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GDPI at KJ Somaiya

This article is all about the KJ Somaiya GDPI experiences by the students. It all starts with filling up your profile with a pen. The candidate has to carry a print out of SOP (Statement of Purpose) along with an ID card to the GDPI center. The SOP should be in a specified format i.e 1.5 spacing. Most of the students would reach the venue early before the reporting time. At first, they will call you for registration. The candidate has to show the Government issued ID proof and mark the attendance. A short video about the college and the admission procedure would be shown to the students and the doubts regarding the same would be cleared at the same time.

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The actual GDPI round starts now. A group of 8-9 students would be made and a printout of the case study would be given to them. It would be case-based GD. Some of the previous topics for the case GD are:

  • Software company in crisis
  • Companies with low turnover rate due to its boring job,
  • India moving on from an agriculture-based economy to service-based economy to a manufacturing company to …?? What should be really done??
  • XYZ is the project head, many employees switch over to other company as they get a higher salary and an opportunity for a job experience abroad in a year. This affects the company’s performance. XYZ also fails to communicate the details from the metallic company for the project requirements. Somehow manages to complete the program in a given time does not check it before delivering. It has some bugs, next the company gets more order but loses out on many offers due to this. They had asked how you would suggest handling this situation.

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3 minutes would be given to jot down the points. And 12mins for the discussion. Everyone would get ample opportunity to speak. The moderator will ask each candidate to summarize the discussion.

Then the PI round starts. There would be 2 moderators and you need to submit your application and SOP to them. The questions may come to you as in rapid fire round is going on. It as such depends on the moderator.

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Some of the previous questions asked in the interview round were:

  • What is marketing?
  • What is the difference between marketing and sales?
  • Sell this water bottle to the person sitting next to me. -,-
  • If you were the HRD minister what would you do? Tell 3 points. Told 2 and was about to say 3rd, they popped with next question.
  • What is the literacy rate of India? Are you sure?
  • How do you think the Japanese will help you in the future?
  • How does reading crime fiction help you in a good way? -,-
  • Why do you want to leave your job?
  • How do extracurricular activities help you?
  • Why KJ Somaiya?

Critical questions may be asked about your profile and the things mentioned in your SOP. Be thorough with whatever you mention in your profile. Try to justify it with examples. The interview session would last for around 12-15 mins. Good luck to all those appearing for the interview.

Below we have added the official GDPI Experiences from some students who have cracked the GDPI process of KJ Somaiya:

1. Khanjan Hariyani  

I had reached the venue a little earlier than the reporting time, helping me interact with the aspirants that I would compete with. This always helps me calm myself a little before the process starts. The process began right on time. It started with document verification, which made sure that we have all the documents, to avoid any last-minute hassles.

  • Case Discussion:

We were guided to a room and were handed a sheet of paper having the case. We were given 2 minutes to go through it, after which the discussion started. The case was about the then-recently released movie “Chichhore,” talking about peer pressure, if it is good, and if the role of parents is justified in the same. I had underlined the lines I found important in the case and had also jotted down my points roughly below in the sheet so that I do not forget my points or fumble anytime due to the lack of content, and have points of reference in the case, to go back to.

  • Personal Interview:

After the Case Discussion, I had kept revisiting all the general answers that I had prepared, before I was called in for my Personal Interview. Yes, it makes a lot of sense to actually prepare your answers to the frequently asked questions like “Tell us something about yourself,” “Your hobbies,” “Your strength and weakness,” and questions on your academic background. My interview panel had 3 panelists, with one alumni and two faculties. The interview revolved around my application form, and that was the case for many of us. Hence, be thorough with what you have written and always try to back your answers with your past experiences. As for my profile, I have my Bachelors in Computer Engineering and had a few months of a break after my graduation. My hobbies include reading books, writing poetry, on the basis of which they asked me to recite one of my recently written poems. I was also asked if there is a specific course specialization that I am looking for. This question stemmed from my previous answers, where I had related the applications of psychology in the field of marketing. The interview lasted for around 20-25 minutes, and even though I was cross-questioned on my answers, a little confidence and a little preparedness helped me sail through the process. While it is impossible to prepare for every question that you might be asked, it helps to introspect yourself and reflect it in your form well. It was an overall smooth experience lasting around 3 hours.

