Interview Feedback – XIME Bangalore, FORE School Delhi, BIMTECH Greater Noida
MBA PGDM – 2025-27 Batch. CAT Score – 81.46 Percentile; Female Candidate (Identity withheld as requested by candidate)
XIME – Bangalore
Physical Interview : 20 minutes of horror- they smiled, I panicked. Welcome to My Interview.
The only thing you can predict about life is that it’s unpredictable. There are very few moments in my life where I have felt extremely prepared, completely in control of my state of mind and the day of the XIME interview was one such day – I had answers rehearsed to perfection, mock interviews aced, and a smile so fixed it could crack stone. I was ready… or so I thought.
The XIME interview consisted of two elements: a GD followed by a personal interview. The topic of my GD was, “Should freedom of speech come with reasonable restrictions”. The GD was a 10 on 10 and that solidified my belief that, “today I am invincible”.
Minute 0: The Calm Before the Storm : I was the fourth candidate to be interviewed that day. I walked in wearing my most confident smile. Three professors—two men and one woman—sat across the table. They greeted me with big, warm smiles, and I felt a flicker of hope. My naïve little heart even did a tiny happy dance. But within seconds, everything changed. Their warmth faded into a cold, wicked grin. And then came the line I’ll never forget: “You are an amazing candidate, BUT we cannot select you.”
Minute 1–5: “Tell Me About Yourself”
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“Introduce yourself,” they said. I had barely said my name when one of them interrupted, “How come you performed so poorly in your graduation?” I was prepared for this. I explained the tough grading system of my university and shared that despite the low scores, I was actually the top scorer in my batch. Their response?
PANEL: “You’re lying. Do you have proof?”
ME: “No official document, sir, but it’s a well-known fact in academic circles—you can even look it up.”
PANEL: “What was your rank then?”
ME: “No formal ranking, but I was the top scorer in my batch.”
PANEL: “So you’re the college topper, with no certificate to back it?”
ME: “Yes sir, no certificate, just the truth.”
Minute 5–12: The Elephant in the Room : By now, I was still smiling, but my legs were shaking. And then, came that question—the one about the five-year gap in my resume. I told them I had been preparing for the UPSC Civil Services Exam. Now, I expected questions about current affairs, or maybe history. What I got instead was a 5-minute monologue about how I have wasted last few years of my life with judgemental statements like –
“You are 27 and you have done nothing in your life”
“UPSC is no skill and even if we offer you, no company will ever want to hire you, you are never getting a job”
“What were you parents doing while you were throwing your life away”
“Why don’t you sit for banking exams or work as a content writer instead of further wasting two more years of your life”
“There is nothing that you have achieved in your life, simply wasted your time”
They went on and on and on and the worst of all – they didn’t even allow me to say my piece.
Minute 13-17: “WHY MBA” : When I started preparing for mock PIs, my mentor told me that the most important question that I will be asked is “why MBA”. I never realised the importance of this until I faced this interview. After the panel was done with UPSC, they asked me, “Tell me why MBA”. But just like before, I barely got a few lines in before the interruptions began. They kept challenging my answer, trying to shake my conviction—as if their goal was to talk me out of the very idea. But, in this second last lap of the interview, something in me shifted. I dropped the polished smile, shed the overly professional mask, and decided to just be me. I wasn’t there to impress anymore—I was there to speak. So, I pushed through, rapid-fire style, determined to be heard, even if they weren’t ready to listen. But I wasn’t able to keep up the fight for long, the exhaustion caught me and I broke down. My voice cracked. My throat tightened. I didn’t cry, but I was close. And oddly enough, that vulnerability, that small break—changed everything.
Minute 18–20: That tiny moment of cracking? It turned the room silent. For the first time in the entire interview, they listened. And I finally said what I had been holding in for the last 17 minutes:
My graduation marks are not bad, and they can question me on anything from my subject to test my knowledge.
No, UPSC was and will never be a mistake. I wish I had a better exit strategy, but I will never be apologetic for fighting for a dream.
There will be at least one company that will judge me on my skills more than my age and the gap in my résumé. And even if I am unplaced, I will find something for myself—because that is how much I believe in my potential.I sincerely hope the panel does too.
