My MBA Admissions journey

XLRI, ya this is name that I talk, hear and write about these days. I am going to soon join XLRI’s General management Program (GMP), Executive Postgraduate Diploma In General Management. It is one the three flagship programs apart from other two - much famed PMIR and BM. It is a one year full time residential program catering to students who come with significant work experience ( Avg 7-8 years)
While I was applying to various B-schools, XLRI was always on top of my list because of following reasons:
· XLRI’s brand name. It is one of the top 5 http://www.careerlauncher.com/mba/about_mba/top_b_schools_in_India.html B schools in India. It is one of the oldest institutions offering Business education since 1949.
· GMP program is oldest 1 year program. I was nicely surprised with the fact that 1 year XLRI MBA program was started much before ISB’s which is highly recognized for creating and establishing the acceptability of 1 year program among Indian recruiters.
· Indisputably very strong profiles of 2008-2009 batch, http://xlri.ac.in/downloads/xlri_gmp_2009.pdf . The batch had people from diverse sectors – Auto, Shipping, PSU, Manufacturing, IT, Steel, Power, Energy etc.
· Mature Batch in terms of age.
· Marquee list of top notch faculty.
I was in US when I applied for the program. It was the simplest application that I had written - Paper application with a Short note on my current roles and responsibility. When you are writing unending lengthy applications, XLRI’s application comes as a welcome relief. One more visit to USPS, Eden prairie from where I sent the filled in application along with Bankers check for $50.

The journey to B-school is very interesting. You come across students, alumni and tons of data on internet. In order to understand the program better, I wanted to hear from current students. My conversations began with Manish Ballal, who was then studying in GMP. You need some overlap to begin a conversation. I noticed Manish and I shared same level of prior work experience and same employer, Infosys. Since then he has always been very helpful in answering my queries and clarifying doubts.
While in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, I had small group of friends. Prasad and Urvi were part of this group. They were from XLRI and so were natural attractions to me. See, Man is so selfish; he discovers all the overlaps similar to ants finding out their source of food. Those were the days when I was readying to fly back to India as my US assignment was coming to a logical end. Urvi introduced me to Rajesh and Niti Singh, both were XLRI alumni. In fact Rajesh belongs to first batch of GMP.

During this application process, I have been very fortunate of getting attention from people whom I didn’t know before. I had privilege of having long, insightful and interesting conversations. I set an appointment with Rajesh. I called him and soon discovered that he is at Airport heading for a vacation along with his family. I was surprised with the fact how deftly he was conversing with me and doing airport boarding procedures at the same time.
He said, “Anshuman, MBA is for starting a business. Creating Entrepreneurs is what B-Schools are for”. This was the most striking line that I remember till date which has caught my imagination since then. I hope I can work on some ideas and craft concrete business plans.
My wait for result had begun. I was hopeful of getting shortlisted for interview but you never know what is in store for you considering the high level of competition in India.

Jan 23 2009- I was very happy at receiving Interview shortlist and nervous too as the real task of preparing my strategy for interview began.
I flew back to Bhubaneswar with cherished memories of my two year of stay in Minnesota. I was staying in Infy guesthouse, disconnected from world. With no Gmail access for a week, I was going crazy.
Feb 05 2009 - I happened to check my emails and not so nice surprise was in store for me. “You are expected to answer 6 questions/essays. Answer to these questions can be provided by 15th February 2009, preferably by logging in only once.” What??? My not so smooth US to India transition was not yet over and I am expected to write 6 essays in 10 days... XLRI never stops surprising you. This also showed its commitment for innovating new things.
I got to know that record number of applications have poured in this time and essays will help adcom in better evaluating candidates.
I was tensed, frustrated of not getting enough time to concentrate, was looking for accommodation as my guest house stay was getting over and worrying about trivial and not so trivial things but I was determined to give best shot at essays and submit them on time. Essay topics were on long term goals, conflicts and crisis at workplace, creative solutions that didn’t work, risks taken, collaboration and diversity.
Essay topics were unique and interesting. I had to really apply lot of brain to come up with well crafted and logical essays. I submitted essays on time. Thereafter, I shifted my attention back to Interview preparation. Interviewing in an Indian B-School is very different from an American B-school. B-school Interviews in India are full of cross questioning, grilling, intimidation and putting candidate at unease unlike US B-School interviews where candidates are very much at ease and interviewers follow a set pattern.

I was fortunate to attend a seminar on MBA Interviews at IMS, Bhubaneswar by Mr. Srijat MishraChief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Kalingasoft. It was very helpful and insightful talk. Being alumnus from IIM-C, his words carried credence. I built the question tree strategy that he suggested and was confidently prepared for the D-Day.
4th Mar 2009 - I was in Jamshedpur; getting ready for the final strike. I had plenty of time as I my interview was scheduled at the end of day. I confirmed plans with Manish for a lunch meeting at XLRI campus. I reached XL campus and was looking for directions for GMP hostels. I saw three mid age guys coming. I asked them for directions and reached Hostels. It was already way past 12pm. I was hungry. Immediately I accompanied Manish to Dining hall which was buzzing with GMP students talking about classes and placements.
Soon I was surrounded by other students and to my surprise; I was sitting among ex infoscions - Sandeep Vadnere, Sairam Iyer and Niraj. They gave me some tips about interview and talked about happenings @ XL and Infosys.
Loaded with a feel of XL, I came back to hotel where I was staying, was feeling uneasy as time for interview was not very far. I dressed up in Business formals, came out of hotel and looked around for auto in hot and scorching heat.
Here comes an Auto, one other guy and I stopped the same auto. He asked, - going for XLRI interview??. I said yes. There I met Saikat who had just finished his interview and saw going to see nearby attractions in city.
We decided to take the same auto and he shared his interview experience with me. In no time I was in front of MDP residence e block, got down from auto and went towards the building where GMP interviews were going on. To my surprise, I was the last candidate on the last day of GMP Interviews.
My mind was going blank as I was finally ready for the last step towards admission.
Interview panel had 3 Profs and to my utter surprise they were same folks who directed me to GMP Hostel when I came to meet students in the afternoon.
Interview lasted for 30 mins without tinge of ennui on their faces, although they were interviewing since morning.
Since I could answer all the questions very well, was very confident with the interview performance.
Now wait for final results began…
Last week of March 2009, someone sends me an email that XLRI results are out. I clicked GMP results link and closed my eyes for a moment before a “Congratulations” message appeared. I checked results one more time to verify that that I am finally in.
That evening, I was ecstatic, laughing from within and felt satisfied with outcome of a long drawn admission process.