{"id":46868,"date":"2019-09-03T21:01:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T04:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=46868"},"modified":"2019-09-03T21:02:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-04T04:02:35","slug":"an-indian-engineer-shares-his-oxford-mba-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/an-indian-engineer-shares-his-oxford-mba-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"An Indian Engineer Shares his Oxford MBA Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p> Arjun Bardhan, an IT professional and a consultant at the Tata Consultancy Services for 10 years, worked with MER for his essays for Oxford SAID. Arjun is soon going to graduate from Oxford SAID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Last year, in <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/student-interviews\/indian-applicants-journey-oxford-isb\/\">his first video interview with MER<\/a>,\nArjun had shared his background, application experience, his resulting success\nat ISB and Oxford SAID, his extracurricular activities, his volunteering\nactivities, and his advice for older applicants. Today Arjun has very kindly\nagreed to share his amazing experiences at Oxford SAID MBA program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this candid\nvideo interview, Arjun talks about the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>His\nbackground<\/li><li>Career\ngoals- How Oxford helped in achieving them<\/li><li>His\nFavorite thing about Oxford SAID<\/li><li>His\ninvolvement in extracurricular activities <\/li><li>Advice\nto incoming students <\/li><li>Recruitment\nat Oxford<\/li><li>Importance\nof networking\/building relationships<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:\n<\/strong>Welcome back. Thank you for your\ntime<strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Congratulations on graduating from Oxford. Congratulations on almost graduating from Oxford. How does it feel?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"An Indian Engineer Shares his Oxford MBA Experience\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cH8_titPRNc?start=645&feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun: <\/strong>It feels great. Last one year passed\nso fast, there was hardly any time to absorb the experiences. It stills feel\nlike yesterday that I came to SAID Business School and I hardly knew how to\nnavigate to reach for our first class. It has been a great journey. There was a\nlot of learning; there were moments of frustration as well as moments of\nhappiness. Overall, it has been an incredible learning experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong>&nbsp;For those who have not seen\/ read your first\ninterview, can you tell us a little about yourself? Where are you from? Where and\nwhat did you study as an undergrad? What was your pre - Oxford job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun:<\/strong> I\nwas born and raised in Calcutta, West Bengal in India. After completing my\nElectrical from Engineering from the West Bengal University of Technology, I\njoined TCS and worked in Chennai for four years. After that, I moved to the USA,\nworked in Dover and Indianapolis and later moved to Boston. I had a great time\nworking with TCS in different roles from Quality Assurance to a Developer to a\nproduct owner and lastly, as a Project Manager managing almost $4 million\nportfolios for an insurance client. And then I decided to do an MBA because I\nfelt that my career growth had become stagnant. I took the GMAT four times.\nFinally, I got a 730, my first attempt being 610. I was looking for a 1-year\nprogram and was inclined more towards European programs because they have\nbetter brand value when it came to the 1-year program. I short-listed a few\nEuropean schools including Oxford, Cambridge. Things worked out at Oxford, and\nI joined Oxford.&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong> &nbsp;What are your career\ngoals? Do you think Oxford helped you achieve your goals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun: <\/strong>Yes, it has been quite an experience.\nI have got great support from the career team at Oxford.&nbsp; Whenever I approached them, they connected me\nto the career advisor, the industry experts, gave me great suggestions on my CV\nand cover letter and helped me with the mock interviews. I would advise the incoming\nOxford students to be proactive in seeking help from the career team early in\nthe year and tell them about their career goals and about the companies they\nare interested in and request them to connect them with the appropriate\nindustry. It is not the job of career services to provide you a job. They are\nhere to help you to get in touch with the industry you want to work with. Unlike\nin India, here in the UK, the companies do not visit the campus. So one should\nhave the right expectations from them and approach them early. