Best of Blogging - Best MBA Advice

The Clear Admit Best of Blogging 2008-09 results were declared 6 days ago. Too bad I could not make it to the top 10 Applicants blog for the Clear Admit Best of Blogging 2008-09. But I'm honored to receive a mention in the Best MBA Advice Category. The judges, including Clear Admit staff and other bloggers included celebrity judges Dawna Clarke, Director of Admissions at the Tuck School of Business, Eric Bahn of Beat The GMAT, and Brad Garrison (a.k.a. Hella).

As I said earlier, this is a motivation for me to write more on the topic.

Thank you Clear Admit.

Nominated for Best of Blogging 2008-09

April has been a month of surprises and events for me. I joined the Indian School of Business (ISB) on 11th April and began my MBA. As many have heard, an MBA can be too hectic. So I wanted to enjoy my share of free time before starting the stressful year. I traveled to Goa and got tanned on the beaches. Then I went further down in Kerala (God's Own Country) and visit the tea estates of Munnar and the back waters in Alleppey. It was indeed a holiday well spent and got me ready for the MBA.


2 days ago when I got my laptop back from the local IT guys from ISB, after they made sure that my laptop is ready to use here, I got another pleasant surprise. I have been nominated by Clear Admit for their Best of Blogging Awards 2008-09. I feel honored and motivated at the same time to update my blog more often.

For those who do not know, Clear Admit is an admissions consulting company that also have an MBA Admissions Blog that helps share information by other applicants and current students. In addition, they also keep updated on various activities happening in B-schools all over the world.

I really feel elated and proud. This goes out to all my readers who are my real motivation. I wish to keep updating my blog on application process and life at ISB.

My Journey to ISB

Now when I have decided that I will be joining ISB (Indian School of Business) in April, I thought of writing the whole story down. I want to share my story of why I applied to ISB again and again and why was an MBA so important to me. Ok, I know "An MBA is just a means to an end and not an end in itself". It's just that with each passing year, my aspirations changed and what started as a necessity without reason became a reason for my career progression.

How it all began

In my final year of engineering I decided to write the Common Admision Test (CAT) for admission to IIMs (Indian Institute of Management). I pursued engineering from a well recognised college and for some random reason wanted a brand for my MBA too. So IIMs were the obvious choice. Little did I know the significance of an MBA and just wanted to follow the herd going into the Goldmans, Lehmans and McKinseys. But anyhow, I just did not want "some" job. I wrote CAT and secured a decent enough percentile, that was good enough to satisfy MDI but my verbal was not good enough for any of the IIMs. I sat for MDI interview and cleared it. Then the IIM bug hit me again and decided that if I ever do an MBA, it will be from a top school.

I joined one of the largest IT Services firm in India. I excelled at work and at the same time, religiously wrote CAT every year. CAT for me became a routine, like a festival that "has" to be celebrated every year. Every time I was stuck with 98 something percentile, not good enough for IIMs. Man! High population has its own effects.

2 years passed. It was November again and I screwed up CAT. Again. Then I looked at ISB as an "option". Ok, I have some idea what I want to do with my life and an MBA was utterly necessary. ISB's R2 deadline was due Jan 15 and I had one month to prepare. This preparation included writing GMAT and the essays. Tough task. But I decided to give it a shot. It was pure gamble with my career. In fact, I should give this warning to my readers "Don't try this at home!!!" I wrote my GMAT in a month's time on Jan 5 2005 and secured a 710. In another 10 days ISB app was in. I received an interview call, screwed it up and the result was an obvious Ding.

The Second Attempt

The first attempt was an eye opener. I realized that there is something that I lack and that something was professional maturity. I would only gain that with proper experience. I decided to take additional responsibilities at work, looked at the bigger picture always and thus gained some good recognition.

But still, there was something missing. I needed something different now and decided to make a move to another company that would provide me with a completely different exposure. I joined a product firm in a dvision that was formed after that giant acquired a startup. This was something unique. I always looked for opportunities to contribute towards a change in my organisation that I work for. This helped me in two ways. Excellent recognition, fast promotion and greater responsibilities were one. At the same time, I strengthened my application for an MBA.

Till the year before this I was religiously writing CAT. The CAT festival was celebrated every year.

Then came sanity and I wrote another ISB application. In R2. Same story again. Interview followed by a Ding. This was a setback. I was pretty sure this time but something went wrong.

My Confidence

By this time, I had started doubting my abilities. Maybe I am not an MBA material at all. Let's excel at what I have. But it was temporary. I kept telling myself that I am strong and I have to get into my target industry (why MBA). M/B/B (Guess) became my dream and I firmly believed that I am an MBA material. In 2006-2007 I strengthened my application. I spent a lot of time on introspection and assigned "Why?" to everything that I had done in life till then. This helped me a lot.

I wrote the admission test for Mensa and cleared it.
I started this blog and focused on improving my writing skills. (Ok maybe I'm not too god now also but you should have seen how I wrote 3 years ago)
I got a substantial international work experience.
I made significant positive changes at my work place.
I wrote GMAT again. (You may ask why again after a 710. I had some reasons)

I was back on my feet again.

