Here i am, back to pen-down my experience towards Destination-MBA.
This was my second call of the season and also the second from the Symbiosis family. After attending SCMHRD interview and doing good at it, the barrier had broken and now there wasn't that much anxiety related to it as there was earlier during the time of preparations.
SIBM or Symbiosis Institute of Business Management as it is known, is the flag-bearer of the Symbiosis league. Its the oldest, established in 1978 and the best one to go for in Symbi. Only drawback associated to it was that it didnt have any residential facility till this year and hence had no campus life to boast of, which is no doubt, a major factor contributing not only to the academic life but also the overall personal growth of an individual. Any case, from this very year SIBM is shifting to its Lavale campus. Though the GDPI process was scheduled at the old building at Senapati Bapat road, they had arranged for a Campus tour to Lavale on bus...and since it was free and i had nothing more interesting to do, i readily took it. And it was a real good experience!! The campus sits amongst loads of small and large hills and has awesome scenic view from all angles. Though i visited the campus after completing my interview, it really made me wish that i do convert this call.
Well, the entire process was scheduled on 1st Feb'2008. I was still at Pune and staying with Amit, having a real good time. Pune is really a happening city full of students and i witnessed it during my 6 days stay at Pune. One added advantage was that i was at Bharati Vidyapeeth's Campus and hence got a close look at the life there.
The day didnt really had a great start when i woke up at 7.00 AM, that too when mom called up to check if i am awake or still sleeping. I dont know why, but i went to sleep much before my usual time previous night and also forgot the put an alarm. For my previous call of SCMHRD, i had got ready by this time and now i was here..just woke up and looking horrible with swollen eyes.
Well this wasnt supposed to be a great day and this was just the starting. I was to discover soon that there wasnt a single drop of water in the whole flat except two half-full buckets, and my enquiry with Amit said that there was nothing that could be done about it. So, i somehow managed to get ready with that one bucket of water and left home by 7:35 AM. I reached SIBM by 8:05. and reported for the process.
The SIBM GDPI process consists of three stages as opposed to two stages in most of the other bschools.
We were divided into groups of 10 and allotted our group incharge who were all from first years.
This is one thing which has always been shining as a USP of SIBM that its a student driven college and most of the activities are organized and co-ordinated by the students themselves.
The curse of the bad day wasnt over yet and there was another setback to be seen. I dont like wearing a neck-tie all the time and hence i always choose to wear only when necessary. I had come all the way to the interview with an open collar and once comfortable inside the campus, i put my hand in the bag for my tie..and VOILA..ITS MISSING. I had left the tie back on the dressing table after tying the knot. The icing on the cake was that SIBM interview call letter specifically mentioned neck-tie as a part of the attire and in any case an interview without a neck-tie is a rejection formality. My group incharge told me to relax as it doesnt really make a difference but i knew that without the tie, half the battle was already lost.
After a long long time finally my group incharge melted and arranged for a neck-tie from a senior. It was a really a beautiful tie. A dark blue color with check-print which went well with my shining white shirt. So now i was all set to take up the challenge!!
The first process is called Group Task wherein the whole group has to complete a given task as one. The entire process was supervised by two seniors and judged by a panel of two profs. We were all blind-folded with strips of cloths. Next, we had to locate a rope lying somewhere in the room. Once found, we had to form a perfect square ensuring that each member has a hold on the rope.
One of the members found the rope after 4 mins of crazy hunting. Once it was found everyone rushed to grab a hold on it. Now came the real part when it was only a hullaballoo of yelling and shouting and the battle was of course won by the one with the loudest voice. In a confusion of voices, i also tried to put forth my idea but no one heard it. And 10 seconds later, my neighbour proposed the same thing and with his gift of high-shrilling voice, he got it heard by all. At that time, i swore to go home and practice a lot of yelling and shouting so that i dont land into trouble again. Finally, the time was over and as expected we were not even close a square, perfect square obviously being an afterthought. The actual figure that we saw when the cloths were removed from our eyes was something like this:
Well, it was over and i cudn't decide how i performed coz nearly everyone was in the same situation.
