Yippeee yay yay.. got shortlisted.. After all the celebration it dawned on me that there is a lot of work to do than anything else. I had to do 5 questions:
1. How do you see the PGSEM helping you in your goals? (150 words)
2. How would the PGSEM classroom benefit by your presence? (150 words)
3. What are two major achievements in your career? (150 words)
4. What is a major shortcoming you wish to discuss? What have you learned from it?
5. What is one issue dear to you? How do you see it resolved? (200 words)
Question 4 and 5 were the hardest. It took more than 2 days to even get the points done. I wrote my first draft had 3 main reviewers. I feel the reviews shaped the SOP really well.
Choosing the reviewers was very important. They should "want" you to make it to the course.
My husband was a natural choice of course, and 2 of my friends. Marrying a perfectionist was the best decision I ever made :) he had this immense patience to read-re-read the SOP and review it multiple number of times.
Finally submitted a well written SOP, most of my interview questions were from it. I guess it was an integral part of the selection process.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Is it destiny?
My entry into PGSEM'08 has made me believe in destiny more than anything else. The application deadline being extended by 2 days to accommodate my arrival from US, the googly caslet in the exam paper to name a few things.
The exam preparation started six years ago to be precise. My preparation for GRE - the exhaustive 50 wordlists from Barrons that strengthened my vocabulary. 2004 was my tryst with cat, couldnt fare beyond 92 percentile, there were a couple of personal factors attributed to it. 2006 cat + 2007 pgsem.. I'd rather not talk about the disasters. Would erase those chapters if I could.
I always "felt" that I should be giving PGSEM another shot, but never worked towards it. I even tried to settle down for an exec-MBA. It is purely a decision from the heart to go for the PGSEM-08 test. My usually supportive husband was also sceptical about my spurt of interest for the course. I slogged for a month. Took tests after tests. Worked out sums in boring meetings. (I am officially not saying this) Did my worldlists again. Stayed away from TV.
After a long time I felt prepared for an exam. The paper seemed very easy. I attempted almost all the questions.
Ofcourse IIM threw a surprise caselet about "tata-nano" in the exam. There were 2 questions to answer. I did the 1st one really really well. (I guess the practice for GRE case writing helped a lot). Since I had lost touch writing with a pen and paper, I wasnt fast enough for the 2nd answer, gave an half hearted attempt at it. Ofcourse felt super bad about not writing the 2nd answer well. The sad part was I knew so much about nano i could have done the answer really well. :(
I chewed my husband's brains for my mistake. Nice man that he is he did not leave me for all the tantrums I threw :) I eagerly awaited the results..
Finally after days and hours of refreshing yahoo mail I found the mail I was wainting for. Shortlisted!!!! "I made it" I thought I would pass out from the excitement. :)
Stay tuned for the sop, interview and the aftermath. :)
The exam preparation started six years ago to be precise. My preparation for GRE - the exhaustive 50 wordlists from Barrons that strengthened my vocabulary. 2004 was my tryst with cat, couldnt fare beyond 92 percentile, there were a couple of personal factors attributed to it. 2006 cat + 2007 pgsem.. I'd rather not talk about the disasters. Would erase those chapters if I could.
I always "felt" that I should be giving PGSEM another shot, but never worked towards it. I even tried to settle down for an exec-MBA. It is purely a decision from the heart to go for the PGSEM-08 test. My usually supportive husband was also sceptical about my spurt of interest for the course. I slogged for a month. Took tests after tests. Worked out sums in boring meetings. (I am officially not saying this) Did my worldlists again. Stayed away from TV.
After a long time I felt prepared for an exam. The paper seemed very easy. I attempted almost all the questions.
Ofcourse IIM threw a surprise caselet about "tata-nano" in the exam. There were 2 questions to answer. I did the 1st one really really well. (I guess the practice for GRE case writing helped a lot). Since I had lost touch writing with a pen and paper, I wasnt fast enough for the 2nd answer, gave an half hearted attempt at it. Ofcourse felt super bad about not writing the 2nd answer well. The sad part was I knew so much about nano i could have done the answer really well. :(
I chewed my husband's brains for my mistake. Nice man that he is he did not leave me for all the tantrums I threw :) I eagerly awaited the results..
Finally after days and hours of refreshing yahoo mail I found the mail I was wainting for. Shortlisted!!!! "I made it" I thought I would pass out from the excitement. :)
Stay tuned for the sop, interview and the aftermath. :)
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