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.

Need suggestions

What matters most to me and Why ?

I have been thinking a lot about it and am a bit confused on what exactly is required.
Do they want ONE specific thing which matters the most or can it be a set of values and beliefs which matter the most to me.

Also at different times of live it has been different values and things which have motivated me and we are always eveloving as a person. So do I try and force myself to think more and see one common thread among all those activities or is it fine to portray a set of things which matteres the most to me in past and talk about what drives me in present.

Its raining deadlines and essyas

Till few days back there was so much much time at hand to work on essays and hit round one for most of my first choice schools.

All of a sudden within last two weeks so many schools have come out with essays and now the deadlines look so close. There is a sense of urgency to get going now.
I need to keep deadlines for myself and plan it well so that I am on time and do not end up with lot of things to be done at the last moment.
1. Getting the transcripts from the Undergrad college is the first thing I need to finish.
2. Talking to recommender is the second
3. I also need to work on my resume parallely and should set a deadline for that too
4. Essays is something that will go on till the last moment, but I would have to see how I can break this also into smaller achievable milestones.

Essays and Deadline

My Application Calendar:
Would keep updating this post as I get more info about the schools that interest me and I guess it would turn out to be useful.I also need to make a planner and set deadlines for myself to complete tasks. It all seems so close now, deadlines seem to be just lurking around the corner.

Michigan(Ross) releases app Dates for 06-07
About the Essays: We are currently in the process of updating our application. Our 2007 application will be available in early August.

Application

Round 1 app deadline: November 1, 2006
Round 1 Interview by: Invitation Only
Round 1 Response Date: January 15, 2007

Round 2 app deadline: January 7, 2007
Round 2 Interview by: Invitation Only
Round 2 Response Date: March 15, 2007

Darden releases app dates and essays for 06-07


Application
Early Action/Rd 1 app deadline(11:59pm(EST)): October 19, 2006
Early Action/Rd 1 Interview by: October 19, 2006
Early Action/Rd 1 Response Week: December 8, 2006

Round 2 app deadline(11:59pm(EST)): December 5, 2006
Round 2 Interview by: December 5, 2006
Round 2 Response Week: February 9, 2007

2006-2007 MBA Application Essay Questions

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? (500 word limit)

2. Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, education, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Darden students. (500 word limit)

3. Choose one of the following questions. (250 word limit)


a. What would you do if you didn’t have to work for a living?
b. Describe a significant maturing experience.
c. What have been the most satisfying aspects of your work life thus far and the most dissatisfying?

4. (Optional) If there is further information that you believe would be helpful to the Admissions Committee, please provide it below. (250 word limit)

Kellogg releases Dates for 06-07
About the Essays: Should be available within a month. - Dave

Application

Round 1 app deadline: October 20, 2006
Round 1 Interview on-campus by: December 18, 2006
Round 1 Interview off-campus by: October 6, 2006
Round 1 Response Date: January 8, 2007

Round 2 app deadline: January 5, 2007
Round 2 Interview on-campus by: March 9, 2007
Round 2 Interview off-campus by: December 22, 2007
Round 2 Response Date: March 26, 2007

UNC Application deadlines.
Early Action/Round 1
Application Submitted: October 27, 2006
Decision Mailed: December 11, 2006

Round 2
Application Submitted: December 1, 2006
Decision Mailed: February 5, 2007

Round 3
Application Submitted: January 5, 2007
Decision Mailed: March 12, 2007

Stanford Announces Deadlines and Essays for 2007

CALENDAR & DEADLINES FOR THE 2006/2007 APPLICATION YEAR
Application Round Application Received By Notification Date
One 25 October 2006 18 January 2007
Two 10 January 2007 5 April 2007
Three 14 March 2007 10 May 2007

Essay Questions for Fall 2007
Please answer essay questions A, B, and C. We provide recommended lengths for each essay, but these are only guidelines. Most applicants will find 7-11 pages (in total) sufficient. If your responses total more than 11 pages, you need to upload the remaining pages in the Additional Information section.
· Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
(Recommended length is 3-4 pages, double-spaced)
· Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve these?
(Recommended length is 2-3 pages, double-spaced)
· Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
Please answer two of the questions below. In answering each question, please tell us not only what you did, but also how you did it. Describe what you felt, said, and thought during these experiences. Tell us the outcome, and describe how people responded. Your responses should describe experiences that have occurred within the last three years.

