Some Random thoughts...on Everything

Double Whammy

2007-01-09T09:56:00.000+05:30

So looks like this is a year of waitlist for me...after Wharton..Kellogg also decided to put me on the waitlist. My hunch was right about the Kellogg decision...now I am waiting for Haas for an interview invite....hope something positive comes out this year...

final few hours of the final day

2007-01-08T15:11:00.000+05:30

Today is the last day for Kellogg R1 decisions. I have suffered through the month for this day. Every day I used to check my mail in the morning to see if any results have come. Used to login to the status check page; first infrequently but later couple of times a day, I knew I was hooked when again I memorized my PIN. Still after a month long torture and hope, I think today they will release all the results.

I think I will be WLed...I donno why I am saying this but all my instincts are pointing towards this...

Happy New Year

2007-01-02T17:16:00.000+05:30

Just a quick update on my MBA story till now.

I got waitlisted in Wharton. From last years flat out ding in R2 to this year's R1 waitlist is an improvement and I am pretty OK with it.

There are lots of views about R1 waitlist...there is a significant % of R1 waitlisted candidates get admit in R2...does not fly in front of data of admissions411.com

I am not convinced...a waitlist is a waitlist is a waitlist...you call it R1 waitlist, summer waitlist, waitlist where you can send more material, waitlist where you can not....it just means one thing....you are OK...not bad enough to ding but not good enough to admit...

Waiting for K.. and Haas...

13 DAYS TO GO

2006-12-08T11:38:00.000+05:30

does the number 13 has any significance...or is it just a myth ? I do not know and personally feel that is just a myth...but why is that today I feel very uneasy about my status regarding the W and K application...and feeling like going back to the old ways of refreshing the BWeek forum and s2s boards again and again....

My W interview went pretty well...better than last time...or so I think...I was able to highlight my international experience and team work very much and backed my observations about W with solid examples...but you never know...so doubts are creeping in now...is my GMAT too low ? is my essays are not good enough ? did I do some mistake in my interview.....

With K releasing its decision slowly...till now 5 reported in BWeek Forum about admit call...where is my call ?

I need to go to a BSchool this year....and hope it is a good one...

Sorry I was napping

2006-11-23T13:44:00.000+05:30

I have a confession to make...I am not really good or periodic in my blogging...I have not blogged for almost half a year now....So why did I break my nap...and started again...not sure...
may be because the waiting for the interview of W OR
waiting results of K OR
anticipation of interview invite from Haas is making me antsy....

So what I have been doing all these days....a lot..lemme just focus on the MBA part of it...finished W/K/Haas essays just in time....visited Kellogg and interviewed ...and attended a class...what a nice school....and what an amazing city Evanston is ....

Visited UCLA and Haas....both are very different from each other regarding environment but both are very interesting and focused place to be in....

today's forecast (21st June) for Aries..

2006-06-21T19:11:00.000+05:30

I will tell you later why I am posting it....

Thinking ahead can be daunting. There's no such thing as a crystal ball, and sometimes when you plan too narrowly, you end up making dangerous assumptions. To avoid the pitfalls of forecasting your life, don't get too tied up in timeframes. Just think about what you want in your life and go about getting it. Recent bad habits are preventing you from expecting the best of yourself, so add more discipline to your life and say 'no' more often. Perfection isn't the goal -- happiness is.

it's that time of the year again

2006-05-26T15:35:00.000+05:30

It's been more than 2 months since I have blogged.After 1 denial and one almost denial it is very hard to blog about prospects and hopes. Did not want to vent my frustration online. Celebrate in the public and grieve in the private is a method which I adhere to.

But on this Friday after noon when pressure in office is less and I got to refresh BizWeek MBA board couple of times today (thanks to Kellogg)...put me in a mood to write. Not that anybody will be interested in my bantering; just a place for me to collect my thoughts.

