B school essays: Impact

Well moving on to the application process, as is well known, the essays form the most important and distinguishing part of the entire application. Coz through the essays, we can generate an image of ourselves which can overshadow any other stats that we may have. Some people have asked me about tips on ISB essays but since there's so little time for R2 deadline, I'll make my observations generic to all b-schools essays.

I feel that the key is impact. What impact have you had on the 4 spheres of your life: professional, community, inter-personal/social, personal (in order of importance). By impact, I mean you contribution. For professional impact, especially through resume, it is very important to write what exactly you did as part of the team in quantifiable terms. Use billing rate, man-hours etc to arrive at a numeric value. That's what differentiates your impact from another person who may have just been part of a multi-million $ project but didnt do anything to either win new projects or save a few $s. Similarly in community/personal sphere, just being part of a few clubs/NGOs is not enough. For instance, If you are part of the marketing side of an NGO, tell how many people you have recruited/amount of funds (Rs) you have collected, etc. Through all the essays, the impact shuld come through. On personal side, if you learnt a foreign language, be sure to highlight why you did that and what you gained form it. Just a certificaiton in Spanish would not get you far, coz you have to specify how that helped you and makes you a more desirable candidate to the MBA program.

ISB aftermath

How is it that once you achieve something, it seems very easy and once you don't, it seems like an insurmountable barrier? I remember that after any exam in school or college, the people who got the correct answers to a few questions that most of the others couldn't, boasted about the question being very easy. "Oh that, that was an easy one! You couldn't get it right, eh?" I felt like givin a whack on the head of the speaker on hearing this (the times when I was not the speaker that is!).

So when over the last few days I started to feel "oh ISB, that wasn't so hard, what's all the fuss about?", I felt that some1 gave a whack on my head. That someone was the memory of the time just before the results came out. That excruciating wait before the final result was the true indicator of the scale of the achievement. I know that selections can be quite subjective but still, it's an honour and a privelege to be part of this batch of super achievers.

But wait, is this an achievement? Is this what I have been figting for? Well, yes and no. I have struggled for the last 2 years to get into a top MBA college. The road was arduous, and I did try my best to develop myself personally and professionally for this day. But what was all that for? That was for a jump in my career. And that jump will come, if at all, only after I earn my MBA. So now the road has got that much tougher. I know that the next one year is gonna be one hell of a roller coaster ride. People complain about the pressure of a 2 year MBA so the 1 year MBA would be that much tougher. However, I am excited and hopeful because of the people I'm gonna be spending this time with. After getting to know some of the fellow admits, who are from all over the world, from such diverse backgrounds (actor to doctor to journalist to consultants, etc), and are generally such nice people, I am sure that I m gonna madly enjoy the next year of my life.
Next few posts would outline my thoughts on B-school essays .

Accepted at ISB

After a week of anxiety and a night without sleep, finally the result came out.
I am IN !!
Thanks lot to all the people who supported me through this journey.

At one moment I breathed a sigh of relief and at another I was shouting at the top of my voice and yet, in another, I felt like crying. It's a shame that I am hundreds and thousands of miles away form the people who are truly happy for me. I longed to rejoice with friends and family.

Anyway, it's a great feeling and it's awesome to find my hard work rewarded.
Ciao

ISB: Still waiting

ISB results are supposed to be out on the 20th. So why am I waiting for the results today? Well the word on the market (well Pagalguy, really) is that the results would be out sooner. Many predicted Monday/Tuesday. Both the options have been invalidated now. So let's see if they post the results by tomorrow.
I have some big plans lined up for the thanksgiving weekend. Few friends are coming down from NJ. The fun would surely be whipped off if the results dont go my way.

But anyway, that's life I guess. The blogworld was surely a help in the whole process. The number of readers to my site has gone up radically in the last few days. Welcome all of you. Leave me a comment if you have any queries.

Earlier, I had put in a lot of effort for the Darden and especially Fuqua apps. Since ISB is probably going to be the only school I'm gonna app this year, I might have written the best Fuqua essays never to be submitted :) I guess that the Darden and Fuqua essays did help me for the ISB interview as I could clearly articulate my career goal and progression. It always helps writing things down.

Since tomorrow I may come to the end of the road of this yr's apps, let me share a few tidbits
US B Schools: The road is not rosy. Especially for an intl applicant who needs funding/loan to get through. Even if you make it through to your dream college, chances of getting a non-cosignor/collateral free/guarenteed loans is very bleak. Most the the colleges outside top 10 have discontinued the guaranteed loans. But it gets more interesting once you somehow manage. The H1B cap is 65K and a 20K more for Masters (MBA included). However, the degree awarding date is very generally after the visa application deadline so the 20K quota is generally renedered useless. Then comes the companies. In this climate, very few cos will recruit many ppl to start off. And even fewer will go into the hassles of H1B sponsorship. So you are stuck with a 100K+ USD loan and no jobs.
That was a risk I couldn't take. Not with the various responsibilities I have. Maybe next year, who knows. Coming back to the applying process, as many people have mentioned it is very hectic and very challenging to integrate the various dimensions in the app: GMAT, essays, recos, school research, alumni/student networking and so on. But it's is extremely fulfilling due to the introspective nature. I am sure I m a better professional just because I penned down my thoughts through the various essays. I now have a direction in my career, and a clear understanding of myself as a professional. Even for the interviews, I encourage people to write the responses to gthe common questions down - just like they would for an essay. And if possible, show it to a reviewer-whether it makes sense.

The ISB essays were extremely challenging because of the length. It is so frustrating to be limited to just 300 words. Having said that, they echoed something the bard said long back: "brevity is the soul of wit". It takes real calibre to express the same thought in fewer words. So I think the essays would have brought out the best in the applicants' writing prowess. Very often, a little play on words brought down the length drastically. There was also the issue of prioritizing points and putting in the most important ones. All of these require great managerial skills - which is what the whole thing is about. So I guess ISB essays were a great test for the creativity and communication skills of the applicants.

That's it for now. Wish me luck.

ISB Interview

I had my ISB interview today. Woke up @ 5:15 AM for the interview @ 5:45 AM Florida time (4:15PM in India). It was quite casual in flow. There were 2 people on the panel.

The very first question was a bouncer. "So I see from your essays that you have researched on ISB a lot. So what do you think we are gonna ask you today?". Top that!
Then I was asked to speak on "Television" for a minute. Nailed it. Courtesey TM TT practice.
After I finished, the senior interviewer actually said " Wao, I can't clap here, but that was good"!

Then came the typical questions on Y MBA, Career progression, Career Goals. They also asked me about my contest winning speech :)
The last qs was another bouncer: Rate urself on analytical skills: I said 8.
Then came the actual qs: There's a 100 storey building. There r 4 lifts: each servicing successive 25 floors. They are state of the art lifts. Yet the users of the lift are unhappy with them. Why?

Then I asked a couple of questions on the Global Consulting Practicuum, Artist in Residence and Problem Solving (McKinsey).

Anyway, I think I did well. It seeemed as if they were only trying to complete the picture. As they asked questions that weren't addressed in the app. Not a single qs on Jagaran. So Im guessing they are content wid the other aspects of my profile. So all in all it seemed positive. Fingers crossed

ISB Interview call

After days and day of great anguish, finally the interview call arrived, when I had given up hope. Better late than never I guess.

Meanwhile, I didn't app to any either college, not in R1 anyway. Some personal reasons have even forced me to rethink my decision to earn an MBA this year.

In all probability, I'll only app to ISB nd depending on its decision, take the next step.

Over and out