Waitlisted by W.P. Carey

The title says it all! The R1 results for W.P. Carey are out and I am one more step closer (or away?) to make it to the Carey MBA. Will run the last mile and see if I can gracefully cross the finish line.
Got a chance to get interviewed by Carlson as well. Hope to hear from NUS and NTU sometime soon. Expecting the clouds to fade away by feb 09. Till then…it is time to wait and watch. All the best to fellow applicants and new year wishes in advance!

Biography of Application Process!

Prologue: Long post!

Early 2007:

Dad – Didn’t do well in CAT – no worries – Why don’t you give GMAT sometime?

Me – What? GMAT? That is the exam for doing international MBA. International MBA? What? Dad, are you getting what you are saying? (yeah – I did not think of dad being so mature that time :p). International MBA – that is meant only for the Richie Rich and only the people born with the silver spoon and wings do that (Mr. Anil and Mukesh is what I could associate an international MBA with that time)! It is not for me.

Dad – Well, why are you worrying about all that right now? Things are changing and it is not that difficult nowadays. What’s there to lose if you just give the exam, now that you don’t have any extra baggage on your head? (except the money which he didn’t give a damn!)

Me – No. I still think that I can manage to get into some decent MBA program in India next year if not the IIMs. I am ok with tier two schools.

Dad(little adamant now) – But you deserve better. And why settle for less if you can get into better schools outside?

Me – OK. I will think about it. But I am in no mood to spend that kind of fancy money just for the sake of doing my MBA abroad. After all, spending your fortune just for all this seems ridiculous.

And then I scheduled my GMAT. I focused only on GMAT during this time as I had no inclination and time to research on the pros of global MBA, B-schools, etc.

3^rd quarter of the 2007:

Dad – See, I told you that you will do well in this exam.

Me – Ya. Thanks!

Dad – So what next? Are you now convinced that you want to do this now?

Me – Hmm….doesn’t look that bad. I mean having an international degree is not as bad. (look at the change in my tone here , though I was still apprehensive about the feasibility aspect).

And then I started to dig into the issue. Pretty soon, one day, I attended the ISB session.

Me – Dad, I happen to attend the ISB session today. But I don’t think I have the kind of work experience they need. Looks like it is too early to make a call.

Dad – That’s fine. There is no hurry. Take your own time. Now that the score is ready, you can focus on your work and apply next year.

Me – (Wow! Realizing the kind of support and maturity shown here again). That’s great! I think I now know what to do and how it has to proceed from here. Thanks a lot for your vision and help dad!

And then I decided to ditch all the Indian MBA exams and just relax for six months and then start with the application journey full swing in the coming year.

Cut to Feb-March 08:

The application process starts here. I can’t stress the importance of doing a thorough introspection of what you are, what you have done – basically the SWOT analysis – like some of us usually do in the project. Just that this time your life is at stake! You screw this up n there is a pretty good chance of you getting misled hereafter and missing the bus! So that’s what I did. Prioritized what I want to get, what I can get and how badly I need it! One thing I wanted was almost certain – it has to be now, it has to be now!

So did a realistic evaluation – engineering from a decent college, avg. GPA, a decent job profile, avg. ECs, and below avg. work ex which meant that I was still a little junior when it came to the kind of leadership or international work ex. that I usually see in the profiles of Ivy league college aspirants. One positive thing I found out was – the work ex that I got in last twelve months was enough to substantiate most of the essay questions – but essay questions of which schools? Now that is the key to shortlist your schools – “Are you ready to answer their questions?” (apart from the culture/goals fulfillment that you are looking for). I don’t have to explain this in detail. People can read between the lines.

Cut to May-June 08 –Inception of this blog – decided to share this journey!

The rough idea of the colleges was now on the horizon and so I had to give TOEFL as well! Got over with that in Aug so that I could focus on the monster essays which did feel like killing a beast. Applied to 8 colleges – yes – “eight“ colleges in R1.

Cut to now:

School – So how are you doing now?

Me – This is the most anxious period of my life. Somehow, getting over with the application process doesn’t seem to mitigate the misery.

School – Hmm..but I never told you that results will be out immediately and you know this too.

Me – Yes…I know…but still…somehow can’t help it. These are my emotions and not logic!

School – So you gonna be like this till mid of Feb?

Me – Well, that depends on you. If one of the magic mails comes before that, then I promise you that I will be in total control of my misery. Sending the interview invite will also help (well not to reduce misery, but definitely to focus and kill some more time).

School – Patience is what you need. Do something productive. Pursue your hobbies during this free time.

Me – I am trying my best. But it’s like falling in love. Can’t get you outta my mind.

School – You are nuts!

Me – And the reason is you!

School – K. I will try to do something about it. You have to get over this.

Me – You do that, and I will free my own will (sounds like a blackmail??).

Watch this space for the epilogue!

Updates – IVed by W.P. Carey and Kelley

And it feels great again! But I have given up pinning hopes to anything now. I am trying to think of this application process being as objective as possible. Do whatever you can. Leave the rest to the school. If you have it, the school will set the doors wide open and roll out a red carpet for you. If you don’t, well there is one more year to take the constructive feedback and then work on it. In fact, don’t wait too long, as the dings come on the way, you will get a clarity on what is really missing in the bigger picture. In the end, it doesn’t even matter (or does it??).

