CASE : You have been appointed to head the team to build a dam across the River Zumba. Success in this project is critical for your company and would earn you a promotion. Failure would mean that your company would be bankrupt and will take along with it, its investors and its employees. Building a dam across the river would result in deforestation of a portion of the rainforests and would mean relocation of the tribals and destabilization of wild life at Zumba. There is resistance from environmental groups against your project. You are meeting the head of the resistance movement in one hour wherein you would have to explain your decision. Describe what you would do and why? (You will be evaluated on the creativity and practicality of your solution).
PRINCIPAL BASIC BENEFITS THAT WILL COME INTO EXISTANCE
AFTER THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER SOURCES
1. Flood control benefits; it decreases and remove the flood effects.
2. Land improvement benefits; are the extra benefits that will occur after
an increase in the soil productivity because of drainage and land improvement
pecautions.
3. Electricity energy benefits; are the energy benefit value of the more
economical project out of two alternative projects.
4. Transportation benefits;are the benefits that will happen in case of there
is waterway transportation in the project.
5. Providing drinking water and domestic water benefits are different
from each other and should be investigated one by one.
6. Irrigation benefits; defines the distinction benefits between dry and irrigated
positions
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Points to Build on - Application
I truly believe it came down to these two things:
1. Your career progression and how well you could portray it in your essays. You need to have articulated clearly your impact to the company.
2. Your goals have to be really clear-I know it is cliched- but the successful guys goals flowed really well from his current role and he maintained a solid theme of his goals throughout the essays. His essays were not as "polished" but had a lot of passion for his goals. In contrast, my essays were pretty well edited and written but lacked the passion I feel. The guy who was WL had an equally impressive WE (he has made presentations to the CEO of the company, a Fortune 200 one. He has increased revenue of almost a $1BB for this company). But his essays were similar to mine- conservative and lacked that personal and passionate feel. Bottomline- dont try to replicate those essays found in books and let your true self come out.
3. Try to do something extra- submit an extra reco if the school allows. Make that extra trip to the school and try to get as much face time with the adcoms as possible. I think they might not be decisive factors but every little bit might help.
Having said that, for an Indian to get into M7 is a pretty tough task. I know there are a lot of desis in all the top schools but I am talking about pure acceptance rates for us is probably less than 10%. Even on this forum- we had a bunch of impressive desi profiles and I think mneo, ujjib and nupur (I am sure I am missing 1 or 2) are the few who have been admitted to an M7. I am not trying to discourage you at all- just trying to put things in perspective.
I truly believe it came down to these two things:
1. Your career progression and how well you could portray it in your essays. You need to have articulated clearly your impact to the company.
2. Your goals have to be really clear-I know it is cliched- but the successful guys goals flowed really well from his current role and he maintained a solid theme of his goals throughout the essays. His essays were not as "polished" but had a lot of passion for his goals. In contrast, my essays were pretty well edited and written but lacked the passion I feel. The guy who was WL had an equally impressive WE (he has made presentations to the CEO of the company, a Fortune 200 one. He has increased revenue of almost a $1BB for this company). But his essays were similar to mine- conservative and lacked that personal and passionate feel. Bottomline- dont try to replicate those essays found in books and let your true self come out.
3. Try to do something extra- submit an extra reco if the school allows. Make that extra trip to the school and try to get as much face time with the adcoms as possible. I think they might not be decisive factors but every little bit might help.
Having said that, for an Indian to get into M7 is a pretty tough task. I know there are a lot of desis in all the top schools but I am talking about pure acceptance rates for us is probably less than 10%. Even on this forum- we had a bunch of impressive desi profiles and I think mneo, ujjib and nupur (I am sure I am missing 1 or 2) are the few who have been admitted to an M7. I am not trying to discourage you at all- just trying to put things in perspective.
Be Bold and Ready to Boast of your success
It's OK to boast (a little):
Generally, while talking, we desis (especially those who studied and worked in India) have a tendency of being a little discrete about our achievements and successes. We do fine on paper with the essays, but when it comes to the interviews, I feel we do not play up our achievements for all they are worth. On the other hands, Americans are very upfront about it and they expect us to tell them how great we are - something we are not used to. Of course, this doesn't mean that we should all become narcissists! Just ensure that you clearly communicate your successes and what you did to contribute without holding back.
Show, don't tell (even in the interview)
Something else that I realized during my R-1 postmortem (and corrected it in R-2) was the fact that in most instances, I was 'mentioning' my achievements and not really elaborating them. Definitely not a good idea! In the later interviews, I would mention the achievement, then talk about something specific about it - either a particular incident or how that experience itself has contributed to my well-roundedness. Most interviewers give applicants a fair amount of leeway in guiding the discussions. So take advantage of this and give anecdotes to 'show' (and not just 'tell') your strengths.
The power of anecdotes
Personal experience are just that - personal. They make your interview a lot more personal and less scripted. The anecdote, being your's and therefore unique, will stand out from the usual drivel that interviewers constantly hear. Told well, a good anecdote will definitely pique the interviewer's interest in you. Another great thing that I noticed about anecdotes was that while telling them during the interviews, I automatically became more comfortable and was able to build up a stronger rapport with the interviewer. Sometimes the interviewer would pitch in with something similar from his own personal experience and we would really take off on a great conversation from there.
It's OK to boast (a little):
Generally, while talking, we desis (especially those who studied and worked in India) have a tendency of being a little discrete about our achievements and successes. We do fine on paper with the essays, but when it comes to the interviews, I feel we do not play up our achievements for all they are worth. On the other hands, Americans are very upfront about it and they expect us to tell them how great we are - something we are not used to. Of course, this doesn't mean that we should all become narcissists! Just ensure that you clearly communicate your successes and what you did to contribute without holding back.
Show, don't tell (even in the interview)
Something else that I realized during my R-1 postmortem (and corrected it in R-2) was the fact that in most instances, I was 'mentioning' my achievements and not really elaborating them. Definitely not a good idea! In the later interviews, I would mention the achievement, then talk about something specific about it - either a particular incident or how that experience itself has contributed to my well-roundedness. Most interviewers give applicants a fair amount of leeway in guiding the discussions. So take advantage of this and give anecdotes to 'show' (and not just 'tell') your strengths.
The power of anecdotes
Personal experience are just that - personal. They make your interview a lot more personal and less scripted. The anecdote, being your's and therefore unique, will stand out from the usual drivel that interviewers constantly hear. Told well, a good anecdote will definitely pique the interviewer's interest in you. Another great thing that I noticed about anecdotes was that while telling them during the interviews, I automatically became more comfortable and was able to build up a stronger rapport with the interviewer. Sometimes the interviewer would pitch in with something similar from his own personal experience and we would really take off on a great conversation from there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)