Option 1: Tell us about a time when you did something that was not established, expected, or popular.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt effective or successful.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 3: Tell us about a time when you had a significant effect on a group or individual.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 4: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Chicago Application Deadline and Essays
Round Submission Deadline Decision Notification Date
Round One October 18, 2006 January 4, 2007
Round Two January 10, 2007 March 28, 2007

Consider how you can tell us your “story” through the following essay questions.

First Time Applicants:
Essay 1: Complete all parts below. (1500 word maximum)
Explain the path that has led you to pursue an MBA as the next step in your professional and personal development. Describe your short and long term post-MBA career goals. What or who influenced your choice of schools, and how specifically will Chicago GSB help you succeed?

Essay 2: Choose one of the following questions. (500 word maximum)
-If the admissions committee were to interview one of your closest colleagues, what aspect of your personal development would this person say is especially important for the admissions committee to know?

-You have been asked to write an editorial about the most pressing issue facing humanity. Please identify the issue and justify why you have selected it.

Essay 3: Complete each of the following questions. (100 word maximum for each question below)
-What is the one thing that most people do not know about you?

-What book, play, or movie would you recommend to the admissions committee? Why?

-It is your first day of business school and people are selecting study groups. How would you describe the value you will bring to a study group?

Can I love them all ?

I Love them all and I feel so greedy that I want to get into all of them !!!

Their websites look so good, the students are an awesome bunch, all of them have good placements and brand value, some a bit more and some a little less but still good enough to make me feel interested.

They have a whole lot of clubs and activities to get involved in and build your network and leadership skills.

Then how do I differentiate between them?
How do I tell them why they are special to me and how will the school play a unique role in helping me reach my goals and how I will be able to enhance the experience of my fellow classmates.

These are the questions I have been struggling to find answers too.

I have found out some of the schools I definitely like and I am applying to them for sure. They also seem to be a great fit for me. I am a very outgoing person and believe a lot in teamwork. I have been a collaborative kind of a person and I am not a very aggressive leader. I enjoy taking part in lot of activities and my friends feel I am fun to hang around with.

I am working on my essays and I have found that it is better to sit with the set of essays of a school and decide in which essay I will highlight which aspect of my personality. One cannot talk about all aspects in all essays or the same aspect again and again. Plan it before getting started on the essays as this will help you in being more focused and you will be better able to cope up with the word limit and convey your story completely.

Guys how many schools are you planning to apply to? How many you think is advisable?

The Clock has started ticking.

Saw the posts on Dave's blog

HAAS has released deadlines and essays

Round 1 Nov. 6, 2006
Notification Jan. 29, 2007

Round 2 Dec. 11, 2006
Notification March 19, 2007

Round 3 Jan. 31, 2007
Notification April 30, 2007
Round 4 March 12, 2007
Notification May 14, 2007


Chicago Announces new deadlines

Per Chicago GSB:
The 2006-2007 application for admission will be available by August 1, 2006. Our application essays will be posted on this website by July 1, 2006. We will also post a downloadable version of the application to this website in August.

Round Submission Deadline
Round One October 18, 2006
Round Two January 10, 2007
Round Three March 14, 2007

But none of my target schools have released the deadlines so far :)

The last week has been a little unproductive. I am done with the first draft for my Kellogg essays except for one.

I am taking turns to revisit the essays so that I have some time gap between my second reading and the first one. This helps in looking at it differently.

The draft seems fine, but somehow lacks a very personal touch. It sounds more like I did this, I achieved this and I learnt this. There is not much of my motivation, passion and me in those essays.
Its more like achivements essays and leanring from them.