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam<\/strong>: What is your favorite thing about your program? Could you please share your best experiences both in and outside of the classroom that has helped shape your career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun:<\/strong> Sure. The best experience\nin the last one year would be the MBATs. MBATs is basically the MBA Olympics\namong the European b-schools; it is an annual event held in HEC Paris, where\nall the European schools meet and compete in three-day sports events. It has\nbeen one of the most incredible experiences that most of us had. I participated\nin a couple of sports and was captain of the Table Tennis Team, we did not win\nbut we went over a champions team, and it is the third time that Oxford won the\ncompetition in terms of the overall medals. It was a great experience, not just\nbeing involved in sports but supporting other team players. Regarding classroom\nexperience, I think diversity is the biggest strength of Oxford, because the\npeople come with varied experiences, diverse backgrounds, different age groups,\nand they bring in so many different experiences that there is an incredible\nscope of learning from each other. Learning from those people is probably the\nbiggest take away from the classroom experience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam:<\/strong> Is there anything about Oxford that you would like to change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun<\/strong>: No. the school is\nperfect. Every school has a few minor things that could have been done better. I\nbelieve this should also be our objective to enrich the school and make it a better\nplace for the incoming students. We always have certain suggestions and\nimprovements, and I think that is a continuous improvement process for any\nB-school. Overall, it has been a great experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>I remember you were heavily involved in volunteer work. Did Oxford provide you opportunities for volunteer work?<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun:<\/strong> One- year MBA program is so fast-paced that it is very difficult to get involved in everything you want to. It is a little overwhelming but as the year progresses you slowly get used to the lifestyle because the transition from work life to student life takes a little bit of time. Yes, I have been involved in quite a few initiatives; I am a part of the Oxford ambassador group; the main role of this group is to work with the incoming students. Oxford usually has launch stations or information stations where people talk about their experience; these sessions are followed by lunch or dinner which is organized by the ambassador. I have been part of that group and have attended many sessions. I have also been part of My College; every student of Oxford University no matter which college they are studying in, have to enroll in My College where you are interacting with students in the college, and not only with your MBA community which is incredible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>What did you wish you had known before you started and what was a challenge? Can you share some advice to incoming students to help make their adjustment to b-school, specifically Oxford, easier?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun:<\/strong> This\nis a very good question. I think it is pretty important to speak to current\nstudents or recent alumni as it helps you understand what to expect and how to prepare.&nbsp; Before I came to Oxford, I had spoken to\nquite a few alumni who had recently graduated, and I got valuable advice,\nbasically about the career services and about being more proactive. For me, it\nwas important to at least have a basic idea as to what I wanted to do before my\nMBA and do my groundwork. The more you talk to people, the more you do your\nresearch, you will be prepared. At the same time, it is also important to be\nopen to options. This is something I wish I had known better. Initially, when I\ncame to Oxford, I wanted to be in Consulting, so I prepared a lot for\nconsulting, but I later realized that it is equally important to have a backup\noption, a Plan B. One should have an open mind. I have seen quite a few of my\nfriends whose priorities have changed over time. They wanted to go into\nconsulting and finally, they have become entrepreneurs having a company of\ntheir own. So it\u2019s good to have a target, but at the same time, one should be\nflexible and open to new options. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>I agree. Can you tell us something about recruitment at Oxford?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun<a>:<\/a><\/strong> For recruitment, it is very important\nto build relationships. Before I came to Oxford, I used to hear the word\n\u2018networking\u2019. I think networking is not the right word because networking seems\nlike a very transactional relationship. I think it is very important to build\nauthentic relationships with people in your class and with your future\nemployer. The recruitment has two parts- one is structured hiring period and\nsecond is unstructured hiring. Structured hiring typically starts in October-\nNovember at Oxford and it is primarily for the consulting companies, though\nthere are some finance companies as well. These companies usually recruit\npeople who have applied through the school structured hiring program and they\ncall you for the interview. They have two structured programs with Oxford-\nOperations and Continued Leadership Development programs which are very few.\nFor the unstructured hiring, Oxford has a career site like any other career\nsite where you can go and apply for the jobs. Then there are other sources such\nas LinkedIn, but the European market is very competitive, and for one job\nopening there are around 2000 applications. Since it is very difficult to get\nselected by applying to a job, it is important to build relationships with\npeople. For example, if you want to go to Consulting, even before coming to\nOxford, you should make a list of your probable employers, and if you want to\ngo to food industry make a list of top ten employers in that category in the European\nmarket. Reach out to people that matter in that field Have a chat over coffee\nand learn what they are doing. Even if you don\u2019t end up working for them, you\ngain a lot with such chats. Over the last one-year, I must have had quite some\ngreat conversations with more than 30- 35 people in London, and some of them\nreferred me to some other business unit. So I think building relationships is\nthe key to landing a good job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam<\/strong>: I really liked what you have said-\nbuilding relationships is the right word, not networking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun:<\/strong> This is something I have learned\nwith time. When I started doing it, reaching out to people, I also thought that\nI have to reach out to as many people as I want to.