Term 7 Started

Alright, I am back from a week long vacation. Most of us went out of Bangalore during the 2 weeks vacation and were back by Sunday. It was definitely an excellent break for me since I did not go out of Bangalore ever since I came to IIMB (except China trip of course). But this time, I really chilled out, caught on with my sleep and met many family members and relatives.

Right after coming back, we had a great party thrown by the scholarship recipients on Monday. It was great fun and first party of the whole batch after the term 1-end party.

With all fun during vacation and a party to start with, the term has started rather slowly for me. I am still checking out few classes, and would be deciding by tomorrow what classes I am going to take this term. And probably this is the first term after I joined IIMB that I have not done any pre-reading for any course, and neither have opened book. I have been catching up on movies and watching all the cricket matches. Looks like this is going to be chilled out term.

As I have been mentioning in my last few posts, the focus is going to shift to Placements now. And as one of my batchmates rightly put Placement committee is working hard on it. Next two months are going to be crucial months for all of us, when each one of us would be looking to join in one of the desired roles and industry. Wish us good luck :)

75% MBA

Well, at the risk of sounding repetitive, I am 75% done with my MBA. Pheew!! 8 months have gone since I joined EPGP and what a journey I had so far. First few terms were really rigorous and slowly but surely it eased out. By the time elective term started, I was totally relaxed and sailing through my courses. I even dared take 6 courses in my 5th term and more or less managed it quite well.

Now, I have only 7 courses remaining, plus a comprehensive project. Today my teammate and I made a break-through in the project, which was long due to get started. We found something interesting to work on and would be starting soon. As I mentioned in my previous post, with the new term, the focus is surely going to shift to placements and job search. I am still looking for an ideal fit and still trying to figure out my calling. I have certain idea on where I want to go, but not sure how and whether it is feasible or not. Time will tell!

Getting several calls on CAT fiasco that happened over the last few days. I really feel for the people who suffered. I hope something really works out and everything end well.

On a different note, I am relieved to hear from various media sources and analysts that dubai crisis might not have much impact on India and its economy. Hope financial sector remains unscathed.

With 2 weeks of vacation, I am planning to go out of town, attend a wedding and meet some of my family members. It will be the first time I am going out of Bangalore (except the china trip). I intent to forget about the studies, job, and all other related things and want to relax and enjoy. Hopefully, it will give me energy to start fresh and finish my next two terms on a high note.

Congrats to 2nd batch

Couple of days back, the results of EPGP were out. 70 people have been admitted and several others placed on waitlist. Congratulations to all selected ones and best of luck to people on waitlist. It's a nostalgic moment. Last year, I was in same boat, wrapping my application, full of anticipation and eager to get into B-school of my choice. Feels good to be on other side.

There are many people from our batch answering queries on pagal guy and official yahoo group of the selected candidates. But if anyone has any specific question, please feel free to email me.

On other note, Term 6 is almost over and we would be starting end-term exam next week. And I will finish 75% of IIMB journey. After the exam we have 10-12 days of good vacation. I am sure from Term 7 the focus will shift from academics to placements. Let's see how our placement pipeline develop and evolve. I am pretty positive we will have lots to cheer in December and January. Oh btw, IIMB EPGP Office has awarded scholarship to top-5 performers in core courses. Congrats to them. A party is on the cards already :)

Resume Building

We are in Term 6, still 2 more term to go after this term and almost 3-4 months remaining to culminate the journey which commenced in April. Last week we had couple of PPT's and some more scheduled this week, and the next. So, even though I have lighter course work load this term, with several other career events, the time is just flying by.

With so many PPT's, we are in process of creating our resume. Few months back we had a resume review session and got some good insights from the resume consultant hired by Career Advancement Services of IIMB. I did not follow up much after that, but now when I am almost in midst of thick of some buzz, I spent last 2 days (well, not completely) on creating my resume, building up template to tailor it according to the jobs and formatting in IIMB suggested format.

Some companies have already visited us and asked for resume. I have not applied in those yet, but many have applied and we should be expecting some action soon. Hopefully our batch will have first campus job soon. Amen!

