PythaGURUS MBA Admissions: Are you a customer or a Slave?

Figure out where you wish to apply
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Dear Applicants,


Are you a slave or are you a customer? You decide that right now.

Before you start your fearful journey of applying to business schools, I want you to read this incident. Many of you will be able to relate to this conversation, as HE WAS ONE OF YOU. YOU ARE HIM IN EVERYWAY.

ISB MOCK INTERVIEWS: Even after 3-4 rounds of interviews, the applicant and I realized that his nervousness was not dying out.

I tried rehearsing with him many a times, and off hand he would ask very relevant questions, even discuss his responses. However, the moment he would wear an interviewee hat, he would start sounding different. His tone changed, his face expressions looked different and even a 10th class graduate could tell that "Mr. ISB" was not sounding his usual... Honestly ! !

I will share the brief snippets of the conversation( From whatever I remember)......

the conversation..............


Jatin:"What is at Stake and why are we getting so nervous? We have been through many rounds, and you have your essays on the back of the palm now. Why is it too difficult even after weeks of preparation? "

Applicant: "My father has always supported me in whatever I did. He has spent a lot of money for me. He wants me to become something and I also want to be successful. For him and for me, ISB is everything and I cannot afford to lose it. I cannot let my father down and at this age( he was 27 only ☹ ) I want to be successful too."

Jatin: What does ISB Mean to you and your father? How will not getting into ISB be projected in your family?

Applicant: It will be a big failure for me, and my father will think that I am not doing fine in my career.

Jatin: What is it that ISB will bring that will make you so successful? What is it that makes you feel that any B-School that will make you successful?

Applicant: I will get a job of my choice and I will be able to do what I want in the industry. And I want to be a management consultant.

Jatin: You barely know anything about the industry and whatever we have created in the last 3-4 months is so new to you that you do not even know the practical equation of how it would feel to be in such a setting. You have never a management consulting setting. And most of the consultants I know of "DO NOT ENJOY THEIR LIVES". How can you be so sure that this is your life and you will be a failure if you did not accomplish it?

Applicant: So, are you suggesting that I should not get into management consulting?

Jatin: No. I am not suggesting that. I am suggesting that you stopped weighing your success with getting into management consulting or even getting into ISB. They are not related unless you relate them.

Applicant: Okay. Then why are we applying to ISB?

Jatin: What will you get if you get into ISB and even management consulting?

Applicant: I will get satisfaction and happiness.

Jatin: How will you be if you are satisfied and happy? How will you behave? How different will you be?

Applicant: If I am satisfied and happy, I will be free of my worries. I will not have to wait for things to happen in my life. I will be tension free and will do things that I really like.

Jatin: Do you know that ISB is not in the way of your "Success and Happiness or your being free of tensions". It certainly is a path to jobs, but do you think that your pursuit will stop at ISB? The moment you get through to ISB, the next candy will be McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Accenture or whatever you are looking at. And when you get to McKinsey, there will always be a new engagement that will absorb your attention the way ISB is doing right now. It does not seem to end ever?

Applicant: You are right. It will never stop.

Jatin: Shup Up ! You are wrong. It can stop right now if you want.

Applican
t: How?

Jatin
: BY Declaring success. You declare success right now. Declare that whatever you have done in life, you are already successful. How will that make you feel?

Applicant: I feel happy. If I am already successful, I am feeling happy.

Jatin: How would your interview look like if I am interviewing with a happy and successful person?

Applicant: Give me one day and we will interview tomorrow.

------------


We did not interview after that as I got a call from the applicant telling me he does not want to make a big deal out of it. He just asked some technical questions, and even told me that he had been acting very stupid. He knew the responses but was surprised with his inability to speak about himself. And I was happy to learn from him later that he MADE IT TO ISB. But more than that, I was happy to know that he realized that it was not a big deal ☺ and he was very casual. It honestly was not a big deal and will not be. Neither will getting into Wharton be a big deal. It will bring momentary upswings.

This is not my accomplishment. This is what he created in his life.

I want to be very candid with you: You are the customer and a business school is your service provider. You will be PAYING THEM A LOT OF MONEY. YOU WILL BE GIVING UP YOUR JOBS TO JOIN THEM. Can you stop behaving as if your life depends on them? If success has to start, it has to start within you right now.

This post may not be completely related to MBA Admissoins, but partially, I wanted to convey this to you that all of you have been very successful in your own lives in your own way. Do not raise the stakes of a business school admission. It does not mean anything.

Be Successful even before applying to business schools. You already are truly.

And behave like a customer. Do not behave like a slave. Honestly!


Jatin
Regards,

PythaGURUS Education

MBA Admissions Consulting

www.pythagurus.com