Having now joined the workforce, I can now appreciate the method in the apparent madness of the MBA curriculum. I think these info will helo the prospective students.
A few days back, I got a call from a director at another office about help regarding a proposal. I was given 2 hours to go through the project specifics-public announcements of a merger. After 2 hours, I was asked what I feel about this. Then over the weekend I wrote a proposal on the post merger integration of these 2 firms.
Sounds familiar? This is just what you do for a case prep. We are given copious case study notes with miniscule time. We read up on case for 2 hours, discuss the case in class - state our point of view and then write a case summary. THis rigour really helps now in job scenario.
Similarly, I'm also working on a strategy project with a team spread across India. Off course the colleagues have different wavelengths and pre-ISB there might have been a friction. But the rich (and forced) experienced via study groups of working with unknown people from different backgrounds over a long period of time and managing egos and personalities really helps avoid frictions now.
So in addition to the actual content of an MBA curriculum, the design itself also helps cope with post-MBA work environment. We also had courses that taught us how to cope with office politics. Maybe I'll write about that sometime!
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
ISB MBA: Things I'd do differently
It's been nearly a couple of months since I donned the convocation hat and received my degree certificate with a photogenic smile from Mr. Kapil Sibal. With this time lag in between, here's taking a look at what could have helped shape my ISB experience better.
Student exchange-The biggest "if only..." feeling I have is about the student exchange program. I wanted to go for student exchange from the time I was researching MBA schools. I remember meticulously researching each of the schools my target colleges had tie ups with. At ISB the problem was the timing. I was only interested in the very best global B-Schools for exchange namely Wharton, Lbs and Kellogg. I had somehow formed the idea that each of them had an exchange timeline that clashed with the placement season. However, after the first round exchange deadline was over, I realized that Kellogg exchange actually started in Apr! A golden opportunity to get access to the Alumni portal was missed this way. In fact, I could have also (and should have) gone to colleges like HKUST or CEIBS which would be big in Asia. Apart from the travel aspect, exchange really helps in long term professional (and personal networking).
Asia study trek-There were talks of a European trek which I was interested in. Later that fizzled out (only London tour with only 1 person attending) and I decided to skip the Asia trek. While professional networking wouldn't have been a huge gain here, the camaraderie developed with fellow ISB travelers and the personal experience of visiting so many countries and corporates would definitely have compensated for the cost.
More involvement in clubs-Apart from serving the ISB Toastmasters Club as President, I never got involved with any other social or professional clubs. Organizing some of the major events would have definitely helped to know more people and form better bonds at and outside ISB. The toss up here was time. That said, given a choice I guess I'll still settle for my ISB rank.
Choice of subjectsThis is very pero=sonal but for the sake of completeness, let me list the specific papers that didn't work for me and I wish I had chosen otherwise. I didn't find any value in Capital raising for corporations. The profs were fantastic but the paper itself didn't give me a high. I should have taken the course Advertising taught by a stellar prof Jaidip Sengupta. Same goes for "Investing in Private Equity" by prof Vinay Nair and "Advanced Transaction Analysis and Modeling" by prof Ashish Kohli. Both are super profs and the subjects are tremendous value ads. The last course I would mention is LSCM-"Logistics and Supply Chain Management" by prof Milind Sohni -one of the star profs at ISB. Advertizing and LSCM are not something that I may use too often in my professional life but they were good to know subjects taught by people who made the classes interesting. Same goes for the 2 Fin profs above. Disclaimer for future ISB students: Please note that these are my personal opinions, other batch mates may and probably will come up with totally opposite views.
Other-Someone asked me if I would have changed my choice of colleges if I retook GMAT. Well, it didn't matter to me as I only apped to ISB. I would always urge anyone considering MBA to go for the best colleges. I abhor the concept of categorization of colleges into reach and dream and what not. I wanted to get into the best college I could afford. Else I wouldn't have joined an MBA program.
