MBA Miles

I had my NUS MBA Interview yesterday. I’m decided on going to Ross, but the economic situation is making me extremely difficult for getting a loan. I had scheduled my interview before my Ross decision, so all in all I thought it was prudent to attend the interview. Surprisingly, it was different from the others in various ways:

• It was telephonic (I hate telephonic interviews, I can never be myself)
• It was different…

Before the interview I was a bit edgy that it might be difficult to understand the accent of the interviewer(s) if they are of chinese descent. This was because I had a tough time with the locals when I was in Singapore for my Haas interview.

I got a call right on time and first surprise: The 2 interviewers were Indian. I think they understood the problem and acted accordingly. Nice move… It was a panel interview consisting of 2 people. Prof. Srinivasa who was a professor of finance and Ms. Bani from Career Services. The interview went on for 20 minutes and was pretty good.

It started with the usual questions:

• Introduce yourself
• Why an MBA now and why from NUS?
• What are your goals?

I answered all the 3 and showed my interetst in moving into product strategy. The next question was unexpected:

So, you must have heard about IPL moving out to South Africa (SA). If you were a consultant to BCCI, what strategy would you propose to minimize losses of not having the matches in India.

If you are unaware of what I’m talking here, IPL (Indian Premier League) is a very popular cricketing event in India done by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) which this year has been moved to SA because of its dates clashing with the Indian General Elections. You can read about it here.

That was a great question. I talked about:

1. Doing a financial analysis of last year’s balance sheet for money earned from Ticket Sales VS TV Rights. Then after doing a downgrading of the first number based on different factors as it is not being done in India to make a call on going prime-time India time or prime-time SA time for the matches. (I am sure the answer will be India prime-time)
2. I gave ideas on a forked-branding for teams in India & SA
3. How can IPL do a sister city concept, like “Delhi-Durban Daredevils” and design branding around it.
4. How BCCI can project this as an opportunity for the sponsors to enter a new market.
5. … etc

Then, we talked about my job. They seemed amused by my “Product Evangelist” title. She then asked me about what strategy would I adopt for an e-book reader, if I would go for a custom format. My belief is that custom formats by each company (sony, samsung.. etc) will silo the market and is not favourable for any player, unless you have a monopoly there. I said I would go the Apple iPod way, which bases its architecture on a standard (mp3) and then creates value added services and branding so strong that iPod is now become synonymous with an MP3 Player (I remember I had a guy selling me a Soni iPod, yes Soni 🙂 some time back)

The discussion ended with them asking me where I want to work after my MBA, if I would like to go back to Adobe and if so in what role. I asked them some questions, centered around career services and action-based learning opportunities at NUS. They asked about the other schools and I have applied (which I thought was not so professional) and asked me when I had to turn in my deposit for Ross.

Overall, the interview was a bit uncoventional compared to the ones I have had. I enjoyed the discussion like I had the other interviews. NUS is a good school and pretty well known in SE-Asia. But even if I get in, NUS will rank below Ross for sure unless I am unable to raise the funds to go to Ross.

I reach back from Singapore and I get a mail from NUS (National University of Singapore) saying that I have been shortlisted for interview for NUS MBA and that it will happen in March-April. I really wanted to visit the campus when I was there, but heavy thunderstorms made sure that I got stuck in Chinatown and missed the opportunity to be at NUS.

Lets see how it pans out…

Its over and it was fun… Not something you say about an interview, but it was. I walked into the Centennial Tower in the Tamasek Avenue today at 10:00 and sat in the coffee house sipping cold coffee (Singapore is sultry, just like my hometown Trivandrum), reviewed my notes and entered the McKinsey office at 10:50. My interview was scheduled at 11:00. I sat in the lobby reading the days paper when my interviewer walked in.

After exchanging pleasantries, we spoke at length about my journey to Singapore and I apologized for the confusion that had spewed on my interview schedule, flip-flopping my decision between doing it in India Vs Singapore.

Contrary to the usual, he started by telling me his experience at Haas. What he did and what he enjoyed… Then came the interview. It was really more a discussion than an interview. It lasted a bit more than an hour and was very conversational. He asked me a lot of questions including:

• Walk me thru your resume
• A leadership experience (I chose outside of work)
• Why Haas?
• My goals
• What do I know about Strategy Consulting?

After this we had a big discussion on his days at Haas including his work with BSG (Berkeley Solutions Group). We discussed a case that he was involved with and the recommendations. Quite fun… It reaffirmed my belief of Haas as a place of “Confidence without Attitude” or as he put it, with “Humble Leaders”…

Now just praying that I become part of the clan… Ross & Haas were the top of my list to begin with and now being considered for both is awesome… Now its time to wait and watch! Come March, its decision time…

Update: Just found this – Berkeley’s Haas School Expands Haas@Work Program

One of the toughest times in an applicants life (as an applicant) is the time between submission of your application and THE NEWS (oh… not that one) – if you are invited for an interview or dinged! Today I got a mail from Haas, clearly outlining their application process plans. I should say I felt great not being kept in the dark. Here are some excerpts:

Our Admissions Committee takes great pride in reading and evaluating applications for admission. Every single application, regardless of GPA, GMAT, or number of years of work experience, is read by a minimum of two readers. In many instances, an application is read by three readers, and sometimes four. As a result, it does take some time before we extend our interview invitations. Please be patient as you await word from us.

It was very soothing and clear indication that “Every single application, regardless of GPA, GMAT, or number of years of work experience” is considered. The tone is as reassuring as it can get. Further:

Our first interview invitations will be extended next week, and we will continue to extend interview invitations up until our Round One notification date of January 28, 2009.  Please note that you should not be discouraged if you do not receive an interview invitation by our Round One notification date. Some Round One applicants will be offered a place on the waitlist without having been interviewed; these waitlisted candidates are welcome to schedule an interview in February.

In my opinion, it cant get clearer than this and the fact that the mail would be sent to each individual applicant, it really gives me the sense of Haas as a place which cares about its applicants and about how they school is perceived. Bravo Haas!