Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Ross Submitted

After much struggle with the professional/personal development essay, endless reviews and many rewritings later, I finally submitted the Ross application.

This was the last of my R1 apps and marks the end of a 4 month long journey. Now begins the waiting game. Looking forward to spending the last couple of days @ home making up for the lost socializing! :)

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Sunday, October 29, 2006

Duke Submitted

Feeling relieved! Finally, after a 2 week lull, I managed to submit another app - a full 5 days late :(

Blame it on Diwali and my visit home. BTW, I am still home, but unable to do much except apps. Ofcourse, good to eat mum's yumm yumm food :D

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Saturday, October 28, 2006

Duke Reco faux pas :(

Back in Sept, when sending out the reco requests to my recommenders, I disintinctly remember reading on Duke's website that a reapplicant has the option of submitting only one reco - implying two recos are expected. And since my profile had undergone significant change, I thought it best to ask my boss to submit another reco - he'd recommended me last yr too. But now, a few hours after both the recos were submitted, I find out from a friend that only one is expected. And indeed, on the instructions for reapplicants, it is mentioned that only one is expected.

Maybe I remember wrongly, maybe the instructions changed - either way I should've checked it again to be sure, especially because the Duke app underwent considerable change from last year. :(

Anyway, I am in a fix now. What should I do? :( Should I explain it in the optional essay? Or just let it be?

:(

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Friday, October 27, 2006

Columbia Interview Experience

Had my Columbia interview today. My interviewer and I met a golf club here in Delhi for lunch. My interviewer worked at McK for 3 yrs and then joined his family business. He was very impressive, I must say (but then, what else did I expect?) :)

The interview was scheldued for 1 PM, but he was busy so came only at 1:40 PM - he did call to say he would be delayed. He was easy going and put me at ease right from the beginning. He started out asking me the regular questions:

Why MBA?
Why Columbia?
Whats ur leadership style?
Did u have problems leading ppl, how did u resolve it?
Which other schools are you apping to?
How did you approach the school selection process?

There were a few others, but I dont remember. And oh yes, he talked extensively about his Columbia experience, profs, electives he took etc. When I asked him for feedback, he just laughed it off :( And ofcourse gave me a disclaimer that interview is just a part of the whole process. Overall, it was ok. I was happy with myself, but then I was extremely happy with my performance last yr too - but that didnt land me anywhere, did it?

And oh yes, I used accepted.com's interview feedback to prepare for it. I found the feedback quite useful - not only for the questions, but also to get an essence of the style of interview most CBS alums prefer - conversational. Would highly recommend it. I hear Clearadmit's Wiki is also a good tool, but didn't have the time. Do chk out clearadmit's latest post on interview etiquette.

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Wharton - "Complete - R1"

Finally my app moved to "Complete - Round 1" status. Phew! I was really getting worried about that...

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Sunday, October 22, 2006

My name is Hobbes and I obsess over my apps

A scene from a room full of people undergoing pschyotherapy for OCD - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Asif - My name is Asif, when entering a room, I switch the light on and off 5 times, otherwise aliens will abduct me
Bhaskar - My name is Bhaskar, if I dont take a leak 20 times a day, I will not go to heaven.
Christina - My name is Christina, I have to enter the office only from the back entrance.
.
.
.
Hobbes - My name is Hobbes, I keep thinking and thinking and thinking about my apps.

HEEEEEEELPPPP!!!!!! I am obsessing over my apps!!!

I know we all eat, drink, sleep and live apps, but for me its going beyond that - beyond the point where it would be productive. I keep thinking about it so much that even during breaks I cannot stop my thought process - as a result there are no breaks and its hurting my essay writing process now :(

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

Columbia Interview Invite

Yesss folks! My first interview invite of the apping season! And obviously I am all excited about it! :D

Note for other applicants: Something seems to be wrong with their app system, I didnt get an email when the status changed. I just opened the app, hoping for exactly what had happened: Something goes wrong and they dont send an email when they invite me to interview! :)

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Darden Submitted

Haah! Finally, 2 days late, but submitted. The euphoria after submitting an app is slowly wearing off now...

