How did I get in?

I was just wandering about the whole process of getting into the Working Managers Programme in IIML Noida Campus. and for me it was quite funny. I got to know about this course from somebody in my office and just came to know when there is only week left for submitting the application form. without breaking the past record, i submitted the form on last day. After submitting the application as usual i forgot about the written test(here also I didn't tried to break the past record).

It only comes again in mind when one fine day I got the admit card by post and the final prep for starts one day prior to written test. One of the advantages of being a mechanical engineer is that you don't wasting any time in extra reading and only focus on the questions which can some in test. The test was not as hard as compared to CAT but its not easy too, sectional cutoff was there and also three sections just like CAT. I did fair in Quant and Reasoning , but i had no idea how I did in verbal. Again after writing the exam I forgot about the results. One fine morning I came to office and result was in my inbox. Now, preparing GD was the toughest thing for me as I have never attended any GD in my life and I know that instinctively I am not a discussion guy.

I didn't prepared any topics for GD instead read some case studies, as after Googling i found, in IIMs for experienced guys they generally give case study for discussion. I cram some Do's and Don't s in GD like eye contact and other shit. For interview I prepared only one question "Why MBA?". I wrote the reasons for doing the MBA at this stage in points with a "WHY?" counter question with each reason.

When I met other candidates on the GD/PI day I was somewhat puzzled as many of them have much more experience then me. I had 4-5 marketing guys in my group(toatl 9 including me ) I could anticipated the type of discussion going to happen. It was a case study about an Industrial Insurance company who just forays in to the retail insurance due to competition and now its employees are facing issues due to increase customer base and work load blah blah blah...if you would be the regional manager of that company what measures would you suggest in the meeting with the CEO. So GD started and I thought of starting the GD (as it was 5th point in the Do's I had crammed)as for some seconds there was a lull after moderators said "start discussing", but I did not (as in Don'ts list the 1st point was "don't initiate discussion if you are not fully prepared". By simple maths i calculated that the 1st point in Don'ts is far more important then the 5th point in Do's).
So some marketing guy initiated the discussion with a jazzy "Hello Friends". After a minute i understand there is a very less opportunity of speaking for me as GD was completely hijacked by the marketing guys by then. I decided to speak less and to the point. I only spoke two times and both the time I suggested reasonable measures like
1. We should outsource the functions which are not core competencies for the company such as billing, resourcing etc. and meanwhile hire college interns as temp to take some load off the existing employees.
2. We should redefine the processes differently for both exiting and new customers.

And those marketing guys was talking about the marketing, local policies, org structure etc with full compliance to all do's and don't in GD which include swinging hands, eye contact, active, addressing others by names, use of clause like "I fully agree with Mr.X", "As my dear friend said...".....etc. The bottom line is I speak very little in whole GD and also did not appreciate others thought, in fact I said "But, what i think is...." that's too rude as per the rules of GD. So I was eaten by those marketing eagles in the GD completely.

Just after the GD, interviews started and I was the second to go.

There were two persons in the interview panel(one of which now I know was our chairman). This is how it goes

Intrwer1: Sit down gentleman.
Me: Thank you sir and a very good after noon.
Intrwer1: So Mr Sharma Why do you want to do MBA?
I was expecting this question but not as a first question. As I had only prepared
answer for this so I started quickly.
Me: After having 3-4 years of experience, now I feel a strong urge for learning management blah blah.......blah for 3-4 minutes
Interwr2: Exactly what kind on things you want learn Mr. Sharma?
Me: Ah.....like Overall working of an organization...Management basics...blah blah....
Intrwr1: anything specific?
Me: Like Resource Planning, Resource allocation and...
Intrwr1: what do you know about resource planning?
ME: Its like you have n task and m people or machines so who efficiently you distribute the tasks so that they complete in minimum time...and
Intwrw1: I think that should be resource allocation.
Me: Exactly! see how necessary for me to join this course (try to put in some humor but failed badly)
Intrwr1: You are a computer guy, so it would be hell easy to write a program for this and that will do all allocation in seconds. just fill in all tasks and resources available and other data and done.
Me: But there has to be some domain knowledge required while writing algorithm for allocation and for that need manager, and this would be for one scenario, once scenario changes algo also changes. One solution can't be fit anywhere...
Intrwr1: Let say you have one telephone directory and you'll need to find one record in it. Which algo would you choose and why?
Now this one is searching algo and aught to be asked from an techie guy
Me: It depends upon what constraints hav been given like he have limited memory or limited time.
Intrwr1: Lets say you have only 1024 KB of memory.
This guy must have had very less RAM in his days....1024 KB What the F!.I started describing Binary search would be best for these scenarios as directory is already a sorted list so.....then start defining the algo....
Intewr1: So it seems you are technically good, why you didn't think about MS or MTech?
NOW I was trapped between Management and Technical.I thought this is to create the stress scenario and I should not given too much of explanation for this so I simply responded.
Me: As of now I think I want to pursue Management. That's it.(the trick clicks)
Intrwr1: Mr. Sharma can you explain what is your current roles and responsibilities in your present company?
Me: blah blah.....

some similar questions like that and then finished.

So it was just an experience to share.