My elder brother used to be a student of XLRI and he had to come across some tricky, if not weird questions. 

• They asked him the difference between a lion and a tiger, the difference between a penguin and a bird. They asked him to differentiate between an alligator and a crocodile, between a turtle and a tortoise, and also between a donkey and a mule.
• He had to refer to the group discussion where the professor asked my brother to rate the group and how he contributed. 
• The professor asked him about the error of commission and the error of omission. 
• He could not say if the professor was satisfied with his answer and all he got in response from the latter was a straight face.
• Other questions the professors have asked their interviewees were the difference between the tragedies of Sophocles and Shakespeare. It is a good question to test our knowledge of dramatic narratives. 
• Another question was how Shakespeare can be related to human resources.

Interviews in B-schools can sometimes be non-standardized and are often reactive of the experiences of the interviewee(s). My brother cannot say if the testing is deliberately non-standardized, whether responses are calibrated or normalized, or if the professors test the reliability. A lot of people who made it past the personal interview ended up joining the IIMs and vice-versa.

One of my friends is studying at XLRI. To her, there is no difference or classification of the amount of international exposure or on-site opportunities, based on specializations. The points below provide a clear picture of the modes of international exposure that students of XLRI receive during their course and afterward.

• There is a student exchange program in XLRI, which provides foreign learning opportunities to students.
• The institute has tie-ups with several international business schools like ESADE, Audencia, Darden, and EM Lyon.
• Almost 20% of students from the batch get the opportunity to spend a semester in one of the foreign institutes. Among them, most of the seats are available to HR and BM students.
• Students get the benefit of interacting with international students and get used to the global perspective of MBA.
• In terms of internships and placements, the working experience of candidates totally depends upon the job role offered by the company.
• In certain cases, companies send their summer interns abroad to their offices.
• There are HR interns from HUL, who worked in the United Kingdom during their internship period.

Therefore, specialization is not the mode of distinguishing chances for on-site opportunities, and the factor is entirely based on the company’s business requirements.

It is a bit naïve to compare XLRI to IIMK. Among the two, XLRI is definitely a better choice, being one of the oldest Business Schools in the country.

The points below provide a brief overview of both the institutes and some valid highlights to support the choice.

• XLRI is a lot more established institute than IIMK, with a lot of experience over time.
• For most MBA aspirants, XLRI is the first choice among the two. It is a fact that XLRI is not very far in ranking and facilities from institutes like IIM A, B, C, ISB, FMS, etc.
• Considering the placements in both institutes, XLRI offers an average salary of Rs. 20.1 LPA to students whereas, for IIM K, the average package is Rs. 17.8 LPA.
• The roles offered in XLRI and the quality of recruiting companies visiting XLRI are better than those in IIM K.
• The batch size of XLRI is 180 students, whereas the batch size of IIM K is 382 students. So, it is quite obvious that it has an impact on placement as a smaller batch has greater chances of getting placed than a larger batch.
• XLRI is considered the best institute in India for doing an MBA in HR. So, students interested in HR can blindly opt for the institute.

Therefore, students having an XLRI interview conversion should definitely go for it, having got a chance in such an excellent institute.

• In the 2022 NIRF Rankings, XLRI-Xavier School of Management ranks 8 among all the B-schools in India. Only BLACKI and IIT Delhi are above XLRI. In the last 5 years, it has gone up by three positions from 11 to 8. 
• In the QS World ranking, Masters in Management, XLRI ranks 5th in India and 13th in Asia and in 141-150 Overall rankings. 
• XLRI is ranked 1st, at a cumulative score of 902.62, among all the Private B-schools in IIRF 2023 Rankings. 
• "Economic Times", "Outlook-ICARE" and "Business Today", also included the institute in the top 5 private universities in the country. 
• According to Outlook-ICARE, it ranks first among the 150 best private MBA universities in India. 
• The Economic Times ranked the college as the second among the 50 best MBA universities in India.

Firstly, you should focus on getting a very good score on the entrance exam as it is something that demonstrates your innate intelligence, which is a good indicator of your potential to succeed in the program.

Secondly, you should focus on scoring well in the GD/Essay portion of the admission process. This demonstrates your intellectual capacity and knowledge, which can also be important qualities for success in an MBA.

Thirdly, you should focus on other points in your engineering experience that showcase your interests and abilities such as hobbies, sports, books, or other extracurricular activities that you are passionate about. Discussing these during the interview can help to showcase your personality and unique qualities.

Lastly, you should be very clear on why they want to pursue an MBA and why they want to attend that specific college. This demonstrates your clarity of thought and future career aspirations, which can be appreciated by the admission committee and compensates for the low CGPA.

Your mentioned scores are very low and being a CA will only give you an advantage. IIMs give special preference to those who are CA or pursuing it. The main question is if you are eligible to write the CAT exam.

The criteria for writing CAT is to be a Graduate from a recognized University or a final year candidate in any discipline having a minimum of 50% marks. There are relaxations for those with a quota like SC/ST and they can have a minimum of 45% marks in graduation to write the CAT exam.

Not much weightage is given to academics at XLRI but they still need a minimum of 50% marks in UG. So, try to score well in XAT- anywhere from 95 to 96 percentile. This is because the higher you score the better chances you have. XLRI has no reservation policy and admission there is purely based on merit.