Thoughts and then some more...

Decision Making

2012-01-05T10:12:00.001-06:00

How you live your life is all about decision making. Sometime you make some great decisions and some time not. I think all of this has to do with what risks you are willing to take. Am I a risk averse person or a risk loving one? Or I am just neutral. Will find out soon.

Where's the fun gone?

2011-11-27T14:22:00.001-06:00

Instantaneous messages, push emails, sms'es, birthday alerts - isn't it getting too easy now. Wasn't it much more special when someone remembered your birthday by MEMORY and wished you. Wasn't it better when you received a snail mail from someone and curiously opened it to see its contents. Wasn't it better when you had to drive down couple of km to a STD booth to call up a friend to let them know that they are special?

Where is the fun now?

Why did Why this Kolaveri Di went Viral?

2011-11-23T12:11:00.001-06:00

Ok. So I was wondering yesterday about why this video went Viral but unfortunately didn't have much time to pen it down. Today I will try to put together my thought.

I have no background or foreground of the video. Just 3-4 days back, one of my wingie came into my room and asked if I had heard the song. I had seen people sharing it on fb, but not really heard it. So, I went back to fb and then took a listen to it. To be honest, I didn't understand the song much, but somethings went for it. The voice was quite raw and the beats caught up with you.

So why did this went Viral? Here are my thoughts to it.

One, Humans by nature are attracted towards change. I have listened to thousands of songs by A R Rehman, U2, Pink Floyd, Nirvana and such bands and they have made it big to the world stage. These bands, when they come out with a new good song - it is not much of a surprise. It is kind of expected that A R Rehman will come up with another good song in his new movie. That I think is the downside to being such an artist. But this gave the change to us, to listen to something different, to a video which probably was made in jest, but came out pretty well and just be apart from the pack even if it is a little crazy. There is a child in everyone of us and we just look at ways in which we can bring it out. This video brings out the fun, the crazy part out of me. I have an excuse to act so. "Why this why this why this Kolaveri Di?"

Two, The guy who sings the song. He does not look like a superstar or anything. He is the guy next door. A trimmed beard and natural looks. People could relate to him much more than anyone else. This came up as a surprise to many. I believe most people (even close to high 90's) do not know who are in the video and what the song is about and it is this surprise factor which pleasantly delighted many people.

Three, people like to be the 1st ones to do something. There is a race to post the best video on facebook and get maximum likes and shares. When someone realizes that this has a potential, they engage in a sort of race to be the 1st one to share the video among their friends. Now, there are lot of videos that are shared on facebook, why this one took the honors? Because of the other reasons we just mentioned. It was a good surprise. It also received a lot of support from people who are credible source of "good" information or the so called "opinion leaders". The music was not bad either and you could listen to it again and again in loop.

Four, For anything to go viral, it needs to have a positive feedback loop. This song simulated other creations in many forms. There were status updates where every word ended with -u, gtalk status messages, and even spoof videos on youtube which came up in no time at all. They all contributed in more and more people becoming aware of this video and who then became the proponents of the same.

Five, Such things are like fashion. They are in one day, and out the other. You do not want to wear the old - fashioned clothes or be called such a name. Similarly, when everyone around you is speaking such a language you want to be in with the times. You do not want to be left out. You make the effort to be know what is the "cool" quotient about this song is, you want to project yourself as with-the-times to your friends.

And that is why why this why this why this Kolaveri Di!!

Why this Kolaveri D

2011-11-22T16:29:00.001-06:00

It would be a surprise if you were walking down the road and talking to someone and they have not heard of this song. It is a rage. It is trending #1 in twitter for the country and if you look at the trend below by google compared to a very current popular song then you see how viral this is going.

Why did this go Viral? Any thoughts? I will share my views when I have some time to sit down and think.

Join a PSU and study for free at IIM Calcutta

2011-11-18T03:06:00.001-06:00

This was a recent news item which made a lot of buzz in the campus. The placement office has decided to implement a policy in which the entire tuition fee will be refunded to the candidate in case the person joins a PSU.

This mainly is because of 2 reasons. The Public Sector also requires good managers, but with their inability to be as competitive in incentives as other private firms, they usually end up with not so great brains in the organization. This will help them attract talent and would in turn mean better operations of the PSUs.

The other reason is people who actually want to make a different in this sector. They want to work in a PSU, but due to the large tuition fee (which is 13.5 L for a general candidate as of today) they are bound to look at more lucrative compensations to pay off this loan. This news come as a shot in the arm for these guys.

This step will help everyone involved. Read the news here

The first year at IIMC

2011-11-17T06:39:00.001-06:00

I am in my 5th term now. Just 4 months away from graduation. Time seems to have slowed down a bit now. Time to reflect back and think. I think a lot about the first year. How it went by, what I did and what I didn't. I thought I would post on what I would recommend a student to do in his/her first year.

Time management - I found that in the first year, I always struggled to find time to do things. I was focused on acads a lot, but I did find time to play for the band JBS and also play basketball almost every other day. Worked for the consulting club when required and also went out for movies and dinners as time permitted. The key is to treat time as a precious commodity ALL THE TIME. I always was on the go in the first year. Used basketball as my recreational activity which also helped me keep afresh.

Knowing People - Highly underrated. People officially call it networking, but I think that word corresponds to putting DP as well and I somehow don't like that word much. In the first 1-2 months, people are at their best, project their best to other people and try to find their wavelengths with other people. Once they find it and form a group of 8-10 people, they then stick together throughout the 2 years. This just creates a set of groups in campus and these groups hardly mingle together. In the 2nd year they choose to live together in hostels (1st year is randomized distribution) and everyone just loses out the opportunity to know each other more. Know your batchmates and know your senior batch well. I somehow was not very open with my senior batch, something which I do repent. I formed close ties with very few seniors and I think I missed out an opportunity there. They were always helpful and forthcoming but I somehow was engaged in my own priorities. Should have this higher up in the priority list.

Summers - Internships are a great way to explore what you want to do. I came from an IT Solutions background with 68 months of work experience. And I landed up an internship with P&G, arguably the best marketing firm around. It was the best opportunity for me to explore marketing as a career and I absolutely loved working for P&G. Summers is breaking out of the shackles, exploring something new, something different.

Students Council - Students Council consists of the key positions of responsibilities that students hold. You have to be passionate about doing work to land up in the council because you do have to work up a lot. Right now election process has started for PGP1's and in another week we probably will have elections after campaigning. It is an excellent way for you to contribute to the campus and show your leadership. Considering that I had high amount of work-ex, I chose to excuse myself from standing up for any of the position. But if I am a 0-3 yr work ex guy, I dont think I would have passed on such an opportunity. Obviously, your grades in first year will be affected cause you will have to work for your position, but you do get a sense of satisfaction from being able to do something for the campus and the student body.

Clubs - One thing that we always see is that students apply to as many clubs as possible, get into 5-8 clubs and then freeride in most of them. I did the same. Looking back, I would rather be only be in 1-2 clubs of interest to me and do lots of work for that club, and then be the president or the core team for that club in the second year. It gives you a sense of ownership and satisfaction to do that.

Hobbies - MBA also gives you a great opportunity to pursue your hobbies. Be it dance, music or photography. IIMC has a club for everything and if there is a hobby you have and dont find a club, you can form one. Its called SIG (Special Interest Group). If the club can sustain itself for 3 years, it gets club recognition from the students council.

A lot of Updates

2011-11-16T11:34:00.000-06:00

I realize that I have been very infrequent in updating. Promise to be better.

I had promised myself last year, at around the same time, that I will positively be with the family for Diwali next year. Keeping that in mind, I had booked my tickets in advance and Urmila's tickets as well and landed up in Delhi the Friday before the Diwali week. Bhabhi was carrying twins and she was given the date of 25th Oct which coincided with the Diwali date. She got admitted on 24th and surgery was carried out on 25th. Kartik and Krittika, welcome to the world. It was a fun filled week and I am already missing the 2 cutie pies.

Another big update - P&G offered a PPO and I am very glad about it. I really think that I can do pretty well in this kind of a role and I loved P&G as a company. But I really want Mumbai as the location due to multiple reasons. I hope that I can get that. HR has told me that she would be back in another 4-5 days. Hoping for the best!

The summers process went about smoothly after a crazy buildup. I could almost remember my days last year when sleep was more premium than gold. I feel so happy for the PGP1's to have come out of this phase and to a much more relaxed phase of MBA. The elections process has started on campus and we will soon have our soap boxes for various POR's.

Had a JBS performance last night as part of the IIM Calcutta Golden Jubilee Celebrations. It probably was the tightest performance till date from JBS. Except one song, can't point out a single screw up that we did. Awaiting for the videos to come up soon.

CLassiXX - really?

2011-08-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

Ok. I know, the name sucks. Lets just get over it.

Looking at the brighter side, this is the first IIMC, IIML, XLRI and XIMB meet. So why did this meet happen at all?

Flashback. XLRI has been trounced by IIMC almost everytime they have met. The overall scoreline in the 40 meets happened so far stand at 35-5 in favor of IIMC. (I am actually surprised as to how they managed to win the 5, but thats probably a research topic in itself). Last time XLRI visited in IIMC and being the gracious hosts we were we let them win 3 games out of a total of 16. The 13-3 scoreline does not represented how one sided those 13 wins were. So badly hurt were they emotionally and psychologically that they decided to not play with IIMC so soon reasoning that they needed to rebuild from their defeat last year.

The times suggested did not suit our schedule at all as we have placement season that starts from Jan onwards and Sep - Dec is STEP time. (The Student Exchange Program) So they wanted to have it later or not have it at all. Obviously we can not field our full strength team in Jan due to lateral placements. We wanted to play with our full strength. The last Sangharsh also saw a big clash with Intaglio which meant that we were our half strength. So, this is how came a proposition of having a 4 way meet now.

The funny thing about it is how the meet planning has been going. There are no lucky draws and all 1st round matches are IIMC vs IIML and between XLRI and XIMB. Another indication of how badly XLRI wants to at least figure in the finals. tch tch.

There have been a lot of other issues like cancelling sports where they don't have a good team and also the schedule. I have to say one thing, this is sports. You play for passion, because you love the game. You do not want it to be reduced to a farce. Please.

Ignoring all these issues, we head to XLRI tomorrow evening. We would be awaited with grandest of receptions. This is war, and we are ready - for a win of course.

How do you feel...

2011-07-21T15:51:00.000-05:00

when someone starts typing in the gmail chat window, it shows as xyz is typing and then it stops, and you wonder what it was..
when you get up at 8.25 am for the 8.30 class, and its raining heavily outside and you wonder if its all really worth it...
when you see the workload upto your chin and decide that you will start working on it first thing tomorrow...
when you see people losing their lives due to no fault of their own...
when suddenly you get the urge to go home but a round trip costs you 15000/-
when you were eagerly awaiting a match for a month and its washed out...
on a Monday morning, on a Thu afternoon, and on a Fri evening...
when you are inside an important board meeting and suddenly your cellphone rings...
when you are in a movie hall and people behind you know the dialogues by heart...
when you just slept and the phone starts ringing...
when you get on the bike you have been dreaming about for the last year...
when you stumble upon a song you loved when you were a kid...
when you think that Hobbes understands life better than anyone else........

Term IV

2011-07-12T02:10:00.000-05:00

I don't know what has happened in Term IV, suddenly I have found time for everything else other than studies. From the Lost Planet Group to the everyday 2 hr basketball games. So I have two exams tomorrow and I started my studies for one of them yesterday. The other one, I have not even looked at the book.

Now to the important stuff - XLRI wounds have not yet healed from the last trouncing that we gave them. So they were unwilling to have a 1-1 meet with us and that is why the meet is now a 4 way meet between C, L, XL and XIMB. I think its makes more sense as it will give us a better competition also, but just dilutes our love for the IIMC-XL meet - don't you think so? Some traditions should live on. Something that we talk about in our lifetime. Probably to make it fair, give XL a handicap. It will definitely make it more interesting?

Booked my tickets to go home for the Independence Day weekend. I am quite excited about the trip as it will give me 3 days away from this heat and humidity. I guess a cheaper alternative would be to buy a AC, but more on that later.

The new hostel is finally up and running (well not fully if you consider the constant 340 V electricity and no tuck shop and a 1 hr service by NC). I really didn't like the idea of staying on a far away land where I would need to get a Visa to visit the basketball court and they gym.

My thoughts are pretty random today - I am searching for motivation to study for tomorrow's exam but can't find much. Please - anyone?

Some Progress

2011-06-09T12:36:00.000-05:00

I was looking at the list I prepared some time back 17 things to do.

I am actually happy to state that I have at least learnt a bit of surfing and also I am working on the details of the leh trip. So that essentially makes my 17 only 15.5 now. In the coming year I want to explore NorthEast and do a bungee jump at least. If not for the schedule I could very easily have completed the Leh Trip this year as well, alas.. it waits for some time.

Holidays!

2011-03-15T08:20:00.000-05:00

Finally, the long awaited holidays are here. I feel that IIMC really scores a point here. Just because we do not get any hols between terms, we get to enjoy a longer holiday term after term III.

I landed in Delhi on 5th Mar and had lots of things to do. Went to my village and met everyone there. It had been a real long time. It felt good to just sit, have tea, play dumb charades and then go to CCD to have a coffee after dinner. Day well spent.Another day was spent at Ferozshah Kotla - the Ind - Netherlands match on 8th March. India won quite easily in the end, but it was the atmosphere and the people around that made the day so much more special. The remaining days were spent in catching up with the family, playing cards, playstation, cricket and yes, some visa work as well as I will be going to Singapore for my internship.

Came to Pune on 11th and have been enjoying my hols watching world cup matches. I really feel that Ireland has got great potential - the way they field and bowl. Good team to follow. They restricted South Africa to 117/5 before Duminy came to their rescue.

I have some work to do in the coming days which will take 3-4 days. I plan to do it next week onwards and then get down to my Singapore preparations - shopping and getting myself ready for internship.

I am looking to meet up with some old friends of mine in these holidays - after all these are probably the last long hols that I would probably get.

ICPL is rocking

2011-02-12T15:09:00.000-06:00

I never thought that it would be so big. Hell - I even didn't filled up the EOI for the players who are available for the league. However, when I came to know about it, I registered with my wingie, turned up for couple of practice sessions and struck a fluent 12 in my first innings. I saw people cheering for their teams. status messages on facebook, photos and discussions around the lunch table. That's when it kind of dawned on me - Dude, this is big! And yeah - it is very well organized - 8 teams fight it out for the final spot. There is an intermediate super 6 round. The tournament is well organized to finish in a week's time. For details you can visit the website - http://www.icpl.tk

So I am part of Jaipur Rajputanas, which has managed to win all its matched except one and today was supposed to be the semis with Chennai Quickguns. We were pretty charged up for the game and were hoping for a win through to the finals, but alas, God has something else in mind. Just as we were about to start (at 12.30 am approximately) that a thick blanket of fog appeared out of nowhere and just engulfed the pitch. We waited for half an hour but it would not go. BTW - it was awesome weather to say the least - we enjoyed a walk around the campus before returning to the rooms.

Just dont feel like sleeping - so many things to do, memories to build.

Short Term vs Long Term

2011-02-05T13:25:00.001-06:00

We had a very interesting class on India and the World Economy today. We were discussing the environment in the 60s and what were some of the decisions taken by the Indira Gandhi Govt. There were severs droughts in the country which had badly affected the agricultural produce, hence forcing the supply to go down. India was trying to grow at that time. It was investing in its Investment sector and the Investment sector increasingly needed higher consumption from the agricultural sector, but since the agricultural sector was not producing much, it was a deadlock. So what were the options. Here were some of the possible options -

Do nothing - This would mean a classic lack of supply scenario and push the inflation up. But since the marginal propensity to consume of the poor was more than the rich, inflation would have meant poor being affected more than the richer class.
Increase taxes - by increasing taxes, govt could have taxed the richer strata of the society and distributed the essentials to the poor at lower costs. This sounded like fair option. Ever more so, because the taxes since independence were only 2.5% of the GDP.
Import - If the supply is constrained, a natural option is to import. But there were some reasons why this was difficult. US was the primary supplier and it had put ban on some of the aids. Also, Govt was wary of imports, since it was not a vibrant export economy.
Reduce Investment - Well, you could always kill the reason why demand has increased. Stop the investments which will stop the growth, but will keep the prices in check, no need to import or increase the production. Basically - stagnation.

So what did the Govt do. Option 4. They chose to reduce the investment. Why? The short term vision. Vote bank politics. Any other option would had been better for India but Congress didn't risk the ire of the junta - inflation, increased taxes, trade deficits - no Govt wants to be associated with these terms. But this was a much better solution than just stagnating - doing nothing.

And has it changed, one argues. Most definitely not. You still see vote bank politics being played in India. Taxes are slashed, the Indian middle class is rising - so lower the taxes. Don't import, export more.

These classes are really an eye opener for me. Next class - Commercial borrowings are the best option for foreign exchange in India - what?? Till next class.

