Journey to B-school: Tips to excel in GD, PI rounds

by Pritika Ghura
For all MBA aspirants, it is time to sharpen your communication and presentation skills. For it is time to gear up for GD and PI round. With the shortlists for GD-PI declared by IIFT recently the MBA aspirants have now woken up to the other realities on their journey to MBA and that is they have to make a mark in GD, Essay writing and personal interview round.
In an attempt to help you ace these rounds and help you make the correct impression in front of the panel of interviewers, Learnhub gives you tips to ace these rounds. One must remember the institute is checking your attitude, how well you structure to your thoughts, your problem solving skills and "how he/she approaches any question or problem.
For Group Discussions, reading a lot helps. You should be assertive but not imposing. You should be able to contribute to the discussion but at the same time let others speak. It will show how you conduct yourself in a board room. You can get hold of a book which covers the Do's and Don'ts of case GDs along with a few practice cases. Each and every coaching institute have these GD books. Another interesting idea is that you can try and form a group with like-minded friends and discuss these practice cases.
For Interview round make sure you're dressed formally and have a clean look. You should go with an open mind, positive mindset and self confidence. You can be asked anything under the sun and no one expects you to know all the answers but it is important is how you approach the answer. Please remember you should model your interview in such a manner that it meets the expectations of the particular institute. Do not appear nervous. For practice, you can organise mock interviews with family/ friends.
There are always a few typical questions like "Why MBA?" "What are your long-term and short-term career goals? How MBA will help you achieve these goals?" "Which specialisation you would like to opt for and why?" You might be asked questions about any drop in education or a sharp fall in marks at any stage - you should be prepared with the answers beforehand.
The key to success in these rounds is reading, practicing and talking to lot of successful people who have graduated from top B-schools.