Riya Gandhi got admission to FMS Delhi with a CAT percentile of 99.84%. She graduated from Jai Hind College, Mumbai University with a 80.08% marks. She had previous work experience with Icarus Design Private Limited (Agency) for 10 months and Ballygunj Society for Children in Pain (NGO) for 1.2 years. Riya went one-to-one interview with the Collegedunia Team and shared her MBA Admission experience, read below

Riya Gandhi

Collegedunia Team: What was your CAT percentile? Did you avail reservation benefits for FMS Delhi MBA Admission?

Riya: I secured 99.84%ile in the CAT 2021 Examination. And, I am from General background, so there were no reservation benefits.

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Collegedunia Team: Can you please describe your Pre MBA Academic Performance for Collegedunia readers?

Riya: In 10 board exams I scored 96%. I secured 92.40% in the 12 board exam. Also I graduated from Jai Hind College, Mumbai University with a 80.08%.

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Collegedunia Team: Describe the general setting of WAT / GD (if any).

Riya: FMS Interview process does not include any WAT/GD or any pre-process, instead it conducts an offline extempore, which is immediately followed by your PI. 

The format of the process is that once the student enters the interview room, they may or may not be asked 1-2 questions about their background or origin and an extempore topic will be given immediately. After 10-15 seconds of thinking time, the student is expected to speak for 1 minute on that topic with a stopwatch kept in front of the student. 

As soon as the extempore is finished, the same panel continues to take your PI with little to no follow questions on the extempore in my case. 

The general topics of extempore can be around your background, any abstract topic or any general awareness topic, hence it recommended to be aware of your city/origins/any big names on your form and have a general reading habit to be able to speak on any topic given. The aspirants can run a few mock extempore with their mentors, guide, alumni etc to be in the habit of taking up this format since this is unique to FMS and leaves less room for the student to be habituated to this format.  

Collegedunia Team: What was the WAT/GD Topic?

Riya: The Topic was: Orange

(To give context behind this topic, I was just asked which city I am from before giving the extempore topic. Since I come from Nagpur, the orange city, I was given this topic)

Collegedunia Team: What was your answer/points put forward for the WAT or GD respectively? 

Riya: To sum up my extempore, I spoke about 2 key things: Orange as a fruit and Orange as a colour. 

I spoke about the general features of orange fruit and the citrus family, the benefits of Vitamin C and antioxidants that it possesses. I followed the conversation by how Nagpur is known as the city of oranges and then took it forward by talking about the other global locations that are known for their oranges and what are the environment and soil conditions needed for the fruit. 

Then I took a different turn and spoke about the interesting fact as to how orange is the colour of orange fruit. Being an avid painter myself, I spoke about how orange, a secondary colour, is made up of two primary colours, red and yellow.   

Collegedunia Team: Describe the general setting of your personal Interview.

Riya: FMS Personal Interview Experience:

The general FMS PI set up is of 2 panellists who are faculty members of the college conducting an offline interview lasting for about 10-15 minutes. The same format was followed for me too where the interview starts with a minute long extempore followed by an 8-10 minute interview. The interview revolved around my SOP, my graduation subjects, general awareness and some questions around my work experience. The panellists were sweet and welcoming and did not grill/cross question a lot. 

The general suggestions for the upcoming aspirants I have is to be true to yourself and be honest in your answers. The panellists have been taking interviews for 2+ decades and can spot your lies. The key is to showcase a welcoming, likeable, enthusiastic to learn personality who will be an asset to the university.  

Collegedunia Team: Mention at least 5 questions that were asked in FMS Delhi Interview and how you responded to each of them?

Riya: The questions asked during the Interview are:

Ques 1. Question about Marketing and laws, and also about?

Ques 2. History about hometown Nagpur? (Lack of records for this)

Collegedunia Team: Mention any three reasons why you chose this college over other colleges which you converted.

Riya: To decide which college to pick, I researched and spoke to the students and alumni of the colleges. The primary reasons I picked FMS was:

  1. The lower level of fees/investments provides a better ROI.
  2. A curriculum that allows autonomy and flexibility to take up more opportunities alongside academics.
  3. Delhi location that opens more avenues for offline opportunities.

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Collegedunia Team: What was the reason for you not converting other colleges?

Riya: The process of admissions and rejections is a roller coaster for all the aspirants and definitely brings a lot of learnings with each exam/WAT/GD/PI/acceptance or rejection mail. 

It is important to study your own profile and the profiles of the students in the colleges you are applying to. This helps you understand where you would be suited better. 

To grow, I learnt that it is important to sit and introspect each evaluation you go through (especially noting down the PI transcripts). This helps you prepare for the things that could be improved based on your past performance. You can similarly study the kind of questions each institution asks (because some colleges might have an inclination towards say a maths question so the aspirant should prepare in that manner). 

A general habit of reading news will take you a long way since it can help you not only answer GK/CA questions, but also help you hold conversations by forming opinions and supporting your stance.