In kellogg I have used different essays to highlisght different aspects as the word limit prohibits you from taking a lot in one essay.

All 2008 applicant blogs are a little too inactive now a days and I check for any updates everyday but then there are none most of the times :)
I guess they are all busy getting ready to get back to school.
All the best to them.

Working on First Essay

I finally took the first step after a lot of delibration on which schools I am going to target. I think I have my list more or less finalized. I still feel that as I would spend more time writing the essays and introspect more I would be able to decide wether I am really interested in the school or not.

I also got the book How To Get Into Top MBA Program and I am finding it really useful.

I spent last two weekends and few more hours trying to get started on one of the essays for Kellogg's. I ended up exceeding the word limit by a lot. Thanks a ton to MBA JackAss for the amazing post on Kellogg essays.

I reworked my strategy and I am using different essays to highlight different aspects of my personality to bring out a complete picture. Earlier I was trying to talk about everything in the same essays and thus excceded the word limit.
Going forward before I work on essays of any school I will first decide which essay I am going to use to highlight what aspects and then start writing. It should save me some precious time.
I know some guys must be thinking I am starting too early, but keeping in mind my other commitments and work pressure I think I need to do this. Also I need spectacular essays to reach for my dream schools and I plan to give the applications my best shot.

School Selection contd...

I have been trying to find out more about various schools, reading about the site visit experience of other bloggers. Few posts on why some of the bloggers choose one school over the other were really insightful and has helped a lot in letting me understand how to go about selecting schools.
No doubt all the schools I look at look really appealing but then I cant apply to all :)

I also have to keep in mind that the school should have a financial loan program.

So here is my list as of now:

1. Wharton
2. Stanford
3. Kellog/MIT (Still deciding.. but as of now it looks like it will be Kellog)
4. Darden
5. Michigan
6. Duke
7. Cornell/UCLA
8. Stern
9. UNC
10. Emory/UT

It still is a long list and I need to trim it down further.How do I do it is a question.

I have been eagerly trying to find out about the profiles on India/IT Males who have made it to these schools to assess my competitiveness, but no luck so far at most of the schools.
I have good GMAT, good acads in my undergrad, working for a BIG brand name product development company with lot of extra curriculars and a LOT of community service with good leadership roles. But I lack international work experience and have 4 years of work ex, which I think might be a little less for some schools.
Also I wont be able to visit the schools and I think the schools do give some weightage to students who visit the school and show genuine interest in the school.

With all the research so far I have found that no one can answer the question which is on top of the mind of all applicants "What are my chances?"

I know I have been tempted to ask this myself, but the more i read about admission process the more I realize it is not really possible to answer that. May be someone can suggest if my profile would be competitive or not, but at the end of it if you are a decent candidate it all boils down to your essays and interview.

Shortlisting the schools!!

After almost a week long research, browsing through the site, exchanging mails with the current students, talking to applicants and reading businessweek I am convinced that Wharton is one school where I definitely want to go.

So, Wharton is the first school I have on my list.

I am now researhing Stanford/Kellog/HBS and would most probably apply to one of these. As of now based on my limited research Kellog/Stanford it will be :)or may be both.

About HBS I would love to go there, for that matter everyone would, but I am not sure if I would be doing the right thing devoting so much of time and energy on its application when I know the returns might not be too good :)

Columbiba has declared its ED deadline. So the race has begun!!

The Running of the Bulls: Inside the cutthroat race from Wharton to Wall Street

Last time when I had gone to get some books I happened to see the above book and without any second thought I picked up a copy to get an insider view of the life at Wharton. I had also been partially inclined towards finance and was not sure if I Banking would be my cup of tea or not.

This is one of the few books that I read without leaving a single page, including the preface, acknowledgement etc. The reason for this may be that either the book was so interesting or I was too motivated to get the maximum juice out of the book.

