I - YES - B !!!!

I made it to the Class of Twenty-Ten @ the Indian School of Business! Yayy!!! :)

Congratulations! We are delighted to inform you that on the basis of a comprehensive and careful evaluation process, you have been offered admission into the ISB’s one year Post Graduate Programme in Management which commences on April 11, 2009.

And now for some celebrations! And some planning! And then more celebrations!!! Its time to start working towards all those ambitions with which I embarked on this journey. And this time, I wont let go! Thats a promise.

I yes B! :)

'Denied' @ Cornell

As expected, I guess.

The Admissions Committee of the Johnson School at Cornell University completed a comprehensive review of your application. After careful consideration, we will not offer you admission to the Johnson School.

Time to move on and hope that the 10th of February brings in better news. Congratulations to all the Johnson School Admits!

A hope... an end....

Tomorrow Cornell releases its R2 results. And I am amongst the unlucky few who already know what to expect. Why Cornell will choose to reject me without even an interview will remain a big mystery! I dont think thats aksing for too much, especialy considering the amount of time I spent on their famous "Table of Contents" essay. I dont think I had more fun in any essay more than I did working on this one.

But somewhere deep inside, I think I may not have done full justice to my application. I dont intend to get into a full post-mortem here, but I think I know what I could have done better. And that would be at letting them know that I am interested.

With my ISB and Stanford applications which immediately followed the Cornell deadline, I moved on pretty quickly to all those essays and forms. Maybe a mail or two to Cornell in the same time, expressing my interest in their offerings, could have improved my chances. You truly never know what works and what doesnt sometimes. Yet I feel I deserved at least an interview call.

Oh well.... the suspense ends tomorrow. Good Luck to me!

ISB @ FT 15

They've done it again. ISB moved up the FT 2009 rankings released recently, going up from 20 last year to 15 this year. Some bit of good news after the Satyam fiasco and Dean resignation!

http://rankings.ft.com/businessschoolrankings/global-mba-rankings

Happy Republic Day everyone! And many congratulations to ISB!!! :)

15 month MBA @ NMIMS, Bangalore

Another Indian B-school has joined the ~1 year MBA bandwagob. NMIMS enjoys a strong brand reputation in Mumbai, and is now spreading its wings to other Indian cities. On the radar right now is Bangalore, where they already have a weekend MBA program. Now, the NMIMS Bangalore campus is starting its Executive MBA program. Aparently, they are also starting out in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad by 2010.

This will be a 15 month program, with an intake of around 30 to 60 students only. They have a 5-year work experience restriction though, which means I dont make the cut. The fees are expected to be around 6.5 Lakh INR, payable in installments. I had a word with one of the contact persons, and he said that they would also provide accomodation, but students are free to find it on their own as well - meaning it wont be a residential program. Deadline for application is 31st January. The results will be out on 28th February, and the program starts on 27th April.

For more information, please check out:
http://www.nmims.edu/whats_new/EPGDBM.htm

Hope this information helps someone out there!

- MBAlmighty

Love or abhor, but don't ignore...

Cornell seems to be totally ignoring me. With just 3 weeks left for the final R2 results (Feb 4th is the B-day), I still haven't heard from The Johnson School. And my application went under review over a month back, 8/Dec to be precise! What is going on in Ithaca people!

Well the weather has been cruel in Ithaca - check out the Sage Hall in a blanket of snow. Is my application buried under a similar mountain of applications??? Or am I that insignificant to not even warrant a response!!! Oh Cornell - Love me, or abhor me.......... but please, pretty please, don't ignore me!

Application 10 feet under ?!?!?!?!

Stanford submitted

Stanford R2 application has been submitted with a day to spare and it should now be on DB's file. Well, there are mixed feelings. I feel relieved that it has been submitted on time, and at the same time nervous because I ain't sure how it will do down with the Admissions Committee. Hope for the best! (Please pray for me!)

