Venue: Hyatt, New Delhi

Details:

Interview happened around 5′o clock in the Hyatt Hotel (Coffee house area). Interview was very relaxing. The interviewer (A1) was an HEC alum working in an administrative office in New Delhi. An official 10 minutes presentation is compulsory. Topic can be anything. Mine was about  Energy Scenario in Developing Economies. Whole interview revolved around it. The A1 asked me about why I want to do MBA. He questioned me very strongly on my answer. Finally he got convinced. That was the only general question. Rest all was from my field (I work in Oil & Petrochemicals) and my presentation. It was a discussion sort of thing. But I1 was having a very good knowledge about my field. One has to be very prepared about everything. Meantime, coffee was served and I got relaxed. Then there were to n fro questions. I enquired about his own experience which he presented with relish. He was quite satisfied with the knowledge of my field. That is the most important thing. Unlike other B schools, HEC has a very different way of judging the candidates. You shud have a thorough understanding of what happening around you and how it is and going to effect ur future perspectives. Concentrate heavily on the presentation subject.

Venue: Accenture Office, Cannuoght Place, New Delhi

Details: This time the interviewer, an HEC alum, (A2) was from my own field working with Asian Division of Accenture Energy. I gave the same presentation. Only this time the questions were stronger but he understood the content in a better way. A2 concentrated heavily on presentation skills. He even pointed out certain discrepancies in the data and asked for further corroboration with the sites/articles from where i took those figures. The presentation and the questioning per se took around one hour. Many a times, A2 insisted upon solutions over the matter i presented and there was a long discussion. After an hour, he told me the interview is over. He then asked some normal questions. Why MBA, future plans, strengths, and why HEC but he never cross questioned me on these.

So overall, presentation is what that matters. While presenting, accept their views. Dont be too headstrong about what u have written. HEC specifically pick interviewers from ur own field. They have  a good knowledge and just test urs. Normally, HEC gives a very few interview calls and it seemed from the interviews that selection % is around 75-80. One more thing, HEC provides a window to choose ur interview date. Once u call the interviewer, they may call u the very next day and they are very particular about it. So better prepare ur presentation before givin them a call.