To a new beginning!

Having written about my application journey, its only fair that I let the blogger community (of the reader whoever is left) know what happened after that.

Well, I never joined. I instead joined Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. It happens to be the best in India. There were reasons - many which I cant share here. I have still not reached a stage where I can decide for myself whether I took the right decision. Perhaps I will never know.

But, I would like to thank my readers who have followed this blog for long.

Thank you and god bless you!

BoB Nomination & Other Updates!

Yes! After two years of MBA Talk at my blog, I have been nominated for the Clear Admit BoB Awards for the year 2008-09. Feels pretty good and I need to fill in my ballot by 24th. I would need to take out sometime and read student blogs which I haven't been following very closely.

In other updates, I have notified at my workplace about my plans to do an MBA and hopefully be relieved by the end of May or early June. Yesterday evening, I faxed in my Kroll authorization form and they have already started working on it. My recommender got a call today morning. So they seem to be pretty efficient.

There is no news from CBS regarding loans, visa and scholarship and its already mid-April. I hope things could move faster....

Timing the market?

So, whats up with me? Nothing much really. I am actually helping out a friend setup his venture. That is, in terms of brainstorming of ideas and sharing whatever industry perspectives I have gained over last 4 years of work. Its actually a lot of fun and the process has a good deal of excitement. In this economic environment, it is going to be a big ask but we have belief in the fundamental value of his ideas and I am sure he will do well.

I have been wondering what exactly is the right time to launch one's business, given that he is ready with a plan? Should it be when the market is green and credit is free-flowing or when the chips are down and investors are selling out. Till very recently, I was convinced that getting 'in' in a good market was absolutely essential to compete with the deep-pocket giants. Its also relatively easy to get noticed in a healthy economic scenario.

But, to my surprise, a relatively large number of firms (especially tech ones) have been founded in times of extreme economic distress. What explains that? I have no clear answer but it appears that several of them hit on some ideas which were generated because of competitive economic climate. They had strong value propositions. The founders worked under the radar for a few years, establishing the network and bringing the idea to market. As soon as the situation got better they were ready to capitalize on it. I am not sure how much of that is the case, but it sure is a thing I look forward to research more on.

On school front, there is no news. The process to me looks a little too slow, especially for the early admits who don't seem to have anything to do for 6-7 months. I am itching to get my hands on that pre-MBA material ;)

My room-mate got admitted to Queens last week and got a little scholarship too. He has received bundles and bundles of materials from the university. His course-work starts in May and he is neck-deep in the visa and loan process. Looking at his exciting and extremely fast-paced stage of the process, kinda feel jealous :P

Hopefully, some news will come from CBS this week! Till then, cheers!

Housing & Other News

Well, there is not much news actually. Things have been very furious at work and its getting tiring. I have been handed over with some long-term assignments that I am sure I will need to handover very soon to somebody else. That would mean more work. I don't mind doing that as long as I get some break before school.

Speaking of which, CBS front has been relatively quiet. I put in my housing application the very first day the application opened and opted for an apartment share. This option seems to be the most popular one. Although, right till the end I was torn between an apartment shares and studios. Now, need to wait till May for further activity.

Next month promises to be more exciting. I intend to inform my manager about my plans to do an MBA in fall. He has been very nice to me and I hope he would understand. Kroll will follow and so will the loan and visa processing.

Meanwhile, the scene in the US is getting scarier every week and is giving me and my parents a lot of worries in taking that big a loan to fund my MBA. Hopefully, things will fall in place. During this time, I hope that I get some sort of scholarship which can lessen my burden and my parents' worries.

Edit: Just read Tieny's account of the Open House and it looks like so much fun. And yes, I too am impressed by the crowd of people who are going to be my classmates for the next 2 years. Pretty exciting times coming up!

Vacations & Housing

First post of the new year!

and I have already had two mini-vacations. The first one was an extension of my year-end vacation and I had a quite time at Ranchi, where my parents have lived for almost two decades. It was good to be away from work and everything else. Small cities can give you that freshness which is difficult to find in Bangalore life. Fast forward to the republic day and I made a short trip to Ahmedabad to meet some friends. And I had a pretty cool time. Although, Ahmedabad is in the only "dry" state of India.