Also, I think I should keep my trap shut about the essay reviews. The moment I blog that my essay passed a review, I get another review that totally screws up my happiness. Same happened Sunday night. I'd posted that I got decent reviews, when another friend trashed my diversity essay. Completely. And worse, his feedback made sense. He even trashed my "What will you do if you didn't have to work for a living" essay. But I felt it was better to follow the approach I'd adopted.

Anyways, so it was back to the drawing board for the diversity/uniqueness essay. Finally he liked what I sent, and frankly, its reads better than the earlier version.

Note to self: Stop bragging on your blog about good reviews.

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Sunday, October 15, 2006

Darden Update

On the Darden front, got quite a bit done yest. My goals essays needs a bit of tweaking to be done because its only a 500 word essay @ Darden. Sent my Diversity/Uniqueness essay and 'What would you do if you didn't have to work for a living' essay to a friend and he gave them an OK, except one minor point which can be fixed.

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Waving bye bye to social life

But whats the point, its already gone far away... so far away that there's no hope of it coming back in the near future. :(

Damn this admissions process! This lack of a social life is killing! Last night there was an office party, and for a change, it was well organized. I decided to go for it as working on my apps has effectively killed my social life. But even after reaching there, I couldnt shake my mind off the essays, the app, the transcripts, TOEFL Waiver etc etc etc! I hit the dance floor thinking it would be better once I let my hair down.

BUT NOPE!!! Even while on the dance floor, my mind kept wandering off to the apps. BAAAAAAAHHHH!!!! So finally I decided to leave after 1.5 hrs of pure torture. And not the least of all because there was this cute girl at work that I wanted a dance with, but didnt even approach her because I knew I wouldnt be able to make any civil conversation with her, I'd bore her to death with all this. :( :( :(

Pleez tell me you guys are also going through the same. I will definitely feel better if I am not the only one. :) I know atleast one other fellow applicant who is : MBABabe

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Friday, October 13, 2006

Business Week 2006 rankings released

BW has released it's rankings for business schools for 2006. These are the schools that have made the cut for the top 30.

Notably, Haas moved up quite a bit (9 notches) and Cornell dropped 6. Personally, I think Haas got the visibility it deserved. Its a fab school, it deserved much better ranking than it got all these years.

Top 30 U.S. Programs

1 University of Chicago

2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)

3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)

4 Harvard University

5 University of Michigan

6 Stanford University

7 MIT

8 UC Berkeley (Haas)

9 Duke University (Fuqua)

10 Columbia University

11 Dartmouth (Tuck)

12 UCLA (Anderson)

13 Cornell University

14 NYU (Stern)

15 University of Virginia (Darden)

16 Carnegie Mellon

17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)

18 Indiana University

19 Yale University

20 Texas - Austin

21 University of Southern California (Marshall)

22 Georgetown University

23 Emory University

24 Purdue University

25 University of Maryland

26 Notre Dame University

27 Washington University (Olin)

28 Rochester (Simon)

29 Michigan State University

30 Vanderbilt University

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What happens to my app once its submitted?

Here's Columbia's FAQ on what happens to our apps once submitted.

Here's a post by the Wharton adcom on the same.

Appreciate the transparency, folks!

All the best to fellow applicants! :)

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

Freaking out now :(

Just read on BW that some ED students already got their admission decisions, they've been admitted. Congrats guys!!!

But
thinking about that is freaking me out :( Waiting is always the worst part of this admissions game.

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Wharton Submitted

Phew! Finally! It took nearly three hours to just upload the essays and click sumit - the system kept going down. This should serve as an advance warning to those who are planning to submit their apps on the last day, be prepared for such outages.