Personal Tips: Stay confident. You can only prepare for what is in your hands. Your spontaneity and wit can take you a long way.

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2. Keerthana 

I vividly remember walking into the venue alongside a few other aspirants, each of us with varying degrees of confidence and nervousness. We were promptly ushered into a hall where the organisers marked our attendance, checked our documents (identity and score cards) and allotted numbers for the further rounds.

The faculty briefed us about K J Somaiya Institute of Management and the variety of MBA programmes offered. A short video of the institute was played which featured the institute’s different facets – right from infrastructure, faculty to student committees and exchange programmes. This helped us gain a better perspective and I made a couple of mental notes which I later used in my interview. This was followed by a candid interaction with alumni who spoke about their journey and experiences while at college.

The Case Discussion and Personal Interview processes were taking place simultaneously in order to move things speedily.

I had my Case-based Discussion first. It was based on the bullet train proposal in India. The discussion started with the background of the proposal of the Indian bullet trains, merits and demerits and went on to cover aspects about its merits and demerits as well as its need and feasibility in India.

Following the discussion, each one of us was given a minute to summarise the discussion.

Soon after exiting the GD room, I was called in for my Personal Interview.

Number of panelists: 3 (A faculty member and 2 alumni)

These are few of the questions that I was asked during my interview:

  • “Introduce yourself” followed by “Tell us something about yourself that is not mentioned in this” (pointing towards the Candidate Profile Form).
  • Why MBA?
  • “Why K J Somaiya Institute of Management?” (This is where I included a few of the points I picked from the video.)
  • “What would you say are your weaknesses?”
  • “Which area do you want to specialise in?
  • “What is marketing?”
  • “What was this research about, what were the findings?” (in relation to my ongoing final-year research project) followed by an application based question about Kylie Jenner in the area of influencer marketing
  • “Do you think social media is an effective tool for marketing?”
  • “What are a few of the current trends that you see on social media?”
  • “Where do you want to end up post your MBA?”
  • “Would you prefer to work in a large conglomerate or a small-startup?”
  • “What do you bring to the table and how will you contribute if selected?”
  • “Any questions for us?”

My 20 – 25 minutes long interview was filled with pretty standard questions and a lot of it was based on my Candidate Profile form. I wouldn’t say I was grilled but a few rebuttal questions did throw me off balance. Others’ interviews revolved around their work experience or interests and hobbies. A few were majorly asked about the current happenings in the world. So I’ve come to learn that it depends and differs from candidate to candidate.

Tips which I can offer:

1. Read. Read. Read. If you’re not much of a reader, use YouTube and other social media.

Social media is particularly useful to find not-so-mainstream information about the institute – infrastructure, committees (check the Following list), faculty and student achievements, student profiles, events organised by the institute/college, etc.

K J  Somaiya Institute of Management has many initiatives like Intern Diaries, Power Profiles, etc which you can refer to.

2. Candidate Profile Form:

Frame your answers, write/type them down somewhere else if needed before the final submission. Put enough thought into it and ensure clarity and cohesion throughout the form and also between what you write in the form and what you speak in the interview.

3. Prepare your answers to the generally expected questions.

4. Most importantly, relax and try to give your best.

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KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 3:

27/02/2021
2 male and 1 female panelist

Panelist 1
1)Tell me about yourself.

2) difference between electronics and instrumentation engineering and electronics and telecommunication engineering

3) why mba without work ex?

4) which area of specialization – marketing

5)2 ad campaigns that you observed

6)sales vs marketing diff

Panel 2
1) your thoughts on fair and lovely changing to glow and lovely?

2) honesty is the best policy – how do you relate that to your clients.

3) carnatic music questions.

Panel 3
1) which city you are from?

2) what was sandal with white hat Jr campaign and what would you have done?