So what did I do for last 2 months.Got feedback from K and W and sent an update mail to WL manager in Kellogg. Both of the feedback was so different. W congratulated on my leadership skills while K had some doubt about it. W said nice extra curricular but K said need to improve on it. Made me more confused and left me in a dazed condition.
Still waiting for the final word from K ... K promised end of this month. Fingers crossed.

What else...started making time for my reading....These are books I read in the 2 months..

1)The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud. One of the funniest book I have read recently. Djinni Bartimaeus has a ton of attitude. Very fast paced and readable.
Heard from my sister-in-law that the other 2 part are even more hilarious.So you know what I will be reading next.

2) The Google Story:by David Vise, Mark Malseed. A cronological company-graphy of google tracing it's history from the founders child hood days to recent days.It is very good about details and coverage. But if you are looking for bright inside to google, you will be unsatisfied. The language of the book is also repetitive and somewhat boring. But a good read to know about google. Heard that The Search:by John Battelle is better in this regard. It is in my to read list.

Being a Zombie...

2006-03-22T19:11:00.000+05:30

Being Zombie...

After an agonizing wait till 3:00 AM on the 20th night, and very little sleep, got the message from Kellogg that they are "are impressed with my accomplishments" but that they "cannot provide an offer of admission at this time". After reading the status page the second time, in my morning haze, I gave out a faint smile. After getting dinged by Wharton so unceremoniously, for which I thought my Application and Interview was the best, getting a waitlist from Kellogg, the interview for which I thought was disastrous, gave me a little glimmer of home.

So I am a zombie now in this vast landscape of MBA applicants land. Amazing thing about this place is that you can have many deaths ("dings") or many births ("acceptance") but you can have only one existence as a zombie ("waitlist"). The chances of transforming to life or death being equal, you only have higher anxiety level if you have more than one waitlist decisions.

If you are dinged, you have at least a month to a feedback session, so no hurry to re-read your essays. But as a waitlisted, one foot stuck in the door, you do not have that luxury. You re-read your essays again and again and try to see what you lacked.

So here are the little things I am figuring out as the differences between a zombie and the others.

----If you are accepted, you can tell your boss the next day, if you are dinged the dreary office and the people in it looks perfect again. BUT if you are a zombie you do not know how to behave.

---- If you are accepted you can sell your old computer and buy a new laptop, start looking at the housing situation in an unknown place, if you are dinged you can move out of your 1 bedroom apartment and find a better place, "as you are saving a bunch of money by getting dinged", (thanks to GEICO) BUT if you are WLed you do not know if the LA-Z-Boy you always dreamt about should be bought or not.

WLed is like proposing to your loved one.Twist is she neither says yes nor says no.You get only a vague maybe. It is your partner (the school) who decides if you are good enough, the Mr. RIGHT NOW when all the Mr. RIGHT goes away for greener pasture.

Still the smile appears sometimes, when my mind goes tangentially and thinks WHAT IF I GET THROUGH...

PS: Indian Railways (the 2nd largest in the world) has its passenger waitlists ranked, but not the B-schools. Don't believe me see for yourself, WL/123 means waitlist number 123.

And this how looks like when you get RAC (Reservation against Cancellation) ticket here. Same as B-school waitlists, if somebody cancels you get in, Mr .RIGHT NOW.

down to the wire with K

2006-03-20T09:07:00.000+05:30

It is 9:00 AM Monday here and I have not heard from Kellogg yet...My status still shows the ever so maddeningly non-commital complete. I think I am completely borderline, else I should have heard either way...Waiting so eagerly for the result..

Sounds about right

2006-03-17T17:29:00.000+05:30

This is what Yahoo Astrology has to say about my day today...sounds about right...will be verified after K result...

Daily Overview for March 17, 2006
Provided by Astrology.com	Daily Extended Forecast

Quickie:
It's a good time to begin a new project you've been putting off -- start the plan.