Last few days have gone in extreme introspection, as is required by GSB's famous essays. This has indeed been a real learning process - learning about GSB, learning about myself, my choices and my actions - and then trying to put these thoughts on paper to achieve that "flat friend" personality that Stanford looks for in its potential admits. Anyways, all I can hope for is it finds favour with the admissions committee.

In other news, looks like Cornell isnt interested in me, havent heard anything so far from them. Some folks did get called in for interviews aparently, nothing my way yet. Their decision date is now just a month away, so I should be hearing from them soon, either ways. ISB on the other hand is a good month away too, and I'll be waiting and watching that space.

Sometime back, I was contemplating adding another feather to my application cap, with probably Haas R3. But now I dont think I'll be doing that. Getting into a school in R3 is quite against the odds, so I may not tread that path. I did, and probably still shall, consider applying to INSEAD for the Jan 2010 intake. Their R2 deadline is in May, so if ISB doesnt happen, then I might think of this option too. I think the next few weeks will probably go into preparing the Plan B.

Anyways, for now, its finally back to work and other worldly pleasures after remaining almost detached from it in the last few weeks. Congratulations to all those who have heard sweet R1 news so far!

And finally...... Happy New Year 2009! May this "B" your year! :)

Interview experience @ ISB

Saturday morning was spent at the ISB campus. I got in early morning and some candidates had already gone in by then. I guess the interviews started at 9am, met some candidates waiting their turn. Impressive folks - doctors, engineers, CA's working for the world bank etc. I was a little scared and intimidated frankly, but decided to just keep focussed on my agenda.

The first thing was to write a short 100 word essay on BEAT. Wrote some stuff about heart beats and beat-ing the crap out of someone (in a better way of course). After 15 minutes, the interview started.There were 3 folks in most panels I think, mine had 1 alum, 1 current student and 1 member from the admissions committee. The general tone of the interview was extremely conversational. It was quite unlike any other interview, no grilling questions whatsoever. The interview started off with the alum asking me about my reasons for an MBA and why I have chosen on ISB. From there, it went on to aspects of my industry and my exact work profile. Then, most questions centered around my industry (technology), work and how the current financial crisis can affect it. I was asked for specific leadership qualities I admire in folks I look up to. Also, a question checking if I had some clue about what caused the financial crisis. Lastly, I was asked my career goals, and if I had any questions for them.

Most of the interview was driven by the alum, with regular questions from the other two gentlemen. No questions about my essays or any other specific points from my application - dunno if its good or bad!!! I guess most of the interviewes I met came out smiling after the interview - so everyone pretty much feels comfortable inside. A thoroughly professional interview, and no stress inducing tactics. At least I couldnt read into it!

Now the wait begins. Surely ISB will have a fantastic batch of Twenty-Ten, just hope I am one of the lucky few. February 2009 will reveal that now. Spent the rest of the day sleeping and eating some amazing Hyderabad Biryani! Now I'm onto the Stanford application.

Have a fantastic year end everyone! 2008 has been a real roller coaster...... enjoy the last 3 days! :)

First interview invite

Just got an email from ISB - I have been invited to interview on campus next weekend! :)

Its heartening to know that my application package had some 'weight' to warrant an interview call. Now I need to budget my time amongst critical work projects, the Stanford essays (which arent going well honestly) and the ISB interview preparation. All the been-there-done-that's , please share any interview tips!!! I would be most greatful!

Also, heartiest congratulations to all R1 folks who have heard positive news over this week. Looks like it has been quite an eventful week for many! Good Luck and have a great weekend everyone! :)

The class visit experience

Hey b-school aspirers! Today I got a first-hand feel of a B-school environment by sitting in on a class and talking with some current students. Here is my experience of attending a class at ISB.



