[MBA] Tuck interview

This was a very atypical interview. To start with the interviewer was in slippers, I was not in formal wear and a couple of ladies behind me were chatting away to glory throughout the interview. But the questions were what made this interview unusual. Right of the bat he told me that he was impressed by my calibre as an engineer so he was only interested in knowing how I thought through business problems. So I got to solve a on-the-fly business case involving my current company. Immediately after he gave me feedback about what I did right and where I could have improved. I got the feeling that this part had gone well, but then I am not a genius at judging people. This by the way took up the bulk of the 45-50 min interview.

Then came the why Tuck question. I had ofcourse prepared for it, but the context in which it was asked and the way in which it was put to me threw me offbalance. Lets just say that if they are looking for honesty I'll score high marks. If on the other hand they are looking for breathless admiration for Tuck I am screwed.

He said a couple of flattering things to round up the interview. So I am not feeling as bad about the 'Why Tuck' slipup as I should. But anyway I have done what I could about Tuck. Now it's up to them.

[MBA] Back in Action

I had an unscheduled break from essay writing as I was down with a viral infection for the past few days. Now it's back to the grind. At school I used to work best when the deadlines seemed hopeless. Thanks to my health and my immense power of procrastination, I am fast approaching that situation with my remaining 3 schools. Hope I haven't lost my mojo!

So, I am not one of the lucky 1/3 who were fortunate enough to hear from Kellogg in the December time frame. Perfect time for me to bitch a little. I think this Kellogg decision release policy is very unfair. To give 1/3 of the applicants the pleasure and convenience of an early decision, they ruin the mental peace of 2/3 of the applicants for a couple of weeks. This blows. Either they should release all decisions within a two week window in January or they should look at applications in the first-in-first-out order so that people can anticipate to some extent when they can hope to receive a decision. Keeping everyone in this uncertain state for one full month is extremely unfair to people who will receive their decisions towards the end of the cycle.

Ok, now that this is off my chest - moving on. I contacted my Tuck interviewer and have fixed up a time and date. Fortunately or unfortunately it's at THE coffee place. Am a bit nervous, because I have never interviewed at such informal locations. Hope it's not too crowded. Atleast I get to show up in informal attire. (Yes, I asked)

Now on to my monthly schedule self-flagellation. In a previous post I had listed down my MBA app goals for every month till January 20th. This is how I have fared from Nov 20th - Dec 20th.

By Dec 20
Tuck submitted - Done
Haas submitted - Done
Stanford essays out for review - Still not complete
Sloan essays going through internal revisions - Major disaster. Not even started.

[MBA] Topsy turvy day

A few minutes after I published my previous post about Tuck, I got an interview invite. Go figure.

[MBA] Tuck R.I.P.

So I haven't received an interview invite yet from Tuck. I had managed to calm myself down with the thought that they were sending out invites to non US residents 1st. But thanks to Bweek - the purveyor of all news bad - I now know that isn't true. Since I am not an ultra strong candidate who can be admitted without interview, this pretty much means the end of the road for me and Tuck. For the sake of my other applications I hope that my failure to articulate 'Why Tuck' was the reason behind this outcome. There could be lots of other reasons but I have to keep paranoia at bay. My other applications can't be helped if I keep obsessing about what went wrong without any way to figure out what actually went wrong.

Man, this stings. Not even an interview invite! Phew.

[India,Cricket] The sad procession continues

Will any Indian cricket legend ever get a decent sendoff. I was a pre-teen when Gavaskar retired after scoring a near century. But after that it has been one humiliating spectacle after another. First you had Kapil Dev who labored on and on in pursuit of Hadlee's record of most Test wickets. It was so embarrassing to watch THE Kapil Dev getting carted all over the ground by people who were not even half the cricketer that he once was. Then came Azhar. He used to be my favorite batsman, the guy I used to idolize during my career as a 'gali' cricketer. When the entire nation was swooning over the little god with curly hair, Azhar was the guy I wanted to watch. Well, he went ahead and got involved in match fixing and that was the end of his career.

And now Saurav Ganguly's career has pretty much ended - thanks to the selectors. Dropping him at this point is completely wrong in my opinion. Yes, on current form there are others who deserve a place more than him. If current form is the only criteria for selection, then he should have been dropped right at the beginning of the series. If you selected this guy after all the captaincy controversies that happened, you should have given him enough chances to prove himself. He just got 3 innings - one of them completely inconsequential. That's just not fair. It's ironic that the guy who as captain stood up for youngsters and ensured that they got a fair run has not been shown the same curtsey. I find it really sad that his career has to end this way.

I hope Tendulkar, Dravid and Kumble all of whom are in their final stretches get a better sendoff than this.

[MBA] Midway through

Submitted the Haas app today. For a change was able to write an essay (favorite quote) from the heart. Somehow it feels satisfying. Now if only I can do the same with Stanford's 1st essay.

I had promised to myself that I wouldn't visit any Kellogg R1 threads on bweek. But broke my promise and went there anyway. Seems like someone has already gotten a ding. The gmail notifier on my desktop now seems pretty menacing. I think I'll just turn it off. I got work to do.

Damn serves me right for being nosy.

[MBA] The long (or short) Kellogg countdown

Kellogg will start releasing decisions from next week. According to Kristen on the 'Kellogg Admissions Officer Q&A 2005-2006' thread on bweek, the decisions will be released in a totally random order. So unless you interviewed very late you could get your decision anytime within this 1 month window. Marina, you don't know how lucky you are to be a late interviewer. You know for sure that you will get your decision in January. As for me, well, I interviewed way before the deadline. So I am in the unfunny situation of being in suspended animation for a 1 month period. Good that I have a lot of work to do on Stanford and Sloan. Otherwise the waiting would have driven me crazy. I understand the good intentions (letting people know early) behind this Kellogg policy but I think it has the unintended consequence of increasing stress levels in an already stressful process.