Term 6 started

After a great Diwali vacation for couple of days, we started our term 6 yesterday. This is the second elective term. I have taken 6 courses last term. Two of them would be continuing in this term. However, I am yet not officially finished with Term 5. I have two projects due by this weekend. Right from term 1, we have developed a habit of getting our project postponed after the exams of that term. The repercussion of that is we have to slog one more week for the projects and it officially merges with the classes of next term. Good or not, but that is how it has been working for us.

I am still attending several classes to decide on the courses I am going to take this term. But I am more or less set on 2 continued courses from last term and Financial Derivatives for this term. Will be deciding on other two courses by 23rd Oct, our official deadline for add/drop courses.

Meanwhile, the placement season is picking up, with few more companies lined up for PPT. I am not interested in any of those. So probably I still have a long way to go and have to bide my time.

On the sporty side, we are in final leg of Foundation Cup games. Foundation Cup is basically an inter branch competition with teams from PGP1, PGP2, EPGP, FPM, PGSEM etc competing in various sports such as Badminton, hockey, cricket, carrom, chess, football. We are in Semifinals of many games and hope to get gold in few of them. The culmination of these games would be on 28th Oct, the IIMB foundation day.

Tomorrow, our Marketing club is organizing a Marketing Conclave. Various industry practitioners and marketing guru's will give us some gyaan. More about it after tomorrows session. Need to rush to class now.

Happy Deepawali

For an oil lamp to burn, the wick has to be in the oil, yet out of the oil. If the wick is drowned in oil, it cannot bring light.

One of the profound words of wisdom I heard about significance of Diwali. I am reproducing it below


Life is like the wick of the lamp; you have to be in the world yet remaining untouched by it. If you are drowned in the materialism of the world, you cannot bring joy and knowledge in your life. By being in the world, yet not drowning in the worldly aspect of it, we can be the light of joy and knowledge. Lamps are lit on this day not just to decorate homes, but also to communicate this profound truth.

Another profound symbolism is in the firecrackers. In life, you often become like a firecracker, waiting to explode with your pent-up emotions, frustration and anger. When you suppress your emotions, cravings, aversions, hatred, you reach a bursting point. Bursting crackers is a psychological exercise to release bottled-up emotions. When you see an explosion outside, you feel similar sensations within you as well. Along with the explosion, there is so much light. Let go of these emotions, so serenity dawns. You can experience newness when you discard these pent-up emotions. Deepawali means to be in the present, so drop the regrets of the past and the worries of the future and live in the moment.

Sweets and gifts symbolise the dispelling of the bitterness and renewal of friendship. Deepawali is a time to throw light on the wisdom you have gained and welcome a new beginning. When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration. But don't let celebration make you lose your focus and awareness. To maintain awareness in the midst of celebrations, the ancients created rituals: puja brings sacredness. For the same reason, Deepawali is also the time for pujas that add depth to the festivities by infusing the spiritual aspect.

Light the lamp of love in your heart; the lamp of abundance in your home; the lamp of compassion to serve others; the lamp of knowledge to dispel the darkness of ignorance and the lamp of gratitude for the abundance that the Divine has bestowed on us. Light dispels darkness and when the darkness of ignorance within you is dispelled through the light of wisdom, goodness prevails.

Amen!

End of term 5 and start of placement season

So here I am. Could not keep my promise of posting regularly. Well, this time I can blame the higher powers. My laptop crashed and it took quite a while to get it fixed. Well, all's well that ends well.

In the meantime, I have finished my term 5. Which means I am done 62.5% of my MBA. Time is flying. I remember, last year I was struggling hard with my essays and spending sleepless nights on why mba, short term goals, and long term goals and trying to convince adcom gods about my plans. Well, one year down the line, I am in a Bschool and ironically, again confronting with same question. I am quite confused about the career options. Not that I have too many choices available, but I am still not able to make up my mind.

On the other hand, we have officially started our placement season. Today we had our first company for Pre-placement talk(PPT). Did not get much positive vibrations from the company, but its a good sign that companies are interested. The placement process for EPGP at IIMB will be little different than PGP. PGP process usually last only for 4-5 days with companies making beeline for day 0, day 1. Here we have diverse profile and would be looking for diverse job opportunities. So the companies will be invited one at a time and interested students will be applying accordingly.

