IIM Admission Interviews - some myths, some truths and some advice - Part II

So, it is interview season again, for admission to the IIMs. Some of you might have received your calls already, Congratulations! Many others will probably get them soon. So how are you going to prepare for the big day?
 
Well, you could start by reading Part I of this post,  IIM Admission Interviews - some myths, some truths and some advice - Part I, which appeared previously on this blog and then come back to this one where I continue to bust few more myths and give some advice. 

So, to continue from the previous post on this subject - 
 
Myth 3: IIM interview panels are just looking for any reason to reject you. So any slip-up, just a single mistake and you are out. So it is absolutely critical to give correct answers to all questions.
This is far from the truth. Because the interview is, by itself, not the deciding factor in a candidate’s admission. You can check out the website of the IIM’s for the evaluation process and see how points are awarded for each individual element of a candidate’s profile including their academics, the CAT score, their work-ex etc. and of course the interview. So the interview is just one of several factors that affect your chance. To grade you on the interview, the panelists will encourage you to come up with good answers during the interview and if you come up with one bad answer but a bunch of good ones, they will rather grade you well for your good answers than grade you poorly for the one bad answer.
 
Myth no 4: One needs to be careful not to disagree with the interviewers or say anything they might not like or they might reject you.
First get one thing clear. Interviewers are tasked with SELECTING not rejecting. These are selection interviews. The panel is actively looking for good candidates. I remember how exhausted and fatigued the whole panel would feel at the end of a session if we did not come across good candidates on a day and by contrast how refreshed and satisfied we were on days when we met some bright sparks. The point is that Interview panelists always hope that the next candidate will be a bright prospect, one who will be a pleasure to talk to. Some candidates, either for the fear of saying something wrong or maybe because they are just plain nervous, hardly say anything at all. Perhaps the notion is that the lesser you speak, the lesser the chance of making a faux-pas. But if you do not speak out your mind, how does the panel find the reasons to select you? Interview questions may be of the problem solving kind or of the type when you are asked to describe a situation or event, or where you are asked for an opinion on some subject or simply to check if you know certain facts. In some cases there might be a right or wrong answer as with solving problems or with fact based questions. But even here, if you know the solution to the problem you should be able to also defend your solution logically by explaining each step of your working if needed. And if you are asked for an opinion, feel free to give it but also know that you might be asked to explain why. If you differ from something the Interviewer says, speak out your mind freely but also be prepared to explain your point logically. Interviewers love to get into a lively dialogue with candidates on any subject. The Caveat here is of course that you should always be polite, If you disagree with the interviewer do so politely, try not to interrupt unnecessarily, no curse words obviously, never be rude, avoid making any politically incorrect statements, do not display too radical views. For example never say something that could be construed as a racist remark. And in general do not talk negatively of anyone.
 
And yet, while this may be obvious to most people, it is a typical mistake many candidates make. Particularly in response to a question like ‘why should we select you among so many others like you?’, candidates often take off in describing how others have this short-coming or the other and so try to show they are better. This is not a good answer. Instead concentrate on your own strengths, your own abilities. Give examples of how you demonstrated some good quality from situations in your past. 
 
Myth no 4:  IIMs prefer engineers – just check out the class profile of any IIM and a large percentage is always engineers – so non-engineers are at a disadvantage.
 
While it is a fact that engineers form a large percentage of admits to the IIMs, this is certainly not because the IIMs prefer this to be so. In fact going back to what I wrote earlier in this Blog, the attempt is always to provide as much diversity in the class as possible. So then why do the IIM classes consist of so many engineers? Well, because quantitative skills do form a necessary requirement for a candidate to successfully complete the MBA curriculum. Quantitative and Statistical Analytical tools and techniques are increasingly becoming part of the skill set of the Business Manager of today. And to grasp these well, a certain level of quantitative ability is necessary and engineers by virtue of their education, possess these abilities in larger numbers than many other graduates. The CAT also tries to assess this skill among all aspirants and the ones with better quant skills score better.
 
