Making Progress.

Afer receiving feedback on my UNC-KF essays from a current business school student, I updated my essays today. Writing essays for b schools is like distilling whisky. Just as a whisky gets better and better with age (and of-course with regular tasting ), every update to my essays is making them better and better. This was my third draft of UNC-KF essays and now I have sent this for review to two of my reviewers. I am really really thankful to my reviewers for taking out a lot of time to review my essays. A party for each one of them once I am done with everything.

Moreover, it is time for me to move on to my essays for Fuqua and Ross. Ross essays are untouched since last long weekend and Fuqua essays have just started. I like the Fuqua question more and so will mostly progress with those. There are limits on the number of pages and no word limits. This makes my job of expressing myself easier. I can write non stop without worrying about the number of words. Otherwise I keep on thinking about the numbers every-time I complete a paragraph.

Hope to make a good progress with these soon.

What not to do at an MBA event?

From time to time I see a lot of blogs and articles on how MBA fairs or event are useful in understanding the target schools. I have read articles on almost everything that one can (and  should ) do at these fairs. There are numerous blogs that talk about how to dress at these events, what to ask for, what to take with you and so on.

But none of these articles mention a thing about WHAT NOT TO DO? at these events. It may appear to be a silly or worthless discussion topic and I used to think the same. But my opinion changed after I visited The MBA Tour in Mumbai on September 26, 2009. My motivation to write this blog came in from the incident that occurred at this event.

From seeing final year students who have no idea of the difference between an MBA from a developed nation and an MBA from India to people who came with their mom and dad with an expectation to find a university that will admit them without a GMAT. Yes you read it correctly, asking for a TOEFL waiver is what we normally hear. But I heard people asking for a GMAT waiver.

And on top of this, a not so young, 35 something looking, suit wearing dude (lets call him just DUDE) had a fight with an alum from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. And it was not just an argument over some disagreement. This DUDE actually verbally abused the alum and the adcom member from Duke. The drama went to such an extent that the adcom had to call in the hotel authorities and the tour organizers to get that DUDE out of the ball room. Here is how it happened:

Duke Alum (L), DUDE and Duke Adcom member (R)

The image to the right shows the three people concerned here. I have kept the image a little blurred intentionally.

D: our DUDE, A: Duke Alum, Ad: Duke Adcom member

D to A: Can I have your email id so that I can ask you questions about Fuqua?

A: You can ask me now, I am here to help you and answer your questions.

D: No. I need your email id so that I can ask you questions later.

A: Actually we do not give personal emails to everyone. You can contact the Adcom and they will put you in touch with a person matching your requirements/profile.

D: Yes I will do that. But I have come here for you id and I need your id to ask questions.

(WOW…. he didn’t ask any question and came in only for the email ID?)

A: We do not give personal ids to everyone as per our policy and because our mail box gets flooded with queries from everyone. This way we filter out the people who are interested in particular field/course.

D: But why can’t you give me your id when I have come here for that. If you don’t give it to me, I will tell the Adcom about it.

(As if Moma is going to beat jonny for taking sally’s lolly)

D to Ad: This guy …… blah blah …. jonny took my lolly …. blah blah.

Ad: Sir, you can write to us and we will try to put you in touch with an alum from your interest area or location.

D: No. I need his ID. I am here for that. Why can’t you give me your id.

……

(This goes on for a total of 10 mins)

A to D: Instead of arguing for 10 mins, I would have answered all of your question and others would have benefited from it.

D to A: You are here to provide me a service. I came in here and you should give me your email id now.

Ad: Sir, let us all make peace here. You can write to us and we will do the needful.

D: No. He (the alum) is here to provide me a service. He is an Indian and I am an Indian. He should help me as an Indian.

A: What is it that is so special that you can’t ask me here in front of everyone but only on an email. We will answer all of your questions here itself. Just tell us.

(The nearby crowd had a laugh after hearing this  . D starts getting angry.)

D to A: Whats your company name? What is your designation?

Ad: Sir, this is not relevant to our point. You cannot ask this.

D: No. I can. I can ask anything in my Country. What is his designation? Which company? I will write to that company. I want to know where has he reached till now.

