Oxford 2008 Application and Beyond

[sethankur]

Originally Posted by stonewar

I have interview scheduled tomorrow with Dr. Tomo Suzuki and I am told to call him up.

hey stonewar,

ur interview experience ???

[namrtamoudgil]

Hey stonewar.. u had the interview yest right?? no inputs? hope all went off fine..

[stonewar]

Interview was okay okay!! Mr Tomo Suzuki, like a real jap, told me at very starting that he had 20 minutes to talk to me.
Following questions were posed
1) Tell me about yourself as person and not as professional.
2) What will you focus more on if you are admit to Oxford? He meant what speciality area like finance, marketing etc
3) What is your long term goal? How much will be cost of developing product? What will be long term sustainable advantage?
4) If product becomes popular, price should increase. But in case of Personal computers price went down. Why?

Then he told me he had enough information to evaluate my case and the adminstrator will get in touch with me.
It was very professional and serious interview.

[schukka]

Originally Posted by namrtamoudgil

Thanks. I also got the interview mail. Finalised for 30 Nov. Wish us all luck

Hi namrta.
all the best to you. please post your interview review tomorrow.

thans for your comments Stonewar... wish you all the best.

[namrtamoudgil]

Dear all,
had my interview yest...
I called up promptly at 4:15 PM GMT... Dr Molloy took the call. Started off by asking me where I was calling from and what the time was here... very friendly begining.
Initially he said that i had called up a bit late but he then realised that my scheduled time was 4:15... neways then he mentioned that he had another call at 4:30.. so only 15 mins avlble.
First he asked me why MBA and why oxford... Second question was what i would add to oxford..

then he came up a with a game question from some newspaper.. regarding picking a number (from 1 to 100) as per some given instructions so as win a game while competing with a grp of other ppl... slightly confusing.. again focussng on the analysis of the problem than the ans.. he said he didnt knw the ans either so lets jst wrk it out together..... have no idea how i did coz he kept questioning on that for a while.... :P

Then he asked if i had any experience from work or otherwise where in numerical/ statistical distribution and behavioural pattern of ppl interacted... (guess this stemmed from the above game question coz we had to think how other competitors in the game wud pick the numbers and pick one accordingly... so human behaviour with probability of picking a number interlinked) .........I came up with an exmaple from work... i think it made sense to him... (hope so)

finally what i luk forwd to in oxford... and if i had any questions for him...
He was very friendly and added his own inputs to the discussion... whole thing lasted aba 20 mins........rest now keeping fingers crossed......

[sethankur]

best wishes ajay....do post in your experience

Originally Posted by ajaymba06

Probably true.

I got my telephonic interview confirmed for 4th Dec. They have asked to send across original marksheets. that is not possible for me . As it is a uphill task to get duplicates issues if i loose originals.

I have asked if i can send across certified copies in sealed envelop.

Thanks
Ajay

[ajaymba06]

Originally Posted by sethankur

best wishes ajay....do post in your experience

Guys, I am done

I was interviewed with Roger, Finance Consultant with SAID business school. My interview lasted for about 30 minutes. He had given me 25 minutes. I was asked following questions :
-- Do i know about him?
1. If offered a place in ESADE and oxford (i have mentioned ESADE in my app), which one will i choose and why.
2. Why not LBS?
3. In my 2nd essay, i wrote review of a book. Autobiography of Branson. he asked few questions about that.
4. Is my family supporting my decision?
5. Top 3 reasons for joining MBA. and how would oxford help.

Pretty much normal interview. Now the wait starts.

[laltu007]

Hi Guys,

My Interview was straight forward(telephonic), standard questions specifically related to what I have written in Essays.

1. Current Job profile.
2. Short Term Plans.
3. Long Term Plans.

It ended there.

The iunterviewer himself gave me the feedback that the adcom will meet again for a complete review of my application within feefteen days. Since the interview is not on the committee he does not know the exact details, but I may hear back from them in about 15-20 days.

i later realised there were some trivial mistakes, which I could have handled in a much better way. Keeping my fingures crossed!!!!

My profile
Indian, Male, 28, Married
GMAT 690
5+yrs of WX
Mech Engineer
Working into Software ( few months of onsite, but mainly into prod dev. CAD/CAM/FEM)
Aspirations entrepreneurship

-Laltu

[schukka]

Hi all,
I went to Oxford Open day on 7th Dec. The admissions committee was very helpful. I had my interview scheduled at 1300 hrs on the same day when lunch is also scheduled. We had a presentation by Stephen Chambers Director of the school to start with... and later on meeting the current students etc. I was walked through to my interviewer's room. It looked like I was disturbing him in his research work. I was the first goat in line of 4-5 coming up at half hour intervals starting 1300 hrs. We sat on a small round table within closed doors. He had my app in fornt of him and...

So, what is you is your under-graduation? (Mech Engg)
What’s your first job?
Then what?
Why Insurance? (I already mentioned in my app. So I referred that and told the same)
What’s your profile – what did you do?
What’s your current profile?
Do you hv any managerial experience? And related 2-3 questions because I don’t hv any man mngmt experience lately.
Are you still in touch with the industry happenings in India?
Is the market competitive?
How do the market aspects affect the business?
So, you are in A…I…G. What is it?? (I had my eyes rolling all over. For all those who hv not heard of it but only saw it on Man United Jersey, It is American Intl Group.)
So, how is it working in an American Co?
Why do you want to do MBA NOW?
Why in Oxford?
How will you contribute to your fellow mates in your class?
I prepared for the ‘Why MBA?’ and I was continuously shouting ‘Ask me, Ask me, Ask me…’. He read my mind. He didn’t ask.
What other schools hv u applied?
What if you got admission in other schools, which will you join? Why?
So, you wrote about ____ book. Why? A related question and that was a bouncer. After starting badly like I managed to crawl the tight rope to the other end.

All the above and may be 2 -3 questions which I might have not recollected took just about 15 mins. Primarily because, he was skimming through my application and looking forward to asking next question even while I am responding to the question thrown at my face. So, my answers were short (though not sweet) and ranged from 1 to 3 statements.

Next, I was given the baton and I asked one question and it took 3-4 mins discussion before he said he will send his recommendation to the ad com and I shud hear in a few days and we shook hands.

I was hungry by 1320 and I was lead to a chatter (box) room with prospective and current students munching on the lunch served on table. I found nothing to my appetite and had to settle with some banana and potato chips.

Next we were in a (mock) session by Howard Jones on Financial Markets Trading. He is very good and the session was interesting.
Next we had a small session by the careers services manager. The only new thing I learnt is that there will be no Ox/ Cam fair (as it used to be) starting Jan 2008. There will be an Oxford Fair where companies would come. The placement scene is particularly bright in Finance and Consulting though I do not want to overshadow that in industry and other lines.

We were taken around the school at the end of the day. I was told that Judge Business School is may be around half the size of Said Business School. It could be because of the relative class size. Btw, “Said” is pronounced sounding similar to “Saeed” as in “Saeed Anwar.”

And I saw a post in this thread about the fin assistance. Barclays has a loan programme arranged with SBS but it is not guaranteed, so you hv to apply for it separately showing your credentials and why u want it etc once you receive an admit.

Now fingers crossed.

Cheers
Shivanand
P.S. Sorry for a long post (making it a lil longer with this PS again)

[Simz]

All the best to all you guys who have finished their interviews or who are awaiting interview calls.. Im a R2 applicant for Said..

It wud be great if everyone who has finished their app or interview could give some tips / pointers/ line of thought for the essays.. Since there are only two essays and that too quite huge the margin for mistake is really thin..

Sam