Personal Interview Preparation

2011-02-01T07:19:00.000-06:00

Many people have contacted me for tips on preparing for the interviews. I thought that I can share that here. There are multiple facets to an interview. Before preparation you have to first think about what they are looking for in an applicant. Answer the question - "Why will they take me?". The answer can be any of the following - Excellent academics, Extraordinary extra curriculars, Great work experience specializations, or Great Employbility. Once you have got the answer sorted out, this is your core reference around which your candidature will revolve. Now coming to the type of questions -

1. Personal Questions - These will be based on your background, your attitudes, beliefs, and your past actions. For eg, Tell me about yourself? Some of the most common questions are directed towards testing your clarity about your future. Why do you want to do an MBA, how will IIMC (or any other college for that matter) help you achieve your goals. If you have an entrepreneurial goal then be ready to answer some probing questions on your business model, how it will work, competition, revenue generation etc. Just saying that "I want to start a business, but dont know what right now" will not work.

2. Current Affairs - This category of questions usually are the majority. They focus on the current affairs, the current happenings in the world of business, politics or economics. Newspapers are your best friends. Take out time to read them, listen to news channels. If you are not comfortable with a subject try to get a at least some familiarity with the subject. Also it will help if you have a special interest subject like politics, business etc. This can help you to drive the interview towards your area of interest. It is very important to not just read the news but also try to form an opinion about it. For eg, Is Jairam Ramesh correct in his tough stand on environmental regulations? What about the Nira Radia tapes. Was the media right in broadcasting them? You get the idea.

3. Experience based - If you have work experience, there is a high probability that there will be questions on work experience. The higher the work experience, the higher the probability. They may ask you about your most recent project, what did you do as part of the project, your impact than just the regular delivery of project. If you can rattle of the theories or frameworks behind your actions that will work in your favor.

4. Extra Curriculars or Positions of Responsibilities - If you have had excellent achievement as a state level junior champion or president of your college, there might be some questions on these. As it is assumed that you have a lot of interest in this field it is assumed that you will do just fine. These questions should be clear winners.

5. Math Puzzles - IIMC is a heavy quant based B School. The academic rigor is not for the faint hearted and thus you may be tested on 1 or 2 math puzzles to test your quant skills. If you have relatively weak quant grades in your UG or CAT or GMAT, then it is recommended to focus a little bit on this aspect.

The questions will not have as much breadth as depth. For eg, they may just ask your view on the recent POSCO clearances (that was the headline news today) and just keep on probing for 20 minutes. So, if you can direct the interview to your area of interest. Also, do not fake - you will be caught. These interviewers are good.

Finally, the body language part. I will not be faking it when I say that body language is at least as important as the answer to the questions you are giving. When going in an interview room, relax, drink some water and just be ready for the worst case scenario. Panic is your enemy. Just answer the questions in a honest way, smile and be confident. Best of Luck!

I just screwed up my exam

2011-01-19T00:31:00.000-06:00

Oh well, I knew that I was not very well prepared, but I kind of knew that I would do a decent job at it. Probably be able to solve at least 50% questions with confidence. Not to be, not to be. The beast that this Corp Fin is, I don't even know if I have got 1 question right. All the effort seems to go waste. I am not sure what I did wrong in my preparation. I am totally dejected right now. Another exam tomorrow. Need to get over this.

5 Rs

2011-01-15T11:25:00.000-06:00

Can't help but think, that this is the SKU that will change the marketplace in India. Rs 5 is such an amount which is not seen as much by a customer. Its such an amount which will push the customer to take it when is not decided whether to buy or not. Its single digit. Its just a single coin. Its not much. We already are seeing products in the market - the chhota pepsi, the lays chips, the dairymilk, the bourbon biscuits. It will not be long before the market is flooded with many more products in this price range.

PS - I myself am buying these 5 Rs pack. Its just so easy to finish, without any inventory and also no buyer remorse.

17

2011-01-01T08:07:00.000-06:00

The closure of a year and beginning of a new one. It makes one think. What happened in the previous year. Did I achieve what I wanted to? What do I want to do now? It is a perfect interval to take a look back. Unfortunately, I do not remember what I resolved to do the previous year :). But I have a lot of thoughts about what I want to do in my life. I will try to put a list, just so that I remember.

I want to learn to fly. Yes an airplane.
Bungee Jump.
Bike to Leh.
Visit New Zealand.
Explore North East India.
Visit Europe - Switzerland in particular.
Drive a Ferrari.
Teach a class.
Learn golf.
Learn surfing
Learn skiing
Start a business
Learn Guitar real well
Learn Drums
Run a 10 k
Run a half marathon
Run a full marathon

That's it for now. Will keep adding more.

Remini - 2 Days to go

2010-12-23T15:00:00.000-06:00

Ok. So its here. The annual IIMC Alumni meet which invites the batch 25 years after its passing out. Its a special moment for everyone. A very special and memorable moment for the Alumni for sure, but its a proud occasion for the current students as well. To see and meet Alums who graduated from the college 25 years ago is a kind of walk in the history. To be a part of their memory is a special moment in itself.

There are going to be plethora of performances and it surely will be a weekend to remember for your lifetime. It is hard work - late night practices and you do get tired. But you keep on working since there are so many people around you who are doing the same. There is just a great sense of atmosphere right now in campus. For instance, I am blogging, sitting in the auditorium, waiting for my turn for practice at 2.28 am in the night. The practice will go on till 4.30 am probably and then an early morning class at 8.30 :).Life is good!

Life is back..

2010-11-29T08:31:00.000-06:00

Almost 6 months ago, I landed on this campus. I will admit that I was nervous. Getting into college life again, after almost 6 years - was it the right choice. There were many people who supported me in my decision, but many who questioned it too.

I am glad that I took the decision. Agreed that IIMs probably do not have that experience level, but it is more than made up by the intellectual level present here. You gain so much out of classes and group studies - its just phenomenal. What I probably would have felt to be impossible problems to solve 1 year back, are just plain simple for me right now. IIMC is a very quant focused school and it does not take you long to realize why? All decisions have to be made based on information available and intuition. It is arguable that intuition can be taught, but deriving information from a plethora of data, or techniques to get information out to make appropriate decisions is a skill that can be taught - and it requires rigorous analytical pedagogy - something that I have experienced here.

Term 1 has been the most difficult time that I ever had. I was A-L-W-A-Y-S short on sleep. Tried hard to keep my eyes open in the class. Always had assignments, quiz or other non-academic stuff every day. in the 45 minute lunch break, I was able to manage my time to walk back to hostel, have lunch, have a quick pre-read for the class and sleep for 10 minutes. It was time-management at its best. Getting the most out of the little was available. But it was questionable that this can carry on for 2 years. Then came term 2 and the madness continued. Durga Puja hols was the first break that we got after it all started and it was bliss. Recuperating for one week at home, but the busiest 3 weeks of the life awaited us. The midterms of term 2 and more importantly the summers. sleeping at 2 and waking up at 5 became a habit. When everyone does it, then it does not seem difficult anymore. And then summers got over and we are in a different world altogether. Getting a full 6 hr sleep everyday, getting time to play your sport for an hour, get to sit on the jetty and talk with your friends, follow your hobbies. Life seems to be back again.

IIMC Summer Placements

2010-11-16T13:27:00.000-06:00

If I was not active on my blog for some time, it was due to the most busy month of all for us, the summer placements. After the process was successfully over for the institute and I look back, I realize how much effort and sweat has gone into all this. I can not thank the batch of 46/16 for making it a success for all of us. From the guidance to mocks at 4 am in the morning - you just rock! I have never seen a more selfless behavior in a group. EVERYONE is available to you when you need/approach them. No one will say no to you.

The entire process is run by the students and I am amazed with the dexterity they showed. From running a continuous supply of food and beverages to making sure that the company needs are met. Everything works like a clock. And to all the placereps - I can not describe the effort they have put in the process. I can not imagine myself being able to do that at any points of time. It is intense and can be understood by only the person who has been in that position. Kudos to all of them.What else can I say - just that we will try to match up to your levels in the next season.

BZ

2010-10-26T01:37:00.000-05:00

Life has been a daze in the last month or so. Whoever said that IIMC is IIM Chill....

We have had numerous companies come in to the campus making presentations for summers - many of them were offering very interesting roles and I look forward to doing something different, if possible, in the 2 months.
Also, we had the Xavier's sports meet in between where we made the semi finals of basketball. In addition to the summer prep and applications, we have our mid terms which started yesterday. I also have multiple todo's which I intend to do right after my end terms and summers. Will keep updating..

Life@IIMC - 3 months gone by

2010-09-25T16:11:00.000-05:00

The end terms finished last weekend. Term II begins immediately, but at least we have the Durga Puja to look forward to. One week of hols! The summers are about 50 days away, yet there is an undeniable buzz in the campus You can smell it. There are innumerable things happening on the campus. I have lost count and just can't keep track. Its almost next to impossible to try to be a part of everything that is going on. The Persona club held the pot pourri event with JAM, debates, spellbees and what not. It must have been interesting because a lot of people showed up. Unfortunately, I was just so sleep-lagged that I decided to make up for it on the weekend.

For the sports lovers, the inter-hostel games have started. The games will continue for a week, culminating on Sunday with the basketball event as the last one. And then the next week the basketball and the soccer team are participating in the intercollege sports event at Xaviers. In the meantime, there is this CEO challenge by P&G which everyone is very excited about - forming teams for the event. Then there is this Aspire event for Musicians cum quizzers. JBS BaroC held its first acoustic night in the campus and it was a real nice initiative. I put in last minute fight to practice for couple of songs which I performed. If that is not enough, there is the regular club work that is happening. The Entrepreneurship Cell is gearing up for the biggest B Plan competition - i2i. The Intaglio team has started working on organizing one of the most awaited event in the country in Jan 2011.

Oh - and did I talk about Acads? Rest assured - they do not take a backseat. There are case discussions in the classes for which we are supposed to preread the case as well as the text book chapter for a fruitful class discussion. Also for some, we are supposed to submit a write up on the cases before the exams. Its a continuum, working with different people, managing different situations, managing your time, prioritizing. This is what MBA is all about and I am loving it!

IIM Culture - II

2010-08-26T02:10:00.000-05:00

The end terms are nearing. In fact, they are only 8 days away. So you expect everyone to be in their rooms, shut out and studying - right? Not really. I get out in the evening and play basketball for an hour or so with some other folks. People are hitting the tennis courts hard. I see people jogging in the campus around the lakes. There are people in the gym and the badminton court. I go to Mohan Da for a quick sweet lime soda and see people playing footer volley there. Couple of people are working on a business case competition sitting in the mess. People are sitting on the jetty and get into one of those philosophical conversations. The crowing gets louder, the campus is abuzz...

Essentials for an MBA student

2010-08-21T01:24:00.000-05:00

I always wanted such a list to be present when I was looking for the essentials but didn't find good resources online for the same.

1. A good quality laptop - Lightweight, good battery life and warranty support.
2. A good smartphone - I can not tell you how convenient it is to check out an update/email while you are sitting in a presentation on your phone. For eg, yesterday while sitting in a presentation which ran till 7.20 I got an email saying that one of our prof will not be available for the 7.30 pm meeting we had. Imagine the chaos it saved me.
3. Backup - An external HDD to backup your data is a must.
4. Antivirus - Invest in a good antivirus. You can not imagine how many times you have to share your thumbdrives with others. If possible get a deal with the purchase of your laptop.
5. Stationary - However trivial it may sound, unless you can organize your class notes, prereads, assignments and project well, you will waste a lot of time trying to find the right material in your cluttered cupboard. Keep it neat.

Apart from these you may also wish to have an external mouse, headphones, surge protector to go with your needs.

2.58 am

2010-08-15T16:31:00.000-05:00

Thats what the clock shows. Got a class at 8.30 in the morning and have a preread of 60 slides. Got to prepare the ppt for the wednesday marketing presentation, another for the friday presentation and submit CV proofs by Wednesday. Its crazy. It says 3.00 am now, going to get some sleep.

Thinking...

2010-08-10T12:48:00.000-05:00

'Cause it's a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
You're a slave to money then you die
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah

Working while listening to this song, and then I stop.. I got 2 quizzes tomorrow, 4 assignments to submit this week and 2 projects to submit next week and I am not even counting the ones I can not remember. This song made me stop and think.. what are we after? what are we chasing? Is it money, success, fame? What will make us happy? There are always thoughts that keep bouncing in my head.. need to make it big.. why? so that I can make money?... no. Then? so that I can live a good lifestyle.. why? so that I can ... why? why? what makes me happy? making it big or being happy? are these two correlated? how much? Will I sacrifice so much to achieve the end that I forget the means.. As much I think about it, the lesser money has a role to play in it...I have thought about it a lot over the last 3-4 years and almost know what I have to do.. and as I get more engrossed into the program, the further my beliefs are strengthened... Still have to keep stepping back once a while, get away from the rush of things that daze you.... and think...

And to do that, what better place to be than where I am...

IIM Culture

2010-07-30T17:08:00.001-05:00

When you talk about IIMC, the first thing that you talk about is its culture and I am amazed that how real it is. Life goes on with everyone having much more on their plate than they can handle, yet people find out time to help each other out. This is just amazing and I have not seen this anywhere.

We have had seniors take crashers for us in subjects we were not very comfortable with. Even though they had assignments to submit, they took all our queries. We had seniors take crasher right before our midsem to educate us on one of the most abstract subject of all time and yet make it interesting. And it is not only related to academics.

The campus is almost always buzzing with life, with one event after another happening. The current talk of the town was the Brandwitch competition. I was amazed by the effort the teams have put in ideating a product and coming up with promotions, not only online, but throughout the campus, posters, social media, youtube - you name it.

The faculty is pretty amazing too. How else can you make statistics an interesting subject? But it was made interesting and people loved it. Some of the quotes in the class are just plain hilarious. These guys are good. The teaching pedagogy is quant focused but we already had assignments where we had to go and do a consumer survery for our marketing class. The Organization Behavior classes are also made pretty interesting by role plays and cases given in the class. I am amazed by the amount of perspectives and view points that exist within my section!

Our midsems finished today and it is the turn of the IIMC - XL meet. It is really the highlight of the year. As I write, the rain gods are playing spoil sport or else I would had been on court right now playing against XL. We wait another day. These 2 days are gonna be momorable for sure.

The first few days at Joka

2010-07-03T12:28:00.000-05:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, where do I begin. Its hard to belive that I have been in Jokaland for only 20 days. It seems a year of experience has been squeezed into these 20 days. Its elation at its best. So where do I begin.

Landed in Kolkata on 13th, and was greeted by rain gods. Got to the campus at around 11.30 am and then did my registration. Got a room in the Tagore hostel and quickly got settled in before checking out my neighbours. The first day was just spent in getting to know the surroundings, buying some essentials from the co-op store in the campus and admiring the lakes of the campus. I hit the basketball court on the first day itself and met some people over there.

Spent the initial few days preparing for QM, similar to most of the batch, before the acads began on 21 Jun - and when they began - they really did. The professors are awesome and you really learn a lot from the class through a variety of methods - theory, role plays and cases. Well, we have even stepped out and carried out a market research in these first few days.

Now that the QM is over, we move over to clubs selection process. The next couple of days are going to be pretty busy with club applications, interviews etc. Hope to make it to couple of clubs I am really interested in. Life is going at a blazing pace and I am loving it. Will keep it coming...

So Long Pune

2010-06-02T13:42:00.000-05:00

Today is my last day at Pune. I head out to Kolkata for the next 2 years and then He only knows where I will land up after that.

Pune has been very close to my heart. I still remember when Dad got his posting orders in 1999. I was in 12th and my course had begun. They usually say that you should not leave a school and join a new one in 12th. But I was so excited about Pune even before I had seen the city that I actually travelled before my mom and dad. This was the firt time I travelled alone. And a long journet at that. From Udhampur to Jammu in a bus and then from Jammu to Pune in train. It took me close to 36 hours to reach Pune and my Mamiji was there to receive me. It was probably the largest city where my dad was posted. I still remember that as I travelled for the first time - I was amazed by Le Meridian, the one of the two Five stars pune had at that time.

Time progressed and I actually ended up switching another school in Pune before settling on KV BEG. It was perfect. The nicest teachers I had ever seen. What they tought in Udhampur in the first 2 months and what they had done here was entirely different. The biggest thing was Organic Chemistry. I always topped the class but here I was in the middle 40-60% of the class. The teachers saw that and the Chem teacher taught me after school hours in the lab. Wow! I still can't thank her enough.

After school I moved to the college I always wanted to be in - Army Institute of Technology. More than the studies and the faculty, what was amazing was my peer group and the standard of sports or cultural activity. I found my place in the music club and a little bit of basketball as well. The hostel was shabby to say the least, but the time spent there was most enjoyable. Spending night outs playing AOE, Half Life or Balloon Fight will be remembered always.

I joined Infosys after graduation, but they transferred me to Bangalore. I have nothing against the city, but in 3 months I was just sick of the traffic and was ecstatic when I was transferred back to Pune. Another year of work life and lots of fun and friends in Pune before I got my onsite assignment. Completed that and came back to Pune in Jan 2010.

Whenever someone asked me - whats your hometown? I used to be confused. I am born in Agra, my dad is from Delhi, Mom from haryana. I have never spent more than 3 years in any place. The places included - Agra, Jammu, Bhatina, Dimapur, Mathura, Kota, Hyd, Udhampur... But Pune has got a special place in my heart. It feels that it is my true hometown no matter where I was born or where my parents are from... such is the magic of this place, it grows on you...

I still remember our midnight trips to station for bun maska or the quick and fast ride to Dominoes for a quick bite in the PLs. The nights in Shere-e-Punjab and the movies in Vijay and West End (before Inox and E Sqyare became the craze). Every nook and corner has its memory.

