Longlisting my schools!!! :-o

I know I was supposed to have shortlisted by school by May end.. Had missed that.. I did make some headway into my school research after that and was able to trim down my list to a manageable number.. 1-2 weeks back, I was thinking that I’m getting mostly clear with my target list.. Applying one filter after another, I kept on shortlisting my target schools..
And then suddenly I felt the need of “longlisting” the same.. And why’s that?? Read on..

Right now, my list looks something like this:

Stanford (Wild dream, Only if I get selected as a Reliance finalist)

Ross (Dream, Apping for sure)

Tuck (Dream, Almost sure, need to get in touch with some current students for some queries)

Duke ( A bit realistic, apping for sure)

ISB( Realistic, apping for sure)

Emory (May be Safety, apping for sure)

So you see after applying the final filter of availaility of a no-cosignor loan upto cost of attendance to a trimmed down list (based on criteria that I’ll list in my next post) of my target schools, not many schools were left in my list.. A look at the list above and you know that I perhaps need to add more schools in my list.. That’s exactly what I felt.. And I decided to loosen some of my earlier filters to accommodate some of the good schools that fit most of my criteria along with the all-important no-cosigner one.
And here’s the list of schools that I’m exploring right now::

Columbia

Yale SOM

Chicago GSB

Purdue

Am not saying that these schools r already on my list.. Have started exploring them and may be in a week max, I’d have the answers.

I don’t have a cosigner..Will you lend me 100K+ USD ??

/*Edit:
No, I’ve not wriiten this post to request readers to lend me some money.. This is a Q for my target B schools..
Found it necessary to include this edit when a business loan expert, left a comment (rejecting my “request “) saying “sounds like a bit too much…”
*/

I had started my journey with just ISB,Hyderabad as my only aim.. Gradually I opened up to NUS. Next in were middle-tier US-schools, which were a bit affordable in terms of living expenses and chances of scholarship.. But as I delved deeper into the B-school research, I almost fell in love with the MBA programs that top US universities offer.. And to make my dreams true, I got to know that all top universities offer you a loan without any co-cosigner !!
“Check your pocket and the loan conditions before you apply”, advised the gurus.. But from my latest experiences, I’d refine that to  ”Check your pocket and the loan conditions even before you start researching a program.” In case, you’e very sure that you can’t get somebody to co-sign your loan, this is the first thing that you should look for, else it can be quite annoying if you get to know about it after you’ve decided that it’s a school that you’d love to atend.

Tepper gave me my first heart-break in this regard.. Last year, when I was still contemplating about apping for Fall’08, I had set my eyes on Tepper.. I loved their General Mgmt program and vistas that are open for you in the tech-industry once you graduate from there.. I had even sent them my GMAT score..(though that was mostly w/o research, just went by the CMU brand name at that time). Later got to know that Tepper strictly needs a cosigner or a credit history in US before provide loans to international students. Talked to a current student and she confirmed the same.. Had done some of my research by then and it really pinched to drop it off my list.. 

A similar thing occured with Haas last week.. Before I started researching on Haas, I had made sure that the school does provide loans to international students w/o a cosigner .. What I missed out was that the maximum amount one can borrow is limited to the cost of tuition minus any scholarships that you get, which means even if i manage to get in with a decent schol, I’d need to bear the cost of living. And for Haas, that comes to be in order of  a whopping INR 17 Lakhs for 2 years!!
So had to drop Haas too!! 

After this, I decided to follow the mantra listed above.. Instead of delving into details of specialization, available career choices, city, class-size, chanes of getting in etc, I started exploring the availability of no-cosigner loans at all the colleges that I had still not struck off my list.. Of course, I’d be applying the other filters later, but no use exploring a school which you can’t afford.. RIght??

 The funda here is simple:: Any school that needs a cosigner for any loan is surely a no-go for me. Any school that offers a no cosigner-loan upto cost of attendance remains on my list. (to be checked for rest of the details). And what about schools offering a no-cosigner loan upto costs of tuition?? Well, these are something I need to check.. Will depend on the city and the expenses involved and whether I can afford the same..

So here goes a first level round up of whatever I discovered over last 48 hours:

• No cosigner loan upto full cost of attendance::Stanford,Ross,Tuck,Duke,Emory,Yale.
• No cosigner loan upto full cost of tuition::Haas, Kenan-Flagler,Kelley.
• Need a cosigner :: Tepper, UCLA Anderson, Mccombs, Fisher, Marshal.