I have hastened my search for an internship for the summer but looks like its a big ask, given the financial turmoil all around us. I read an article written by Swaminathan Aiyer today about how this recession can be the Hykenian kind instead of the Keynesian one and how both kinds need very different treatments. The more dreadful thought of the article was the fact that it may take more than a couple of years to settle this one up. That's not good news. With a scholarship always unlikely, its going to be a $150k loan on my head when I graduate and I better have some good opportunities at that time. Coming to back to India immediately after MBA is also an option.

There is constant talk in the country about whether India will be hit by the recession. I think it will be. For whatever may be the reasons, India has seen a lot of export-led growth over the last few years. Now as the west sees a much stronger urge to save and consumer spending dries up, India will be hit sooner or later and probably to the same extent as the US. The Indian stock market is already hit rock bottom and its unlikely that its going up anytime soon. Plenty of problems to think about.

There is nothing really happening on CBS front. I received a mail from Linda welcoming me to the class of 2011 after she tried calling me up several times. Although, its been nearly 4 months since I got the admit, it still feels good to be congratulated ;) Housing applications start sometime in February and thats one area where I need to do more research. Have been trying to figure out what would suit me the best.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I am leaving for my hometown in another 10 hours. Before I leave, to spend a couple of weeks with my family, I would like to wish all the blog-o-sphere Merry Christmas and A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May the year 2009 bring happiness to all of us!

Updates

Its been a long time since I posted on my blog and makes me wonder what is going to happen once I do reach b-school. All hell has broken loose at my workplace. Layoffs have meant that there is more work pressure on the teams that survive and its been pretty busy few weeks.

On CBS front, I am trying to get in touch with some alums in India to try and figure out some concrete plans for my future. Almost everybody I could manage to talk to has been very supportive of my plans.

As I probably already mentioned here, I plan to work till some time in June to collect all the cash I can. I have received my CFA Level 2 course material. So that is going to take up significant portion of my free time in the coming months. I also plan to travel - when and where is completely undecided. There are a couple of options - exploring south India or south-east Asia. Both of them look pretty neat at the moment.

I am little worried about how to get the Kroll scheduled. I don't want my company to know of my impending departure till around Mar/April. However, as far as I understand Kroll actually talks to the company HR or managers. On the other hand, I do not want to delay the verification that long, which may cause hassles in loand and visa applications. I have no recommenders from my current company though. Need to figure this out.

Lately, CBS has been issuing invites in bulk and I have been trying to be of help to all the prospectives. I seriously hope that a lot of them make it to CBS and am sure I will have a great time with them at the school in NY.

I have been doing a pretty bad job of keeping my blog updated. Infact, tieny has been doing a great job! Given that the work pressure is not going to subside anytime soon, I am not sure if I can improve. Lately, I have been contemplating about writing a series of posts about the application process and my perspectives on the same. There are several in the blogosphere already. I am not sure if any more are needed ;)

Thats pretty much all the updates I had. All the very best to Soni for his C-Booth interview and all other who are waiting for their final results!

Admit Packet

I received my admit packet by FedEx today.


And it has my official letter of admission signed by Linda. It also has a copy of the Hermes magazine and some other pamphalets containing information which is all over the website. Hermes is interesting and has a lot of information about students and alumni. The Class Notes section is particularly fascinating. Reading through it. The packet also has a note which says that the school, as of date, does not have a no-cosignor loan for international students.

On to other things, my Columbia ID activation hasn't happened yet. That means I cannot browse through CBS' amazing online resources for another weekend. I am using my time to read. Currently reading Kafka'a short stories. One of my friends, who shares the apartment with me is leaving for London tomorrow morning. He will be there for atleast a couple of years. So, its going to be a last night celebration tonight. That leaves only 3 people in our large mansion. :(

Matriculating!

My wire transfer of deposit reached Columbia yesterday and I am now officially enrolled in the school roasters. As soon as that happened, my status changed to "Deposit Received" and the to-do list expanded from a 17 point list to a 30 point list. And this is supposed to be the beginning. Phew!

The new to-do list however, also gives me access to the Columbia University ID and the email account. Thats exciting! Besides, there is a admitted student's reception on Dec 3. I don't think I can be there even if I really want to do that so much.