Anyway, got to go back to the Haas application. Time's ticking.

[MBA] For the lucky few

The relationship between me and businessweek forums is like the one between an addict and his dealer. I know that it's not good for me but I keep going back. Sometimes however, you come across an interesting post. I am copy pasting one in its entirety below. The link to the entire discussion is here.

This is for those lucky souls (AxeChick, Le Optimiste etc.) who know where they will be going next fall (or earlier) and do not have to visit bweek forums anymore.

Top 10 things to do between now and October.

(10) Read novels, plays, or anything unrelated to business or engineering. It's good for your mind, good for your soul, and good for business (the more cosmopolitan and well-read you are, the better you'll be with clients; ignore this at your peril).

(9) Get married, if you haven't already. What are you waiting for? Hurry up!! Because once you become a consultant, your carnal activities will be over (unless you consider flying solo with the pay-per-view channels at the Holiday Inn "carnal").

(8) Learn how to dance. Whether it's salsa, merengue, hip hop, ballroom dancing, etc. it's just a good social skill. And business (read: consulting) is as much about social skills as it is about "analysis". If you think business is just about what happens in the office, go back to IT.

(7) Learn how to cook (or learn new dishes). If you don't learn now, you'll probably never get the opportunity to in the future. And it's a great life skill to have. Oh, and chicks dig it (disclaimer: I'm a horrible cook).

(6) Travel. No, not on business like a rent-a-geek. Take the opportunity to really travel. Go to the Galapagos. Machu Pichu. South Africa. Morroco. Prague. Southern coast of Portugal (absolutely beautiful -- the people and scenery). Unless if you have the social skills of a houseplant, you'll meet all kinds of interesting people along the way -- both locals and fellow travelers. How is this relevant to business? Open your mind, and your ass will follow. Again, the more you know about the world through REAL experience (and not just through what you've read in a book), the more you have to talk about, the better you'll do in consulting (there's an old interviewing yardstick in consulting called the "airplane test" -- i.e. assuming you've nailed the case interview and it's down to "fit", they want to know that they can sit in an airplane with you for 4 hours without running out of things to talk about with you.)

(5) Take some acting classes, or public speaking classes. Anyone can always improve upon their presentation/communication abilities. If you don't know how to speak to people, go back to IT. Consulting is as much about the "knowledge" as it is about "spin control" and "client relationships".

(4) Go on some wine tours. If you drink, learning about wine is almost a must in business. When you're dining with clients, you will look like a child or a fool if you have no idea about wines. You don't need to be a connessieur, but learn more than you think you know now. It helps. Plus, wine is good. (And if you're really in for a challenge, go on some Scotch tastings. Once you get hooked on Scotch, it will never let you go. In business, you'll meet quite a few Scotch drinkers and knowing your Scotch is always a good thing).

(3) Go golfing. If you golf, then I don't need to tell you this. If you don't golf, keep in mind that it's a popular sport amongst business folks (disclaimer: I suck at golf, never liked it, rarely play it, but understand its importance).

(2) Take this opportunity to switch to a Mac for b-school. I'm kidding (disclaimer: I'm a Mac user, and will always try to find ways to convince folks to switch to Mac).

(1) Relax, eager beaver. Go visit your family and friends. Find ingenious ways to torment your colleagues -- make fun of them. Pour salt in their coffee and be ready to take a picture of their reactions and post the pics all over the office. You will have plenty of opportunities to do the meet-and-greets with the consulting firms starting from virtually the FIRST DAY of school. As an engineer, you won't impress them with your smarts, but with your ability to be a well-rounded and well spoken individual (which is more rare amongst techies).

Alex Chu

www.mbaapply.com
alex@mbaapply.com
The MBA Field Guide (sample essays and more)

[General] One prediction too many

I work for a non-profit and a couple of months back was involved in a fund-raising drive for a project I am responsible for. I am very uncomfortable soliciting anything from anybody. That's why networking events make me squirm. (Now, why the hell am I trying for an MBA?)
But anyway, this was for a good cause. So I sucked it up and did the rounds. Before I started, I created a list of people I would contact and just for fun made predictions about each person's response.

Now that the drive has ended - successfully I may add - it was interesting to go back and see how I fared in predicting behaviors. I was right for the most part. However, the few mistakes I made were spectacular. There was this guy whom I didn't even approach because I thought he was too much of a cheapskate to be interested in charity. Well, he approached me and signed up as the biggest donor (by far) in this drive. And there were two people who I was sure would sign up but didn't. I have long outgrown my juvenile attitude of getting mad at people who said no. So thankfully I don't bear any grudge against them. But I have known one of them since I was a kid. How could I have not seen the signs? I know that people grow, they change and go their separate ways. So this was not surprising. Just a little sad.

[MBA] 4 more to go

Just submitted the Tuck application. I was not 100% happy with the 'failure' essay but it was time to move on.

Next stop Haas. But in the meanwhile I really need to start giving some serious thought to the crazy Stanford essays !

[General] Careful what you wish for

For the past 2 1/2 years I have been pestering my boss to allow me to do some high level complex system design. Last week my wish was granted. Relax, I won't go into the details of the task here. Lets just say it's the direct outcome of one of the many telecom mergers that have happened of late. The 1st deliverable will be due early January. So now I have a nice overlap between the most challenging period of the MBA app process (5 schools !!) and a very complicated, time-consuming task at work. #!$%ing great.

