Business School Research - A note about "fit"

While researching B-schools, the big question that every applicant has to answer is about "fit":

- Whether the B-school fits into your career aspirations
- Whether you fit into that B-school's culture - This is important because if you research thoroughly, you'll find out that you cannot fit-in every B-school. For example, you may feel comfortable if the class size is small and you can get individual attention. If that is the case, apply to a school which sells on a close-knit community. Harvard is not for you.

So as you understand, "fit" is a give and take thing between the school and you. There are multiple sub-variables also involved in the above mentioned broad classification:

B-school fit into your plan

You might want to consider:
- Location of the school - That will ultimately also lead to the most probable location of post-MBA career. If you do not like New York, don't apply to Stern or Columbia for example.
- Top Hirers - You should have a specific target industry or employer in mind while applying. Go to a place that favours the industry you are targeting. It can be for any reason: location of the school, course structure, anything. You may want to prefer west coast schools if you want to work in Tech industry post MBA, for example. A look at the top 3/4 hirers gives you an idea.
- Class Size
- Faculty:Student Ratio
- Extra curricular activities in the B-school
- Are you the one who prefer a big brand name?

Do you fit into the B-school culture

- You may want to have a look at the demographics to understand this.
- Have a look at the Professional clubs at the B-school. Do you see yourself participating actively in some of them?
- Find and talk to alumni. They are really helpful provided you have done preliminary research and come up with intelligent questions to ask.
- Find out about life outside the classroom. Do you see yourself really engaging in these activities?

While reading randomly on the internet, I found this spreadsheet very helpful.

http://www.ml4t.org/node/626

This person has compiled all the parameters from BusinessWeek into one spreadsheet. The criteria that was chosen was:

• Demographics
• Diversity
• GMAT
• Work Experience
• Age
• Faculty
• Class Size
• Joint Programs
• Alumni
• Salary
• Cost

Knock Knock Tuck Tuck

It seems Tuck adcom take their own sweet time in going through the applications. I am jealous of applicants who are in the US and have initiated the interviews themselves. It seems like eternity since I submitted my application on 14-Oct for EA deadline.

Well, if they take time, it is actually good in one way. The final pool would comprise of handpicked people and if, I am one of them, I will have an awesome mix of classmates. It seems a couple of applicants have heard from adcom and are done with the adcom-initiated interviews, I am still waiting to hear from them.

Phone interview vs F2F interview

I would rather go in for a face to face interview with some adcom panel member or a local alum. Face to face interview gives you a chance to present yourself completely and not just your voice. If you are a pleasant personality, a slight error in your voice modulation is ignored. Whereas, in a telephonic interview, you have to make sure that your voice modulation is appropriate so as not to give wrong signals.

In addition, in a face to face interview, you get to guage what the interviewer is thinking or how he/she has taken your response. If everything is going well, you will get a feel of it and the interview is more of a conversation. I am not much of a phone person. I would rather meet and talk.

Random rambling, while awaiting Tuck adcom.

Are there many people who are awaiting adcom to initiate an interview?

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.

MBA Admission Inspiration from Indian Idol

I was watching Indian Idol and working on my essays parallely, when I got these ideas. For people who do not know, Indian Idol is the Indian version of the popular American Idol. There is tremendous competition and the participants are from all parts of India, urban and rural areas, in addition to the international participants, mainly from Europe. The judges are curt, sarcastic and encouraging.

I just took the judges as the admissions committee of a B-school and the participants as MBA hopefuls, the applicants, the prospectives, us, me. The situation, maybe not entirely, but very similar to mine and, of course, there are lessons to learn from any form of competition.

1. Determination and Focus

If you try to observe what is common among all shortlisted participants, you will notice that everybody is talented. But more importantly, all are highly motivated and determined individulas. It is not enough to be talented, it is all the more important to come forward and make yourself noticed. Indian Idol is a good platform that they used. Now when they have entered the competition, everybody is determined to practice and distinguish themselves and move forward.

If you realize that you are an MBA material, rather a top-10 material, all you need is determination and focus. What you need is directly told to you by the adcom: a decent GMAT score, a progressive track record, a leadership experience, team skills and all these included in good essays. So it is pretty straightforward: identify your potential and work hard on your essays. There is nothing stopping anyone from getting into a top 10 MBA program provided you work hard and give it your best shot.

