Wow..it feels good!!

I was promoted today. I was not expecting it but the mail come and gave me a pleasant surprise. It was even more exciting as I was promoted out of turn in the middle of the year. I made the cutoff by 15 days. In my knowledge, I am the one with least experience who made the cut. I was happy, excited and all smiles after that .
Apart from this happiness, it also poses challenges to me. For starters, it means all my essays written until now have to be modified to include this development. Moreover, a promotion means new responsibilities and new roles, which will put more pressure on my already busy schedule. But, what the hell, I loved it, after all it is always sweet to have a reward for you efforts.
On the application front, I am running behind schedule. My first version of TUCK essays is all set and I am waiting for review comments. I have not started the Chicago essays but I know that I will do most of them over the long weekend. My biggest worry is my recommendations, but I am working towards it.
I am attending TUCK reception next week in Boston and I am really looking fwd to it. I have also scheduled my TUCK visit and interview in the last week of Sep. Apart from this I have all the Chicago essay and application stuff.. This seems to be challenging but isn’t that what a Dream is all about.
Dream it, achieve it and then Dream higher while living in the realized dream

What matter most to you and why??

I have been reading the blog entry of my fellow bloggers on the Stanford essay questions. Although, I am not applying to Stanford myself, this particular question really caught my attention. I had discussion with my friend about this question and the possible answers themes which are possible. With due respect, the best answer theme which came to my mind is
“The thing which most matter to me right now is getting into the Stanford MBA program and rest of my application explains why”. Period. :-)

Feeling Low!!!

My confidence level hit a new nadir yesterday. I am not a great poster on the forums but I stumbled upon this thread on the Wharton S2S forums. I remember cornfedMBA's entry on the profiles in Business week forums, but this is insane.I am all the more demoralized because all of them belong to my demography

I agree, when most of you will say that GMAT scores and experience is just stats and application evaluation is a holistic process, but look at the stats here the avg GMAT is 730+ , the Avg exp is 4+ yr . Moreover, if they are applying to Wharton, my assumptions is they are as good in their thinking is as their scores are. This also explains the wiered phenomena’s like 720 and asked to retake.

This fact has been playing on my mind and has bogged me down for last couple of days. I am trying to convince myself that I should take it in positive manner and work harder on my essays.
Let the power be with me!!! :-).

A meeting with a TUCK Alumni!!!

After lot of searching I was able to meet a TUCK alumnus. I just wanted to meet some one before the upcoming tuck reception in Boston, not only to be better prepare for my essays but also to be able to get a first hand account of the program as soon as possible. I am in New England so I knew that there will surely be some Tuckies around. Hence I started to pull my strings and connection to find a Tuck graduate. But surprisingly, I was not able to contact any one soon. Then finally after 2 weeks, this lady replied to my email. She was from the class of ‘92 and fortunately she was working in the investment management /portfolio management domain which I wanted to pursue too after my MBA.

I set up a half hour telephonic conversation with her a week back. I sent her my questions in advance, and then called at the decided time. It was a fascinating meeting. I listened to her on the various aspects of Tuck for almost 25 minutes. And to be very honest it was enlightening as well as very exciting. There were so many small things about TUCK which is not there in any website or in any blogs. I also discussed the personnel transformation which TUCK is able to bring about in her and the key aspects in her view on a Tuck application.
I am keenly looking forward to the Tuck reception on 7th Sep in Boston.

My school choices!!

In last 3 days, about 4 persons asked me about my school choices on my blog, so I think it is high time that I updated my blog with my school choices.
My school choices are driven by various factors. Of course there is the fit and the my future ambitions and the program focus ,but there is also a heart felt factor about this schools I am going for

TUCK (ED)
CHICAGO (R1)
ISB (R2)
UT Austin / Owen
IESE / INSEAD

The common theme along these schools are Finance/Network/ alumni/History.

Another good TUCK link!!

Here is another good overview of the TUCK application process.
This info is old (last application season), but still most of it is very relevant even in this application year.