I know a number of names are missing from this list.. Those are either the schools that I had already dropped off my list for some other reasons or the ones that I’ve not started researching yet or those for which I cud locate a clear statement on the issue on their site.

Hope this list is useful to others too..  Just adding the customary disclaimer:: Though I’ve taken care to cross-check things from my personal record-sheet before posting it here, still I’d advise everyone to do his/her own research before taking a decision.. (Also do let me know if you locate any discrepancy in the data above.)

BTW, I do feel that this was just the right time i discovered this. I was in process of pruning the list of my target schools and as you can see above the first level pruning is done for me by just applying the no-cosigner filter.
So coming up next:: the list of the schools I”d be apping to. (Have already delayed it by 3 weeks. )

ISB essays are out!!

Okay, This might be an old news..(precisely 2 weeks old) But as I checked the ISB site 2 days back, I found that the application-portal is up and the essays are out as well. As some of the regular visitors of the blog may know, ISB is one school that never left my list since I decided to go for an MBA..So  I guess I need to get my grey cells charged to attack the essays with full might..

The essays this year have changed completely and i guess ISB is perhaps the only school that comes up with new essays every year. And the pattern is unique too!! This year too they continued with their 3 300-word essay norm. Here’re the three essay questions:
1) Please give three reasons why ISB should admit you into the class of 2010. These reasons should ideally differentiate you from your competition. (300 words max)
2) You are contesting the election to be the President of the ISB Student Body. Write a speech you will deliver to the student body on why they should elect you as the President?
3) CASE : You have been appointed to head the team to build a dam across the River Zumba. Success in this project is critical for your company and would earn you a promotion. Failure would mean that your company would be bankrupt and will take along with it, its investors and its employees. Building a dam across the river would result in deforestation of a portion of the rainforests and would mean relocation of the tribals and destabilization of wild life at Zumba. There is resistance from environmental groups against your project. You are meeting the head of the resistance movement in one hour wherein you would have to explain your decision. Describe what you would do and why? (You will be evaluated on the creativity and practicality of your solution). (300 words max)

I don’t find myself getting too impressed with the questions.. I’m surprised to see the goals-essay absent yet again. However repetitive and common that may be, but I feel the goals-essay is very important to judge a candidate’s sense of direction and judgement.
Further I feel that though the essays help you let your imaginations free and think creatively, (I guess in this field only essays from Haas are the closest match.), still it does not give you many chances to delve into your past and quote from your personal experiences. And with 300 words each, I guess ISB is quite stingy. (Particularly First essay: three differentiators in 300 words!! ). And though, it’s a great idea to have a case as one of the essay questions, but I find data a bit insufficient for Q3.

I’m not indulging in ISB-bashing here (as one of my friends termed it when I discussed this with him.) ISB was and still is one of my favourite schools.. But just didn’t like the questions much..

In any case, it’s a level playing field.. If data is insufficient for me, it’s insufficient for every other candidate. If I find word-limit a bit harsh, same limit holds for others too.. Further,with the applications to the school multiplying every year, perhaps it’s not that easy to go ahead with the longer essays.. And perhaps by designing these unique Qs,ISB wants to eliminate the reuse of essays written for other schools, thereby making sure that only candidates genuinely interested in the school apply..

One good thing is that the R2 deadline has been shifted to  December 1. (from Nov 15 last year) I’ve decided to app in R2 because I need to have something to compare with if and when I get an offer from ISB. As per the schedule, R1 results will be out by mid-November, which means that by that time, I’d not have even got my app reviewed at most of the schools, if I app in R1. So R2 it is for ISB!

BTW, I’m not finding many of my blogger-pals interested in ISB.. Are there any?? Do leave a comment here??

Just missed my first deadline :-(

I may have caused some of the readers to panic about whether they too have missed a deadline, But it’s not a school deadline that i’m talking about.. It’s the personal deadline that I’d given to  myself.. I had decided to get the list of my target schools ready by May 31. Further, I had planned to finish the first draft of my goals essay by June 15..  The updates are not very positive as of now… Have already missed the deadline for task 1. Task 2 is not in a great shape as of now. Would be tough to get that ready by June 15.
 
Still, I guess I can say that I’m making okayish progress..I may not have finalised all the schools , but at least I’m in process of getting clear regarding my career goals.. For long term goals, I feel that I’d be most comfortable in manageemnt of a technology company. For short term goals, I’m down to three in list:: technology (something like joining product-management or biz-develeopment team of a Tech-company), tech-consulting (Starting with a job at mckinsey BTO,Acenture) or strategy consulting.. Just need to work out which  of the three will take me to my long term goals in the best possible manner. Consulting really appeals to me: however, I’m not sure whether I’m happy with the drawbacks of a consulting career (Lots of travel, family life getting affected etc) So I’m inclined towards starting with consulting, getting a rich experience of tech-industry and then getting back to an IT company.
 
