My interview experience at SJMSOM was perhaps my best experience in this season b-school PIs. Among Interview days filled with long waiting times in Zoom Waiting Rooms, and going through the daily news for the smallest new morsel of information that might get asked in an interview, I did not have any special expectations from SJMSOM, apart from being simultaneously excited and anxious for the Interview, like I had been for every other Interview before this one. The start of the process was a bit different though, when the email from SJMSOM arrived to my inbox, containing information about an unknown platform, Gather, that would be used for the entire process.
On the D-Day itself, I connected with the Gather link on time for my PI. The video-calling space was quite innovative, as well as easy and fun to navigate. Apart from that, in the current pandemic times, when the interviews are being held online, and the MBA aspirants are not getting a chance to actually explore in-person, the b-school that they are interviewing for, Gather brought the virtual process as close to as possible to an offline interview experience. Even the waiting times, as well as the times spent between attendance, registration and the actual interview itself, did not feel cumbersome.
The interview itself was great, with the professors and alumni of SJMSOM asking me questions on topics known and unknown, testing my knowledge as well as my attitude, and a lot of factors that I would not notice myself. There were in-depth questions about the projects I had done in the past, along with those that tested my knowledge about my own region, in aspects relating to management and otherwise. My perseverance was also tested when I was presented with questions that I did not know the answer to, along with the behavioral questions that tested whether I had the right temperament as a future manager.
All in all, it was a great learning experience, that is why, I am glad that I am joining the Shailesh J. Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay, this year.