B19165 Shagun Mathur

Question 1: Successful leaders have a clear sense of purpose. What is your statement of
purpose? (300 Words)

My interest in <management> education started early, mostly developed by my

grandfather, who was a professor in NITIE, Mumbai. Throughout my schooling and
undergraduate studies, I have tried to convert that interest into <managerial> skills by
actively participating in numerous fields.
I have held positions of responsibility in many such endeavors, a few being, team
leader and finance manager in AIESEC, public relations and marketing member in the
college incubation center and finally, a member of the university student body. I have
also held an important role of being a member of the grievance redressal body for
women in a 21000+ student strong campus. Combining the qualities and skills these
positions taught me, with the urge to give back to the society, I have also started my
own initiative and a club for empowering women.
These initiatives gave me a sense of the real-world applications of managerial skills and
a glimpse what I would want to pursue in the future. Now, while pursuing my PGDM
in BM, A few years down the line, I see myself as a strong manager – mostly in the
domain of <marketing> - in a top <FMCG> firm.
The next crucial step in realizing this dream would be to join an organization which
brings out the best in its employees. I wish to hold a top managerial position and
contribute directly towards the growth and development of the company. I also wish to
take up initiatives in the company and work towards pushing it higher.

Academics:
Question 2: Have you justified your academic ability in light of the marks scored till now?
(150 Words)
Answer 2: Yes, I do believe that I have justified my academic ability in the light of marks
scored till now. I believe that the marks we achieve showcase our academic abilities
completely. My academic ability is decided not only by the way I answer the questions but
also by the way I attempt them or try to prepare for them. Any marks I score is indicative
of both my preparation and my attempts. This can be seen by the fact that the subject I
have a natural inclination towards – I tend to score better in them compared to my peers.
During my undergrad, in a subject “Finance for non-financial executives” I scored a 9/10
grade and was amongst the top 5% in my class.

Question 3: What is your most significant academic achievement and why? (150 Words)
Answer 3: During my 11th grade in school, we were asked to take an exam which was common to the
entire batch of 11th class across the CBSE board. This exam tested our verbal, quantitative and
qualitative skills. Out of 9,77,923 students I achieved a percentile of 99.74, 99.23, and 99.24
respectively in all the three sections. This was my most significant academic achievement till date.

Professional: [ Not applicable to freshers ]

Question 4: Share two achievements during your previous work experience that you are most
proud of and why. (100 Words)
B19165 Shagun Mathur

Personality:
Question 5: What are your long term (3-5 years) and short term (1-2 years) goals? (100
Words)

Answer 5: Short term career goal: Gain holistic knowledge in various aspects of
business administration through a deep learning approach and involve myself in a high
. This will help me narrow down a field which best matches my interests and abilities.
Long term career goal: Hold a top managerial position and contribute directly towards
the growth and development of the company. I also wish to take up initiatives in the
company and work towards pushing it higher.

End goal: To give back to the society - especially in the field of women empowerment
in India - by combining my managerial skills and industry experience gained over the
years.

Question 6: Describe an incident that has had a deep impact on you and brought about a
significant change? (100 Words)
Answer 6: During my undergraduate in Chennai, the city experienced devastating
floods. During those days, I volunteered with BlueCross – an NGO for animals. After
the floods abated, all the volunteers were called because of the multitude of calls
BlueCross faced for animal welfare. On reaching the different locations, we were faced
with the dire status the animals were in. Most people had forgotten to save their pets
along with themselves. Situations where the hapless animals were left tied in stagnant
waters were common. This sight created a deep impact on me. I vowed to educate
people on the importance of life and the responsibility they undertake when they take in
a pet. The importance of the word ‘responsibility’ was extremely clear to me that day.

Question 7: Describe a situation where you achieved results against odds? (150 Words)
Answer 7: During my final year in under graduation, I held the position of a member of the
Committee of Grievance Redressal for women. On 23rd November night, an incident took place which
required immediate attention of all the members of the committee. The incident was blown up and
had implications on state media, and the stakeholders of the college. During this time, our final
semester papers were going on and on 24th we had a semester paper. Further, on 25th, I had my CAT
examination which I was about to undertake after an year of intense preparation. Due to the incident
on 23rd, entire day on 24th, we had to draft out an exhaustive report explaining the incident. After a
series of such events, taking up CAT and performing well in it (98.47 percentile) was something I
achieved against all odds.

Question 8: Tell us about a position, or experience, at work or during / post college that
showcases having a great deal of responsibility. (150 Words)
Answer 8: I was one of the 10-member team of Grievance Redressal Committee for
Women in my undergraduate campus. Since it was a very huge university (21,000+
students), there were a multitude of complaints. We were responsible for acting as the
liaison between the administration and the students. We ensured that each complaint
B19165 Shagun Mathur
was solved and researched till the end in order to be just to everyone at stake. This
responsibility included a very sensitive role of tackling a few situations on the scene. It
required a presence of mind along with the urge to provide justice each time.