Why do I need an MBA??

Sounds silly isn’t it.

“After spending so much effort and energy are you still not clear on this question “

That’s what even I said when I first thought of the question. But more then a year into this process. Having spent enormous time and energy into the GMAT and the apps I have forced my self into answering this question again. There were two voices arguing about this inside me. Me and AlterMe

Me: I love finance. I love share markets. I love it so much so that, I have license to become a registered broker dealer in 2 countries. I am managing my own portfolio for 3 years. I wanted to get into equity analysis or investment banking.

AlterMe: Now where is MBA coming into this?

Me: Most of the fund managers, equity analyst and I Bankers are MBA’s. Most of the firms in these areas recruit from these schools. So if I wanted to get into this. I need to do an MBA. Moreover, I also like to take decisions and lead by example. I wanted to drive things my way professionally. Now to get into such positions or be at least in the competition of getting into such position you need an MBA. Add to it the salary and the status. This is how MBA cojmes in handy

AlterMe: But, The goal,of getting into finance can be achieved by other means as well. For ex. do a CFA or Open your own broking company. Join as a broker in big firms and the try for growth. For the decisions making capability you can always try to open your own firm full time if you have the risk taking appetite and part time if you can manage. And not only will it provide you with opportunity to make decisions, but will test you team and leadership skills as well.

Me: WTF. What are you saying?

AlterMe: The crux of the matter is the goal with which you are trying to convince the ADCOM and yourself that you absolutely need an admission in B-School can be achieved without MBA as well.

Me: Wait a minute, this can not be true .I can not be fooling my self so long with this theory about MBA

Me: Let me think again.


So, I thought again and I came to some diffrent thoughts. Since my conscious past, I have always been a competitor who wants to compete with the best. I always believed in the theory that you are always better in a class where you are the dumbest person then in a class where you are the smartest as your learning in the former is much higher than the latter.

Add to it the zeal you have to be competitive and do what the best of them are doing. This is what fuels your MBA dream from a top B-School. You want to do MBA because you want to be with the best and smartest of the bunch during and after your MBA. You want to change the league in which you are competing. You want to go to the next level where the competitors are tougher and the stakes much higher. That is also the reason why you are attracted towards I banking and the Share markets because you feel the same way about these fields aswell

Any comments and feedback on this brain storming. Whom do you agree with Me or AlterMe. Or am I thinking too much. Or this application process is getting into my head. Please post you comments.

Good Bye K

Today was a day of the mixed feelings. My dear friend K has jumped the fence.
K and I got together about 6 months ago in Feb 2006 when I came to the land of dreams called United States and honestly I can say he was way more then a friend and a colleague. He was closest to the family I have got here.

He has not quit the company. He just moved into another group and probably to another location. But I know deep down inside that without him its not going to be the same. The meetings will lack his comic comments and his witty one liner. Breaks will not be the same fun when we can talk about work. And whenever I will see a pretty gal I am going to miss his review on her.
It is also a bigger setback to me as without him I have a greater challenge at work. More responsibilities, longer hours and with my application process this does not go down well. He was one man who had at least a lead on every problem we had at work. He was the best person to start your analysis with because he will surely have some context about any work related problem you have.

K was my guide to this part of the world when I came here. I have asked him questions on anything and every thing and he answered all of them with utmost patience and skill. The weekend I spent at his place was probably the best of times I had in since I got here.

But I am also happy in a way because I know in our group the hours are long and grueling and it is a thankless job. With his family and kids I also understand the pain and stress he has to endure balancing his work-life balance. I wish him good luck. But some where inside there is kid inside me who is very upset due to the friend he has lost

Take care K, my friend. It was honor to work with you.

Interview with Tuck's Dean

I found these 2 links with interview transcript with Paul Danos, Dean, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth.
Interview 1
Interview 2
I don't know how recent they are but they are good head start if you are just starting to research about Tuck.