The Third Attempt

Should have been my last attempt. I wanted to leave no stone unturned. I wrote GMAT again. I worked harder on my essays and was ready.

Of course, it was a different time and I was admitted. I had achieved what I wanted to and am now prepared to begin another journey. Although I felt a sense of achievement, I knew it was not and is a new beginning in my professional life.

The ISB admit means a new beginning. It means that I am capable. It means that I am part of a group from whom I have a lot to learn from. It means I am in.

My ISB Interview Experience - 2008 - Part Deux

I was happy. I was excited. I got the much awaited interview call from ISB. This was my third interview with ISB and I am not ashamed of this fact. I have never failed. To me, all unsuccessful ventures were termed as "learning experiences" and not failures. But it was the third time and that got me highly nervous during the interview.

Anyway, it was 8-Nov 2:50 pm. My interview was scheduled for 3:20 pm. I reached the venue just to find the whole floor deserted. All the rooms around were empty. "Did I read the correct date?" Yes it was. Then I rushed to the Admissions Office just to find out that the interview venues had been shifted to the Executive Housing (EH) because of Belgium's King's visit. I found out that had I come through the main entrace, there was a security personnel guiding you to the new venue. I was already on campus so I did not use the main entrance. Anyways, I was late and I had to run now for my interview. Gosh, it was so hot that day. By the time I reached EH, I was sweating. Thanks to the sun and the suit, I was feeling so fresh now. I got the 100 words essay on the word "fathom"; with one hand I was wiping my sweat and trying to write with second calmly. I was blacked out. Where was I? Did I prepare for this interview? What answers did I prepare? What do I have to say? What's happening?

At around 3:40 I was called in. There were three people: an adcom senior person (M), a lady from the adcom, Jayshree (F) and a current student (S). I just sat down with the essay sheet in my hand. I expected them to ask for it but they didn't, immediately.

[[ I am writing each and everything that happened in the interview including the answers I gave. I know I am out of the race but I want to help R2 applicants and other readers of my blog. ]]

F: So you are applying for the third time. What happened the last two times?
Me: Well, the forst time was in 2005, and I was waitlisted after the interview.
F: Oh.. (asking another panelist) Was there a waitlist policy?
F: (To me) So why weren't you selected?
Me: The feedback that I received...
F: No. Not the feedback. What do you think were the reasons? How did the interview go?
Me: Ma'am I believe the interview went great. I think I wasn't prepared for an MBA at that point of time. I had 2.5 years of work-experience.
F: Ok, What happened the second time?
Me: Last time I applied in 2007. In fact, I was interview earlier this year.
F: So you were called for an interview again?
Me: (C'mon, I'm not that bad) Yes Ma'am. The intervew went great again. I got the feedback that I needed to show more energy and enthusiasm during the interview. Based on that and based on the discussions that I had with current students and alums, I think I was not able to present myself effectively.

F: Ok.. So tell me. What are your career goals?
Me: I want to open my own network integration firm 5-6 years down the line. I have had good amount of exposure in telecom business ranging from telecom software services to product development. But before that...
F: To open your own firm.. (Me: oh please let me complete) why do you need an MBA?
Me: Ma'am before starting my venture, I want to gain experience in the business developement area of a high-tech firm. Once I feel I have gained sufficient exposure I will take the plunge. An MBA will provide me with the required knowledge and I will build a sound network, that will help me again when I start on my own.

S: So what if you don't get selected? Will you never achieve your goal?
Me: Of course I will. I will find ways to get into sales or business development in my organisation. But that will take more time. An MBA will facili...
F: No we are not asking why an MBA will help. Anyway, why are you so desperate about doing an MBA?
Me: I am not desperate about doing an MBA. (I was totally blacked out by this point. Somebody, please get me out of here) I have a specific plan in mind and I am working towards it.

M: So when you said high-tech firms, what are the firms that you are looking at?
Me: Well, high-tech firms not only include telecom firms but other networking firms too. Like Cisco, BT, for example that offer BD roles in ISB.
M: Ok. Why you only chose network integration business? Isn't there too much competition there?
Me: I agree there is. But over the years I have gained competence understanding the technology and I think I will do well. As far as competition is concerned there are firms like X, Y, etc that serve GSM or 3G networks. I want to enter into 4G equipments and thus would target only a small segment at first.

S: What is your goal? MBA or ISB?
Me: (I think they had already made up that third time means two times failure. Let him go) Sir I think it's neither. Opening my own firm is my goal and MBA is just a means to achieve that.
F: There are so many technocrats these days that venture into entrepreneurship without an MBA and are successful. So why do you want an MBA?
Me: (didn't I already tell that?) blurted out the same thing.

F: Okay, your application says you organized an event in college... (Specfics about that incident)
Me: (Smiling) Well, that was one interesting event. (Told them in detail)
F: Tell me one thing. When I moved from "Why MBA" to extra curriculars I saw a big smile of relief on your face. Were you not feeling comfortable during that time?
Me: I agree I did smile (I was smiling then too) but that was not a smile of relief. I was just reminded of that event and thus smiled.

Some more extra curricular discussion.