Nyways, now let’s get to the meat. Carey was along a webcam interview which lasted for fifty minutes and it was a great experience. Carey does take interview seriously and is an inherent part of the admission process. The time duration shows this. They want you to talk. They want to know your perspective, how you react, how you handle the situation and what have you been through. They will present you with a case study as well. Found this really fascinating. The interview will give you a tinge of what the B-school is gonna be like and it will give them an idea of whether you fit in. Questions were right from why mba, why now to the difficult times in the team, leadership, etc. And it was pretty conversational. Kelley’s was a phone interview and it was short and precise. It lasted for around 25 mins. Crisp usual questions, and I gave to-the-point answers. Disclaimer – these are my personal views.

Moreover, I am done with the application process. So feeling a bit relieved yet sometimes boring (you suddenly find some free time and keep wondering what to do). Last three and a half months have been great – and there won’t be any regrets – come what may! And yes, when will the governmet take measures to prevent things instead of curing it at the cost of the lives of our brave soldiers?

Dinged first by ISB

So finally after the grueling/anxious wait, I got a ding from ISB and it hurts! Dunno where things went wrong.

ISB was my first application and I did spend a lot of time on the essays. The enthu before submitting the application, for preparing and attending the interview and finally the excitement of the results reminds me of the sleepless nights that I have had through the process. But may be these memories have their own niche – something to laugh at when I think of them down the line. It will take some time to get over it. Guess this is a good start to prepare for the worse.

Congrats to all those who made it!

Journey so far – half way through!

To start with…wish you all a belated happy diwali and a very admitting (admit to the school ie ) new year!

Ya…with the submission of Carey and McCombs, the application journey is half way through! Last few days have been really hectic with lot of things in the plate with sweet dish being the ISB interview (fingers crossed!). It was not that I was not getting any free time, but whatever I got was used for relaxing which was a must (guitaring/music/jog). I feel that relaxation – say even a break of half an hour – is the key to keep your perseverance through this long, ardous effort of application process.

Carey and McCombs have a pretty relaxed word limit on the essays – you can imagine things as they would have happened as you run through the essays. The word limit for Carey was around 700 words per essay whereas for McCombs it gradually reduced from 900 to 350. This is expected to give a decent idea of me as a person to the adcom. Hope they are able to figure it out!

I am finding that the essay writing is getting more familiar as I progress with the schools one by one. The goals, career progression, etc. are taking firm roots now and coming easy on the paper. Now that the ideas are strong, it is just a matter of putting the right words to take care of the word limit – the gist remains the same – and half the essays are done! Hope most of my friends out there also second my opinion.

The idea of applying to a safe school is still at bay and I have decided to take the risk – afterall reach schools are something you ought to get into now that you have what it takes!!

Feeling half as good half way and awaiting to finish by taking the breaks (and brakes ) on the way! Njoi! ATB!

Ross ain’t so rosy!

Just a few updates! Finally submitted the Ross application just a day before the deadline. Didn’t write in between as there was nothing special except working on Ross application and balancing the work load. And then I had a short trip to my hometown to get me some real quick, short break! I am back energized! Will be working on Carey next.

The list still looks long and will need a lot of enthu and stamina to nail all the applications by Nov end! This time crunch is not letting me keep in touch with my close ones. The only people I am in touch with are my parents, recommenders and reviewers. Another one and half months of just drafting essays and then re-drafting them again and again. (News editors do this everyday! Wow! Never in my life would I have written so much!!) I am just waiting to get over with this process so that I can get back to normal life and look forward to the new thrill of how it pays off!

However, the grass doesn’t seem that green on the other side! I had attended one of the sessions by MBA tour and it looks like the slowdown in U.S. is going to take its toll on the scholarships as well! Add to that the depreciation of rupee that is hovering around 50 against dollar now! That’s going to burn 25% deeper hole in the pocket! A difference of approximately a million Rupees doesn’t sound that encouraging considering the sky rocketing cost of doing the MBA abroad. The slowdown has given a new height to the cost-cutting and lay off. Spending in dollars for the applications is still affordable though spending for the program without any aid is giving me jitters. I am just counting on time to set things on track again. The journey seems to be stretched and it really be worth it.

Rest all fine and hectic! 2 down and many to go! Wishing my fellow friends a lot of energy, and and a quarter more luck and hope – ATB!

The Ross Challenge!

A bit of surprise element! With a lot of thought process, I have finally decided to give a shot at Ross! This was one of the schools I had liked right from the beginning but considering the feasibility of getting in, it did not make it to my list before (it is like not proposing to your first crush – which I did not btw, but don’t want to regret now!). So now I have made a simple decision to let the school decide if I am worth it instead of the other way round and get rid of the regrets that I would have possibly had of not doing the things when they should been done! It did pain to see the $200 application fee and got me thinking twice. But then, realized that not applying to Ross was leaving that feeling of incompleteness within (no doubt satisfaction comes at a heavy price nowadays! ).

