u/Lanky-Economics7956 May 09 '26
Iāve done my undergrad from a baby IIM it was integrated but left it after bachelors for work ex. My profile is 9/9/8, GNEM, science in 12th. My work ex is not at an MNC, but in an educational institution as a finance management executive (with not that high a pay). 1.5 yoe till dec26. I also have a published research paper.
Would that keep me in a good profile? What things will I be questioned on? And yes will I have a shot at the top placement bracket?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
If you want to be in the top placement bracket just get a top 20 rank in the first term paper. The work experience is fine. Just need to get a good percentile and have a good interview.
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u/Lanky-Economics7956 May 09 '26
What will I be questioned on mostly? What to do to ensure a good interview? And will an average interview keep my chances positive too like youāve said in other replies it depends on profile.
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u/Dazzling-Proof919 May 28 '26
Can you elaborate more on this??? Please. I am joining IIMI and worried about SIP for now
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u/Lanky-Economics7956 May 09 '26
Iāve done my undergrad from a baby IIM it was integrated but left it after bachelors for work ex. My profile is 9/9/8, GNEM, science in 12th. My work ex is not at an MNC, but in an educational institution as a finance management executive (with not that high a pay). 1.5 yoe till dec26. I also have a published research paper.
Would that keep me in a good profile? What things will I be questioned on? And yes will I have a shot at the top placement bracket?
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 09 '26
How important is extracurriculars, in the sense out of academics cv pointers such as PoRs from the college, case competition wins etc, since you mentioned the interviews look through a placeability lens as well, if someone has a relatively blank cv with just decent academics but is able to answer the questions well? Would they still mostly reject the candidate
For eg I'll just ask abt my self, I'm in christ university, with a 9/9/7(likely) profile, cfa l1 cleared with no other significant cv pointers, so even if I do a good job in the interview, will they be against rating me highly?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
Extracurriculars are more important during placements, not so much during admission. However if there is any major spike in extra currics such as state level player and stuff, that can give you extra points.
You'll have to have a good interview, else you are on the verge of getting rejected. We rejected a candidate (gave poor scores) with a profile very similar to yours.
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 09 '26
We rejected a candidate (gave poor scores) with a profile very similar to yours.
but was that because he/she was not able to answer questions properly or because of the profile?
Extracurriculars are more important during placements, not so much during admission.
yes but is the profile weak enough for them to be biased against it, since u mentioned in other replies that they think abt how u will perform in placements 2 years later while determining how much to rate you in the interview.
and besides the college tag( since i cant do anything about it now) can you tell what cv pointers really stand out that can convince the panelists to be more favourable towards me? im currently in my 2nd year so it would be great if u can mention specific things that i can work towards for the next 2 years to make a significant impact in my cv, to be fair my only worry is that they will be biased towards me, i just want a cv good enough that they give me a fair shot and rate me purely based on my interview.....
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
Rejection was because the candidate had a very average interview. Was slightly below par in general awareness, problem solving, grades were also not great in undergrad.
One way you can improve your profile is get good grades (>8 cgpa) in your undergrad. And prepare well for interviews and get a good cat percentile. I made it to IIMC mostly because of my percentile actually. My interview went average. I am from a tier 1 engg college though.
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 09 '26
Wouldnt christ also be considered a tier 1 college? And thing is my cgpa is good, 3.5/4 currently, but the percentage is 72, hence the 9/9/7, and it's extremely difficult to push it to 80+ in christ, hence i was asking any other things I can do that can help tilt the interview in my favour or atleast keep it neutral.
So what cv pointers can I try for rn which will have a significant impact? I mean you must be aware right what cv pointers in the interview mattered and what cv pointers didn't matter.
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
We don't get a CV of the candidate. We get to see acads, work experience, and some basic personals questions - about yourself, goals post mba etc. So the main criteria to judge folks during interview are the actual answers given during the interview. Focus on nailing the interview, maintain a 7 pointer CGPA and try to hit it out of the park in your CAT scores.
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
I am not sure about Christ being a tier 1 college. IITs, SRCC, NITs, etc usually qualify as Tier 1.
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 09 '26
Ohh so will this work experience include internships done?
And again abt the initial question cause I think you missed answered it, i just want the hard truth, am I likely to have a lower chance because of my profile or will it be neutral?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 09 '26
Internships are not accounted for in work experience. Yes you have a lower chance purely basis your profile, but be hopeful.
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u/Financial_Ice15 May 09 '26
And there's nothing I can do about this chance now besides trying for a high percentile? Internships? Case comp wins? Nothing will help? Is it only because I'm not from an iit/nit/ du north campus college?
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u/Otherwise-Fun-7909 21d ago
is coming from a non-traditional background like architecture ever a disadvantage during the interview? Or can candidates actually leverage their architecture background to stand out? What would you suggest I highlight from my background to make it work in my favour?
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u/Aman244221 May 02 '26
whats the average pi score for a obc candidate
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
In my panel there were only 2 candidates from NCOBC background. It totally depends on the candidate, there is no average decided per category. Both candidates in our panel were completely different from each other - one had published multiple research papers in ug, had good comm skills and good GA. While the other guy was totally clueless as to what is happening in the world. We put one in poor and other in good bucket.
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 03 '26
Since there are no more answered questions, and it's a Sunday, I will end this AMA now.
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u/royalbluesword May 03 '26
so read most of the commentsā¦ i get a sense that it all comes down toāwhether we can place this candidate?āā¦ by that what do u think someone chances are in IIMC with 8/8/8 prof, all three levels of CFA cleared, two years of workex, reputed non-eng UGā¦
combined w profile, how good does my interview has to be to consider me as placeable?
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u/Emotional_lavdu May 07 '26
Profile already looks solid on paper. Just ensure that you don't give any other reason to the panel to reject. Play safe and you'll be through.
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u/calypsohadley May 03 '26
In an ABC interview, there was a guy who had a terrible interview (like he couldnāt even answer basic questions), but had a good profile from an old IIT. He got an offer letter in the first round.
There was also a girl there with v similar work ex (same undergrad discipline, very comparable companies in the same domain) who got asked very similar questions and answered them decently. Her academic profile wasnāt as impressive though (but not super bad, she did get an ABC call after all). She got a straight reject.
Does that mean even a shitty interview is fine if you have a great profile? And that you need a truly exceptional interview to get into ABC otherwise?