WHY AN MBA!!!!

Much before you ponder to ask yourself this question, your mind may have thought about doing an MBA for whatever reason - be it only for the sake of doing an MBA, or because all your friends are doing an MBA, or because that might seem to be the only option for more $$$, or whatever . MBA is not a must-have degree, it falls in the category of "nice-to-have" things in your life. After all, if you pick the top 10 people in any field, chances are that only odd person amongst them may have done an MBA. Then why do an MBA?

when you approach this question - do not think about "what the bschool wants to hear"? Rather, I would say that do not think about this question at all.

• Think about what you want to do in your life
• think about your own vision for your life, what are you passionate about? Are you following those passions

No matter what you are doing currently, whether you like or dislike your job, ponder about these things. And then ask yourself whether an MBA will help you to go from where you are to where you want to do in your life?

In all my thinking, I believed that an MBA will only help me, it is not a must-have. Therefore the belief to do what I really set for myself is something that should come from within me. There are umpteen examples of people who have conquered this world without even completing their school education. (eg. Dhirubhai Ambani, Bill Gates and so on). There are others as well who have completed a business education and then risen to the top tier in their company or founded global organizations (eg. Indra Nooyi and so on). So, really there is no wrong or right answer. It goes to prove that MBA is definitely beneficial, but life also goes on when there is no MBA or rather MBA admit. That is why it is important to understand for yourself what your goals in life are? This is not about the next immediate career move that you might have considered. This is thinking about your purpose in life .. and the kind of positive difference you want to make in this world. An MBA will give you skills, confidence to some extent, and the network to begin the journey. Your own belief will get you there.

WHY AN MBA! WHY THIS LIFE !

It's been a while ....

since I wrote a post to my dear own MBA blog. A lot happened in the last few months ...

1) My visit to Wharton confirmed that this is the place for me ...
2) I spent quite some time writing the scholarship essay, resume etc for Wharton. After having written so many application essays, I guess I could have re-used some of them . However, in my opinion, this is one essay that you wanna write carefully, not just for the money, but because this is your first post admit writeup, you should bring out the best in yourself
3) Loans, loans and more loans - I did quite some research here from the local banks, to find what deals they have for international folks living in this country who have built some credit history. Not many options, but some are quite nice. I will post my findings in a while

In my next post, I am planning to write about my thought process during the past year when I went through the application process...

I am still there ...

It's been a month since i posted to this blog. Within few days of the Wharton admit news, I went on a vacation trip in December to some places in Asia and also went home to India for a family wedding. The admit news kicked off my trip on a positive note. I couldn't have asked for a better X'mas gift. On another note, i made a lot of observations about the ongoing changes in India, especially Mumbai, which I plan to talk about in a different post. Since I returned, I decided to digg into the post b-school admit phase. But a bad flu attack brought that to a halt. As i am recovering from that, I realize that the following things have become a priority for me on the b-school side:

1) Visa - I would need a visa to pursue to study in the US. Have to figure out the specifics here.
2) FinAid - needless to say, any kind of scholarship/finaid here would be welcome.
3) B-school specifics- this includes everything ranging from visiting the school to housing to ...

I also found that, there are two other admit students from Seattle, who might be heading to W. We have a meet coming up soon on Feb 3rd. I am also excited to be there for the Wharton Winter Welcome weekend. I have never been to Phily. So I plan to explore W as well as check out Phily as a living option for the next two years.

On the schools front, I received a DING from Stanford. When I did not receive an interview invite by early Jan, I expected no better results. That's a bummer for all my hopes on staying on the West Coast and being close to my family here. Haas is still there, however, the class size of Haas is much smaller than that of Stanford. So I don't expect miracles on that end. However, i am very happy with the W news. Because, getting an admit in a top school is tough and a reapplicant at W would know that better.

More to come about my Wharton Winter Welcome visit..

Wharton ! Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

I am in .... , can't describe what I feel now :-) .I got the call today from Wharton Adcom first thing in the morning 8amish. Can you believe that? It was really nice talking to Wharton adcom person. I then thanked my stars and checked my email. Yes, the status was updated with an admit letter link.

I really want to thank everyone who helped me get so far , from my family, friends, recommenders, people at work, current MBA students and alumni who have given me helpful hints and the blogging community. I also want to do a braindump of my application experience. But I think that will wait till I get back. I am going on vacation starting this weekend and will be back mid-January. Happy Holidays to everyone. Have a safe and joyous NewYear..

Admits roll in .....

December has poured in with the news of MBA admits. Kudos and congrats to MBABlogger for his first MBA admit. Next week, Wharton and Chicago will release their decision next week on Dec 20 and Dec 21, respectively. Best of all luck to those who are waiting for this decision after months of hard work and sweat.