 I know I’m not making complete sense here. Whatever I’ve written above is too vague and a bit disconnected too. But this is just a first level of my zeroing in on my goals. I hope to refine  and reframe this with more research and convert this into my first draft of career goals essay very soon.
 
 About school selection, I’ve added Ross to my list.. Now it’s ISB, Ross and Stanford.(and may be IIM-A). Next to explore are: Duke, Darden,Haas and Tuck. Further, right now, I’m still hovering over dream schools. I need to locate my safety schools and reach schools too.
 
Lots of work to do!! Already feeling short of time!! People, pray for me!!!

Reliance to sponsor 5 Indians @ Stanford GSB!!

Now this is some terrific news!!
Reliance and Stanford have tied up for  “Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship programme” under which 5 Indians will get a full ride at Stanford GSB and that’ll cover all the expanses including tuition, travel and living expenses. Other than merit (which of course gets covered in the admission process at Stanford, another important criterion is commitment to return to work in India for at least 2 years. More here

This surely is a great news for me as I’ve always listed Stan as one of my dream schools, but have found it prohibitively expensive. Though the competition for this scholarship is going to be fierce , but still this charges me up to have a shot at my dream school. And in any case, I have my long term plans in India. Hope that’ll help if everything goes right.

With Mukesh Ambani tying up with his half alma-mater (He had to drop out of Stanford GSB due to Dhirubhai’s illness), can we expect the younder Ambani to follow the suite too.. (Anil is an alumnus of Wharton). That’ll be a double bonus for Indians!!

OPT Extension:: Some hope and then heartbreak!!

Last week, went to have dinner with few of my college friends. Over dinner, when we were discussing the typical “what next?”topic, one of my friends brought to me a wonderful news.. The time-limit for Optional Practical Training time limit has been extended from 12 months to 29 months!!

Now this was one of the best things regarding overseas MBA that I had heard in recent times. Over the last few months, I’ve been used to listen to horror stories of upcoming recession, Visa problems, Striggle with internships and more things like that.. This was making life a bit tough for me as after having delved so deep into US B-school research, I desperately want to have that experience first-hand. But at the same time, it’s not easy to ignore the mentioned factors, particularly for a middle-class Indian.

But this news was a new ray of hope for me.  Considering that my long-tems goals are in India and I only intend to  just for 2.5-3 years in the States mostly due to 2 reasons: to have some quality work-experience that’ll make me a strong candidate for recruitment when I return to India and to pay off my loans. (Yup, this time may not be enough for paying off the loans completely, but still at the end of this duration, I expect the remainder would be easily payable in the INR salary  as well.) 29 months was just the right period for me as per my plans. :) That would mean no problems even if there’re Visa-problems later on..
I hurriedly finished off the meal and rushed back to check the details of the story. And this was the time for the heart-break. The extension is only for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) students. Read more here: http://www.dhs.gov/xnews/releases/pr_1207334008610.shtm Somebody at Pagalguy interpreted it to be applicable to MBA students as well. He dug out a list at Stren where “Budiness administration” falls under the list of ” Engineering Technologies” (How?? :-o)  But I was not convinced. And a Google search made sure that MBA students are not covered under this extension.  (See the “eligible STEM degrees” questions here. )

So what next?? I hope B-schools will push this matter further  and get the extension extended to MBA students. Meanwhile I’ll continue working on my finances and see how things turn up. Anyone having any update on the issue, please let me know by dropping a comment here.

 

IIM-A PGPX-2009 application goes live!!

I’ve started my B-school research from scratch.. So these days am visiting school-websites, student blogs etc. In this process, yesterday it was the turn of IIM-A. As I’ll be eligible to apply by age critieon (Born on or b4 March 31,1982; I’m just making the cut ) , I had planned to give it a shot. I always strongly feel that for a person like me, whose long term plans are in India, nothing beats IIM-A, even if it does not give you the taste of diversity and international exposure that are normally associated with an overseas MBA.

I was quite surprised to see that the application for PGPX-2009 adission is already on. I checked and rechecked to see if I’m looking at last year’s admission page, but I was surprised to see that everything for 2009 session is in place from the new brochure to a raw academic calendar from April 2009 to March 2010. I’m really impressed by this proactivity. Rest of my target schools are still in process of winding up their admissions for this year.