But once you have been called for the interview, this is no longer a factor. Even though there might still be a few stats or maths questions you may be asked in an interview, these are always very simple, easily answerable because you prepared for the quant section of CAT. And overall, at the interview stage, the non-engineers in fact have a better chance simply because they are different by the very virtue of not being engineers among the pool of applicants. So instead of worrying about the engineers, bring out your own strengths, speak up from your own different perspective and demonstrate how you are unique.
 
Coming now to some advice and suggestions:

• Some questions do tend to be asked very often in admission interviews and you will find them on many a website. Questions like ‘tell us something about yourself’ or ‘what are your strengths and/ or weaknesses’ etc. And while it might be a good idea to write down few points you can use to answer such standard questions, DO NOT rehearse your answers too much. Definitely do not rehearse in front of a mirror or anything. Rehearsed answers always sound very flat and jaded. Let your answer be extempore even if you did some preparation for it. It will sound fresh and will therefore be more convincing.
  
• Similarly, never use answers written by anyone else for you. If you want to go over the points you wrote for an answer, with someone else just to check if they sound good, by all means do so. But finally, make your own list of points, in your own language, so that when you are answering to the interview panel, you will speak in your own words, with your own language signature. Interviewers have a knack of catching on when you provide ‘coached’ answers and they usually do not like that.
  
• Among the subjects to prepare on for the interview, I have already highlighted the importance of being well prepared on everything that is written on your CV and anywhere else in your application documents. If you worked with a company or if you interned with one, make it a point to know about the organization, its products, its main competitors and the industry in which it operates. If you organized an event at college, be prepared to describe what you did, how you did it, what problems came up and how you solved them etc.
  
• It is also important to realize that an MBA is about running a business. So make the effort to become aware of the general business climate in the country, read up on the general economic scenario, read up on data like the rate of inflation, rate of economic growth, its trend in last few years, projected outlook for the economy etc. Also be generally aware of the political goings on in the country and how they might impact the business climate etc. If you are asking for admission to an MBA course, you must demonstrate an interest in managing businesses and must therefore be aware of the climate in which businesses operate.
   
  And finally, understand that more often than not in an interview, what matters more is NOT the exact answer you give, but the way in which you give it. Demonstrate to the panel that you are confident about your own abilities (not over confident please) and in full control of your emotions. If asked to solve a problem, provide the solution and also, if asked, be ready to explain how you arrived at the solution. If asked for an opinion, feel free to give your own point of view and be prepared to engage in a discussion on the subject with logical arguments. Even if you do not know the answer to a question, have the confidence to say so, without feeling nervous about not knowing it. “No one knows everything on this earth and if I am not able to answer this one particular question, it in no way reduces by suitability as a candidate for admission” – that is the impression you want to convey to the panel.
   
  All the best for D-day. Be cool. Be confident. You can do it.

How will I know when is the right time to go for my MBA?

This is among the most vexing questions that trouble many a candidate when they are contemplating about the right time to apply for MBA admissions. I will address this question in some detail here. And while trying to answer this question, I want to address a few related questions as well –

• Is it a bad idea to join an MBA program directly after undergrad?


• When does it become too late to go for an MBA program?

The root of all these questions lies in the fact that there is no single universal answer to “when is the right time to join an MBA program?”. The answer to this question would unfortunately be different for different people. Most experts would perhaps agree that the right time to go for it would be when you feel you are ready for it. And so we come to the main topic of this post - “how would you know when you are ready?”

To quote some of the more common answers, you will know you are ready if -

1.       You have articulated a clearly defined career goal which is better achieved with an MBA degree under your belt.

2.       You feel you are close to stagnation in your current job and could breakthrough to the next level with an MBA degree.

3.       You want to change the Industry or the functional area you are working in and the MBA can help you make that change.

4.       After 4-5 years into your career you have decided this is not the career you want for life, but are still unsure what alternative Industry or Work Function would be best for you and you want to use the wide exposure that the MBA program would give you, to help you make the choice.