On the other hand, in the December newsletter, Stanford GSB has mentioned that they have rolled out many interviews so far ... but don't lose hope, they will continue to send invites till early January. Sloan is releasing interview invites as well, but I haven't heard of any invites in the Northwest region. More later .. as I am wrapping up my R2 applications.

My Wharton Interview experience

I chose the alumni interview option. We met in a cafe. I had already spoken to my alumni interviewer on phone while scheduling the interview. Actually, I must say that that interviewer was very prompt when he received my mail, called me up and fixed the time and day.

He asked me to begin with my story (I had already sent him my resume, and so he wanted to know why I wanted to do an MBA.) I spoke about that. Then was the "Why Wharton" question. I spoke in length here, what I really liked about Wharton, the different things that appeal to me with respect to my goals (nonprofit et al) . After this, he asked about my strengths and weakness. Then came an unexpected question. "What is the worst moment of my life?". I spoke about something personal related to an experience. He really appreciated that aspect and also mentioned to me that it is better to talk honestly than to recite any memorized answer. The interview ended with a very different question "Wharton should admit me because ...." fill in the blank with a oneline sentence. I thought for a bit on that one, and told him something that came from my heart. We spent some time after this , talking about my alum's Wharton experience and he shared some interesting tidbits with me. Overall, I did not feel like I was having an interview. It felt more like a nice conversation, and my alum interviewer was genuinely interested in understanding the person behind me. I felt good about the interview experience. I really want to thank Wharton for such a fabulous opportunity, the alumni seemed great .
Regardless of the final decision, I will treasure this process, because it has helped me understand myself so much better and enrich the learning experience.

Best of luck to all those interviewing and then for the final decision.

On another note, looks like Sloan has started interview invites since this week.Stanford invites have started for the past few weeks as well. Buzz according to the BWforums is that these schools sent invites according to region .

Wharton wait

for interview invitation is over ... I received an invite some time back today morning. Guess, the invites do get released till the DAY as they say. I am mostly going for the alumni interview option, because I won't be able to take time off work for a on-campus. But let me see if i can do that. Any suggestions for selecting between alumni interviews in Seattle and on-campus Wharton interview.?

Updates

No, I haven't yet heard from W. Status is unchanged. On another note, someone on admissions411 got an invite from Stanford. Haven't heard about Sloan invites, but the ball is rolling now ....

W is for wait

Nothing beats the excitement and anxiousness for this week, the long wait for Wharton's choosy interview invites. Without an invite currently, all I can do is wait and hope to be in the 50% bucket that has some chance of getting in at Wharton. Least I fall in the other half, I will move on. Meanwhile, to all of us, trapped in the Wait, let's be positive.

3 apps and the learnings

3 apps later ....

1) Thou shall invest time wisely for each school. Essays from one school cannot be copied onto another
2) Thou shall understand the strengths of each school. Each of them have their unique personality, which is reflected even in the way they ask their essay questions.
3) Thou shall give let the essays rest for some time. There are so many points that come to mind after doing this.
4) Thou shall understand the feedback that various people give you, respect their opinions but choose what best applies to your application, story.
5) Thou shall be honest throughout the application, that is the only way your own voice shines throughout the application
6) Thou shall maintain a strong belief and focus, no matter how tough that may be.

One more down ...

MIT Sloan app submitted today, one more down, three more to go ... I will write a post later about what I learnt through this app, for now, I am just going to relax for a bit.

Stanford Update

Submitted the app some time back. Boy! what a relief. Just 2 long essays and 2 short ones. But this app has some killer questions (Essay A). I wasn't so much worried about Essay A, as I was for Essay B. Even though Essay B has two parts (career aspirations, how will stanford help you achieve them?), there's still ambiguity about whether to talk about career progress or only concentrate on the future plans. Anyways, onto my third one a week later .... It's raining deadlines now ...

Update

Busy with other apps, but just checked the Wharton Status : Complete - Round 1 , that means my file is forwarded to the adcom for review ... ahh the fun begins

Also noticed the following:

Recommendations: Received
Transcripts: Received
Test Scores: Received

Very nice of Wharton to report that they have received all the components of the application.

Wharton Update

Alas, first of my deadline kicks in, and I have submitted my application. Boy! what a sigh of relief. For me, I can say that the application process this year was very different from what I did last year (I am a reapplicant at Wharton). Last year, I started writing the essays in late Oct and submitted them in late Dec before going on a trip to my home country. There was too much going on in my life at that time. At the end , my essays were sloppy, did not have clear goals and surely would not give me an admit despite other good credentials. When I returned from my trip in January and looked at my apps, I knew all my mistakes.

That was it! I began to think about my goals, what I really want to focus on and also on my strengths and weaknesses. After 10+ years of solid engineering (studies included), my mind is trained to think in terms of definiteness (yes/no, boolean values, etc).The process wasn't easy for me and definitely took a long time. I started writing down all the facts and figures from my life, spoke to my family and friends, till I saw something emerge from all of these things.