Overview:
Spontaneity isn't your natural mode of living, but there are times when nothing else will do. Learn to toss caution to the winds and embrace changes of plans and the vagaries of fate. In other words, have fun.

Ding No 1

2006-03-17T00:06:00.000+05:30

Wharton dinged me ...relief or dissapointment...not sure...still not sunk in yet...

What Will I do ?

2006-03-16T14:38:00.000+05:30

5 hours to go till Wharton releases it's R2 decisions..
And the Question is What Will I do..in case of..

Admitted: What a relief, scream at the top of my voice for 5 mins, SMS/E-mail all the people Who helped in my application process. Party till morning, call in sick tomorroW(?), Party throughout the Weekend. Tell my boss on Monday.

Dinged: Call in sick tomorroW, finish the bottle of champenge alone :-((, go out for consecutive movies in the Weekend, sWitch off my cell phone, go out of toWn, come back fresh to office on Monday.

Waitlisted: least prefered outcome of all. Don't knoW What Will I do.

The Silence of the Schools

2006-03-15T10:15:00.000+05:30

It's holiday in India today, Holi the festival of color. And all the color I am seeing is the wallpaper of my comp. Eagerly searching Business Week websites for any updates from the schools.

Almost preapared for a DWI from stanford, as there is only 15 days to go for the R2 decisions.

Waiting impatiently for Kellogg. It's policy of releasing result decisions every Tuesday & Friday (for me Wednesday and Staturday in this part of the world) makes me get up extra early in the morning and check my mails and the Status page. But it still shows the mysterious "complete" status. Atleast it is better than a ding.

Wharton results are due in 48 hours and S2S activity has died down, guess it is the lull before the storm.

This whole BSchool application is almost like dating multiple girls and in a serious deviation from true life, asking all off them to marry you. And than the wait begins. I hope I have multiple "ladies" to pick from :-)

Impressive Stanford

2006-03-05T20:49:00.000+05:30

This is part 2 of my update from my BSchool visit. I visited 2 schools while in US, USC Marshall and Stanford.

I enrolled on-line for 2 activities in Stanford; class visit and lunch with existing students.
It was very professionally done; unlike Marshall Stanford’s online registration system worked perfectly.

Reached the school around 1 hr before the class visit, as I wanted to roam around and feel the campus for myself. To describe the general atmosphere in Stanford GSB I will just need two words: awesome and professional. Everything about the campus tells you that you are here for serious business and be prepared for it.

After taking some wrong route asked for directions to some students and they were very helpful. General strategy which I use, even if you know the route ask for help and see how helpful the students are

After being amazed by Stanford checked out the cafeteria and settled my early morning jitters with a hot cup of coffee. Went up to the admission office and got my name tag for the class visit. Met another gal who has also signed up for the class visit who (Investment Banker from NY) already got admitted in Stanford.

The student guide appeared on time and escorted us to the class; he was a first year student. The class was a 2nd year elective who our student guide has enrolled for. It was a class of Behavioral Science, the topic of discussion was how some managers grab power in organization with not so ethical means and what the class thinks about different approaches.

After we were introduced to the class and everybody clapping for us to take the time out to visit Stanford the class started. And it was time again to be amazed about the quality of the student and the professor. The class was smooth. The participation of the students was overwhelming and type of insight different students brought to the class was simply amazing. After about an hour the class finished, I went up and talked to the professor and came back to the admission office.

Now it was time for lunch and again promptly on time our student guides showed up and took us to the cafeteria. We were around 4 guys for the lunch: me, another guy of Indian origin, one US army captain sort, another guy from NY. The student guides were: one guy from MIT, one guy from mid west, one very young IB gal (according to her she is the youngest in the class of 2007). They were a little surprised that I came all the way to visit Stanford. They answered all the questions we had about the culture work load etc.
My impression: be prepared to bust your ass in the 1st year if you are not from a biz background. One more thing while we attended the behavioral science class some other guys attended the entrepreneurship class and the guest for that day was THE FOUNDER OF GOOGLE….how cool is that.
Another story which all of our students guide mentioned is a story about an Indian guy in the class of 2007 who does not even have an undergrad degree. Apparently this guy joined the merchant navy after +2 and within 5 years was captaining his own ship. And without any undergrad degree and heavy GMAT he was admitted. He was sharing his experience couple of days before the class visit and all the students gave that example to show diversity in the class. So all of you who do not have stellar undergrad do not worry; if you can show tremendous progression in your career Stanford will be more than happy to take you in.

