Round Table at GIM - Experiences unfolded

I feel as anxious as I felt before the interview session while I'm writing this. The journey begins with writing XAT, waiting for results, getting stupendous scores, shortlisting and finally the day comes when I leave for Delhi to have a face to face evaluation with GIM (Goa Istitute of Management) people. Why Delhi, because I opted for Delhi as my GD-PI centre. Did I mention Group Discussion, the word itself is good enough to give me a near nervous breakdown. Venue for interview was YMCA, New Delhi. I was supposed to report at 8.45 AM and I reach there by 7.30 itself. YMCA has got a beautiful campus. Candidates waiting outside were very few in number. I guess rest of them were in their sane minds to not to appear so early. I'm waiting outside with my father and with every passing minute my anxiety level's going high. And Then I see a guy standing alone with his notes. I approach him and we start talking. Talking always helps relieve stress. Other candidates have started arriving and few of them have joined us.  And now my watch shows it's 8.45 and it's time to go inside. We all enter and are taken to a big conference room and the very thought of participating in a group discussion in few moments is giving me jitters. Now the person there tells us about the next two rounds. 1st round he says is 'Essay writing'. Did i catch it correct? I confirm from other candidates and my happiness seems to be knowing no bounds. No group discussion, hell I was so much stressed out. And now I'm unable to get that smile off my face Next round would be a personal interview round. Who's scared of an interview anyway. We are divided into 2panels and are taken to our respective rooms for the next stage and . And now we are in the committee room seated around a table. Two of the GIM faculty members are there to give us a warm welcome. They brief us with GIM,its history, their MBA programme, infrastructure and now they distribute sheets for essay and announce the topic. Topic was so random 'Foreign management principles do not apply to Indian management'. 15minutes is the duration and 350 words is they are expecting us to write in that time limit. And I start writing. Random thoughts coming in my mind and I'm busy jotting down every point. After all my career is at stake. And 15minutes deadline has expired and we are instructed to stop writing. Oh god, how much I hate it to be interrupted when my mind is flooding with ideas and thoughts. Hehe, jokes apart.. I wind it up and hand over my sheet. It's such a relief, half of the job for the day is done. Then we go for document checks and some other formalities. And now is the time to go for the interview. I'm called soon as I'm third on my panel. The girl before me she comes out and I ask her about interview questions. She talks about top stories of the day being asked in interview and I take newspaper from her and browsing through it like crazy. And suddenly door opens and one of the interviewer comes outside to call me and sees me with the newspaper and tells me, "Don't worry, we won't ask this question." Anyway I enter the room with confidence and a smile. After all a smile sets everything right! I pass my document file towards them but they dun even bother to open it. Poor me! They ask about my CAT, XAT scores, about all the calls I got, my RPET rank, hell am I supposed to remember a rank I got 5years back. Then they ask me about my plans 15 years hence after earning MBA. I tell them about my idea of entrepreneurship nad then they tell me to share my business idea with them. What the heck, I never had one! Anyway I tell them something or other. Then they ask about what I have been doing for 1year after my graduation and I tell them about my placement in Satyam and then they ask about Satyam fiasco. Since i used the word 'fiasco' I'm asked to tell it's meaning. Ha! the disaster seems to be putting me into one. Anyway I answer their question, somehow the right word clicked to me. Then they ask about my family and my father's profession makes way for the upcoming questions. Since my father is working in Statistics and Economics department, they ask me about Stats and Eco, the subjects I have never had a course in formally. Anyway I go on answering as much as I know. Then a few questions on telecom, IEEE standards and all and I answer few of them leaving 1-2 questions unanswered. Next they ask me about why I would join Satyam when I'm looking for a career in telecom. I tell them about all IT companies coming for placements and no telecom cos on campus and somehow try to prove IT and telecom as complementry to each other. And at last I'm asked to leave. But as they didn give me a chance to ask anything, I ask for their approval to go ahead with my question. The senior interviewer answers my query. And this brings an end to my interview. I come out pleased with my performance and exhilarated as finally it's OVER!!!