Akash Kalra converted IIM Ahmedabad MBA FABM program with a CAT percentile of 90.47%. He passed out from SGT University, Gurugram with 834.00% and had no work prior experience. In this interview, Akash Kalra shared his IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission experience with the Collegedunia Team.

Akash Kalra

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

Akash: I converted IIM Ahmedabad with a CAT percentile of 90.47% in the exam conducted in 2021. No, I am from the General category, so did not avail any reservation benefits. 

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

Akash: Sure, I had scored a decent GPA in 10 boards i.e., 8.8 and had scored 8200.00% in 12 boards. Furthermore, I had completed my graduation from SGT University, Gurugram.

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

Akash: So, in the case of IIM Ahmedabad, they conduct an AWT which is called Analytical Written Test. We sat in a conference room and allot 20 minutes time to think and pen down our ideas and thoughts on the topic. Also we were restricted to one sheet of paper.

Collegedunia Team: What was the WAT/GD Topic?

Akash: The topic given in the AWT round was, Gig Economy - Pros and Cons.

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

Akash: So, I was in the favour of the motion, as Gig economy has provided flexible employment opportunities to a wider segment of population, especially during the pandemic and also some points related to not getting bossed around; but the most important part here is that you have to consider the cons of the topic. So, I mentioned the fact that the recent high influx of gig workers has saturated the market and the hourly wage rates are dropping pertaining to this increased competition.

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

Akash: IIM Ahmedabad MBA Admission interview process was online and the time slot allocated to me was 8am- 1pm. I was in the panel where there were 2 female professors. 

It was quite an easy interview and generally each lasted around 15-20 minutes. It wasn’t stressful at all. My suggestion would be to be well versed with your CV, and should be aware of Current affairs and have an opinion on them as well. Also keep a track of the budget of the year.

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

Akash: The questions asked during the Interview are: 

Ques 1. The reason for the gap in post graduation.

Ans. Justifying the gap is a tricky space, and my recommendation would be to answer this question honestly, so, I told them that I wanted to experience the full MBA on campus and lockdown of 2020-21, was sometime I took to work on my interests, i.e., Trading in stock and cryptos, and a couple of internships I took up during that period.

Ques 2. Questions on my internship with APEDA.

Ans. I told them that I was working on developing an export strategy for Indian food products to CIS countries.

So, as these countries include Russia and Ukraine, the war was a pretty fresh news at that time, so there were a lot of questions back and forth on the war situation and my internship work

Ques 3. Should Russia withdraw their forces from Ukraine?

Ans. This was a question on which was discussed in detail, the implications of withdrawing or prolonging the war, the impact on trade between India and Russia and how my recommendations and findings during the internship would be affected.

Ques 4. What other calls do you have, and what's your preference order?

Ans. So, I had calls from the majority of the old and new IIMs, and other non IIM B-Schools which came in the top 20 ranking, but I was pretty sure that I wanted to join IIM A only.

Ques 5. Some questions related to Statistics and related concepts?

Ans. The curriculum at IIM A is Quants and statistics heavy, so they wanted to judge how comfortable the aspirant is with these concepts.

Check IIM Ahmedabad Interview 

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

Akash: The three main reasons were:

1) The Food & Agribusiness Management (FABM) course was more of a reason for me as it aligned with my UG specialisation under B.Sc. Agriculture, and IIM Ahmedabad is ranked 1st globally in the list of universities offering Agri-Business Management, so it was a no-brainer for me to grab this opportunity.

2) Another primary reason for choosing IIM-A was the fact that it's the top B-School in India with its highly qualified faculty (there are professors here who have been advisors in major government agencies), not to mention the strong Alumni network of this college.

3) The curriculum for the PGP FABM over at IIM A is set in a unique manner - The first year consist of general MBA courses and classes of both PGP and FABM batch takes place together, and in the 2nd year you have flexibility to choose among different electives which interest you. 

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

Akash: Focusing too much on cracking entrance exams, that I didn't focus much on interview preparation like being up to date with current affairs, this in a way did hamper my performance during interviews and also as I started interview preparation in mid January after completion of all my entrance exams, I was left with hardly a month for the preparations and in that time I had to also prepare for WAT, PI, GD and filling SOPs, juggling so many things at a time, I wasn't able to give my 100% in either. 

Also the lower CAT percentile. So, to get a call from top 10-20 B-Schools, one needs to secure 95-98+ percentile. My percentile was on the lower spectrum of 90+ percentile range, now there are many factors pertaining to it, firstly you can never be sure of how things are going to be on D-Day.