[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.