Tomorrow we are starting our next term. Yeah! no break! But after 6th term we have 2 weeks off. So looking forward to it. I have heard that many aspirants have got interview invite from IIMB-EPGP. Some of the applicants have contacted me and inquired about interview preparation. I have shared my brief interview experience earlier. But here it is again: Generally interviews are fairly straightforward and most of the questions are from SOP. You will be asked about your professional experiences, hobbies, goals and why mba. Some generic questions on latest development in india might be asked as well. No hardball questions as per I know. In short, fairly straightforward and chilled out. So just relax and be yourself.

Feel free to contact me if you need any more info. Good luck.

50% done but still alive

Well, it's been a while since I posted anything. As you can guess, I was busy like hell slogging, partying and enjoying life :)
To give the update, I am done 50% of my MBA. I have finished 4 out of 8 terms here in IIM Bangalore. Finished my core courses and o boy, what a learning experience it was!

Now I am well averse with jargons like stagflation, GDP growth to cost of capital, opportunity cost, to customer delight and value proposition :) I can make sense of reading business news paper and get a hang about pricing strategy adopted by a company. I am more and more appreciating the advertisements in the television and tend to watch more of advertisement than the actual program!

What a change this last 5-6 months have done. Talk about MBA experience!!!!

Meanwhile, we also went to China for International Study tour. We went to Tsinghua University in Beijing, the topmost university of China. Practically every big shot in China has gone to this school. Beijing was an amazing experience and I would write a separate post on my china adventure.

Now, we have started taking electives and I have taken a well mix of Finance, Marketing and Strategy courses. My intention to break into financial/banking companies. Let's see how it goes.

Well, now I hope I will have sometime to post regularly. So watch out this space. Good luck to aspirants this year. Most of the school's first round deadline is approaching fast. I wish them the best of the luck in this journey.

End of Term 1

It's been a while since I posted. As you can understand, I was extremely busy with the Term 1. Getting used to so much reading and studying, giving quizzes every week, and submitting final projects and taking up final exams. Too many things to handle and got too hot to handle. But I survived, and did well in the courses. Though the grades are not out yet, but I am satisfied with my learning and overall knowledge.

The term started lightly, with two holidays in first week, but compensated by two quizzes in the same week. Slowly it picked up, and we were running out of time for every thing, and everyone wished we had more time. By the time, final week came, we had 5 final project submission, a few presentations, and 5 final exams to take. Somehow, I managed all this madness.

We had term ending party, organized by EPGP office on May 11th and it was great.

In midst of exams, quizzes, case discussions, we had variety of activities. The highlight of the program is it's unique seminar series. Every week or so, we invite an eminent speaker to talk about managerial, non-managerial, change management issues. This week we had honor of having Mr Sudhir Kumar - the man behind the transformation of Indian Railways. I had an amazing time listening to him and having a post-talk discussion. You can find more details in our official blog

Overall, its been a amazing experience so far. I did not get time to crib about adjusting to new life in India. There are few things that you have to adjust, but those things look so minuscule in front of work-load we had that I never got time to think about them. It's been rightly said by my guru - sri sri ravishankar - if you have to worry, worry big. All small worries just disappear!!

On a different note, I was quite disconnected with blogging world. I realized best of blogging results were out. Congrats to all those selected by clear admit best of blogging. All of them really deserved it and have maintained an amazing blog.

I hope the application season is over for most of the blogging fraternity of this year. Some of them might be still awaiting result for their waitlist, but I am sure most of them have decided where they are going and busy preparing for their new journey. One advice to them (I started early.. so can give some advice now) - Enjoy as much as possible and relax as much as possible. Spend time with your family and friends. I realize this after coming here- you do not get time to talk to anyone after you start the program - not atleast for few months.

My second term has already started. So far, it is not turning out to be as bad as the first one. Partly because, I am used to it, and party because there are fewer exams/quizzes this term.

That's all from me for now.

Few weeks at IIMB and best of blogging

Its been a while since I have written since my first day at IIMB. Well, we are in week 2 now. Its been quite a busy time. Back to back classes whole day, had 2 tests in the first week, have one again tomorrow and have 3 next week. Life has been anything but busy.
But overall, it's been fun, the professors are amazing and I am learning a world of things. Its been barely two weeks and I am sure I can confidently talk about supply-demand, market equilibrium, profit and loss statement, cashflow, balance sheet, organization structure, motivation factors, etc etc. We had frequent interaction with the EPGP chair and he always make sure to ask us about how we are doing, how we are coping up with the program. Moreover, he mentioned how he has handpicked best of the faculty for our course, and I can definitely see that.