I had posted a schedule for myself some time back. This is how I have fared on the 1st leg

By Nov 20
Tuck essays sent out for review - Done
Wharton essays sent out for review - Not really
Haas essays going through internal revisions - Sort of

I haven't flunked it as bad as I thought I would. But this was the easiest stretch. The toughest stretch starts now.

[MBA] Bay area twins

Just returned from a visit to Stanford and Haas. No surprises here. Unlike the two Boston or the two Chicago schools which have very different cultures and focuses, the two Bay Area schools have way more similarities than differences. Yes, Stanford has a stronger brand and it seemed to me that they admit a quirkier bunch of people. It is also said that Haas has a more rigorous curriculum than Stanford. I have no opinion on this one. The class that I attended at Haas was the most rigorous class I have attended at any of the schools - but then it was a 2nd year class. And Stanford has more of a standalone campus than Berkeley whose campus is quite lively.

However the similarities especially when it comes to the important things (except brand) are amazing. Small school, part of big prestigious universities, send more people (% terms) into tech industries than most other schools in the US, located in an area known for innovation and entrepreneurship, chilled out down to earth students (gross generalization alert!!), curriculum and culture with a strong focus on entrepreneurial and social ventures. The list just goes on.

Now, how does this affect me? Well, when I sit down and answer the 'Why Haas' question I don't know how I can make the reader believe that I haven't copy pasted my Stanford response. That has me a bit worried.

This trip reaffirmed a couple of decisions I had made some time back. Haas was a late addition to my app list. I think I made the right decision. I would be glad to go there. But Stanford continues to be my dream school. It pretty much comes on top wrt all the criteria I had listed in an earlier post. After the end of a very energetic class at Harvard, one of my fellow visitors turned back and told me 'What wouldn't I do to get into this place'. I felt like doing the same after the Stanford class. Except that I had a wall behind me and that would have seemed weird.

[Business] Away from the MBA madness

I spent the 1st half of this week in Dallas, attending a conference on 'IMS'. Spending 3 days in total non MBA app mode was exactly what the doctor and I_will_make_it had ordered.

In case you are wondering, 'IMS' is one of those silver bullets which the tech industry gets excited about from time to time. For geeks here is more information. For non-geeks and lazy bums, IMS is an architecture which is supposed to bring about convergence. What will get converged is an open question and there are a variety of views on this. The three most promising candidates in my opinion are :

Wireless-Wireline - you can start a call using your landline connection, continue it in your car using your cellular connection and terminate it over the wi-fi connection at your local drug dealer.

Internet-Telecom - it will become as easy (really?) to develop and deploy applications on the telecom network as it is today on the internet. So next time you hang up after telling your best friend how depressed you are feeling you'll get a SMS with a 'buy one get one free' offer from Zoloft. (think ads and gmail)

Tea-Coffee - you can make tea and coffee on the same machine. Just kidding - sort of.

My entirely ignorant, high level take on IMS is that like all new technologies it will fall well short of the hype in the short term but will change our lives for better or for worse in the long term.

On a personal note, most of the people at that conference were VP/Director/CXO types. Once when I was in class 4 (elementary school) in India, I had by mistake wandered into the high school part of the building. On the 1st day of this conference I felt as I had felt on that day long ago. But then I realized that my name-tag didn't carry my designation. So I spent the rest of the time doing my best impersonation of the quiet, deep, exceedingly brilliant yet humble genius. Was I able to pull it off? Don't know, but atleast I didn't get thrown out!! That should count for something.

[MBA] The blues

I am finding it difficult to motivate myself to tackle the remaining essays. Since I was writing all the Kellogg essays from scratch, they had a fresh feel about them. Now all my essays sound jaded. I don't know whether it's because I have read them a zillion times or if they are really stale. I know the eventual reader will be reading them for the 1st time. But I just can't shake off that uneasy feeling.

Gosh! I am looking forward to January already.

[Business, India] The house of Tatas

Here is a link to an article in Newsweek about the Tatas - one of the biggest business houses in India. Though the unabashed adulatory tone of the article made me squirm a bit, it is a good read nevertheless - especially for people interested in corporate social responsibility.

Here are some interesting excerpts.

"Western bankers and consultants - "little 25-year-old kids" - —told him to get out of the dying steel business."

I wonder where these kids came from :)

"... Tata plans a second act: a $2,000 car. Its market is "the family of four sitting on a two-wheeler, driving on slippery roads in the rain," says Ratan, who figures to sell up to 1 million a year in India. The plan is to distribute the car in kit form to small, low-tech assembly plants in the countryside. Ironically, this echoes a hoary socialist scheme that once forced Tata to hire cottage industries to hammer bodies of wood and sheet metal onto unfinished chassis. The aim this time, however, is less to develop the "small sector" than to replace expensive automation with cheap labor. "We will do something which everyone thought was not possible, just like the Indica," says Ratan. "History will show whether we've been foolish or courageous.""

I have been following this story with great interest for a while now. If they can pull this off without watering it down too much, it could have far reaching impacts not only on the rural market in India but also in other parts of the developing world.

[MBA] Ah the joy of scheduling

I don't feel like writing essays today. So I thought it might be fun to publish a schedule and see if atleast the fear of public failure will drive me to keep up with it. So here goes.

By Nov 20
Tuck essays sent out for review
Wharton essays sent out for review
Haas essays going through internal revisions

By Dec 20
Tuck submitted
Haas submitted
Stanford essays out for review
Sloan essays going through internal revisions

By Jan 20
Stanford submitted
Wharton submitted
Sloan submitted
Kellogg ding/accept collected

[MBA] 1 down 5 to go

I submitted the Kellogg application today. Boy, was that exhausting. Now on to Tuck.

