Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Bengaluru is a leading private B-school of South India. Since its outset, the institute has focused on developing managers with both decision-making and data analytical skills. SIBM offers a full-time MBA programme, MBA (Quantitative Finance), and MBA (Business Analytics). In the first stage, the candidates are shortlisted based ontheir SNAP scores. Finally, the admissions are granted as per the cumulative scores, made up of candidate’s performance in subsequent screening rounds and SNAP.
Selection Process
MBA ’22 admission procedure at SIBM-B followed the given order:
- Shortlisting (based on SNAP score)
- Writing Ability Test (WAT)
- Group Exercise (GE)
- Personal Interview
WAT Topics
In this round, candidates are required to write on a given topic in about 10-15 minutes.These topics were based on current issues or recent happenings. The candidates were expected to present their opinion in the essay. Listed below are some of the topics assigned to the candidates at SIBM-B:
- Share your views on the future of cryptocurrencies
- Does previous corporate experience help in becoming a successful entrepreneur?
- AI's impact on the economy
- Here are two contradictory statements. Share your views on them:
‘India has jumped to 63rd position on World Bank ease of doing business.’
‘Elon Musk’s recent statement about problems he had while launching an operation in India.’
- A company provides you with good health services, but in return it takes your personal data such as heartbeat,sleeping pattern etc. Do you think it is ethical?
- Here is a conversation between a grandfather and his granddaughter.Share your views on their opinions.
Grandfather: “During my teenage, most of the doctors were men, it was tough to identify a female. Time has passed, and I see a lot of transition and society has given due importance to women. We have started referring to them as "lady doctors" as doctors admire the equal opportunities given to men and women.”
Granddaughter: “I do not agree, grandpa. I self-drive to my office every day. Women drivers are always blamed on the road for the mistakes committed by men drivers. Everyone feels women are not competent to drive. Nobody calls a woman driver as a 'driver'. We are always referred to as ‘women/lady drivers’.
- A written dialogue between two people was given. They both hadopposite perspectives. One was saying how difficult living in a crowded city is, with long commute times and all, and wanting to shift to a smaller town; while the other opposed, saying all the big companies are located in big cities and what job opportunities will you get in a small town?
Comment on their conversation.
- Two quotes by famous personalities were displayed on the screen. One quote was in favour of specializations offered in MBA, while the other stressed that MBA was already self-sufficient and there was no need of specializations in it.
Write in favour of or against the given quotes.
GE Topics
GE was conducted with 12 participants in each group. The topics were mostly given on pictures or slideshow. These topics were related to general debatable issues related to management, business, education, etc. Each candidate had 30-45 seconds to think and 30 seconds to speak individually, after which a common discussion was to be carried out for 10 minutes. Here are some of the themes around which group exercises were held during admissions 2022:
- Can religion and science coexist?
- Will AI takeover humans?
- Can robots replace humans? What are its social, economic and psychological impacts?
- Should an MBA graduate be the jack of all trades or specialize in one particular domain?
- Major exams are conducted in English Language and technology-based mode. What can we do to improve inclusion?
- To be a good manager, are management skills enough? Or do you need technical skills too?
- Skewed gender ratio at workplaces.
SIBM Bengaluru - Interview Experiences
Interview Experiences
A panel of two interviewers evaluated the candidates on career goals, academic knowledge, work experience, and general awareness. Some candidates were also asked questions related to their group exercise round. The average duration ofan interview was 10-15 minutes. Here are some of the experiences shared by candidates interviewed during MBA ‘22 admissions:
Interview 1:
Background:B.Tech (Mechanical), Work Ex of 10 months
Questions:
- Evaluate your performance in the GE round. If there were all managers in that GE, how would you rate their performance?What did you do to make GE better?Did you succeed in making GE better?
- Tell me about yourself.
- Your work ex is so less in 5 years. Why so?
- What did you do in coaching centres? How did you help there?
- Which subject did you like in mechanical engineering?
- Why is thermodynamics so important?
- If a square pyramid is cut at the top (tip), what shape is formed?
- Tell me ways to increase process efficiency in management in mechanical engineering.
- What are BS norms, and what's the difference between them? Why didn'twe adopt BS 6 sooner?
- Suppose you are the MD of a firm that sells fuel. And your firm cannot supply BS 6, as your refinery is not up to date. What will you do?
- What is stagflation?
- How will inflation impact copper prices in the long term?
Interview 2:
Background: B.Com, Worked as a Freelance Writer
Questions:
- Why is there a gap of one year?
- India doesn’t have writers.Why don't you become one?
- Why MBA?
- Have you watched shark tank? Which pitch did you like the most?
- How can you help in your family business, as an MBA?
- You have a very unique name. What is its meaning?
- Where are you from?Whatis Bhopal famous for?
- How would you promote it to me as an outsider?
- As a B.Com grad, what did you likeabout the budget?
- As an individual, how can you contribute to the budget?
Interview 3:
Background:Graduation in Biotech
Questions:
- Introduce yourself in 30 seconds.
- Why MBA after graduating in Biotech?
- Which specialization do you prefer? Why marketing?
- Have you done some research about marketing?
- How many employees do railways have?
- What is the capital of Israel? And of Philippines?
- What is your stand on the Russia-Ukraine situation?
- What is RNA?
- How good are you in current affairs?(followed by related questions)
- You have also shown interest in agri-business management, why?
- Who is the agricultural minister?
- Who regulates our economy?
- What is the GDP of India?
- Who is the governor of RBI?
- Can RBI print unlimited amount of money? Why?
Interview 4:
Questions:
- What is the sum of probability?
- What is cloning? How is it helpful?
- Tell me about organic farming.
- Tell me about GDP. What is slowdown?
- Tell me about the recession.
- Do you know about the certification of organic food?
- Tell me about agricultural branches.
- Can you name five institutes that provide education in agriculture?
- What is transcriptase? Can you tell me about the vaccine and its type?
- Do you know about RBI? And SEBI?
- Tell me about the agriculture minister of India.
- Why can’t we adopt organic farming as a whole?
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