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How to Structure SOP for Maximum Impact ?

There are 2 good styles you can use. There is nothing right or wrong. Use whatever is suitable for you.

If you don’t know how to write SOP, read this blog post

1st style

  1. Start with a quote. (Make sure it’s not a esoteric quote or too cheesy one) (Not necessary, but if you chose the right quote, it will maximize impact of overall SOP)
  2. Next para should start with why you mentioned that quote and how it’s relevant to your life (Give at least 2 examples)
  3. Talk about your formative years.
    Where did you live ? Did you change places ? Did you live in Hostel ?
    Talk about your academics. Were you amongst top performers ? Talk about your favorite subjects.
    Did you take part in co-curricular or extracurricular activities ? Did you take any initiative on your own ? Talk about qualities you have learned
  4. Talk about your graduation days
    Why did you choose what you chose ? Talk about your academics. Talk about extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Talk about the special projects/assignments you undertook.
    Talk about electives, extra classes you have taken. Did you take any initiative ? Which skills you learned ? Talk about qualities you have learned
  5. Talk about your work experience
    Talk why did you choose to work for a particular company. Talk about your work responsibilities in non-technical language. Tell about your workplace achievements including accolades, appreciation and awards you have won. Did you get promoted ?
    Talk about your new initiatives you have undertaken. Talk about certifications, courses you have taken. Talk about skills you have learned. Talk about qualities you have learned
  6. Transition to what is/was missing. Why you felt the need to do MBA ? Limited work scope, lack of formal knowledge of management practices, networking, shorten career path etc, what were your reasons ? (Refer to Why MBA in Interviewer Seduction Formula)
  7. What’s your short term goal and what’s your long term goal. Can you be little more specific if possible. Can you think of specialization ? (Do it only when you are quite sure, otherwise it might trigger unnecessary questions) (Use Deep Research, read Interviewer Seduction Formula and Check Short Term and Long term Goals under Misc Tab)
  8. How your certifications, knowledge, skills, work experience will play a role to achieve short term and long term goal and how B-school or (particular course) will come into play. How that is necessary step to achieve your short term and long term goal (Use Hooks, Strengths, Unique Capabilities)
  9. Why that particular course (or B-school) ? Edify the B-school.(preferably why you resonate with the course or B-school) (Use Deep Research Lesson)

 

2nd style

  1. Start with a quote. (Make sure it’s not a esoteric quote or too cheesy one) (Not necessary, but if you chose the right quote, it will maximize impact of overall SOP)
  2. Next para should start with why you mentioned that quote and how it’s relevant to your work experience (Give at least 2 examples)
  3. Talk about your work experience
    Talk why did you choose to work for a particular company. Talk about your work responsibilities in non-technical language. Tell about your workplace achievements including accolades, appreciation and awards you have won. Did you get promoted ?
    Talk about your new initiatives you have undertaken. Talk about certifications, courses you have taken. Talk about skills you have learned. Talk about qualities you have learned
  4. Talk about your formative years.
    Where did you live ? Did you change places ? Did you live in Hostel ?
    Talk about your academics. Were you amongst top performers ? Talk about your favorite subjects.
    Did you take part in co-curricular or extracurricular activities ? Did you take any initiative on your own ? Talk about qualities you have learned
  5. Talk about your graduation days
    Why did you choose what you chose ? Talk about your academics. Talk about extracurricular and co-curricular activities. Talk about the special projects/assignments you undertook. Talk about electives, extra classes you have taken. Did you take any initiative ? Which skills you learned ? Talk about qualities you have learned
  6. Transition to what is/was missing. Why you felt the need to do MBA ? Limited work scope, lack of formal knowledge of management practices, networking, shorten career path etc, what were your reasons ? (Refer to Why MBA in Interviewer Seduction Formula)
  7. What’s your short term goal and what’s your long term goal. Can you be little more specific if possible. Can you think of specialization ? (Do it only when you are quite sure, otherwise it might trigger unnecessary questions) (Use Deep Research, read Interviewer Seduction Formula and Check Short Term and Long term Goals under Misc Tab)
  8. How your certifications, knowledge, skills, work experience will play a role to achieve short term and long term goal and how B-school or (particular course) will come into play. How that is necessary step to achieve your short term and long term goal (Use Hooks, Strengths, Unique Capabilities)
  9. Why that particular course (or B-school) ? Edify the B-school.(preferably why you resonate with the course or B-school) (Use Deep Research Lesson)

I have just scratched the surface. I have developed such a systematic approach in GD WAT PI Revolution to help students write SOP from scratch, how to identify their hooks, strengths, capabilities systematically, how to do deep research about Institute/Course and then translate that into flawless SOP.

Featured Image Courtesy : Therapeutic Drumming

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How he converted all the calls except one by doing this ?

I had conversations with students of GD WAT PI Revolution who got into IIMs, XLRI, IIFT, TISS, MDI etc etc.

Every one of them had a unique story to share.  Here is the most unique story.

Here is the story of one of them : Suraj Shanbag

He had received calls from IIM-B, L, I, K and 4 IITs. He had 3 years of work experience with no prior Interview experience. He gave CAT for the first time after 3 years of work experience. He had taken a break to focus on CAT preparation.