Now the challenge is to get over with Ross AND Carey with exactly one month to spare! Ross is going to be more time consuming because:

1. The decision comes at the eleventh hour (reminds me of syllabus getting discovered the night before the Engineering exams, bugs and blockers getting discovered the night before the release, etc. )

2. My first peek into the essays has happened only a couple of hours before and the third essay (the alternate profession one) has completely taken me by surprise! Fourth one (the challenges one) has also set me pondering over the exact meat to be filled in! (how about describing the essay writing experience of Ross!)

3. The job is asking for the weekend time – the only peaceful time to meditate and evolve the essays.

I hope this justifies the – challenge – part in the title of this post! Preparing for the worst and hoping for the best! Ross calling!!

Updates – ISB Submitted!

Just a quick update to keep my friends posted! Glad to say that the first attempt to make it to the B-School is accomplished! Last week has seen mood swings from being apprehensive over giving a finishing touch to the application to getting excited about pressing the magic button! After a number of drafts, redrafts and some last minute rephrasing, the ISB essays have gone a long way before reaching the adcom. I did have a couple of sleepless nights (around 5 hours…that’s sleepless for me!!) with the number 15 haunting me at times! But it was a necessary evil. Completed the application well before the deadline and the overall process was smooth in the end. And finally the recommenders did their job today at the wee hours but finally made it to the finish line! I heaved a sigh of relief after getting the – application complete – SMS from ISB. (Well, I could have written about the experience before, but was just waiting for the things to fall into place). ISB adds another feather in its cap by keeping the applicants well informed about the status! Well done ISB!

What next? With around 5-6 more schools to apply in R1, I won’t have the kind of time I had for ISB. Counting on the heresy that it is easy to deal with the essays of the other schools once you are done with the essays for the first one! With approximately ten nights per school, it is going to be the race against time. But I have loved it so far.

Sometimes it feels good to struggle and progress in all the fronts in life. At least it is setting up the right attitude to deal with future. OK no more sermons! (Hope those two words boosts your confidence by two inches!). Time for LAP 2! ATB!

Word(s) is not enough!

No No No…it is not that I don’t have enough to write! Just that I have so much of it that the initial drafts of essays are exceeding 600 words when the limit is 300 (no extra points for guessing the school ). I had never thought that cutting down the words to meet the limit is going to be such a fretting task. I mean common…give us a little more space to tell you who we are, what we have done. (or is it a trade off between words and number of applicants ). No. A no is a no. 300 is 300. And this is what I am doing since last few days. But there are still like 350+ words out there. On top of that, even articles are counted as a word (ALPHABET getting counted as word – how expensive is that!!)

Counter view – they are making sure that what you write is not crow crap out there. Or even if you are, then you cannot ask them to look at it for more than 5 mins. So all that goes out there is what you write in gold (and sign in blood later…given a chance). And it better be worth it. Else you don’t know the value of time, precision, and most importantly gold! (no…it’s content). Hmm…fair enough considering that you are trading yourself against one of the top global B-schools. That you would be writing hundreds of mails per day and convincing thousands of ideas as your job later! So the word limit isn’t that bad you see. It is one of the first quality the applicant should have – the quality to be coherent and precise. First filter to separate grains from the hay. Lesson learnt. Points noted. It is time to cut down clean. ATB (300 words)

The Shortlist!

Long time since I wanted to make it official! I have been doing all the homework and accessing the – best fit schools – for my profile.  And here is the list :

Asia :

1. ISB – Super Dream – Cut throat competition -a sweetheart of every desi aspirant!-amazing global standard – our desi harvard-fast forward no-nonsense MBA!

Going for the big one and would like to give it a shot!

2. NUS – Realistic – Advantage Asia!- NUS MBA can be customized into no-frills-one-year MBA. This could be great if right opportunities strike and you can get the dream job in one year instead of slogging for two years. Need to do more research on this though!

3. NTU – a fallback option for B-Schools in Asia.

US: Mainly looking for technology concentration with a mix of general management!

1. CMU – Great school(top in technology)- very costly-scholarship is a must!-Dream!

2. McCombs – Again among the top in technology -bit costly – a good gamble without scholarship- Reach!

3. Kelley – Great in General Management – awesome community -great collaboration- most wannabe and realistic!

4. Carlson and W.P. Carey – fallback options in U.S. – though low overall rank(20-30), decent for technology concentration!

Though the list is not as fundoo as some of the fellow applicants, I feel it is more realistic considering the profile. My biggest worry is the work ex which on the wrong side of average work ex!(3 yrs by fall 09, decent profile being the only saving grace) . With all ivy league schools having an avg. work ex of around 5 yrs, I really doubt if shelling out extra dollars for them is really worth it! And again as I have all ready posted, MBA is all about the brand name! So can’t compromise any further and the above mentioned schools seem to be the best bet! The 1000$ question is how good will it be to go ahead and take a shot at schools such as Ross, Duke, etc that seem more ideal than realistic at this point in time! Pointers are welcome…

P.S. : Started on ISB essays…applying in R1!