So here are my pros and cons:

Pros:
1)Everything.
2)Everything
3)Everything
4)Silicon Valley.
5)Strong entrepreneurial focus
Cons:
1)Why it is so hard to get into, selectivity of 8% at max.
2) Why o Why no Interview call for me yet !!!!

USC Marshall

2006-03-05T20:46:00.000+05:30

After a long log time I am posting anything of substance here...As promised (although a bit late) here is the updates from my college visit.

I visited USC Marshall on Jan 27th. I tried booking a class visit on-line but their system was down but the admin lady booked a slot for me anyway.

As I did not own a business suit I went to the college in formal trousers/shirts and was feeling good that I did that. Basic rule I follow is that if you are not going to a college for an interview don't go in a suite as the students are also dressed casually.

First impression of the USC was mixed. There are many different schools housed in the same campus so the crowed is very diverse; it ranges from skateboarding undergrads in literature to fully suited graduates of school of business. But the atmosphere seemed very energetic and helping. So with the help of an undergrad student I was able to find the Marshall building. I was not very impressed as it looked very small to me with a tiny cafeteria. But I think it will be the same all over.

It started with a class visit; the class was a boring finance class. To be very truthful I was not really impressed either by the professor or by the caliber of the students. It was pretty mediocre in my opinion. The participation of the students in the class was very limited as only few guys kept answering the professor and almost all other kept silent. The girl sitting next to me was very helpful, she shared her case study with me and explained (in hushed tone) during the class what the case was all about and what has happened in the previous classes.

After the class I chit chatted with some of the students. I got to know of a very interesting policy followed in Marshall; the school does not allow you to use laptops during class, it is because previously allegedly lots of the students were checking mails and chatting during the class. Found it a little disturbing as after 5 years in IT and word docs I find it difficult not to use my laptop to take notes.

Another interesting thing is that in Marshall in the first year the whole batch is divided in 2 sections and you sit in the same class throughout the year and professors come and go.

Then we had an info session by the admission director. The usual stuff about why this school is the greatest and all. I asked her about their loan policy as I told her that I have neither a co-signer nor a credit history in USA. She explained that there are some scholarships available but one should not count on them. The same was confirmed by a Indian student later who is in 1st year that it is very difficult to get a scholarship there and if you do not get it, it is difficult to get a loan with good interests rate.

So here is a list of pros and cons from my visit.
Pros:
1)Very strong alumni network and advantage LA.
2)Proximity to Silicon Valley if you do not get in Stanford etc.
3)Good track record of placement.
4)Very helpful student.
Cons:
1)Difficult to attend if you do not have enough cash in your bank
2)Did not like the "No laptops policy" during class.
4)Every body commutes to the school from all over LA, so I guess not much of a bonding among students.

Result: Did not apply at the end, it was too dicey to spend all the money and effort and not get a loan or a scholarship.

Happy New Year (Belated)

2006-01-01T11:44:00.000+05:30

Was not able to blog for sometime but I am making up for it by posting a long post this time.
The last one month of my life was the busiest by all account.First I had some pressing deadlines in the office (still have as due date is 15th Jan). So all of my waking hours was invested in the office or editing and re-editing the essays for the B-schoools

So I ended up being a social recluse, working through the holidays.But at least I am happy that I was able to submit my applications for the top 3 schools in my list..

1) Wharton
2)Stanford
3)Kellogg.