(What the f**k is going on here. What does he mean my country, your country and all. Even the crowd starts getting angry at the DUDE.  We do not misbehave with our visitor or anybody in India. Looks like he was a psycho patient )

Ad: Sir. I ask you to stop this. You should not insult the alum. If you apply at Duke with this attitude, I doubt you will be accepted.

D: No I need his id. And tell me which company are you from.

Ad: Sir, I might have to call someone. So you better stop.

D: Call anyone. No one can take me out. Whats you company’s name?

A: I have my own business. And I don’t really care about you.

Ad then calls the tour organizers and the hotel authorities. Fortunately we didn’t have any physical fights and our Dude was out in a few minutes.

 

Now back to the main point. From my experience at the tour, I am satisfied as I got what I went for. But a lot of my time was wasted because of this and other such things there. Here is a lot of things that you should NOT do at any such event:

• Do not argue with the adcom: Should be obvious by now.  This will not only waste everyone’s time but may also have negative consequences for you.
• Do not ask what is stated on the school site: What is the minimum work-ex required? What is the average GMAT? Don’t do this. Do your research in the schools that are visiting and you are interested in. Check the FAQs on the website. The adcom gets bored of such repeated questions.
• Do not visit the fair with your parents: Yes. There were many students with parents. All of them were either final year under-grad students or recently passed out. They had no idea about the difference between an MBA from a developed nation like USA, UK, SPAIN,etc and an MBA from INDIA, Sri Lanka or Manila. Also, if you are alone and still have no idea, do not come. The last thing the adcom wants is to get annoyed by your presence. An MBA in India is a completely different concept compared to developed nations. It is only and only about practical learning. It is not about getting a job or starting your career straight out of university.
• Do not go without doing your own research first: This applies especially to people mentioned in previous point. Do not ask questions like “Where exactly is this school located?”, “What is it that the school is good for?” or “How much is the fees?” . Again do some research on the school first. Ask specific questions about the curriculum, the interview procedure (yes it differs from school to school), or about the current financial aid situations for internationals.
• Do not ask stupid questions and do not repeat questions: “Can I apply without GMAT?” I had a blast in my ears. So far the best question of the day. Others typical ones are: “What are my chances?” or “I am already an MBA, can I apply” (This after the adcom has clearly mentioned NO).
• Do not ask question if you already know the answer: “Can I get a scholarship?” You know that it depends on you academic and professional record. It depends on your capability and need. And when the adcom explains the same thing to you, you start cutting his answers by saying the same thing before he does.
• Do not ask about jobs: “Will I get a job after this MBA?”, “I want to stay in US, will I be hired by a company there?” Repeat with me, MBA IS NOT ONLY ABOUT GETTING A JOB. ( Or May be it is, May be it is not  :)  ) 
• Do not dress in a weird manner: You can dress professionally or casually, it is fine. But do now wear something extra ordinary flashy or eye catchy. You yourself won’t feel comfortable in the huge crowd there. The MBA tours in India are usually overcrowded.

 

I hope this is enough.

Should we work for four days a week only?

Long weekends are good.

My last weekend was a long weekend (19th Sep to 21st Sep) and I made a good progress on my applications. I managed to write the first drafts of three essays for Ross. And then I managed to write second drafts of these. Yes you read it correctly. Two drafts.

I started sequentially and put down everything that I wanted to. After working on Saturday and Sunday, my first draft was ready. On Monday I managed to cut down the fat from my essays an reduce the size. However, these are still beyond the accepted word limits and I will need another draft for fitting my story in the given limits.

Anyway, back to the point. I found this long weekend very productive as I managed to write my best essays till date. I had enough time to think about various things and type down everything. Some time back I read some rumors about debate going on in some developed nations about reducing the weekdays to 4. At first, it appeared to be a bad idea when you see the worst economic environment. I thought this will straight away reduce the output of any organization. However, after experiencing it personally, I now can clearly say that this actually improves the productivity. Yes you read it correctly. It improved my productivity.

At work last week, I knew that next Monday is a holiday and so made sure that I finish a part of my work for Monday. This enabled me to have a relaxed Tuesday (today). On top of it, when I sat to write my essays, I wrote them freely as I know I have enough time to revise everything.