Do you know where the 0 mile marker is in Pune? or where do you get the best Sitaphal Juice or the alphonso milkshake? Which place is best for chinese? (it is a stall not a restaurant) Which place serves the best pav bhaji? Which place has the best chocolate milk shake? and which restaurant has the world's best butter paneer masala. I will miss you... Pune..

Qualifying Mathematics

2010-05-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

I have been thinking.. I want to do an MBA so that I can connect my dots and do what I want to do. I am excited about learning about strategy, entrepreneurship, economics and marketing. Then why do I need to learn about vector algebra? or Lagrange's theorem? How will solving an integral of 2x^2 -3x help me reach my goal. I am sure that there is some deep connection between what I want to do and this Qualifying Mathematics exam - but I have not been able to decipher that right now..

Status Check - I did Sets yesterday but did not start Quadratic Equations. I need to finish Quadratic equations today + one more topic. The bigger topics of differentiation and integration still remain... God bless...

Out of work

2010-05-24T02:36:00.000-05:00

Officially I am out of work starting today. Friday was my last day at office and the entire week just flew by. I had a special lunch with my team on Thursday. They handed me a personally signed card from all of them and a gift. The surprise was that they had got a guitar. We sat on the exit staircases and jammed for about half an hour. It was really awesome.

On Fri, I was running around for my clearances, but I had lunch my older team. They also gifted me a very nice Ganesh idol. It got pretty emotional in the last couple of days. I met a lot of people whom I had worked with and said goodbye. Friday evening at 5.15 pm my official email id was deleted from the systems. I felt sad, remembering my 5 years and 8 months spent in this company - my first project, my mentors, leaders and teammates. I hope that I will be able to remain in touch with all these people. Just so that we get in a different mood, we went to see Kites - and my oh my - what a disappointment.

Saturday was social networking - not the virtual kinds, but the real world kinds. Went out and met a lot of people - said goodbye. Sunday was spent in a little bit of shopping. Went to the famous ABC to get books for the QM prep. Visited it after so many years that felt nostalgic. Roamed around for 30 minutes, but it was pretty hot. So had some coconut water and then came back to JM. Went to an exhibition and bought some stuff from there.

Monday is here and it feels different to not go to office when everyone else has. I got ready as usual and then drove to the office as usual to drop my wife. Just that I took a U turn and got back home. Tried to go over the QM syllabus - it seems a little overwhelming but hopefully the IIMC seniors will have some gyan to give to us. I will try to finish the syllabus before I head to Joka. I am focusing to finish Sets and a little bit of quadratic equations today. Had a glance over linear equations in the morning. Time to pull up my socks - again.

Countdown - 10 days to go

2010-05-11T10:50:00.000-05:00

A lot has happened over the last few days.

One, the T20 world cup started and as against what I thought, it is almost impossible to follow. I am out almost every other day for meeting up someone, or some shopping or for some other work. These are some important last days and I need to finish all pending tasks.

Two, it has been superbusy at work. Some time back I could sit hours at a stretch and just research on the IIMC vs IIMB dilemna, but now no more. The solution on which I am working is taking shape and I am getting pressure from all around to finish it up and demo to the client before I go. I have not only been busy at office but also at times have to login from home and work. I have been asked to postpone my last date by couple of weeks but none of that is happening as I already have all my plans post-employment.

Three, A lot of friends in Pune. Mine and hers as well. Also a lot of relatives whom we have to meet. We spent the last couple of weekends doing all this.

With all this happening - it has not given me enough time to prepare myself for IIMC, which I want to do before 22 May because then I am flying to Delhi to spend some moments with my parents, bro and bhabhi before I leave to Kolkata. Also the QM course for IIMC is making me nervous. Such mathematics concept were learnt at high school and it has been about 10 years since I touched them. Really need to brush up. I am kind of glad that I didnt had to make the C vs B decision. I really would have been split because even after 2 weeks of research I was not sure what I was going to do. In fact, I had booked my tickets to Bangalore to experience the IIMB culture before I make this big decision.

Only 10 days to go now. I have got a checklist of tasks which I need to get done to get relieved of my duties at office. I am striking them down one by one - but most of then will be done only in the last 2-3 days. Its a strange feeling - it still has not sunk in that I will be leaving the institution with whom I have been connected for more than 5 years. It has given me a lot - pleasure as well as pain. Made me stronger and better all the time. I will miss it - but there are things to explore and learn. Some sacrifices have to be made. And I am glad that I am at last onto the journey which I had long dreamt of.

The IIMB research

2010-04-25T08:50:00.000-05:00

With the IIMC results declared the eyes were upto the IIMB results now - but IIMB has delayed the results more than what was expected. So that means that I sent my acceptance to IIMC yesterday.

However, if IIMB releases the results soon, there will not be enough time to make the decision between C and B. With that in mind, I attempted to research a bit about the school - however, the site is very quirky and does not work 20% of the times. There were some current students active on PG, but they came as defensive about the school. Instead of answering questions, they spent more energy on reacting to stupid comments and posts. I tried again, but again there were some stupid comments on "Oh! get an admit first, then think about this - in the meantime lets discuss about the results.." - What do you want to discuss about the results??!? They will be released when they will be - what else can you do. You can try to discuss about the school - but I was disappointed again and again - finally the thread has been closed and I am just so frustrated with this experience.

I wish IIMB seniors would be more proactive in resolving the not-so-stupid queries.. I am still where I was 7 days back on IIMC vs IIMB because I have not been able to get any valuable inputs about IIMB.

Preparing for Joka

2010-04-20T11:25:00.000-05:00

Last couple of weeks have been spend soaking in the reality of getting the IIMC admit and informing my near and dear ones about the same. I have tried to read through some PG threads, blogs and IIMC website to get some more feel about the school - it just seem that you keep on discovering new nuggets about IIMC - it surprises you. I guess thats where the famous C of IIMC comes from - the Culture.

My first application in the application season was IIMC PGPEX - I read a lot about IIMC and saw almost all IIMC videos on youtube. The one that caught my imagination was the JBS BaroC. Being a guitar player myself, I dreamed of playing in the band somehow. Now, that dream seems to be getting closer to reality.

I am also making a mental note of things to do -

One, brush up on my maths. The offer letter mentions that there will be an exam on Qualifying Mathematics - it seems nowhere close to what I did for GMAT - it is what I studied in 12th or probably engineering. Pretty advanced for my standards. On the PG forums, the current students seem to be very confident of guiding us through, but I have my reservations about that.

Two, how to get my bike up there? IIMC campus does not allow any personal vehicles - its the BaroC (Bus number 12 C) that takes you to the city. The last I travelled on public transport was year 2000. It has been a long time.

Three, I need to close all my US credit cards, bank accounts, insurance etc which is still pending.

Four, I need to apply for a home loan for a house that I recently purchased. Need to research for a good deal. With the hiked CRR rates and the new RBI guidelines the floating rates are going to be a bit of the gamble. Lets see how it pans out.

The IIMB suspense build up on PG has become quite routine now. It doesn't seem that the results will be out before Fri. In that case If I make it, I will probably have just enough time to make my decision and send out the draft to Joka. It is going to be a difficult decision between the two schools for a non-finance guy like me. I absolutely love what I have heard about the Culture at C. And B has its own aura in the Indian Silicon Valley. I probably will really worry about that once B release their results. Till then - Its Joka time!

Joka Calls!

2010-04-14T03:57:00.000-05:00

Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. This is what I have always dreamt of. If getting through XLRI was not enough, IIMC offers me an admission to the their PGDM course. Needless to say I am ecstatic.

The day started with me packing for my Delhi/Lucknow trip to attend the IIML interview. Then I came to know that the results were declared for the CAT candidates on Friday itself, while for NRI's it was to be declared on Monday. I was totally surprised. the lack of internet at home had caught me totally unaware. Also the lack of gmail access at office meant that I had to rely on PG for updates. I called up IIMC and asked if they would declare before 3 pm and they said, they will. Good - so that I can decide whether to catch my flight or not. I came back from lunch and saw that the results were out. I got out of office - took to long 10 min walk till my bike in sweltering heat - rode to the nearest cybercafe and saw the email from pgpadmissions - "Congratulations.....PGDM......" thats all I read. Immediately forwarded the email to my close ones. And then rode back to office - oh I was so happy...

This really resolved my dilemna for a 1 yr or a 2 yr course. I was slowly leaning towards XLRI BM over the GMP course, but this just cleared any remaining fog that was there. I have put up my papers and 21 May is the last date I will be working. After that I am planning a trip to Delhi and Gulmarg. Also gotta plan the remaining weekends with my wife - mahabaleshwar, goa, konkan, kerala, shillong :) - too much to do, too less time..

XLRI Results Out!!

2010-03-27T16:01:00.000-05:00

PG was abuzz with activity for the last 2-3 days and I was watching it with abated breath. The results are known to be out on Mar 25, but they were not. Then they said that Mar 26. Rumors of result coming out at 5 pm – but I kept myself busy with work and occasionally checking PG for any updates. Fri evening at about 5.30 pm – had finished up my work and browsed PG. I noticed there have been about 100 mails since I last logged. Opened PG and found yes – the results were indeed out. Opened up the link, gave my GMAT ID and selected GMP – and there it was. Congratulations!

Yes!! What a feeling it is.. to get the first admit of the season. XLRI GMP it is!!

Sent the screenshot to my wife. Soon after received a call from her. It was her early morning in US. Then I called up home, friends and relatives and told them about it. It was awesome! Then my bro asked me – what about the 2 year XLRI program. I said – I don’t know and realized that I saw the BM option in the drop down.. I said hold on – let me check. And I was WL 13 in the BM program – as good as through. So two admits in one day!

I am now just awaiting results from IIMC and IIMB PGP – but I think XLRI GMP would be my preference because –

1. Peer group – The PGP program has a very “fresh” peer group. I just don’t know how my 2 year experience at college would be. On the other hand the avg experience in the GMP program will by 7-8 years. Definitely a much richer experience.

2. Duration – The opportunity cost of a 2 yr MBA is huge. A 1 yr MBA lets you accelerate your MBA and does not keep you from contributing to the country’s GDP for long.

3. Placements – After MBA GMP is geared for middle to senior level managerial positions, however the 2 year program is geared for associates and entry level managers if at all.

Now the downsides –

1. The GMP program is lesser known today. The BM program is the flagship program, as are the PGP programs for IIMs.

2. The one year program gives you lesser time to learn, to engage in events, consulting assignments or business case competitions. You need to do everything in a hurry, and since you have just 1 year, you end up missing some things.

I have had thoughts that probably I can wait for a year or two, work on my profile and play a strong hand for my admissions to some big global schools like oxford, cranfield or NUS – however that will mean two things –

1. I delay my education by one or two years. This does not gel well with my personal life and plans. However, if guaranteed an admission I will be willing to take that chance.

2. Studying aborad means high costs and staying abroad for some more time to repay those costs. I do not want to be abroad for long – want to be in India now for some time.

So while I have got my admission, and I am almost certain that I will join – there are some thoughts playing in my mind. Hope that I can put them to rest by some logical reasoning. Off to do some partying!

IIMC PGP Interview

2010-03-25T11:26:00.000-05:00

I had my interview for PGDM and PGDCM yesterday at IIFT Delhi. The PGDM was setup at 9.30 am and the PGDCM was at 2 pm. Reached Delhi the night before. Had dinner and played playstation for a while .

Woke up at 6.45 am to get ready. Had breakfast and was out by 7.45 am. My bro and bhabhi accompanied me till the center. I then went inside and it was full me people dressed in business suits. I knew I was at the right place. The notice board had the names put up. I was in panel 17 for PGDM and panel 20 for PGDCM (even though the notice board said PGDM, I assumed it would be PGDCM). I then tried to interact with some folks but the guys were awfully quiet and only people who knew each other before were talking to each other – and most of them were from IIT Delhi.

Two people from IIM C were verifying the documents for the students. I think they were calling first 2-3 students of a panel, then jumped to another panel and carried on till the end. Then they will pick up the next 2-3 students and again traverse through the panels. This was so that the students can have the files verified before the interview. However – a lot many folks (including yours truly) were not able to get it done. In that case the verification happened after the interviews.
9.30 am – we were called in the GD room and made to sit according to a particular order (The order put on the notice board). Then they briefed about the GD format in a very brief manner. I, being an overseas candidate, was the only one in a group of 11. I was sitting at one end. The topic – “Every child should have a bank account at birth”. We were given about a minute to prepare. Since, I have had not the training or mock GD’s I decided to see how the GD goes for a while and did not open the GD up. Someone started, another one interjected, another one made a point, some tried to override on him, people started getting desperate, and pretty soon it was a fish market. People were stamping on each other. I didn’t know that I should speak or not. Anyways, I did manage to bring out a discussion altering point in the middle of the GD. I tried to interject again couple of times, but multiple people speaking at one time really did not make it possible. Pretty soon, the 10-12 minutes time for the GD was over. We were then asked to summarize the GD one by one and yours truly was the first one asked to do so. I was kind of expecting that – don’t ask me why. Seventh sense. So I summarized and then people were called in random order for summary. Some did a good job and some did not – I was literally wondering – “what are you saying!!”
10 am – we come out and I had a long wait ahead of me as I was 11th in the interview list. The heat was getting to me. Removed my coat and found a spot beneath a fan and just sat for some time. The document verification was going on continuously and interviews also started. I again tried to strike some conversation with some people, but it seemed people were just not interested in doing so. Some of them had turned up with their parents also.

11.30 am –Met an overseas candidate from Australia. Got talking with him and finally had a meaningful conversation.
12.30 pm - Inteview time was nearing and it so happened that when my name was called, the person before me was in giving his interview. I didn’t turn up for verification and decided to wait in front of the interview room. That guy’s interview got over and I was called in. Went in and they asked for my file. I told them that they said that verification can happen afterwards. They said – yes it can but you need to have the file with you. Oh… s***. Sorry… umm.. let me get that…. So, went down, got my file and then came back in. Apologized for the confusion.

Q: Ok why don’t you interview us.
A: Sir, please tell us about yourself.
Q: Two of them answered. The third one had gone out. So he didn’t answer.
A: Sir, what about accommodation. I heard married accommodations were limited and preference is for Executive courses.
Q: They are coming up. If you need it should not be a problem.
A: Thank you sir.
Q: Anything else?
A: No that’s it sir.
Q: Ok, tell me about yourself.
A: Told them about my job and role and onsite stints.
Q: So why an MBA after 5.5 years.
A: Told them.
Q: Why not a US MBA, why Indian MBA? Patriotism? Slight laughter…
A: Actually that is one of the reasons.
Q: So in your opinion should we take you. Why?
A: Told them some reasons but largely revolved around my work ex.
Q: So what is the point brining across?
A: Maturity.
Q: The others do not have any maturity?
A: It depends, a person with 0 yrs work ex can have more maturity than a 10 yr work ex.
Q: Then?
A: Its probability sir.
Q: Anything else other than Maturity?
A: Hmm… not really but ability to get a job after MBA also is one of the thing.. (thinking in my heart – what am I saying??)
Q: Why is that – I didn’t get that
A: Some funda about rankings and all.
Q: Ok so you think rankings are more important.
A: no sir..
Q: So we should go to the companies only instead of teaching
A: Sir, its not the only thing, you are taking it in the wrong sense.. (oh @#$, oh @#$@)
Q: ok – tell me these guys scored 99.xx% in CAT, worked so hard – you come here with GMAT score – isn’t that an easy route. Would you have cleared CAT?
A – Sir, It is difficult to clear CAT as it is very competitive.
Q: So you agree you took the easy path.
A – No Sir, scoring a 99% in GMAT is not a child's play. You do need to work very hard.
Q – not as hard.
A: Ok – CAT quant is more difficult, but GMAT verbal is more difficult. I gave CAT 03.
Q: Oh new information is coming out.
A: (huh.. I never tried to hide anything) Sir, I was able to score 97.45% without prep. I am sure if I prepare I can crack CAT.
Q: ok – solve this problem. And gave me a number problem.
A: Sir, it has been a long time since I have revised these.
Q: Koi baat nahin.. we will help.. laughter..
A: I just could see some numbers written on the pad and my mind wandering in stars and moon and I dont have dyslexia.
Q: you have a min

Ultimately I was not able to do it and the prof told me the answer and I smacked my head.

Q: Ok, thank you.
A: Thank you sir.

What I feel – They played around with me. Tried to put me in a spot. I think I handled that well. But I really wish I could have gotten that maths problem done. It was simple!!

1.10 pm – Got my papers verified. I had called up my bhaiya bhabhi before the interview. They came and then we went home. I changed and had my lunch. Played some more playstation and then slept for half an hour.

3.30 pm – started from home and reached at 4 pm. Collected my file and found out that number 5 is going on for PGDCM. I was number 9, so estimated another hour or hour and a half. However, in 20 minutes a guy came out. I asked him what number he was and he said 8! I quickly called my bro and told him to be back in 20 minutes, and then the professor came to call me up.

Q: Ok tell us about what you do
A: Told them
Q: So what are you subjects of interests other than your work
A: Told them about music. That how I was involved in my college team as a guitarist for intercollege and intracollege competitions.
Q: ok anything other than music.
A: hmm. Sports sir.
Q: anything in between - Economics, finance, politics.
A: hmm not really sir. I don’t prefer one topic to another.
Q: so how did you prepare for the interview.
A: Read newpapers, about my company etc.
Q: So what should we ask you
A: Ask me about what I do, technology
Q: That you would know
A: Yes sir. (Obviously)
Q: ok who is our finance minister
A: Pranab Deshmukh. I realized that there is something wrong.. corrected myself…(stupid me)
Q: hmm. So you are from pune.. laughter..
Q: What was Pranab Mukherjee before he was a FM.
A: Don’t know sir
Q: What was Manmohan Singh before he was a FM.
A:Don’t know sir.
Q: You have read Infosys annual report.
A: I read the high figures, but don’t read the detailed report.