Well I attended the Financial Engineering class at ISB taught by Wharton professor Dr. Ramaswamy, and it was certainly interesting! If there is one thing I learnt very well, it is that Finance is TOUGH!!! :-) The class lasted for about 2 hours (with a 10 minute break in between), after which I spent some time talking to current students. Here are my thoughts -

Campus & Facilities - Excellent campus!!! It isnt the first time I am visiting ISB, yet this place never ceases to amaze me. They have a world class campus, and every inch the top B-school it deserves to be. I havent seen any IIM campuses, nor any US school campus, but I am pretty sure ISB wouldnt be far behind. The school is lush green, airy and wonderful facilities. Personally, i loved the squash courts and the swimming pool!!! Too bad, they were all deserted (as expected). I also spent a good 2 hours in the library reading the latest books they have on display, and no security guard troubled me. They even let you use computing facilities (packed with an amazing DVD collection). I ate in the Indian cafeteria, and food was decent.

Class - Nice and bright classrooms, average acoustics, average video-transmission. The professor had a tablet PC which I felt is far superior to using powerpoint presentations. Class participation was frankly below my expectation. But then I learnt this is probably the toughest course in ISB, and it was heavy duty mathematics etc, so takes some getting used to. The ethnic diversity in the class can be improved.

People - A great institution is only as good as its people. Students, faculty, non-faculty, librarians etc. Students came up to me to introduce themselves and ask about my background etc. They gave me their frank feedback about the school, the faculty, the placement process and the genral prospects post-MBA. Overall, I like the people here - I wouldnt say people went out of their way to make me like ISB, but they showed me the reality the way it is and thats what I really appreciate. I am not a sucker for over-marketing - this was just perfect. In fact, I remember thats one thing that impressed me most about ISB when I attended their admissions session presided by Mr. Menon. Extremely frank and candid.

Overall, I'm glad I got this chance. It was something I wanted to do since starting this process, and better late then never. Speaking with the students, I realised that the job-scene is certainly grim and it will not be easy finding dream-jobs this year. But the good thing is that whoever I spoke with is positive of landing a job. The career services will certainly have to get its act together big-time this year and hopefully they will do a good job.

ISB is certainly a good school with nice students and highly placed professors with huge networks. It needs to pack in more diversity though. Given the 1 year time, it is quite tough to encapsulate all the course material over just 6 weeks. The class I attended is a 1 semester course at Wharton, but here ts 1/3rd the time. One thing is for sure, if you get into ISB, there is no time for fun. But then, thats the whole fun, innit! :-)

Essays and Artists

As the title makes it clear, I am busy writing essays yet again, this time for Stanford GSB. Career aspirations, leadership examples, things that matter most etc etc etc. It is certainly a learning process - each day I learn more about myself, more about the school and more about how to package my thoughts to the school.

But honestly, I end up having self-doubts over my candidacy to ISB and Cornell. I just end up feeling maybe the essays arent as good as I'd have liked them to be. I think my Cornell essays came out well, especially the Table of Contents. But I am seriously paranoid about the ISB essays. Granted, there isnt much room in 900 words to sell your life-story, but many have done it well. I guess I'll know by mid-January if at all I get an interview invite.

If (and when) I do manage to get into any of my wish-list schools, I shall post my take on writing effective essays. Else ill post on how not to write them! :( But in the meantime, I wanted to put together some brilliant pieces of essay advice I came across from past and present applicants. A big Thanks to all these folks!

Future B-school applicants - This is my must-read list for essay advice. Good Luck! :)

1. ClearAdmit Essay Analysis - Very concise, very apt and put forth in a matter-of-fact format. The perfect starting point to understand what needs to go in the respective essays.

2. Adam Markus' Essay Analysis - I loved his posts for Stanford GSB essays. There is a wealth of information he provides, what with tidbits from respective Admission Directors etc.

3. Tinydancer's essay advice. The gist -

• Show IMPACT through the essays on every sphere you have influenced.
• Show how you will contribute to the school.
• Explain not only your goals (which most schools ask anyways), BUT also WHY these are your goals?

4. Thembasaga's essay advice. Possibly the most comprehensive and detailed analysis for Harvard, Chicago, Kellogg, Wharton and Stanford! A must read for every applicant worth his words!

5. Stanford GSB 'Director's Corner' advice by Derrick Bolton. Some candid thoughts, and most of this is applicable to all essays, irrespective of schools.