Student exchange-The biggest "if only..." feeling I have is about the student exchange program. I wanted to go for student exchange from the time I was researching MBA schools. I remember meticulously researching each of the schools my target colleges had tie ups with. At ISB the problem was the timing. I was only interested in the very best global B-Schools for exchange namely Wharton, Lbs and Kellogg. I had somehow formed the idea that each of them had an exchange timeline that clashed with the placement season. However, after the first round exchange deadline was over, I realized that Kellogg exchange actually started in Apr! A golden opportunity to get access to the Alumni portal was missed this way. In fact, I could have also (and should have) gone to colleges like HKUST or CEIBS which would be big in Asia. Apart from the travel aspect, exchange really helps in long term professional (and personal networking).
Asia study trek-There were talks of a European trek which I was interested in. Later that fizzled out (only London tour with only 1 person attending) and I decided to skip the Asia trek. While professional networking wouldn't have been a huge gain here, the camaraderie developed with fellow ISB travelers and the personal experience of visiting so many countries and corporates would definitely have compensated for the cost.
More involvement in clubs-Apart from serving the ISB Toastmasters Club as President, I never got involved with any other social or professional clubs. Organizing some of the major events would have definitely helped to know more people and form better bonds at and outside ISB. The toss up here was time. That said, given a choice I guess I'll still settle for my ISB rank.
Choice of subjectsThis is very pero=sonal but for the sake of completeness, let me list the specific papers that didn't work for me and I wish I had chosen otherwise. I didn't find any value in Capital raising for corporations. The profs were fantastic but the paper itself didn't give me a high. I should have taken the course Advertising taught by a stellar prof Jaidip Sengupta. Same goes for "Investing in Private Equity" by prof Vinay Nair and "Advanced Transaction Analysis and Modeling" by prof Ashish Kohli. Both are super profs and the subjects are tremendous value ads. The last course I would mention is LSCM-"Logistics and Supply Chain Management" by prof Milind Sohni -one of the star profs at ISB. Advertizing and LSCM are not something that I may use too often in my professional life but they were good to know subjects taught by people who made the classes interesting. Same goes for the 2 Fin profs above. Disclaimer for future ISB students: Please note that these are my personal opinions, other batch mates may and probably will come up with totally opposite views.
Other-Someone asked me if I would have changed my choice of colleges if I retook GMAT. Well, it didn't matter to me as I only apped to ISB. I would always urge anyone considering MBA to go for the best colleges. I abhor the concept of categorization of colleges into reach and dream and what not. I wanted to get into the best college I could afford. Else I wouldn't have joined an MBA program.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Doing well at a B-school: Academics
This is the first part of a series of Doing well at a B-school articles I plan to write. Today I'd share my experiences and insights on what I felt may work academically at ISB or in any B-school. Halfway through the year I realized my follies and felt the need for these precious tidbits from seniors which are difficult to get in a 1-year B-school. A disclaimer before I begin: these are just my personal thoughts. Please don't come back to me if any of these strategies don't work.
Exams: The so called easier subjects such as for Strategy of OB are actually tougher to score at because the TAs have specific guidelines on points in the answers. So you have to really follow the class well to understand professor's points of view. The hard core fin subjects have very high spread so be sure to practice practice and practice sample questions. After the first 2 terms I just couldn't get myself to study the day before the exams coz of fatigue or burnout or whatever. This is a disaster. I changed this during the last few terms to great effect. So make the most of the day before exams. To set expectations, a general rule of thumb is that about 8 marks above average guarantee an A (at least at ISB).
Assignments: Well this is really tricky and there's no right answer. Few electives in fact have only assignments that decide the grade. So just work hard in them I guess. For core terms, they generally don't matter so for subjects which have >80% weightage on exams you are better of ignoring assignments (where spread is very low) and concentrating on exams.