He was not in touch with his Academics for long time. He knew that if he gets questions on Academics, he would get screwed so he devised a master plan to direct all the questions towards his work experience or Current affairs but particularly towards Work Experience. I will soon explain exactly how he did it.

He used this strategy in all the Interviews except IIM-Lucknow Interview because he was not very sure whether it would work or not.

Result : He converted all the calls except IIM-Lucknow.

What exactly he did ?

He used variation of Irresistible Intrigue Formula, In fact, he practiced using Irresistible Intrigue Formula so much that it became his second nature. He attributed majority of his success to correctly using it. Timing is the essence.

He did 2 weeks of Introspection and invested 25-30 hours in finding important aspects of his life. This is the most important step because a lot many students spend way too much time on current affairs and whatever time they spend on SOP, Interview, they work backwards. They spend absolutely zero time in introspection and instead they directly jump on to writing SOP and Interview questions.

Instead, Suraj did exactly opposite. He wrote down 8-10 very important hooks in his story. Whenever he would notice the interview is going in unwanted direction, he would use the appropriate hook strategically to direct it towards his strength points.

As a result, he hardly got any questions on Academics & Current affairs/GK in his IIM-Indore Interview where most students complain of having totally random interview or interview focused on GK/Current Affairs.

The couple of questions he got from GK/Current Affairs, he diverted them to his strength areas using one of the hooks. All the other Interviewee were asked questions on GK/Current Affairs and Academics and they couldn’t divert it to their strength areas.

In fact, he got this question in Indore Interview.

“Which B-school you would go for Indore or Bangalore ?”

How most students would have answered it.

Either Diplomatic way “I think both of them have their own merits. I would go for Indore/ I would take the decision when all the results are out.”

Or Straightforward way ” Of course, I am going for IIM-Bangalore”

He didn’t say any of that. He said something which caused 2 of the panel members to strongly convince him why he should go for IIM-Indore instead of IIM-Banglore.

If you say, it was just a fluke, not so fast.

In IIM-Kozhikode interview, he was the last to be interviewed. 3 of the panel members were very tired.


(Source : Giphy.com)

One of the old professors was almost sleeping. From his (professor’s) looks, he gauged that the professor possibly belonged to the same territory he belonged to. He took the chance and in his Intro answer, he strategically inserted the words which caused the sleeping professor to wake up.

After that point, the same professor (who was earlier sleeping) started having a discussion with him about general things about the territory both of them belonged to, instead of the other panel members grilling him about Academics.

Another principle he used often was creating or painting vivid pictures in Interviewer’s mind. We often forget what we hear but we don’t usually forget what we see especially when someone creates those detailed vivid pictures in our mind.

(Source : jcisnowjs.com)

Remember Drishyam ?
Where the Father narrates the story in such a way that he is successfully able to create a vivid movie in other’s mind that’s why almost everyone remembers what he & his family had done on that particular day.

He did the exact same thing. But to actually execute this flawlessly in Interview, he did a lot of practice with Hooks.

There is a lot more to it and a lot more such stories I have included  in detail inside GD WAT PI Revolution.

(Featured Image Courtesy : justcause3mods.com)

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Arranged Marriage or Love Marriage ?

How do you know when someone had love marriage or arranged marriage ?

It’s simple.

When marriage update pops up on your facebook wall, click on “See Relationship“, what do you see ?

Did they just become friends 3-6 months before marriage. Probably an arranged marriage.

If that is not the case, look for their engagement date, see if they became friends just 3-6 months before engagement. Probably an arranged marriage.

This works wonderfully well in most of the cases if not all.

Let’s play a fun game. Want to find if any of your friends did Arranged or Love Marriage ?

Use this link

https://www.facebook.com/friendship/

And replace it with the names of prospective partners

https://www.facebook.com/friendship/george.clooney/julia.roberts

And see the magic like this

Oh wow, they are friends for long time..more than 2 years, probably love marriage.

Less than a year, probably an Arranged Marriage.

However, I don’t think love marriages are more successful or otherwise but that’s not the point.

There is striking similarity, when I reliably know how someone’s interview is going to be. It is not 100% accurate. It gives you pretty good idea.

How ?

By glancing at their SOPs or reading their Interview Answers.

YES. This is much more reliable test than Arranged or Love marriage test.

Just reading few answers or few statements in their SOP, I can get pretty good idea. This has nothing to do with percentile as most students believe.

Yes, if you have better percentile, the chances of you writing bad SOP or Interview answers reduce to some extent but not that much as you might think.

So how to improve your odds of converting the calls ? By improving your SOP and Interview Answers.

Read these blog posts to improve your Interview Answers/SOP
3 Step Formula to answer any Interview Question
http://gdwatpirevolution.com/3-step-formula

3 Step Formula to write killer SOP
http://gdwatpirevolution.com/sop

If you want to learn the art of story-telling to engage the panel, learn Irresistible Intrigue Formula
http://gdwatpirevolution.com/iif

If you want more help, I have created a comprehensive solution, it covers everything you can imagine, it’s called GD/WAT/PI Revolution Comprehensive