How A Conversation Led To Self-Discovery: My BITSoM Interview

I first came across BITSoM through my senior, who is a part of the founding class. However, having not heard of it before, I did not apply for it right away. Instead, I gave my GRE (score- 322) in August 2021 with the aim of pursuing my MBA either from a top Indian B-School such as ISB or a foreign university to help me achieve my dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Having co-founded a start-up before joining BITSoM, I had some entrepreneurial experience. But I wanted to set my foundation, increase my knowledge and learn from experts in different domains before pursuing my goals. This is where MBA came into the picture for me. So, while researching about B-Schools in India which accepted GRE, I came across BITSoM again. It was then that I went to BITSoM’s website and read about it.

I must say I was impressed by what they had showcased- faculty from top universities across the world, Winning at the Workplace courses, the legacy of BITS Pilani, and of course, the London Business School Immersion Program! Their claims were impressive, but they seemed too good to be true. So, I decided to give my senior a ring to know her opinion of BITSoM. She told me about how the course is comprehensive and rigorous and helps us think with a 360-degree view. She told me about the diversity of her peers- from architects to doctors, from entrepreneurs to freshers. She told me about how faculty from Wharton, Kellogg, and even top IIMs came over to teach each block. For me, this eliminated the necessity of studying at a foreign university. Finally, she gave her opinion on each aspect of BITSoM, which was genuinely positive, and I was sold. I decided to apply to BITSoM!

I then filled out my application which also consisted of two essays-

Q1. Tell us a little bit about yourself, your beliefs, and your career aspirations and how an MBA would help your goals.

A: Answering this essay was somewhat like putting down in stone what I had envisioned for myself. It helped me picture what I wanted more clearly, along with the path to achieving it. I wrote about wanting to start my own venture around social impact and sustainability and how an MBA will help me achieve my dream.

Q2. Tell us about a time when you learnt something completely new, your experience learning it, what you learnt from it and how you applied this new learning.

A: This essay got me racking my brains! Because till date I have learnt many things, but off the top of my head, I couldn’t think of something new I’d learnt and is worthwhile to mention in an important essay. After a lot of pondering, I wrote an essay on how I had learnt about the stock market on my own and had started investing. I had my misgivings about this because it might come across as something very ordinary. But nevertheless, I felt it was a big deal for me, so I decided to take a shot with this.

Q3. Is there anything else you would like us to know? (non-mandatory question)

A:  The answer to this came easy to me. I wrote about my entrepreneurial experience, of co-founding my start-up and my learnings from it.

I believe that the third question separates the real MBA and BITSoM aspirants from the rest, and two weeks later, I was called in for my interview!

This is how it went-

There were two panellists- One was a member of the admissions and outreach team at BITSoM, and the other, was an alumnus of BITS Pilani. The interview was held online on Zoom.

After exchanging pleasantries, the first panellist told me this would be a conversation between them and me and not a stressful interview. He told me that they wanted to get to know me and gauge if I was a right fit for their B-School. This instantaneously put me at ease (phew). After this, the interview (or should I say conversation?) began-

P1- So Neha, you have done engineering and are now working at Schneider Electric, which is a good company, why do you want to pursue MBA?

Me- Answered. Told them about my career aspirations.

P2- But why not continue with engineering? There is a lot of scope in technology now, especially in AI & ML, which you have studied. There is a lot of growth and money in it as well. Then why not continue with this?

Me- Sir, I believe that technology is all-encompassing and is something that humankind and business cannot survive without. However, I am passionate about having my own venture and creating an impact on people directly. Coming from an engineering background, I will always give high priority to technology and will implement and use new-age technology in my start-up (answered this more elaborately).

P1- Can you name any of your favourite subjects from engineering?

Me- Engineering Mathematics.

P1- Why don't you pursue a career in mathematics? Maybe academia? Especially since you are driven towards creating a social impact.

Me- I believe that mathematics is fundamental to any domain, and we will find extensive usage of it in MBA and outside as well. However, I want to start my own start-up where I can learn new things and implement what I’ve learnt. And I am not inclined towards academia, though I have immense respect for it (again, answered this more elaborately).

Essentially, many of the questions revolved around analysing if I was sure about my decision to pursue my MBA and achieve my career goals. When asked such questions, I always took a minute to think before answering despite being clear about the answer. I would not immediately dismiss the idea as it can come across as haughty. Instead, I would be mindful of their suggestion and try to incorporate them in what I want to do in the future (as in the previous questions).

P2- You mentioned that you want to have your own social business in the future. What do you mean by it? What business would you like to run?

Me- I told them about social issues currently plaguing society and what I would like to do to address them.

P1- But for this, you can start an NGO or an NPO. Why do you want to start a business?

Me- NGOs and NPOs have limitations because of their sources of funding (I listed out the sources and other limitations). However, if all the stakeholders have an incentive (such as monetary incentives) to be involved in a social cause, then I think it will have higher scope for growth and a greater impact, which is why I want to start a social business.

The following questions were about my plans to start a social business and about my start-up experience. I took them through my start-up journey- from ideation and market research to procurement and implementation, I covered all aspects. They had many follow-up questions on each of the aspects, which I answered in detail. I had anticipated such questions and so had introspected and formed a vague idea of the answers. I reflected on what I did, why I took the decisions I took, what went wrong, what I could have done instead, what were my learnings, how did I apply what I learnt later and so on. I then connected my start-up experience to my future social venture plans and told them about what learnings I can apply and what I would do differently. I also told them about my business plan and answered the subsequent questions. My answers weren’t clear cut and definite for this, but I don’t think they expected me to know everything but have a general sense of what I wanted to do, when and how.

P1- Ok, I think we are done here. Anything you would like to ask us?

Me- How has your experience been so far working with a new B-School?

The panellists were happy with the question and answered a little elaborately.

This brought my BITSoM interview experience to an end.

Duration: 40 minutes

Verdict - Converted! It was a great interview experience! More than an interview, it was also a self-discovery process for me, as I got to introspect on many questions, I hadn't given much thought to! They do not expect us to have everything planned and figured out, but as long as they see our passion and understand we are genuine, I think we're good to go.