Top 32 Personal Interview Questions for MBA | PI Preparation Guide
Common Admission Test 2024 ( CAT )
The most crucial stages for MBA admission includes Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interview (PI) round. Here are 32 most commonly asked questions in the PI round.
Personal Interview Questions: For MBA admission, candidates must appear in the Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GD/PI) rounds of B-Schools. Preparing for top MBA entrance exams is not as difficult as preparing for GD/PI because every exam has a syllabus from which questions are asked. One only needs to devote a good number of months to cover the MBA exam syllabus. However, for GD/PI, there is no predefined syllabus or pattern. Candidates may be given any topic in GD and asked any question during the PI round.
It takes a lot of effort to clear these rounds as one doesn't know what will be asked and what will be the most appropriate answer. While preparing for MBA admission, candidates often wonder what the top questions to prepare for clearing the PI round are.
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There is a 90% more chance of getting best college recommendations by sharing preferences.As it is now time to work on PI rounds for IIMs and MBA admission 2024, aspirants must be searching for the types of questions asked in PI and their perfect answers. Questions in PI round of MBA colleges are mostly connected to the candidate's academics or job/internship that they mention in their resume.
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Chances of facing questions based on hobbies, past jobs, projects and areas of interest are very high in the personal interview round for MBA admission. However, it is not easy to guess what questions will be asked in a PI round of a B-School. But there are a few very common questions that are asked at almost all kinds of interviews. Candidates preparing for MBA admission must prepare these common PI questions well.
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Top 32 Personal Interview Questions for MBA Admissions
A personal interview round for MBA admission is a personality assessment test in which the admission panel has a good opportunity to know a candidate and the candidate has a good opportunity to present their best aspects. It is more of an interpersonal interaction which includes professional as well as personal questions. Here are the most commonly asked questions in MBA personal interview round for admission:
- Tell us something about yourself.
- Why do you think should we give you admission in our college?
- What are your key skills/ greatest strengths?
- What is your greatest weakness?
- What is your greatest achievement?
- Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
- What are your career goals?
- What are your short-term goals?
- What are your long-term goals?
- Why do you want to join this College/B-school?
- Why MBA?
- Why marketing/ finance/ etc. specialisation?
- Why this particular programme?
- What are your hobbies and interests?
- Who is your role model?
- Who inspires you?
- What is the difference between a good manager and a good leader?
- Why should we admit you?
- What are some reasons to reject your application?
- Walk me through your resume/profile.
- What is your biggest failure or challenge?
- How will you contribute to the class if we choose you?
- How will you contribute to the campus if we choose you?
- How will you add value to the campus if chosen?
- What is your expectation from this MBA programme?
- How do you deal with failures?
- How do you deal with criticism?
- What have you learnt from your failures?
- Discuss a situation when you were a leader.
- Where else have you applied? What other calls have you received?
- What are the newspaper headings that grabbed your attention?
- Do you want to ask or know anything (about the college)?
Also Read: Personal Interviews: 5 Situations That May Stump You
GD/PI Experience of IIM Students
Check out the articles below to know how these students converted IIM Interview calls.
| Student Name |
IIM |
Personal Interview Link |
|---|---|---|
| Akshay Mehendiratta |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Anchal Taatya |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Ananya Mishra |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Pratham Mani |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Omkar Mukherjee |
IIM Calcutta |
|
| Vaibhav Jatin Shah |
||
| Parth Agarwal |
||
| Anshul Aggarwal |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
| Ankur Parmar |
IIM Kozhikode |
|
| Priyanjit Biswas |
||
| Ruchika Bhartiya |
||
| Parth Agarwal |
IIM Bangalore |
|
| Ankit Anand |
IIM Bangalore |
|
| Pratham Mani |
||
| Aditi Agarwal |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Gursimran Ahuja |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Biswanath Chakraborty |
||
| Nishant Shah |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Biswanath Chakraborty |
IIM Bangalore |
|
| Achintya Bhattacharya |
IIM Bangalore |
|
| Biswanath Chakraborty |
||
| Shubham Varshney |
IIM Ahmedabad |
|
| Shubham Ranka |
IIM Calcutta |
|
| Dhiraj Bedi |
IIM Calcutta |
|
| Wasim Khan Pathan |
IIM Calcutta |
Read More:
Q: From where can I download CAT question papers?
Q: How many RC questions does CAT have?
The CAT VARC section is dominated by RC questions. Out of 24 questions about 14-16 are based on Reading Comprehension passages and the rest of them are based on parajumbles, para completion, etc.
CAT has about 12-16 RC question. In CAT 2022, there were four RC passages each having four questions. The ideal attempt was estimated at 13. Since, it is not mandatory to solve all the questions, candidates can maximize their scores by leaving out the questions related to the passage they find the toughest. There is negative marking in CAT so candidates must ensure that they mark only the correct options or do not mark any option at all.
Q: What was the key change in CAT question paper 2024?
The key change in CAT question paper 2024 was increase in number of questions in DLIR section. Till 2023, the DILR section used to have 20 questions. In 2024, it had 22 questions. The time limit for it was the same and no other section had less questions. Which means, in CAT 2024, candidates had to attempt 68 questions instead of 66 to solve in the same time (120 minutes). DILR sectional time limit was 40 minutes as in previous years. There was no other change in CAT 2024, the difficulty level was same as previous years.
Q: Is it mandatory to attempt all the questions in CAT?
No, it is not mandatory to attempt all the questions in CAT. Candidates can choose to attempt questions as per their preparation. It is not possible also to attempt all the questions due to time limitation and difficulty level. Reading dense RC passages often take up a lot of time. In DILR and QA too, some questions are time taking and calculation intensive due to which not much time is left in hand to attempt all questions. The aim of every test taker should be to attempt about 2/3rd of the total questions in all the sections of CAT.
- MBA PI Questions: How to Answer 'Why MBA' Question? With Example
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- Tips to Appear for Virtual GD/PI
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Personal Interview
Q: How should I answer the ‘tell us about yourself’ question?
Q: How to answer ‘Why MBA’?
Q: How to answer the ‘Why should we give admission to you’ question?
Q: Is it necessary to wear formals to the interviews?
Q: Should I carry my resume to the interview?
Q: I have two years of professional experience. What should I carry to my Personal Interview for MBA?
Q: How to answer, ‘What are your weaknesses’ question?
Q: What are the must-haves before an MBA interview?
Q: How to tackle a tough question in an interview?
Q: How to close an interview?
Q: How to answer, ‘Where do you see yourself in five years’ question in a PI round of MBA admission?
With a creative soul, Abhishek is inclined towards anything in the creative space be it drawing, painting, craft, or writing. He has been working in the ed-tech industry since he started his career. Besides creative... Read Full Bio
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