[MBA] The Tuck tour

I had been told by my Boston host that Tuck was just 11/2 hours from his place. Since my class was at 10:15, I was looking forward to my first decent night's sleep in 3 days. But I should have known better - it was just too good to be true. As it turned out my friend had looked up directions to Hanover, MA instead of Hanover, NH and the real drive time was 3 hours. So there I was, once again getting woken up at an unearthly hour and wondering why the !@@# I was doing all this.

The drive however made it all worth it. The dense foliage, early morning mist and the fall colors near Hanover were simply amazing. I entered Dartmouth well in time but then got lost while trying to find a parking lot and ended up at the Tuck admissions office late and out of breath. I just hope that what people say about 1st impressions is a bunch load of crap. Fortunately for me, a student guide was also running late and I was able to tag along with him.

We visitors were asked to give introductions - without any warning this time. But after having gone through this drill once already at Sloan I had my 2 line introduction ready at hand. Infact I might even have made my job sound more important than what it really is. It was interesting that a couple of guys gave me a shout out after my introduction and the Professor immediately explained that it was because they were from Colorado as well. I wonder whether she guessed or really knew where they were from. It was after all not a small class (~60).

The subject matter for the day was pretty exciting - FIFO and LIFO methods in accounting :) The professor however was making an attempt to keep the class engaged and the student questions were more impressive than the day before. Or maybe that's how it seemed to me because I am less ignorant about bonds than I am about accounting.

After that we had the tour which was more of a building tour than a campus tour as all Tuck buildings are connected together. Most of the students live in dorms which are right next to the school. 'Cozy' pretty much sums up the decor of all the rooms - both old and new. Infact during my last minute dash to the admissions office I for a moment thought that I had gotten lost again and entered a gigantic log cabin. The facilities are not huge but since they have a small class I guess it should work out.

My best experience of the visit came right at the end. The director of admissions gave a short presentation to us visitors where she emphasized on what they look for in applicants. It was a elaboration on what they have on their website. After the presentation she asked people to come talk to her personally if they had any further questions. I decided to take her up on the offer, as much to see if she really meant it as to clarify a few questions I had about Tuck. I was pleasantly surprised. She really sat down with me and answered all my questions in a detailed, thoughtful fashion. I ofcourse made an ass of myself and now hope that she doesn't remember me when my application comes up. But that's beside the point. During my interactions with Tuck students, I had heard that because of the small size of the school, students were able to get personalized attention - from career services, from professors. I actually saw this in action during my discussion with the director. I was sitting on the fence wrt my Tuck application. The content and nature of this discussion tipped me over (to the applicant side).

2 interesting points she made during the discussion
1. During the weak job market they could request their alumni to take 1-2 people each at their firms - which was doable even in that market. Because of their small class size this approach ultimately resulted in good recruitment stats for the graduating class.
2. They are trying to brand Tuck as being part of Dartmouth (Ivy league). This is part of their efforts to increase the brand recognition of Tuck in the international arena.
My note : Rankings matter a lot internationally, especially in Asia. Tuck's good showing in many rankings of late must also be helping with this agenda.

Next: Harvard

[MBA] The school across the river - Sloan

I had signed up for the afternoon session at Sloan keeping in mind my aversion to waking up early. But I hadn't taken into account the realities of public transportation in the suburban sprawl. So there I was, being woken up at the unearthly hour of 5 something to make the trip to Cambridge, MA.

I and the other visitors were greeted by a couple of 1st year students who handed us our nifty Sloan folders. We chatted with them for a while mostly about how tough the 1st month had been on them. We were then whisked away to a conference room for a Q&A session with an adcom member. She stressed on the interdisciplinary opportunities available at Sloan thanks to it being part of MIT. This is something which is highlighted in most Sloan publicity literature as well - especially when talking about alumni. I have seen and heard how close knit Sloan alumni are. But I wonder how the MIT alumni thing plays out.

I could have asked this question at the lunch session that followed, if only I had the chance. These being the last few weeks before the R1 deadline, Sloan was swamped with visitors. So each Sloan student was asigned 5-6 people at lunch. Add to that the overcrowding in the small cafetaria and you had an environment not really conducive for discussion. From what little I could hear above the din, our guide seemed to be an impressive chap. To be frank apart from a free sandwich I didn't get anything much out of this lunch.

Then we were off to our class. In the 1st semester all courses are mandatory except an elective where you can choose either Marketing or Finance. My group went to the Finance class. We were asked to introduce ourselves to the class and after a round of applause the professor took over. It was a lecture based class and the topic for the day was duration and effective duration of bonds and how these concepts were tied to interest rate risk. Not the most exciting of topics and the professor didn't make too much of an attempt to liven it up either. I was initially disappointed with the level (quality not quantity) of class participation. But then I realized that people with finance backgrounds must have self-selected themselves out of this course. So no wonder the comments were not too insightful even to a finance novice like me.

The class was the end of the official Sloan visit program. I spent the rest of the afternoon roaming around the MIT campus - which incidentally I liked a lot. All in all the visit was a bit of a let down as I couldn't really get a feel of Sloan, primarily because I couldn't talk to any students properly. I learned what I already knew. That Sloan was a small school with a great finance program and an absolutely fabulous entrepreneurship program. But I knew that even before I got there. Unless you have the ability to strike up unsolicited conversations with strangers, I would suggest you visit during off peak times - maybe the weeks immediately following the R1 deadline. I would also recommend dropping by the admissions office and picking up the Roadmap brochures. They provide a high level view about how to pursue different careers through the MBA program. And yeah, if you have the time go visit the Entrepreunership Center.