But another section of the site almost shattered my dreams of making it to IIMM-A. This was the class profile section.  I must admit that going purely by numbers, this is the most impressive average profile that I’ve seen in last 1 year of B school research. (Perhaps only IMD,Switzerland comes close) Sample this: Avearage GMAT:728 , Average work-ex 10.2 years, average international experience 5+ years.. WIth just 4 years (by April 2009) experience and 0 international experience, even my good GMAT score and above-average extra-curriculars won’t be able to push me into IIM-A. Whatever  hopes I still had were shattered when I saw this in answers to one of their  FAQs.” Adhering to minimum age of 27 years at the start of the programme, a normal graduate should have 6 to 7 years of post qualification, full time work experience” :((

Anyways, I always believe, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.” So I won’t quit before giving this one serious try. . There is no fee for application  and even GMAT  scores are to be self-reported initially. Further, no essays at this stage.  First round screening is based on profile-evaluation. ( We need to fill in the application form online, in which you can list your GMAT, GPA, experience, extra-curricular activites and other leadership experience.
Even if I manage to reach the interview stage, it’ll be a good exercise and if somehow I can get in (Probability of which is lower than my getting into Stanford :D) ,  having such experienced people for company will be a great learning experience.

BTW, for those who’re interested in apping to IIM-A , here’s the link: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/pgpx/pgpx0910/login.php 

I’m back!!

Finally after 4 long months, I’m back to my blog.

Isn’t in weird?? I had quit blogging just after the last post on my blog, which said “Don’t quit!!” Well, I was too much tied up with deadlines at office.. Everything related to B-school journey had almost come to a stand-still: so no b-school research and therefore no blogging as well. :’(

Actually, an “almost” can be added to the “No” in B-school research mentioned above.. I did manage to sneak into Pagalguy at times or to check what’s going on with some blogger-pals.. So what else I have done in past few months: (This also includes the non-blogged stuff when I was active in the research.)

• Attended B-school events:: I can confidently say now: never miss an admission event of a B-school that you’re even remotely considering. Marketing is a subject on every B-school curriculum and it seems the adcom people have mastered it to full.. More about this in my next post.
• Helped fall’09 applicant friends: I had a vicarious experience of apping to B-schools by helping some of my good college friends and a few net-pals with their essays. I believe now I do have at least a rough idea about what is liked by adcom and what not. Hope this experience will help me when I start penning down my own essays later this year.
• Some reading: As I said in my “Not ready for MBA” post, I feel thatthat not many of us have a good idea about B-school life and different B-school specializations. Moreover, I feel that reading about some Business barons can also instill some business sense in me. So have ordered lots of books. (I’m an obsessive book-buyer, though can’t call myself an obsessive reader. ) So far, I’ve completed “Snapshots from hell” It’s a book about a student’s first year at Stanford GSB: a must-read for every B-school aspirant. Right now, reading Ten-day MBA. Next in queue are: Montauk and Lou Gerstner’s autobiography.
• Blog-hopping: Though I did not write much on my own blog, but I keep my B-school instincts alive by visiting blogs of some fall’09 applicants. A lot of them have got good admits this year and this may prove handy when I apply.
  

Will try to be more regular here now..

Busy! Busy!! Busy!!!

Sorry for not posting for a long, long time.. Actually, last 6-7 weeks have been pretty hectic for me at office as well as social/family front. Moreover the apping process has kept me busy too.. ISB was submitted almost at the last hour.. Had to struggle a lot with the Wharton essays, especially the “outsider” one; but finally I do believe that it came out quite well.. At Columbia, some serious problems were there with the submission of one of the recos. But now all I can do is to wait for the result and concentrate on rest of the schools. Efforts for Tuck have surely been the best of the lot so far, expecting an interview call at least. I’m breathing a bit easier now, but with Tepper and Emory coming up in next 10 days, followed closely by Stern in mid-November, life’s surely not going to be easy.. And then there are Ross, Darden and Duke to follow in R2.

Now if you’re a regular visitor here, I’m sure I’ve managed to startle you at least a bit.  After all, just in the last post, I was “Not ready for an MBA right now.” Actually the status at my end is still the same. I’m not applying this year, but many of my friends are.  Some of these are real-life friends, some online ones whom I’ve not even met. It’s their apping process that’s keeping me busy.  It’s mostly the review of the essays.  (and drafts for a reco in one case) As I was done with my GMAT way back in June, I had plenty of time for the endless B-school research. So I’ve slight upper hand on some of my friends who had almost no time between their GMAT and apping. So I pitch in as a self-certified application-consultant. Yup, I love to help people, but surely this time it is not entirely for philanthropic reasons.  

