Interview ExperiencesPGDBA Interview Experiences

Admission to PGDBA: Learning from Dhrubjyoti Dutta, PGDBA 2016-18

Admission to PGDBA is not just an option but the only dream for many.

Written below are the words of Dhrubjyoti Dutta, an ex-student at PGDBA (2016-18), IIM Calcutta. Read his experience about how he established his dream of getting into IIM C. As a result, he further landed up with one of the best decisions of his life- completing his post-graduation in Post Graduate Diploma in Business Analytics.

With the zeal of getting admission into IIM A, B & C, I attempted CAT in my final year of graduation. But resulting in sheer disappointment, I could not score enough to get a call from any of the three premium institutes. My eager beaver nature propelled me to try again. After graduating as a Chemical Engineer, I joined one of the PSU IOCL as a graduate engineer trainee and continued my preparation for CAT during my unbound time. Improving my previous score, I was eligible for admission to other premium B-Schools like FMS, XLRI, IIM-L, K, I, etc. but could not land into any of the IIMs.

Admission to PGDBA- A Dream

IIM C was always known for its innovation and capturing the market trend in engendering business leaders. My sussed instinct helped me to grab the opportunity to move from the old-age oil industry to the 21st-century oil industry i.e. onset of data-driven decision making where data is termed as the new oil. To produce leaders in the era of IT, IIM C had introduced PG in Computing Management. To grab the latest industry trend of Data Science, which IIM C offered PG in Business Analytics in collaboration with two other premium institutes in their domain, naming IIT Kharagpur and ISI Kolkata. 

The Preparation

I started my preparation in January for admission to PGDBA with the basic 11th & 12th NCERT mathematics textbooks. Then, I referred to my old IIT-JEE coaching institute’s study material for question practising and deepening of concepts. As I was already preparing for CAT, my verbal, critical reasoning, reading, data interpretation & logical reasoning did not seem much of an issue. In the exam, I attempted a decent number of questions i.e. around 43-45 out of 50 questions. Finally, I cleared the written exam and received an interview call.

The Interview

In the interview, I was introduced to three professors one from each institute where they tested me on my logics. The interview did not demand prior knowledge of analytics or any related work experience as such. Questions put forward by the professors were answerable through logic and even professors helped me with clues. 

Finally, I was able to crack the interview and get admission to PGDBA. I chose this course over MBA from IIM L, K, I, XLRI & FMS. After completing my degree, it gave me a sense of gratification in my then taken decision of pursuing Analytics. The courses were quite new and different from my prior studies and experiences. However, the professors assured a smooth transition and helped me with the basics to advance analytics and business knowledge to suffice in the competitive corporate world.

To gain assistance from the experts in the field of Data Analytics, get in touch with us at AIMonks.

Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this post are solely of the author. Neither do these views reflect the opinion of AI Monks now do they bear any responsibility on AI Monks.

Comment here