Back from bliss... into the inferno...

Step 5: The Interviews...

Well i was well and truly in a situation where i knew, that i am going to nail the interviews, as i thought that the percentages as explained earlier were in my favour... and i started to prepare for my Cranfield interview on January 16. I got some info from an alumni, who told me some questions to focus upon... and after i gave my interview i think he must have conveyed my conversation with him to the Dean of Admissions who tool my interview... cos the questions he asked were exactly the ones that the alumni told me to prepare for... Well me being me... was not 100% prepared for the questions and well i thought that the questions I answered were good enough... I was also told during the interview that i would be too young in the class to really contribute during the discussions... well i think he wanted to tell me you need to learn a lot more to come in sonny...anyways... it took them 2 days to reject me... my third reject after one wait list... This also made me realise that i am not comfortable giving telephonic interviews... something about it made me uncomfortable, i normally prefer looking into the eyes of the interviewer to get my confidence up... this did not help me with Cranfield's telephonic interview...

My morale was on an all-time low, i had by now decided that the prudent thing now would be to focus at my workplace more than ever and progress there as my MBA avenues seem to be closing fast... I was sure as ever that the wait list this late would not be converted...

Then came something out of the blue... a surprise i had not imagined... back in November i had a pre-application interview scheduled with Imperial College -Tanaka... post 26/11, the interview was postponed indefinitely... which they decided to fix on 31 January... I was ecstatic... my hopes enlivened... Dr. Ebrahim Mohammed - Director, Executive MBA from Imperial took my interview... I must say this was one of the finest interviews that i gave... somehow i connected with him and we bounced ideas off each other... He encouraged me to apply and said if i did it fast and inform him about it... well there wouldn't be another interview and that i should be considering moving to UK fast... So i was back to step 4: Applications... got down to business and finished the application in record time of 5 days... yeah that's fast for me... the essays were different from the others and hence copy paste did not come to rescue always...

After following up with the college for my application and then being informed that i would have to give an interview with the career development officer... i was finally given an offer for admission... i was happy was an understatement.... we jumped with joy and partied till we realised that they did not have a loan agreement with any bank... bummer...
Well we didn't let that deter us, we started working on our scholarship essays now...
And in between all this mayhem... we had another reason for party... I was called for an Interview to Cambridge... YAHOOOOOOO.....

but i couldn't go to Cambridge. I informed them of this and they informed me back that since the director of MBA admissions is travelling to India in March, i could have and interview with him... another YAHOOOOOOOOO.....

Well the interview happened after i got the Imperial admit and i was given a deadline of April 1 by Imperial to respond to their offer... i asked for an extension on that as i knew the result of Cambridge would take a little longer to come as Dr. Chander Velu, who took my interview went for a trip to Malaysia following the interviews in Mumbai... The interview btw was another one of my finest interviews (disclaimer: when i say finest... means i think so... the result may be positive since the interviewers thot this guy needs serious training also :P )... we had a very good conversation than an interview and i believe i could talk to him more about my work experience than anyone else... he listened a lot and asked very interesting questions and gave me a case study also... "suppose if i was the head of IOCL how would i go about implementing the Hydrogen fuel concept in India?" ... i think i said somethings that i was amazed i could say...
but then i got the admit... and another party... this time a bigger one... you know why?????? because HSBC has a loan agreement with Judge Business School... this made things so much more breathable for me.... i even got a scholarship - The Directors Bursary.... man were we over the moon...

This wasn't the end of the interview cycle...this was followed by 2 other interviews for 2 other scholarships... one which i succeeded in and the other i wait for the result... looks like for now the inferno of the application to Cambridge is coming to a simmering climax... but now the euphoria of starting a new career at the river-backed Cambridge university builds by the day... i am sure the next inferno will test me and let me out like a fine shining sword.. ready to take on the best in the world...