Thankfully the lady at the left takes over – it seemed she was from IT background.

Q: So what was your previous project like.
A: Told her about the consulting assignment we did, the challenge and what we proposed. We had a lot of discussion about this and I was in my zone here. I talked about how the client benefitted and how my company is investing in a project which will give us a lot of business downstream. I really felt good about this conversation.

Now the person on the right jumps in.

Q: Why do you find IT exciting.
A: Gave him a very good example of my previous project. I had a lot of examples – but just focused on one.
Q: Ok so what is the next big thing that will keep IT interesting.
A: talked about cloud computing and how MS is investing big time into it. Also talked about Google launching google marketplace and how that opens up new avenues for open source application vendors to buy/sell.
Q: so what will this cloud computing offer to their customers.
A: Three things – flexibility, low cost of startup for small businesses and Transaction based pricing.
Q: What seperates google from others.
A: Thought about this a while and answered that the vision of google is what separates it from the rest. They envisioned cloud computing pretty early on and others caught up.
Q: Ok. Thank you.
A: Thank you.

What I felt – I think I disappointed the person in the middle as he was more interested in talking about politics, finance or economics – but while I follow the news those areas were not my cup of tea. And instead of asking me questions he was asking me about what should he ask me about. I think it is slippery ground. If you do mention some field and then fail to answer then you will come up shorts.

5 pm – came out. Bhaiya bhabhi were waiting in the car. Went back home – talked to parents a bit. Found out that have been shortlisted for IIMI also – had dinner and then caught a flight back to pune. All in all – a day well spent!

End of the season?

2010-03-20T23:45:00.000-05:00

I guess this is the end of the season for me. Apart from a couple of interviews left, I dont think so I will be applying anywhere else this season. While this may delay my MBA enrollment by a year, it also means that I am not in a hurry to submit applications one after another without paying attention to the quality of time I spend on them. I am going to start researching on my school list for next year and be then if I do get an offer from the couple of pending decisions, then that would be nice.

IIMC interview is the next in line on Wednesday. IIMC stature as a school has grown in my perspective from when I start researching on B Schools. There are small things, but still things that matter

IIMC is the oldest of all IIMs, set up in 1961 - a huge alumni base in India and abroad.
The placements of IIMC almost always leads the other IIMs (there is something recruiters see in IIMC)
Intaglio - the biggest B school meet in India.
The mentorship forum for aspirants.

Got to prepare for my interview today as I am catching a flight on Tue to Delhi for the wed interview. Its gonna be a long day there. Also, lot of things happening - am finalizing a deal for a house on rent - so will probably shift in Mar end. And then the logistics to shift in the new house will also take some effort. Meeting the house owner today - hopefully he is a nice guy and not the khadoos kinds.

GMP Interview done

2010-03-13T05:53:00.000-06:00

Today was my GMP interview at the YWCA, Delhi at 4.15 pm. I had planned to reach by 3.30 pm. However, due to no traffic issues, reached at 3.15. Went to the room and so no one sitting, There was one candidate being interviewed in the room. He left after 10 minutes and I was called in right afterwards at 3.40.

I could recognize the person on the rightmost as he was there for the BM interview also. I tried handing my certificate file to him but he asked me to give it to the person who was left most has he ha already seen it. :)

Q: So BM, GMP.. why both?
A: Actually there was an option to either one course or all. So had applied to all 3, got selected for all.
Q: Oh so there was no option?
A: Yes
Q: So you appeared for the PMIR interview?
A: No sir.
Q: Ok, so BM/GMP - which one?
A: I have been talking and researching on this. I have started inclining more towards the GMP course since I will not be away from work for long and I am prepared to stretch myself for the accelerated course.
Q: What role do you see after MBA
A: Consulting/IT services company, but for short term.
Q: What is long term.
A: Explained my long term entrepreneurial plan. A lot of cross questioning on this. Why? What are the challenges. What else can you do in addition to that? Any other innovative ideas? About 7-8 minutes just on this. (The person on the right was dozing off now and the one on the middle was yawning)
Q: You play sports?
A: Yes. Started mentioning, but realized its a long list - so said that I am jack of all trades but master of none. Everyone laughs.
Q: You play volleyball.
A: Yes Sir.
Q: Why is India not doing well in Volleyball.
A: Infrastructure note in place, platform not in place, India no doing well internationally.
Q: But it does not require that much infrastructure.
A: Not as much as basketball, but yet it requires a ball a net. I didnt play volleyball till I got to college. And when I did I was in the college team. Speaks about the talent not being recognized.
Q: If you had a chance to make volleyball popular at national level.
A: Start at schools, provide the infrastructure needed, good coaches, competitions. It will automatically gain popularity.
Q: Tell us about your 10, 12 and graduation marks.
A: 84, 86 and 61.
Progress. Someone commented. Didnt know if I should reply or defend my college scores. Just replied with a smile.
Q: Ok you can go.
A: Thank you sir.

So all in all, I am pretty satisfied how it went. There was a lot of cross questioning on my career questions, but I guess that are expected and you should be able to think on your feet for those answers. I think I did pretty well. Lets see how it goes now. I was glad it was over by 4 as Mumbai Indians are playing RR today.

BM interview done

2010-03-08T06:54:00.000-06:00

Woke up at 8 am today and then read the day's newspaper and ET. Also, located the budget day newspaper and just refreshed my memory. Spent about couple of hours on this before getting ready any heading out with my certificate folder.

The interview was at Indian Habitat Center, Delhi. It was about 10 km from home. My bro and father accompanied me as they had plans to visit some galleries there while I finished up my interview. Reached the place at 1.40 pm with interview at 2.20. Another applicant with 2 pm slot was sitting there as the panel was out for lunch. We got into conversation which I think help loosen ourselves up a lot. We found out that today was the day for the NRI applicant quota. All the people whom I interacted with were from outside India. One from Cypress, one from Dubai and one from Melbourne.

The panel came after lunch and called the 2 pm guy in. In the meanwhile I talked with another girl which had come in for the 3 pm slot. His interview lasted only 15 minutes after which I was called in.

I said good afternoon to all of them and then handed over my file to them. Then the questions started. I dont remember who asked what. Some of the questions that I remember were asked.
Q: So where do you work?
A: told them.
Q: For how long have you been working there?
A: Told them that I started in that organization itself in Sep 04.
Q: When did you come back to India?
A: 18th Jan.
Q: Where did you do your engineering?
A: Pune - Army Institute of Technology.
Q: Oh, so your father is in the army.
A: Yes sir, he was - but now retired.
Q: And your brother...
A: He is in the Air Force.
Q: So what took you so long to decide for MBA?
A: Told them.
Q: What do you want to do after MBA.
A: Told them my long term goal of an entrepreurial venture.
Q: So you want to do it right after MBA?
A: Not decided as yet sir. I want to work on my business plan, ideas, networking, get some mentorship and then take a decision.
Q: Have you thought about the one year course.
A: Yes, infact I have GMP interview on 13th. But I am still not decided between the two. I have talked to Alums and have received conflicting views. Need to do research.
Q: What are the challenges that you see in you joining the course.
A: Hmm. Sir - professional/personal.
Q: Anyone..
A - Professionally - I dont see a problem (Ok, there is which I didnt talk about - my placements - I think I should have talked about it that dont worry about my placements - I will manage). Personally - there may be some as my wife will still be working out of Pune - but we have already talked about that and she is ready for it. I think I will need to compensate for that later in my life :)
Everyone laughs. They look at each other. Ok thank you. I was a little surprised - it was quick - I came out. Came to know it lasted only 7 minutes.

Anyways wished people sitting out best of luck and headed out. My father and bro were still thinking I will take some time and were just roaming around in the lobby. They were also surprised to see me out so soon. We then thought about roaming in the IHC - but then decided to go home and play some PS2...

BM Interview tomorrow

2010-03-07T10:36:00.000-06:00

There are moments in life when you feel happy and sad at the same time - and yesterday there were many. Few of my good friends made it through the ISB waitlist status to "accepted". I really was happy for them that they made it, but at the same time, was full of gloom yesterday on what is going to happen for me. However, that lasted couple of hours. There are 10% of things that you can not control, but the remaining 90% is in your hands.

I have decided that I am going to give my best shot to the BM interview tomorrow. I am excited about it as it is one of the top 5 MBA programs in India. I also have my plan ready to tackle the future - If I do not get selected I kind of know what I will be doing for the next 6 months before the next app season starts. It involves a lot of hardwork in office, working on a passion of mine and trying out a new thing. I am already looking forward to it.

Today was an awesome day - my cousin brother came to visit us at our place and we had great time playing cards and cricket. It was the kind of fun which I have missed for a long time. His daughter is 3 months old today and we had a impromtu celebration at our house.

Updates

2010-03-02T12:51:00.000-06:00

Finally - some good news have started pouring in. I am going to Delhi this weekend and will stay there for 10 days to attend the 3 XLRI itnerviews - BM, PM&IR and GMP. Also received an email today that I have been shortlisted for IIMC PGP. Oh yeah! I am excited.

I now need to take some time out from my get up - office - get back and sleep routine. Need to fit in an hour of preparation somewhere in my schedule. Also need to plan again for the Delhi trip :)

I also am researching some other programs - NUS, Cranfield, AGSM, MBS, IESE among them. I was wondering if I could apply to Cranfield now and get admission decision soon enough for the Sep 2011 intake. However, Lesley informed me that the decisions will start rolling only Dec 10/Jan 11.

AGSM/MBS also look good at first look. I need to take a deep dive into their website and brochure. Need time, research time.

In another news - booked my house. Take a look - http://blueridge.in/

MBA Saga Continues

2010-02-20T10:35:00.000-06:00

Lately I have not been able to sit at one place and think about things a lot. Life is going at a very fast pace. And when I mean it - it really is. No time out. Fortunately - got some time today.

Only some days back I used to treat MBA as a destination - a place where I will get all the knowledge that I need, network that I need and tools that I need that will help me break away from this rat race. But recently I have started realizing that MBA is just one cog in the wheel of life. True, that getting into a great school will help you a lot - but life is much more than that.

I used to think that I will do my MBA and things will be easy for me. Wrong! No doubt that you will get into a high profile job with good dollars, but your responsibilities will also increase. You will be expected to do more, in the same amount of time. Instead of 3 projects, you will now be asked to manage a client program giving them technology direction - and not just any direction - it has to be backed by your knowledge of how things work and your experience. You learn a part of that in MBA, but you also need to spend a lot of time applying that knowledge to the problem.

Failure is often looked at very negatively and we were always taught that failure is not an option. But I regret that I did not fail a lot of times in my childhood or in the early part of my career - that I did not take enough risks. So that is what I am trying to do now. I am trying to take up responsibilities that are not for my role but much higher and I am struggling to do it - but I am learning new things every day. I know that I may fail, but I am all for it. This in a way will help me prepare for the pressure that will come after my MBA.

MBA is not the destination - it is that rise on a rollercoaster after which there usually is a screaming free fall.

XLRI Shortlist, Essays and more

2010-02-14T00:04:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines to everyone!

I had planned my travel to Delhi for Mar 12 - Mar 16 to meet with family as I didn't meet when I relocated to India. Started getting the news that the interview invites are going out - but only as physical letter. I had given my address as my permanent address and apparently the courier guys called up there asked for me - and they said that I lived in Pune. That probably is enough for them to return the letter to XLRI.

I called up XLRI on Fri and they were helpful enough to email me the scanned copies of the letters. I have been shortlisted for all three programs - GMP, BM and PMIR with interviews on 8th, 12th and 13th of Mar. Right - so rescheduling my travel to Delhi and applying for leaves from office.

I had not worked on the essays a lot during the past week - but yesterday I got my laptop, my sansa fuze, headphones and headed out to CCD. I spent good quality 4-5 hours there with some coffee, sanwiches and samosas and came out with a close to final copy of all essays.

The XLRI essays restrict you to 250 words but they ask so much from you that you struggle to put your thoughts in those many words. For eg, the first essay asks about your long term goal, how you came to it, did you revaluate, if yes why, when and how, how will XLRI help you. All of this.. in 250 words??!!? You gotta be kiddin me.

There was one tricky question for which I had to think really long and hard. What tangible evidence can you provide that illustrates your relationship management capabilities. The "tangible" was the key here. I tried to think about stuff from my college days to my start of my professional career, my onsite experience. After about an hour or it dawned on me. The fact that it took me so long to remember was that it was so recent! I know it sounds wierd but when you try to remember things you tend to go in the past.

Now just minor edits here and there and it will be ready to submit. Came back home and were thinking where to go out for Valentine's eve when heard the news. The German Bakery was rocked by a bomb blast. Nine people killed and over 40 injured. It feels scary specially when you frequent that place a lot. And you thought that Pune was safe? RIP...

Getting in the Groove

2010-02-07T12:32:00.000-06:00

I have started on my work full time here. The life has been pretty busy. I am putting up with a friend for now till I get an apartment of my own. I enrolled into a Gym membership that gives me access to the lockers/showers and more importantly the basketball court. It has been long and I played a 2 on 2 match last week. It was tough. I was panting in just 10 minutes. I really need to get in shape and I have decided that I will play everyday now.

In another update, I participated in MOSS (Microsoft office sharepoint server) Champion content at my company and surprise surprise...., I stood first from Pune. It felt so nice to see my name in the emailer from our Education dept addressed to the entire Pune team (about 10,000 people). But at the same time it raised expectations from people. I received about 5 queries from people about MOSS in the next couple of hours. I hope that I was able to provide good assistance to those folks.

Thu was the finals. We got a case study about a supply chain company and we had to make a presentation about our solution to that company's problems. I think I did a good job at it; however, probably not so good with the final objective exam. The result is due Mon/Tue and I am looking forward to it.

I got the XLRI email about completing some essays, which are on a link in the email. However, the email mentions that I should do that in one login, preferably. Now what is that? Do they expect me to write those essays in one sitting? And is that counted in the final shortlisting? I am confused. I think it is possible, but why would you put a restriction around the number of logins. Also, not very clear was what was the program? I applied for BM, PM &IR and GMP. From the pagalguy.com threads I am able to make out that this was probably for GMP, but the email should state it clearly.

I am finding my work exciting - I have moved to a different group and an opportunity to learn something new almost everyday. Let us see how it goes.

And yes - the food is awesome!!

Ola!

2010-01-25T13:07:00.000-06:00

I am back in India! It is a period of excitement as well as some tough adjustments. I landed on Saturday morning last week and went to work on Monday. No leaves. Saving them for the IIM interviews, if and when they happen.

Days go by in travelling to office on the busy Pune roads. The traffic is never-seen-before bad. Though couple of flyovers have been built, they are just not enough in managing the Pune traffic. I am riding my friends bike right now. The initial 2 days, it was difficult for me. I was following my US driving instincts. I just would not get anywhere. The last couple of days has been a revelation - its like things are getting back to me in flashes. My driving is more "Indian" now.

I have dropped the idea of NUS because I just dont find the time or appropriate location to sit down and write my essays. Life has just got too busy all of a sudden. Leave for office at 7.30 in the morning and back by 8 pm. Have dinner, talk at home and with wife and go to sleep. Not much time left. Also, returning to India entails looking for place to rent/stay. I spend the entire Sunday looking for some new flats in Pune. Interested in a 2 or 2.5 BHK I looked at Baner, Balewadi, Pashan and Sus area. No flat is less than 40 L. Everything is just so expensive! I am trying to work out my probability of getting through an MBA program this year - which will ultimately affect my decision.

Being at offshore has its own merits. The foremost being the food choices you get. I have 40 different Indian food choices everyday. I am loving it! I joined Abhivyakti - the Company Music Club - the day I landed. I am looking to get Gym Membership and looking for people to start playing basketball again. Sat in some classroom training and felt great to be in a class again. Met some old friends and shared some laughs remembering old stories. I feel so much more energized to do more, to be more - just by being here - my country.

Emory update

2010-01-13T09:45:00.000-06:00

I am one day away from my return to India and I just logged in OPUS to check my Emory status. To be very frank I have been thinking about this for the last couple of weeks and I was not sure how would I react on getting the decision. The fact that Emory would make sense only if I get a scholarship, and the fact that very few "desi IIMs" are getting admits this season, I was not too excited about this.

I find out that I am waitlisted today. This is my first waitlist of the season and I will await the final decision, but if I am not getting any schol, I might as well tell them that I want to withdraw my application. But the thought that what if I dont get in anywhere else, what if in the future circumstance, an admit in Emory is the best thing for me. Don't get me wrong - I have visited Emory and really did like it. But I do not intend to stay in US for long and that is why, I need a schol if I go to Emory.

I am excited to go back to India. A different kind of role in delivery instead of client facing. Leading a team from the ground excites me. Although there are some newly developed company policies which I am not too excited about. I am flying British Airways and I heard there was a snowstorm in London. Hopefully, Heathrow will be clearer tomorrow. Apart from some essential stuff, I have done my packing. Next update from India.