Take answer 1 above. For most people, part of the answer to “how would I know when..?” would come from your introspection on why you want to pursue an MBA program at all. In fact it is very likely that if you are clearly able to articulate why you want an MBA, you might already have an idea of “when”. But for some people, this might happen at a very early stage in their career – in fact some might be clear about their goals while still at Undergrad. And that brings up the related question – is it a bad idea to go for MBA straight after UG?

This question has already been discussed in some detail in one of my earlier Blogposts at http://getyourmbaworld.blogspot.in/2013/08/what-are-options-for-zero-work-ex-fresh.html so I will not repeat the same arguments again. Suffice to summarize that even though most people (including me) hold the view that you would benefit more from the MBA program after having worked for a few years, there is not sufficient empirical evidence to support that MBA grads with prior workex are indeed better at managing businesses as compared to those who joined the MBA programs directly after UG. The IIM’s in India have a large contingent of fresh grads in their classrooms, MIT Sloan is encouraging undergrads to apply and almost 20% of their class is being filled with fresh grads. And these early career MBA grads have as good a track record of managing business enterprises, whether  in India or in other countries, small  business or large corporations, as the MBA graduates of the same or any other business school who had worked longer before entering the MBA programs. And to add another dimension, the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) takes in large numbers of fresh grads as well and with just a one year curriculum (the IAS training program) they get some of the toughest leadership jobs in their early careers – as head of a district in some remote part of the country, and they later go on to head major public sector enterprises in so many different industries.

Coming to the other end of the spectrum, is it ever too late to go for an MBA program? Well actually, NO. One example of later career aspirants is the significant number of people from various defense services who, after 12 or 15 even 20 years on the force go for such programs. In India for example, an Army Officer can take voluntary retirement with full pension benefits after 20 years’ service. So, many of them take up an MBA or some other educational program to help them get into some civilian career at that stage. Yes, there might be other issues to consider. For example can you afford to go without a monthly salary at that stage when you probably have a family and other financial commitments? So, you might choose a part time program, a one year program rather than a two year program, an executive MBA program or whatever suits you. But the point is that the MBA program and the benefits it gives could still be relevant for mid-career professionals. In fact if a mid-fifties senior finance executive had a brilliant idea for an online portal based business, would it be too farfetched an idea for him to join some MBA program to learn how to monetize his idea, how to manage such a business, the latest techniques of marketing such a portal etc.?

So, whenever you have a clear career goal, and you can see how an MBA program can help you achieve that goal, you will probably know when the right time is also. But if this happens right after UG, would you not stand to learn more from the MBA program if you had worked a few years first? Maybe yes, but if your career goal is centered on a big business idea, can that idea wait that long? Would it not be better to get whatever you can from the MBA program now and implement your idea sooner, to ensure you get the first entrant’s advantage? This is why they say that the answer to when MBA is different for different people. You evaluate all the factors that concern your decision and then do what works best for you. And this is what it means to say that when you have your career goal, you will also know when the right time is for you.

Answers 2 and 3 above are fairly clear I suppose and those that identify with them would also be able to decide the right time for them to go for it. Coming then to answer 4 above, about those who are unsure, either when they finish undergrad study or even after few years into their working careers, about where they want to go.

One of the things the MBA program does for you is that it exposes you to multiple industries, various business functions, even multiple geographies and their respective business/ career climates for professionals. So the MBA program can also be a great way to find out what kind of career interests you most. At most good business schools you will get peers from diverse backgrounds, multiple nationalities, different educational and working careers etc. So in the one or two short years of the length of the MBA program, you will get to draw upon a very wide range of experiences as your peers bring their own backgrounds to bear upon any discussion inside or outside the class. And this window-view into so many different careers might be just the thing to help one decide what he or she might wish to take up as their own career. But would the same he or she not benefit more from the MBA program if they already had a career goal? Very probably YES. But the fact is that if they do not yet have that goal in their sights, is it not better to attend an MBA program now in order to at least be able to make a good choice of career rather than waiting indefinitely for that elusive goal? Yes it might be too early to jump into an MBA program right after UG if your only objective is to make a career choice. But what if you’ve already been working for 4-5 years and still not sure?