S: I see you are a Mensa member. What is Mensa and what prompted you to join it?
Me: Answered in detail.
S: Ok. solve this puzzle for me.
Me: (Took some time. Halfway through I hought of giving up too. but finally managed to solve it)

F: I'll give you a simpler problem now. Tell me how many paper cups would be consumed in ISB per day.
Me: (Good. estimation question. I was more confident now) I was solving and as the usual tips say, I was trying to think aloud. I was calculating weekly numbers. She stopped me twice correcting "Just give me the daily numbers"
Me: Sorry ma'am I was just trying to think aloud.

I got so confused by that time by interruptions that I mixed up some weekly and daily numbers and gave the answer as 3000. I think it is huge and I deviated a lot.

F: Ok. Thanks a lot.
Me: (What?? That's it? No "Do you want to tell something else?" No "Do you have any questions for us?")

If that's it, then that's it. I got it up, thanked everyone and left. The interview lasted around 30 minutes and I did not get a good feeling after that. Went for a swim later and washed away the worries.

I ruined it and it took me 2 days to get over it. In the meantime I met Ashwanth who had come over for interview the next day. Ashwanth, I think you have a good chance. All the best.

I am off to my other apps now.

ISB Interview Invite and Other Updates

It has been more than 3 weeks since I updated my blog. I have been rather extremely busy at work. I traveled to Germany for around 10 days for customer meetings. I must say it was an immense learning experience in terms of exposure to real customer expectations management and product release planning. Anyway, this visit and loads of work is my excuse to submitting only one application in R1 (Tuck), in addition to ISB. Yeah, I know I am bad at planning, time management, etc. But now I am targeting at least 3 other schools in R2.

ISB Interview Invite

I received in invitation to interview with the ISB Adcom on 8th November at 15:20 hours. Last weekend, I met a couple of friends and acquaintances who had come to ISB for interview. It was good to get me into the feel of the interview and help me get into the interview mode. Well, there are some advantages of staying on ISB campus.

Anyway, I am off to preparing for ISB interview. This being my third ISB interview, I want to overprepare and leave no stone unturned. Let's see what happens. All the best to others who are yet to interview and to those who have already interviewed.

The MBA Tour

I visited the MBA Tour in Hyderabad, India on Wednesday. It started at 4:30 pm but I could only reach by 7:30 pm, as I was stuck in an office meetings. I missed most of the Alumni Panel Discussions, but the fair just started at 7:30 pm.

Anyway, I won't say I benefited a lot from the fair in terms of knowing about schools. The schools I am applying to did not participate. I had not heard the names of many schools even. But nevertheless, I thought of visiting the stalls. The popular names visiting were Stern, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown in the US, and then there were others like RSM Erasmus, Queens Canada, HEC Paris, SDA Bocconi among the internationals. Not many alumni members participated but the ones that did were quite impressive.

Impressive Alum
I was particularly impressed by the Rotterdam School's (RSM) alum. He was a quite senior person in the business development of Satyam. First, his was quite an impressive personality, and the person was talking sense and not BS which can be found on any B-school's website. Second, he believed in what he was saying and thus sounded quite confident. He had a very strong pitch for RSM sounded committed for the school.

The usefulness of MBA Fairs
Others worth talking to were Cornell and Stern's representatives. I did came to know quite a bit about the school after talking to them. The one thing that is worth taking from MBA Tours is getting a feel of the school by talking to its alums and admissions staff. For international applicants who cannot visit the school personally must make sure that they visit these fairs and get the feel of the schools they are planning to apply to.

If you are sure where you are applying and are also sure of the fit to the school, these events are a way to show your love to the school. If you have applied, you can talk to the admission staff and talk about your application. If you are yet to apply, you can use this opportunity to resolve any queries that you have about the school. This will certainly help in answering the "Why this school" question.

What I did not like
There was very less participation from the top-tier schools. I know they do not need to market themselves in India, but at least they should participate just to show their support towards the applicants. Anyway, since the maximum international applicants are from India, I'm sure they are earning a lot from India in terms of application fee. This should be their chance to give back. ;)

On a serious note, prospectives visiting these events should also be well prepared in terms of what they ask the admissions staff. Visiting these fairs and just to gain some airtime, people ask questions like "My GMAT is so-and-so.. should I apply?" Come on guys, show a little professionalism, do some homework. Another category of questions that I guess shows no homework on the applciants' part is "What is your average GMAT score?". The best conversation I overheard:

Applicant: "I am an IT Applicant"
School Staff: smiling. "I guess everybody here works in IT"

A: What is the average GMAT in your school for people from IT background?
SS: I guess all engineers want some formula to calculate their chances of admission based on your background, GMAT, etc. But believe me there is none.

And then the general advice follows.

Anyway, overall it was a good experience for me. But I still wish my dream schools should have participated.

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The Love of Tuck - A look at Tuck essays

I have submitted just one application till now and there are at least 3 more to go for R1. I say "at least" because I'm too busy at work, there's a visit to the client site scheduled for the last week of October. So practically, I have very less time. I just want to squeeze in as much I can, not compromising on the quality of the essays.

I am targetting the following, at least:

Tuck (EA 15th Oct)
Darden (28th Oct)
Haas (4 Nov)
LBS R1 (14th Oct).