Two more ready to go and an update

2010-01-11T11:46:00.000-06:00

I have two more applications ready in the stable to ship. The only thing missing is the 11th marks!! I didnt know that it is needed and I called my family back home and they are also unable to locate it. Since it is not a board exam we never thought it was that important. We have requested the school to issue another marksheet, but they need my section, roll number etc. I dont remember any!

My father is orchestrating the retreival of a replacement with the help of a local person from Udhampur since thats where I completed my 12th. I dont see any bright chances but lets see. I talked to IIM Kozhikode -
Me - "Are the 11th Marks necessary?"
A - "Its upto the panel who shortlists candidates."
Me - "Should I send the application if I dont get the 11th marks"
A - "Yes, send it. But mention a note in the beginning that you have lost your marksheet"

He was very cordial in answering my queries. The thing is that I topped my 11th and had pretty good marks - so not having that in my app will just work against me.

Another update - I am moving back to India. Yes! Not on a vacation - but on a permanent basis. This happened after a 5 week engagement that was planned to last till mid/end feb didn't come through for me, as they wanted a long term person. Also, I didnt wanted to relocate to any other location within US. So, suddenly I am without a project. I will be travelling to India on Thu, reaching Pune on Saturday. What this has done is put my NUS plans on hold, since I have to wrap up so many things, sell furniture, electronics, guitar, close credit cards, notify electric provider, my apartments company, insurance provider. My wife has also communicated her managers, but her transition plan will take time. I am assuming she will not be able to come to Pune before March. I got some packing to do...

Two more down

2010-01-08T11:35:00.000-06:00

I submitted my IIM Indore and IIM Bangalore apps yesterday. The IIM Bangalore app is pretty straightforward with 2 essays. The Indore app took me a long time since it had about 4-5 essays. Finally, I am happy with the way the apps turned out and posted them yesterday.

Couple of things to be careful about when posting your IIM Indore app. First, they ask for an attested photocopy of your passport with travel dates. This is not mentioned in the application, but mentioned on the website. The second point is that the IIM Indore pin code could not be found on the Fedex system. So, he had to choose all other option and then proceed normally. He then mentioned the zip code on the bar code label that goes with the package. As long as the package as the right address, it should be delivered irrespective of the zip code.

Now on to my K and L apps. K is almost complete and L is pretty straightforward. I probably need 4-5 hours of dedicated effort to finish these. Plan to do that today if possible.

Christmas Vacation

2010-01-05T14:56:00.000-06:00

With the flight costs going up and living in Houston, it becomes very dfficult to plan your vacation. Why? Because you can drive 8 hours from Houston in any direction and still see no difference in the terrain. Its miles and miles of plain flat land. So, we had to undertake a long road trip, 15 hour one way, to Santa Fe, NM.

It was a beautiful place and we had more fun because it had dropped about 2 feet of snow in the 2 days before we reached there. It was chilly with temp reaching negative Fahrenheit but we were well prepped up. The first day we did the famous Canyon Walk. It was very cold, but the hot apple cider and bon fires kept us running.

The second day was dedicated to skiing. Though we spent more time getting into the ski gear and reaching the slope and falling down than actually on our feet! We had lodz of fun enroute with an impromptu snowball fight. I was the victim with low quality supplies. The snow around me was all powdery. I had to take cover. While returning we were treated to some beautiful warm sunset colors. It was so serene.

The third day was reserved for horse riding. We reached a place called Cerrillos about 40 miles south of Santa Fe and had an awesome 1.5 hour ride around the hills of New Mexico. Harold and Adel, the owners of broken saddle, were very accomodating and professional. It was the first time I was on a canter on a horse.

IIM Indore application

2010-01-05T12:24:00.000-06:00

I have been able to draft out the application writing all the essays that are required. The fact that these essays are quite different than what I have done till now, it required quite a bit of effort. I still have to refine them though. I am hoping that my IIMC and XLRI applications made it to the respective institutes without issues.

On another note, we are planning to go back to India this year and for the last 2-3 days we are having a discussion about settling down there and where will we live, what car will we buy. It has been real fun because I get excited thinking about getting back to my country. I was distant from the Indian auto scene for the last 4 years, but now when I researched there are so many options to choose from. Earlier, it was 800, alto , santro or indica. Now i10, i20, Grand Punto, Jazz, Manza, Linea, Fabia and new cars like ford figo and vw polo coming in. This competition is going to work for the indian consumer. The car market is really going to explode in the next 10 years. I just hope that we have enough infrastructure to run those cars on.

The holiday feeling

2010-01-01T17:20:00.001-06:00

The feeling grows on you - the laziness of holidays, the cool winters, the warm sheets, a cup of tea and some biscuits to go along with it. I have gotten lazy for the last 3-4 days. I admit. I think, if I was on my peak work rate, I would have shipped at least 2 other IIM apps by now. But the holiday feeling is catching on to me.

We went to Santa Fe for the long weekend in New Mexico. It is an awesome little town. The canyon walk is something that is not to be missed. I can still feel the hot apple cider warming me up in the -20 C cold. The snowball fights and falling down while skiing were frequent and sometimes uninitiated. I can still smell the lovely smell of coffee when we stepped into a coffee shop after our cold exeriences. These are the memories that we all live for and I enjoyed them.

2010 comes with a lot of promise for me. A lot of changes that we have planned in our lives. These are the decisions that define where you will head in your life. The if else statements. Right now both paths seem highly probable, but we will choose only one. But the choice will determine where we will be 20 years from now. The other path may lead us in a completely different direction. There may not be any overlap of these two paths in our lives. Thats what makes these decisions difficult.

The holiday feeling is getting to me.

Getting a NRI Certificate

2010-01-01T12:30:00.000-06:00

First of all - a very Happy New Year to everyone! Hope this year brings you closer to your dreams.

The IIMK eligibility criteria says that you should have lived abroad at least for the last 180 days continuously. When inquired over email, they stuck to what was said on the website. However, I called them up two days back and they said that a vacation is allright as long as long as you can provide the NRI certificate. So yesterday, I went out to get my certificate from the Houston Consultate.

First of all, calling or emailing them is fruitless. You are much better off to reach there and get things done yourself. Download the form from the website for NRI certificate, fill in the details, paste your photograph, get photocopies of the first and last page of the passport, as well as the visa pages. Also carry your address proof. As a backup carry one more form address proof as a photocopy, your passport photocopies with entry/exit dates and you last salary payslip. You are required to give them your original passport as well as $20 fee, which they accept in cash. Bring exact change if you can!

Get in the consulate and you pick a tab to wait for your turn. I dont know if everyday is like this but on 31 Dec, there was only one counter open and I waited for 2 hours for my turn to come, just to submit my documents. I think it should be better other days - but if not, try coming early at about 9 am. You should be done before 10 am for sure.

The pick up time is given as 4 pm, but preference is to OCI people. So, you will not get your turn before 4.30. Since they are open till 5. Just come at 4.30 pm and pick up your certificate. No need to come early.

Now off to watch 3 Idiots!

Applications Shipped

2009-12-28T21:54:00.000-06:00

Today, after the Christmas break, I met with my recommender and got my IIMC reco. Came back home and added that to the already prepped application package and shipped it. Fedex estimated my IIMC app to reach by Jan 1 and XLRI by Jan 5, that gives me about a week's buffer time in case anything goes wrong.

Now on to the IIMI application essays and also to get the recos done. This time, my recommender will post it to me. The reason being that even though we live in the same city, we are about 50 miles apart, so going and getting the reco is a 2 hour drive for me. Using the postal service is a better option in this case.

With some help from Rocky and Hari, I have started researching NUS. It looks to be a very nice school, but will I be able to do a good job at it before Jan 31? I will have to wait and see...

XLRI almost done

2009-12-21T23:36:00.000-06:00

I had to get my cashier's checks from the bank today. I went to walgreens to get my photographs done and then went to the bank. That guy did mistake 2 times with my checks which resulted in the process taking about an hour. After that I got the passport photocopies attested from a lady inside the bank. There was another person sitting besides her (intern?) who tried to keep me busy with his talk. He talked about Hindi, backword read scripts, long travel to India etc. The lady chimed in between with her experiences. She was from middle east. By the time I was done - It was about 3 pm. I then went back to walgreens - picked up my photographs and back to office. Then I prepared my application sets and a checklist for the applications. For IIMC -

Application Form
Application Fee
GMAT score card
Attested Passport photocopies
Transcripts
Recommendation

For XLRI its only the first three. But after talking to my recommender, I will not get my recommendation before Monday - so I will only ship it after Christmas now - but I am happy that the packages for both these schools are complete. They just need to be shipped now!

IIMC Application - almost done

2009-12-19T23:51:00.000-06:00

I am almost done with my IIMC application. I had sent out the recommendation form to my referees couple of days back. I gave finishing touches to the SOP today. I guess the only thing remaining now is to get the demand draft, a copy of GMAT scorereport and send the application in!

However, there are few doubts still lingering in my mind and I hope that I can get some quick answers. The PG forum seems to be very quiet compared to the last year activity. I dont know whats the deal with it. Either people are not applying or they are choosing not to participate or people applying are not on PG.

The IIMI recommendation is a longer one and I have already sent it out to my referees as well. Hopefully, I should get those turned in before the deadline. The fees for IIMI does seem a little steep, but hopefully it will be all worth it. The ski trip starts Wednesday. I have to ensure that I ship my IIMC app before that.

Silence....

2009-12-18T18:10:00.001-06:00

It is 6 pm in the office and I am working on my application research. I have logged into the PG and looking at updates on the threads. The NUS brochure is open and my IIMC application form is also open at the same time. My NUS application times out, suddenly the AC of the building shuts down. Yeah - its 6 pm. Energy conservation. It turns absolutely silent accept my keystrokes and mouse clicks. I see an email in my gmail inbox. Its from MIT. The subject says "Decision Available Online". My heartbeat just increases from 72 to 144. I click on the link in the email, login to my online application. The application status still says "submitted". hmm. Notice a link below. Heartbeat touches 160. The letter opens up. Read each word carefully. The Director is expressing his sadness that I could not make it to their class of 324 people. He mentions that it is extremely competitive. I understand....

Change in Plans

2009-12-17T13:44:00.002-06:00

There are immediate change in plans on horizon. I will not be submitting any more apps this season - except for the NRI quota in IIMs. I had plans for two among Oxford, LBS and Kellogg. However, the 5 IIM applications to be submitted brought it down to one. However, now with continuous work the last 7 days, and the IIM applications in near future - I have to stop. I have to stop compromising on my applications and my life. It has been a hard 6 months and I think I deserve a break.

So, I am going to work on my IIMC app and submit it soon and then go for a ski holiday to New Mexico. After I come back, I will have 4 more to submit in a short span of a month. Also, the professional things are taking a turn and I might land up in India sooner than I think.

I think these dynamics will not go well with my application work on any of the three schools I had planned. I am gonna reserve them for next year. I have not lost hope, nor sight and I feel good.

Chicago Booth - No news....bad news....

2009-12-15T19:33:00.000-06:00

Chicago Booth sent out its admit information today by calling all admits. Now when contacted, they mentioned that they are going to contact people tomorrow also, but last year the last admit call was made at around 2 pm. The next day was reserved for ding/waitlist notification.

I kept checking my phone, making sure it had enough battery and enough coverage for me to receive the call. No luck. Its very apparent how quickly, within couple of hours, your mood changes from high nervousness, expectancy to disappointment. Multiple weeks of edits, research, school visit and hope... all gone.

I think the B school application process has taught me many things - chief among them is to be humble...and the plane touches the ground....

Indians are everywhere

2009-12-11T19:45:00.001-06:00

I was reading this story that the Chicago Dean is stepping down. But then I scroll down and read more I read that the Kellogg's Dean, Dipak Jain, had stepped down earlier and that the interin dean is Sunil Chopra. Then I read more and find that the Harvard Dean is stepping down and there are two frontrunners - Rakesh Khurana and Nitin Nohria...

IIM PGP via GMAT

2009-12-11T12:13:00.000-06:00

Lately, I have been researching on the IIM 2 year course entrance via GMAT. They have some strict criteria.

IIMA - Scored at least 45 in each section of GMAT with a scaled score of at least 700. While 700 is ok, the 45 in each section is the killer.
IIMB - "In order to qualify as an Indian resident abroad, a candidate should have been/expected to be resident outside India for a period of 18 months between 1st January 2007 and 31st December 2009". That makes me eligible. While the site gives the application and recommendation form, it does not say how many recommendations are required.
IIMC - "Indians and foreign nationals living, working or studying outside India at least for the period January 1, 2009 - February 15, 2010 are considered as overseas candidates." Hmm. So what happens to those who took a vacation from work and came to India for couple of weeks?
IIML - "Presently candidate has to be residing outside India, for a period of at least one and a half year (i.e., for the period September 1, 2008 - February 29, 2010). GMAT has to be taken outside India. GMAT score to be above 85 percentile rank." While the GMAT score part is ok, again its the same question of India vacation between this period. Will that render me ineligible.
IIMI - "Non-Resident Indians who are not in India during CAT 2009 shall be considered as 'International Applicants'. The scores of the GMAT taken during January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2009 will only be considered for processing." Much better.
IIMK - "GMAT score of not more than one year's vintage. GMAT has to be taken outside India and the minimum score required to be eligible to apply would be 90%. The candidates seeking admission under NRI category should produce with the application a certificate from the Indian Embassy/High Commission/Consulate of the country where the candidate is currently based, stating that the candidate has been resident in that country continuously for a period of not less than 18 months as on December 31, 2009." This is the best. A candidate will think twice before applying.
IIMS - "Indian citizens living abroad, either pursuing higher education or employed, should be living abroad for not less than 18 months (as on 7th December, 2009), to qualify themselves as NRIs." And on the application form - "Attested copy of residence certificate issued by a competent authority regarding the duration of the candidate’s stay abroad. (only in case of the NRIs. The duration of stay should not be less than 18 months as on November 15, 2009)". I wonder who is this competent authority. I consider my wife to be very competent in our fight for TV remote or internet bandwidth.

To round it off - I am clearly ineligible for A and I have missed the ship for S. I am clearly eligible for B and I. But what about C,L and K?

A Seperate State

2009-12-09T21:25:00.000-06:00

I could not believe the news when I saw it. Center buckled to the pressure and have agreed for a different Telangana state. Are you kiddin me? What were the reasons for a seperate state? Is it that it was deprived of development which the region besides it seem to be enjoying? Its a valid reason - but does that mean you need to have a seperate state to resolve that? What is the guarantee that a seperate state will not create more issues that solutions.

I just think that there is a very wrong message passed to other people - if some people can come together - hold rallies, torch the buses, call state bandhs and their leader goes on a fast they can get their way. What will stop the MNS now for demanding their own state or the Naxals? How different are they from what we saw now? Its truly disappointing....

Bored? Are you kiddin!!

2009-12-07T19:49:00.000-06:00

This is probably the most exciting period for an MBA applicant. A lot of schools have started releasing their R1 decisions, some have started releasing their interview invites. Kellogg announced today that it will release its decisions from now till Jan 11th. MIT started releasing their interview decisions to candidates from Boston and NY area. Duke started releasing its interview decisions as well. Judge has started releasing its decisions. Booth will release its decision on Dec 16, the IIMC waitlist will be out on Dec 16 as well.

Some people are waiting on these decisions to formulate the round 2 strategies. Some souls have already submitted some R2 apps (including yours truly) and planning for other R2 schools after restrategizing. The next 10 days will see a lot of elation, heart break and pure frustration as well. I have started thinking about what next. If I stick to my original plan I should submit Kellogg part 1 asap. Heck, I have even submitted the GMAT scores to K earlier. But now do I need to restrategize somewhat? Choose some other schools in Asia region? Is Kellogg too much of a reach? Which one out of LBS/Said/Judge? How many? I have already apped in 6 schools this season. What about the Canadian schools?

The fun begins...

Emory Interviewed!

2009-12-06T21:48:00.001-06:00

I had booked my flight out of Houston to Atlanta on Thu evening, planning to work from there on Friday and then interview on Saturday. There was a company event in Houston on Sat evening which I didn't wanted to miss. I left office at 4 pm, thinking I have enough time for the 6.20 flight. Reached home, picked up the bags and on my way at 4.30.

About 3-4 miles down the road I was mentally going through my checklist of items and then it struck me, my tie!! I had the right combo for the shirt, suit and tie and I didnt know how much time will it take to buy one in Atlanta that fits. A quick calculation and I thought that if I took the tollway, I should be able to cover the 30 miles in 45 minutes, so quickly turned around, picked up my tie and was on my way back to airport at 5 pm. Now everything needed to work in my favor for me to be able to make it. Alas....

As soon as I got on the Tollway, I saw a river of red taillights.. it was jam packed!! I quickly took the I-10 exit and took the HOV lane to 610. It went well for a while but 610 has 2 left lanes closed for construction. Result - another jam...Took I 45 to go to the airport and it was flowing but it was slow.. All along I was fearing that I will get a ticket or bang in someone else's car. Thankfully nothing happened..

Reached the airport at 6.20 pm to be exact, the time the flight should be taking off. Reached the check in desk and asked the lady.. she called someone else and told me - sorry, the flight is out.. Thousand thoughts in my mind, should I reschedule the interview, how costly is the next flight going to be, If I reschedule, will not be it too late? I asked her to find out if she can rebook me on first flight in the morning at 5.45 am. She found out and after a long call, she said it will cost you $50 more...yay! I rebooked and then headed back...