At this stage look at the point of view of the Business school also. To gain admission to most good business schools you need to pass through a highly competitive selection process, competing against exceptional fellow aspirants. With a large pool of exceptional candidates applying each year, schools too want to put together a great class every time. One big reason for you to choose a good business school is the diversity of the peer group you will get there because then you will get the benefit of the diverse experiences of all your classmates. So obviously the school also wants that you too should be able to add to that diversity. And from their experience if they find that people who have worked for some years before coming to the MBA programs have better experiences to share with their peers, they will obviously prefer such applicants. So another way of telling when you are ready could be when you have significant experiences of diverse kinds to share with your peers at school, which will add to the pool to make the class more interesting.

In conclusion then I can only reiterate that the right time to join an MBA program would be different for different people. A fresh grad would probably have a different expectation from the program than someone with workex. And while it might be true that the same fresh grad might learn more from the program if he or she were to join up few years later, his or her objective might be better served by doing so now. This is what would work best for them and so this is the right time for them too. Likewise a late career entrant to an MBA program would probably not be able to attract an employer who is looking for someone younger who can be better molded to the culture of his company. But then this later entrant probably might not want to start at the bottom of the ladder in a new career. He or she probably has useful skills and knowledge from their past workex and would look for some career that will better utilize all those past skills as well as the ones newly acquired through the MBA program.

So introspect deeply to find your own reason(s) for joining business school and that is what will best help you to decide when you are ready for it.

MBA aspirants - There is a lot to be done NOW. Even in March.

Most people who apply for MBA admissions start the process only by July/ August each year with the belief that it is a year long process and since most programs commence in Fall each year, it is ok to begin the previous Fall. Their plan is to take the GMAT by August/ September and proceed with the actual application process in next few months.

But the reality is that if you begin in Fall, you might just have missed some opportunities already. In fact the right time to wake up to this exercise is NOW. These are important months in the application timeline which, if you use them well, will not only ease the process later but might also afford you some opportunities that you might miss otherwise.

But before I come to the early opportunities, let me first address another group of aspirants – those who applied in the R1 or R2 for Fall 2014 entry and did not get through. If you are thinking it is all over for this season and you need to wait for Fall this year to begin applying again, look around again. It is true that Round 3 is not a good option for admission applications but there are many other options still open to you. Many business schools, including some top ranked ones, have a January intake as well. And the time to apply for January 2015 intake is now. For example INSEAD has R1 deadline of 21^st March and R2 deadline of 28^th May for their January 2015 entering class. HEC Paris has a deadline on 1^st of every month for next few months. So use this time to target these schools. In fact EDHEC Paris is still open even for a Scholarship round till 31^st March, and that too for the Fall 2014 entering class. So do your research and find the opportunities that suit your goals. The important thing is to WAKE UP.

Moving on then, to those who are yet to start their thinking process for the entire project for application to MBA programs, here is why you too should wake up NOW:

·         Pre-Final year students interested in going to ISB:  The Young Leaders Program of ISB is just for you. If you are selected, It not only guarantees you admission to the prestigious MBA program at ISB with a two year deferral, it also guarantees you a Rs 1 Lac scholarship to boot. BUT the deadline to apply is NOW – 15^th March 2014. Moreover this is a onetime window of opportunity because only those in their Pre-final year of a UG degree program or of an Integrated or dual degree program are eligible. And you are going to be in your pre-final year only once. No? So wake up now and, if you qualify, apply before 15^th March.

 

·         IIM aspirants: Those wanting to apply to the IIM’s for 2015 intake – Many of you might have already started preparing for CAT 2014. If not, you need a careful self-evaluation to determine how many weeks/ months of prep time you need for this exam, often touted as ‘among the toughest entrance exams to crack on the planet’, and begin your preparation accordingly. Main thing is to avoid a realization in June or July that you do not have enough time to prepare any more. Though there is no ‘Best Duration’ of preparation time for CAT, it may be just a few weeks for some or even more than six months for some others. The point is to know yourself and make that evaluation to decide how much prep time will take you to a relaxed and confident state on exam day. Because that is how you will score well – by being relaxed and confident.

