Let's get high.

I had my Business Management interview at Singapore Management University (SMU) today, and gosh, what an ordeal.

Upon reaching Lee Kong Chian School of Business, i was certainly hoping for some familiar faces to ease the tension, instead a group of people giving the blur shy body language was all i had.

Moving on, after the registration and verification of my documents, i was presented with a group number and ushered into a classroom. The next instruction given was to write your name in a loud manner on a piece of paper, which will be used as a name card, the budget/cheapo/non-environmental way.

Anyhow, a guy with a well tailored business wear came in and started the ball rolling. He announced that we should be feeling privileged because we are the two thousand applicants out of ten thousand plus applicants this year who have been selected for the interview. After this round of interview, only six hundred lucky/well deserved applicants will be finally selected for enrollment.

He handed out each of us a set of essay questions which must be completed in less than five hundred words and within forty five minutes. I was like totally not prepared for this, hence, i randomly picked the first question, being the most straight forward, “tell your friend about your learning style”. Made full use of the whole forty five minutes, and completed on the dot without the chance to even read through once. Honestly, i had a gut feeling that i wrote totally out of point (too used to random thoughts when wordpressing) and i had an atrocious amount of spelling errors, worst still, sentence structuring disaster. Suddenly, being able to type on a keyboard with spell check in place, made me feel relieved.

Following that, a newspaper article was then handed out, and we were given ten minutes to read through with analysis. Prima facie, it talks about the political movements around the globe, on how the youth are starting to play their part and actually rocking the votes, on how the internet plays it’s essential role on spreading the critical information and et certa. In a group of eight, we will then be thrown into a classroom environment to have an active discussion with two professor from the University.

While waiting for the group discussion part, i ran a quick survey and found out that the majority were from Junior Colleges, only a small handful from the Polytechnic side. My group consist of ex Raffles, Nan Yang, Anglo Chinese and Saint Andrew Junior College students, and guess what, most of them have four, freaking four straight A grades for their A level. When i probe into that matter, they replied unitedly, “oh, half my class had that score too, it’s a norm”. I was extremely tempted to start clapping, extremely.

Anyhow, the pressure started to mounts up on me.

Finally, the group discussion started and our interviewer were from China and Germany teaching marketing/creativity. Thank goodness the German guy, was very friendly and vocal, reminding me of Mr Mirko Stoll from Ngee Ann. The professors started asking questions related to the politics, such as why the youths are starting to be involved, how do we get the Singapore youths involved in this aspect and et certa.

Thank God, i was good at smoking my way through such situations, or at least, i tried to act active and remain vocal. Brain juice leeching questions were thrown at us, and the guy who sat beside me who was from Raffles, gave a lengthy thought provoking comment regarding the issues, and i was like “siao liao lor, mai wa-yang leh”. With all due respect, i felt some points mentioned by the group members were absolutely spaced out. There was a burning desire to offer my two cents/i beg to differ on many occasions, however, i just decided to hold back, just didn’t wanna upset anyone, perhaps, embarrass myself. I realised, all i did was answer the questions they poised immediately in a very brief manner, then just go leaning back, and observe the tense discussion affront by the others.

Towards the end, the professors explained the whole rational of making us go through this, which was to ensure if we will like to learn in this sort of environment. Then it was farewell.

Having the luxury of a straight bus from home there kinda consoled me, because i doubt i will get chosen in such a tough competition situation. Perhaps, the group discussion/interview, i might still stand a slight chance, but the essay had seriously gone haywire. Hello, engineering student here, /wave. Currently, i’m still amused with whatever i vomited in there, such lack of class and effort i must say, damn.

If i do not get in, perhaps, business management, and furthering my education in SMU is way, way out of my leauge. If i do get in, it will become an added bonus to my choices then, but being a realistic person, the probability is too low. No hard feeling, afterall it’s the experienced given that counts, and yes, i have two more years to apply and consider about everything. Perhaps go through this again.

In conclusion, i didn’t expect this at all, i thought it was a simple one on one interview, asking the usual “why SMU” and “why this course” type of questions. What pissed me off was when i heard the instructions, and gave the jaw dropped face to some random girl, she said “gosh, you mean, you didn’t know? my friends told me all about it”. Yea, and i bet you expected me to have went on to eBay to search for SMU interview 101, betcha.

Yet another learning point, gasp for oxygen.

Technorati Tags: F.Y.I Life Thoughts Rants Singapore Management University SMU Interview Business