The class is extremely interactive, and I have learned a lot from them. People have spent 15-16 yrs in the industry, heading various divisions, made presentations or regularly interacted with CXO's. All high achievers but down to earth.

On the other note, I am honored that my blog has been nominated for best of blogging by clearadmit. Thanks Clearadmit. It's been some journey for me for my application process, and I have gained immense experience along the way, which I tried to capture through this blog. If someone has any questions about GMAT, or application process in general and IIMB in particular, please feel free to email me. I would be happy to answer them. It's with these blogs that I developed better understanding of application through fellow applicants, and better understanding of the schools through the bloggers of the school. I would like to do the same for the future applicants. So keep the question coming and good luck.

Finally at IIMB

I moved to Bangalore yesterday. Got apartment, lot of things to be done in that, but got me few basic things to make me up and running. Most importantly, I got internet connection. Things are little different in india, but I am trying to adjust. I did not know quite a few things but now I am much more aware.

Yesterday evening, we attended 34th convocation at IIMB and heard good speeches from Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of the board of directors, IIMB and chief guest for the function, Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah. Both of them stressed on tough times ahead and importance of keeping head high and work with perseverance. It was a good time.

Today was the first day for our two days orientation. We started with inauguration of the EPGP by lighting the lamp by chief guest Ms. Kiran Mazumdar-shaw, CMD of Biocon. She gave an interesting speech on how to deal with the tough times ahead and gave an overview of how she started Biocon and challenges she faced.

In the afternoon we had other team building events and conducted by one of the visiting faculty at IIMB.

So far, I am really excited about the program and I like my batchmates. Although majority of them are engineers and come from IT, but we still have quite a bit diversity and people have come from places such as medicine, army, arts, non-profit, commerce and general management.

Btw, on a side note, I recently got admitted at McCombs and that came the last day I was leaving US. After deliberating for quite some time and even few days after reaching India, I finally decided to deny the offer. I will know after an year whether I made the right decision.

But so far, I am enjoying at IIMB, although living in Bangalore is bit challenging. The traffic condition is horrible, and there are frequent power cuts. I hope I will adjust to the situation fast enough as the classes are starting on 6th Apr.

Keep watching this space for more updates :)

Good Bye America

So finally, its time to leave the US and go back to my home, India. I have spent good time here while studying and working. Its a great country with excellent facilities, but I have been wanting to go back for a while. I know it will be difficult to adjust initially, but I hope it will be fine. Anyways, for next 1 yr, I might not get time to think or crib about various limitations in India.

I will be going to IIMB in Apr 1st week. We will have inauguration and orientation on 3rd and 4th Apr and classes will be starting from Apr 6th. Not much time left. I did not do much pre MBA preparation and hoping to pick it up there directly.

As the feeling is sinking in, I am getting both excited and apprehended. I do not know how it going to be and what economy will look like after an year. But at the same time, I am really excited with this next step in my life, which I hope will give a big boost to my career.

Keep watching this space for my experiences at IIMB with its one year MBA. Can't Wait!

Preparatory Material

It's been a while since the Preparatory Material on Quantitative Methods and Statistics from IIMB was sitting in my Inbox. Last week I started reading it. The initial material was pretty easy based on general fundamentals of sets, statistics, probability, permutations and combination, etc and I could skim through it quickly. However, what followed was such a dense material, I hardly could not understand much. Normal distribution, poisson's distribution, binomial distribution, chi distribution, t, F distribution, Null hypothesis - all sounded very interesting but just went over my head. I mean, I could understand what is going on, but when I looked at the material again, could not remember a thing.

How much is really useful? Will we have to really understand this stuff and use it in some course?

I could understand the application of the material though. It gave me an idea on how the surveys are done, and how they come to conclusion based on such a small sample data. Lots of math going behind it. Interesting!

MBA in a Day!

I read this book by Steven Stralser. It's a good read for those who want to get a crux of what is taught in B-School and especially useful for those who want to start a business or very busy in life and do not have time to go for B-School. Obviously, you cannot learn what the school teaches over a period of 1,2 or 3 years, but it has quite relevant and practical information. Moreover, it is very easy to understand and give lot of actionable insights to help approach business practically.

