Name: Ibrahim Katthawala_____________

Roll No.: 169278069___________________

Email: Ibrahim.k@shmsom.in_______

Admission Experience: PI/WAT

WAT experience

1. How did you prepare for WAT? When did you start your
preparations for PI-WAT rounds?
Read about current topics, current news, especially financial
and economic news. India and Global both. Also brushing up on
Indian economics policy history is very important. High chances
of getting questions from there.

2. What was your WAT topic and how did you structure it? Did you
find it easy or you had a difficult time?

There were two topics 1. Something along the lines of income

disparity in
India Are the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer?
First I quoted a few facts, only one of which I was able to back
up with a source. Next I moved on to why it might be
happening, and dissected the taxation policies for corporates to
confirm the same. Next, very shortly I tried to portray how its
consequences could mean downfall of the society as a whole.
Again briefly I suggested some remedies. I decided to skip the
summary due to lack of time and space.

3. What, according to you, were the top 3 economic policies

implemented in India?
I had very clear views on these and I decided to tackle it policy
wise. I wrote 3 paragraphs each covering one policy, its need,
and its impact.
I was even asked and cross-questioned on these during the
interview.

4. How should one tackle a WAT topic, if he/she does not have any
knowledge about the topic?

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 Generally, most topics in WAT are broad subjects, even if they
require factual knowledge. So even a little amount of
knowledge on those could benefit the applicant. The applicant
can then revolve his WAT essays beginning around that one
fact. That being said, most panels look for a breadth of
viewpoints even if they are your own views and not facts.
For e.g If your WAT topic is the 3 economic policies of India, and
you have no idea, you could simply mention that the kind of
policies which uplifted our farmers and brought the backward
societies out of their shells, helped in Indias progress.

5. Finally, what must DOs and DONTs for a successful WAT in

terms of approach as well as structure?
DOs Cover as many points as possible. Divide the essay into
paras with each para covering different aspect. Express your
own views in the end. Summarise. If it is a problem/case study
that you are covering, do suggest a solution.
DONTs Get fixated on a single view. If the topic asks your
opinion, cover both FOR and AGAINST point. Weight the
strength of one and then conclude. Dont use verbose
language. Dont state your opinion at the beginning of the
essay. Write some points about the topic in the beginning of the
essay and then dissect it in the consecutive paras.

PI experience

1. How did you prepare yourself for PI? What were the PI
questions that you searched for your preparations?
Thoroughly prepared on whatever I have written while
submitting the online form. Also prepared on what I had written
in my CV, including my work experience and my final year
project. One should also prepared 2 of their best undergrad
subjects.

2. How was your experience of sitting in a personal interview?

How big was the panel and what were your feelings while
facing them?
The experience was nice, I was a little tense but the panel
made me feel calm. There were 3 people in my panel, 2
professors and one alumni. All there of them were smiling at
me and asking me questions quite calmly.

3. What were the questions which you found most difficult to

answer? What were your answers to those questions?
I had not prepared very well on the financial budget that was
just released in the last week, so I found that slightly difficult to
answer. The question 3 points of the budget that I liked the

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 most, 2 of them I could answer somehow, but stumbled on the
3rd one.

4. What were the most interesting questions you were asked?

Please share your answers as well.
I had work experience in the tractor industry, and while
questioning me on my work ex, the interviewer suddenly asked
about the tractor industry in US. I had little knowledge of that,
which I told. Then they asked me why is there a difference
between Indian and US tractor industry. I could give a good
reply, although it required quite a long explanation.

5. Has there been an embarrassing moment for you or a question

you think that was difficult or impossible to answer? What was
your reaction that time?
Yes, during FMS interview, the topic of extempore given to me
was Social Impact Assessment. This was because my correct
profile was Impact Assessment Fellow for a social organization.
My work was more towards qualitative assessment and the
interviewers wanted more of a quantitative assessment
techniques. Thus, I could not reply much on that front.

6. Among all the interviews you have appeared in, which one was
the best and why? Share your best PI experience with us.

SOM interview was the best as it covered all relevant questions

about what I had written in profile answers. They covered both
depth and breadth of my knowledge and functional expertise.
The puzzles were clear enough, the questions on general
knowledge were also aimed at assessing what was my take in
the current situation rather than just knowing the facts.
Moreover, since all criteria for marking in interviews were listed
in SJMSOMs website, I was very clear what the interviewers
wanted from me while I was answering the questions.

7. How is an IIM interview different from that of an interview at a

non-IIM yet top league B-School?
I personally felt that IIM interviews were largely clichd. The
puzzles were common, but still twisted. They asked a lot of
unimportant general knowledge based questions. They grilled
engineers on subject matter far more than they grilled students
form other streams. A reason for that could be that most of the
interviewers were engineers themselves.

8. After your PI, what factors or qualities do you think the PI panel
looks for in a candidate?
Communication skills. Reaction to different situations.
Confidence while answering the questions (no matter what,

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 keep smiling during interviews). Subject matter knowledge and
functional knowledge for those with work-ex. Work-ex folks
should also know a lot about their companies, especially if they
are common or reputed ones.

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