As I walked back to Kendal Square to catch my train, I realized that I was feeling quite relieved. In the morning while walking towards Sloan I had felt a bit nervous. I have never worked around MBAs and this being my 1st school visit I guess I was afraid that everyone I would encounter would be way more smarter than me. It was reassuring to see that most of the students and applicants were just like me (in a good way). Even in the communication skills department I felt that though I wouldn't win any prizes, I sure could hold my own. I might or might not make it into any of the schools I am applying to but atleast now I know that I am not on a fool's errand either. That was probably my biggest takeaway from this visit.

Next : Tuck

[MBA] BSchool tour

I am just back from a weeklong BSchool tour. I visited Sloan, Tuck, Harvard, Wharton and Kellogg, throwing in an interview at Kellogg for good measure. Before posting detailed accounts about each school visit experience I'd like to make a few general points.

1. If at all possible don't visit 5 different schools in 4 different cities on 5 consecutive days. It's really hectic and you start mixing schools up towards the end of your tour. In fact I have to hurry to put my thoughts on here before I really start to assign experiences to the wrong schools.

2. All my comments are based on my personal experience with a snapshot of the school - one particular class, a few particular students and so on. So generalize at your own risk.

3. It would be great if schools could put visitors in touch with more 2nd year students. 1st year students definitely are great resources for admission related questions. But at this time of the year they don't know much more about the school culture/alumni/job (internship) hunt process than does an applicant who has done his/her research.

As for my application process, I have decided to move Wharton to R2. All my would be essay reviewers are caught up in the MBA 2nd year job hunt frenzy. So I would be lucky to get even Kellogg in for R1. I'll give it a shot though.

I have also decided to make Stanford and not Harvard my long shot application. I attended Stanford's info session before starting on my tour and just feel that it would be a much better fit for me. I had decided some time back that I would apply to only one of these two. So that saves me a Harvard reject :)

[MBA] Reception - Sloan

After going through the usual downtown ritual of getting lost while trying to locate unnecessarily expensive parking, I and a friend of mine finally walked into the Marriott center right on time. (Adcoms - would it kill you to have your sessions outside of downtowns?)

The Reception started with the usual slide show. The most interesting slide had results of a survey asking graduating students what the deciding factor was behind their job acceptances. I was really surprised to see that compensation ranked last on the list (6-9%) . So much so that I have forgotten what was at the top of the list (job content, growth opportunity or something like that). From friends who are in IB and sell-side finance, I have heard of the free for all that breaks out around bonus time. So either my friends are in bad environments, or Sloan students are different or they were not being entirely honest while answering this survey.

As for the admission process there are a few things which are different about Sloan. Since I am quoting from memory, the actual numbers may be slightly different.
1. They invite only 30-35% of the applicants for interview of whom around 50% get the admit. So if you get an invite you have already crossed a major barrier.
2. They have just 12 people who read the essays. And just 8 people who do the interviews. So if you have an off campus interview one of those 8 will fly out to interview you. This I think is something which is very unique (in a good way) about Sloan. All those horror stories about inconsistent alumni interviewers shouldn't apply to Sloan.
3. The interviewer will have full access to your application.

Ok, back to the info session. The slide show was followed by a short video made by current Sloan students. I watched the video, waiting anxiously for signs of Yetis (Indian Male Engineers). Didn't see any - except for one fleeting glimpse (further justifying the name). Maybe the people who made the video didn't have any Yeti friends. At least that's what I told my 'MBA applicant panicky' self.

The video was followed by alumni introductions and the networking session. The alumni were very enthusiastic about the 'Global Entrepreneurship Lab' as apparently back then it was one of its kind. But I guess that's no longer a unique factor about Sloan. Every school I have investigated so far (Kellogg, Wharton, Chicago) has something similar to offer. I was however really impressed by the vibes that the alumni displayed towards each other. It was almost like a college reunion for them. I have to go to a few more receptions before I can draw any conclusions from this.

The networking session wasn't very productive for me. I hadn't done too much research on Sloan, so had nothing to ask. And my attempt to benefit from other people's insightful questions failed as most people were focused towards professing their admiration for Sloan. To make matters worse in all my Geeky glory I haven't yet figured out how to end a bloody conversation. So I spent way too much time on conversations which had ended for all practical purposes a while back. Next time round, I'll either research the school and have some questions to ask or just hang out over there and discuss the affairs of the world.

I had already decided to apply to Sloan and this session only reinforced that decision. Next week it is Stanford. Unfortunately Tuck has scheduled a reception on the exact same day. Since I am planning to visit Tuck's campus I should have been able to skip this reception without a second thought. But the reception is going to be at a Tuck alumna's house! I am so curious to see how that's going to work out. But Stanford it will be eventually.

[General] The beginning of the end

Today on the way to work I noticed that someone had sprinkled white powder over Long's Peak. This is the beginning of the end of summer (screw labor day fanatics). Within the next few weeks the foothills will receive their 1st snowstorm and summer will be officially over.

There are people who waste their time making New Year's resolutions. I waste mine making seasonal resolutions. So here is the report card for my summer.

1. Learn to dance (guess who this came from!)
Miserable failure

2. Travel
Reasonable success. Just wish our travel plans had involved a beach - a real one with a sea. Lakes, however big don't count.

3. Set the cricket league afire
Failure. The start had promise but it all ended in a whimper.

4. MBA
No idea. At the start of summer I had a GMAT score and nothing else. After a circuitous, event filled journey I am back to square one. At least now I know what I need to do. That is until my 'laser like focus' wavers again!

Hell, it looks like I didn't exactly cover myself with glory this summer. Well, there always is winter and those elusive blue square ski runs of Colorado.