I have removed INSEAD from the list since I will apply to INSEAD for the Jan 2010 cycle. I want the internship and I am no superman. The essays are progressing very very slowly. I am getting only 1-2 hours daily at max to work on my apps. One thing I have learnt during this process. I am bad at time management. I know some people are good. Awesome Soni!!! Keep it up. As of now, I have completed rough drafts of Tuck Essays 1 and 2, written bullets for Tuck essay 4 and just now it struck me what to write for essay 3.

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you?

This one was pretty straightforward. A typical career goals essay where I am following this format -> What I have done so far -> Where I want to be -> Why Tuck. The funny thing is, the more I read and research about Tuck, the more I fall in love with that place. I have never visited the place, but I have already started imagining what it would be like in Hanover. Being in a close-knit community where the alumni is so attached to the school and concerned about the people, where the faculty and the staff is so approachable, would be awesome. I just learnt that within 5 minutes of walking distance, there is a canoeing club where you can rent a canoe for just $5. Isn't it great!!!

2. Tuck defines leadership as “inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things.” We believe great things and great leadership can be accomplished in pursuit of business and societal goals. Describe a time when you exercised such leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?

Wow!!! A bg question. But again, straightforward for me. I just picked up an example from work where I did have an impact on my team and myself. But my concern here is that example is more than 3 years old. I have chosen that situation because it is very impactful and the circumstances were difficult. I hope it will not be perceived as too old and leave an impression on the adcom that there is no significant leadership experence in my life within the last 3 years???

3. Discuss the most difficult constructive criticism or feedback you have received. How did you address it? What have you learned from it?

This was where I was stuck thinking for the past one week. I just wrote down everything I could remember from my personal life to professional where I have received feedbacks. Of course, there were many instances of the same. But picking the one that left an impact on me to a large extent was a difficult one. I wanted to pick an example where it had an effect on my personality and to which I could relate my current being. In addition, I wanted to pick a feedback on which I have developed a lot and that weakness of mine, or the area of improvement has been long taken care of. So that example had to be old.

I wrote down my current area of work, what I do and how I do. Then I thought "was I the same 3-4 years ago?" If I were in the same situation or role a couple of years back, had I performed with the same level of confidence? No. Then what changed me? What was that "moment of truth"? This approach of thinking helped me and I was very well able to think of one such situation.

4. Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

Of course, differentiate yourself. This application thing is like I am writing a personal diary. But I do appreciate the process. The more I introspect, the more I know myself, and the more I know what to improve in me.

My advice for everyone: Even if you do not want to do an MBA. Just apply to a B-school. Think of the business you are in from a larger perspective and write down a couple of B-schools' application essays. It is an excellent introspection excercise and it will bring out a lot from within, that you will appreciate.

Well, I should get back to my essays. Rough drafts are not reviewed. Only first drafts are. My personal deadline for Tuck essays: 2 days for the first drafts.

ISB Application Submitted

I hope I can justify my long break from blogging. I was too much into the ISB App. And finally when it is submitted, I am feeling a sigh a relief.

The fact that I am staying on the ISB campus has certainly helped me. Having interacted with so many people here, I developed very good relations. So there were a lot of people to review my essays and provide valuable comments, beyond pointing out cosmetic errors. Anyway, the night of 14th September (15th being the deadline) was very long. On 13th, I thought my essays are near completion and I made 14th afternoon as my target. But on 14th morning, my final reviewer gave solid comments that required me change my 1st essay completely.

I spent the whole day on the 1st essay itself and getting that reviewed twice again by other friends here. But at the end, I was satisfied. The new essay had come out very well and was a true reflection of who I am. I learnt a lot of things with respect to essay writing. I was highlighting a lot of aspects of my personality, but I was not highlighting my best. When people probe you, that brings out the best in you and that is what you have to focus on in your application essays.

I was awake till 6 am on 15th and slept only after I had made the final payment. There were a lot of things to do. The word limit specified by ISB (300) was too stringent. And guess what, you are not even allowed 301 words. So I guess it is strict and it involves a lot of word play, reframing of sentences, etc. At times, you feel the essence or the meaning is lost if you forcefully eat up words. So it is advisable that you complete your drafts long before the deadline and try to reframe the sentences in a logical manner so as to not lose the meaning. Believe me, it is possible.

Monday was a bad day since I showed up at office only at 3pm. It took me two days to get bac to my normal schedule. Now too much of procrastination and break from essays, I have to get back to another set. Now let's see what I have:

Tuck (EA 15th Oct)
INSEAD (R1 1st Oct)
Darden (28th Oct)
Haas (4 Nov)

Well, it's a pretty difficult target considering I have a lot going on at work and a few work related visits are also planned in October that will not allow me to give my 100% to essay writing during that time. But then, I have no other choice but to squeeze out every minute and put into essay writing. You do not procrastinate over important decisions in life. Let's get to Tuck, I love that school.

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GMAT Done

It has been five days, and I am still not convinced whether to be happy for a good percentile score and think that I am still not able to cross that mental "Indian" barrier of 750. I scored a 730 on my GMAT. If I were from . . . Genovia (Yes, there is a country named Genovia) or if I had been working closely with the PM to get the nuclear deal done, I would have applied to HBS with 730. Clean sweep.

