All set to start!

Today was the first official event for the incoming class.

Most of the incoming class has taken the Kellogg Laptop Program and we got them configured and did the setup to get going. Some banks and cellphone service providers also had their stalls to help the new students open their accounts.

The college looked very vibrant today with so many students from different nationalities. Most of us are starting our KWEST trips tomorrow and everyone is very excited about it.

Most of the incoming class has moved in over the last two days and everyone has been busy unpacking and settling down. We have been forewarned that we would have no time for settling down once we start the CIM.

I am almost settled and I think I just to buy grocery. We guys spent most of the post lunch time sitting and talking to the other students. Went out for dinner pretty late in the night and saw there were lots of Kellogg students out there at most of the places that were open.

I have to do some community service tomorrow and then my KWEST trip members will meet for BBQ dinner. Day after we fly out of Chicago. My trip leaders are a fun bunch and I am hoping it would be a great trip. Time to hit bed as tomorrow would be a long day!

A New Beginning!

Over the last few months a lot of things have changed.

I have made a lot of new friends. I have set new goals and there are new challenges!

I would soon start a new journey. The next two years would be the best years of my life is what most of the friends who are at kellogg or have done their MBA seem to say.

I got my admit in december and quit my job in Jan. I worked with a consulting firm for a few months before taking a two month long break. It was a lot of fun being with family and friends. Reading books and meeting people! I enjoyed every moment of it.

I am in Chicago now, Evanston to be more precise. I am excited about the upcoming KWEST trip, which would be an awesome start to our two years at Kellogg. We would bond with our fellow classmates and seniors over a fun filled trip. You can find out more details about it here.

I have met a few of my would be classmates and we have had a lot of fun over the last few months. The experience so far has been great as all of them have something really interesting in their profile, they are all accomplished and the best part is they are all very humble and fun loving.

Chicago seems to be a really nice city. The downtown is very impressive and there are a lot of activities to have fun. However, it seems to be seen how my opinion would be after I experience the winters here!!!!

I have been told that the next few months would be crazy! And would leave us with no free time at all. I plan to write regularly, but only time will tell if I can do that.

The applicants for the class of 2010 would have started working on their applications in full swing now so good luck to you all!

Kellogg!!!!

I am in at Kellogg !

I am speechless.. I am not able to think and I am so happy !!
Would get back with more details :)

Thanks guys for all the wishes!!

Duke needs more time!

Got waitlisted at Duke, was kind of expecting it as they were unable to schedule my interview as there were no slots free. So, I am happily confused ! Happy because I am not dinged and confused because it's not yet a Yes. But my waitlist strategy would have to wait till I hear from other biggies.

It was an eventful day for blogging community as iday and Alex got an admit from Chicago, rungee got into LBS and Duke and juggler made it to Chicago and Kellogg!!

Great job guys!! What a way to start a new year :)

I am keeping my fingers crossed for Chicago and Wharton and yeah how can I forget Kellogg decision might be just around the corner for me as I interviewed on 27th Nov and it is already the 4th week.

Good luck all!

UNC Loves me too !!

Got accepted at UNC as well.

Have my Ross telephonic interview day after and I am not able to concentrate on that at all. I really need to motivate myself and push myself out of this complacency and be serious with the Ross interview.

19-21st will be the days to watch out for as Duke (19th), Chicago (20th) and Wharton (21st) will be releasing their decisions and yours truly has to hear from all of them.

Having Darden in hand has made me a little less anxious, but it will be eventful nevertheless :)

Good luck to all others.

Darden Loves Me!!

I just happened to check my online application status and I saw the status as "Offer". Clicked on it to find out that I have been accepted at the Darden School of Business !!!!

It is a great feeling to know that all the hard work finally paid. I think I should get the official call or email tonight.

Good luck to all others!

Waiting for the Big News

I have had a pretty hectic last few days as I had my interviews on 27th, 28th, 29th and 1st Dec. On second I was a free bird and it was a great feeling to have finally finished such a long and tiresome process. I wont calling it boring, but yes it definitely was taxing.

I will soon have a post on how the interviews were, I know it is too late for people interviewing for Round one, but I hope it will help people targetting Round 2. I was travelling and this back to back interviews hardly left me with anytime in between.

I heard from Ross today and have scheduled my telephonic interview. I hope by then I would have an admit in my hand from either Darden (decision date 8th Dec) or UNC (decision date 11th)

As of now I am gymming, reading books and in between wondering how to kill time and have fun !!

Wharton Invite finally!!!

It was one hell of a wait :)
I flip flopped between getting anxious and telling myself to stay calm..
getting pessimistic to being optimistic
deciding to check s2s and deciding not to check s2s
and may other things :)

Infact yday me and my friend decided to ignore Wharton as it has been doing the same to us :) And today morning I had an invite mail form them..

Good luck to all other who are waiting.. hang on and you should get an invite soon!

