SIBM Hyderabad and SIBM Nagpur are the newest members of Symbiosis International University (SIU), Pune. Both these campuses of Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) are listed among the top 50 B-schools of India. SIBM Hyderabad extends a full-time MBA programme with specializations in Finance, Operations, Marketing, and Human Resource. SIBM Nagpur offers MBA in Food & Agri-Business Management, apart from the flagship MBA programme. In the first step, these institutes shortlist the candidates as per their SNAP scores. The final admissions are determined by the candidate’s scores in SNAP as well as in the further selection rounds.
Selection Process
MBA ’22 admissions for SIBM-H and SIBM-N followed the given process:
- Shortlisting (based on SNAP score)
- Writing Ability Test (WAT)
- Group Exercise (GE)
- Personal Interview
WATRound
In this round, the candidates were shown a picture and asked to write on it within 20 minutes. One of the given pictures depicted the following:
- Two men were arm-wrestling on a table, where some cash was placed.
GE Round
Each group exercise was held for 20-25 minutes. Every candidate was given a few seconds to think and then present their opinion individually within a few minutes, after which an open discussion was carried out and concluded in the last few minutes. Listed below are some of the topics given during group exercises for MBA ’22 admissions:
- A ship docked in a harbour cannot face the storm.
- Do we need more entrepreneurs than managers?
- Do deadlines kill creativity?
Interview Experiences
A panel of two interviewers posed questions to the candidates; regarding their personality traits, goals, preferences, work experience, and interests. There was a major focus on checking the general knowledge of the candidates and their awareness of current events. Overall, the interviews were perceived to be easy and manageable by the candidates. The average duration of an interview was 10-15 minutes. Here are some experiences shared by the candidates interviewed for MBA admissions at SIBM-H and SIBM-N:
Interview 1:
Background: BE, Work Ex of 3.6 years
Questions:
- Introduce yourself.
- Why MBA?
- How is MBA related to your work experience? How will your experience help during B-school placements?
- Which MBA specialization do you prefer?And why?
- Tell us one instance or project where you did your best, and your manager appreciated.
- How will your manager describe you in three qualities?
- If you are assigned a group of six people of different domainsand assigned a high target, how will you train them? If your team didn’t complete the target and you are answerable to your manager, what will you do?
- Can you name some Northeast Indian States, along with their capitals?
Interview 2:
Background:B.Sc (Statistics), Fresher
Questions:
- Introduce yourself.
- Tell us about your hobbies.
- Who is the Defence Minister of India?
- Who is the Prime Minister of the UK?
- What are your goals?
- Why this sudden shift from finance to data science?
Interview 3:
Questions:
- Tell me about yourself.
- What are your weaknesses?
- Who is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra?
- Which political alliance is in power in Maharashtra?
- Tell me more about Mumbai and Maharashtra.
- What was your specialization? Can you recall the subjects?
- What is CSR?
- What is the difference between smart work and hard work?
Interview 4:
Questions:
- Tell me something about yourself. So, which tabla do you like to play?
- What specialization will you choose in your MBA?
- Which company was rated highest in India for work ethics and culture?
- Tell me some brands that belong to ITC.
- Suppose, there is a couple whose work quality is exactly equal. You have to remove one of them, as told by your boss. What will you do?