As they mentioned in their earlier post, ClearAdmit came out with the list of applicant and student bloggers who are in the race for the coveted Best of Blogging titles, in the respective categories, for the 2006-2007 application season.
It is a great feeling to find my blog listed under the applicants category, among all the other really good bloggers.
Juggler just made a post about the role Clearadmit played during the times we were working on our applications and i definitely second her words. They do a great job of recognizing the bloggers thru their weekly Fridays from the frontline posts and this is another wonderful thing they do. It is really like a pat on the back and encourages the bloggers to contribute with whatever they can!!!
All the best to all the nominees. I'm eagerly looking forward to the decision date.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Congratulations to Chicago GSB R2 admits
Many congratulations to all those who were admitted into the Class of 2009 at the Chicago GSB in Round 2. I remember the days following the famous phone call and they were really exciting, to say the least :) I am sure you all must be partying big, wherever you are. Celebrate well and enjoy the well deserved success.
The last two days have been good, no GREAT!!!
True to tradition, Chicago GSB started calling the R2 admits from Monday morning (CDT) and the GSB forums and the "Class of 2009" mail thread have seen a fresh wave of activity ever since. New names, new people - good fun :)
At least three people who talked to me during their interviews got in. This is a personally satisfying result for me. Not that i am taking any credit for their success - but I am just happy to have helped them with whatever little i know, during their time of need. So a special congrats to those three people as well :)
The last two days have been good, no GREAT!!!
True to tradition, Chicago GSB started calling the R2 admits from Monday morning (CDT) and the GSB forums and the "Class of 2009" mail thread have seen a fresh wave of activity ever since. New names, new people - good fun :)
At least three people who talked to me during their interviews got in. This is a personally satisfying result for me. Not that i am taking any credit for their success - but I am just happy to have helped them with whatever little i know, during their time of need. So a special congrats to those three people as well :)
Essay Writing
Some call it an art, many are scared at the very thought of doing it, a certain few are thrilled for this being a part of the application process and almost all of us agree this is indeed a great way to know the applicant. Love them, hate them or do whatever - the essays are an important part, if not the most important part, of your BSchool applications. The long and short of it is - Good essays can get you admits even if your numbers aren't truly breathtaking and Bad essays can get u DWIs, even if you have solid numbers. So the bottom line is that all applicants have to dedicate enough time and effort towards the essays required by the schools.
Before proceeding, i must admit that i am not an expert of essay writing, or writing generally. Accepted, i did get a 6.0 in AWA as well as 30/30 in the writing section of TOEFL, but that does not necessarily testify my writing skills. May be i am a decent writer but a good test taker :) Considering that background, what i am going to say here is a result of the hardship i went through in the months preceding the R1 deadlines. I wouldn't call it a struggle per se, but the months were hard for sure. I should also accept that i enjoyed the hardship :)
In many ways, the essay writing process begins with the introspection process and the school selection posts 1 & 2 i made earlier. While i was doing these steps, i made sure i did not throw away any information i gathered. I created folders in my PC for each school and saved all the pages which i thought were important, interesting or had any information that i cud use. Over time, this swelled into a huge pile of information which i used both for the essays and for the interviews. So that's one tip I'd give u people - all information is important :)
An essay is a culmination of your thought process, and hence as the thought process itself - it goes through many stages. In this "Evolution process", i believe the essays go through the following stages...
Data Dumps
This is where it begins - the stuff i explained above. After the data collection and introspection process, we'll have loads of data about the schools and also about our self. If we'd done any investigation about our future career options, we will also have data bout them. So in all, we will have pages and pages of information, which needs to be used to answer different parts of the essay questions.
Drafts
With the data dumps in hand, one has to work with individual essays and answer each question to the best of their abilities. Consider all the essays of a school and chose incidents from your life that showcase various aspects of your profile and personality. Also, when you write about the incidents, make sure you don't waste a lot of words discussing the "what". The schools are more interested in the reasoning behind the incidents - the "why". If u made a job hop, explain why? If u were involved in community service - explain why. If there are interesting pastimes, explain why do u pursue them. The "why" part is where your personality comes out. Make sure u show enough of yourself to the AdComm.