6. MBAbabe's tips on her strategies, that helped her get into H/S. My bigggest takeaway from her post was you need to tell the schools what matters most to you in a vivid way so as to market yourself effectively. And this isnt true only if asked "what matters most", but let it shine through somewhere.

7. More specific to Stanford's pet question "What matters most to you and why", maybe this post by ManagingMagic can help! I think the tidbit regarding "the most common answer is 'balance in life'" was pretty useful! I havent written this essay yet, but its always helpful to have this information.

8. A pretty solid post by DaveforMBA. The gist is dont make your essay into an extended resume, write everything that wont feature in your resume ever! :) Also, dont forget to check out his thoughts after visiting the various schools.

9. AxeChick's advice on essays..... a BOB winner for essays and pretty deserving too!

10. Well, if I'm able to get into one of those 3 schools, Ill be sure to put up a post that combines all of what I learnt and how I went about the essays. Granted I havent written many essays, especially as compared to the awesome folks above, but still ill put in my 2 cents. As a tribute to the above (and many others whom I cant recollect now) folks for their wonderful wonderful pieces of wisdom.

So finally, read these tips...... and get on with the essays R2 people! Happy writing! :)

- MBAlmighty

December Diaries

December has come in on a real sombre note after last weeks incidents at Mumbai. Someone rightly commented about this entire tragedy -

"Terrorists come, not only in boats
They also come asking for votes"

If there is anything to be glad about, it is that this tragic event "seems" to have woken our sleeping, vote-hungry, callous and repulsive politicians. Finally!!!! Or am I being too optimistic. Only time will tell.

In B-school application updates, ever since submitting ISB I had been considering applying to a couple of top B-schools (M7 perhaps). My heart was set on Wharton, Stanford and Kellogg for various reasons. Little really to seperate one from the other. But the reality is that I have just about a month to submit these applications in time for R2. Finally, I chose 2 in Kellogg and Stanford GSB. I left out Wharton primarily because it seemed the most competitive when I researched its current (R1) interview invited candidates and rejected souls. But doing 2 applications would mean almost 10 essays within a span of about 40 days. Nopes, I aint superman to do that either. It wouldnt be practical to apply to both, hence left out Kellogg for my research on its program is still relatively raw, to be honest.

Hence, I'll be applying to only 1 more school in R2 - Stanford GSB. On the basis of numbers alone its the most competitive school to get into. This may seem crazy, but I'll just follow Derrick Bolton's advice of believing in yourself and hoping his team will believe in me! (BTW here is some good application advice from Derrick and Sharon @ Stanford GSB, published on BW some years ago)

So the tone is set for December..... time to get started with 4 more essays. And while at that, try to keep updated on possible interview questions, in case Cornell and ISB want to talk! Any advice???

The sad truth

Mumbai has been attacked, ripped apart almost - thats the sad truth of the day.

Its a city I identify with most; not only because I was born there, or because I was educated there, or because most of my family and friends are there. I identify with it because it is a part of my soul. I have learnt how to cope up with things and not to let unplanned events ruin your plans - something that defines the persona of every Mumbaikar. Be it riots or rains or, people will venture out to goto work, help others and look forward to the train-rush the next day.

Some might argue that thats the very weakness of Mumbaikars - we just "move on" with life. Right or wrong, I dont know. The city taught me that, and thats how I shall always be, adaptibility is in my veins. If anything needs to be changed, it is the votebank politics that has crippled my city. It doesnt surprise me then, that terrorists enter Mumbai and target Americans, Britishers and Isarelis alongwith Indians. Hopefully now our political parties come together unanimosuly.

Today, 3 places that got targetted reminded me of my college days. Watching a movie at Metro, grabbing a beer at Cafe Mondegar or at 'Cafe Leopold', and then feasting on some kabas at 'Bade Miya' and its neighbor 'Baghdadi' were the norm after exams. Today, Leopold lies soaked in blood, Metro lies deserted, and Bade Miya is found with RDX. Thats the sad truth.

Tomorrow is a new day, and Mumbai will rise and be running again as usual. But those killed - men, women, children, cops, soldiers will not rise. I hope the terrorists dont as well.