Also, as a BSchool aspirant, I found it quite interesting and gave me fair idea about various terminologies in negotiations, marketing, finance, accounting. It contains 14 chapters each addressing different part of core business areas such as organization behavior, marketing, accounting, finance, micro and macro economics. In addition to that, it addresses some of the core soft skills such as Ethics, team building, leadership.

On the hindsight, I am wondering if I had read this book earlier, I could have probably written my essays and talked about career goals in a better language or say in better business language. Just wondering :)

Decided

After giving lot of thoughts and pondering over for several weeks and taking in stock the current economic situation, I have decided that I am going to join IIMB for EPGP.

I have spoken to many students, and browsed through profiles of several alumni, and I think ASU does not excite me. Although, I would have definitely gone if I did not have any other offer. Anyways, most of the internationals at ASU have only 3-4 years of experience and just want to go anywhere the school takes it. And in the end, Supply Chain does not excite me, and there is not point of doing anything else at ASU, especially as an international student.

I am quite inclined towards finance, but with this economic scenario, I might be leaning towards marketing. And with the news of BoA rescinding offers from international students, I am guessing other banks and financial institutions will follow suit. I am not very positive of job opportunities for international students after 2 yrs of MBA, especially, if you are not doing it from one of the top 5 Schools or perhaps from top 10.

Although, the job scene at Indian schools is not that rosy either. I am hearing news that IIMA grads are struggling for jobs and especially those seeking to go in finance and banking, are taking jobs in PSU - nationalized banks etc. Woow, that will be some experience. Working in nationalized banks and adjusting to slow and lethargic lifestyle. Perhaps, IIM grads will change the culture and bring much needed sense of responsibility and dynamic culture in Indian banks.

But, still India offers a much more sense of security and better prospects. IIM Bangalore is not a bad place to be. The professors are committed and the batch is pretty dynamic. Though the facilities they are providing are not up to the mark, but given that it is the first year, they are doing it appreciatively well.

So, IIMB it is for me and I am getting ready to pack my bags. Lot of work. I hope I will manage in next 2-3 weeks.

Wharton Interview Experience

So, I was invited to Wharton a day before its final mid-decision deadline. To my horror, there were no on-campus interview slots available. I called the office, and found out that they can create a slot for me, but that will be mid-term time and so you cannot sit in class etc. So I decided to go with Hub interview in SF. After some hiccups in that too, I finally got a slot.
I reached 20 min before time, but they were running late. Till 5 min after my interview was suppose to start, the previous person was interviewing. Finally, we started around 20 min late.
Interview started with the introduction, and her apology for being late. She seemed to be very friendly person and I was at ease immediately. She explained me the process and that the interview is blind etc etc. And then we started with usual question. No curve ball.
1. Walk me through your resume
2. What after MBA - I mentioned my long term and short term goals
3. Why MBA - done
4. Why Now - Faltered a bit
5. Why Wharton - Spoke a lot
6. How will you contribute to Wharton - this gave me enough opportunity share my so many community service work. She was happy to hear that - or at least pretended to be happy
7. Teamwork example
8. Leadership style and example
9. In your past review, what area of improvements were suggested
10. Anything else you want ad com to know? - I covered most of the things, but still talked about interesting community service activity we are doing.
11. Any questions - I asked couple of questions

Overall, very satisfactory, and similar to Kellogg, I was able to talk about everything I did. Though, I think I could have answered Why Now a little better, as I had prepared for that questions but still faltered there. Anyways, lets see what happens. I really loved the experience and as many say, would love to go to this school :)

Terror attacks in Pakistan

Every time there is any terror attack in Pakistan, all the cricketers and politicians gave assurance that everyone loves cricket and cricketers and they will never be affected or attacked.

And this time, they have gone out to prove them wrong and opened fire on Sri Lankan Cricket team. In this sad event, 8 of the Sri Lankan players are injured. Fortunately none of them is serious. This is going to impact future of Pakistan cricket. Already most of the cricket playing nations refused to tour Pakistan. Only team from sub-continent were open to tour. After Mumbai terror attacks, India canceled its tour, and now this attack is final nail in the coffin. Immediate affect is SL canceling this tour and I do not think they are going to come again at least for few years. It might also result in formal boycott of Pakistan visit by ICC. Pakistan cricket is already in shambles, this will just make it die.