Creative thinking does help, but those who cannot do that need not sweat. Plain, to the point writing will not affect your chances of getting an interview invite. While working with the loads of data one will have now, use your judgment to filter the important from the trivial, the interesting from the usual, the funny from the plain and make sure you maintain the school's flavor throughout the essays.
As we write the essays, there are many things we need to consider:
The final drafts will be ready after the essays go through these steps. Till this time, we'd have answered each essay within the scope of the essay - to try and answer the questions being asked in each essay. Now, consider the big picture effect and review the essays with the complete profile in mind. Also consider the data sheets of the application and see if anything is being said there, which need not go into the essays. These will not require any major changes, but a few minor adjustments between essays will improve the overall impact the essays make. Also if there are references to be made between essays, or to the application - add them to the essays. Overall, this is the time to make all minor adjustments. I am sure once we have the final drafts, we'll do it everyday we hit the submit button :)'
Final Drafts
Once the minor adjustments are all done, it is GAME, SET and MATCH. Now get someone (yeah - fall at his feet to read the essays for the nth time) to proof read it one last time to see if there is something u missed. Even if u have reviewed and modified the essays a 100 times, every time you read it again you will want to improve something. So you should know when to stop doing this. If you are me, you will reach a time when you say "enough is enough" and submit the application. Before that, read the essay instructions one last time to verify if you have not missed anything. Carefully upload the essays, view the previews carefully to check if nothing has been truncated, and then u view the entire application once. If every thing is alright, u are all set to submit the apps.
I'll write about the recommendations next :)
Before proceeding, i must admit that i am not an expert of essay writing, or writing generally. Accepted, i did get a 6.0 in AWA as well as 30/30 in the writing section of TOEFL, but that does not necessarily testify my writing skills. May be i am a decent writer but a good test taker :) Considering that background, what i am going to say here is a result of the hardship i went through in the months preceding the R1 deadlines. I wouldn't call it a struggle per se, but the months were hard for sure. I should also accept that i enjoyed the hardship :)
In many ways, the essay writing process begins with the introspection process and the school selection posts 1 & 2 i made earlier. While i was doing these steps, i made sure i did not throw away any information i gathered. I created folders in my PC for each school and saved all the pages which i thought were important, interesting or had any information that i cud use. Over time, this swelled into a huge pile of information which i used both for the essays and for the interviews. So that's one tip I'd give u people - all information is important :)
An essay is a culmination of your thought process, and hence as the thought process itself - it goes through many stages. In this "Evolution process", i believe the essays go through the following stages...
Data Dumps
This is where it begins - the stuff i explained above. After the data collection and introspection process, we'll have loads of data about the schools and also about our self. If we'd done any investigation about our future career options, we will also have data bout them. So in all, we will have pages and pages of information, which needs to be used to answer different parts of the essay questions.
Drafts
With the data dumps in hand, one has to work with individual essays and answer each question to the best of their abilities. Consider all the essays of a school and chose incidents from your life that showcase various aspects of your profile and personality. Also, when you write about the incidents, make sure you don't waste a lot of words discussing the "what". The schools are more interested in the reasoning behind the incidents - the "why". If u made a job hop, explain why? If u were involved in community service - explain why. If there are interesting pastimes, explain why do u pursue them. The "why" part is where your personality comes out. Make sure u show enough of yourself to the AdComm.
Creative thinking does help, but those who cannot do that need not sweat. Plain, to the point writing will not affect your chances of getting an interview invite. While working with the loads of data one will have now, use your judgment to filter the important from the trivial, the interesting from the usual, the funny from the plain and make sure you maintain the school's flavor throughout the essays.