Usually, after working for 9 to 10 hours a day and travelling for 4 to 5 hours a day (from my home to my workplace) I hardly have anytime to do anything else and weekends are the only days I get to write my essays…

My intention is not to get into an argument on whether we should have 4 day weekdays or not but only to describe one good use of such long weekends. My next week is also another long weekend week .. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeee …

I guess I will have enough time to complete my essays for Ross completely.

 Long weekends are the best weekends

To apply or not to apply is the question.

After clearing all the required exams and doing my research I have started working on my applications for admission to an MBA course for Fall 2010. I have already applied to ISB as I believe it is one of the best schools for my future goals and now I was almost (90%) ready with my target list of schools for Fall 2010. My primary research tool has been the school web sites and some of my contacts in each school that I was targeting. After four weeks of research and after sending out mails to 15+ current students and alumni at all these school I am now in a state of shock. It looks like I may have to remove a few schools from my list. My target list is having mostly mid-ranked schools in the US. It includes Simon, Kelley, Owen, UNC-KF and Cox. I will now have to add a few other higher ranked schools that initially I thought are out of my range primarily for three important reasons:

First, it is the fact that these schools are highly ranked in most of the rankings and have very low selectivity. The selectivity at these schools is less than 15% each. On top of this, at each school the percentage of internationals is less than 25%. In some cases, class strength from India is as low as 2-3%.

Secondly, my profile for such schools is just an average profile. I stand in the average of each of the statistical parameter (age, GMAT, GPA, etc.) of the annual class profile. So getting an admit as an international student is bound to be tough.

Finally, I was looking for a decent financial aid in the form of a scholarship or an assistant ship at my target schools. Chances of getting a scholarship at higher ranked schools are low as the application pool is very competitive and they usually do not dole out huge number of scholarships.

However, after talking to people from my target mid-ranked schools I am bound to make adjustments to my list now. Each of my contact has recommended me to not to look at their as a first choice and take an admit only when I have no other option. I am still looking for more info in relation to the current scenario but  I am told that these schools are not so good in terms of brand value outside of the area in which these are located. They gave many scholarships in Fall 2009 but now many of these scholarships are withdrawn. Yes, I knew that each year scholarships are renewed but didn’t expect such a situation. Placements are pathetic. Some students have returned back to India. I now personally know a student who has returned from UCLA due to lack jobs in US. On top of this, he is under a debt of Rs. 50 lacs.

In some cases, the placement of the most recent batch (2009) is not even close to 65%. Even US citizens and green card holders are still looking for jobs. Schools that have gone up the ranking table have stopped giving many scholarships now. Most of the schools are out of funds to give scholarships any more. The money used to come from endowment funds that have booked huge losses and the alumni are also out of funds to donate. Schools that are in remote areas are affected to the max due to location problems. Schools that are close to other well-reputed schools  are having f****d up placement statistics as these areas produce a huge number of graduates each year. These include MBAs, MIS grads, BBAs, PhDs, etc.

Now, my friends have recommended me to apply to higher ranked schools so that I can easily get a non co-signer loan and at the same time, take an advantage of the brand value of the school. Some of my contacts from such higher ranked schools benefited from the brand value of their schools. They have managed to get a job in US after passing in 2008 and 2009.

Considering my future goals, the schools that appear to be relevent now are Haas, Cornell, Fuqua, and NYU Stern. I am still doing my research on these schools and have managed to get into contact with people (current students and alumni) from Stern and Fuqua. The responses are good and these two schools look to be promising right now. I believe I should be able to change my list now and add one or two of these schools in my list (offcourse after removing a lower ranked one).

First App of 2009 submitted.

Just a few minutes back I submitted my first application for Fall 2010. This was ISB. Even though the wait for any update from ISB has now begun, it won’t bother me much untill the tentative dates as I will be very busy with many other things.

The work load has been extremely heavy as my latest system is about to GoLive in a fortnight and it is a very important project for me. If everything goes as planned, I will be able to add new stuff to my essays. Work now has taken a higher priority and with my daily travel time of 4 hours (from work to home) , I will be taking up my apps again in R2 only. So no more apps for R1. Period.

Thats the tough part of living in the financial capital of India. Travel takes its own toll on my time. Also, it will be (as it has always been ) difficult to update my blog more frequently…

BTW …. a fellow applicant (rossISB from PG) just noticed that my application number (***36) is generated exactly 36 hours before the first deadline …

Tasawwuf

I saw a holy man on the seashore wounded by a tiger.
No medicine could relieve his pain; He suffered much,
but he nevertheless constantly thanked God, the most high, saying,
“Praise be to God that I have fallen into a calamity and not into sin.”

