great test, take a look

http://similarminds.com/othertests.html

Amusing test, do check out the link above

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

another angle

My room during the essay writing and application submission phase.

Karting, Wooo Hooo, Somehow its not looking fast at all. should take a slow shutter speed one next time

Tuck Interview

After the fiasco of the carnegie mellon interview, I was keen to make amends. A oppurtunity came along with Tuck's invite.

I was scheduled to interview with a second year student ( Telephonic ..... Again ) without digressing too much, I would like to add that - Whatever Admissions Commitee's proclaim, a telephonic interview is not quite the same as a face 2 face interview. you feel that your answers were not as convincing as they would have been f2f, telephonic interviews are devoid of hand movements and other non-verbal gestures. voice modulation does not achieve similar results.

Oh Well, ahhh yes, Tuck. Keen to make amends I researched like hell on the interviewer, and got to know possibly everything on the web about him. even called a school friend who did his undergrad in Dartmouth, to get the latest dope.

After extensive research on the interviewer, procrastination and work deadlines set in and IH was unable to put the same amout of hours or even minutes into more specific Tuck research. hence like a qualified procrastinator decided to "Wing it in" - Read as, minimal prep, meandered through the website for a few hours before the ineterview.

The interview and the research about the guy helped. He was a major studly jock, brilliant athlete and finance guru. held a number of record timings for sprints and rowing. Brilliant profile. I decided to concentrate on my extra-curricular activites which are quite significant and made that my differentiating factor or WoW factor.

The interview went on well, typical questions such as

• walk me through your resume
• why mba
• why tuck
• what kind of extra-currics do you enjoy
• 2 specific cv related questions 1) work ex 2) extra-currics ( what is that )
• why now
• more why now, appeared unconvinced, can hardly blame him. i have about a year's work ex.
• etcetera

The major mistakes I might have made were

1. I was speaking too fast, typical of most indians
2. he was speaking too slow, made me miss out on some stuff on long questions. for instance in a typically long-winded question in which " what kind you bring to Tuck with your... and add to diversity.. .. succesfuly... why are you so interested", was replaced by Why Tuck upon asking him to repeat the question.
3. Too eager, maybe .

However, i was feeling good after the interview. but I guess that is typical of all BEI interviews. One should try some interviews in Indian B-schools such as the IIM's or even the IIT's who have recently started their own schools of management.

They really grill and ask insane amounts of General Knowledge, which unfortunately isnt always general.

However, In spite of my valiant efforts i recieved a ding a few days back. well...

CARNEGIE MELLON INTERVIEW

Next in line was a carnegie mellon ( Tepper ) interview.

A perfect example of what not to do on an interview. It was a telephonic blind interview. a fact which i had not known at that point of time and assumed that like the ISB interview the interviewer would have read my application and eliminated a lot od important information.

FIRST ERROR: INSUFFICIENT RESEARCH INTO TYPICAL B-SCHOOL INTERVIEWS.

Secondly i was out of town in Delhi, at a friends place and decided to give my interview from there. the result was that i was out of my comfort zone, and the surroundings were pretty alien to me.

SECOND ERROR: TELEPHONIC INTERVIEWS SHOULD BE IN A FAMILIAR PLACE

Thirdly, i did not check for obvious things like reception and mobile phone connectivity. the result was that i could not use my mobile phone to give the interview and had to use the landline, which tied me down to a certain place. quirky that I am, i am used to walking around and talking on the phone and sitting in an upright position and looking at a blank wall for 30 mins while answering tricky questioons were unnerving to say the least.

The recpetion was so bad on the mobile phone as well as the landline that the call got disconnected 4 times, yes 4 times. extremely unprofessional on my part.

COROLLARY TO SECOND ERROR: DECIDE COMPLETELY ON EQUIPEMENT AND LOCATION.


Fouthly, the plan was such that my buddy whose place i was at. would come and take his keys and ciggies or whatever and get the hell out of there while i gave my inetrview. he would do this before my interview started and leave me alone for the duration of my interview. This did not happen. on the other hand 2 syllables into "Walk me through your resume", and the dude came with a friend and couple a beers. Sheeeeeeeeesh.

Gesturing madly i instructed them to sit, but the flow was lost. after that proceeded fortwith to stay there listening to me speak.

Call me Wierd but I become concious when i know people can hear me interview + add the silly smirks passed during cliched answers. all 0f these create an extremely unpleasant environment.

If everything was not lost already, my pal's phone started ringing and i signalled like a madman to take his call out of there. finally he persisted and the other guy followed but left the door open. this by the way was a ground floor annexe building and wind started billowing in. January Delhi weather. I started tottering in the cold, unable to bear it any longer i had to excuse myslef and go and shut the door.seconds after fumbling with excuses and shutting the door, those guys return.

confidence shattered I give extremely short answers and ask limited questions and wrap up the interview in 20 mins flat !!!!!.

So what have we learnt.

THIRD ERROR: MAKE SURE YOU BLOODY WELL LOCK YOURSELF IN A ROOM WHEN YOU GIVE A TELEPHONIC INTERVIEW.

next in line

Tuck interview ( again Telephonic )

lack of posts!! ISB INTERVIEW EXPERIENCE

Its been quite a while since i have posted. so lots of catching up to do.

Quite a few developments have taken place so after bringing you up to speed i shall resume my blogging duties faithfully, truthfully and to the best of my ability.

The last post was an ISB call.

Well that was followed by calls from carnegie mellon, cornell, tuck and Darden. London business school was the only "ding".

Inetrview with isb was great!!, about 40-45 mins and very off beat. i could guide the interview to an extent and the major discussion was about my work experience, which is exactly what i wanted. did not get a chance to sell myself much. but that did not affect my candidacy much as unlike most us b-schools ISB interviews are not BLIND.

The interviewee panel which consisted of Mr. Kanan, and an Alum, had already gone through my application and had formed an opinion of me. I had 40 minutes to dispel that opinion and create a more favourable one. Thankfully it turned out to be enough.

I was instigated and often attacked on my lack of experience and the attributes i would get to class. these questions are the best which one could get in an interview and gave me the oppurtunity i needed to sell myself to the admissions commitee.

after about 30 minutes of answeiring questions i still wanted more and went on probing and started asking a lot of questions. needless to say i came across as quite aggressive and a typical mba shark.

After the interview i was quite scared that i might have come on too strong, but the feeling was dispelled after an admit with a bit of tutition waiver from ISB.

I am very keen on ISB, and am looking forward to 1 yr of an insane workload, 420 colleagues, serviced apartments and the best faculty seen in the asia pacific. the only demerit which comes to my mind is the weather. Hyderabad is sweltering.

so in all probabilty ISB it it!!