Kellogg had a change of mind!!

Everday while sleeping I close my eyes, cross my fingers and pray hard that god please be generous on me and get me the much awaited interview invite for which I have worked so hard !!

Everyday in the morning I get up much before my alarm can go off and would be lying restless in the bed thinking about the mail that might be sitting in my inbox.

Day before I got a mail from Duke asking me where I would want to schedule my interivew.
Yday I prayed even harder and I am sure god would have thought he si getting so greedy. So yday I did not get any mail.

Today however was different and god was generous :) I have a mail form Kellogg saying that upon evaluation of my application Admissions committee has decided to schedule an interview for me.

Looks like this is a positive sign as they have already evaluated my application and must have liked it atleast a bit and only then decided to call me for interview.

This mean now I have a lot of interviewing to be done and it is time I get started on my intreview prep very seriously.

Wharton is making me more and more anxious with each passing day. Darden is another school making a lot of us anxious since they have not yet called many people for interview and it is more alarming given the fact that they would release the final result by Dec 8th.

Good luck to all you folks who are interviewing or waiting for the invites to pour in.

Kelloogg likes me or likes me not ?

Got a waiver mail from them.. I think I kind of expected this to happen :)

Still the fingers are crossed !!

My First Interview Invite

After submitting Ross yesterday i was feeling so good about myself and wanted to enjoy the freedom and break for some time.

I left early from office and went out with my friends to Subway where we sat and talked about so many things for about 2 hours.

I got back home late in the night and couldnt help checking my mails. I had a nice mail sitting in my inbox from Chiacgo. I am running for Gym as of now would update more later.

Good lcuk to all othres!!!

Ross submitted !!

I am a free bird !! It calls for a small celebration. Life is calling !!!!!!!!!1

What If Syndrome is creeping in!

With Duke safely in I am very close to accomplishing the goal I had set for myself, hit most of my schools in Round 1. I am only left with Michigan, which I would be submitting in the next two days.

Last few months have been a lot of hard work and I am happy that I was able to focus so much on the apps and gave it by best so far. Now begins the long and anxious wait for the interview invites. There were times when I was really confident about my chances of making it to one of my schools because of my profile and belief that I have done a good job at the essays. But as the interview wait prolongs I do get a self-doubt once in a while. There are lots of What Ifs in my head:

What if my essays were not good enough for the schools I am targeting
What if the story did not make sense to them
What if the qualities I focused on in my essays are not the ones Adcoms look for
What if there are spelling mistakes and mention of school A’s club in essay for school B
What if my recommenders did some gross blunder

I am sure each one of you also might be going through the same What if syndrome!
Every time I have this, I look out of the window and take a dep breath. I tell myself that I gave it my best, and this is the person I am. If I am meant to be, I would shine through the competition, If I am not, then I will sit back and re evaluate myself and fight it out one more time. But I wont give up and in the end that is all that matters. The rest is destiny.

On a lighter side, I am reading The World is Flat and listening to a lot of music. I am also spending a lot of time meeting up with my friends. Calling my out station friends, who have been trying to hunt me down for a long time since I went under ground J

I am also eating a lot of delicious food outside as no more I am scared of falling ill. Nov 1st is when I plan to hit the Gym and I have a bet on this with my roommates. The feeling of being on the treadmill, sweating and pushing myself for one last mile is something I love and nothing can beat that.

Interview or no interview, admit or no admit, I am dying to get my life back!!!

Kellogg Submitted!

A little late in updating. I did manage to put in my Kellogg application as well. It was not as much sweat as I expected it to be and did not really have to slog in the end to put a good application.

I think I did a pretty good job at researching the courses, alums and other aspects of the school. The self evaluation essay was the most challenging one. I did not have difficulty in pointing out the weaknesses in my profile. But somehow because of word limit I did not spend too much time on them.

From all the blogs, forums and discussions I had some idea of what the schools look for. Exploring Kellogg website helped to some extent in knowing what kellogg specifically looks for. I used these to evaluate myself on each of these aspects.

Outside of Work was my most creative piece so far. I did a great job at it in the very first draft and it hardly underwent any change later on as well.

Leadership essay here was very different compared to other schools as we had to talk about leadership experiences and about the most vauable lesson learnt. I used two leadership examples, one from work place and one from community service to bring out the common valuable lesson I learnt.

I sure have a lot to share on this if I am able to make the cut. Till then I wont advocate much as not sure if my approach is the best one :)
Good luck to all others aspiring for Kellogg

Done with Chicago

Chicago was the first application I started working on and it took a great amount of effort. The first essay was a killer and it forced me to think through all the aspects like career progression, WHY MBA, career goals and why a particular school. But after hazaar iterations I am confident I have given it my best and have a convincing and punch packed story.

It helped me get my foundation right. This essay is still very different from that of most other schools, which have a 500 word limit. I am not surprised to see that writing the 500 one is turning out to be a great challenge. You got to touch on all aspects without exceeding the word limit and not compromising the content.

