Between Application and Interview

This post is for those who have submitted their applications in R1 and waiting for the interview call.

One of the common challenges is about the time, date and location. Though one indicates a certain location as preferred, it is possible that the candidate may have to go somewhere on an official visit and therefore we may not be available on the date that adcom schedules the interview. The question is how flexible is ISB adcom?

As far as I had seen last year and after my interaction with them, I think they are very flexible for reasonable and genuine reasons. The key objective of an interview is to meet the person and verify if he/she is the same compared to the impression that the application gave and to evaluate what more does the person bring to the table apart from the standard set of things. Therefore it is more in the interest of the candidate to make oneself available at a location that he/she is comfortable and give it a best shot. But if it is not possible, feel free to call/write and request for a change.

Second challenge I faced is the stress due to uncertainty. I know that I had a good chance but you never know. A lot depends on the pool of applications and everything gets relative. My only suggestion is, believe in yourself. If you have made all the effort in writing GMAT, essays and getting recommendations, I'm sure you are serious about it and that you have put in enough effort and if you have given your best shot in preparing your application, there is nothing more you can do but wait. Just keep tracking what is happening and where are the interviews happening. The isb-pgp yahoo group is a very good resource and I used to spend at least an hour reading the messages everyday. Urge all the candidates who got shortlists to post their interview experience, it kind of gives you some feel.

Another thing that you can do to reduce your stress is - read books. Read books that are not related to your work, read on topics that you like, read fiction, read current affairs and read blogs.

Last thing that you can do to reduce stress is to create a support group. Last year we have created a Hyderabad applicants yahoo group and started meeting around this time. We used to discuss our profiles, our aspirations and even did a essay review after the applications are submitted. As a group we asked questions based on the application and essays and more than anything else had lot of fun. It is very important to have fun as you will have to learn taking rejection and failure in life and this would help you once you are in ISB as there are more chances that you will not be faring as well as you would want yourself to.

Finally the last challenge is focusing on work. When such life changing event is going to happen in life it is very difficult to focus on routine work. But keep in mind that your current job is very important and that your commitment must first be to your current engagements. Try and work a little more hard, train others who are around, network with HR and Fin guys (it would help in all situations). You can even think about what changes would you do if you join back the company in a senior role.

What I did last year was to start this blog. I started posting all my thoughts and helped me to release stress and channelize the energy. But don't explode on to everyone around as it may damage your post-ISB admission scenario.

I didn't get specifically in to the area of interview preparation as it will vary from person to person and I am sure that most of you must have already gone through many interviews earlier. If you feel that my view would be useful, drop a comment.

Good luck to everyone - Buenos dias