 

·         Those wanting to apply to GMAT accepting business schools in US and other countries (and to ISB in India): For you also, these are important weeks and months which you don’t want to miss out on. Because what you do now, can be immensely helpful later. It is true that the main application process does not begin till July when most schools start to open their portals for applicants and put up their essay topics etc. But till then, don't lose time. Do your research, take the GMAT early, decide if you want to hire an advisor to help you with the application process and do your search to find the advisor who works best for you. And here is why doing these things early will help later:

o   Do your Research: There are hundreds of Business schools you can target. But which ones are best suited for you? Apart from the Rankings, there are other factors to consider. For example, some schools have a better program for the energy sector than others. At some schools you do not need a US based co-signer to get a student loan. Some schools have a locational advantage in some way. Some aspirants might prefer a small town setting for the business school or vice-versa. All the research you do now will help you make better informed decisions about the schools to apply to later in the season. Moreover, some of you may be in jobs that involve travel to the country where your dream school is located. If so, make it a point to visit the school. Business schools encourage aspirants to visit them, interact with students and staff, even sit in on some classes with prior permission. So do all these things. This will not only help you makeup your mind better, it might even show the school how serious you are about joining their school during the evaluation of your application.

o   Take the GMAT early: Get this over and done with before the application pressure begins. Taking the GMAT by June or earlier has two benefits. Firstly you go to the exam at a time when you are not already thinking of your applications, so you are more relaxed – recipe for a better score. Moreover, should something go wrong on exam day and you end up with a score below your expectation, there is enough time to schedule a repeat exam. Though I do not always advise aspirants to repeat the GMAT easily, the point is that if you do need to repeat it, there is time.

o   Search for the right application advisor: This can often be a project by itself because there are so many of them out there. Of course you need to first decide if you need one at all. And once you know that you do, find the one who best suits your working style. Check out their work, ask around among your colleagues and seniors, look for references and only then hone in on the advisor you choose to work with. Because this is an important selection that can affect your career. The quality of application you finally submit will surely be influenced by the advisor so take care to evaluate and select the one who works best for you.

o   Spread your applications between Rounds 1 and 2: Don’t wait to send in all the apps in R2. Preparing a good application is time consuming and making multiple applications with the same or similar deadlines a herculean task. Round 1 deadlines can be as early as September so If you begin the process early, take the GMAT in good time, you have all the time you need to choose the application round you want to apply to. Keep the work schedule on applications light by spreading them out over 2 rounds. Bunched up applications will stress you out and you will surely not produce your best work with essays etc. if you are stressed.

To conclude, it may still be March, but it is not too early to start thinking and planning, and in many cases, acting on some opportunities. But in any case, the wake up call, if you want to apply for MBA admissions, is NOW.

10 reasons why I love Business School - by Vishal Srivastav, 2nd year student at Ross School of Business, UMich

Team getyourMBA spoke with Vishal Srivastav, second year student at Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, to find out why he's loving his time at Business School -

 

In Vishal's words - 10 reasons why I'm loving my time here:

1.  Connections – Business school creates perfect conditions to build lasting connections with smart, qualified and talented people. These are the people you would rely on, professionally and personally, in your post MBA life. You go through a concentrated experience together and that helps forge strong connections.

 

2.  Alumni network – Your class mates are only the tip of iceberg. The real power of B school network lies in its alumni base. Your alumni often serve as your recruiters and internal advocates for you to get your dream job.

 

3.  Fun – This is an important element of life at B school. Fun complements the craziness of B school.

 

4.  Academics – Class contributions of your friends from different backgrounds and industries will help you develop a holistic way of solving problems. Focus on learning, assimilating different points of view and developing a structured thought process, not grades.

 

5.  Diversity – Business school is training ground for working in teams with people from different backgrounds and culture.

 

6.  Efficiency – In an effort to juggle many things at once, you learn how to prioritize and become more efficient. It helps not only in school but in your life outside of work as well. You eventually conquer FOMO and become adept at deciding between competing priorities.