ISB submitted

What a relief!

I finally submitted my R2 application for ISB yesterday late-night, rather early morning today around 4.30 am!

The photograph was done, thanks to this post by ICBIBIC and then some usual last minute changes followed to the forms. Finally, I was frustrated and tired and sleepy. Woke my wife at about 3.30am to make her go through my form once more, for any last minute suggestions. Using the one suggestion she had, I finally hit the submit button. I didnt want to postpone it for today any more, have had enough of it already!

Now I am planning to apply to one or two more schools. I know I am pretty freakin late in making this choice, and especially the schools on my radar are ones you need to plan months in advance about what to write etc. I hope the time I have till first week of January should be sufficient to try my luck at 1/2 top names. Hope for the best.

As for now, I am officially in contention for a R2 ISB seat. Let see how that goes! EYE-YES-BEEE!!! :))

ISB website down

Since yesterday, I am unable to access the ISB website, and hence even my online application form. We got an email, but it seemed to imply only the payment gateway will not be available due to server maintenance activity.

That's really unfair - all my plans of completing their form details over this weekend have been squashed!!! I dont think the site will be up and running by Monday morning. And with the R2 deadline so close, I may have to take off from work 1 day next week. Why the maintenance so close to the deadline?!?!?!?! :(

Is ISB trying to improve its virtual ranking??? We'll soon find out if they come up with a state-of-the-art website......

It's the ISB effect!

Yesterday I really experienced what 'excitement' is all about. The ISB R1 results were out yesterday, and most applicants seemed to have jitters all the way through since 2pm, when people were expecting to hear their fate, till about 10pm when most folks finally started receiving Rings, Strings and Dings. Frankly, I cant remember a single occasion when I have seen so many folks waiting waiting waiting, patiently and impatiently, to hear a B-school result. For the uninitiated, I e-witnessed this on the Pagalguy ISB-applicants thread- which probably registered a over 500 posts in a few hours.

I dont think any other B-school generates such a hooplah amongst candidates as does ISB. Nopes, even the hallowed IIMs do not come close. But in my opinion, what really sets ISB aoart is its fantastic community!

The ISB Admissions Committee and some current students tirelessly answered all queries on the above forum, as well as the official ISB Paagalguy thread. I saw a few other schools doing it in the BW forums, but I havent followed it so far. Yet I dont think any school, be it the M7 or otherwise, can compete with the pure and patient hospitality that the ISB AdCom has shown over the past few months. I am certainly a little sad since the official thread it now closed, but I hope they come back again after R2 deadline is done.

The little doses of advice to all applicants, the responses to repeated questions etc simply goes to show the dedication of the Admissions Committee involved. Having spent a few years in the West, I can vouch for the fact that Indian hospitality goes far beyond any other culture, and it truly reflects in ISB. I wish it also reflected in the other Indian institutes - but alas, that may take some time till privatisation kicks in. In fact yesterday, even IIML declared their shortlisted candidates- and all seemed to get a Reject posted on their application. Only after calling up the IIML office, were they informed whether they had made it or not. Hows that for starters! :)

And up next, are the ISB applicants themselves! In an amazing gesture to future applicants and R2 applicants especially, most R1 applicants completed a sheet which details their profiles. Now where else do you get that??? So many talented folks have got through, and as many talented folks have been left out. My heart really goes out to all the dinged folks who have given this application everything they could! Moreover, it is so heartening to see many dinged candidates post on the thread that they will be back next year for another shot.

I think thats the ISB effect. An AdCom that is willing to help you always, current students who take time out of their studies to answer your queries and the applicants themselves who have not only helped each other, but also helped future applicants! Such is its warmth, that people want to be a part of the magic. India has many great educational institutions in the IITs, IIMs, IISc, AIIMS etc, but few can generate singular passion amongst others to help take it from a great institution to an iconic institution! Most unfortunately just remain brand names.

ISB is certainly a magical place and I am sure it will go places! As magical maybe as is the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!!!