There are also some participants returning to the program after being rejected in previous seasons. But this time, they have practiced, they have more fire and they know what not to do. If you are not selected in an MBA program, there is no reason to get disheartened. As I said, if you have realized your true potential, there is nothing to stop you. You just have to work on your mistakes, come back again as a reapplicant with full force. Don't let the fire die within you. Improve yourself and come back next time, but make sure you do not leave focus

2. No Strings attached.

Participants come from varied backgrounds. Some have to support their family, many do not have proper training. in fact, there are some people who are from areas where they don't even have proper supply of electricity, let alone training.But they have that much required spark, they are self-motivated, they have realized their talent. And that is what is required to follow your passion.

If you are determined to get into a top MBA program, just don't lose that spark. If you are following the advices of MBA students, you must have heard a lot of times that many companies look for "spikes" in your resume. Those spikes are the areas in which you excel, and to succeed in something you need passion. There are no excuses to follow your passion. If there are excuses, you were not passionate at the first place.

3. Identify your true potential

You must have noticed that there are awful singers sometimes. They don't realize that they cannot sing and make a fool of themselves on TV. Judges are also very light in those case. They mock them and people think they are rude. But I think that they feel that when these guys themselves are making a fool of themselves, they need to realize that they cannot sing. These people should not get false hopes. Before taking a big step, you need to realize what you can do, and then take the plunge.

In a similar way, if you are preparing your B-school application, focus on your true potential and highlight that. Don't gt disheartened by a bad GMAT score. GMAT score is not everything. And everyone has something special in himself/herself. It is just a matter of identifying your spark. I know it is difficult, introspection is an uphill task, but dude, there is immense competition out there. And everyone is trying very hard. at least keep pace.

4. Don't fake it

"That guy from my college just got an admit from Wharton. He was very active in community service activities. I should write the same and that will fill the gap." This is a common thought, at least I used to think that way when I started researching on this process a couple of years ago.

For a common man, a novice singer, some people are good singers. But they get rejected by the judges. The judges are trained ears. They are highly experienced who know when you get out of tone. Similarly, the adcom is highly experienced and they can catch the fake the second you start talking about something that you have written just for the sake of it.

You got to realize that everyone is unique and there is no formula that can get you through. Even if such a formula does exist, it'll be to represent yourself the way you are. Just look deep inside yourself and you'll see a star. The difference between an admit and a reject is just that, the ability to look inside oneself and thus differentiate from the crowd.

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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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ISB Application 2008-09 Essay Analysis

It is application season again and ISB is out with its essays again. Well, it has been quite some time now. I was just thinking about those essays and thought of analyzing what an applicant is expected to write. Basically, ISB must have some purpose behind giving out those topics. We should analyze that. This year's competiton is going to be tough and there are multiple reasons.

1. ISB has been ranked 20th in the FT Global MBA rankings. That made sure ISB gets enough media coverage and international popularity.
2. ISB has been growing at an exponential pace. With its awesome faculty and impressive placement numbers, ISB sure will make it big time in the international B-school community.

I wrote the analysis of last year's essay topics too. ISB sure does come out with a unique essay each time that stumps the applicants and the applicants who are writing multiple apps must write at least one essay that is unique to ISB. (At least, I am stumped!!!). Last year it was "million dollars or knighthood" dilemma. This year it the "Zumba river" ethical dilemma essay. Let's see what this year's essays have in store:

1. Please give three reasons why ISB should admit you into the class of 2010. These reasons should ideally differentiate you from your competition. (300 words max)

This essay is similar to last year's essay 1 that clearly asked about your diversity factor. Most of the B-schools today focus on peer learning. Of course, in today's times, a business graduate needs to be aware of the functioning of different industries, needs to have an open mind, develop a global adaptability and be responsive of different cultures. To achieve this, a B-school should ensure that it has the right mix of students that learn from each other well. This calls for a diverse batch:

a. diverse in terms of nationality:the FT rankings will attract applicants from different countries. the current batch has 4% of international students (international passport holders). For a global school, there is a long way to go.
b. diverse in terms of industry: As is a fact, there are a lot of engineers and consultants applying to a lot of B-schools. While discussing a case, you expect a different opinion from your peer group. For example, while sitting in the entrepreneurship class, you may want to hear the legal implications from a lawyer, you may want to learn how to approach a VC from someone who has already done so. Just imagine the amount of practical learning you get.
c. miscellaneous: There are other ways to differentiate yourself. Maybe through your work-experience, your contributions outside of your work, your extra-curricular achievements. It can be anything.

