It comes to an end at Bangalore

I was the 5th (yeah, last again) to be interviewed. People who went ahead of me told us that the panel was stressing them out. All the 4 were asked the capital of Kazakisthan. If they answered, Uzbekistan. If hey answered Tajikistan. If they answered Next-istan. If they answered Next-to-Next-istan. Some were asked to name three western States of the United States, three countries which are lying on the northern tip of Africa and where Jog falls is. A girl who was working with a leading software MNC (she had a good amount of work experience) was asked to drop the idea of PGP and look to do PGSEM.In short, I knew what to expect when I go to beg my chance.

I was called in. I entered the room, shut the door after me, and heard P1 saying ‘please take a seat’. I walked towards the seat. Before I could express my gratitude for the seat or offer a Good Morning, even before I had reached the chair, I was asked by P1: “Why do you want to work for UNO”?

Incidentally, my SOP contained such a hint, which I included even though all my friends who knew the expansion of MBA advised me against it.Me: BlaaaaaahP1: Contrast it against your company.
Me: Blah Blaaaaaah
P1: You can’t do it n your organization?
Me: No sir. I do not think so.
P2: Where is the head-quarters of UNO
Me: (I tossed between Geneva and New York) I think it is in Geneva.
P2: No, it is not.
Me: Then I am not sure, sir.
P1: Who is the under secretary general of the UNO?
Me: Excuse me, sir?
P1: There is a post, named Under Secretary General, after the secretary General. Who is it?
Me: I don’t know, sir.
P1: You are from Kerala, right?
Me: Yes.
P1: Then you must know, I suppose.
Me: In that case it must be Shashi Tharoor. I knew he was associated with the UNO, but I didn’t know his designation.

Now the fun starts.

P2 suggests me that I am better fit for PGSEM. He listed down the advantages: I retain my job, I don’t lose out my salary and I get an MBA at the end of 2 and a half years which is again flexible up to 6 years. I say that I considered that option, but it is very much stressed and I would like to pursue PGP. He said PGSEM is a zero stress program. I said PGSEM, with its courses, credit requirements and faculty being exactly same would require as much work as I should do for a PGP, over and above 4 and a half days of work every week, which will make it very stressed. He said the credit requirements are not the same. I said that is not the information I have received from the PGSEM group anchored by Mr. Abhinav Agarwal. P2 said that stress is good. It is like the sword of Damocles that will compel you to perform well. He said there are to kinds of stress: Stress for creative urge that is good and a market induced stress that is bad. He asked me if I know this. I said no. A mini-lecture followed, at the end of which I said I understand.P1 chipped in and said that I am grossly misled. P2 explained that PGSEM requires 3 courses per term, thus a credit of 9, where as PGP has 6-8 courses and up to 24 credits. I asked what the minimum credit for PGP is. P2 said there is no minimum or maximum, it is fixed.

P2: You have got good grades in your school (and started searching all over my data form what my percentages were)
Me: (Decided to help him in his misery) I had 89.4 in 10th and 86 in 12th, sir.
P2: Yeah, 89 and 86, then you take a dip in your engineering.
Me: I don’t look it at as a dip, sir. If you…
P2: (interrupts me) I look at it as a dip
Me: If you look at my marks for the four years, you can see that it is almost consistent (the range is less than 1.5 percentage, you see?) and I think it shows only that it is difficult to score marks in engineering than in school.
P2: It shows that you consistently under performed.
Me: Smile.

All of a sudden,

P2 asks: Where is Jog falls?
Me: It is in Karnataka, sir.
P2: Aravalli range?
Me: It is in Rajastan.
P2; Name three countries on the northern boundary of Africa.
Me: Algeria, Libya, Egypt.
P2: Name three states on the west coast of the United States.
Me: California…umm..hmmm…Alaska ( I thought about telling Hawaii also then decided not to go that far ) I cannot recollect a third one sir (I didn’t remember Oregon. I didn’t know that Washington was on the west coast anyway).
P2: (With a mild laugh) Can Alaska be considered?
Me: It is on the western side, sir. So I think there is no problem including it also.
P1: Name three states on the East Cost?
Me: (Why I can give you 6) Maine, Massachusetts, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Fun Restarts:

PGSEM, stress or no stress, personal choice. In between P1 asked me if I read business standard. I said no. He asked me I ought to, since I am eyeing a career in Management, I said my career is now in IT, when I switch to management, I will consider cultivating that habit. P1 said this is not like your twelfth standard where you toss a coin up and decide MBBS or B. Tech. I smiled.

On the earlier essay, P2 had mentioned that PGP is 8 o’clock to 10 o’clock in the class everyday, and 500 pages of reading every week whereas PGSEM is just a day and half of classes. I had said that reading of 500 pages is still required in PGSEM, and often the work schedule goes on like 9 o’clock to 11 o’clock. P1 took that piece up now and told me that it shows I am not managing my seniors and managers effectively and that I should tell them that I wanted a 9 to 7 job. I said 9 to 11 is not everyday affair. I often finish my job much earlier than that, but in some cases, late stay is unavoidable.

Somewhere in between, P1 asks me what I am working in. I said I work in the retail domain, for a prominent retail chain in the North Eastern United States. He asked me what New England was. I said that it is a name for the North Eastern United States. He asked me the states. I said Maine and Massachusetts and that there is one more, which I don’t remember. He asked me if there is only one more. I said I think so. (I checked it later; there are full half-dozen of them - Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont).

P1 said I had no motivation for management. I listed my reasons for my considering doing a post-graduation in Management. One of them is that my work becomes more and more ‘managerial’ anyway, so it is logical that I wish to receive proper expertise in management. P1 started talking about companies having a technical ladder. I said even my company had a technical and a managerial ladder, but I am not to go up the technical ladder. So Blah-Blahs on why followed. P2 who had gone out for a smoke came in hearing this, and told me that that is precisely why I shouldn’t quit my job. I put the stress factor in again.

I was adamant that I will not list placement, prestige or career growth as a reason for my choosing PGP ahead of PGSEM. I knew I would invite trouble. So ‘stress’ was all I was left with. This went on for quite some time. The persuasion to join PGSEM and dropping PGP went on for may be 25 minutes out of a total 35 minutes I was in there.

Finally I said it is personal choice to evaluate the two courses on their merits and de-merits and chose whichever appropriate to one I said I have done this, and I have chosen PGP. P1 abruptly asked P2 if he had any other question. P2 said no, and I was told ‘Thank you’.I said – “Thank you very much sir(s).”I came out holding my head high with the expressions of a gallant soldier just back from the warfront. Two guys to be interviewed by M13 panel were waiting outside. They asked me how it was. I fell down to a chair and said – “Stress, man! Stress at its best.”

Cheers,
APT

Note: The actual PGP Vs PGSEM went on for much longer than what I have listed down. I concentrated around the stress part, P2 said he teaches students of PGP, PGSEM and PGPPM and that there is no stress for PGSEM students. This was the essence. I was not ready to give up and say that PGSEM do not have stress, P2 was not ready to give in and say PGP is less stressful than PGSEM. At one point, I told him I consider not just the course, also the things I will have to do during the entire week; not just one and a half days. P2 said managing the 4 and half days at work while doing PGSEM is my headache. I, almost in an angry tone, told him that that is why I do not want to do it. Things like this went on for quite a long.

Note 2: I went over the website of IIMB to see who the panelists were. P1 turns out to be Dr. Shankar Venkatagiri and P2 happens to be Dr. Ramnath Narayanswamy.