Most Underrated Month for B-school Preparation: The Make or Break December

- A chance to make a comeback through XAT & OMETs.

- Progress in terms of GDPI preparation.

- Fixing your career choices. Being clear about the B-school to target, specialization to choose etc.

- Introspection, a lot of it because it will take care of your HR interview preparation.

- Winters and festivity- Of course, it comes complementary!

Too much ‘gyaan’? Let me set the context straight. You will start getting loaded with results and interview calls within a month’s time. The atmosphere won’t be calm and stress may hinder your preparation. So let’s decode what should be done to make the best use of this time.

GDPI Preparation: The first thing that comes to my mind when I remember my journey last year is the newspaper. Do you read newspapers? If not, there is no escape.

Remember, you create a differentiation for yourself in the interviews if you substantiate your stand with knowledge. Reading every day will serve dual purpose-
- It will improve the quality of the words you choose to speak.

- It will also equip you with some facts on the topics.

So when you have a counter-argument in a Group Discussion, you actually shoot the facts to establish greater credibility.

What are the simple things you must start doing right now?

• Start making notes about the latest affairs and make a habit of having your own opinions on these issues. The more you understand, the better opinions you make.
• Begin working on your CV. It is not mandatory to take a CV in the interviews, but it is better to be ready with one.
• Work on presenting your stories about all the ups and downs in your life- the learnings, the skills and what you aspire to become in future.
• Basic HR questions related to introducing yourself, why MBA, why a specific institute etc. should be well prepared.
• Work on some of the subjects you studied in your under-graduation. Prepare the basic technical answers, the projects you undertook, the internships and the electives you chose.
• Collect all your major certificates and get a folder to present them to the panel.
• Last but not least, the reason you might be sitting in an interview would be that you cleared the entrance exam. So it is expected from you to know the basic maths ( e.g. formulae for mean, median, mode, standard deviation, areas of 2D and 3D shapes, probability etc.)

It is taught to us in marketing that if there is a high demand for a non-existing product and you have all the capabilities to produce that product, be the one to launch and gain the First Mover Advantage.

The journey to a B-school through GDPI is nothing less than marketing yourself to the panel. There is no right time to start acting. The time is now. You will realize that you start becoming confident with each passing day and trust me if you have the knowledge and display it confidently, there is no interviewer who would be able to reject you. Practice will make you perfect.

Make the best use of this winter to spend the next winter writing some articles from your dream B-school’s hostel room!

All the best!