Projects:For most projects, using some fancy frameworks to analyze the issues really help. Also try to bring in concepts taught in class. Very importantly, if the project is in slide/PPT form, and you've to submit both hard and soft copies, you must put in some animations irrespective of guidelines. Sometimes presence (or absence) of animation (whatever quality) makes the difference.
Class Participation (CP): The much abused part of B-school life, CP hardly matters during core terms in the overall scheme of things. In electives, CP does make a whole lot of difference due to very high spread. But a word of caution. Please don't blabber or ramble if you have nothing substantive to say. I have seen numerous people who constantly jabber get very low CP marks wherease a few well thought out points win very high marks. And, it is OK not to speak in a few classes, really!
These were just few things that I felt I could have benefited from if I knew them from the start. If you are just starting out on a B-school, do remember that grades follow learning and learning follows enjoyment. So don't forget the enjoy the b-school experience in class or outside.
Exams: The so called easier subjects such as for Strategy of OB are actually tougher to score at because the TAs have specific guidelines on points in the answers. So you have to really follow the class well to understand professor's points of view. The hard core fin subjects have very high spread so be sure to practice practice and practice sample questions. After the first 2 terms I just couldn't get myself to study the day before the exams coz of fatigue or burnout or whatever. This is a disaster. I changed this during the last few terms to great effect. So make the most of the day before exams. To set expectations, a general rule of thumb is that about 8 marks above average guarantee an A (at least at ISB).
Assignments: Well this is really tricky and there's no right answer. Few electives in fact have only assignments that decide the grade. So just work hard in them I guess. For core terms, they generally don't matter so for subjects which have >80% weightage on exams you are better of ignoring assignments (where spread is very low) and concentrating on exams.
Projects:For most projects, using some fancy frameworks to analyze the issues really help. Also try to bring in concepts taught in class. Very importantly, if the project is in slide/PPT form, and you've to submit both hard and soft copies, you must put in some animations irrespective of guidelines. Sometimes presence (or absence) of animation (whatever quality) makes the difference.
Class Participation (CP): The much abused part of B-school life, CP hardly matters during core terms in the overall scheme of things. In electives, CP does make a whole lot of difference due to very high spread. But a word of caution. Please don't blabber or ramble if you have nothing substantive to say. I have seen numerous people who constantly jabber get very low CP marks wherease a few well thought out points win very high marks. And, it is OK not to speak in a few classes, really!
These were just few things that I felt I could have benefited from if I knew them from the start. If you are just starting out on a B-school, do remember that grades follow learning and learning follows enjoyment. So don't forget the enjoy the b-school experience in class or outside.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Application tips
I have been receiving a lot of queries lately regarding the application process. I will be associated with the admission task force at ISB this year as well. In this post I'd like to give some general pointers regarding the entire process which may be applicable to any MBA app not necessarily ISB. Disclaimer: The following comments are my own and not ISB's.
1. Research: Please go through the school website. Almost all info about a school from application perspective would be present there. And please do your homework before calling someone at the school about stuff that is easily available at the site. This goes for interview advice as well as many people ask interviewers very obvious questions on placement stats curriculum etc -this has a negative impact on perception.
2. Recommendations: Ideally the immediate supervisor would be the best possible person. For second recommender, a client or a team senior both work equally well, in my opinion. Use the recommenders to tell stories or bring out aspects that hasn't been addressed by the essays 9due to space constraint or some other reasons). Recommendations can also be used to reinforce tall claims by providing validity.
3. Read up on blogs by current students or talk to them about unique aspects of the school. Mentioning one or two unique incidents or insights can be a differentiating factor in the application.
4. One of the most frequent questions I have come across is that "I am from IT. I have had experiences that would be similar to most applicants so how do I differentiate myself?". The differentiating factor to my mind is actually not in the experience but the learning. Just as in a class of 60 people, each person is taught the same thing but in an exam the marks scored vary widely...because of the difference in learning, so even with the same expereince, different people would learn different things. Thus communicate clearly what you learnt and how that will help the student body at your school.
