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Wednesday, March 26, 2008

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SMU Admissions Interview

Venue: School of Economics
Date: 26 March '08
Time: 0930

I just came back from a nerve-wrecking experience. Quite interesting though. I reached the campus at 9.10 (not kiasu, I was told to arrive by 9.15), and I felt like a tourist, haha. I was looking out for signages to lead me to my destination.

Well anyway, when I reached the waiting room, I was greeting by deathly silence. I couldn't even tell the difference between the staff and the interviewees (a.k.a like me), 'cause no one was talking. Then someone came up to me and gestured me to take a seat. I don't know if I was being paranoid, but I thought there was an air of hostility. Timecheck: 0915.

A lady asked for my original poly result slips for verification. Dutifully, I produced all six of them and she began checking diligently, or so I thought. But she was checking my original 5th semester results against a photocopy of my 2nd semester's results, lol. And she actually ticked against her checklist. If the atmosphere wasn't so tense, I would definitely have told her the error (joke). =)
Timecheck: 0922.

Suddenly, a familiar face appeared at the door; Vanessa from my own diploma/school. She was quite friendly and as we talked, others started joining in and guess what, 6 out of the 8 candidates were from Ngee Ann, but 4 of them were from Engineering. Vanessa said something which took me by surprise.

Vanessa: Is this your first choice?

Marv: Yeah, you?

Vanessa: Nah I wanted Business, everyone wants Business. Econs is like a 2nd choice.

Marv: (lost for words)

Some of you would be aware that I chose Economics as the 1st choice for all of my Uni applications, UK ones included. I've been bugged by quite a few people (lecturers and friends alike) as to why I did not gun for a better (read: more lucrative) degree like Law or Business. Oh well, I remain steadfast in my choice. Timecheck: 0933.

Finally, we were ushered into this cramped room and asked to take our positions for a Group Interview. Here's the layout, and I'm Interviewee Number 3.


Our first task was to introduce ourselves in order of position. I was getting ready for a typical:


And then Vanessa (who is position number 1) started doing a 3 minutes introduction including why she likes SMU and Economics. I was seriously like, wth. I decided Not to conform (completely), and I talked for a minute or so. After the 8th interviewee finished talking about herself, the Chief Interviewer said:

Interviewer: Now I will pose a question to all of you, and you will answer in order of your positions."

Marv: (Nods head earnestly)

Interviewer: What do you think of the newly announced CPF Life Scheme for the elderly of Singapore?

Marv: (Stunned)

I thought they were going to ask about stuff like the sub-prime crisis, Beijing Olympics, oil prices, or maybe worldwide inflation. But CPF Life scheme?!? I thought that was rather micro. Anyway I gave my $0.02 worth. But the interesting thing was what some others did, in particular Interviewee No. 7.

Interviewer: (turns his attention from No.6 to No. 7)

No.7: Let me ask you first, do you contribute to CPF?

Interviewer: (raises eyebrows, hesitantly): Yes I do.

No.7: And do you use your CPF for any purpose?

Interviewer: Yes, to finance my housing loans etc.

No.7: You see, that's the problems with Singaporeans! That's why you need people like me, Financial Advisors to help you out.

Well you see, Mr No.7 is a Malaysian citizen who took MOT (Marine and Offshore Technology) in NP. More importantly, he is currently working as a "Financial Advisor", or so he declared. For heaven's sake, the interviewer has a doctorate in Statistics, I think he can do his math on his own, thank you.

Mr No.7 went on to explain to the interviewer how the (mis)usage of CPF funds to finance housing loans, kids' education school fees and buying property would ultimately result in him not having enough money for his old age. While I do see some merit in his arguments, I found it overly extreme and one-sided. Afterall, there is a limit to how much you can use from your CPF Ordinary Account, and financing a HDB loan or your son's university fees can hardly be considered a frivolous form of expenditure. You'd have to borrow from a bank otherwise, which would pose another set of opportunity cost wouldn't it? He's an ok person (I think), just thought he was rather rash.

After the entire interview was over, I think the interviewer felt that some clarification was in order so he explained to Mr No.7 that he's done some planning, and he's quite sure he won't end up that bad. Haha.

I thought it was pretty amusing, the whole experience. I don't really have alot of confidence in interviews anymore due a very bad experience which I won't talk about today. Hence I'd leave it to God since I've tried my best. To those of you who have gone/are going for interviews, all the best! =)


- Marvin