&nbsp; I come from Insurance background, so reached\nout to people who are partnering with different consulting firms for insurance or\nare business development managers in each insurance company across Europe. Over\nthe process, I realized that it is important to build relationships rather than\njust being transactional. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>What does your post MBA career look like?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arju<\/strong><strong>n:\n<\/strong>I have a couple of offers at this point, and I cannot\nname the company I am going to join, because it is not confirmed yet. I have\naccepted the offer, and they are still working on some official stuff. So until\nit is completely confirmed, I cannot reveal. Most likely, I will be in Europe\nor the UK. In a month, I will confirm the name of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>Understood. Lastly, is there anything you would like to share that I haven\u2019t asked?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun: <\/strong>I\nthink that one of the things I should have answered in terms of the advice to\npeople who would come to oxford. Since it is a one-year MBA program, there is tremendous\npressure in terms of assignments, exams, and search for a job. But it is very\nimportant to go out, have conversations with people, come out of your comfort\nzone. Now that my MBA is almost wrapping up, I feel that I will never get this\nexperience of having enriched conversation with people. For example, in our\nCohort we have a South African lady in her forties; she is a surgeon, and there\nare some students who have served in the army in the UK or some other country. When\nyou have normal conversations with them, the kind of thoughts and experiences\nthey bring with them is much bigger than the classroom experience or learning\nfrom any theoretical point which enriches you as a human being. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam: <\/strong>Wonderful.\nThis is valuable advice. It was nice talking to you. Thank you, Arjun, for\nreconnecting with us and sharing your valuable and amazing Oxford experiences.\nWish you good luck with your last one-month at Oxford and your post- Oxford\ncareer and continued success throughout your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arjun<\/strong>:\nThank you, Poonam. I appreciate it. <a href=\"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/reviews\/comments\/essay-review-345355792\">Thank\nyou again for your help<\/a>.\nLet us keep in touch. Thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Poonam<\/strong>: Sure. Thank you once again. Bye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n You can connect with Arjun via LinkedIn or Facebook. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/arjun-bardhan-4165b131\/\">https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/arjun-bardhan-4165b131\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>For more video interviews of successful MER\nstudents, click <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/category\/student-interviews\/\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a>:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/category\/student-interviews\/\">https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/category\/student-interviews\/<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/student-interviews\/indian-engineer-shares-oxford-mba-experience\/\">interview<\/a> was first published in <a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/\">myEssayReview<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For questions about your application to Oxford,, email Poonam at  <a href=\"mailto:poonam@myessayreview.com\">poonam@myessayreview.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/index.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Web<\/a>\n\/<a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/blogs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Blog<\/a>\/\n<a href=\"https:\/\/myessayreview.com\/beforeafter.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Free resources<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/LinkedInProfile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>\/<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/myessayreview?notif_t=page_user_activity\"><strong> Facebook<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arjun Bardhan, an IT professional and a consultant at the Tata Consultancy Services for 10 years, worked with MER for his essays for Oxford SAID. Arjun is soon going to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[528,1472],"class_list":["post-46868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-mba-student-interview","tag-the-oxford-said-full-time-mba","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/141"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46868"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46881,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46868\/revisions\/46881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}