Today I f_ed up. CAP Interview transcript.

Today I f_ed up. CAP Interview transcript. 27/02/2025 - Kolkata - Panel 2 Panelists: 🔹 P1: Male, late 30s/early 40s, darker skin, didn't speak much (likely alumnus). 🔹 P2: Male, early 60s, slightly heavy, medium skin tone, Bengali (likely professor of Analytics or OM). Time of Interview: 8-10 mins --- WAT Topic: "Artificial Intelligence: Partner or Competitor?" I would rate my WAT 7/10 --- Interview Transcript: P2: Have a seat. Tell me about yourself. Me: Good afternoon, sir. I am Deepanjan Ghosh, and I come from the land of Jagannath, Odisha, specifically the steel city, Rourkela. I did my 10th and 12th at DPS Rourkela. Currently, I am pursuing an Integrated Master's in Mathematics and Computing at Odisha University of Technology and Research, Bhubaneswar. My interest in entrepreneurship and business started after my father’s demise, as he was a small business owner. Later, when I joined OUTR, I became part of the E-Cell, where I led a team of almost 100 people. P1: You say you led a team of 100 people when you were head of E-Cell? Me: No sir, I led a wing of the E-Cell. The wing focuses on business development for prototype-stage startups in and around the college. P2: You do this pro bono? Me: Yes sir, since it is an official wing, we cannot charge for our services. P2: What all calls do you have? Me: IIM CAP and IIM Raipur. P2: If you convert all, which one would you choose? Me: IIM Trichy, as I believe they have one of the best Operations Management faculties, and that is my area of interest. P2: Second choice? Me: IIM Udaipur. P2: Third choice? Me: Sir, I am not sure. P1: Why? P2: Are you unsure about whether you want to do an MBA? Me: No, sir. I am unsure because, for me, an IIM is an IIM. It is difficult to choose one since all of them provide equal opportunities and maintain equal academic rigor. P2: You are pursuing your Master’s, right? Me: Yes sir, I am in the Master’s part of my integrated course. I completed my B.Sc. last year. P2: Since you are a Mathematics student, explain the concept of maxima and minima. Me: (Explained with graphs but initially wrote +ve for maxima and -ve for minima, then corrected myself to the opposite, which is correct.) P1 & P2 (simultaneously): Explain why you wrote -ve for maxima and +ve for minima. Me: (Explained how the graph after maxima tends to go downward, and after minima, it tends to go upward.) P2: So you are saying that post-maxima, the function decreases, and post-minima, it increases? Me: Yes, kind of. P2: What is the equation of a parabola? Me: (Accidentally answered with the equation of an ellipse 🤦‍♂️. Tried to justify it, but they grilled me a lot, and I didn’t realize my mistake 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️.) P1: What is the equation of a hyperbola? Me: Sorry sir, I don’t know. P2: You are a Mathematics student; you should know these things. What do you know? Me: Really sorry, sir, but I was not very well-read in functions and coordinate geometry. In my course, I was more interested in Operations and applied Mathematics topics like Probability and Statistics. P2: Okay, then explain the concept of regression. Me: (Tried to explain that regression is about fitting a line, which is what I was taught. Gave the equation y = AX + B.) (They grilled me on regression, and when I couldn’t answer what R² was, I admitted I had forgotten. They then started questioning what I had studied.) P2: Okay, Mr. Ghosh, how would you rate this interview out of 10? Me: Sir, I would rate it around 7.5. P1: Why did you deduct 2.5 marks? Me: Because I couldn’t answer a few of the questions. P2: Not a few, but most of the questions. Why is that? You are a Mathematics graduate; you should know these things. Me: Sir, I want to go into Operations Management, and to be honest, Probability is a very vast subject. P2: so what? It will be used in an MBA you have to know Probability and what we asked was very basic please study. I believe you have a lacuna and you believe if you do well, it’s your hard work, and if you don’t, the subject is vast? Me: No sir, I am really sorry if you feel that way. P2: You may go now. Best of luck. Me: Thank you, sir. --- 🔸 My attitude: try to be composed as possible understood post 3rd question it is going to be a difficult and grilling interview. kinda accepted my faith. 🔸 Panel’s Mood: Both seemed to be in a grilling mood as I entered and were visibly unsatisfied with my responses. And I was the first candidate they interviewed. --- For anyone asking about my profile: I am a AC 4 general non engineer male, 0 workex, 9/7/7. I was pursuing integrated MSc in mathematics and computing gave cat got 97 and since I didn't fill any form only have cap call and IIM Raipur. I want to repeat as my integrated MSc will be over next year.