5. Don't overemphasize your extracurrics: In a bid to differentiate themselves, many people fall into the trap of underplaying their work exp and overemphasizing their extracurricular experiences. Please DON'T do so as you will be admitted based on your work ex and not on your social or xc involvement.
6. Admission consultants: This is a tricky area. If you have some money to spare, you may go ahead and take professional help. I didn't and I doubt too many people in India would. However, I would highly recommend availing the free consultation offers that many renowned admission consultants offer. You have absolutely nothing to lose and would gain a valuable 3rd person perspective on where you stand at least on paper. I did take such free advice which did boost my confidence.
If you take care of the aqbove ground rules, you should be good...
I have missed out on the biggest factor that may make the difference between an admit and a ding which is luck. Off course you can't do anything about that. But in my experience I have found that the harder I work, the luckier I get. So I would suggest just work hard and leave the rest to the person above.
1. Research: Please go through the school website. Almost all info about a school from application perspective would be present there. And please do your homework before calling someone at the school about stuff that is easily available at the site. This goes for interview advice as well as many people ask interviewers very obvious questions on placement stats curriculum etc -this has a negative impact on perception.
2. Recommendations: Ideally the immediate supervisor would be the best possible person. For second recommender, a client or a team senior both work equally well, in my opinion. Use the recommenders to tell stories or bring out aspects that hasn't been addressed by the essays 9due to space constraint or some other reasons). Recommendations can also be used to reinforce tall claims by providing validity.
3. Read up on blogs by current students or talk to them about unique aspects of the school. Mentioning one or two unique incidents or insights can be a differentiating factor in the application.
4. One of the most frequent questions I have come across is that "I am from IT. I have had experiences that would be similar to most applicants so how do I differentiate myself?". The differentiating factor to my mind is actually not in the experience but the learning. Just as in a class of 60 people, each person is taught the same thing but in an exam the marks scored vary widely...because of the difference in learning, so even with the same expereince, different people would learn different things. Thus communicate clearly what you learnt and how that will help the student body at your school.
5. Don't overemphasize your extracurrics: In a bid to differentiate themselves, many people fall into the trap of underplaying their work exp and overemphasizing their extracurricular experiences. Please DON'T do so as you will be admitted based on your work ex and not on your social or xc involvement.
6. Admission consultants: This is a tricky area. If you have some money to spare, you may go ahead and take professional help. I didn't and I doubt too many people in India would. However, I would highly recommend availing the free consultation offers that many renowned admission consultants offer. You have absolutely nothing to lose and would gain a valuable 3rd person perspective on where you stand at least on paper. I did take such free advice which did boost my confidence.
If you take care of the aqbove ground rules, you should be good...
I have missed out on the biggest factor that may make the difference between an admit and a ding which is luck. Off course you can't do anything about that. But in my experience I have found that the harder I work, the luckier I get. So I would suggest just work hard and leave the rest to the person above.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
MBA app: Exaggerations
Yesterday, one of my very close friends, told me that a person he knew got waitlisted at University of North Carolina, Kenan Flagler Business School(UNC). Now UNC is a top class school. Great strength across concentrations, great brand name, solid faculty, alumni network, placement, the works. So what is special about this particular chap who got waitlisted? Well, he had made up most of his resume, by his own admission. My friend had shown this other person's CV to me once. There was a line about: Volunteered during flood in Kolkata. Now Kolkata has never ever been flooded. Not just in my lifetime but ever. Now agreed, even a small amount of rains cause waterlogging in the city due to an outdated drainage system (thats a topic for another post altogether), but that's not a flood and the only volunteering people do during during such a time, is to turn up in office. In fact almost all of his "social work" was made up, by this person's own admission. The fact that he has a good chance at an admission at a US top 20 school certainly throws up some questions for all applicants.
