Speed with Accuracy is the mantra to bell the CAT -

 …. says Vaibhav Garg, a first year student at IMI New Delhi. He has completed his B.Tech from J.S.S.A.T.E Noida in Information Technology after which he worked for Oracle Financial Services as an Associate Consultant for a period of 33 months. He has a strong inclination towards finance and is passionate about analysing economies of the world. He claims The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman as his favourite book. Vaibhav shares his selection and campus experiences in an e-interview with Serena Kallian.

How was your selection process at IMI? What were the topics covered and the kind of questions you were asked at the interview?
In my opinion the selection process at IMI is one among the best. The selection process after being shortlisted based on the CAT performance and Academic profile includes Essay Writing on any contemporary or abstract topic followed by a Group Discussion and a Personal Interview. The selection process covers all the aspects i.e. your aptitude level, writing skills, awareness and most importantly your communication skills.
As I had work experience in Operational Risk Management, I was asked about the applications of the same; the basic general awareness was also checked. Apart from that I was asked about why I want to do an MBA after 33 months of work experience and how an MBA degree will add value to me.

How did you decide upon IMI as the institute of your choice? Tell us about your MBA decision when did you decide to do an MBA and who influenced this decision? How did you manage work and preparations for the entrances etc?
After completing 2 years in Oracle I had decided to do an MBA so I shortlisted top 15 colleges of the country and applied to the same. I felt that to understand the business and business processes one must equip oneself with a Management degree. I usually studied on weekends and also wrote some mock tests to get the real feel of an exam.
I wrote CAT/XAT/JMET/FMS and got interview calls from XLRI, XIMB, NITIE, IMI, IIT Kharagpur(VGSOM), IMT Ghaziabad to name a few and finally got a convert from NITIE(PGDISEM), IIT Kharagpur(VGSOM), IMT Ghaziabad, IMI New Delhi.

I decided upon IMI as it is one of the premier institutes in terms of Intellectual Capital and it perfectly suits my needs. IMI also extends the frontiers of knowledge in management through cutting edge research.

What exactly are you looking to learn from your two years at IMI? How has your journey at the college been so far?
I wanted to learn the different aspects which will help me to succeed in life and at work. I want to utilize these 2 years in learning lots of insight as to how business happens in different countries and the different aspects of the business.
The learning so far at this school has been great. Group tasks, assignments, Quizzes, presentations have become part of my daily routine. The work load appeared to be quite heavy in the initial days but now I have started to enjoy that.

I am completely enjoying the culture of IMI where we get to share our experiences among the peer group who have worked for different companies at different places and each one has different expertise, different experiences and everything adds up to the excellence of the group. The various guest lectures by prominent Industry people, Marketing/Finance Summits, Entrepreneur Events have been a great learning experience. Apart from that Fresher Parties, Thanks Giving, Janmashtami Puja Celebrations are great stress busters.

You are also a member of the admissions committee, so what would you say has been surprising about the admission trends this time round, what exactly do admission authorities look for in a prospective candidate at IMI?
Candidates each year are getting more focussed as to what they want to achieve in their life. With JMET and FMS accepting the scores of CAT from this year, we are moving towards a Common Admission Process for an entrance in B-School. 
With World Economies changing so rapidly and all the countries are trying to revive their economies, admission authorities will look at the seriousness of the candidate, so apart from just Intelligence Quotient one must have Emotional Quotient too to succeed in life and that will certainly add more value to a prospective candidate. Furthermore, B schools are also increasing focus on consistent academic performance. This is evident from the fact that all top B schools are looking at past academic records apart form CAT performance for short listing and final selection.

Your parting words to all MBA aspirants…
With CAT around the corner, I wish all the candidates a very “Best of Luck”. Just give your best shot at the exam and achieve your dreams. With the Advent of Online CAT and new CAT pattern, candidates should be ready to tackle with the new changes and should prepare keeping in mind the new pattern. “Speed With Accuracy” is the Mantra to bell the CAT. Also I feel that candidates should look at the question paper patterns of GMAT/GRE as CAT is slowly moving towards that direction.