But alas! I hail from India, and of course, by chance, I am an engineer, not in IT though. 730 is a crime man!!! Below 750, you are a piece of crap. Anyway, surprisingly people have been congratulating me for my "great" score.

But then, there are positives. This is my second attempt at GMAT. My previous attempt was 3 years ago when I scored a 710. There are some valid reasons I retook the GMAT. I did show an improvement here. 20 points up. This Thursday, I came back from the test centre and was analyzing my performance/improvement. Since it is a fact that overall GMAT scores are on a rise, my 710, 3 years ago would have been a 680 today. So it is a considerable improvement. I am writing a debrief on my GMAT prep. There are a lot of things that GMAT prep teaches you. Discipline is one of them.

So all in all, it was good. No use thinking "If I could have...". Now I am free. All set to attack the apps.

Thanks to Adekku, Starwalker and Goneguru for their wishes for my exam. A late thanks though. Was busy partying after my GMAT. ;)

Manhattan GMAT CAT Test Review

This weekend, I wrote my first diagnostic full length GMAT practice CAT. While arbit browsing I landed up on Manhattan GMAT site where I learned about their free full length practice test. I had heard good review about the Manhattan material so thought of giving it a shot. Well, first my scores:

Overall: 660 (86 percentile)
Verbal: 32 (67 percentile... too bad)
Quant: 49 (90 percentile)

The review:

1. Quant more difficult than the actual GMAT. I found the quant section to be more difficult than the actual GMAT. I am usually pretty confident in the quant section but this time I was stumped. I spent nearly 4 minutes on some questions. Well, one of the reasons might have been that I am picking up this material after a long time. But in any case, while reviewing my mistakes, I took note of all the strategies which were good and those that I am supposed to remember. I am maintaining a doc that has all those "tricks" that I should take care of while solving specific questions. I think it was a good experience, since if you practice with a difficult set, you prepare yourself better for the worst.

2. An actual CAT for practice is mandatory. A lot of material is available online for practice. But your performance in those tests is not truly reflective of what your G-Day performance will be. So for practice, I feel you should go for an online test that closely simulates the actual CAT. For the ignorant souls, the GMAT CAT, or the Computer Adaptive Test, as the name suggests is adaptive to the user's responses.

In the words of Princeton Review:

The Computer Adaptive Test always begins by giving you a medium question. If you get it right, the computer gives you a slightly harder question. If you get it wrong, the computer gives you a slightly easier question, and so on.

3. The Verbal Section closely represents the actual GMAT. I was highly impressed with the Verbal section of Manhattan. It had a fine balance of the right mix of questions with varied difficulty level. Although I did not perform that well, as I expected, I feel it gave me a closely accurate idea of where I stand and which section I should focus on.

4. The optional sectional or per question time limit. This was an amazing and a new feature that I found really helpful, especially for practice. Before each section starts, the test asks you to set the time for each section. Although the real test has a sectional limit of 75 minutes for Quant and Verbal each, here we can set the time depending on how you want to practice. You can also set per question time limit. Let's say you want to target 2 minutes per question for Quant section (37 questions and 75 minutes). So if you are targeting to improve your speed, feel free to set the per question time. A third option is also available to make it without any time limit.

So it depends, what your focus is and at what stage your preparation is. If you want to practice accuracy, forget the time, just go ahead with the test questions. If you want to practice speed, set your target time.

Overall, I feel taking the full length test was good for me as it tested my stamina too. Man, I had never sat for this long, especially for a test in a long time. Believe me, you need this stamina for the actual day to get your brain running till the last question. In addition, this test helped me analyze my weak areas and was an eye opener for me. Just a month and half more to go... phew.

4 Reasons Why I Decided to write GMAT again

After a lot of introspection, I decided to write GMAT again. I have registered for the test and have given myself 2.5 months for preparation. I feel that should be sufficient given that I have already written GMAT once. Since I HAVE to do an MBA this year, I do not want to leave any stone unturned and want to be well prepared.

It is not that I have a very low GMAT score for now that I have decided to take a shot again. I had scored a decent 710, well above average of many top schools. There a couple of reasons for doing so:

1. Too old GMAT score. My current GMAT score is more than 3 years old. Many friends have told me that if it is still valid (GMAT score is valid for 5 years), why do I need to write it again. My argument is, GMAT is indicative of an applicant's academic abilities. A decent score 3 years ago does not indicate the person's current abilities. So this might turn off B-schools. A fresh score would be an accurate reflection.

2. Compensate for average acads. My undergraduate acads are nice but not the kind I would boast of. To compensate for that I need a good enough GMAT score that I won't have to explain.

3. Skewed score. My previous score is a little, ok ok, a lot skewed where I score 51 in quant and early thirties in verbal. I'm not sure how B-school adcoms perceive it. But I personally am not happy with it. So this is an attempt to level the scores.

4. Want to be above the average, all things being equal. I am, from a not-so-typical IT background (read Indian/IT/male). I have a lot of things to differentiate myself, but on the GMAT front, I am well below my sample space. Most of the candidates whom I'll be compared to would have scored more than me. I want to be in the upper half. In the worst case, if they have to choose between person X and me, all other things being equal (I know, I know...), they should choose me based on a higher GMAT score.