Just think of ways how you can differentiate yourself from people of your background and how that will contribute to the student body. Breeze!

2. You are contesting the election to be the President of the ISB Student Body. Write a speech you will deliver to the student body on why they should elect you as the President? (300 words max)

This is a typical and an atypical essay. It is a typical leadership essay where you have prepare a manifesto and do a sales pitch for yourself. But what does ISB have to do with that?

This is an opportunity to present yourself as a leader. You need not be in a leading position at your workplace. Just identify the qualities of a good leader: taking initiatives, thinking out of the box, looking at the bigger picture, etc. Just reflect back on your work-life and bring out examples where you have shown such traits. These examples help identify people with natural leadership bent of mind. The examples may not be necessarily of the workplace. You may want to show how active you are outside of your workplace and taken initiatives in community activities too. This is the place to show just that.

Coming to the second part. Keep in mind that this is about ISB's Student Body president. So obviously you need to know about ISB and what contributions you will make at ISB. Of course, there are always things to be done for improvement at any place. So do your research. Find out what are the responsibilities of the ISB Student body and what is the role and scope of the president. Connect with ISB and think of how ou can contribute were you the president.

3. CASE : You have been appointed to head the team to build a dam across the River Zumba. Success in this project is critical for your company and would earn you a promotion. Failure would mean that your company would be bankrupt and will take along with it, its investors and its employees. Building a dam across the river would result in deforestation of a portion of the rainforests and would mean relocation of the tribals and destabilization of wild life at Zumba. There is resistance from environmental groups against your project. You are meeting the head of the resistance movement in one hour wherein you would have to explain your decision. Describe what you would do and why? (You will be evaluated on the creativity and practicality of your solution). (300 words max)

An Awesome Essay!!! I loved it.

A very practical situation. A similar ethical dilemma can be faced in any industry at many situations. You are presented with two positions: one is profitable for your company and the other for mankind and environment. On the first look, it looks like a dilemma. But if you think deeply and passionately for one stance, you can convince anyone why our position is stronger.

You are expected to come out with a practical and creative solution to come out of the situation and be a winner. As always, you have to show what qualities you have and be a convincing and effective leader in this situation.

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The above is just my personal interpretation of the ISB essays. I request all my readers to provide more inputs if there is any other aspect that can be thought of or if I have been wrong in my thought process. All the best to all ISB applicants.

B-school preliminary shortlist

Gmat Done. Yes, a long time ago now. Now, if I look back 730 is not a bad score. The thumb rule, I have learnt, is that your GMAT score should be above the average of the schools where you are applying. And 730 is above average to all the schools I am applying to. No worries.

Now the next step was to shortlist the schools. Last week, I had been so busy that I did not get time to research schools at all. So the weekend was deicated to prepare a preliminary list, at least. Well, at first I shortlisted around 14 schools. That is a big number and I guess impractical too. So I understood I had a lot of work to do.

My situation

It is a do or die situation for me. I am 28 and it is just the right age for me to do an MBA. I am at such a juncture in my career that if I do an MBA right now, it would be ideal. I do like my job, rather the industry I am in. I want to rise in high-tech industry but not in the job function I am in, that is engineering. So the more I stay here, the more stagnant I will become since I do not aspire to grow in this function. An MBA right now just seems right.

Where do I want to be

I would definitely like to work in the US for some time. In addition, the exposure you get in US is not comparable to any school in India. From family or stability perspective, staying in India is logical, but I want to think long term. My family, wife are understanding, so I can afford to move to US for some time. Now coming to the job function. I have made a tentative plan of where I want to be. Keeping this factor in mind, I prepared my tentative list.

I want the best

Now coming to the shortlisting.

Outside of US:
ISB
INSEAD

US:
Duke - Fuqua
UCLA - Anderson
Darden
UCB - Haas
CMU - Tepper
Emory - Goizueta
Michigan - Ross
Tuck

Now that is a big list I know. And I have less time, considering I am in the office for 10 hours every weekday.

My thought process

I think I'll start writing the most common and long essays first. The benefit will be I will just have to tweak the common essays (like career goals) for every application and reduce my efforts. Based on my progress, I'll see which schools I can eliminate. I also have to divide the schools into R1 and R2. I guess 50% distribution would be just fine, keeping at least one top 10 in R1 and one in R2. As the application progresses, your writing improves, you think of stronger points and you will know how to write better, and impactfully.

Now let's see. I want to ask my readers. What is your shortlisting strategy? Am I going wrong somewhere?