And I ended it with a big smile on my face.
As I stood up to leave, the panel smiled back and said, “We really admire your never-give-up attitude.” It meant something. I didn’t walk out expecting good news, I was simply relieved that for one minute, I had defended myself.
FORE School of Management, New Delhi
Physical Interview: Seemed to be a conversation in a café
When I look back at my FSM interview today, I no longer look at it from the lens of rejection or disappointment. After a long wait, I received my first PI call letter in the first week of February from FORE School of Management. I still remember the depressive phase I was going through the entire January because of getting rejected from colleges even before getting a PI letter and FORE came as the rainbow after a heavy rain, finally some light after days of darkness. I was nervous but equally excited, afterall it was my first professional interview of my life.
On the morning of 22nd February, 2025, dressed up in my new formal suit, I am sitting in The Lalit Hotel, along with around 50 ambitious aspirants. We had an introduction by two members of their admissions committee and they warmly accepted and answered any questions regarding the college and its curriculum. Every passing second, my excitement grew and so did my determination to be my very best – all I kept telling myself that I have to convert this college. AT around 11:00 am the interviews started divided amongst three sets of panels and each panel had three members. I was the very last in the entire batch to be interviewed and so instead of sitting and worrying about my interview, I decided to interact with the other aspirants. This is probably what makes me look back at my FSM interview with a smile and not with a grievance – I interacted with people who are so driven, so ambitious, spoke to them about their aspirations while sharing mine, got inspired by the confidence and self-belief that they exuded and was touched how every candidate came out of their interview and without a pinch of insecurity shared their entire interview transcripts with the ones awaiting their turn. In a world that is always telling you to win, it was so refreshing to see young minds secure at their own pace and contributing to collective growth.
After a long wait, it was finally my turn. I said a small prayer, knocked on the door and entered the room. I was greeted by two male and one female panelist. The interview was divided into two sections- a 60 second extempore followed by a personal interview. My topic for extempore was, “Can India become a cashless economy”. I could answer fairly well and complete my thoughts within a minute. Then started my interview which was completely opposite of what I had heard about MBA interviews- here I was expecting them to question me on the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on global trade but all they wanted to know from me was about me. It was not an interview, it was a conversation in a café.
“Tell us about yourself”
“Why not pursue Masters in English instead of MBA”
“Do you think AI will replace content writing”
“Do you believe politics and economy are co-related”
“Do you think your age will be a hindrance in you securing a placement, as the companies prefer younger candidates”
“What are the different types of fictional books and what is Agatha Christie’s connection to Mussoorie”
That’s all they asked! Even though the questions were warm and easy, I felt the interview was quite rushed, something I feared being the last candidate to be interviewed. A part of me was happy that I was able to answer 9/10 questions, a part of me was a bit dissatisfied as well. Anyways, I thanked the panel and exited the room and I was feeling very happy – My first interview experience and I truly gave my best at that point. FSM’s interview was a learning experience – taught me how to own my truth, be confident of what I bring to the table and how treating an interview as a conversation instead of an interrogation will do wonders.
BIMTECH, Greater Noida
Online Interview : Cooperative Panel – Holistic Questions
While I was nervously waiting for Fore results to be declared, I had my second professional interview at BIMTECH.The start to the interview was a rocky one with me being not able to access my dashboard and my google meet link which ultimately led me to have my interview on a whatsapp video call. The initial hindrance accelerated my nervousness but I calmed myself and told myself to just believe in myself. Thankfully, the admissions team was very cooperative and I was greeted with warmth by two female panelists.
The BIMTECH interview questions were very holistic – ranging from asking me questions about my graduation, to my volunteering work to questions related to marketing.
“Tell me about yourself”
“Tell us something about your NGO and the kind of work you did”
“Tell us some recent social media marketing trends”
“Tell us how would you market West Bengal on social media”
“How do you think your background in literature will help you in marketing”
“Role of diversity in workplace”
In this interview, my answers were better structured and better articulated, a compliment that the panel offered me at the end of the interview. My interview ended with me asking them about the kind of opportunities and job roles that are offered to a fresher in their college and they very happily assured me that they have good placements for both freshers and non-freshers.