Am I over confident? I don't think so, I just explained the reasons for me to take another shot at GMAT.

Where do I start
1. The first test of GMAT Prep, the software provided by www.mba.com, to assess my current standing. I heard quant has become tougher after Pearson has taken over GMAT administration. Let's see.
2. Book, to start with, I'll go with Princeton Review's Grammar Smart. I really liked that book, that it helped me clear my concepts and was an immense help in the Sentence Correction Section. Basically, the approach that was followed in that book, made Sentence Correcction feel like mathematics. there are pre-defined rules, you just have to follow those.
3. Then I'll think of picking other books, like Prince Review, Kaplan or OG - The Official Guide to GMAT.

A note for my readers:
I am very keen on buying the OG for GMAT Verbal. I am looking for reviews on htat book if someone has used it. Is it worth spending money on? Or if there is any other recommendation for verbal specifically, please do recommend, I'll be grateful.

My ISB Interview Experience - 2008

This post is coming nearly a month after my last one. I know the frequency had been very less and I so much want to be regular on my blog. Anyways, I had my ISB interview on the 23rd of January at the ISB Admissions Office, Hyderabad.

My "Profile" as people have the interpretation of the term:
GMAT 710
Close to 5 years of work-ex in IT Services and Telecom Product firm (Infosys and Qualcomm)
Decent Acads
Decent extra-currics
3 months international experience as a lead

My interview was scheduled at 2 pm and I reached there by 1:20 pm. Was interacting with other waiting applicants when I was given a paper for a write-up on "Finesse". Frankly speaking, I had no idea what the word exactly meant. I knew it is something related to putting perfection in your creation and built something around it. Took some 10 minutes to write and then continued chatting with other interviewees.

Was called in at around 2:10 pm. There were 3 interviewers in the panel. I do not recall the names of two of them (excuse me for the nervousness at the time, was finding it hard to concentrate). The guy who led me in was Joe, is one of the adCom members and I met him first in 2004 when I attended the the ISB Information Session in Bangalore.

Anyways, so here here goes the interview dialogue with P as the Panel member and N as me:

P: So you applied in 2006 too, did you get a feedback on why you were not selected? Were you interviewed?
N: Yes Sir, I was waitlisted after the interview. As per the feedback I received, I guess I was not able to convey my reasons for pursuing an MBA properly.

P: So would you tell the reason now?
N: Told the reason for an MBA and my backing work-ex.

P: So you were in Australia? What did you learn about the multi-cultural experience as you have written?
N: Told them about my experiences, the people I met and a little about the challenging project.

P: What was the challenge in the project and how did you face it?
N: complete description of the experience.

P: Okay, so what do you do apart from work? What are your passions?
N: Told them about my interests in painting, dancing, reading and the recently developed interest in blogging. Talked about blogging in detail, covering my blog and the current trends in blogging.

P: What do you write in your blog. Tell us about what you have written.
N: Gave them a description of the topics on which I write. In addition, I gave them a pointer on the most popular article on my blog which is the ISB application essays analysis.

The discussion became interesting from here when they asked me to share the analysis with them. We had a very healthy discussion on the latest essay topics and my views on them.

P: Okay, so what companies are you looking for post MBA?
N: Gave them a couple of names related to my field (telecom) where I would like to be in that can offer me the role I want.

P: What specific role are you looking for?
N: explained it.

P: I see you have learnt French. To what level do you know the language and why did you learn it?
N: Told them that I have completed it till Level I where I can have basic conversation in present tense, and my motivation behind learning it.

That was it. I asked a couple of questions on their courses which could help me in my entrepreneurial venture. Another question on the current status that ISB has applied for rankings and its future impact.

All in all, it was a very friendly discussion. No grilling involved. I am not sure what to make out of this. Just keeping my fingers crossed till 15th Feb.

My advice: you should know what you have written and have a convincing experience to back everything. Just be yourself and know your application well.

ISB Interview Invite!!!

The fact that I am a reapplicant did not quite instill that excitement in me on receiving the interview invite email. I will be satisfied only by winning the complete battle, that is, on a final admit. But, I have put in a lot of effort this time into my essays, I must say. On reading my previous essays (was waitlisted previously), I could feel the innocence of a young applicant and an immature mind. It has been two years now and my essays, and of course my personality, show a lot more maturity in terms of my aspirations and my experiences.

Of course, this is a personal opinion and it would matter only when the ISB adCom feel the same. For me, the tryst for an MBA had been a very long journey and I will share my story with everyone once I get into a program. This journey would end where another journey would start on a separate dimension. Enough of philosophical blabbering, my interview is on 23rd January, 2008 in Hyderabad at 2 pm.

Now is the time to reopen all those emails on the isb-pgp group where R1 applicants have shared their interview experiences. The first thing would be to collate all of them and prepare a set of questions. Next obvious step - hack my application. Read through all my essays and prepare all possible questions that could arise. Keep an example handy for all situations and strengths mentioned. I'll probably forward my application to a couple of experienced friends and ask them to point questions from that.