 

7.  Leadership – Barring class lectures, everything else in schools are completely student run. There is more than ample opportunity for every student to gain leadership experience and create an impact on the student community and the school at large.

 

8.  Collaboration – If you feel that your previous job didn’t allow you to collaborate enough, business school would come as a pleasant surprise. You spend a significant time with your study group, project teams et al and develop team and collaboration skills as a result.

 

9.  Entrepreneurship – It is one of the least marketed features of business school. Business schools offer a lot of opportunity and resources (monetary, academic, research, VC/PE network) for entrepreneurs.

 

10. Discomfort zone – B school constantly pushes you out of your comfort zone, which in my opinion leads to real learning. If learning is a motivator for you, B school will help you push yourself in a safe environment.

 

 

Get inspired! Few tips that can help you

Our co-founder talks about the importance of feeling inspired when writing your essays.

Most of you must now be in the thick and thin of writing your essays (if you’re not and are planning on applying this year, it’s time to get cracking!). All of you must have also realized by now that writing essays is no piece of cake. How do you make your story “flow”? How do you write what you are feeling? How do you convey what you wish to convey?

I struggled with the same questions when I was in your shoes a few years back. And yes, I came close to giving up because my essays were just not coming out :) Fact is – Business Schools are looking for folks who can dream big. People who really aspire to change the world. Who have the courage to imagine the impossible, and then make it happen.

And like it or not, they want to see this reflected in your essays.

Now how does one go about doing this? How does one get into that mode when you are truly “in the zone”, imagining yourself to be this all powerful human being who is destined to make a difference? :)

In my case, I believe that looking for sources of inspiration helps. Things that motivate you, make you believe in yourself, realize that there are bigger things to strive for in life. And this inspiration can come from anywhere – from activities you engage in, to things you read, to even the music you listen to. The idea is to get into that “special place” where your essays “just flow”.

Here are a couple of things that I’ve seen work for people. Of course, each individual has his/her own preferences!

1.     Reading biographies – reading how your idols have made it to where they are can be a big source of inspiration. Think Richard Branson’s “Losing my Virginity” or Randy Pausch’s “The Last Lecture”.

2.     Reading news magazines – Magazines like the Economist, The New Yorker, etc., can again help open your mind.

3.     Try fiction – Many folks swear by fiction and comics like Calvin and Hobbes! :) There are many pearls of wisdom hidden in these pieces of literary genius that might resonate with you.

4.     Commencement speeches – try listening to some famous college commenecement speeches. Usually given by folks who have made it big in their respective fields, they can provide a different perspective on how you view life. Some great speeches to begin with – Steve Jobs’ speech at Stanford, JK Rowling’s speech at Harvard, Bill Waterson’s speech at Kenyon college.

5.     TED Talks – I love TED talks for the sheer breadth of intelligence and creativity they bring together in one place. It is impossible not to find a talk on some topic or the other that won’t make you marvel at mankind’s genius! Visit www.ted.com to find out.

6.     Engage in that hobby you love – Don’t just write about it in your essays! Whether it’s photography, hiking, film making, listening to music, cooking – do it. This is what relaxes you, this is what brings out the creative being inside you.

7.     Talk to people you know and admire – whether it’s your manager, your team lead, or even your dad! Talk to them about how they did it. Learn and get inspired :)

8.     Spend time thinking – Believe it or not, this really works for some people! Having a blank mind with nothing to focus on for some time can really work wonders.

9.     Help others – Spend some time helping others selflessly. Whether at office, or your friends, your maid, your maid’s children, or even by volunteering at a local NGO. Doing work to bring joy to others is one of the best uses of your time, and cannot fail to inspire you.

10.  Be happy and believe in yourself – More than anything else, be happy and keep smiling :) Make others happy around you :) Things will happen for you and whatever happens is for the best, so make sure you believe in yourself!

And if the creative juices are still not flowing, find a mentor - someone who can look into your past and suggest ideas from your own past experiences to address in your essays, who can identify your strengths and weaknesses, and push you in the right direction.