Questions that i asked myself reflected as early as my childhood, then my teens and now, to see how I have evolved over those years. I reflected enough on some important experiences in my life, to realize what I am good at, what I like to do, and what things I could improve on. I believe this kind of soul searching really helps. Even though, b-schools ask about short term and long term career goals, they want to get to know the real person behind these goals, why those goals matter to you, what makes you tick, what is different about you.

Some people have these answers clearly etched in their mind, while others (like me), may take a bit longer in realizing these things. But, bschool or not,I think this is important. All these things definitely helped me in constructing my Wharton application. As an applicant, I don't think I have anything stellar in my points ( I am not a VP or a manager yet, I haven't won significant prizes, I am not 750+ etc.) . But I have used my experiences to tell why i have done the things that I have and what I have learnt from them. At the end, this process has mattered much more to me. And , I am not worried about the result as I was last year. Because, that surely is out of my control.

Where I am and what I have learned so far ...

A flurry of essay writing activities over the past few weeks has kept me busy, not to mention that I have a huge load at work and other things keeping me preoccupied. A quick update on where I am so far in the process:

1) Wharton - first and second drafts done, working on polishing the essays - looks like I will make R1
2) Stanford - same as above (By far, my most favourite set of essays :-)
3) Sloan - first drafts done, over a month left for R1, looks like will make it for R1
4) HBS - first drafts done. Moving from R1 to R2

HBS was the first set of essays that I tackled. However, given the brevity that these essays demand, I will not be able to do justice to them in R1, so I have decided to push HBS to R2. Yes, I know I am running a huge risk here, but I cannot sacrifice the quality of my application.

5) Haas - R2, looked at the essay topics, but not started yet
6) Kellogg - R2, looked at the essay topics, but not started yet

When I step back and take a look at the entire application process, I do want to give in my best. At the same time, I know that I cannot rush in and compromise quality. I try not to get distracted. However, for my own sanity, after spending the entire week redrafting essays, I spend Fri or Sat eve relaxing, catching a movie, or spending time with my family, something else other than applications... I feel that is important because it charges me, refreshes me for yet another round. Because this whole thing is a process for discovering oneself, encapsulating one's life to a set of goals. And whenever I feel bogged down by the various forums citing how competitive the top schools are, I remember to believe in myself, my passions, the truth surrounding me and my life, because that what makes me who I am and defines what matters the most to me .....

Essay Tips

MIT Sloan Essay Topic Analysis ...

1) From Accepted.com
2) From Clearadmit

HBS Essays...

Although the questions look simple, these essays are the toughest of the lot, specially with the word limits and the succinctness that has to go in each essay. As of now, I am done with first drafts of the HBS essays.But still have a long way to go. I might consider pushing HBS to R2, if I cannot make the essays as good as I want them to be.

Good Posts

1) Vatsa's advice for MBA applicants from the IT industry
http://vatsaview.blogspot.com/2006/08/five-thoughts-for-it-applicants.html

2) Reco Advice
http://foobarme.blogspot.com/2006/05/how-not-to-get-recommendation-letter.html#links

3) Adcom Panel Review
http://rungee582.blogspot.com/2006/08/review-of-adcom-panel.html

Finally, my targets!!

I think my last post on "Target or not", I saw a comments on "Why not Stern? or Chicago?" - when I saw these sites, I got the impression that these really good schools are very good for finance , something I that will learn about in MBA, but will not be focussing on a finance based career. Also , I cannot apply to all schools , can I ? :-)

So , here 's my target list so far, in alphabetical order

1) Haas
2) HBS
3) Kellogg
4) Stanford
5) Sloan
6) UCLA/Ross (may opt out if I don't have time)
7) Wharton

I am looking into social enterprise , responsible business, marketing , international focus as some of the key areas. Being a non-business major who has worked in tech industry and some non-profits, I like the general management focus that some of these schools have, that will definitely give me a foundation in varied business areas. As always, suggestions welcome!!

School - Target or not

This past week, spent some time going over websites of some schools, to reaffirm my target selection. This is my last chance, once I confirm my selection, I do not want to get randomized by going out and changing one or two, adding anything new or whatever. Here are some brief points on all the schools:

1) Carnegie Mellon : great for finance, manufacturing, brand name CMU, proximity to NY area (lots of NY companies flock for recruiting)
2) Columbia : finance, in the NY city (for Wall Street connections!!!)
3) Johnson, Cornell : geneal management, finance
4) Tuck: general management, small school/class atmosphere, strong alum connections (Tuck community)
5) Fuqua: general management, health care management, TEAM Fuqua
6) Sloan : innovate, entrepreneurship, a bit more analytical (strong engineering connections amongst other things)
7) Kellogg: Marketing, teamwork, Chicago (midwest area)


More to come ....