Let's see what happens this time.

One Down!!! ISB!!!

It has been a really long time since I am off the blog. There were a lot of things happening and keeping me on my toes. I got sick, got well, submitted the ISB app, got panicky at the end, and finally on 15th Nov, 10 pm, I clicked the submit button.

At 8:30 pm, I got some review comments that required me to change a lot of my second essay, my option of million dollars was not very convincing and some rewording was required. I was on the verge of a heart attack when suddenly I saw a red coloured message flashing on ISB's website saying that the deadline had been moved to 16th. Although I was relieved but did not want to push it to one more day so I skipped dinner and completed my application.

As soon as I got over with that, I got busy with my pending work at office. It is no longer a 9 to 5 job. It is 9 to 10 literally speaking (it is not 1 hour duration. With a little IQ applied, it would translate to a duration of 13 hours). And then came the festive season - Diwali. I believe Diwali is not well spent if it is not spent with your family. So I was on a break, a real break and wanted to forget work and application for a few days.

And since I have been back, I had attended an out-station wedding and worked even more. Now I realized that again I have little time left if I want to complete at least 3 US applications. Those include Darden, Anderson and Haas. I cannot cut down this list as these are my dream schools where I think I stand a chance in at least one.

So all this has been happening in my life. Now I am off to my application and would be regular on the blog. There is an interesting story associated with my ISB application. Will share it ones I am done with the interview and final results. :)

Slipping the Deadline

UCLA Anderson R1 deadline is 24 Nov and my essays are still in draft stage. From whatever is in my hands (essays, et al), I think if I sit for days and nights, I can complete them on time. But without a review, they are incomplete and I do not think without a review, I would know how my essays are perceived by another person. And THAT is an important input. The other things, like my resume is just done, my first recommender has sent in his recommendation. The only thing remaining is the essays.

I know I have excuses. I was too damn busy with my work. But I do believe that if something is important for you, you will find time to complete it, no matter how busy you are.

Ok, I agree I am procrastinating and this time it has hit me hard. I have to work on this bad habit of mine.

In the meanwhile, Darden R1 deadline is also approaching (Nov 1) and I sincerely do not wish to miss that. I will continue to work on Anderson app for a while and apply ASAP as it is a rolling cycle of admissions. Darden's 1 essay draft is done. I know what content I have to write in the other two. Another big task achieved - found out contacts in Darden and Anderson who are my undergrad alumni. They are of great help. In addition, they will be my potential reviewers and the source of all inside info.

Is there anyone else in the same boat - missing a deadline?

Finally I shortlisted my Univs

It has been a real long break from blogging. Actually I had earlier planned to apply to ISB, but due to some logistics issues, I decided it would be better to apply in Round 2 rather than Round 1. During this time, I also decided to apply to US this time. It was my dream to study in the US but again, some personal issues always held me back.

Now that I have decided, I have shortlisted the Univs in US where I am applying, of course, apart from ISB.

UCLA Anderson - Oct 24
UCB Haas - Nov 5
Darden - Nov 1
CMU Tepper - Oct 29

Of these, Darden and Anderson have rolling admissions. But I guess it doesn't matter now as the deadlines of all of them are pretty near. The dates mentioned are the R1 deadlines.

Before jumping on to writing specific essays, I prepared write-ups of common questions asked:
1. Why MBA - long and short term goals
2. Career Progression till now, specifying all career choices made till now
3. Leadership positions held, the kind of leader and manager I am
4. Prepared my MBA resume (I specify MBA resume because for MBA, you have to highlight a different aspect of yourself rather than when resume is made for a job)
5. In the meanwhile, while researching the schools, whatever points I found interesting or attracted me, I prepared a list for each of the schools. I even noted down the courses I am specifically interested in and would be relevant to my post MBA goal, ie technology consulting.

After that, I started with UCLA Application. Started with first one. 3 more to go after that and only 1 month left. Ok, back to essays.....

My ISB Interview Experience - I

I had attended 2 interviews with ISB and would like to share my experience with you. My purpose of sharing my experience is that I would like to tell everyone about the mistakes I did and I want to make people aware of the kind of questions asked by ISB.

In India, mostly people with 2-3 years of work experience do not have a clear idea why they want to pursue an MBA. The most common reason is to move out of the rat race of IT. So the approach followed in ISB is more mature than that required by the much reputed IIMs.

I applied to ISB for the 2005-06 session for the first time with a score of 710. I spent around 15-20 days on my application which I must say is a very less time for a first timer. I had close to 2 years of work experience at that time without having many opportunities to display me leadership capabilities at the workplace.

Also sharing the essay topics during that period:
1. Evaluate your application and provide a critical assessment of it. Outline factors that might differentiate you from others from a similar background. (600 words)
2. Discuss an ethical dilemma that you experienced first hand, and how you resolved it. (400 words)
3. It is said that successful leaders learn as much from their failures as they do from their successes. Discuss a situation in which you failed and what you learnt. (400 words)
4. ISB places a lot of emphasis on teamwork. Tell us about your experiences in working as a part of a team. Your essay should talk about the difficulties that you faced and how you overcame them. (200 words)
5. How do you define leadership? Take the example of a leader you admire (living or deceased), and indicate the traits you like. (200 words)
6. Post ISB where do you think you would like to be professionally. (200 words)

I would like to share with everyone my assessment of these essay topics as to what to cover in which essay and how. But I'll probably share it for my next post.

