Chicago Interview Experience
I had my interview today with an alumnus at a coffee shop in Mumbai. We had fixed a time but eventually ended up meeting half an hour earlier. The internet is a fascinating place. I had found out about him as soon as I was matched with him by the system. That made the interview easier. I know who I was meeting and was at ease. He is a techie turned investment banker and has returned to India less than a year ago to be a part of this exponential growth. He was friendly and the interviewer was very business like, crisp and sharp. It was not a Q-A session but rather conversational.
A sign of interest/through professionalism - He’d asked for my resume to be emailed and had studied it before hand .Being an erstwhile techie, he could understand my work profile very well. The conversation was easy. He knew about my home town and little things about it and also about my non-descript university - the culture of the university etc.
The questions were simple (Non gassy, succinct). In introspect (6 hrs later), I feel they were what was needed. In chronological order
1. Tell me about yourself everything - school, college job. (He listened patiently)
Here he asked about my international experience, how was it with the people etc - any way he knew everything. He probably knows the whole history
2. Why MBA? What will it do for you?
3. Why Chicago?
He went into a lot of details about this. Who all did I talk to (he could identify with the alumnus I mentioned with whom I talked earlier), did I visit GSB? Did I attend a reception? Have I met with the professors or emailed them - the courses /research (we discussed those briefly)
4. What other school are you applying to?
5. Given everything what will be your top choice school and Why?
6. What do you want to do immediately after your MBA?
Then he shared his background and career with me and told me to ask questions.
I put across some questions I had in mind and he talked at great length about GSB and his experience at the clubs, coming back to India and career-switching - I must say his passion for GSB was visible .
A lot of things went in here Indian economy, hindering factors, investment banking, etc..
From this I picked up a thread for my long term goals and talked a little on it.
From his career switching, I picked up another thread and talked about dilemmas and experiences at my present job. That led to a few more questions
7. So what was the exact difficulty you faced? How did you deal with it?
Then the cracker
8. "You are hardly 3 years experienced and as compared to people who apply to GSB, you would be among the youngest. GSB gets so many students with similar profiles and achievements, why do you think GSB should admit you?"
[I was ready for this - My colleague and but of course Scarecrow --- Yeah guys, you prepared me for it]
From the answer to this, came
9. What do you do for fun?
That was about it. He listened to the last answer and commented on my hobbies and explained me that this is a blind interview and he would send the feedback. He also extended further support by encouraging me to write to him for any further queries. We briefly touched upon the gujju festivals and a little about Mumbai. He did not offer a feedback and I did not ask for one.
All in all it was neither an overwhelming experience nor a disappointing one. I had finished my coffee and he his lime soda and we left. I am going to email him tomorrow morning to thank him.
In all the process he just listened, he took no notes and allowed me to talk. Immediately after we parted, I realized that he had thought about the interview well in advance - what he wanted to know about me, what he wanted to observe, etc. That thought made me happy. I felt as if he had done full justice to the 50- 60 min conversation. Though there were no tough /easy /interesting/ perplexing questions asked, I felt that I had conveyed all I wanted to and that leaves me satisfied and a little nervous. (What if he did not believe in me? What If he thought that I were just another girl wanting an MBA? What if he thought that I were not well grounded and rounded?)
Nevertheless, I am happy with the association. When I had first mailed the interviewer, he immediately gave me a call and shared his contact details and we talked of a mutually comfortable time frame. Again on Friday he called me back to decide the venue and time. The way in with the interview was conducted I felt ‘Yes he wants to know me’.
In sum, a very professional association and it strengthens the preference for my only R1 School.
A sign of interest/through professionalism - He’d asked for my resume to be emailed and had studied it before hand .Being an erstwhile techie, he could understand my work profile very well. The conversation was easy. He knew about my home town and little things about it and also about my non-descript university - the culture of the university etc.
The questions were simple (Non gassy, succinct). In introspect (6 hrs later), I feel they were what was needed. In chronological order
1. Tell me about yourself everything - school, college job. (He listened patiently)
Here he asked about my international experience, how was it with the people etc - any way he knew everything. He probably knows the whole history
2. Why MBA? What will it do for you?
3. Why Chicago?
He went into a lot of details about this. Who all did I talk to (he could identify with the alumnus I mentioned with whom I talked earlier), did I visit GSB? Did I attend a reception? Have I met with the professors or emailed them - the courses /research (we discussed those briefly)
4. What other school are you applying to?
5. Given everything what will be your top choice school and Why?
6. What do you want to do immediately after your MBA?
Then he shared his background and career with me and told me to ask questions.
I put across some questions I had in mind and he talked at great length about GSB and his experience at the clubs, coming back to India and career-switching - I must say his passion for GSB was visible .
A lot of things went in here Indian economy, hindering factors, investment banking, etc..
From this I picked up a thread for my long term goals and talked a little on it.
From his career switching, I picked up another thread and talked about dilemmas and experiences at my present job. That led to a few more questions
7. So what was the exact difficulty you faced? How did you deal with it?
Then the cracker
8. "You are hardly 3 years experienced and as compared to people who apply to GSB, you would be among the youngest. GSB gets so many students with similar profiles and achievements, why do you think GSB should admit you?"
[I was ready for this - My colleague and but of course Scarecrow --- Yeah guys, you prepared me for it]
From the answer to this, came
9. What do you do for fun?
That was about it. He listened to the last answer and commented on my hobbies and explained me that this is a blind interview and he would send the feedback. He also extended further support by encouraging me to write to him for any further queries. We briefly touched upon the gujju festivals and a little about Mumbai. He did not offer a feedback and I did not ask for one.
All in all it was neither an overwhelming experience nor a disappointing one. I had finished my coffee and he his lime soda and we left. I am going to email him tomorrow morning to thank him.
In all the process he just listened, he took no notes and allowed me to talk. Immediately after we parted, I realized that he had thought about the interview well in advance - what he wanted to know about me, what he wanted to observe, etc. That thought made me happy. I felt as if he had done full justice to the 50- 60 min conversation. Though there were no tough /easy /interesting/ perplexing questions asked, I felt that I had conveyed all I wanted to and that leaves me satisfied and a little nervous. (What if he did not believe in me? What If he thought that I were just another girl wanting an MBA? What if he thought that I were not well grounded and rounded?)
Nevertheless, I am happy with the association. When I had first mailed the interviewer, he immediately gave me a call and shared his contact details and we talked of a mutually comfortable time frame. Again on Friday he called me back to decide the venue and time. The way in with the interview was conducted I felt ‘Yes he wants to know me’.
In sum, a very professional association and it strengthens the preference for my only R1 School.
So now I wait till December 20, 2006.
PS :
Two days ago I had emailed the current students and the other alumus thanking them for sharing their experiences and that I had received my interview invite. The alumus replied back wishing me luck. It is turning out to be a nice association.
Labels: Chicago