[MBA] Why Kellogg why

Right now I am going through essay writing hell. Everything I write comes out sounding like a kid bragging about beating his friends at a game of marbles or whatever it is that kids play now a days. When I try to compensate I start sounding like an apologetic loser. The cruelest of all essays by far is this one from Kellogg.

"You have been selected as a member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Please provide a brief evaluative assessment of your file."

Well, sure - here is my assessment.
"This candidate is the most amazing candidate I have come across in my short career as an AdCom. Let's admit him before some other school snatches him away from us."

This essay kind of brings out why essay writing is so tough. You have to carry off delicate balancing acts at multiple levels. Be honest and introspective without killing your candidacy. Spin without sounding like a windbag. Highlight your achievements without sounding like that kid above.

[General] Onion says it best

If you don't know what Onion is, you should be ashamed of yourself :)

This is from their latest issue

Televangelist Pat Robertson recently called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. What do you think?
"This recalls a moral and ethical dilemma theologians have grappled with for millennia, namely: Is it right to murder people?"


Couldn't have said it better !

[General] Katrina

I have been shocked like everyone else not only by the extent of the devastation but also by the total ineptitude of the authorities in responding to this crisis. However some of the comments made by the foreign media, especially quotes from people of developing countries make me cringe. I sense a gloating which is totally and unconditionally unjustified. Yes, we (people of developing countries) have been at the receiving end of western condescension and moralizing for way too long. But that in itself should have made us wiser about not reacting to this tragedy this way. One should never kick someone when they are down. There will be a time for fault finding - and there is a lot of it to find really - but this is not it. Let the basic necessities of the affected people be taken care of. And then we can revisit this.

There was an article in Slate which mentions how media anchors are losing patience with prevaricating politicians and taking them to task on air. I was witness to one such confrontation on NPR between Robert Siegel and DHS secretary Michael Critchoff. Needless to say I am happy to see the media recovering from its 9/11 induced self-castration. This might look like a contradiction of the time-out policy I proposed above. But this media attitude has actually helped rather than hinder the rescue and rehabilitation efforts. So full credits to them.

[MBA] The curse of Indian IT

There is a discussion going on in a Businessweek forum (free registration required) about how Indian male IT applicants get shafted during the MBA app process. I have felt the frustration that many people on that board feel. After all that's one part of my application I can do absolutely nothing about now! I think part of this frustration has got to do with the difference in the way admissions work in India and in the US. In India you give some exams, do well in them and you are in. Be it engineering, medicine, law, administrative service or even business. However in the US, adcoms (supposedly) look at the entire package. So when some of us with impeccable exam taking credentials get rejected, we are lost. What the hell happened? How did 'that' person get in and I didn't. There is no way he/she has more knowledge than me. There is no way he/she has better analytical skills than me. There is no way he/she can work harder than me. So what the hell happened? And so we are back to the IT curse.

A friend of mine who is part of a BSchool's adcomm once confronted his director with this question. Why is it so difficult for Indian male IT applicants to get in? 'All of you look so same', was the reply. He was not referring to physical looks ofcourse. Infact he wasn't referring exclusively to our choice of profession either. He knew that in India engineering is not an option but a necessity for many. No, he was probably referring to life outside work as well. Aren't we monotonously homogeneous there too? Just imagine this. You and 5 of your friends from high school are meeting after a gap of 10 years. You are hanging out at your favorite joint sharing stories about what all you did during those 10 years. How varied do you think your experiences would be? Now imagine the same scenario with a group of Americans. You get the point.

This ofcourse doesn't mean that we seek homogeneity because of some genetic flaw within us. That's just how an Indian middle class person is brought up. Always seek safety first - that's what we are told. There is nothing safer than following the crowd. And that's what we do ever so diligently and successfully. That's what is slowly converting us into an IT and Biotech power. And that's what !@#$s us up when we try to get into elite BSchools.

[MBA] School selection criteria

Ok lets get down to the apping business now. So how should I shortlist the 5-6 schools I'll be applying to? Here are some criteria (in no particular order) and my thought process on them.

1. Brand name - I have been on both sides of the 'brand' fence. My undergrad college has a great brand and my grad college an average one. What I have seen is that when the job market is good the advantage of a strong 'brand' is not all that much. Also once you are in a job, the brand doesn't help/hamper you all that much either (your performance does). However in weak job markets the 'brand' can be the difference between whether you get an interview call or an automated '... your resume is in our database ...' email. And lets face it, we go groping for our schools' brands only in tight situations. So brand is goddamn important.
In addition to that I have a non-trivial chance of working outside US (in Asia most probably) after I graduate. So international brand strength is especially important to me.

Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, MIT (Int), Haas (Int)

2. Culture - Whenever I think of school culture or fit, a voice at the back of my head says, "Fit is for wussies who don't know how to adapt. You have gone through 4 years of IIT hell. You can put up with anything."
Well, the very fact that I didn't enjoy my undergrad too much makes me take this factor seriously. Or maybe I am a wussie. But in either case, I would prefer a school with a collaborative atmosphere where there is competition but not of the cut-throat, backstabbing variety. Such a school probably doesn't exist but I'd like one which tries to approach this ideal.

I'll need to visit schools to figure out their cultures. So the list below is based on general impressions and is liable to change.
Kellogg, Tuck, Duke, UCLA and ?

3. Academic focus - Do people learn anything academically in MBA? I don't know but I sure hope so. To the extent that they do, I would like the school to have a strong focus on entrepreneurship, finance and marketing departments which are good enough to give a newcomer a solid grounding (as opposed to expertise) in those subjects. The school ecosystem should also provide ample opportunities for international studies/projects.