Let's move on with the interview:

There were 3 people in the panel, and really I do not remember any of them... it's more than 2 years.

The questions asked were (not necessarily in order):
1. Tell us something about your family and things you want to discuss in the next 20 mins.
2. Why mba?
3. A few questions about my work like what all responsibilities do I have, how do I manage the project, what are my contributions.
4. Did you come across any difficulties/setbacks?
5. Why IT Consulting (I had written about IT consulting as my goal when I know nothing about it MISTAKE 1)
6. What position/companies would you like to work in post isb? (Gave them the names of some IT Consulting companies and described the profile associated).. No one looked convinced with this.
7. Why have you Madan Mohan Malviya as your ideal leader, I thought everybody forgot him? (I had mentioned him because I am from BHU, so thought it would have an effect ;)). I told all crap and was screwed in my own eyes. MISTAKE 2 - no homework
8. Any questions? (I asked them a few)

Finally I came out with the usual feeling - confused.

Tips -
- Do your homework well. Know what you are writing on your essays. Interview is only to see how you talk. They should know you by your essays and it should be genuine.
- Define your goal and should be well-related with your past experience. Be precise about Why MBA?
- Highlight your responsibilities well in the essays and do mention your accomplishments related to them.

So finally I waited for the result and then didn't make it. I asked for feedback and was told that my experience is less for an MBA at this point of time of my career. A clear indication that I appeared immature.

Procrastinating Me

Yes, I know someday I will fall, and fall real hard. Because of this..... habit, characteristic, or whatever you may call it. But I have it in me and I really do not like it. I never learn.... rather I don't learn (I changed the phrase because somebody told me:

"Always and never are two words you should ALWAYS remember NEVER to use."

And because I don't learn, I am writing it down so that everybody in the world knows that I am trying to improve.

I have to apply to ISB this year and the deadline is fast approaching. The deadline 10th Dec and now there's hardly one and a half month left and I haven't even prepared a rough draft of my essays. This is my third attempt and I do not want to ruin it. I want the progress chart to reflect progress only.

Attempt 1: "Ding"
Attempt 2: "Waitlist"
Attempt 3: Has to be "Admit"

Even though this habit has been too rough on me in the past. Whatever failures I have had in the past, my contribution to those have been major. And of that too, procrastination was a big reason. I'm gonna start fast and I'm gonna start now.

Do I really need an MBA?

I completed my engineering in 2003. I so much wanted to crack CAT. To do an MBA. Just because I know I was competitive and I wanted to prove it to everyone. That was my first attempt in 2002. I got 98.74 percentile but no call from IIMs. Maybe they didn't like my performance in Verbal. I joined Infosys, working as a software engineer, just like thousands of others were doing, not knowing why. Then I took my second attempt, in the midst of a new job and moving to new city (Bangalore). Bad attempt. Forget the percentile.

Then came 2004. Now I was determined. I had to do it this time otherwise I will stay underqualified, you know. Prepared well, but not well enough. Didn't do too well. Then I thought of ISB. I had 2 years of experience under my belly. I am intelligent. Yes, that's the place for me. But it is November. The deadline for applying to ISB is 15th Jan, 2005. So took a GMAT appointment of 5th Jan, prepared for one month and somehow scored 710. Again, screwed my verbal. In the meanwhile, also wrote my essays in a jiffy and for obvious reasons, got rejected.

No issues, I had to look after personal matters. So forgot MBA for a while. Then the season returned and I applied for CAT and ISB as well. Did some serious preparation this time and missed out on improving my verbal again. And go 98.48 percentile. No calls again... But didn't forget to improve upon my essays this time. Applied to ISB, got interviewed. he interview didn't cross my atisfaction level and I got waitlisted. That was the trigger. I had to build upon my resume. I wrote the exam for MENSA bangalore membership and got through. This was the proof that I was eligible enough to do an MBA and wrote about this and my brief onsite stint to ISB. I had also learnt basic French during this time. Butit seemed like they had made their decision and were not interested in taking me.

Now I have a nice job where I have built up a very good reputation. I got married, but my wife, my life, is working in Hyderabad. So I tried for a job there, the only good telecom company in Hyderabad, Qualcomm and got through. They are offering a good package. The work is too good. And now I am thinking, should I really do an MBA? Just because I'm not satisfied with only one degree and want to study more? I have a good opportunity. I am good in telecom fundamentals. I can stay in Qualcomm, work on newer technologies and grow with it. That's a very good option. Rather I can dream of growing with the product into product management or sales.

Another factor adding to my dilemma is that since now I'm married, the expenses will also increase. I will be buying a car, probably a house. Where will the money come for an MBA. And I have already stayed away frm my wife for a long time, I do not wish to stay apart again.

I will fight this dilemma, and let you know what I decide upon. Till then, I'll prepare for CAT. I got nothing else to do and CAT season is back again with another Diwali. ;)