Dunno why but was very scared about hitting submit. Didnt face so much of trauma for Columbia. But then, for Columbia I was ready with the app a few days before I actually hit submit. Anyways, now that W is done, Darden is waiting next in line...

Fast forward me to Nov pleez! :(

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Sunday, October 08, 2006

Draft for Stern's creative essay

No, not mine.

Read Qzoink's draft for the creative essay a NYU. Had me in splits! Still LMAO! Too bad he doesnt blog anymore.

Here's the link: http://qzoink.blogspot.com/2005/10/3-essay.html

And for the lazy unz... pasting it here:

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3: Essay

NYU Stern. Essay Question 3.

Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.

Ok, I'll try and feel free.

Scrolling: Menheads - La Politique (Part 1)

Draft 1:

I used to make fried dumplings at an Ethiopian restaurant in Lexington, Kentucky. I now make omelets at a joint in New York, New York. The last three alphabets are consonants. The last three in the name of the joint. Where I make omelets. Spinach, bacon and goat cheese.

Making the switch wasn't easy. It shows I am versatile. I can handle finance and economics together in the same semester. I make each omelet to perfection. It leads to better tips for those who serve it. If I am your MBA classmate in the future, I will do the same. Not the omelet. Homework, or a project. I'll do it to perfection, so that you get a better grade.

Various kinds of humans line up to eat my omelets every Sunday at 11:30 AM. A number of times, I have been given the responsibility of managing the queue. I arrange the humans heightwise, the shortest person in front. That way everyone can gauge how many humans are in front of him/her. It keeps the operation translucent. Although I am a chef by training, I know how to manage humans and do justice to them. As your MBA classmate, I will do similar justice to you. I will let you answer the teacher's question first. I'll even prompt the correct answer.

Time management is key. More so at a joint than at business school. Spinach, bacon and cheese, right? While the chopped bacon is frying in the skillet, the frozen chopped spinach is thawing in the microwave. The microwave has a timer but the skillet doesn't. So I have to keep an eye on it. I have to manage time. It's like managing two subordinates. One goes by the clock. It strikes 5 and she is out. The other keeps working until he burns out. I'll encounter both kinds in my study group or project team. I'll know what to do.

I hope you understand that I will make an all around good classmate. All that I have told you so far is very businesslike. You probably want to know the inner me. You wonder, what's behind that facade of omelets, management and generosity? It's a villager. It's someone who once couldn't believe that spinach can be frozen or that the white of an egg can come in a carton. Someone who was dumbfounded on seeing a whiteboard for the first time and wondered how a white chalk would be legible on it, only to be further dumbfounded on seeing dry-erase markers.

Don't worry, you won't feel awkward around me. Just like you, I now go to the movies and have a small cordless phone that I can use far away from my house. Mine didn't come with a base station though, did yours? Hey, trust me, I will never let you down, I'll make omelets for you, I'll nudge you if you fall asleep in class, and if you still don't wake up, you can have my notes.

I have highlighted my important features above. I am sure you want to know more, but I just realized that you won't be reading this. The admissions committee will, and they have had enough.

Wharton App :(

The W app just doesn't seem to finish! It feels like I am spending more time finishing the W app than I took for Columbia, my first app! It's not even that there's something additional in this app, except that they've enforced word limits for activities...

Isn't is supposed to get easier after the first one? :(

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Thursday, October 05, 2006

Columbia Status: Complete

App Status just changed to: Your application is complete and is currently under review by the Admissions Committee.

That's good speed, I say! :)

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Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Columbia Submitted

Yippppeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! :D

I've just submitted the Columbia app! Feeling so happy and relieved! :D

I was just waiting for my second recommender to submit the reco for the past 3-4 days. He submitted it a couple of hours ago, and I verified all the info once again and clicked submit! Feeling so ecstatic abt my first submission. Like Iday, even I feel like someone should felicitate me :D

I am way too on top of the world right now to write anything else, will blog later.

One last time:
Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiippppppppppppppppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! :D :D :D

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