I woke up early. Washed up nicely. Made sure my clothes were crisp. Got ready my portfolio documents. And wore my gold "success" tie.

The last time I had an interview at SMU was 3 years ago at the old campus. Back then it was much easier. Professor Dawn and Kirpal were interviewing me. Back then no "success" tie, so was wearing my blingified watch that spelt "BILLIONARE". In caps. It didnt take much convincing for them to say, "Ok I think it's safe to say you're an SMU student".

Today was different. After beating 2 sub-bosses which belonged to the School of Business Deanery, I had to face my final boss. Associate Dean Professor Francis Koh. This final boss would decide my fate.

Once we got seated in his office, I was all ready to sell. Before I could summon my portfolio document attack, he immediately went friendly and informal. Turns out Prof Francis is a really nice person. At first he tried to convince me I could get a banking job with a social science degree, and he told me a list of people who were successful with a arts degree. Namely Lee Hsian Loong, Claire Chiang and Lee Kuan Yew. But I served it up straight, and told him that business was my only passion.

He was very patient with me, and he listened to every word I said. It wasn't long before he had the "gee this son-of-a-bitch won't die" look which suggested that I may need to be transferred, or physically removed from the office by forceful means.

Because of a technicality with the quotas allowable for students in each school, he said that it would be hard to transfer. He paused. It felt like 5 minutes of him just in a frozen gaze. Like summoning his energy for his final move. "Hypothetically," he said. "HYPOTHETICALLY... hypothetically ok?" he repeated. Ok Francis I get you now. "Hypothetically... what if I waive the requirements for double degree, and let you do a double degree instead?"

'Are you joking? That's even better than transferring!' I thought to myself. However, in a game of poker face one must refrain from jumping and laughing at all cost.

So there it was. Francis said goodbye and promised that there were no promises, but he'd do his best to arrange something. I was very grateful. He had been very honest and patient with me.

The only twist in the side-scrolling platforming multi-player game was that Francis suggested I speak to his boss. The mother / father of all bosses in the School of Business, the DEAN.

After the nice talk with Francis. I got a letter from the Dean saying that, yes, he would like to see me on Monday, but no, they would not change their decision about allowing me to transfer. Nice.