People bloating CVs is nothing new. Though most of the schools are very strict about ethics and many schools actually have a separate essay to identify ethics in applicants, applicants have resorted to under handed tactics over and over again. A few years ago, Harvard rejected 119 applicants for hacking into their application site. Recently Fuqua expelled several students for cheating during exams. After Enron and worldcom, most business schools have tried hard to focus on and instill ethics into their students. But what can you do about a basic human urge to do one better than your peers? Many of us faced the competitive pressure during school exams that everyone cheated, so unless you also follow suit, your marks will suffer. The same analogy exists in today's business/political spheres. Unless you are corrupt like others, you will be left high and dry. For the purpose of this post, however, I shall focus on MBA applications only.
From a business school adcom perspective, it is almost impossible to verify every bullet point in the resume of applicants. I know Emory performs background checks of admitted applicants (and charges about $70 for the same as well). But by that time, the harm has already been done. Some worthy applicants have already been rejected. Off course, the adcoms can call up the immediate supervisors etc to verify the work credentials, but it's is not feasible all the times (say for a work history spanning several years). Moreover, how can you authenticate whether a personal story listed in an essay is true? So the fact is, some people will seep through the system, no matter what.
However, I firmly believe that such a tactics on the part of an individual is counterproductive in the long run. Say this person made it to UNC. Most of the other applicants would have been selected on the basis of their actual experiences and talent. So in class performance and during eventual placements, the difference is bound to surface. Most likely, such a person would not be able to cope with the MBA program rigour and/or reap its true benefits. Hard work, or the lack of it, does eventually show up. It's not a perfect world but things do average out over the years.
People bloating CVs is nothing new. Though most of the schools are very strict about ethics and many schools actually have a separate essay to identify ethics in applicants, applicants have resorted to under handed tactics over and over again. A few years ago, Harvard rejected 119 applicants for hacking into their application site. Recently Fuqua expelled several students for cheating during exams. After Enron and worldcom, most business schools have tried hard to focus on and instill ethics into their students. But what can you do about a basic human urge to do one better than your peers? Many of us faced the competitive pressure during school exams that everyone cheated, so unless you also follow suit, your marks will suffer. The same analogy exists in today's business/political spheres. Unless you are corrupt like others, you will be left high and dry. For the purpose of this post, however, I shall focus on MBA applications only.
From a business school adcom perspective, it is almost impossible to verify every bullet point in the resume of applicants. I know Emory performs background checks of admitted applicants (and charges about $70 for the same as well). But by that time, the harm has already been done. Some worthy applicants have already been rejected. Off course, the adcoms can call up the immediate supervisors etc to verify the work credentials, but it's is not feasible all the times (say for a work history spanning several years). Moreover, how can you authenticate whether a personal story listed in an essay is true? So the fact is, some people will seep through the system, no matter what.
However, I firmly believe that such a tactics on the part of an individual is counterproductive in the long run. Say this person made it to UNC. Most of the other applicants would have been selected on the basis of their actual experiences and talent. So in class performance and during eventual placements, the difference is bound to surface. Most likely, such a person would not be able to cope with the MBA program rigour and/or reap its true benefits. Hard work, or the lack of it, does eventually show up. It's not a perfect world but things do average out over the years.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Essay update-Fuqua, Darden
I have dropped Kellogg off my list. Tuck as well. Even though I may get in at these 2, the costs associated would be too high. At least in Darden and Fuqua I may get some good schols. + writing the essays takes so much of energy and effort, I feel it's imperative that maximise the return from my effort. Things are on track for my US visa etc. The only issue is the upcoming Puja holidays in Cal. It may be difficult to get a Visa interview date.
Anyway comin bak, I have written the first drafts for the Fuqua essays. Darden is stil sketchy.