All the best!

An important thing to ask yourself when applying to Business School

“Will I be able to get into this school?” This is a common question that most candidates ask themselves, their friends, their admission counselors, when they’re applying for their MBA. For the most part, they’re mainly trying to maximize their chances of getting in.

This is definitely an important question to ask. After all, if you’re sure you want to do an MBA and are spending so much time making your applications perfect, you may as well ensure that you’ll see the light of success.

However, just as you ask yourself “Will I get into this school?”, have you ever asked yourself, “Does this school deserve me?”

Think about this for a moment. You are going to be spending 2 years of your life at this school. This time is going to come from the prime years of your life. You’ll be spending a great deal of money in getting this education. You’ll be living far far away from your loved ones. You could be doing other things with this time – a great job, starting a company, getting married, traveling, anything. Instead, you’ll be giving 2 years of your time to this school. That’s a lot of stuff.

It only makes sense then that as much as the schools are selective about which students get in, you should be selective about which schools deserve you. Does the school have the right resources? Does it attract the kind of students you’d like to hang out with? What professors does the school have and what research have they done? What teaching model does the school follow? What values does the school and its student body espouse? What’s the culture at the school like?

These are hard questions to answer and it is easy to ignore them. Yet, the answers to these questions can make all the difference between a good and a life transforming experience in these 2 years at Business School. As Indians, it is easy to get sucked in the mentality of “I need to get XYZ education”. You are now old enough. You are making a conscious choice. Make sure it’s a choice you will be proud of for the rest of your life.

A typical day in the life of a business school student

As you all take the GMAT and work on your Round 1 apps, we thought it might be a good idea to give you a glimpse into what a typical day in the life of a typical business school student is like J Team getyourMBA asks a current student at Wharton.

7:00am – Wake up

7:15am – 8:00am – Work out at the gym

8:00am – 8:35 am – Get ready

8:40am – Catch the bus to campus. Get into a cab in case you’re late which is often! J

8:55am – Grab coffee (large atleast!) from the café. You NEED it if you hope to stay alert in class.

9:00am – 10:15am – Global Supply Chain Management. We discuss a case on Mattel, Inc. and how they were forced to recall a big lot of toys due to lead traces that could be poisonous to children. Great discussion in class on how best to control quality in your supply chain, especially when each player is not directly a part of Mattel.  Should you punish wrong behavior or incentivize good behavior?

10:15am – 10:30am – Check your mail folder - An offer from a tailor to get your business suit made at a discount for the upcoming interviews, Pricing Policy assignment graded and returned, an invitation with some goodies to the Winter Ball. Walk over to another building for next class

10:30am – 11:45 pm – Venture Capital and Finance of Innovation. Great class discussion on top 5 things investors should look at when deciding whether to invest in a company or not and why – Team? Market Size? Product? Target customer?

11:50am – 1:30 pm – Lunch meeting with Learning Team to finalize marketing case report. Team has 2 Americans, an Indonesian, a German, a Brazilian and an Indian. We are pretending to be Gillette and we have to figure out how we can increase the sales of our razors in Indonesia. How can we do that when many of the men there use scissors to cut their beard?

1:30 – 3:00pm – Mergers and Acquisitions. Great discussion on when to acquire, when to form an Alliance, when to form a Joint Venture.  We discuss Morgan Stanley – Dean Witter merger. Power politics at play!

3:00pm – 4:00pm – Meeting with photography club leadership team to finalize upcoming events and schedule.

4:00pm – 6:00 pm – Grab something to eat and get some work done in the student lounge.

6:00 pm – 8:00pm – Attend a talk on Leadership by a Mountain Guide who has led many expeditions – when do you lead from the front? When do you lead from the back? And when do you lead from the middle? Brilliant talk.

8:00pm – 8:20pm – Walk back home

8:30pm – 10:00pm – Dinner with the ladies of Women in Business Club. A junior wants to recruit for consulting and gets tips from second years.

10:00 pm – 11:00 pm – Celebrate student’s birthday at local pub.