I am envious of Tieny who seems to have figured out his plan for the next 10 months. I will be in all probability be working till the end of June. I have my CFA Level 2 to study for and then prepare for school. Three important to-do things amongst the millions I can see right now are - Kroll verification, loan confirmation and F1 visa. None of them begins before January.

Time to relax, I guess!


PS: All the best for HappyBunny for her final result @Columbia!

Sinking In!

Its taken some time, but its now sinking in: I am attending Columbia next Fall! MBA has been a long time dream and I, finally, have some concrete progress on that front.

However, my weekend was terrible. Was on the bed with cough, cold and high fever for three consecutive days. Its a little better now. Meanwhile, I have been going through the admitted students website to get information about tasks for the next few months. I realize its a little too early in the process and the website itself is not really up-to-date for the Class of 2011.

I went to my bank today to find out a way to wire my deposit to Columbia. The lady handed over a 9-page :O form which I need to fill and attach it with some photocopies and submit. She said it takes 48 hours, which is not so bad. Columbia's $6000 deposit is huge, I must say. :D

I am not sure when am I suppose to receive an admit packet: now, after my deposit or even later?

Meanwhile, I have been checking a lot of stuff about the university and the school and that has got me even more excited. I can't wait for next fall! :)

PS: Thank you all for your congratulatory messages. I really appreciate it. Hope to see a lot more admits from the blogosphere! Go guys!

Admitted to Columbia Business School!!!

I can't believe it :) :) :)

Columbia Interview Done

I had my alumni interview yesterday and it was very cordial and comfortable. The interviewer was a '71 alum and was very senior in the organization he worked for. The interview itself was also very smooth. No cross-questioning just a good conversation. I was also asked the standard 'ethical dilemma' question which I was prepared for. So, that was sail through, although the interviewer asked for another one after I had narrated the first one. Overall, the interview went well. The questions were broadly why this school, why this company, why this swtich, why mba, why columbia and a lot of discussion of my goals.

The only hitch was that I could not answer 'Why Columbia' all that well because I was cut by my interviewer twice in between and the discussion went tangential. Its common knowledge that CBS wants students with a high degree of interest in the school. Hopefully, I did enough in the interview to convince him and the adcom that I am really interested.

In the end, I asked him questions and got very very good answers to most of them. He offered to help me in networking with people in the NY area, which felt good. I hope I was good too.

Now, the wait begins. I was told that he would submit the feedback yesterday itself or latest by today. He hasn't done it yet. Hopefully, he can get it done by the weekend. It was nice meeting him!

Columbia Interview Invite

Yeah, I received an invite to interview from Columbia. And as expected, I am really excited. I have some alumni to choose from. Let me see who responds first to my mails. Anybody, any tips for the interview?

Chicago Essays

Anybody who has heard of what GSB essays are like this year - is tensed :D

For those who have not, here it is:
http://www.chicagogsb.edu/fulltime/admissions/essays_slides.aspx


I am really stuck with essay #2. I feel uncomfortable writing on topics which require me reveal my personal self. Especially, which require you to talk about incidents where you displayed leadership, or where you failed, or you had to make a choice.

Its not that I don't have stories. I just can't put them across in a mature, professional manner. After a week of dilly-dallying I have managed to prepare a draft for the Chicago essay 2 and got it reviewed. Fortunately this time, my reviewer had a fairly positive opinion on the first draft, which is an achievement.

Hopefully, another week and the Chicago app would be ready to go. This would be the half-way mark in the whole process.

Meanwhile, Columbia has been a little slow in coming out with interview invites. Infact, haven't heard of any invites yet for Fall 2009. The next week will possibly see truckloads of invites. Hope, they want to talk to me! :)

Submissions and school list updates

I submitted ISB last Monday, Sep 8. It actually got a little late. But, its ok since ISB is not rolling. But, this going to add pressure on my schedule, with Chicago and Tuck deadlines looming in the early October. Have to be a little more quick with the applications. My recommenders have been pretty much on the spot till now with the schedule. I just hope, no issue crop up in the next two months, which is going to be one crazy application season.

Meanwhile, I have decided to finally add Darden to my list of prospective schools. This was a school I was researching on for a long time. I liked several things about the school - strong case-based curriculum, good recruitment in my areas of interest, good community feel.