New feature and a plan

Recently I came across a chat applet in a couple of blogs that I read I really liked the feature and decided to add it to my own blog.
This is cool functionality, which will allow me to chat with the visitors of my blog real time. I think this is a good idea. Therefore, if any one out there who is reading this blog , please put on you comments in the chat window on the side bar.

On the app front, I am planning to visit the schools I am applying. This requires a lot of advance planning and a lot of money. Nevertheless, I have decided, and I will go there no matter what. This will be a good adventure for me and will keep me busy for a while. I Plan to go to Chicago and Dartmouth. Dartmouth is 4 hr drive from my place while Chicago is a 4 hrs flight. I have to start planning right now and have to look at the finances. My initial research on the Chicago trip reveled that the hotels and the flight will cost me in tune of $ 400. The Dartmouth trip will be about $150. Throw in $100 more as incidental expenses and you have $750 plan layout. I would also like to elaborate on the decisions why I decided to go on these trips, but that will be the topic of some later post.

last 3 days

I have not been very productive in my app process in last 3 days. There are a couple of reasons for this but mostly my time had gone to the X-box that we (my roommate and me) bought over the weekend. I was not a gaming geek until now. However, this has got me hooked.
I have been playing games for at least 3- 4 hrs every day apart from the 10 odd hrs I am putting at work and after 3 hrs of gaming I am so tired that I am not capable of doing any mental work. Overall, I like the Xbox, but found it very demanding on my time. So the lesson of the day is to get away from television and spend more time in contemplation so that that I can generate some intellectual content for my application.
I have short-listed the schools to which I will be applying in Round 1 and I had gathered their essay questions as well. I have also categorized the questions from different school, which are similar in nature. My initial impression about the question is that they are not very simple and you can answer them in multiple ways. The challenge is to give all of the ways a decent shot and then choose the best options among them. Believe me, this is easier said than done.
There is a lot to write in those and even more to think about. I have about 80 odd days to finish them as most of the deadlines are as of mid October
The next post will be about the schools I will be applying to in this fall and the essay questions they have. I will be discussing my school choice in some later post. Right now, I can only say that as my introduction says I am aiming for the sky.