When I reached I was dead tired, but I looked at some of the interview questions and then some of the Ind - SL match.. Woke up at 3.15 am for my flight... Caught it in time this time, heard some good relaxing songs on my way to sleep. The problem with the exit seats in the flights is that they do not recline. Thankfully my adjacent seat was vacant - so I could spread myself a little.

Reaching Atlanta brought back all the good memories of time I spent there.. It is like a breath of fresh air after being in Houston. Driving down the Ponce de Leon was bliss in itself. I was going to stay with my friends in Decatur - but before I decided on a detour and went to Emory campus instead. I located the parking deck and then tried to see the school while driving, but it is difficult to do so. A lot of building in small space makes it a walkable community. I saw a lot of students walking towards the school.

I then reached home, plugged in my laptop and worked. Met a college friend over lunch at Bhojanic. Good food. Then came back and worked some more before my friends arrived from office. Then the usual chit.. We went to dinner at another person's place. He was in my team from offshore when I worked in Atlanta... Good Chicken Biryani...yummm.. We spent so much time pulling legs that I didnt realize it was 11. I asked them that I nede to go.. I came back, prepared my suit for tomorrow, read little bit more about Goizueta and watched Ind trying to bowl SL out on the 4th day...

The alarm buzzed at 6.15 am and I carefully snoozed in 2 times before waking at 6.30. Got ready and was out by 7.45 am. It was freezing cold.. It took me just 20 minutes to reach the parking deck and I sat in the car for 5 minutes just going through the checklist. I walked towards the school and there was a rep (student?) standing there for reception in the chilly weather. I did feel sorry for him. I asked him the direction to the admissions office and then walked over. The office had some students waiting and couple of students also who were having a conversation. A brief introduction and chit chat occurred. Jim, a first year student,w as particularly helpful. I was feeling my mouth become a little dry and I searched for water but didn't find any. My interviewer, who was an Alum came out of the room and asked for me. We went in and seated in a small room, with a computer desk and a round table with three chairs. I sat in one of them. I saw a bottle of water behind him. He started by explaining the process to me. I was wondering if I should ask for the bottle or not. He was just about to start when I asked him if I can take a sip from the bottled water behind him :)... I think it took him a little by surprise but he gave that to me...The sip really helped...

He then started by some of the questions -
Q - Walk me through your resume.
A - I highlighted my key points and talked about what made me take the decisions I took.
Q - What do you consider your most challening assignment.
A - Gave him an instance from the resume.
Q - Did you have conflict at work? How did you resolve it?
A - Gave an example from my first onsite experience.
Q - What kind of leader are you. What is your leadership style.
A - Handled it by giving an example.
Q - Who is your fav leader?
A - Gave an example and answered why - he said "Good choice".
Q - What do you consider to be important for leadership.
A - Gave him one core attribute and couple of supplementary attributes surrounding it.
Q - What do you want to do after MBA?
A - Gave him a low down of short term and long term goal. He seemed to agree with my long term goal strategy if such an opportunity existed.
Q - What is the relationship between what you are going now and your LT goal?
A - I answered by highlighting what I have learnt till now, what I expect to learn in an MBA, what are my ST goals and what I hope to learn from them and how these combined will help me in my LT goal.
Q - Why Goizueta?
A - Gave him 3 core things that I look to gain from Goizueta.
Q - What will you bring to the class?
A - Answered by giving my distinguishing factors and what I believe are unique.
Q - Another probing questions on why Goizueta and why not someone else?
A - I again stressed on my answer given earlier which was unique to Goizueta which is absent in big schools.

Now he turned over to me and asked my if I had some questions. I had a few and asked him about the directed study, campus housting and some course.. After that we said our goodbyes. While I was turning towards the door I asked him one more that I had read him being a triple jump champion and whether he pursued it further. He told me that he had some plans to train for olympics, but he found his current career more financially viable. :)

After that I went out to register for the saturday events. The first one was a tour given by Danielle. She was very enthusiastic and walked us through the business school and answered our questions. It took about 20 minutes after which we were led to an already in progress Q&A session. I didn't ask any questions, but learnt one interesting thing that Goizueta does not require you to interview again for 2 years if you reapply.

Then there was a Ask the Student event from 10.30 - 11.15. As I had planned to meet up Amit at 10.50 in front of Einstein, I skipped the session. Instead I talked to couple of other students outside. I had a good conversation with Kishore. I really got a very laid back and down to earth feel from the students. I could easily converse with them and they were more than helpful in giving their views and interesting aspects about the school.

I met Amit in front of Einstein and we talked a lot about his pre-MBA work and his life in Goizueta till now while we waited for other prospects to join us. There were 2 others prospects who were supposed to join us and d2a showed up in some time. Shortly, Vineet and Neha, first year students, also joined us. Vineet really had some good knowledge to share on his experience and some tips for the interview also. Alas, my interview was already over :)

As it was chilly outside, we went to the commons room and talked a little bit more. Vineet and Amit were very helpful in answering as well as providing additional tips on our questions. We talked for about half an hour before it was the time for the sample class. I had to rush out to the airport and d2a was going to attend the class. We bid goodbyes as I rushed out.

A big shout out to Amit and Vineet to taking the time out of their busy routine and help us out. All the best for your interviews and exams!

Goizueta Submitted

2009-12-01T22:16:00.000-06:00

Clicked the button and its done!

I enjoyed the Goizueta essays - really. I was able to express myself, my experience, my goal and challenges in the essays. While writing, I really felt the words flowing on the keypad. A good feeling!

Both of my recommenders submitted today and that was a relief in itself. Now looking forward to Thu when I will fly to Atlanta and meet some of my old friends before giving my interview on Sat.

Booth Interview today

2009-11-30T08:56:00.000-06:00

I am glad that I got a response from my original interviewer today. The situation was getting very tight. I have set up an interview which is 5 hours from now. So a little nervous, yes - but hopefully will be ok at the interview. I got to take a printout and explain a 3-4 hr absence from office for this.

Booth interview issues

2009-11-29T09:32:00.000-06:00

I am having trouble scheduling the Booth interivew. The school is off and nobody responding to emails/phone. I have emailed my original interviewer also and she probably is travelling right now and reaching the country today. With the interview window closing tomorrow this is getting very uncomfortable for me. Hopefully, I will be able to do justice to my interivew if it is tomorrow. I never thought this will become so difficult.

Emory progress is good. I am done with my essays sans some minor edits. My application is also filled up except one section. I have to mail the transcripts, submit the essays, fill the section and click on submit. Should be 3-4 hours of work.

One day to go

2009-11-27T22:59:00.000-06:00

After working the first day of the holiday the second day has gone waste. Over what? Blackfriday shopping! Got a Nikon D40 SLR, Western Digital 640 GB passport drive, a watch and a chair to help sit long hours when I fill my MBA applications...

But at the end of the day, feel a little frustrated for the little progress made... Need to pull up my socks for tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2009-11-25T20:17:00.000-06:00

The long weekend is here. It gives all a reasons to be with their loved ones, and thank Him for all He has given to us. Thank you.

On another note, it brings with it long holidays and delicious time which can be spent on MBA applications. Muhahaha... I have got the Emory application under work. Unfortunately couldn't work much on it for the last couple of days. However, I will bring it to closure before the holidays are over. I have been following up on my Booth Interview reschedule and I have not been able to. With the school closing down for the holidays I think I will have to request my original interviewer to consider me again. Its a tight rope walk but if I interview on Monday and she submits on the same day, then we are in game.

I am looking forward to my Atlanta visit. Got quite a few friends there because I worked there before I came to Houston. Will be really great to catch up on some new stories and remember the old ones.

And did you see how Sehwag and Gambhir batted together on day 1 session 1. This is just the pinnacle of batting that you will ever see....

Emory under works

2009-11-23T21:22:00.001-06:00

Today I spent some quality time on my Emory app. I browsed through the website, came to know of their sports management elective (!!), and also spent filling up the application. I am almost done on all required sections and also had a shot at essay 1. I have made the payment and sent the scores to the school as well as scheduled the interview for 5th Dec, the super saturday on campus.

One thing that confused me was that I have to indicate whether it is a Consortium interview or not. Look at the consortium website here - http://www.cgsm.org/. It basically is a group of universities whose vision is to promote representation of Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans among management jobs. After some intial confusion on Consortium fellowship and whether I should select that for my interview and reading more about Consortium, I emailed indicating it as Non-consortium interview.

I looked at the air tickets, but they are pretty expensive. Thanks to the bing's travel predictor I know that the prices will be coming down and hence waiting. I got a friend who lives there, but I may not trouble him and instead find a hotel for myself.

I am actually very excited about this new development in my application strategy. Emory makes so much sense. I am hoping for a good scholarship to make my decision easier. Looking forward to meet some puys in Atlanta and in Emory.

Booth Interview Update

2009-11-23T10:29:00.000-06:00

My interviewer has been overseas for the past couple of weeks. She had indicated that she will come back on 11/22, Sunday - however her plans are postponed for a week. That cuts it very close since I have to finish the interview by 30 Nov. She very graciously extended her offer to interview me on Sunday or Monday - but I realize that it will be a pain for her after those long hour of flight. So I decided to email the school to help me find another alum in the area.

I hope to get this done within the next 3 days, because the Thanksgiving holidays start on Thu and it will get difficult to find someone after that.

Emory essays are nice to see - I have to start writing but it seems it will be good fun...

Next Steps

2009-11-23T08:36:00.000-06:00

After letting the feeling sink in and some self introspection, I have come to realize that there are some schools which I need to add to my list. The IIMA, B and C programs allow overseas candidates to apply for the 2 year course via GMAT. I plan to apply to these courses. Also, I realize that trying to get a good schol in US is not a bad idea. Reason is that education in US is phenomenol - the kind of exposure and faculty you get. A top 30 school in US is similar to top Indian schools in term of education, it is just the Indian schools are much more suited for the Indian Market.

So I have targetted Emory now - as it is known to offer some good schols. If I get it, I will not take a big financial hit, can complete my MBA and then relocate to India soon enough. There are only 7 days to go now for the deadline. I am more worried about the recommendation than the application, as we will have a long thanksgiving weekend in between. I will be going out for a day or so, but hopefully will be able to finish the application soon enough.

After the Emory app, I will ship my IIMA PGP application, whose deadline is Dec 15. Time to move on...

ISB Ding

2009-11-20T07:57:00.001-06:00

I never knew it would hurt so bad....

Scheduling the Booth Interview

2009-11-17T08:18:00.000-06:00

I received the Booth interview invite some days back. Scheduling a B school interview in US for the first time can be a little strange experience as I found out.
Step 1 - Search whether an alumni exists in your city or not. Surprisingly, the file link was not working and giving me an error. However, I knew I will find someone in Houston for sure.
Step 2 - Upload your most recent resume. I didnt modify it and uploaded it as is.
Step 3 - Search for an alum in your region. For Booth, you get to do only "one successful search". What this means is that if your search returns a result, you will have to choose that alum. You have no choice, unless the alum can not do it or for some other strange circumstance. Then you have to contact the adcom to reschedule the interview.
Step 4 - Contact the alum by email with some details on when you are available and where you can meet. The starbucks site was down at this time - why does this happen with me??!!
Step 5 - Wait for alum to respond for 48 hours. In my case, she just about did and we are going to set up a time just before thanksgiving if possible.
Step 6 - Once a date and time has been decided, confirm the interview on the interview portal.
Step 7 - Research your interviewer if possible. Can help connect during the course of the interview.
Step 8 - Give the interview and send out a thank you note.
Step 9 - Sit back and enjoy India vs Sri Lanka test match.

Chicago Interview Invite!

2009-10-29T12:51:00.000-05:00

Giving GMAT - $250
Sending my scores to Chicago - $26
Airticket to attend the Booth Live event - $300
Submitting application to Chicago - $200
The feeling you get after receiving the "Selected for Interview" email - Priceless!

Next Goal - Kellogg

2009-10-28T19:22:00.000-05:00

So after a break of about 3 days, I think its time I put myself back on track with some planning. I am going to focus on Kellogg first in R2 as I have visited the school and that will also complete my US School list. One thought that has gone through my mind several times is should I look at Duke? Kellogg, LBS and Oxford are about 12 weeks from now on - that gives me 4 weeks/school. More than sufficient. So should I squeeze in Duke for 12 Nov deadline?

Then I realize that the ISB interview invite is due anytime now. So, I will plan, prepare and travel for interview which will take at least one week. That probably does not give me enough time for Duke. But what if I do not get an invite? Should I start my app and then see if I can complete or not? I will definitely not apply to Duke in R2.

Probably I should start my work on Kellogg....

MIT Sloan application submitted!

2009-10-25T22:29:00.001-05:00

Today, I submitted my application for MIT Sloan. 7 days back I was not so sure about it, but now I have done it. I think the key things that worked for me to submit it on time were creating timelines, goals and sticking to it!

I had a goal for the last 7 days - day by day. Before sleeping every night I would reassess where I am and what I did for the day. Did I meet my goal or not and what is the goal for the next day. There were times when I got extremely frustrated by slow progress - specially the day when I was working on the cover letter and thought of sleeping. I reached bed, pulled the blanket over myself and then my alter ego took over - "You didn't complete what you promised last night". And I was up in a jiffy. Rushed back to my study to work on the cover letter. I had late nights every day before I started sending out my app for reviews on Thursday. I reviewed all my material on Fri for refinements.

My whole saturday was booked - cricket matches at 8.30 am and 2 pm. I returned home at 7 pm to be invited for dinner party at 8 pm. I caught up with 10 minutes of sleep before going to the dinner party which ran till 1 am! BTW - we won both the cricket matches!

This morning was the most productive. I read some transcripts of MIT chat. They were very strong headed about not mentioning why MIT and why MBA in your cover letter. I spent 30 minutes thinking about the same. I had mentioned about this before, but should I reconsider. In the end, I took a middle route. I spent about 50 words on why MIT and just one sentence on my career goals. Majority (350 words) of my cover letter was about my accomplishments and my "impact".

Moved on to my Resume, contemplated between using Times New Roman 10, Times New Roman 11 or Arial 10. TNR is a small font and I decided to go with TNR 11.

Moving on the the essays - reviewed them for grammer correctness and flow. Didn't find anything that I could change. Again, contemplated the fonts. Read up few articles on serif vs sans-serif fonts. The sans-seif fonts are more easily readable in their small size and I actually could see that when I took the print outs of MS Sans Serif and Arial (serif font). So, I used the MS Sans Serif, 10 for my essays and they look good.

Finally, uploaded the documents, reviewed the app one last time and made the payment with the credit card. Note to people following other methods - contact the adcom at least 1 week in advance so that the payment can be processed in time.

Finished! Went for a walk near a lake with my wife and watched the sun set as R1 applications come to a closure....

MIT Cover Letter

2009-10-23T00:11:00.002-05:00

I am reaching there. Today was a good productive day. I realized that you there is a requirement of a 50 line of resume for MIT. I counted mine and it was 62! snip, snip, snip... After an hour or so, I got it down to 50 lines. The resume was occupying only about 80% of the page. Therefore, increase the line spacings to 1 pt. It now actually looks very neat, with less crowded lines.

Then comes the cover letter. Oh Boy! It is something. I wonder why don't we get to learn something like this in our school instead of learning writing an application for a leave. It took me a good amount of time researching and finally being able to put down a good draft of the cover letter. It comes down to the following structure for MIT-

Your name, address
Date
Recipients name, position, address
Greeting
Why are you writing this letter. (mention goals very briefly)
Clearly state the position (MBA) you are interested in.
Your skills/abilities from your experiences.
Expand one particular example showcasing impact to a group/organization
Why MBA
Why MIT
Thanks and close with an action item like request for interview.

(Edit on 10/25 - MIT very strongly recommends not to "waste space" on why MBA and why MIT in the cover letter. They say that if you are applying to MIT, they assume you have done your groundwork and found out MIT to be fit. Again, take it with a grain of salt as many alumnis have mentioned stating career goals in essays elaborately. I took the middle route finally and removed the why MBA section from the cover letter. Also, trimmed down my why MIT section to 50 words. I don't want to come out stupid when asking for feedback they say - "we did not find a lot of stories about you in the cover letter - sorry..")

MIT says it is 500 words, but you are ok with a +- 5% including the headers and footers.

Some of the resources that I found while researching -

A sample cover letter for MIT by someone in 2003 (no word limit here) - http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/mbapremium/sep2005/bs20050926_4358_bs054.htm

A video of how to write cover letter - http://ow.ly/txfn

Clear admit analysis - http://blog.clearadmit.com/2009/06/mit-sloan-essay-topic-analysis-2009-2010/

You can download a workbook with some samples from here - http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/international-indian-mba-schools-accepting/44525-calling-mit-sloan-2010-fall.html#post1703035

Progress and Goal for tomorrow

2009-10-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

I have been surprisingly successful in getting my first draft done for the 3 essays. I have sent those out for review to my family. Hopefully will get something back tomorrow. But the real goal for tomorrow is to get the first draft of the cover letter done. Time to hit the sack...

MIT Progress - Essays and all....

2009-10-21T12:12:00.000-05:00

I have made some progress in the last couple of days. I have filled up the application form online. Thankfully, I had all my transcripts scanned and ready and that did not take time. The GMAT score report is already sent. I had build the resume for Chicago and I don't think it will require a lot of changes, anyways that is going to be last item on my list.