There is something else I like about Darden - its location, Charlottesville, which is not a big city. I do not really like to study in big cities, although they present significant advantages in terms of recruiting. Chicago, Columbia and Stern are schools I like, and hence made entry into my list, not because they are in big cities. And that is one of the biggest reason why I have included Tuck in my list of schools. However, I have not been able to contact any students from Tuck and Stern yet. That is something I will work on in the next few weeks. Ciao!

Inspiration Blogs - Where are they?

When I created this blog, I decided to have a small list of student blogs to keep me in touch of the student community and provide inspiration. But, today I revamped it from a list of 10 blogs to around 4-5 now. I had to remove them as they do not have any updated content.

Why is it that students after they start their MBAs don't update their blogs any longer? Sure, time is one issue. However, it cannot be the only one. We cannot say that the applicants are jobless, right? :D

It is related to the reasons one wants to blog. For me, it is a kind of public-personal diary of my MBA quest. I want blogs to chronicle most my life's experiences. I would start new blogs in all new phases of my life - at least, that is the plan.

I am actually planning to start a new blog, parallel to this one which talks about more personal matters. That would be public or not is something not decided yet.

On the application front, there has been a lull ever since I submitted Columbia. None of my recommenders for ISB are looking in a mood to submit their recommendations. The essays have been reviewed but need to be worked on further. And I am not in a mood to work on them today. Hopefully, tomorrow is going to be a fruitful day.

Columbia Submitted

and whats more, its under review as well! I submitted the application earlier in the day (early morning NY time). It went under review 10 am NY time. That's remarkable! I have been a little busy with the application because I took only 15 days to work on it.

Since, it was a reapplication, I did not have to work on the other two essays which is good in a way. I was never too excited about the master classes essay anyways. But, I had fewer words to convince the adcom of my heroics in the last one year ;)

So, the first application of the season is in, and I pray that I do not have to submit many more. Given the past trends, I should have the decision by the end of next month. Thats pretty neat. On to ISB now!

General Updates

Well I am back from my vacation and joined my new workplace a couple of days. Joining was smooth and pretty professional. Should get going after the long weekend we had, here in India.

Meanwhile, I am looking at applying to Columbia much earlier than I thought, maybe even by the end of the month. I don't find a lot of work to be done for a reapplicant. My focus has to be on improvements in my profile which I am in the process of articulating. Then have to figure out a way to use the optional essay effectively, if at all.

Meanwhile, my ISB essays have been on the backburner for a while. I have not even got my comments back from the people who are going to review my essays. Hopefully, that should get sorted out by early next week. I now plan to complete both ISB and Columbia applications by the end of August. Then attach Chicago and Tuck applications.

Meanwhile, I have been very actively considering Darden as another school I would put in application for. It is pretty good in the discplines I am interested in and seems to be a pretty good fit. Need to do more research on the school. LBS is another school I am looking at right now. Should be able to fix my sixth school also by the end of the month. For now, its beer!

Cheers!

Passed!!!

I passed the CFA Level 1 Exam. :):)

Given the conditions I had given the exam in, it was really a very pleasant surprise.

Thank you, happybunny for encouraging me to apply so late, even after fully understanding my non-financial background. :) I hope this will help me cope with coursework at b-school better.

MBA application work has started in full force. I have written 2/3 ISB essays and they have been flayed by my first reviewer just a few mintues back. Need to rework on them and get my strategy right. After that, it goes to my second reviewer. I intend to finish this set of essays by the end of this month or latest by a week later.

Hope everything goes according to plan!

ISB Essays and the weekend

Its been a drag, this weekend. All the applications I am looking forward to are now live with the exception of Stern. Meanwhile, I have been working on my ISB essays which are of a wierd nature.

I mean, how can you convince somebody that you are the right candidate for the President of the student body in 300 damn words. That nears absurdity. Most schools will give a minimum of 600-700 words for each of these essays. Maybe, I need to learn the virtues of to-the-point answering.

Columbia is the next in line. I plan to leave for my hometown by the end of next week and hope to send my ISB essays for review by that time. Ten days at home would mean a lot of work on Columbia and Chicago applications, both of which are re-applications.

With Columbia, there is a different kind of problem. It does not give you enough space to write as a reapplicant. I have only one essay to pour out all I have this time. However, I am looking at the optional essay too. I have never used it before for any application. Now, I believe is the right time.