The only thing I was disappointed at was that the book talked only about the undergraduate school and not the MBA School, but despite of that it gave a very good perspective about the culture of the school, the academic rigor, the alumni base of the school etc. The biggest insight was about the recruiting and internship process, which is the most important phase of the life at a B school.

Another big take away for me from the book was the greater understanding of what it takes to be a banker J. I am more aware about the dark side of this job then before and about the brighter side I think we all know it pretty well J The high salaries and fat bonuses and an amazing sense of empowerment. I am pretty convinced that given the priorities of my life I am not interested in such a career where I would be left with no time for my family, myself and to be involved in some of the things which are very close to my heart.

Wharton came off as a very finance centric school with almost the whole batch trying to jobs in finance related fields, consulting was the second preference and the book never talked about technology related careers or Not for Profit related careers. But I think that might be because it was a book about the undergraduate school.

I surely liked the challenge of thriving in such an ultra competitive environment and being among the over achievers. I myself would go out and make the most of it if I get a chance at Wharton. I liked the awesome career service department and the alumni base, the kind of admiration and reputation the brand carries. It will help me come back to my country and work in future as Wharton brand holds the same value across the globe.

I would still spend some more time on the Wharton website and try and get in touch with some current students or alumni.

So am I applying to Wharton? Well cannot say that as of now need to research more schools and see which fit me most. But no doubts about it that Wharton surely rocks!!!!!!

I would really appreciate if you guys can share some of your insights about the school incsae you researched the school.

Moving Ahead ...

After a brief period of patting myself at the back for the good show in GMAT I am now ready to take the next step.

I have been working in office and partying with friends, watching movies and having fun. I am also learning french :) It sure is a lot of fun to learn about someone else's culture and traditions and the language. A few more interesting people in my class would have made it an even better experience :)

I have downloaded the essay questions of most of the schools in Top 30 and plan to download their applications as well.

I would now be researching the schools I would be interested in applying.

The more I read about the MBA application process the more I realize that its very unpredictable and a long and enduring process.
The key lies in differentiating yourself from the others. I need to improve my writing style to make it more interesting and crisp.

Best of luck to all the applicant who are waiting for the results or are on waitlist.

First Step of my Journey :)

I am really happy that I did as I expected on the final Day and sored >720, which I think should put me in a good position. I am planning to apply for fall 2007.

I need to figure out how I can make the most of the time I have at my hand. Any suggestions ?? Things which could help me make a stronger case for the top B schools and add value to my application.

How to start researching the schools etc etc :)

Thanks to all you wonderful people. Your blogs have been a great source of inspiration !!! Thanks for the wishes and the tips too :)

Incase anyone has any questions regarding GMAT I would be glad to answer. I have benifited a lot form the fellow bloggers and would sure want to give back to the comunity.

9 days to go...

After a 740 in GMAT prep1 a score of 720 was not really very encouraging but still I think it was not really bad.

Now that I am done with both the tests I can start working with the Official Guide. I have high expectations from this book so lets see if it lives upto that.

I have started taking kaplan Higher score tests and plan to finish them soon. Got 640 in the first test. I think the standard of RC was really tough and I made a lot of mistakes.

I think CR is the only area where I have mainained a good accuracy rate in all the tests.
I was doing well in RC also till the last test in which RC was a big disaster.

In gmat prep 2 tests it was SC which bombed :(

But still on an average I am making around 7-10 mistakes in the verbal section.
In quants I have been a bit disappointed as so far I have n been able to get a 100% accuracy rate in any test as I am maknig some mistakes in data sufficiency. This is the biggest area of concern as I think if I can get all correct in quants then even if I do average on verbal I will get a good score.

GMAT Prep Test 1

Finally I got the Gmatprep cd from my friend and I sat down with the test. I was a little nervous as I wanted to do well on the test because people say it is the true replication of the actual test.

I gave it with full concentration and score a 740 (Q 50 and VA 40)
and was pretty happy to see the score. Nevertheless, I could have done much better as I realized I had made many mistakes.