A must read.

Here is a link to what people (of India) should read before voting during the upcoming LS elections:

Who is a Sharif Badmash? Who is a toothless tiger?

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Revering-sharif-badmash-Manmohan-Singh-and-Lincoln/articleshow/4329339.cms

However he is an architect. An architect of India’s economic reforms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3725357.stm

 

Mr Clean or Mr Bull’s Eye:

He has a spotless track record and a very high success rate at the LS elections. He is one of the few politicians in India who refused to contest LS elections on moral grounds in 1996 when his name was linked to the Jain-Hawala scam.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/590391.cms

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2075803.stm

 

The man who can fight with fire. A fire called Terror. Also a man who knows how to attract investment(s).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narendra_Modi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1958555.stm

 

Finally, a man good with numbers. He has served his party very well. He has introduced new types of taxes to increase government revenes. He has put in efforts to reduce the government debt. But has he done something for the common man?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3741169.stm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_Chidambaram

When somebody walked into my life.

What happens when somebody walks into your life? Somebody who is beautiful and has a mellifluous voice. You wish you had met her before but then she comes into your life only when the time is right.

She gives me a call every morning. I get up from the middle of my sleep (I am a lazy boy who hates to get up early during the winters) to talk to her. She spends her time with me and then suddenly disappears. I get happy and delighted whenever I notice she is there. But then I feel sad and embarrassed when she goes away.

I know it’s awkward but I can’t describe how I feel every-time I see her. She makes my day even brighter. Sometimes she allows me to touch her and she puts her hand on my hand. But this is all I know about her. I do not know what she feels, I do not know what she likes the most. I do not know whether this will continue as it is, I do not know what to do. I do not know what to do. I think I will continue to talk to her and I wish we stay together as we are now. I want to know more about her, I want to spend more time with her.  

The next morning she calls again. I start approaching her and suddenly I hear something. I hear a loud noise that gets on amplifying. I realize that it is a familiar noise, I realize it is the moment. It was the moment to realize that she was not there anymore, it was the moment to get up and start my day.

Another app goes in

I submitted my app for Darden today. Another huge sum goes in and a new phase of wait sets in. I dropped another school which I think is now out of my reach (after receiving a Ding w/o I/V from ISB) chose Darden because  I was done with my app and re-polished it.

I want to give  it a try because it is an amazing school (considering the feedback I have received from a current student at Darden). I know that it is a rigorous program and it completely relies on the CASE STUDY method. This is the primary reason  I have applied to Darden. Since I am willing to INVEST  a HUGE SUM for my MBA, I believe that an MBA from Darden will give one of the best ROI. I believe that the Case Study method will be a completely new kind of learning experience for me and it will dramatically add to my knowledge. It will enable me to learn form real life examples and the learning will be usefult to me for the rest of my life (provided I get an admit).

So for this year I have applied to three schools. One confirmed Ding, Tuck results on 6th Feb (not expecting much though as I haven’t got any invite for an interview) and the third wait started today. As for more schools are concerned, I am thinking of applying to NUS (at the most) now. Will update once confirmed.

My First Ding…

Its official. I have been rejected from ISB and that too without an interview. ISB was my top choice and one of the only two schools that I have applied this year. So much for my time and efforts to apply. I spent numerous hours or days to prepare my ISB app, write those 6 essays, get the recos and what not. But they don’t have time for me. Come on man, you could have rejected me after the interview at-least. May be they already have people like me, may be my profile isn’t up-to their standard or may be I applied very late (should have applied in R1) .

What is it that you need man? Do you need a higher GMAT score (mine is 710/6.0, which according to me is good), do you need more number of years of experience or do you want me to be not what I am but what you want me to be (in the essays off-course)? 

It’s time to get back to my ISB app and look for what can be changed. I hope to get a feedback from ISB but need to check the process for that. Don’t know if I have to contact them or they will send me a link. Nothing was mentioned in the mail from ISB except that they don’t find me so good.

Lets now go back to my other R2 apps and reassess my MBA game plan.