11:00 pm – 2:00am – Prepare case for next day’s Entrepreneurship class on how Red Bull managed to make a dent in the beverages market despite goliaths like Coke and Pepsi in the market. Finish Corporate Valuation assignment of selecting which firms would form good comparables for a given company and why.

2:00am – Sh*#@* forgot to call home again, 3rd day in a row! Mom will kill me. What time is it in India anyway?  Man, I just don't care. Maybe tomorrow, I'm just too damn sleepy right nowwww...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Am I a Leader?

An applicant recently, was worried that his profile does not show any leadership experiences so would that affect his chances of MBA admission. And surely he is not the only one with such doubts. Perhaps many of you may have the same fears – ‘I am just a team member at work. I might get to lead a team only after another year or more’. So should you all wait till you become team leaders in your careers before thinking of applying for MBA?

Well look at it this way – most MBA aspirants are in the first few years of their working careers so very few might have had the opportunity of formally leading their teams. Some others might have been Captains of their college football or some other teams. But the large majority would be neither team leaders at work or past captains of sports teams. So where does that leave us? Are all Business Schools filled only with those who were team leaders at work or past sports captains?  NO? Then, if it is true that all Business Schools want students with leadership qualities, where do all these leaders who fill their classrooms each year, come from?

To find the answer, take a look in the mirror my friends. Do you recognize the leader you see there? Because they all come from amongst you. They are just like you for the most part. And leadership? Well, leadership qualities assume many different forms in different people. Leaders are not only those who actually lead teams – whether at work or on the sports field or elsewhere. Leaders are people who take initiative. Leaders motivate others. Leaders are passionate about what they do. Leaders are prepared to take risks. Leaders work hard. Leaders persevere when others have lost hope. Leaders do ordinary things – extraordinarily. Leaders step up to take charge in a crisis. Leaders are persuasive. Leaders also make mistakes but they learn from them, move on and improve. Leaders think out of the box for innovative solutions. Leaders have self-belief. Leaders are not afraid to admit their mistakes. Leaders have the courage of conviction to defend their beliefs and opinions. Leaders are not scared to take sides rather than just sitting on the fence. Leaders see opportunities where others might see only an obstacle. Leaders also fall down but they just get up and start all over again.

One candidate narrated this story. At a cousin’s wedding the previous year, a typical north Indian wedding where the Baraat (bridegroom’s party) dances its way to the marriage venue, just as the Baraat was about to reach the entrance to the venue, it was discovered the bride was not yet back from the makeup parlor and, there being just the one entrance to the venue, it would be rather awkward for her to walk in after all the guests had arrived. Amidst frantic phone calls and counting of minutes to reach, this guy stepped out to where the Baraat had reached – about 200 mtrs from the entrance, and challenged those dancing to dance against him, knowing full well that he was a lousy dancer. A few minutes were spent in confusion as the dancers sized him up to decide whether they could accept his challenge and a few more while it was debated who would dance first. Well, he lost the bet within three minutes flat thereafter but had already bought the critical few minutes to allow the bride to walk in unseen and save major embarrassment. Surely this was smart out of the box thinking and he took the initiative to carry it out. That too is leadership!

Most of us have experienced some events when we did something different and many of these instances might illustrate some leadership trait. So these are the events to dig out from your memory in order to show you have what it takes to be a leader. Did you ever motivate a friend not to be depressed over some failure but to take heart and move on? That was the leader in you showing through. Did you step out of your car at a jammed intersection to direct traffic for a few minutes to clear up the jam? That too is leadership.

So, rather than losing sleep over the fact that you were never the real leader of a group of people at any time, use your energies to think of various events and instances where you demonstrated traits of leadership. Make a list of all these. Take your time over making this list because many such instances might be lost in the mists of memory. And once your list is made, you might find that some of these instances were really too small or too ordinary to really add value to your profile. So you need to sift through your list to pick up those events where your actions had some impact on those around you. And then use these events in your application to illustrate to the Ad Comm that you too have leadership qualities so that they will recognize you as the candidate they are looking for, among all those who have applied.