I plan to take the next test tomorrow and then get started with OG as I have only 10 more days to go :)

Slow progress

I am done with the Kaplan Verbal workbook and almost half of kaplan 800.
The difficulty level of questions in Kaplan 800 is surely much better and it has helped me increase my accuracy in Critical reasoning and sentence correction.

Maths was fine, no great about the difficulty level.

Took another Princeton Review Test and scored 730 this time with a raw score of 46 in quants and 45 in verbal.

The good news is that I am scoring well in verbal and making around 8 mistakes in a full length test. The bad news is that I am still unable to put a check on the careless mistakes I am making in Data sufficiency.

I need to focus more and go a little slow in the maths section. I finished it with almost 40 minutes to spare.

Verbal i need to improve my focus and concentration level and that would help me push my score further up.

From where I am right now a simple zero error score in maths would get me a 750 plus and I need to focus on getting this right. After that even if I do just fine in verbal i will get a good overall score.

inching closer to the GOAL

I am feeling much better now and am in aposition to sit and study without much of pain :)

I have almost finished the kaplan verbal workbook and right now I am working with kaplan 800 and it is an amazing book.
have done only Critical reasoning from the book and it sure is pretty tough.

I have also takem 2 full length tests in last few days.
First one was the Paper based full length test in kaplan book.

I got 4 wrong in Quants and 10 wrong in Verbal section.This fetched me a score of 660 according to the scoring formula given in the book.

In Verbal I made only one mistake in CR and 5 in Sentence correction and 4 in Reading comprehension.

Yesterday night I took Computer adaptive test from Princeton Review and managed a score of 680. Here again I made 3 mistakes in quants and 9 mistakes in the verbal section. Out of these 9 I again made 3 mistakes in Sentence correction and 4 in Reading comprehension and 2 in Critical reasoning.

Was a bit disappointed as I was expecting a score of above 700.

So now what i feel is that I am doing good in critical reasoning and I need to improve my accuracy in sentence correction and reading comprehension.

part of it can be done by concentrating better and being aggressive while eliminating the answer choices. In some cases I did not read all the answer choices carefully, in someother read the question wrong.

Quants is where I am strong and I need to get rid of the careless mistakes I am doing. As all the 7 mistakes I made in the 2 tests were very simple ones and I made the mistakes because fo trying to hurry up.

I still have not started with my OG and I think doing that should also help me improve on my scores in sentence correction.

I am all pumped up and want to hit a score of 750 plus. Lets see if I can push myself hard enough to do that.

What a start :) The going just got tougher.

I was down with fever for past few days and was avoiding a visit to a doctor. When the fever just refused to go away even after 3 days I finally went to see a doctor and it turned out to be something more serious than a normal fever and have been advised bed rest for minimum 10 days. And guess what the previous night only I had booked my GMAT test date for March 14th :)

I think god thought testing me just on GMAT would be an easy thing to do, so he increased the odds against me :) and here I am now with only 4 weeks for my GMAT and out of which the next few days are gonna be bad with fever, weakness and many other things :)

I flew back home and am off from work till I get well. That means good food and care at home :)

I have carried along all my gmat books. The net here is real slow so I wont be able to take too much of advantage of the various online forums etc. Need to register for VIP membership of scoretop. Anyone with an idea how good it is ?


Have been working with the Kaplan book for the last 2 days now.
The way I see it, I hardly need to do anything about quants.
I am also finding CR pretty straight forward, sometimes the weaens and strengthens questions get a little tricky but most of them are in black and white with no grey areas.

Sentence correction also I am improving slowly and my accuracy level is up to 80% now.

Reading comprehension was something i used to think might be tough, but to my surprise i made only 1 mistake in 24 questions I attempted so far from the kaplan book.

Once i finish this I would also take the full length practise test and then move on to kaplan verbal workout and then to kaplan 800.

Right now I am feeling really weak so studying in short slots of half an hour types.

Lets see if i crack under adversity or make a record :)