Practice and familiarity with a variety of questions help ace the CAT

… says Sandipta Mandal, a student from IIM Lucknow, who has done his B.Tech in Electronics and Electrical communication and M.Tech in Automation and Computer vision from IIT Kharagpur. He has worked with IBM and Deutsche Bank. His hobbies include cricket and swimming and devising trading strategies for stocks and derivatives. In this interview with Reshma Majithia, Mandal shares his success mantra…

Tell our readers about yourself…
I am a dreamer at heart. I have always liked traveling, since I have stayed at nine different places due to my father’s transferable job. This contributed in making me the person that I am. My elder brother is my mentor who is an MBA from IIM Lucknow, 2007 batch. To pursue my inclination towards mathematics and science, I decided to do engineering, and did my engineering dual degree from IIT Kharagpur and was awarded with B.Tech in Electronics & Electrical communication, and Masters in Automation & Computer vision.

Why an MBA?
I wished to do an MBA more for a formal education. I am an engineer, yet somewhere I felt the need for a formal education in management. I still remember the last day when I was leaving IIT Kharagpur for my home in Bhopal; it was then that I decided to relive my campus life by pursuing an MBA from an Indian Institute. Well it has taken me four years to make my dream see reality. Lot of hard work amidst a lot of pressure at work has paid off.

Tell us about your work experience.
IBM India was my first job from campus, so it is special in its own way. I was with IBM for 6 months, mostly into training. More than anything, IBM gave me a first hand experience of working with people at the corporate level. Deutsche Bank, on the other hand was a different environment. I shifted to Deutsche Bank to pursue my interest towards finance; the banking culture was way different from an IT firm like IBM. Strict deadlines, very tight schedules and work pressure were part and parcel. Sometimes, we had to work for 18 hours at a stretch. But we were in a group and it was fun. According to me, these are the aspects that help you deal with situations in a corporate environment as a manager.

What were the weakest areas when you started studying for the CAT? How did you work on them?
It was the DI where I felt the need for improvement. Many a times, I used to miss the mock cut-offs. Selecting the right question set was my success mantra. The more I solved the practice sets, better it was for me. Practice and familiarity with a variety of questions was the solution.

Tell us about your selection experience at IIM-L.
The selection process includes essay writing along with GD, followed by a round of personal interview. A lot of questions in PI were being asked from the points I have raised in the GD. A few questions were to check the genuineness of my interest and work experience. I believe PI is the most important point of selection. It gives the student a direct chance to impress the panel.

Your GD/PI experience…
The topic during the GD was “How looks are equally important with hard work for success.” The discussion was very predictable. So, the only way to score better was to give the discussion a new perspective and direction. I brought in some glamour quotient and related comparisons of IPL with ICL. I also analysed the discussion through the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and how it impacts one’s motivation. The result was visible.
The PI started off with the points I raised in the GD. They wanted to know the views and the rationale behind them. It was then followed with my life at IIT and how things can change at IIM. They did ask me in detail about my mentioned hobbies and how it motivates me. The interview lasted around 15-18 minutes.

The course structure and pedagogy followed at IIM-L…
The pedagogy is case-cum-lecture based style as followed in most of the premier B-school across the world. We have the first year divided in to three terms with all core subjects. The second year offers electives for specialisation in finance, strategy, marketing, operations and human resources.

Anything that the future MBA aspirants need to know and be prepared for when it comes to an MBA programme?
I believe more than anything or everything, one should follow one’s passion. Let’s not do things simply because others are doing it. Have a reason for your passion and act accordingly. A lot of external factors will hinder your preparation; but have faith and determination. Do or die is an old saying. I believe if we wish and dream to achieve something truly special to us, let us first do it before dying.