What to expect in the Essay & Personal Interaction Round of Admission Process?

Admission for the Bachelor In Sports Management course at IISM is a 3 round process comprising of:

• SMAT
• Essay Submission
• Personal Interaction.

Post the SMAT test, selected candidates shall be provided some pointers based on which they’ll have to submit an “Essay” on topics related to sports and allied social issues.

The candidates shall be shortlisted based on their SMAT score and Essay submission for a personal round of interaction.

The interaction shall focus on candidate’s liking and awareness on business in sports.

So let’s dive deep into understanding what to expect in these rounds.

What is an Essay?

SMAT score alone doesn’t suffice the need of understanding candidate’s interest and need for the management degree, especially in sports management.

Essay submission helps in understanding what experiences have shaped you and what drives you to be successful. It is used in our comprehensive review process and helps in clearly assessing candidate’s career goals and potential.

How to write an Essay?

The student has to submit an essay about his liking in sports and why he want to pursue a career in sport management based on the pointers given to them.

In order to craft a powerful essay, here’s what you need to keep in mind:

• Be Concise: You need to understand that every admissions officer has a big stack to read every day; he or she expects to spend only a couple of minutes on the essay. If you write too long of an essay, you are straining their patience, which no one should want to do.So make sure you balance your information well and present it in concise manner.
• Be an Individual: In writing the essay, ask yourself, “How can I distinguish myself from those thousands of others applying to IISM whom I don’t know—and even the ones I do know?” It’s not in your activities or interests. If you’re going straight from high school to college, you’re just a teenager, doing teenage things. It is your mind and how it works that are distinctive. How do you think? Sure, that’s hard to explain, but that’s the key to the whole exercise.
• Be Coherent: Obviously, you don’t want to babble, write about just one subject at a time. Don’t try to cover everything in an essay. Doing so can make you sound busy, but at the same time, scattered and superficial. The whole application is a series of snapshots of what you do.
• Be Accurate: It’s not just about doing a spell check (that goes without saying) but also about attending to the other mechanics of good writing, including conventional punctuation in the use of commas, semi-colons, etc.
• Be Vivid: A good essay is often compared to a story: In many cases it’s an anecdote of an important moment. Provide some details to help the reader see the setting. Use the names (or invent them) for the other people in the story, including your brother, teacher, or friend. This makes it all more human and humane. It also shows the reader that you are thinking about his or her appreciation of your writing, which is something you’ll surely want to do.
• Be Passionate: Tell us what excites you the most about the course. Talk about the passion you have for sports and your dreams. Get personal and be original while talking about it.

It’s nice to be different but not too flashy, make sure the core of the Essay is not lost in the presentation. The different format of Essay is always welcome if it is giving all the information which is needed in order to know you. It is, simply put, a document in your application that gives you the opportunity to prove that you have something unique that makes you stand out from the crowd.

Know your Essay

Do not copy from any of the websites or books or any other references. All the organizations have tools to check the plagiarized content and it is taken as a negative point and might lead to termination. Make sure that everything mentioned in Essay is easily justified with your real life examples and experiences.

Why Personal Interaction?

The personal interaction is a critical step in the admissions process and should not be taken lightly. A personal interaction is aimed at knowing a candidate more intimately – assessing the clarity of thinking process, future goals and the ‘fit’. It provides the admission committee to evaluate candidate’s interpersonal and soft skills.

The personal interaction represents a prime opportunity to put a face and personality to the name and credentials on candidate’s score, application form and Essay, and also helps the candidates to express their academic and personal accomplishments, experiences, and intentions of joining the course.

The focus of the interaction can vary from educational achievements of the candidates to their hobbies and interest. The personal interaction is an opportunity for IISM to question about their Essay, application or even the test scores.

The other major purpose of an personal interaction is to learn more about the candidate and also how well the candidate responds and communicates. It would also aid in understanding candidate’s values, how they think and how well they handle themselves under pressure. It is their opportunity to convince that they are up to the challenge, they are expected to face in future.

Hope this information helps in performing better and prepare for the rounds well. In case of any doubts or queries, comment below.