I have to do more research before I can name schools here. So far from what I have seen I am impressed by
entrepreneurship - UCLA, MIT, Chicago, Ross (for CK Prahalad)

4. Employment stats for internationals in 2001-2002 - this is going back to my favorite nightmare - me an international student without OPT graduating into a deep recession. In the local library I found a Wall Street Journal book which lists 2002 employment stats broken up into internationals and americans. I'll compile the results and post it here sometime.

5. Location - I would really like to have me and my wife stay in the same city during my MBA. For that she needs to have a chance of getting a job around the area where I go to school. Since she is a hardware engineer, the best places for that to happen are Bay area, Austin area and Boston area in that order.

Stanford, Haas, McCombs, Harvard, MIT
To stretch it a lil bit UCLA, Wharton, Tuck (and most other east coast schools)

Ok now I have the criteria. So do I have a shortlist yet? If only it had been that simple.

[MBA] At last I see the light (or something on those lines)

When I chose my blog username I meant it to be a small private joke. I had no idea it would become a public one so soon.

Ever since I decided to apply for the Weekend program at Chicago GSB, I have been having second thoughts - not about the MBA but about the part-time aspect. I gave myself numerous reasons why part-time was the best option for me. I have a decent job, GSB is a great program, people have changed careers in that program and so on. However the incidents at my workplace (product cancellation followed by layoffs) last month served as a wakeup call. I realized that I had been going the part-time way not because I preferred it over fulltime but simply because I was scared about graduating without the cushion of a green card. However now that I have had a brush with it, for a non green card holder getting laid off in the middle of a part-time MBA program during a recession is as bad as graduating from a full-time MBA program into a recession. There it is out in the open now. I have been scarred for life by the 2001-2002 job market. I cannot take any decision without considering how I would fare in a market like that.

Anyway coming back to the original chain of thought, so what's the worst that can happen if I graduate without a Green Card. I will have to go back to India and serve as indentured labor to my creditors here. Worse things could happen to people. Hell, if I introspect hard enough I could probably come up with worse things that have happened to me!

Not to say that part-time won't absolutely work for me. I intend to get an MBA and change my career. So I will go the part-time route if I have to. But I can no longer convince myself that it's my best and 1st option. I am still living with the regret of not trying hard enough to get into a good school for my MS. In the coming few months I will make sure that I don't have similar regrets for a good fulltime MBA program.

So, watch out you hordes of MBA applicant bloggers another cliche is headed your way.

[MBA] MBA plans deferred

I have decided to defer my MBA plans by a year. Got to figure out my job situation before I start.

[General] Country bumpkin

I made a trip to Denver downtown recently for a business lunch with a couple of marketing guys from a local telecom. The non-profit I work for has tied up with them for a joint revenue generating campaign and I am in charge of the gig. Anyway this was my 1st meeting ever with marketing types - if you discount the HR people; aren't they marketing majors as well :) It was interesting to observe the way they apply pressure on you while being nice and non-confrontational. Wonder whether thats something that can be learnt or you got to be born with it.

However what stood out for me on this trip was the way I felt like a country bumpkin as I walked around downtown making my way to the restaurant. Now Denver isn't exactly the biggest city in the world nor was this the 1st time I visited its downtown. But a combination of this being my 1st business hours visit and my long stay at my tiny foothills town made all the people around me seem like aliens. It was almost as if it was 1999 again - no it was not raining millionares, that was the year I 1st came to the US.

For a moment I thought, maybe I should move to a more urban downtownish area. But then the thought of seeing this same scene every single day brought me back to earth. I'll take wide open spaces and the mountains anyday.

[Business] From good to great

I just finished a book - 'Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap . . . and Others Don’t' by Jim Collins. This book prepares a list of companies who showed mediocre results for a period of atleast 15 years and then suddenly started showing great results and sustained them for atleast 15 years. It then identifies and analyzes the common characteristics of these companies and tries to answer the question in its title.

The way I understand it, according to the author the most important element in making a company great is to get the right people on board and the wrong people off it. Doesn't matter whether you are in services or manufacturing. Doesn't even matter if you don't know what the hell you are going to do. People - especially the ones at the top - are what make the difference. Now there is nothing earth shattering about this observation. Haven't we heard the 'people are our greatest asset' speech a million times. However what impressed me was the way every other finding of the author was tied back to this concept.

'The good-to-great company had X while the comparison company lacked it. So why was it that way? Because of the people.'
You could substitute X with any of the author's findings and the above statements would still be true. For example, one of the key differences between the good-to-great companies and their not-so-great comparisons was that the good-to-great companies identified their goal clearly and in very simple terms and then worked towards it with unwavering determination. Now that sounds very heroic but the key question is what if the goal were wrong? Wouldn't this lack of flexibility and single minded pursuit make things even worse? Well, the answer is if you have the right people the goal will not be wrong. Because the right people will not let their ego or inability to confront hard facts come in the way of decision making.

Another observation which I found especially interesting was the one about values. According to the author every great company needs to have a well defined value system which should permeate all aspects of its business. What is interesting is that this value system need not be good or socially acceptable. Your value system could be to get everyone on the planet addicted to tobacco. But as long as you fanatically stick to your 'values' you can greatly increase your chances of delivering superior results.

I liked this book. It was easy to read (well, to listen actually), it is backed by a lot of research and most important of all it made an attempt to explain the rationale behind the results instead of just presenting them. I would recommend this to anyone who has even a passing interest in business or is just intellectually curious. If you do not have time to read entire books you can read the summary at the end or better still you could try getting that fat butt of yours off the tv couch :)

[General] A sinking ship

I have never been on a ship, let alone one that is sinking. But after the last 4 years I have a pretty good idea what it would feel like.

