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

Enter the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave

I was standing freely on the train when it started t move. And move fast. The sudden acceleration of the train nearly made me fall. I realized I am in the US of A, in the inter-terminal train in the Chicago airport.
It's been a week since I landed in America. I left my mother and my motherland on the 5th Oct early morning by Lufthansa flight. The last few days were very difficult for me personally. I didn't realize I'd be so sad leaving my family. The 28-hr flight was so uncomfortable. The dometic Kingfisher flights are more comfy than the lufthansa ones. The Frankfurt and Chicago airports truly took my breath away.
Life took on the all too familiar busy colours soon after joining office. But that was expected.I am amazed to 2 particular things in America. How nice people are and how easy things are.
Strangers nodding and saying Hello to grocery store attendants wishing you "Have a nice day" with an endearing smile, every person seems so nice, I'll have to watch out for diabetes now. People are so sweet!
And everything seems like an easy or a beginner level in a video game. Things are just so damn easy! I opened my bank account in 10 minutes! Yes 10 minutes, not 10 hours or 10 days!
Within a wek, I have a bank a/c a house a car. And the roads, phew! Whoever has driven through the Indian roads will know what an experience it is. But here, sometimes I get bored. People follow all the rules!! Drivers follow the signals, there's no pesky auto rikshaws or cycle rikshaws and bicycles have a separate lane. There's hardly any traffic and all the roads have 3/4 lanes. Man things are cool here.
But things are not what makes human beings. People love not things but well... people. And in spite of everything, I miss the hustle and bustle and the pollution and the love of the people i left across the ocean. Miss you guys.

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!