Still thinking ...

First, a big thanks to all of you who responded to my previous posts. Your suggestions were really helpful !

I had my Chicago interview today morning at 9. It was at a Coffee Bean outlet. Just as Mr Montauk had prescribed, I wore a starched white shirt, a dark blue suit, socks upto calf length, a conservatively striped blue tie, and shiny black shoes.

The interview started with he buying me a cup of coffee ( you see, I reached the destination half an hour early and had already drank a cup before, so I knew where the sugar was kept). As he chewed over this snack ( he said he had no breakfast today morning ) - he talked a little about my job in a pretty relaxed tone. Then his snack got over, and he said, "let's start" - and I thought, he is gonna slowly butcher me up now.

He began by asking me why GSB ? I think I said what I had to say, but I really dont think he agreed to everything. He said that although GSB is strong in many ways, another school is better at some things I was interested in. I nodded along. He then asked me about a challenging situation at work, and here too, he grilled me a little. He said that he didnt believe in having easy run-of-the-mill interviews, because then you dont know what stuff the interviewee is made of. I thought, "oh shit --- I am dead".

He kept questioning me on this and that, career goals, why mba etc - although nothing in the specific format. He wanted to know what specifically I would do in the long term - specific as in absolutely specific. I said i wanted to work in X industry and do A, B, C, D....then he said, "List A, B, C, D in order of preference..". I said , " B and D", and he remarked," you know , B and D are jobs for completely two different kinds of people - how do you see yourself doing those two things". Now, to be true, the question was absolutely random, and my answer was as random as it could be. It was then that I realised that he had already shot the first round of bullets, and it had started to hurt. I managed to say something to salvage lost ground, but I am not sure how much of it I finally recovered.

He had warmed up by now, and he fired another round of gunpowder-pellets, by asking me to sell myself. I repeated the answer I had prepared. He then threw a cannon ball and says," Ok, you did this and that. Let's say Mr Joe did this and that, worked in the same industry as you did, worked in similar international locations, led many different teams, has great extracurriculars - so why should we take you over him ??? " ---- needless to say, this cannon ball made a big dent....I wanted to say," I know you would take him over me, but ....hmmmm.....ahhh....i think you should also take me ....(smiles)" . But I couldnt say that, could I ? I took him back to my past, related something about my childhood - talked about how I grew up...blah blah blah. I think by this time he had thought its enough - so he threw the floor open for questions.

I asked him some, and suddenly - he asks me back - which other schools have you applied. I say, K, W, Ross- and he says, why ? - so I explain. Then he says - you know, I think you will be better off at K....I wish I could say that yes, I know that, but you see, I dont have an admit from K yet - and I am not sure if I will ever get one. I said GSB is a great school, and started my usual rant. I think he loves K a lot, because he asked me finally, "if you have to choose between K and GSB, where will you go"...., and I felt, come on - first give me the admits, and then I will make the most logically sound decision ever made in the history of mankind. I couldnt say GSB directly, but I did say that I love GSB for a, b and c, and my rant started again....

The interview lasted for approximately 40 mins(probably a tad more). Walking out of the coffee outlet, I felt nice about the fact that I didnt stammer, or have hiccups(I generally dont, but nervousness can make you do anything you know). But I am absolutely clueless about the quality of answers. I am sure that I didnt spellbound him, but I think I didnt screw it up either. As I write this post, I remember what all I could have done better at, and I kinda get a sinking feeling thinking about it. This race is tough, and I really hope that Lady Luck shines on me for the month of March :)

Good luck to all of you who are interviewing for various schools. And before Alex or Graham come knocking, I gotta go and wiki this post.

Kellogg's next in queue, it is a phone interview, and generally tougher than GSB. I dont know what I will do, but first, I will go watch a movie now - anyone seen "Suspect Zero" ?