Originally posted by Hakuna Matata
Just back from an interview/conversation/informal chat with a Ross alumni at a coffee shop and inspite of trying to analyse it, I still don’t know what to make of it!
I was interviewing with an alum and her ‘dress casual’ comment in one of the mails we exchanged had given me the hint that this is going to be a conversational interview but it turned out to be more of a chat… lasting almost 1-1/2 hours!! Frankly I don’t think she even asked me any specific MBA interview questions other than the ‘why MBA? why now? why Ross?’ One thing just led to another…
In hindsight, I do realize now that I did talk about my motivations, my background, my international experience, my present company and its MBA-related policies, my recommenders and what they thought about me… pretty much everything but I don’t really remember any standard questions being asked of me! I am beginning to think she really is very good at interviewing 🙂
What was also exciting was that she was willing to share as much of her experiences as she wanted to know about me… and with more than 25 years of experience she sure had many interesting anecdotes to share – about her Ross experience, life after Ross, the other interviews she had conducted, the firms she had built and even a little about her personal life! It was truly a very constructive conversation…
But it wasn’t supposed to be just a conversation now, was it? It was my interview… the interview that can push me off the fence into the admit pool (or otherwise)!! And with an experience like this one, it is sooo hard to judge how I did! Did I answer well? Did I impress enough? How is she to judge me compared to other applicants when what we spoke about was so specific to me?? What is the common denominator going to be??? Frankly, I don’t know whether to be happy or not with today’s ‘interview’ as I really don’t know how I did! Why can’t we just go back to the days where questions had one right answer and you either got it right or not?!!
I know this process is not about right/wrong, it never was and will never be… and I can do nothing but hope I displayed what she was looking for and the adcomm is convinced that I have what it takes to ‘go blue’!! But if only…. ohh! this process is nerve-wracking….
