The first business school of Pune, SCMHRD (Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Resource Development), is one of the leading private institutes in India. It offers a two-year full-time MBA, with specialisations in Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, Operations,and Strategy, Innovation & Entrepreneurship. Apart from its flagship MBA programme, SCMHRD extends MBA in Business Analytics (BA) and MBA in Infrastructure Development and Management (IDM). In the first stage, the institute shortlists candidates on the basis of SNAP scores. Finally, the admissions are granted as per the candidate’s performance in subsequent selection rounds.
Selection Process
The process for MBA admissions ‘22 at SCMHRD followed the given order:
- Shortlisting (based on SNAP score)
- Writing Ability Test (WAT)
- Group Exercise (GE)
- Personal Interview
WAT Topics
WAT round is conducted to test the written skills of the candidates. In this round, each candidate is given two WAT topics to write on. One of the topics is based on a general issue or theme, and the other topic is picture-based. The candidates have to complete their essays in 30 minutes. Here are some of the topics that were given during WAT round 2022:
- Why should we stress about learning about the future when our politicians ignore facts given by the sharpest scientists?
- Two pictures were shown. The first one looked like a top view of office cubicles and the second one displayed a series of men stepping on the backs of men below them.
- Given below are the first and last dialogues of a conversation between persons A and B. Complete the rest of the conversation, with 4 dialogues each for A and B.
- Ambitions change!
- I wanted to be a househusband.
- Form a coherent story from the given pictures, and give a suitable title to it:
Picture 1-A tortoise winning a race
Picture 2- Everyone applauding as the tortoise wins
Picture 3- A bear standing along the finish line is wondering what happened to the rabbit that was running
Picture 4- Rabbit tied around a tree, and tortoises with guns surround the rabbit.
GE Topics
In this round, the candidates were divided into groups of six. Every group exercise lasted for 15-20 minutes.Each group was shown a picture or given some written information. They were given 1 minute to think and almost 1 minute to speak, after which 5-7 minutes were allotted for open discussion,and the group was askedto reach a conclusion. One of the group members was to conclude in the last 2 minutes. Listed below arethe themes around which group exercises were held during MBA admissions 2022:
- A picture of migrant labourers moving on cycles and a milestone ‘UP/Bihar Border - 2Km’.
- A picture of Asian parents taking care of their child, with all of them wearing masks.
- Apicture of some military men standing in a line, having their right hand on their chest like taking an oath. (A gun and a flower on their waist).
- A picture of a paddy farmland with four women sowing the paddy in a water-locked field.
- A picture of a road covered with water up to the waist level;a policeman helping a civilian cross the road and buses lying still on the side of the road.
- 7 headlines were given:
1. UK faces a slowdown in its economy
2. Cashless is in vogue
3. Russia’s economic slowdown is its own fault
4. Rural development is important
5. Manufacturing industry faces a slowdown
6. Should we worry about the recession?
7. Turnaround is happening as the stocks of companies are getting on the verge of bankruptcy.
The group was asked to choose 4 headlines among the givenand connect them in 1 minute, discuss them for the next 12 minutes, and then reach a consensus, and present a story in thelast 2 minutes.
SCMHRD - Interview Experiences
Interview Experiences
A panel of two interviewers assessed the candidates as per their personality traits, career goals, work experience, and interests. Questions were also asked regarding the information mentioned by the candidates in their application forms. The average duration of an interview was 20-25 minutes. Here are experiences shared by some of the candidates interviewed in 2022:
Interview 1:
Background:B.Tech (Marine Engineering), Work Ex of 32 months in Edtech
Questions:
- Introduce yourself.
- Tell us about your work experience. What are the main products of the Edtech sector?So, what was your role in it?
- Why Marine engineering?Why have you switched your field?Why MBA?
- How will MBA help you?What scope would MBA addto your life?
- What are your learning goals?
- As a manager, what difficulties did you face? How do you manage a conflict in the team? Is there any recent learning that you are using?What team sizes did you manage?
- Tell me about two of your strengths and two weaknesses.
- Now, tell me about two of your strengths and two weaknesses, as observed by your teammates.
- Can you tell us about the most difficult time of your life and what did you learn from it?
- What would you add to SCMHRD as an alumnus?What would you add to the class?
- Show the national-level certificates you got after class 12th.
- Will yourextracurriculars help the class in any way?
Interview 2:
Questions:
- What are your hobbies?
- Which books do you read?What kind of genre do you read?Who is my favourite fictional character? Who is your favourite writer?
- How did you start your editing agency?What is its net revenue?How many authors have you worked with?
- Tell us about your strengths and weaknesses.
- How does MBA fit into my life?
- What other calls do I have?
- Where do you see yourself after five years?
- Which industry do you want to work in?Why don't you take an entrepreneurship program instead?
Interview 3:
Questions:
- Why MBA?
- What are the roles and responsibilities of a leader? Arrange these in my order of importance.
- Which company do you want to work with after MBA?
- You completed graduation in 2020. What have you been doing for the past two years?
- Tell me about some challenges that you faced in your life. What lesson did you learn from them?
- Initially, you had scored excellent marks in your academics. Why couldn’t you continue that?
- Which MBA specialisation do you want to opt for?How will HR help you?
- What are your personal life goals?
Interview 4:
Background: B.Tech, Experienced Professional
Questions:
- What do you consider asyour most significant achievement, and why?Explain the different levels of the competition.Where was this event held? How many colleges participated?
- Now tell me about the instances where things didn't go as planned or you faced failure.
- What is your preferred domain in MBA?If not Operations, what is your next choice?
- You have mentioned that you were not selected as the General Secretary in your 2nd year and you were determined to become one. Why was it so important to you? Were there any perks like power that you enjoy with that position? Was that the motivation behind it?
- If your seniors at work were to describe you in three words, what would those three words be?
- Consider,there is one staunch enemy in your life. If he were asked to describe you in three words, what would those be?
- What do you think are your weaknesses? Cite some experiences where these weaknesses hindered your growth.
- If you were to start a start-up, what would that be, and how would you go about it?
- If someone got injured at one of your places, and they would then claim insurance for the loss, would you be accountable for it?
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