Many of my friends suggested me a dry-run this year: apping to schools in which you’re not interested. I don’t really buy this idea. I don’t find it worth the effort and the money. If you’re targeting a top-15 school, how would apping to a lower school give you an idea of the competition and what your dream school wants from an applicant? And let us say you give it a full-hearted effort and bingo!! You get an admit with a full-ride at one of the dry run schools. Now won’t it be too tempting to accept the offer and save yourself a year and a great amount of money. And then you’ve missed your dream schools even without giving them a try. I’d better keep the dry-run schools as the “Safe Schools” next year. This time I do want to know the application process in and out, but only second-handedly.

What else I’m doing on the B-school front? I’m attending every B-school event that happens in the NCR area. So far I’ve attended Stanford, Wharton and Ross; also visited the stalls for Tepper, Duke, Stern and some more at the recent MBA fair. Tuck and Darden are to follow in November. Planning to learn a foreign language, though have not yet decided which one. Other than that, I’ve started finding time for activities other than office-work and apping process. I’m now a regular at the office TT table and also am back to reading. Had almost stopped reading books other than OG, Kaplan and Manhattan. Coming to the books, I’ve just started “Snapshots from Hell” by Peter Robinson. It’s about the author’s life at Stanford GSB: the first year in particular. This is considered one of the best books on B-school life. Hope to learn a thing or two about the MBA life by the time I finish the book. Hopefully that’ll be another blog story here.

I guess I’ve to conclude now; need to get back to the Emory essays. Will try to be more regular on the blog again.

Not ready for an MBA right now..

I know the title will come as a surprise to many, but after careful deliberations, I’ve decided against apping this year..
Had gone in dormant state for some time now.. (that is as far as blogging is concerned) These days were days of deep introspection, b-school research, networking, essay-analysis and what not!! Add to that regular pressure of office work

Anyways, coming back to the title of the post, I’ve postponed my application process by a year.. It was a very tough decision for me on a personal level; putting off the applications by a year means I’ll be graduating in 2011, That’s about four years from now!! Postponing apping looks like postponing life by a year!! Convincing my parents was even a tougher job.. But finally managed to do so..

Coming to the reasons behind this whimsical decision (many of my friends do say that it’s crazy), there are many.. (In no particular order )

1) Chances of getting in:: Though I understand that GMAT 770 is a wow-factor in my application.. But is that enough to get into a good B-school.. Surely not.. In fact, as my cousin puts it:: Any B-school that buys you out just on your GMAT score is not worth going to.

2) Maturity (to be reflected in the essays): I know I’ve an okayish profile for a low-experience candidate, but what do I write in the essays.. Essays of almost every school want to listen to leadership, entrepreneurship and maturity stories.. As an example, one of the school asks for a time when you’ve managed a crisis in your team.. In two years of my professional life, I’ve been able just to create crisis in my team.. (Kidding off-course; hope no B-school adcom sees my blog ) One year later, I still may not have many managerial tales to share, but at least I’ll be closer to the statistical average of most of the schools… And one more year of corpo-life will surely add at least something to my profile.

3) Finances:: As the regular visitors to the blog must be knowing, initially no US B-schools was in my list due to budgetary consideration.. But with time, the love for an international MBA grew and finally I’m eyeing only international B-schools. But for that, I need schol and savings..(plus loans) Adding a year will add to my savings and also better the chances of a scholarship..

4) Goal-clarity:: Perhaps this is the most important reason that makes me feel I’m not ready for an MBA right now.. As of now, I neither know which colleges I really want to apply to, nor do I know what interests me most for post-MBA career. Do I want to make a big career switch and go to finance or do I want to play it safe and return to technology. Or may be Consulting or I-banking?? But wait; am I even very clear what consulting (or for that matter I-banking) is? I mean I do have an idea, but for such major decisions just having an idea hardly suffices. Further the selection of my targets was mainly based on the one major criteria:: achievability.. Interest and the elusive “fit” weren’t actually coming into picture.

There were some more reasons (which I won’t like to share here), but finally the decision is out:: Not applying this year..
So what next?? One year of planning, research, profile building, pursuing my interests and living life freely. I do hope that the decision pays off.

Coming up next on my blog:: my experiences from the B-school events in Delhi in September..