Next is Kellogg in line. lets see if I can make that to round one. Finding it really hard as of now, but then I aint giving up yet.

Finally pressed the SUBMIT!!

Just now I submitted my Wharton Application and man I am relaxed now and happy !! I have put in a great amount of effort in the application and I think I am really satisfied with my efforts. I am happy I gave it the best I could have.

There is a lot I want to share, but I am really short on time:
Quick Tips:

1. Send your scores and get the transcripts as soon as you decide on the school. Dont delay tasks which can be completed much in advance till the last moment.

2. Do have a look at the online application much in advance. You can fill most of the stuff earlier itself as save yourself precious time and nervousness in the last moment.

3. Get your essays reviewed, everyone will have some comment or the other even after you have submitted. use your judgement to decide when you are done and what makes sense and what doesnt.

4. Ensure that you convert your essays to PDF and print them and sit in a relaxed mood and read. Some of the errors will definitely get caught, which otherwise would have gone unnoticed. Use double spacing, it makes for a better read.

5. Give your recommenders enough time and get that done much in advance as well.

Last but not the least !! Dont be scared to press the submit button. You have put in your efforts and given it your best. Its all destiny from here on.

Ok time to celebrate a bit. And Chicago here I come !!

Good luck to all fellow applicants.

Chicago App almost done

I am almost done with the essays for Chicago. My Why MBA and WHy Chicago essay is the only one, which might undergo some amount of modifications.

I have asked two of my reviewrs to comments on the Essays, one of whom has just joined GSB and is from a different country and background. It will be interesting to get the comments from her since she is unaware of indian culture and has never met or talked to me in person.

My essay on social issues revolves around the area I have been actively invovled in for over last two years and I feel very passionately about it. This does tie in with my long term goals as well. Incase you are working on the same essay I think the best option should be to mix your personal invovlement and your passion for that social cause. It would not be a good idea to talk about a grand cause and why it is the biggest cause without actually putting "yourself" in the essay after the essays are about us.

The three short essays were really tricky too and the last one took the maximum amount of time. The first draft I worked on presenting a facet of my personality, which in turn was a strength. but after a lot of thinking I gave that up and really talked about something which is not a stregth. It is something very close to my heart and I guess reflects the true ME.

I used the book to bring out how the book resonated with my personal values and why I really liked it. Guess it was a good choice too.

Next is Duke in line and the first Essay I am working on is the Uniqueness essay. Will talk mroe about it in a later post.

Chicago Application Progress

It sure has taken me a lot more time than I expected. I am still striving to improve the 1500 words essay. The biggest challenge with Chicago app is that it gives us only two big opportunities to convey our experiences. I have the framework in place where I talk about various decisions I made and what influenced those choices. It talks about various experiences and my learnings from them. The career goals is where I am facing the biggest challenge. Not because I am not clear, but because I am not sure how detailed it should be. Also I have professional and personal goals and talking about all of them is taking a lot of words.

The three short essays are tricky but do not provide enough opportunity to talk in detail about various interests and experiences. The last one of these is turning out to be the most challenging. There are secrets, but then there are no secret qualities I can talk about :) So still thinking hard on it.

Between the social issue and the personal development essay I choose the social issue one. I feel there would definitely be bigger social issues but this is the issue i feel most passionately about.I have experienced this first hand and have been involved in community service very deeply for over three years now it was my obvious choice.

i still need to talk to my recommenders and I am hoping they would be helpful.

I am still around !!!

It has been a long time since I updated my blog and I already see some cobwebs around. Time for an update.

I am sure most of us are already busy writing the killer essays, formulating application strateges and talking to reccomenders. I have been spending a lot of time on my essays too. Chicago is the first school for which I would have my application ready I think. I have spent a lot of effort on them and now it is time to get some feedback on them.

These are the schools I am concentrating on as of now
Kellogg
Chicago
Duke
Darden
Michigan

These schools are definitely on my list too:
Wharton
Stanford
UNC

I have been getting suggestions to apply to LBS and INSEAD as well. Somehow I am not interested in european schools since post MBA I would want to work in US.
The essays sure are giving me a tough time and everytime I sit with an essay I end up editing it a bit. I want to target atleast 5 schools in R1 and that means I have lots of work to be finished.
I need to get trascripts and talk to my reccomender, who would be off to US for a month starting Sep 1st and that means I hardly have anytime to talk to him and finalize things. I was a little skeptical about asking him, but finally I have decided I to approach him and I hope he would be suportive of my idea.

Diversity at Stanford GSB

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/mk/manyvoices/index.html

Incase you are in US you might want to register for the above event and get a first hand experience of the diversity at GSB.

And incase you do visit, dont forget to share your experience with those of us who cannot visit. We would be eagerly waiting to hear from you.