My congratulations to all ISB R1 admits and best wishes to those who have been unfortunate to miss out on the next year's class. Keep the faith! :)

- MBAlmighty

The 20 year Rankings @ BWEEK

As is the case with all ranking systems good or bad, the latest rankings of BW too are interesting! Some highlights, if I may call it that.

>> Ross beat Stanford, Kelly beat Darden, Cornell beat Tuck! - Interesting! ?!?!?!
>> MIT, Kellogg, Wharton & Stanford all scored B in 'Teaching'! - How?!?!?!
>> Yale moved out of the Top-20 list by a huge margin!

This is the TOP-30 list courtesy Businessweek.

Businessweek has been ranking B-schools since the last 20 years! Here is a quick snapshot of how all the top names have been doing over the last 2 decades.

The international rankings seem pretty much the same as always. I am waiting for the day ISB makes it into that list!

- MBAlmighty

Cornelled

My first submit of the season, my first submit ever. Cornell has been submitted, and now I officially join the bandwagon of applicants waiting to hear back from schools.

Lessons learnt from this submission -

1. I was so keenly waiting all day to press that SUBMIT button. Well turns out, Cornell application doesnt have a "SUBMIT" button per se. The moment I paid my application fees, I got a nice Thank You screen saying my application had been submitted! I was like.. "whaaaattt!!! whereesss my submit button???" I wonder if ISB has one?

2. Writing a resume for b-schools takes time!!! I started at 11pm with a supposedly completed resume, ended at around 4.30am! Well, I already had a resume ready. But then I came across some pretty helpful resume tips and realized what I must add. All you techie-applicants out there - usually we folks always write software languages known in the resume. Did you write these in the resume? I did, but condensed it a lot.

3. Filling in all the activities, work-experience sections takes some serious thought and time. Never underestimate the effort required to fill in these sections. If you would concentrate on the essays and resume, but these sections too would hold good value.

4. Essay formatting can go for a toss in these application submission tools. I wrote my essays in Word, but when I pasted them into the application 2 things happened:

• All quotes ' " etc got converted to question marks??? I didnt realise this at first, only when I took a printout, the obvious errors resurfaced.


• I had used some " - " in my essays. In Word, these did not count towards the word-limits, but when i pasted it in the application editor, and back into Word..... the longer dash (dont know the technical name) got converted to a shorter dash " - " and this one is counted as a word. So all my essays suddenly went over limits. Has anyone else come across this? Anyways, I simply removed all these dashes and submitted within the limits.

As per BW's Cornell forum, looks like 250+ applications have already been submitted in R1 for AMBA. Now starts R2, probably Cornell is amongst the first R2 deadlines amongst some of the top schools. Assuming a same number apply till R3, and Cornell chooses ~60 for its AMBA class, thats still around 10% intake. Doesnt look easy at all!!!

Anyways I've done my bit, time to move on. ISB beckons! Good Luck to all you folks awaiting ISB R1 results! May the force be with you.

- MBAlmighty

The Ratan Tata Scholarship is......

not for MBA aspirants at The Johnson School @ Cornell. :(

I got in touch with the Financial Aid folks at Cornell, and this is what they had to say: "The Tata Scholarship Fund for Students from India is available to undergraduate students only."

I wonder why only for undergraduates?!?!?!? IMHO, the number of Indian students who go for graduate studies is significantly larger than the number who go for undergraduate studies, and more often than not, the Indians who complete their undergraduate studies in the US are quite affluent. Well it is a great gesture nevertheless, hopefully someone can make good use of the money.

My 'tata' to the scholarship! :(
- MBAlmighty

The Booth School

This is the very first time I have seen how many b-schools got their names, which are distinct from the Universities they are affiliated to. Yes, its pretty obvious that it happens due to sizeable donations, but I never saw it first hand...... till today!

Presenting......... The Booth School of Business!!!

Indian corporate houses aren't really known for their generosity, but who knows, some day we might have a familar sounding name attached to some top school! ISB??? (Hope not!)

- MBAlmighty