Fuqwua essays 1 and 4 are givin me nightmares. Not individualy but the combination. I feel there's so much overlap in the scope. I mean your long term goals would obviously include the impact you wanna have in the world. Ohterwise, Fuqua essays are very balanced-they do bring about most facets of my personality, unlike the darden essays-they are very narrow. I mean you can be a good manager and a great leader even though you haven't experienced a big failure, or a huge creative challenge or an "ethical dilemma" (phew). After all, a great perosnna makes the best of the situation-does ordinary things extraordinarily well! That's difficult to portray through the darden essays.
Ive realized that writing MBA essays is like designing a software solution.
Step 1: Requirements gathering: read up on various sources: website, blogs, interviews, etc.
Step 2: Design: Prepare a rough layout of the structure of ur esay-Intro, body(pt 1, pt 2 , etc), Conclusion.
Step 3: Coding: Expand the points-write all things substantially.
Step 4: testing: Give your essays to the reviewers.
Step 5: Bug fixing: like any software project, the testing phase will invariably involve loads of bug-fixes coz the reviewers generally come up with both "aha" and "duh" pointers.
Step 6: Deploy: Submit the app, and hope for the best.
Note that the development methodology may vary as some people may go for waterfall model (listed above) or an iterative model-all the phases performed iteratively or even Agile model-testing driven development i e first ask the reviewer for pointers then start writing!
B a software engineer does have its advantages!
Anyway comin bak, I have written the first drafts for the Fuqua essays. Darden is stil sketchy.
Fuqwua essays 1 and 4 are givin me nightmares. Not individualy but the combination. I feel there's so much overlap in the scope. I mean your long term goals would obviously include the impact you wanna have in the world. Ohterwise, Fuqua essays are very balanced-they do bring about most facets of my personality, unlike the darden essays-they are very narrow. I mean you can be a good manager and a great leader even though you haven't experienced a big failure, or a huge creative challenge or an "ethical dilemma" (phew). After all, a great perosnna makes the best of the situation-does ordinary things extraordinarily well! That's difficult to portray through the darden essays.
Ive realized that writing MBA essays is like designing a software solution.
Step 1: Requirements gathering: read up on various sources: website, blogs, interviews, etc.
Step 2: Design: Prepare a rough layout of the structure of ur esay-Intro, body(pt 1, pt 2 , etc), Conclusion.
Step 3: Coding: Expand the points-write all things substantially.
Step 4: testing: Give your essays to the reviewers.
Step 5: Bug fixing: like any software project, the testing phase will invariably involve loads of bug-fixes coz the reviewers generally come up with both "aha" and "duh" pointers.
Step 6: Deploy: Submit the app, and hope for the best.
Note that the development methodology may vary as some people may go for waterfall model (listed above) or an iterative model-all the phases performed iteratively or even Agile model-testing driven development i e first ask the reviewer for pointers then start writing!
B a software engineer does have its advantages!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Seismic schocks
Things will never be the same again. A 158 year old financial giant is dead. Another big fish has been eaten by a shark.
24000 employees of Merril Lynch are expecting pink slips.
All employees of Lehman Bro have started polishing their CVs.
Satyam has laid off 2500 employees.
The job market was never more competitive. Though Finance is not my post-MBA choice of , I am worried as hell. Because all these capable people, most of 'em anyway are now looking for redemption. And most of them will look at an MBA to take them through the next 2 years of their lives. If you are gonna be without a job, you are far better off being so in an MBA school for obvious reasons.
The implications are very clear. The applicant pool will probably be the most competitive ever. Especially in the later rounds. So EA (if the option is there) and R1 are the only choices for poor souls such as me.
I was thinking of app-ing to Fuqua in R2, to have some more time for the on-campus interview, but that seems like a very dangerous choice now. it's either EA/R1 or never.
1 other thing is e timeline. Fuqua R1 admit offer demands pulling out of other apps.
Here's a brief sketch of timeline.