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 4:

1. Tell me about yourself?

2. Strengths / weakness?

3. You were in the organizing committee of your college, learnings learnings from the same?

4. Tell me three uses of marketing?

5. Work ex related questions

6. Favourite subject related questions

7. Last was related to GDP of India

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 5:

CA topic – Sex Ed in india
The premise was around 200 words long:
Q1. can sex Ed play a preventive role in sex violence, how can we bring about changes in the stakeholders perception towards sex Ed in India?

Q2. can sex Ed play imp role in women empowerment and gender equality?

You have total 10minutes
3 minutes to read
2 mins to make your points
Then you have to answer the two questions to the panelists
And at the end they ask few more questions for 2mins.

PI questions revolved around
Tell me something about yourself that is not in your cv.

The major part of pi was revolved around why MBA in marketing

At the end they asked me that you live in Delhi so a lot of protests have been going on, why do you think ki itni protest ke Baad bhi there was not a surge in the number of covid cases in Delhi compared to Maharashtra.

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 6:

Panelists were very chill and friendly.

Questions Asked –
1) Tell me about yourself

2) About College Activity and learnings from it

3) Role in the Company

4) What does your organization excel in ?

5) How will you explain what does your organization do to your parents

6) Any Critical situation in organisation where you leaded some project ?

7) About Specialisation

8) I mentioned Marketing..So Why Marketing ?

9) One Instance where you actually acted as a marketeer

10) Which articles did you read ?( I was asked this because I’d mentioned e-commerce which is what my company works in )

There was one more question but I don’t clearly remember it

Overall Experience – Quite Good

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 7:

Background – BMS (Marketing specialization), 1-year work ex in digital marketing

CA topic – Celebrity advertising
1F, 1M panelist
There was a para of approx 12-15 lines and there were 4 questions.
Post summarising and answering all those questions panelists asked me 3 questions from their side

PI- 1F, 1M panelists

1st male panelist –
1. Started of with asking how have you prepared for this interview and what questions do u expect from us

2. Hobbies

3. Why mba after mcom

4. Mba in?

5. Talk about your job experience

6. How did u contribute in the brands digital uplift

7. If u wont get a job in marketing and if u are told that you will get sales profile, what will u do?

8. Dream company

Female panelist-
1. Any regret in your life

2. What would you change if given a chance?

Overall it was very chill. Panelists were very good and sometimes they were talking in hindi too

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 8:

2panelists
2M – 1 middle aged, 1 a bit on the senior side.

Greeted.
P1 (senior) : Sneha, what does your parents do?
answered

P1: What do you do?
Explained about workex

P1: Which specialisation you want to go for and why?
Answered HR and explained

Over to P2:
1. Sneha, what products does your organization make? (I work with a leading pharma company)

2. Why are u going for mba from pharma?

3. Which field do u think is facing the music when it comes to talent requisition and management?

4. How will u tackle the problem?

5. Suppose in a franchise like Mumbai Indians, do u think retaining senior players will give u an edge or do u think fresh talent will do the trick?

6. For 5, I answered it should be a balance of both. P2 decided to take up the chance to grill me and ask so u think messi requires a coach, u think kohli requires a coach? Ganguly and sehwag, look at them all are failures!

I smiled and I said, Kohli and Messi reached where they are at present, just because of their respective coaches’ contribution at some point in their career. And i don’t think Ganguly and Sehwag are failures they too are success stories in their own right.

7. P1: Alright Sneha, you may leave the room now. Thank you and all the best.

Me: Thank you sir, good day

KJ Somaiya CA-PI Experience 9:

1. What part of India do you hail from

2. You have mentioned a certificate course in your application. What were your key takeaways from it

3. What is the 4P s of marketing

4. Now how many Ps are there?

5. What is the difference between selling and marketing

6. Is selling a part of marketing or are they independent

7. How would you sell a product in the rural area

8. You read books right? What was the last book you read and what did you learn from it

9. Do you read the news?

10. Why is Gautam Adani in the news

11. Who is Gautam Adani

12. What is going on between reliance and future group

13. What is the quad.

14. Who represented Japan in the recent quad meet

15. You seem to be inclined towards the market. Is that correct?

Best of luck with your process

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Also Read: Welingkar GDPI Experiences