Yesterday evening, I had my interview with an AdCom of Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). This interview was over Skype because I was not able to attend the interview held previous week when she was in Bangalore (due to some personal reasons).

The interview started at 8:30 PM IST and went over for about 35 minutes. She decided to switch off her cam, because of dim lights in room. I was on cam.

This interview was a little different from my earlier ones in respect of some very new questions. Here they go (not in the exact order they were asked):

1. I have read your essays. I want to know why you chose this year to apply for MBA? Do you think it is a perfect time for MBA for you?

2. You have mentioned your career goal in your essays. Could you explain in detail about it? What exactly is your plan, which is your targeted companies, etc.?

3. I see that you have served in one of the companies for just 4 months? Why you left it so early? Do you think you could have waited for some more time there?

4. Tell me something about the NGO you are associated with and your responsibilities there?

5. If I say, that you are taking this interview for RSM, then what is that one key thing you would be looking in the applicant?

6. How are the key things that influences Indian businessmen or entrepreneurs in doing business?

7. How your friends describe you in 3 words?

8. What will you bring to the RSM community?

9. What is that one thing you are very passionate about at this point in your life?

10. What are the things that really daunts you when you think of coming to RSM?

11. Do you think you are a leader? Why you think that? What kind of leader are you?

12. What kind of leadership skills you want to improve upon in RSM?

13. What changes you see in yourself after doing MBA from RSM?

14. If career is not a factor, do you want to get settled in Netherlands or back in your country?

15. In one of your essays, you have mentioned about a very harrowing event of your life? What is the biggest learning you took from it? Could that event happen again in your life?

16. Why you chose this career in Information Technology? What drives you about your job?

17. If I say tomorrrow is your holiday, how would you like to spent your entire day?

These are more or less all the questions she asked. I will get to know the result next week.

Last week, I had an MBA personal interview with an adcom of Rotterdam School of Management. The RSM Rotterdam interview was held over Skype and it lasted for about 30 minutes. The interviewer was very polite and made me very comfortable for the interview. RSM Rotterdam interview questions were a little different from my earlier b school MBA personal interview questions in respect of some very new questions. Here they go (not in the exact order they were asked):

You have mentioned your career goal in your essays. Could you explain in detail about it? What exactly is your plan, which is your targeted companies, etc.?Tell me something you did challenging in your work life.

1. If I say, that you are taking this interview for RSM, then what is that one key thing you would be looking in the applicant? What are your interests and activities outside of work?
2. The adcom said that she is going to ask a difficult question and asked me to take time to answer this. What do you think is the weakest part of your application? I guess this is not similar to a generic weakness question but weakness from the application perspective.
3. What is that one thing you are very passionate about at this point in your life?
4. What are the things that really daunt you when you think of coming to RSM?
5. Do you have any question for us?

Got admited in Rotterdam Business School. My RSM Rotterdam interview was taken by an alumnus. Below are some of the questions that I remember from my Rotterdam mba personal interview:

1. I have read your essays. I want to know why you chose this year to apply for MBA? Do you think it is a perfect time for MBA for you?
2. I see that you have served in one of the companies for just 4 months? Why you left it so early? Do you think you could have waited for some more time there?
3. Tell me something about the NGO you are associated with and your responsibilities there?
4. How your friends describe you in 3 words?
5. What kind of leadership skills you want to improve upon in RSM?
6. In one of your essays, you have mentioned about a very harrowing event of your life? What is the biggest learning you took from it? Could that event happen again in your life?
7. Why you chose this career in Information Technology? What drives you about your job?
8. Do you think you are a leader? Why you think that? What kind of leader are you?
9. Any question for me?

So, my Rotterdam interview experience was pretty good.

Rotterdam MBA Application and Interview Experience

Let me share my experience for the entire application process for RSM. I first thought of exploring international MBA courses and RSM just happened to get my attention owing to the amazing (Jan-Dec) window. Also the application requirements were not very scary (as other top 15!!) and hence felt like this college could always be approached. Also with access to some of the big names in Holland and with such a good ratio of students getting international offers, this was always on my target. But then things changed workwise and with a 650 GMAT I was a little demotivated to apply. Coming back to 2016, this January I had made a temporary list as to which colleges I would be targeting and the obvious choice was RSM. Considering I was trying to starting my application in January, I also felt a little confident about it. My plan was to take time till March, try to establish some contact with the admissions office, alumni and get a good idea and then apply.

But then I met some friends who had studied at RSM and looking at my profile (6+ years work exp) encouraged me to start applications right away. The advice given was that lot of Indian students apply early in the first round. Taking that advise, I completed my CV assessment with the admissions team and after getting a positive response from them I started my application in the middle of January. I had also registered for a Pre-MBA event in Mumbai, which was an one -on-one discussion with the admissions director.

Since the admissions director was to come to India in the second week of February, I was thinking if I could complete my application well in time before the visit, there could be a chance of getting an interview call F2F, which I would have preferred any time over the Skype thingy!
So I rushed and I could complete my application by the first week of February. As a note here, would like to suggest the following points with the entire application process
(The pre-MBA consultation discussion was hence converted into an admission interview!!)

1) With my experience during the interview, I felt the CV was the most important part. The more clearer the CV, the more easier it is for them to understand what you are into now and what could possibly be in store for you post RSM.

2) Essays are very interesting and important – There is one essay which focuses on socio-economic impact of the place that you live/work on your professional life which really got me thinking. The essays also become a very important part of the interview since the questions are always built on what you have tried to convey. There is also an essay covering the post MBA aspirations and one note here would be to focus on what roles/profile would like to get into and would be better if you can already research some companies, speak to alum and find out which profiles are offered.

3) Admissions Interview – The interview was the best part of the application. Definitely no stress here, the entire discussion was very engaging and there were some really interesting questions that were brought up. I would say, for me the interview was built on the responses that i managed to give on the basic questions like why MBA, why now MBA etc which was very interesting. Be prepared for some questions on what you would like to focus during the study at RSM. (A good study of the website is highly recommended!). There were also questions on personal experiences and your contribution to the class which were again very interesting to discuss with the adcom director.

4) LinkedIN – Use this to the maximum extent possible. The RSM alumni community is just amazing. I was able to connect to more than 10 alum online and their feedback was invaluable to my entire application process.

As a bottom line, I would say the response from RSM is just super fast and feel free to reach out to them for any query and am sure you would get it answered lightning fast. I started my application in the first week and had an offer from RSM by the third week. This should indeed speak highly of the adcom staff at RSM.