Probable US journey: 29 Sep
US (may get delayed): 6 Oct
Fuqua Interview R1: 7 Oct (sat)
Fuqua EA: 15 Oct
Fuqua R1: 27 Oct
Darden R1 28 Oct
Fuqua Interview (EA): Nov 1 (sat)
Fuqua Offer (EA)
ISB interview (probable): Nov1 -Nov 12
Fuqua offer (EA): Nov 14
ISB Offer: On or before Nov 20 (15 days time to accept offer)
Fuqua Tution Deposit (EA): Dec 12
Darden interview: Dec 5-19
Fuqua offer (R1):Dec 19
Darden interview:Jan 5-9
Darden offer: Jan 30
Darden Deposit: Mar 12
So Fuqua R1 is a bit risky since if ISB offers, I'll have to pay 2 lakhs and then get the offer form Fuqua and kick myself in the back.
Let's c wat the future holds
Ciao
24000 employees of Merril Lynch are expecting pink slips.
All employees of Lehman Bro have started polishing their CVs.
Satyam has laid off 2500 employees.
The job market was never more competitive. Though Finance is not my post-MBA choice of , I am worried as hell. Because all these capable people, most of 'em anyway are now looking for redemption. And most of them will look at an MBA to take them through the next 2 years of their lives. If you are gonna be without a job, you are far better off being so in an MBA school for obvious reasons.
The implications are very clear. The applicant pool will probably be the most competitive ever. Especially in the later rounds. So EA (if the option is there) and R1 are the only choices for poor souls such as me.
I was thinking of app-ing to Fuqua in R2, to have some more time for the on-campus interview, but that seems like a very dangerous choice now. it's either EA/R1 or never.
1 other thing is e timeline. Fuqua R1 admit offer demands pulling out of other apps.
Here's a brief sketch of timeline.
Probable US journey: 29 Sep
US (may get delayed): 6 Oct
Fuqua Interview R1: 7 Oct (sat)
Fuqua EA: 15 Oct
Fuqua R1: 27 Oct
Darden R1 28 Oct
Fuqua Interview (EA): Nov 1 (sat)
Fuqua Offer (EA)
ISB interview (probable): Nov1 -Nov 12
Fuqua offer (EA): Nov 14
ISB Offer: On or before Nov 20 (15 days time to accept offer)
Fuqua Tution Deposit (EA): Dec 12
Darden interview: Dec 5-19
Fuqua offer (R1):Dec 19
Darden interview:Jan 5-9
Darden offer: Jan 30
Darden Deposit: Mar 12
So Fuqua R1 is a bit risky since if ISB offers, I'll have to pay 2 lakhs and then get the offer form Fuqua and kick myself in the back.
Let's c wat the future holds
Ciao
Saturday, August 9, 2008
ISB essay update
I am struggling with the ISB essays. I thought things have settled down and all the essays were in shape but a recent reviewer says, that the material is good but the presentation isn't. I'm now in the process of re-vamping my essays from scratch, especially the 1st one.
I feel that the essays lack one important question: Why MBA? (and also why ISB). There just isn't a place to put in Y MBA and my career goals. I feel that my career goal and why MBA are some of my differentiating factors. May be I can utilize the optional essay for this.
This have been quite "normal" at office. We are organizing a humorous speech contest next week. In order to prepare for that, I am switching between writing ISB student body presidential contest speech, humorous speech, responding to Zumba residents' protests and convincing ISB why they should take me. So life is good.
In toastmasters, I have now delivered 5 speeches. Next Wednesday it'll be my 6th speech. So pretty good going there. I hope I'm able to complete CL by this month and CC by Oct.
I'll post some of my past speeches next
I feel that the essays lack one important question: Why MBA? (and also why ISB). There just isn't a place to put in Y MBA and my career goals. I feel that my career goal and why MBA are some of my differentiating factors. May be I can utilize the optional essay for this.
This have been quite "normal" at office. We are organizing a humorous speech contest next week. In order to prepare for that, I am switching between writing ISB student body presidential contest speech, humorous speech, responding to Zumba residents' protests and convincing ISB why they should take me. So life is good.