I started working on the essays and they are very specific with a 500 word limit. They ask for a specific instance in your life where you went above and beyond, an instance where you coached and mentored, an instance where you took a responsibility of acheiving something. And then there is this famous cover letter. I have identified the instances about which I need to write about in the essays. In fact one of the essay has reached the first draft stage. I have about 300 words each in the other two and hope to create a full draft today and send out for reviews. I was hoping to do some yesterday, but had a client dinner party which also is important to attend :).

Then comes the cover letter - I am reading about what to write and what not. There have been conflicting views about this. The adcom in the MIT roadshow said that we are only interested in the past and not the future and advise you against putting your future goals as you end up doing something different anyway. However, 7/10 alums present at the roadshow said that they wrote their goals in the cover letter. Go figure! So, I guess definitely it is not a copy paste of your goals essay, but a little description of what your goals, depicted as a logical extension of your motivation.

And it doesn't help that I am playing 2 cricket matches on saturday....

Waiting for ISB interview call...

2009-10-20T12:58:00.000-05:00

I am getting nervous. There, I said it. I was ignoring and keeping out all these negative thoughts in my mind till now. I had thought that I have a pretty good chances of an interview call coming all along - so much so that I assumed that I will get it. But now, things are changing.

ISB started sending out calls about two weeks back. They called the Delhi candidates first and now they are calling everyone. Most of the international candidates have got the invite, the Hyderabad, Kolkata, B'lore, Channai and Mumbai folks also have the invite. I know that there are two more weeks left for the Hyderabad location, but I could not help but wondering - what if? Did I write something in my essays which just didn't work with the adcom? I spend couple of hours critiquing me essays. Nothing stood out. I know that my case is a little different that I am an international candidate who will be appearing at Hyderabad for the interview - that is why I can not compare myself with other folks as well.

For the past two days, every morning I wake up and with nervous hands open up my mailbox and am disappointed to not find an interview invite. Then I come to pagalguy and see people receiving Interview invites by 10s. Infact more than half the PG junta have received interview invites till now. I can not find a single pattern in the calls - high gmat, good essays, good profile, application number, date submitted, gender - nothing. The calls are very random. I am still very hopeful, but am getting nervous.... Come on ISB - give me something....

MBA vs born leaders?

2009-10-18T21:18:00.000-05:00

I read up an intersting post on the clearadmit blog today about a debate hosted by Said Business School. It was about whether MBAs will lead the world out of the financial crisis. It was much more interesting to read the counter-views rather than the for views. An interesting read!

IIMC Interview done!!!

2009-10-18T00:04:00.000-05:00

Finished with my IIMC PGPEX interview today. It comes as a relief but as I look forward tomorrow - realize the amount of work needed in MIT!

I reached the Newark airport at about 7.15 pm and realized that I had forgotten my GMAT scorecard and my hard copy of recommendation. I immediately phone my wife who shipped these two letters in 20 min flat. and just in time for the next day delivery. I then received the voicemail from my PG friend VishalVivek that he is gonna be late. We had decided to go together, but because of the delay I started off. After 3 train changes I reached central park, 110th St. and it was chilly! Checked in the Astor hotel. Realized that some #$@#* had crumpled my suit on the plane. Spent the next 30 minutes trying to get that in order. Only then I sat down and had some dinner. In the meanwhile VishalVivek turned up and we chatted for the next hour before sleeping. It was already midnight.

Woke up at 8 am in the morning and walked down the street for breakfast and saw one more applicant in the cafe - all booted up and reading his app. After brief introduction we realized it was another PG friend of ours - goforitMBA. We spend a good half an hour talking and eating and drinking (coffee). Then we went to our room before VishalVivek and GoforitMBA stepped out in the lobby for the 9.30 slot. I then got ready.

By the time I put on my suit, VishalVivek was back with a list of questions that they asked him.You can read about his experience here- http://www.pagalguy.com/forum/international-indian-mba-schools-accepting/39024-iim-calcutta-pgpex-iv-admission-71.html

I then stepped out at 10.20 am and saw 3 other applicants in the lobby. We talked briefly before the professor came and let the 3 of us with the 10.30 batch on the 3rd floor. One room was reserved as a waiting room and another an interviewing room. We sat there for 10 minutes before he came in and called me for the next interview.

I was the 4th one in the US to be interviewed. When I entered the room I expected two people to interview me, but only one member from faculty was present. Later I found out that alum was out for some work. The professor was very friendly and he started the conversation just as the one you will have with someone on a train on a leisure trip. The first question that indicated that the "real" IV started was -

- Tell me about yourself - I explained this pretty well.
- Why leave your company now, given the good progression - I was able to explain my long term goals.
- Why MBA? - How can I realize my long term goals.
- Why did not join the army (my family background is in defense services)
- Didn't get through CAT? -This came as a surprise question and I just response in a negative. I didnt explain how I acheived a pretty high percentile even without preparation - darn!
- Can you cope up with the rigourous course work? - He stressed on this a little bit time and again and I responded with the same confidence.
- Accomodation? He acknoledged the lack of infrastructure and married accomodation will be allocated based on the acceptance recieved by IIMC from candidates (FCFS)
- No quant question
- No current affair question
- No grilling

I think it was a very relaxed interview. As other candidates mention - it is difficult to see what to make out of this. Either they know they are going to reject you unless you show a flash of brilliance. Or they know that they are accepting you unless you screw up the interview.

Came back to the room. Talked to VishalVivek and GoforitMBA for some time on the interview and each one of us was as confused as the other one. We decided to leave things as they were and then decided to go for some sight seeing. Roamed around in the times square area for some time and had lunch there, then saw ground zero and statue of liberty from some distance before heading out to the airport. GoforitMBA still had a day or two to spend in NY so, he got down at a sub station and we continued to Newark airport. I just about made it to my flight on time and reached Houston at 7 pm.

Wife had come for pick up. Reached home, changed quickly and went to Swaminarayanan temple. I have never seen so many Indians at one place in US. All the crowd meant that we missed the fireworks show. We then had dinner outside and am back at home now. In all, a very eventful day with uncertain possibilities.

IIMC PGPEX Interview Prep

2009-10-13T22:21:00.000-05:00

I have spent the last 3 days thinking about my interview prep without any real progress! One thing that I have done is gone through my application once and tried to see some key points that can come up during the interview. The second thing that I have done is taken a glance at calculus. This has been a favorite question for IIMC.

Now, I think I need to pull up my socks - no really! I need to be more conversant about why MBA now? Why IIMC? What are my stengths, weaknesses? Time for some self-introspection.

Booth Submitted

2009-10-10T19:21:00.001-05:00

Finally, after a week's delay I was able to submit Booth. I collected my transcripts from the fedx office and then scanned and uploaded them. My wife did a a final review of the essays and the presentation also had a minor changes. I chose the font as MS Sans Serif. It is a font which is very readable and also takes lesser space on paper. So a 995 word essay only looks like a 925-930 word essay.

Some final application checks by me and my wife and infact I asked my wife to click the submit button as I was taking a lot of time browsing my application components. She came and pressed it in a second - and yes we are done.

The weathe is nice - probably the first cold day in Houston. Prepared some tea for good effect. Starting my Interview preps now - bring it on! Got cricket practice tomorrow, hopefully will be able to spend at least 4-5 hours on prep efforts tomorrow.

MIT in R1?

2009-10-10T09:47:00.000-05:00

Now I am having doubts. Not being able to finish Chicago Booth as yet. I have my IIMC interview on 17 Oct and an ISB Interview invite probably sometime soon. Just 17 days to go for the MIT deadline. So what can I do?

My initial plan was
02 Oct - Submit Booth
02 - 10 Oct - Work on MIT
11 - 17 Oct - Prepare for IIMC interview
18 - 27 Oct - Finish MIT.

But now it has delayed by a week
10 Oct - Submit Booth (I hope I can submit it today, though recommendations are still pending)
11-17 Oct - Prepare for Interview
18 - 27 Oct - Start and finish Sloan.

Is it possible? Should I work on Sloan for couple of days now and then start my Interview prep? All these questions are hovering on my mind, but I think with my focus on an Indian MBA I can not leave any stone unturned for my Interview prep. Also, as ISB interview date is unknown and can be anytime soon - I will have to make travel arrangements to India and communicate it in office as well. This will take time.

I think the best bet right now it start the interview prep and then see if I can finish MIT in 9 days.

A Day in the Life of an onshore Technology Lead

2009-10-09T08:30:00.002-05:00

6 30 am - Get up and open your laptop. Read the latest updates on news and cmswire.
6.45 am - 7.15 am- Open your emails. Offshore has sent you the required document for today's meeting, but its missing key components that you wanted.
7.30 - 8.00 am - Get on to a conference call with daily updates and sync between onshore and offshore resources. Today it got over in only 30 minutes!
9 - 10 am - Reach office at 9 am. Update the document required and publish it right before the meeting.
10 - 11 am - Meet with the client stakeholder. There seems to be a scope creep in the requirements.
11 - 11.30 am - Discuss the meeting and its impact.
11.45 - 12.30 pm - Have lunch in the cafe below. I miss the Indian lunch, difficult to get anything except salads, soups, chicken and pasta.
1 - 2 pm - Team huddle to talk about the project status. Today we talked mostly about the morning meeting and how to address the scope creep. Think about effort that will be required to address it.
2 - 2.30 pm - Get to the emails and scan through for something important.
2.30-3.30 pm - Talk to the client technical lead about some queries offshore had. He redirects me to another person. Call/email the other person. No response.
3.30 - 5.00 pm - Thank God there is no other meeting today. Work on the action items assigned to you.
5 - 6.30 pm - Look at the watch - its already 5 pm! You needed to review the tonnes of documents that came in the email this morning! Quickly browse through the documents, providing key comments.
6.30 - 7.00 pm - On you way back home reflect on the day.
7.00 -8.30 pm - Go to gym or cook dinner? Decide on the latter.
8.30 - 9.30 pm - Check your personal and official emails. Submit your bills, update your skills in the internal systems that take forever to update. You got an email from your engagement manager that you need to start working on a client proposal. You talk to him on this.
10.30 - 11.30 pm - Meeting to discuss the proposal and your role in this. It is going to be tough balancing work and this.
11.30 - 12 pm - Have a quick chat at home back in India and sleep...

QS MBA World Tour - Houston

2009-10-06T08:57:00.000-05:00

I had registered for the QS MBA World Tour in Aug and visited it on 10/3. Luckily I had ordered some new business cards some time back and I collected them on my way to the Marriot hotel, where the event was being hosted. I reached there at dot 5 pm and paid up the $5 fees and then I was guided to a Salon No 3 where admissions team from 5 colleges were addressing the students. The schools included McCombs, Cox, Hult, Rice and one more. Their was a moderator who posed some very basic questions to get started. It looked as if this session was for people applying for fall 2011. I asked a question before we ended and then we were led to a room with the fare, but the doors were closed. I felt hungry and thought that I should grab something to eat - but as soon I started walking the doors opened. As I wanted to grab time from my favorite schools I went in.

The first school I saw was ISB. Hima Bindu from adcom was there and I had a good chat with her about the school and the faculty. Apparently, I was the first one there. It was about 5 minutes before other students started coming in and I then moved out. Before leaving she mentioned that an Alum will be there to talk and I told her that I will be back to talk to him.

I started going on my rounds but had difficulty recognizing the schools - not a lot of premier schools were present. I saw INSEAD, Cambridge, LBS but no Booth, Duke, Tuck, Columbia, Haas, MIT etc.

I talked to the alum from LBS and INSEAD in detail and with the admissions member from Cambridge. There was not a lot of one to one but you could stand and listen in if you wanted. Some things that are essential before going to such a fair -

Research on the schools you are interested in. Visit the websites.
Don't ask questions like - how long is the program, what are your concentrations? All this information can be found on the website. While researching on the website, note down questions that come up. These are good questions to ask adcom/alum alike.
Wear business. You are showcasing yourself to these schools - put on your suit.
Carry business cards with you. You can pass them to the adcom or co-applicants also.
Drink water and have some food before you go. It takes a lot of energy walking and talking for 2-3 hours.
If you dont know about a school - save your's and adcom's energy and visit the website first. I had not researched INSEAD, but I just had a casual talk with the alum on social life and some general questions which you will never find on a website. I did not waste adcom's time on stupid questions.

You will reap most benefit if you have done your homework. It would have been a good fair, but it was disappointing not to see some of the schools I wished to talk to. Also Houston does not have a 1-2-1 QS MBA program where you get to talk to the adcom one to one. 5/10.

Kellogg Visit on 28 Sep 09

2009-10-04T12:26:00.001-05:00

I had planned to reach the school before 9 am and my hotel was not far off. Only about 4-5 miles. As they had advised to use alternate mode of transportation as there was a 2 hour limit on parking, I asked my wife to drop me off. As it is about 3-4 miles off the interstate, it took me about 20 minutes to reach but I reached at 8.20 am.

The pedestrian path to the school

Kellogg - The Jacobs Center

Bicycles are the main mode of transport

As soon as I entered the Jacobs hall (this is the Kellogg campus) there was a receptionist sitting who redirected me to the first second floor where the admission office was. I took the elevator and as you get out, the office is in front. There were other people already present who were visiting and then I realized that there is a class starting at 8.30 am. I quickly registered for one of the remaining spots on "Launching new products and services" class by Prof. Razeghi. It was an interesting class. A case was distributed to the class with every team (ppl in teams of 2-5) assigned a different role. One person was CEO and then there were CFOs, VP of marketing, VP of sales, VP of R&D, VP of manufacturing, General Counsel which just have come out of a court case and a management guru who is the writer of a best selling book.

Then there was this innovation team which had to come up to revive one of the arms of the business. The CEO started with a very enthusiastic address and then the innovation team spoke of something very creative for the next 7 minutes. The team was cross questioned by all the teams. It came out as a very interseting discussion. The guys were very knowledgeable and were quick to think on their feet. The Professor then took the students through some slides with some rules and guidelines for such kind of new venture launches. Overall it was interesting.

Then I went back to the admissions office and it was a little chaotic with more visitors than before. The admission committe was trying to get a grip on the situation to dispatch the right visitors to the right classes and also manage the student tour. They had a student who took us for a tour of the campus. There were about 30 of us with that student, hence it was less personal but again, pretty comprehensive. She talked about the academics and the courses. Some of the key points she mentioned -

She specifically mentioned about the KWEST and the GIM (Global Initiatives in Mgmt) activities. Student groups go out to different countries like GIM India, GIM China, GIM Russia. Last year GIM India met with Manmohan Singh.
The whole class is divided in 8 sections and the sections have very weird names - Like Jive Turkeys, Moose, Cash Cows, Highlanders etc. They have a week of cheering session where they sport all kind of costumes and it is fun. Probably you can catch some snaps on the website.
Most of the class live in Evanston which is about 15-20 miles north of downtown Chicago.
They also host a ski trip every year where all 700 people book a resort. They book an entire plane or two to get there and everyone is from Northwestern univ. I can imagine the fun they will have there.
The students are always working in teams. There are random groups assigned for the class and it makes it very hard to book schedule.
Wed is a no class day. But with assignments and team meetings, it usually turns out to be the most busiest day of all.
Joining the clubs do not have any fees.

The central eating/working area. The first floor has a QSR (Quiet Study Room), which you can see from the snap and from where I clicked the snap, a LSR (Loud Study Room)

After the tour, I came back to the admissions office and it was time to get some lunch with a student. I sat with two other folks, but it was not untill we finished out lunch someone came and sat with us. Probably there was a shortage of students that is why instead of a 3:1 ratio (visitors:student), we not had a 6:1 ratio. The person we talked to was from military and in first year. I could not relate to a lot of his background, but we talked about the school and life after that in general. It was pretty ordinary, though he tried to help his best.

Back to the admissions office after lunch, it was 1.20. They had an information session from 2-3, but there was a class at 1.30 as well. I could not catch the 3.30 class as I had to get out for the airport. I decided to sit in a class and get more feel to the school as most of the information session info is on the website. I chose International Finance taught by Prof Rebelo and I am glad I did. It was fantastic. He mixed great humour with such a serious subject. In 1970s US was facing a rise in inflation. His theory is that since everyone was on drugs and watching woodstock, nobody realized that the treasury is printing so much money. Genius!

One of the things that I noticed, and you may say that I am over-critical is the class rooms. While the professor was teaching, I had to move around to see the content on the bottom of the screen as the head of the person sitting in front of me obstructed my vision. And I am 6'1". I am sure this will be with other folks as well. Also, the projector screen was blocking some part of the blackboard where the prof was writing some equations. I know this is nothing compared to the overall, but may get irritating after a period of time.

I then came out and try to strike a conversation with couple of students, but they seemed to be rushing for the 3.30 class. The weather was surprisingly cold and I got a coffee and sat in the central area just watching the hustle bustle. after some time when it got quite, I approached two students who were sitting there and working on something and talked briefly about what they did. One of them was in the leadership team for the consulting club. (yea!) We talked a little bit about his background and the school. We had to cut the conversation short as they had to leave and I also had to rush to the airport.

Overall - excellent experience. The hallways seemed to be more energetic and collaboration. A lot of hustle and bustle with a method to the chaos.

The pathway to the building serves a dual purpose

Watch where you park!

Kellogg Visit

2009-09-28T23:21:00.000-05:00

Visited Kellogg today. It was a completely different experience than Booth. I think I kind of expected it that is why I was not surprised at what I saw, but it was different in a good way. I sat in two classes and both were truly outstanding. ITired after a long day - Will blog on it soon.