My GMAT Experience

I thought of putting My GMAT experience which I took in Aug 2005. I have picked it up from a post which I put in a forum. I have arranged it in chronological order
April 2005
I decide about it...started the ground work did a lot of brainstorming and
Discussion with people and realized that GMAT is all about practice, mind you I have not started studying at all then
As it is with lot of ppl ...I am a very social guy with lot of frenz and I also hold
Responsibility for a lot of stuff in my workplace .so I realized my biggest problem will be putting in regular hours
May 2005
I made a Plan.....I looked out for opportunities at workplace and.... tried to find a assignment which is less hectic, and rewarding at the same time ...opportunity came...there was a consulting opportunity for one of our business associate in the same city I worked in, the work was very good and rewarding but less hectic ...owing to my repo I forced my managers to get that assignment
Then for the regular hours, I blindly joined one of the coaching institutes for weekend course not because I need assistance but as it will help me in putting regular hours at week end and also give me that kick of exceeding other at the class
Then I had a long hard look at my calendar to see where I can schedule my Test ...I looked at days where I can find few continuous off days ...I zeroed in to 13th 14 th 15 th august as this was a long weekend in India, applied for leave on 16th and then booked a slot. Now I have 4 days off for my exam. and I wasted only one leave for it
But the slot was already full....I decided to ping the site daily ...and in 10 days I got 16th august ...5pm to 9 pm slot
Preparation
June 2005(1 to 15th June)
Gave my first Diagnostic 490......honestly when I saw the score felt a .........ouch
Rustiness galore and verbal was difficult.....I decided put in a week and then Gave PP1 ....got 650
(15th to 30th June)
I started out with again with a plan... bcoz of my analysis I was sure that I need not to do many books...also there was my classroom coaching...so I decide that I will do only KAPLAN 2005 and OG.
Finished my Kaplan in 10 days including all RC and read Sahil and spiedy notes .started reading question on this forum.....Decided to give a test every week
While in workplace I build up a rapport so good the even on days I come in at 11pm or go at 4PM no body has a problem
I was lucky to come along a post which I used very frequently .....guys just read this post ........the plan here is too good and so are the resources
http://daveformba.blogspot.com/2005/06/what-one-person-did-t o-score-790-on.html
(1st to 20th July )
Started out on the OG by this time my strike rate was
95%+ in Cr
90%+ in Rc and
80% in SC
Quant I was pretty comfortable but there were some weakness in DS of number system
Here I started the OG every day ...I will do 20 q each from any 3 portion ( CR,Sc PS or DS) I will treat each set as a mini test and try to improve my score...I marked on the Og what question in each section I got wrong and also those which really challenged me or were good . I planned to use them for my revision
I also kept a note book noting my errors frequently ..This way I was zeroing in on my most frequent errors
I finished CR and SC by 20th July and started on 1000 sc
After my plan went slightly awry...there was a request at my workplace to take a 10 days training session...I have to do that...I will speak in office daily for 5-6 hours and by the time I reach home I was exhausted...cant study...I was becoming frustrated ....and irritated
20 July to 1st august
26 th July gave Kaplan test1 630 , felt bad but still had hope , 27th July gave Kaplan 2 590 I went sick ...went to a doctor he told I have a high Blood pressure ( 160-100) which is dangerous ...........he asked me too cool down ...........I took a break ..........even thought of postponing the test
1st to 10th august
1 st august I fought back...went back and analyzed the test .....Noted my mistakes...... which were weak Rc and taking it easy on CR due to over confidence ......I set out a plan to remedy these
I counted the no of RC passage in OG and calculated that if I do 3 passage in a day I will finish them in 12 days ...and I planned to do 40 quant question a day from OG( 20 PS 20 DS) . For Sc I started revising OG …finally finished Sc twice....
Last 4 days
I think here I lost it a bit...after so much effort I did not have plan for last 5 days ...I was not sure what I was going to do ...what will I cover ...just gave the twp new power preps and sat idle ...only thing I worked on is giving test at same time of my actual test and try meditating for half hour to ease anxiety.....
D day
Reached test venue 45 minute before (mistake again) waited out side for 45 minutes ....the started on the test Quant I was pretty sure I did not get more then 2 - 3 wrong .............verbal in first 10 I was cautious got a RC in 4th question and a bold face on 24th ...on looking at bold face I felt confident. ........finished the test looked at a score ....did not knew how to react ...but was slightly disappointed

My Scores
1) Princeton Diag 490
2) PP1 650 before Og
3) Princeton 1 710
4) Princeton 2 610
5) Princeton 3 680
6) Princeton 4 700
7) Kap 1 630
8) Kap 2 590
9) Princeton 5 580
10) PP new 1 700
11) PP new 2 710

My Analysis
I agree to what most other test takers said but here is what I did different
1) Don’t get bogged down with question of Kaplan, Princeton etc...usually there are poorly researched questions and the answers are either too hazy or too obvious...there is no competition to the question of OG
2) The OG and Gmat question are of very good quality which are entirely solvable ...not like some the question which appear on forums
3) Guys , if you really want a good score ...really go for it...don’t compromise on any thing...money resources etc....don’t let a few bucks make you weep later. what I mean is don’t compromise on resource...get the best book ..arrange the best environment for your study...do what ever it takes to get there ....believe me ...spending some thing and getting there is much better that saving some and missing out
4) OG RULES......ate least for Sc ...do Og twice ...I was in a situation where ....on reading a question I could really tell its answer ( not the option) without looking at the answer choices
5) Use PP test judiciously...I did not analyze my scores in new pp ...and my score remained there ...if I had it would have increased slightly
6) Don’t overwork on AWA in the test
what I men is work on your AWA before hand ….so that you don’t have to work too hard on the actual test and you can save some energy for other question ….otherwise ppl spend a lot of energy in writing essays