Finally we came out and were immediately taken for the Group Discussion. The GD was presided over by a panel of two members. One of them an middle aged guy and other one a young geek-like guy. Both of them were very lively in their talks and created a cozy atmosphere before the actual thing started. The GD consisted of a case-study about an organization's administration office which was facing problems with employee motivation, uneven distribution of work, in-efficient filing system and short of workforce. I made some points about Job rotation, Employee training programmes, Introduction of an e-filing system and analyzing feasibility of new recruitments. The GD lasted for about 15 mins and was a good show over all.
The interviews were being conducted in parallel by 3 panels at the same time. The panel i was pushed into consisted of 3 people..an old balding prof(incidentally his surname was Prof.Maaru :D), the director of SIBM(a somewhat old guy), and the Vice-Chancellor of the Symbiosis International University himself(a Verrrrrry old guy). The bottom line is that the entire panel's average age was beyond 60 for sure and as i have found it, its really hard to give an interview to an old fellow coz they are so dead in their expressions and reactions (or maybe expert in hiding them) that you never know what impact your answer is making over them.
I had enquired from people who went before me about the orientation of the interview and not one of them had been asked the typical "Tell me about yourself" question. So i was open to something really interesting at the starting of the interview.
Finally, the volunteer signalled me to go in and i knocked and entered the room. The VC was sitting in the middle, the diro on the right and the old prof on the left. I took my seat as instructed and waited for the process to start.
VC: (after having a look at the profile and presumably finding nothing much interested in it) Ok...Tell us something about yourself.
Me: (Stumped!! Recollected all my thoughts and started) I am....studying ....hobbies....interests...goals..etc..etc..etc..
Diro: You mentioned reading as one of your habits. Which book you read most recently that you really liked??
Me: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.(I was prepared for this. They always have to ask a lot of questions from your hobbies, achievements and areas of interests so its suggested to go well-prepared.)
Diro: Ok. We will give you one minute. Give us a book review assuming we know nothing about the book.
Me: (Started)..........
Diro: WAIT. Go ahead and take your time. Think for a minute and then speak.
Me. (Thinking...not about the review but wondering that why he had to give me time when i was ready to speak about it.)
This one minute of thinking actually lasted only 10 seconds when Diro said...start.
Me: (kept speaking for over a minute from the story..the author..the message of the story etc. mentioned something like risk-taking)
Old Prof: So what risks are you taking in your life???
Me: (Loads of gyaan)
Old Prof: Don't you think that it will be better if you take some work-ex and come??
Me: (I was prepared for this as nearly each of the interviews had to feature this question. Shared loads of gyaan again.)
Old Prof: (seemingly satisfied) Ok. (turned to VC and Diro) any more questions??
They nodded their heads and asked me to leave. I came out surprised as the interview lasted only for about 5-6 mins. I was damn sure it was going to be a reject even if my score was going to support me. My doubts were re-inforced when my faculty said that my chances are low coz when it comes to VC and Director etc. they want the best of the best students for their institute.
But, just three days back, i made it to SIBM and it surely came as a big delight. Though i wont be joining it as i have already made up my mind for NMIMS, converting an institute like SIBM strengthens my confidence in myself.
With the SIBM interview getting over, Mission Symbiosis was accomplished. Though i had a call from SIIB which is said to be the third best in Symbi family, i decided to drop the call primarily due to two reasons. Firstly, attending SIIB process would have meant either a stay for 6 more days in pune or to travel back from pune to kanpur and come back for the interview. Secondly and most importantly, the feedback about SIIB that i got from my seniors at Symbi wasnt really very impressing and they advised me to go for my job at Satyam and write the entrance exams again next year rather than taking up SIIB. No offences meant to any college. Its just that i felt that i deserve a better college than that.
With this my stay at Pune was over and it was really an awesome experience. Thanx again to Amit and all the other friends in his flat who made the stay an enjoyable one. And while i was leaving there was another interesting thing to happen. I saw the following scene on a red-light and was lucky and fast enough to click a pic.
As you can see that the Registration Number of the scooter starts with "MAD". Its one of those special 9999 vehicles in India that flash this number on their plates and i was one of those lucky fellas on this planet who saw and clicked it!! :D
I will be back to write the next experience after some time now as the mid-sem examinations are due to start and then i have to complete my final year project which has for long gone into a suspended state.
Adios!!