You might ask, looking at my previous blog, why I dropped HBS/Babson and UCLA?
So here are my reasons, for HBS it was all about being a "Type A" personality and as more and more soul searching I did, I realized that I am not that kind of an person.

For Babson, the comments by some alumni about the placement division was not so encouraging. For both Babson and UCLA and also for Berkley the problem as an International student from India was that neither I have a credit history here or I can get a co-signer.

Anybody interested in being close to the Silicon Valley, only Stanford and Marshall provides loans for International students without the above mentioned 2 criterias.

What I liked about the Apps process.
1) Stanford was the best in the app process, the questions make it obvious that they are really keen on knowing me as a person and not only as a list of accomplishments. Even my recommenders commented that the depth and type of questions asked by Stanford was the best out of the three school.
2) Wharton, concise essays where not much space left to explore the subject matter and you really have to explore one or two events and go deep in it than exploring many events of your life in lesser detail. The Wharton application website SUCKS, you should have seen the speed at which the website crawled on the last day of R2. I was able to complete my app only in 4 hours. They should definitely look at making the system better. But this schools is best in providing real time feedback through its blogs and s2s forum.
3) The way Kellogg sets the limit of the essays (via pages or paragraphs) is very different than the others and it required some work on my part to fit the essays properly in the limit.

So now it is time to wait and watch.....Oh what happened to MIT Sloan, could not make time to write the essays, so might apply in R3.

Where are thou ?

2005-12-01T06:00:00.000+05:30

For an International student sometimes it might be very confusing to tell exactly where the dream schools are located in the US. So uploading my creative work on top of Google Maps.Hope not violating any copyrights here.

700

2005-12-01T05:39:00.000+05:30

Took the GMAT yesterday and got a so so 700 (Q 48 and V 38).I was in a dilemma either to celebrate that I got 700 from a months preparation or to kick myself for not being able to get 700+.After talking to couple of current students in some US business schools decided that even if it is not a very good score, it still has a fighting chance. With R2 deadlines just a month away and my work load increasing day by day, I do not think I have the option to try for an improvement. So starting the application process from tomorrow.

Right now my top 5 schools are
1) HBS (I guess any body interested in entrepreneurship will find HBS/Babson in the top 5)
2) Babson.
3) Stanford.
4) Wharton.
5) Kellogg MMM.
6) UCLA (Anderson)

D-Day or GMAT Day

2005-11-29T21:07:00.000+05:30

9:37 am on 29th November 2005, trying to calm myself down before the GMAT. The test starts at 12 noon, but looking at the traffic and the distance to the test centre decided to start around 10 am. So I have 20 or so minutes to kill, what better way to do it than blogging about it.

Could not sleep much, got up at an ungodly hour of 4.30 am, hit the snooze button couple of times before pulling me out at 6. I was a bit stressed given the fact that this might be the only time I can take the GMAT to be able to apply for 2006 Fall class. Had so much work in the office the last one month that I could not study as much as I wanted to. On top of that in every blog I read( mostly in www.pagalguy.com) all the high scoreres talk about preparing for 3 months and for me the total time of preparation was barely over one and a half month.

The die is cast with a slight bias against me, not sure if I can wait for another year to apply to colleges I want to go to, if I score badly today. I am very optimistic, still hoping that I can break the 700 barrier to be competitive in my application.

If I able to achieve a score of 700+, i am looking at one month to finish the whole application process, as I took long to make up my mind to go for a business degree, even when the urge was inside me for a long time in a dormant form.

Once I saw a questionnaire, in which the answers to the question "Do you believe in God" had this option also, " only during plane rides and when necessary", my feet are firmly on mother earth today but need the kind eyes from the heaven above !!!!

Taking the plunge

2005-11-18T22:21:00.000+05:30

Finally decided to appear for GMAT, It is in the back of my mind for sometime now. I was always thinking about starting my own company and what will be better than getting an MBA. Have my GMAT dates on 29th of November lets see how it goes.