IIM Shillong & IIM Indore Interview Doubts/Queries

(My questions are at the end, it's a long rant sorrieeeee)

Profile :- (8th and 9th was covid - high school ECA's took a hit)

10th ICSE - 92% overall

12th CBSE - 82% overall

IPMAT Score - 205 (44/32/129)

PCM - EWS Male

Acads :-

1. UPSC NDA (154 Course) AIR < 250 {not mentioning exact rank for privacy}

2. Was consistently the batch 1st (or) 2nd topper from 1st-9th with an agg. %age always above 96% (dropped to 5th in tenth)

3. Participated in TONS, and won a LOT of quizzing competitions across various domains during school (in a standard Team of 2, usually)

• a) Won a scholarship of Rs.2.56L as a team of 4 in a quiz comp by BASE (Resonance) Insti [Multiple stages, won at State Level] (6th grade)
• b) Won an award and a cash prize worth 5k beside others, in a Mythology quiz conducted in the city/district (Multiple stages, 100+ Schools)
• c) Either participated in a lot, or was the winner/runner up in some quizes conducted in the inter-school level, since middle to high school.
• d) AIGKE (National GK comp. by the Centre for Human Resource Development) National level 20th (7th grade + scholarship) and National level 38th (5th grade + cash award)....distinction in other grades.
• e) SOF Olympiads (Won some in the national level, and I reckon winning one Internationally too, a 2 digit rank, iirc)

ECA's :-

1. School Head Boy in 10th grade (appointed)

2. Chess (Played until middle school - won in the district + won pvt competitions + State 3rd in U-7, left for personal reasons)

3. Football (Played until 7th grade @ school level - left at 10th grade cuz of...ahem, boards. Won 1-2 school tournaments in that duration, was the main goalkeeper for a long while)

Interests :-

1. Started investing in the stock market with a bare minimum (15k) from mom, during my drop year (around 7-8months ago?) - Nifty 50 gave -9% returns in the same period, and I'm glad I atleast have a green colour in my account right now, which keeps changing to red in the blink of an eye. (Not much of a profit in these months, but I can talk about the basics, like, real basics, on how I learnt about the risks of FOMO buying, global uncertainity, fundamentals of the stock market etc, nothing more)

2. Defense, Foreign Relations and Public Policy - (Have a personal interest in these avenues, and maaybee, want to pursue a career in one of these)

3. Business - (I have plans drafter for something I want to work on once I get into college, or atleast, once I finish with this slew of competitives in the next one month. I have charted a detailed plan already, and have a personal experience in this avenue, so I guess it helps? Plan refers to a business pitch I can give at hand right now.)

Goals :-

1. Short term - A great college + implementing the idea I mentioned, and learn from the experiences, even if it ain't successful

2. Long term - (Three options I am interested in, with corporate as the backup)

• Foregin relations or Defence policy (Civil services...maybe?)
• Private Defence sector + Thinktanks
• Plans for another business avenue (retail) that I felt has a gap in the Indian markets currently. It's not price-sensitive, and can be a good model with the growing per-capita income in cities...ig? (I can talk about this one comfartably, too)

I know it's been a long rant, but I want to get a lot of my doubts cleared, to plan accordingly for my preparations, @BhaveshBhaiya and other seniors. (Questions below)

1. How many of these Acads&ECA's are actually worth, to mention? (As in, does the SOF have any worth? and, do ECA's from way back as a kid have any worth? etc. I haven't mentioned a MUN I participated in, become I feel it ain't uncommon.)

2. Do I mention the stock market part (I'm slightly afraid it'll go the scraggy bhaiya way - mentioning without a deep understanding of the subject.) If it's worth mentioning, I will surely try to read as much as I can regarding the same, but this doubt arises because it's a measely amount (good enough for a beginner as a student, I know, but, idk) and that I'll still be at the fundamantals even after reading more, lmao.

3. Is it worth/required mentioning the startup I want to work on, etc, without having actuall working on it (yet) i.e, when it's still on the drawing board?

4. I wasn't to be taking a drop year, honestly. I was to join the NDA @ Pune, but life hit hard and luck screwed, and I was left with nothing, last year mid. Hence the drop, instead of a college here in my city. So, it means that IPMAT/IIM wasn't my first goal as a child - it was the fauj (note - was, i'm not sure now after this year). So, is it going to blow back at me in the interview, if I talk about what happened, in my SOP, or in the Interview itself? Will it come across as me not having moved on from the shit I faced last year? (it's a long story).

(1/2)