MBA aspirants share their experiences in Group Discussions (GDs) and Interviews.

B-school Updates




	Student’s Academic Background: Final year of BBA, College of Business Studies, Delhi

	Institute: Indian Institute of Foreign Trade Location of Interview: New Delhi


	Indian Institute of Foreign Trade
	There were three parts to IIFT’s personality assessment round this year – group discussion, essay and interview. The big surprise was the duration of the group discussion – one hour!
	Group Discussion At one hour, the GD was surprisingly long. There were three panelists for each GD. Given the extended duration, the topics were content heavy and covered contemporary politics and economy. Some of the topics that candidates at the Delhi round received were: Interlinking of rivers: A threat to the economy and ecological balance? Democracy is not right or needed for good governance. Over commercialization of cricket is destroying other sports in India.

	Essay The second component was the essay. Candidates were given 20 minutes to write an essay on any of the given topics. Like the GD, topics for the essay were also drawn from contemporary issues. In fact a few of them were a straight from Gyandhara`s weekly articles. Some of the topics were: Coalition governments and their impact on the country. National rural employment scheme is a step in right direction for rural development. Globalization and the Indian value system.

	Interview Interviews at the Delhi round were surprisingly short, with three to five panelists at any given time. There was relatively less focus on general awareness, which were sufficiently tested in the GD and essay. As expected, the interview did focus on foreign trade and WTO, with special reference to the textile sector. Some questions asked were: Tell us something about yourself. Tell me something about your father's business in 5 minutes. What’s attitude? What’s perception? What’s the difference between the two? Questions on other technical terms of psychology, as psychology and consumer behavior was one of the subjects in BBA. Why do you want to do an MBA? Why from IIFT? Why should we select you in spite of you being a fresher? What is break-even point? Please mention anything you wish to share. What is the main function of WTO? In five minutes, elaborate on your background, family, academics, interests and hobbies. Some questions on international accounting practices were asked for B.Com graduates. Mention 5 biggest IT companies? Why are they growing? What is international business? What were the major issues in the recent WTO meet held in Hong Kong? Where is India’s stand in the world as a textile exporter? What are the opportunities that India has in the textile sector? What are the basic qualities that a good manager should have?