In toastmasters, I have now delivered 5 speeches. Next Wednesday it'll be my 6th speech. So pretty good going there. I hope I'm able to complete CL by this month and CC by Oct.
I'll post some of my past speeches next
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Schools shortlisted and essay update
I have recently been reading up on a lot of blogs. I must say I was particularly impressed with Raja Banerjee's blog: http://isbpgp.blogspot.com/ on life pre, during and post ISB.
It gives one a clear snapshot of life in the great school.
ISB is certainly on top of my list.The question is, how realistic are my chances there. My GMAT certainly isn't my distinguishing factor. My work profile is varied but I'm not sure whether it can be my USP. So that just leaves me with XCs and community work. And certainly the essays.
The first 2 essays are a bit overlapping, I feel. Which experience to include in diversity essay and which one in leadership? Since I'm new to the whole application procedure, I'm also unsure about which aspects should be highlighted and how. Amidst all these confusions, I have just decided to stick to the thing I know best in this world. Me. I'll just let things flow. It's difficult (and risky) to second guess the Adcom's views. So I wouldn't try.
I had asked an ex-colleague to review the first drafts of the essays and had requested him to be frank in his feedback. Boy, was he frank! Excoriating-ly (is that even a word?) so. But he has awesome insights and has pointed out amazing things. No wonder he's made it to LBS this year! Another thing I worry about ISB is the lack of international experience. But as this colleague of mine says, this is not the time to focus on the have-nots but rather the time to focus on the have's. Time certainly is running out.
I figure that if I'm to have any chance to gain admission to any of the top schools, R1 is the way to go.
So, the colleges I've sent my scores to and the respective deadlines are:
ISB-15 Sep
Fuqua-Oct 15(EA)
Darden-Oct 28(EA?)
UNC-Oct 24(EA)
Emory-?
I'll not apply for the early action rounds as that means a payment of the huge acceptance fees before ISB's decision. I don't really have that much money to spare. In fact I'm not very sure about apping to all of the schools either. Miss Emory being schol friendly would certainly be getting a love letter from urs truly but mademoiselles Fuqua and Darden, being such up uptown girls may not be hearing from plebeian me.
Over and out
It gives one a clear snapshot of life in the great school.
ISB is certainly on top of my list.The question is, how realistic are my chances there. My GMAT certainly isn't my distinguishing factor. My work profile is varied but I'm not sure whether it can be my USP. So that just leaves me with XCs and community work. And certainly the essays.
The first 2 essays are a bit overlapping, I feel. Which experience to include in diversity essay and which one in leadership? Since I'm new to the whole application procedure, I'm also unsure about which aspects should be highlighted and how. Amidst all these confusions, I have just decided to stick to the thing I know best in this world. Me. I'll just let things flow. It's difficult (and risky) to second guess the Adcom's views. So I wouldn't try.
I had asked an ex-colleague to review the first drafts of the essays and had requested him to be frank in his feedback. Boy, was he frank! Excoriating-ly (is that even a word?) so. But he has awesome insights and has pointed out amazing things. No wonder he's made it to LBS this year! Another thing I worry about ISB is the lack of international experience. But as this colleague of mine says, this is not the time to focus on the have-nots but rather the time to focus on the have's. Time certainly is running out.
I figure that if I'm to have any chance to gain admission to any of the top schools, R1 is the way to go.
So, the colleges I've sent my scores to and the respective deadlines are:
ISB-15 Sep
Fuqua-Oct 15(EA)
Darden-Oct 28(EA?)
UNC-Oct 24(EA)
Emory-?
I'll not apply for the early action rounds as that means a payment of the huge acceptance fees before ISB's decision. I don't really have that much money to spare. In fact I'm not very sure about apping to all of the schools either. Miss Emory being schol friendly would certainly be getting a love letter from urs truly but mademoiselles Fuqua and Darden, being such up uptown girls may not be hearing from plebeian me.
Over and out
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