Question 9: Tell us about a situation when you were working on an important project and it
did not go as planned. How did you modify your approach to adapt to the changing situation
and what was the result? (150 Words)
Answer 9: During my final year project, in order to complete the project effectively and show
results, we were advised to go to another campus quite far from us. Due to difficulties with
transporting our project to that area, we had to give up the plan. This led to an odd situation
where we couldn’t quantify our approaches and show the results objectively. This situation
needed to be remedied before the final submission which was a month away. The only way
ahead was to start another project from scratch which would be on the same lines as our
original project but differently simulated.
Starting from scratch, we completed the new project within a month of deadline. This one
used the same research, studies and tools as the first project did. So our task was minimized.
At the end, we were able to secure a 9/10 score for our new project which was the second
highest score in the batch.

Question 10: Describe a situation where you had to come up with an innovative solution or
display innovative thinking. (150 Words)
Answer 10: My personal initiative – Nishkalank - caters to women of lower economic
background and provides them with products related to menstrual health. This particular
product needs to be boiled each month after every use. The women I was talking to had issues
with boiling a menstrual hygiene product on the same fire used for cooking food. They were
refusing the entire premise of the product based on this difficulty.
I came up with the solution of setting up a community kettle. This was kept in the common
area of their society where the electricity bill would be shared by the entire community. It
was an industrial quality kettle which was donated from a house one of the women worked
in. This kettle was used exclusively for the purpose of boiling the product and was considered
to be a viable alternative to the age old methods which the women were using.

Question 11: Elaborate on your 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses. (100 Words)

Strengths:
1. Driven - Started my initiative - Nishkalank - with limited funds, which has impacted over 200
women.
2. Leadership – I have set up a Women Empowerment Club in the campus and lead a member
strength of over a 100 students.
3. Empathetic - Enables me to come up with solutions which do not cause harm to anyone.

Weaknesses:
1. Careless about self - this has led to health problems being escalated.
2. Gluttony - I face problems while exercising self-control over food.
3. Impulsive - Often, I tend to make decisions on my gut feeling without being pragmatic.
B19165 Shagun Mathur

Value System Based:

Question 12: What are the three most important values that guide your thoughts and actions?
(80 Words)
Answer 12: The three most important values which guide me are Leadership – I believe in
standing up for any issue I am passionate about. I take initiatives which I believe can impact
others too - Justice and Kindness.

Question 13: Which socio-economic issue concerns you the most and what role can you
play in addressing it? (100 Words)
Answer 13: Empowering women is a cause I believe for the most. It is based on a simple
understanding of the fact that 50% of the population is discriminated against in terms of
education, jobs, access to healthcare and much more. This is the most detrimental form of
discrimination possible.
In order to address it, I will devote a section of my time directly to this cause every week.
Mostly in the form of educating the masses from lower economic background about the
importance of women empowerment. This will have a direct correlation to the number of
women who will be provided with education in the long run.

Team Based:
Question 14: Describe a time when you had to work together with other members in a team
to achieve an exceptional outcome. What challenges did you face and how did you overcome
them as a team? (150 Words)
Answer 14: I worked in an organization called AIESEC which was responsible for sending
youngsters abroad for internships which created a social impact. Though it was a not-for-
profit association, we did have interstate AIESEC competitions to meet targets of sending
maximum number of people abroad and ensuring the quality of their internships while doing
so. I held the position of a team leader at that time and along with my team, was responsible
for the quality of exchanges sent. That year, our city was ranked 1st in the number of
exchanges amongst all AIESECs worldwide. This increased the pressure on my team.
Despite overwhelming numbers and a short duration of 3 months, we were able to ensure
that each intern received a great experience by diving our work according to the cities we
had a prior connect in. All team members took up around 20 cities each and catered the
experience end-to-end. This approach worked in our favor.

Question 15: Describe a situation where you had to persuade others to achieve a goal after
overcoming resistance. How did you go about doing it? (100 Words)
Answer 15: During my stint as a member of the grievance redressal cell of women in our
campus, a time came when a lady was harassed within the confines of the campus. A large
group of people – mostly the lady’s friends – had gathered outside the admin office and
were demanding justice. These demands took a violent turn when the admin wasn’t able to
take actions fast enough. This led to the admin spending more time pacifying the group
rather than actively working on a solution.
B19165 Shagun Mathur
As a member of the committee, I convinced the people to look at the bigger picture at
hand and have patience. Being a sensitive issue, I had to diplomatically assuage them of
any fears they had and steadily made them realize the futility of a rebellion. Gradually, this
approach worked, and the admin was able to focus on the actual task of finding the
assaulter.