Chicago Booth Live - 25 sep 2009

2009-09-26T23:18:00.004-05:00

I had registered for the live event in Aug and I was super-excited to actually witness it. I reached Chicago by 8 pm on 24th, but by the time I got the rental car and checked in the hotel, it was 10 pm. Then we went out to get some basic eatables and water and it got 12.30 am when we slept. I had planned to get up by 6 am, but got late and could get up only at 6.30. With a 25 mile drive and traffic and bad parking scenario near the school - I was late!

I started at 7.45 am from the hotel and hit traffic midway. It was very bad, I reached near Booths center at 8.45. I had read that parking is a big problem, so as soon as I was within 1 mile of the campus (Thanks to my GPS) I started looking for open parking spots and found one! I parked and then started walking. It was just a short 10 min walk and I was in the school at 9 am sharp. Whew!

The Harper Center - Collaboration area

As soon as I entered Harper Center there was a representative who handed me my name tag and also let me check in my bag. I took out my camera which I thought will be useful. We were then led to a big dining room/presentation room with 15-20 round tables with 7-8 seating capacity each. Breakfast was laid out. I picked up some fruits as I already had some eggs prepared by my dear wife back at hotel.

While picking up food I realized the presence of some 2nd year MBA students in the hall, who were surrounded by applicants like me. I joined one of the conversations. This guy (I forgot his name - sheesh) was from a finance background and going back in IB. He was pretty helpful in addressing our general and often stupid queries. He lived in Hyde park as he had a kid and it was much easier commute. The social events are majorly in downtown so a lot of class (50-60%) does live in or near downtown area. In fact, the School is just 3-4 miles from downtown, so someone living in Hyde park can just as easily get there.

At 9.45 am, the official event started. We settled in our seats and Rose started her address. Some of the key things that she mentioned in her address are -

Chicago is not just a finance school. It is as advanced in its marketing, general mgmt and entrepreneurship dept.
It believes in the philospohy of flexibility and that is why this is one of the most flexible curriculums anywhere with LEAD as the only mandatory core course.

She also told us on why Booth has been considered as a finance school. In 1960, Booth received a database of financial information of real market scenarios, history and transactions. Booth and its faculty did a lot of reasearch on it and that is why a strong finance-brand emerged. Recently, Booth has received a similar marketing database. Need I say more...

Chicago Booth notice board with published articles in the news

After that she explained the application process at a high level. One important takeaway for the presentation - Its not about creativity. its about content. She then took some 4-5 questions from people. After this there were 5 2nd year students who sat on the stage and started answering the questions from the people. There was another 2nd year student who was the moderator who walked around the room with mike in her hand. The 2nd year students answered questions ranging from your most memorable moment in Booth to specific concentrations in finance, marketing or consulting to the hangovers you have usually after a Tue night drinking social. It was good fun and this lasted for about an hour giving enough time for a lot of questions and answers.

Rooms where interviews are held

After this additional 2nd year students joined us and all of us were divided into groups of 9-10 people. The 2nd year students led us for a campus tour (Rather a Harper Center Tour). My tour leader was Tim (One of the 5 guys who were on the stage earlier). He also was looking to major in fianance. I asked him some of my consuulting questions but the answers were pretty similar and on expected lines. There is no difference between finance and consulting - mock interviews, career services, events, groups - you choose how deep you want to involve yourself in which concentration. For consulting there are groups like - Business Solution Group and Management Consulting Group which you want to be involved in as soon as you join.

The Harper Center has three levels - Level 1 is classrooms and collab area. Level 2 is research center, library, career services. Level 3 is study area.

After the tour, we were back in the room and the lunch was laid out. Tim mentioned that there will be other 2nd year students in the room and you probably want to talk to them. So I grabbed mine and sat on a table which had 2 2nd year Booth students of Indian origin (Mr X and Ms Y). Mr X was a management consultant before and Ms Y designed aircraft engines (wow!) :0. There were usual questions about the school, initiatives, about them and about us. Then slowly we went into details of the application process. 1st stage - a 2nd year students reads the app. 2nd stage - adcom members read the app. 3rd stage - Rose reads the app/recommendations from adcom/2nd year students. Then the IV calls are sent out. After receiving the IV calls, the alum has only the resume in front of him/her and not the entire application (i didnt know this). They give the recommendation back to the school which is attached to your file. The file is reviewed again and then final selection is made.

Mr X also gave me a very intereseting nugget of info about work life balance. He is looking to make it work and realizes the challenge. That is why he was looking for a UK placement. i didnt know that there was a difference. That is something to consider for sure.

After this great chat was time for our sample lecture. And what a lecture it was. Erik Hurst is a dynamic personality. He taught (or more discussed) about the housing prices fluctuations - why, what, how, when and where. It was probably the most interesting class that I have attended till date (Probably better than my Engg Drawing classes in first year of college). He had humour and he had huge amount of data! He presented the slides and it took me 2 minutes to figure out how the data is presented on the slide. It was not a simple x-y axis plot. There were data points all around, the axis were normalized based on some parameters and there were some quantifiers associated with the graph. It was engrossing. I would love to be on his class.

After the class there was a session held by the assistant directors of admission - Carrie and Joanne. They distrbuted a sample application to all of us and asked us to read through it in 20-25 minutes.(Of course the details were hidden in the form). Once done, we did an analysis of the application part by part - the data form, essays, presentation, recommendation etc. All of us literally assaulted the application, but when they asked how many of you think this applicant should be called for interview - about 80% raised their hands! Rose later told that the candidate was waitlisted, but we don't know the final result. Some of the key things that came out of this application discussion were -

Dont worry if you dont have GPA scores. They have historical data for schools worldwide.
New class profile as the first years have joined. Avg age - 28 years. Avg GMAT - 714. Avg GPA - 3.5. Mid 80% - 660-760.
If you are taking a GMAT within one month of the application deadline. Mention that in the optional essay and then report the score withing one month and it will be considered.
They want to hear from you and not from admission consultants.
The presentation is totally up to you (Of course some content is downright inappropriate). Two words - relevance and judgement.

After this we broke out for the LPF - Liquidity Preference Function. There were stalls with drinks and the harper center area was converted into a market place :). In fact all the clubs had come and put on their stalls as this was the time the first year students get to see and register for these clubs. We were fortunate to be there as we got to mix up with these people and know about the clubs as well. Though, there were some who just showed us the brochure when I mentioned that I was not a first year student but an applicant :). Another thing that I didnt know is that registration to these clubs costs you green. Management Consulting (MCG) and Entrepreurship and Venture Capital club (EVC) were clearly most popular with costly memberships - $150-$200 for 2 years. While some of the clubs were cheap - emerging markets club was about $55 / 2 years. There were some interesting clubs as well - the mothers at booth club, the gays and lesbian club, the basketball club (recently formed). All in all it just spoke of the diversity at Booth and the variety of options you have to make the most of the 2 years of your life.

Finally, I chatted with some of the fellow applicants who had come in before leaving for the day. This was a very well organized day with so much time to mingle with the students and ask questions about the application to the adcom. It also gave us a good sense of what we will go through at Booth. I could not have walked out of Harper Center with any more satisfaction in the evening.

Gleacher Center in Downtown Chicago

Entrance to Gleacher Center

Inside Gleacher Center

Yes, I want to be inside that too!

MIT Sloan Roadshow at Houston

2009-09-24T08:32:00.000-05:00

I attended the MIT Sloan Roadshow in Houston today and it was very information. The event was hosted by Dierdre Kane with an attendance of 7-8 alums from the Houston region.

The event was scheduled for 7-9 pm but I ended up reached at 6.30 at the hotel. I parked my car and reached the hall which was reserved by Sloan. I was the first one there. There was a lady who was there but I didn't recognize her. It turned out that she was Dierdre Kane, assistant director for MBA admissions at Sloan.

By the time I realized that, other students starting arriving and the hall started getting filled up. Some people involved in small talk and a person behind me had very basic questions about the application process to his neighbour. I thought I will jump in, but decided against it.

The presentation started on schedule and we watched a MIT video and a brief about application requirement and Dos and Donts from Dierdre Kane. She then called up the Alums upfront and they introduced themselves with some tids and bits from MIT life. One particular guy, Preetish from the 1998 batch was hilarious. He was real about everything.

We had a short question answer session in which I could not ask anything, but soon we broke out and free to mingle with the alums and Dierdre. I had a long conversation with Thomas Greene, class of 2006, and it was very helpful. I also had some questions for Dierdre and she was receptive.
Some of the key notes that I didnt know and I took out from the show are -

1. Sloan is big on collaboration. There is a lot of enthusiasm that you could see among the alums.
2. Cover Letter - Dont re-write your resume. Put in stuff like what motivates you and where did you make an impact.
3. Sloan really wants to know about you and what you did in the past. They are not looking at future you or what you can do.
4. There are 170 teaching or research assistantship positions. This can pay 33%-50% of your tuition/ sem.\
5. Sloan interviews about 20% of the applicants.
6. 4125 application - 398 selected.
7. A new club launched - MIT SEE - Sloan Entrepreneurship & Execution.
8. Interview is conducted by a core group of 6-10 ppl only. No faculty, students or alumni involved.

It ended with the last alum who stayed back - Stacey from the Class of 2009. She was strong in her views and recommended visitng MIT for sure. She said that that's what made it for her as there is nothing between the top 10 programs other than to see whether you fit or not in the environment. I agree with what she said but I probably will not be able to visit before my application submission, probably before interview (That is if I get a call ;))

Its tough...

2009-09-18T20:12:00.001-05:00

I spent a long time today reading the last year forums for IIMC and ISB. Starting from app submission, waiting for shortlisting, prepping for interviews and then the final decision. Its strenous and each stage takes a lot out of you - hell, ISB 2009 thread created 10 pages in 2 hours just waiting for the results...

But the disappointement for some.. I have read it, I seen so many stories of ppl in front of my eye, their aspirations, ambitions, enthusiasm to get into their dream school.. so much effort put in GMAT prep, retaking GMAT for a "good" score... putting in months of preparation in creating that stellar application... researching so much time on the school's website that they can tell a thing or two about the school to the adcom... hours of reading up on current affairs and last years interview questions...putting on their best suit for the interview...waiting for the results....and then having their dreams quashed.... It does not hurt more when you kind of know that it was your reach school, but when all you had done was to think about this fit school and started seeing your future in the school, and even talking to your close ones that I can probably get in this school...thats when it hurts the most... you think - what went wrong? What could I had done better? what can I do now? What happens to my personal plan.. the clock is ticking...Its a jolt man... I could empathize with such people... it hurts to see that you were not considered worth it...

But one has to remember, such is life... everything happens for a reason. You need to get up, dust of the dirt and look forward.. I know its easily said then done.. but really, what better than to learn from your mistakes, from your shortcomings...

Rowling said in her address to Harvard students that she was in the dirt. She was almost as poor as anyone can be with a house to live in, but this made her realize who she was and who she was not. She built up on her strengths, she lost the fear that she had for failure and just followed her passion with hard work and look at what she did.. She said that the most important lessons or learnings in your life is the failures.. but if you are a "safe" person who never had those failures and you lived your life like that, your life then defaults to failure...

Its very important to follow your dreams, your passions... but dont let setbacks take you down.. rise up.. again and again.. untill you achieve what you set out for...

2 days gone...

2009-09-16T22:50:00.000-05:00

So I am writing this when I know that the times are tight!

Yesterday was a tiring day. I started working on my app at about 9.30 but before I knew it I was asleep with laptop in my lap.... Today I came home early... had a teleconversation meet till 7 pm, had dinner and thought of working.... My wife somehow got the internet working that stopped working midnight last night.. yeaa... but I get struck by a trojan virus! So I have spent the past 2 hours troubleshooting that and my wife then took over... Now I am on another laptop trying to focus on what to write in the essays... When you have such eventful days it becomes difficult to focus... 2 days gone down the drain... @#^@*$#%

Oxford in R2 now

2009-09-13T17:04:00.000-05:00

After a lot of thought and planning today, I realized that I do not have enough time for Booth, Oxford and MIT in R1. I will have to submit Oxford in the next 10 days, go for a school visit to Booth and Kellogg, submit Booth in another 10 days, prep for IIMC interview and submit MIT in another 10 days. It was just too tight.

So, I have moved Oxford to R2. I will try to do complete Booth by 2 Oct. Then do a first cut of of MIT by 10th Oct after which I will focus on interview prep for IIMC. After interview come back and finish MIT. I might also have a surprise attack with clashing interview dates for ISB, but I guess I can not plan for that now.

Times of India vs The Hindu

2009-09-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

I had written to the Times of India because I was fed up with the kind of online advertising, pop ups that used to come up on the site. After one month, there has been no response and the advertisments have got flashier. So I started looking for alternatives. I visited the hindu website. While the website was not very great, I noticed a link at the top that mentioned they are launching the beta of their new version of the website. I went there and I was pleasently surprised.

The website - http://beta.thehindu.com/ - has a very nice layout. Just one advertisement at the right top, which is not a flashy one and the remaining are towards the bottom of the page. The colors are nice and I am relieved that I did not find the spicy gossips or columns on the main page. Every news was worth reading. So guys, I have found a worthy replacement and I am changing my 12 year loyalty with times of india to the hindu now.

US vs UK MBA

2009-09-10T17:44:00.000-05:00

I started the research on my final schools about 2 months back. I did a deep analysis of each school's website, the student profiles, class profile, loans, USP among other things. However, when I look back I see that my research was largely US based. Now I realize that a UK MBA will probably make more sense for me.
Why would somebody want to a UK MBA rather than a US MBA?
+ Reputed 1 year courses like oxford said, cambridge judge and cranfield.
+ Opportunity cost
+ You have worked in US and want to experience different "international" flavor.
+ Nearness to your home country (In my case, yes)
+ Cricket country. Possibly go and watch cricket games on weekends.
+ Little laid back attitude compared to US (my personal opinion)
+ ROI
- UK is not as international as US.
- Course structure
- Placements are not as good as US.
- Salaries, job opportunities.

I really think that US has a more matured course structure, mature market and better career prospects than a UK MBA. But a UK MBA will give you a different perspective. There will be different profile of people whom you will interact with daily, get to know a different culture. Know more about Eurpoe. I have worked in US for the last 4 years and hence UK "pulls" me. Also its only an 8 hour non-stop flight journey to India compared with the 20 hour US-India trips. Also, I feel that UK has a little more relaxed atmosphere than the US corporate world. So what will I prefer? A 97% job placement statistics rather than a 100% perfection.....

MBA Mayhem

2009-09-09T21:44:00.000-05:00

This is absolute crazyness. I had never thought that the MBA application process is going to be some time consuming and at times, stressful. I still remember my trip to India. After having a successful GMAT I went to India and my plans to start applying after I come back seemed to be all ok. Alas...

I came back, caught up with work and started researcing on programs. It was already Jun 23rd before I figured that ISB had a 15 Sep deadline. I was content that I had enough time. Then I talked to couple of seniors and they mentioned about the IIMs one year program. what? We have that also....? I researched and found out in affirmative.. IIMC deadline on 31 July and IIMA on 10 Aug.. whoaaa...

My prep started at full blast.. collecting information.. calling up home to post my certificates... asking my referees for recos... panic all around.. For IIMC, I met my target of submitting the app on 15 Jul.... THen the focus shifted on ISB and IIMA and though IIMA's application was not very difficult, it still took time to complete as I was researching other schools where I will apply. Believe me or not, research takes the most amount of time. You can have one year at hand and still you may not be satisifed with what you have done. I submitted IIMA on 6 Aug...Further research, further work on ISB essays.. and my aim of submitting by 30 Aug, didnt materialize. I ended up submitting on 7th Sep...
Further research on schools... Oxford is a very important candidate which I do not know why I missed till now. It makes so much sense to apply so started it immediately but transcripts pose a major problem...

So here I am now, 2.5 months from when I started. Not taken a single vacation. Come home and work on my apps every single day. Work on them every weekend. Didnt go anywhere for the labor day weekend. I get up and am thinking about my apps.. all me conversations in email and on phone is about my apps... I probably know now why my friends have stopped calling me...And the only place where I am going in the near future is Chicago to visit Booth and Kellogg and to NY for my IIMC interview. Such is life....

ISB Application Submitted

2009-09-07T19:33:00.000-05:00

After a long period finally, I submited my ISB application. It is about 15 days later than what I initially planned, but then change is the only constant thing in the universe. I think I did a pretty good job at the essays.
Essay 1 - I kept on changing the themes multiple times. I ended up writing 100 word snippets for everything that I thought was my USP and ended with about 7-8 items. I then stated eliminating and arrived at the final 3.

Essay 2 - I had written about a non-work story in this essay, which one fine morning I decided needs changing. I looked back in my work experience and chose the most challenging work related topic and wrote about that. I just felt that my application was getting a little non-work related (mentions in essay 1 also )and hence the change.

Essay 3 - I like this essay the best. I was able to give my career progression, what are my short term and long term goals and how MBA and ISB in paticular will help me get there.

Essay 4 - While initially, I didnt write this. One of my reviewer suggested to think about it. And when I did rethink, I realized that the application as a whole was missing at least 2-3 important things about me. And that is why I chose to write this essay.

Other than that the photo specifics were a pain for sure and I had to go thrice to the photo studio to get it right. The scans were not such a big problem. Now the only thing remains is one reco for a complete application and that should be done in the next 2-3 days. And the wait begins...