Joining a telecom firm in 2001 was not a smart idea to start with but then I had no real option. Ever since then not a year has passed without layoffs or restructuring as it's called around here. The most insiduous effect of the sinking ship syndrome is not the constant threat of lay offs, it is the absolute lack of change. This lack of any real turnover - of people going out and new people and ideas coming in - results in a stale, masturbatory culture where self congratulation rules, superstitions become laws and the universe outside this fiefdom is deemed inferior.

Then why did I stick around for 4 years? Fear of the unknown, good old fashioned sloth and that indomitable bastard - hope. Once you have decided to do something (or not do something as in this case) it's always easy to find a rationale - just ask Bush. And so did I, kidding myself that things would work out just fine if I just hung on tight. Now that I have decided to emerge from this cocoon and move on, it is very disconcerting to have a mirror thrust in my face. While I was spending the last 4 years congratulating myself for not getting laid off, the world has moved on. I am in that strange zone - no longer an entry level engineer not yet a senior level architect.

Hell, I just paraphrased Britney Spears - this better be rock bottom !

[General] Spot the intrepid angler

I took this photo during our Yellowstone trip over the July 4th weekend. A beer (or coke) to anyone who can spot this guy.

[India] Why so touchy?

Recently a blogger (attagirl) published a post where she wrote a humorous piece on south indian accents. She immediately became a target of outraged comments which accused her of being prejudiced. Infact one poster pledged not to marry north indian girls. (No really!!) Why are we Indians so incapable of laughing at ourselves? No, I am not asking this question simply on the basis of this incident. Infact this was a minor incident. Anyone who has even half an eye on the news must have noticed how little it takes to get people out on the streets protesting some imaginary slight. Every group in India seems to have its sacred cows. Shivaji for Shiv Sainiks, Bose for Bengalis, Quran for Shahabuddin types, the list just goes on. Are we so insecure that every harmless comment, gesture, joke is seen as a frontal assault on our identity and values?

What I find intriguing is that while I was growing up in a town in eastern India in the 80's and 90's, nothing was offlimits when it came to jokes. We could and did make fun of any language, any religion, any god and no one took any offence. So is it that we lose our sense of humour as we grow up? Or has India changed since the time I grew up there? Or do people still make fun of everything in private but are eager to outraged when the jokes are made at a public forum?

[General] Steve Job's speech

Here is a link to the commencement address by Steve Jobs at Stanford. The speech is organized into 3 stories. I liked the 3rd story the best. It's about death but don't worry it's quite upbeat !!

[General] A half baked theory on success

Has this ever happened to you? You read something or hear something a thousand times and don't give it much thought, but then one fine day when the stars are all aligned you hear it again and you suddenly 'get it'.

This weekend during a drive across Colorado to play a game of Cricket, I tuned in to NPR. The renowned blues guitarist, B.B. King had recently broken ground on a project to build a museum dedicated to him in Indianola,Mississippi and NPR was running a feature on him. Apparently during the 40s and 50s, the Mississippi delta area was teeming with hordes of extremely talented Blues musicians. I might be wrong about the dates but hey it was 6:30 in the morning - it's a miracle that I was even able to drive !! Anyway, the interviewer asked King how was it that among the many talented guitarists who were around at that time only he could make it to the top. After giving some usual celebrity bs about managers/friends/family he said - because I wanted it more.

Isn't that what success in any field really boils down to? Once you have the minimum requirements to succeed in a field (a height > 7ft for basketball, decent analytical skills for academic research) all that really matters is how badly you want to succeed. On the face of it that might seem to be a good thing. After all we cannot acquire talent but we can always make ourselves want something really bad. Then how come it is so hard to have that drive? I am pretty sure most people do not set out to be average. But that's how most people end up as (by the definition of average). Maybe it's because attaining real success in most fields is a marathon, not a sprint. During the course of this long race on many occasions one has the option to drop out of the hard, risky, unpredictable path and head down the safe, comfortable, average road. Most people succumb to this temptation. A select few press on and are successful.

There I said it - my unified theory of success in professional life :) Maybe I should go for more early morning drives from now on.

[MBA] What AdComs want

Interesting link taken from BritChick's blog. It points to an article (slightly old but relevant) about characteristics of successful and unsuccessful MBA candidates - according to AdComs/Career Services.

Reading it made me feel almost ashamed of my good GMAT score. But then I have a crappy undergraduate GPA - so there still is some hope for me :)

[General] Why blog?

I guess, this should have been the 1st post. But anyway here goes.

I do a lot of random browsing (long live free broadband at work) and my daily commute is 1 hr one way so I get to spend a lot of quality time with myself. As if that were not bad enough I will most probably be starting a weekend MBA program at GSB Chicago which will involve lots of air-travel and more quality time with self. So instead of letting all this time go waste, I thought it would be a good idea to organize my thoughts and put them down somewhere. If I can cajole/threaten/emotionally blackmail some traffic and comments to this blog, then maybe I can learn a few things as well.

[MBA] On focus

I recently went through an MBA app experience. It was a part-time, one-school deal so it was neither too grueling nor cathartic. But one aspect of the process has stuck with me. Everyone seemed to be interested in how focused I had been in making my career choices and how every professional step of mine after graduation was infact a small step towards my ultimate goal. Hell, when I graduated I wasn't even sure what my goal was.

Is this kind of long term focus really possible? Do people really know when they graduate what exactly they want to do with their lives? Is that kind of focus even desirable? I mean, doesn't focusing too much too soon reduce the breadth of your knowledge and experience? These are not really rhetorical questions. I'd like to hear opinions - especially from people who answer yes to the second question.

Note: Please go ahead and comment even if you are reading this post a year after it has been posted. Since this is my 1st post that's an extremely plausible scenario.