This also reflects poorly on Pakistan government handling of terrorism. They have received billions of dollars from US to combat terrorism, but have not done anything yet. This time it has come to bite them at their own house.

Snapshots from hell - and admitted student weekend

Well, I finished reading Snapshots from Hell. A very well written book to give an idea about what to expect in Business School. Although Peter exaggerated a few things, since it or may be it is true for non-quantitative background people to face hard time. But overall, gives a good picture and sets the expectation right. I have now started reading World is Flat. Have read around 10 pages and looks really interesting. I have also got Liar's Poker - a book on wall street life. Looks interesting as well.

On MBA front, ASU has invited me for Admitted student weekend. And good thing is, they will pay for air fare, food and lodging. Woow!! That's some treatment!!
I am still not sure whether I will go. I have yet not decided, but I spoke to few people and I am leaning towards IIM Bangalore. In the long term, I think IIMB will be a better option. Moreover, ASU's strength is Supply Chain, which I am not sure of going into. I haven't got a chance to speak to alumni yet, but would be doing it this weekend. Need to find out kind of job they do and what kind of recruitment happens. I looked at few alumni profile, who graduated recently and they are working as Business Analyst, which is not exciting me at all. Business Analyst after MBA!!! Is it the right title? Any ideas?

Admitted to Carey MBA at ASU

As the title says, I am admitted to Carey MBA at ASU with $$. The offer is pretty good and ultimately I will have to pay $8K per year in tuition. The details of my visit and interview are here. Now, I am confused. ASU probably do not have that big a brand name in India. However, it is fast rising in the ranking and this year it was 22nd in US news rank, above Emory etc.

But anyways, I will think more on that later. Right now, its a good news, so would be enjoying it for sometime.

Books

I have started reading again after a long time. I read John Grisham's - A Time to Kill. Not too exciting and was kinda slow, but got me in mode of reading. I got two more books now - Snapshots from Hell and World is Flat. Looking forward to read them soon.

IIMB has sent the reading material for quantitative analysis. Will get to it after this week. So far, the group is active and we are working on various branding strategies, placement strategies, seminars, electives etc. Moreover, the guys have struck a good deal with SBI to secure loan at 10.75% without collatoral. A commendable job indeed.

I have fixed my departure date, tentatively at 20th March. Will probably get accomodation only around 30th or 31st. The orientation starts 2nd April. Woow!! Finally its all happening. I am really looking forward to it.

Not much to do

With application season over, there is a different feeling of emptiness. A month or so back, I was so busy as hell. And now, it feels like there is nothing to do. Although, I have lot on my plate as to move back to india etc, but still there is no mental pressure and no stressful situation which I got used to.

I am really having a enjoyable time. It feels good to be free. I am thinking of speaking to few people to find out about some pre-reading that I should do before heading off to Bangalore. One year course is going to be very busy and it will be good to have some prior understanding of the courses I am going to take. Any suggestion? I do not have any theoretical knowledge of accounting, marketing, finance etc. Please suggest me some books - curricular or other which will help me prepare for my upcoming journey

ASU visit and interview experience

I visited and interviewed with ASU this week.Reached Phoenix on super bowl day and barely caught with few minutes in last quarter. And oh boy, what a game it was. Cardinals played really well but missed out on a wonderful win through a last minute dive and touchdown by Steelers. Well, ASU provided hotel accommodation for one night, a nice room with all facilities.

I had all scheduled for next morning- a class at 10am, lunch at 12pm, tour at 1pm and interview at 2pm.

I attended Operations and Supply Chain class by professor Choi, one of the most popular classes. And it was fun. The professor was very funny and had a good nick of teaching things in humorous way. After the class, I went with a lunch (paid by ASU) with a current student along with another prospective student. We had lunch in good old MU (old memories – spent lot of time at MU during my MS days). We discussed a lot of things about culture, classes, recruiting with the second year student ambassador. After lunch I went on a tour, which we limited to the business school building because rest of the attraction of the tour such as MU, SRC etc I have already seen and visited myself. Then I took opportunity to discuss further with the student ambassador about her experiences, specializations, goals, ASU culture etc. I went in for interview at 2pm. It was conducted by two people – one admission staff and other a current student in marketing major. The interview was very probing and went into details of all the examples I gave. Here are the questions that I remember:

1. Tell me about yourself and what you do currently.

2. Significant leadership experience at work

3. When things did not go as planned – talked about my failure experience at extra curricular

4. Had difficult time working with someone, what I did. – rephrased my teamwork experience

5. Manager feedback on strength and weakness.

6. Example of when I worked hard on something but did not achieve the expected result – had to go back to my days after 12^th grade

7. Experience from my work where I had to do something I did not want to do – did not remember any work experience – so talked about my extra curricular experience. – follow up question to go more specific – I did not do well on this question

8. Choose an example of best team or worst team and why you think it was best or worst. I chose best team – one of my first company experience – I came up with story on the spot, so not sure how it went.

9. Short term, long term goals

10. Why MBA now. They did not ask why ASU and I did not get a chance to talk about why ASU, but I squeezed in few points.

11. What other schools applying and how would you choose if admitted in all

12. CASE: some TV company, going into overhead projection tv market, qa tested it well. 1. Customer demand increased 2. company could not meet demand

a- what does the company do?

b. Why did demand increase?

c. Why couldn’t the company meet the demand?

d. What can be done?

Then it was my time to ask questions and I asked lot of them. Finally we exchanged good byes and I left campus back to hotel and from their back to airport.

Overall, good experience, but mostly it is focused on Supply Chain and student did not look that bright. Moreover, most of the international students, especially Indian students, do Supply Chain Management specialization just because its ASU’s strength and they do not really know what they want to do after their MBA. But overall, ASU has good culture, small class size means personalized attention, and faculty looks promising. Moreover, they are rising in ranks and have good feedback from employers and recruiters. It will not be a bad school to go to and especially, living if you like to stay in west coast area.

Rejected by Haas

Finally, Haas did not show me any love and rejected my application. With this end my unsuccessful Round 1 applications journey. I failed miserably getting ding on all five schools. 5/5- That's a dubious record. All my first choice schools have rejected me. Oh well, that's life.

Haas app was one of my best application, but I guess I lost hope after UCLA ding me. But honestly, this was the school I loved most. The students are really amazing and very helpful. I spoke to students of so many schools, haas students are the most friendly, cooperative and approachable. I dreamed of being part of such a community. Anyways, I hope something is good for me in this.

Congrats and good luck to all those who got into Haas.

Stanford....

I am NOT IN!! As I was expecting, Stanford has sent me the ding letter. And with this my dream of going to Stanford has ended. ouuch, it hurts!
I did feel little bad as any rejection gives bad feeling. But it was expected, so no shock, as I got when I was denied by UCLA.

Things are moving slowly. I have sent my deposit to IIM Bangalore. I am trying to plan things out to make a move to India and wrap things up in 2 months. At this point it looks pretty challenging. Good thing is I do not have too many liabilities here. So just have to sell off the minimal stuff I have collected. Have to start looking for job opportunities for my wife as well.

On the other hand, I am very happy with IIM Bangalore group. Very active and making things happen. The professors are cooperative and the administrative staff is cordial and helpful. I am already getting good vibes. The challenge will be definitely that it is the first year of this program. But I hope they have learnt from other IIM's in running one year program.

All the best to people who got into Harvard and Stanford.

Hurray!! Accepted at IIMB

As the title says, I am accepted to IIMB - EPGP. I am very very happy. Although this is the first year of IIMB's one year program, I am very positive it is going to be great.

I was not sure about how it happened. I applied to IIMB by writing a sop in 3 hours. They invited almost everyone to interview. Interview happened at 1am PST and went on for only 10 min with questions on my job, my SOP, my short term and long term goal and why not 2 yrs MBA from US school or 2 yr MBA from IIM through CAT.

This is the quickest turn around I have seen. I am very happy.
After UCLA ding, I almost lost hope. And completely surrendered my desires.

Well, now it is clear, I will be out of my job for sure and would be doing an MBA. Time will tell where.

Thanks to all those who encouraged me in this journey.

Stunned!!! Yet another Ding

My bad phase continues! I got dinged from UCLA.
I was very very hopeful of Anderson. I loved that school, made multiple visits, both current students and alumni loved my essays, had a pretty strong application. One of the best essays I could do.

I do not know what else I need to do. I think I do not deserve to go to Business School.

I am extremely depressed with this rough ride.