As we write the essays, there are many things we need to consider:
- Word limits - Some schools are lenient, others are strict - but no one will disqualify you if you really need to exceed the word limits. Don't write more for the heck of it - it is not an indication of your love towards the school. It might irritate the readers (who read many essays everyday) and lead to unexpected results. So do your best to stick to word limits and if you have enough reason to exceed the limits, go ahead and write as much as u want :)
- Formatting - Check this with individual schools. Some require essay questions to be in the header, some specify page numbers to be in footers, some specify fonts, some specify margins. So it changes from one school to another. This is usually in the fine print. So read the "Essay Questions" pages completely and check the page once again before u submit the essay - things cud have changed.
- Reviews - One cannot stress enough about the role reviews play in making the essays effective. But the review process will be successful only if the right kind of reviewers are used. It is important to have reviewers who know you life (to tell u what u have missed) and also reviewers who don't know your life (and to tell u what kind of an impression you make with your story). It is important to have reviewers who'd review your language and also who'd look beyond the language and review the content. It is important to have reviewers who know the Bschool admission process and also reviewers who don't stick to the definitions to the dot. It is important to have reviewers who have time (because they shouldn't do it as a "quickie") and also those who'd work whenever (you never know what crazy hrs you'd work) you send them your essays. It is important to have reviewers who wouldn't impose their writing style or personality into your essays and it is also important to have reviewers who'd improve your style as they review the essays. In short, see how much the essays improve after each review. You'll know what kind of reviewer u have. So as and when the process moves forward, you can add more reviewers or educate your present reviewers to review particular areas of the essays. It is important to make sure the reviews add value to the essays.
- Proof Reading - Even after the essays pass through multiple eyes - the writer, the reviewers - the essays surprisingly carry with them minor mistakes. They miss the eyes only because they are minor. So once all reviews are done it is necessary to sweep the essays to find out these hidden troubles and sort them out.
- Fresh eyes - It is also good if you can find a person, other than the reviewers, to read the finished essays and comment on them. It will be better if this person is a student or an alumni - of the target school (preferred) or of any school (take comments on school specific stuff with a pinch of salt) .
The final drafts will be ready after the essays go through these steps. Till this time, we'd have answered each essay within the scope of the essay - to try and answer the questions being asked in each essay. Now, consider the big picture effect and review the essays with the complete profile in mind. Also consider the data sheets of the application and see if anything is being said there, which need not go into the essays. These will not require any major changes, but a few minor adjustments between essays will improve the overall impact the essays make. Also if there are references to be made between essays, or to the application - add them to the essays. Overall, this is the time to make all minor adjustments. I am sure once we have the final drafts, we'll do it everyday we hit the submit button :)'
Final Drafts
Once the minor adjustments are all done, it is GAME, SET and MATCH. Now get someone (yeah - fall at his feet to read the essays for the nth time) to proof read it one last time to see if there is something u missed. Even if u have reviewed and modified the essays a 100 times, every time you read it again you will want to improve something. So you should know when to stop doing this. If you are me, you will reach a time when you say "enough is enough" and submit the application. Before that, read the essay instructions one last time to verify if you have not missed anything. Carefully upload the essays, view the previews carefully to check if nothing has been truncated, and then u view the entire application once. If every thing is alright, u are all set to submit the apps.
I'll write about the recommendations next :)
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Which schools do i apply to???
Once an applicant has finished the GMAT, all that is left now is to fill the applications and knock at the door steps of your target business schools. Assuming the applicant has shortlisted the business schools of his liking, he/she will now have a smaller list of schools which he/she has to analyze in a more detailed and "closer" way. In my opinion, no one ends up applying to ALL schools shortlisted earlier. What happens is that we end up prioritizing the schools and apply to few schools in different rounds, based on how we feel about each school.
The whole process here can be defined as "reaching out". We can actually name the six months from July to December as the "Reaching Out Months", because that is exactly what both schools and applicants do in these months. Schools plan and organize information sessions, informal meets, participate in MBA fairs, send out brochures to interested students and probably do many other things to catch the attention of potential applicants. Applicants, apart from participating in these events, also tap information about the schools in all ways open to them.
These events are a great way to know about the schools and meet people. But always remember, these events do hide behind a bit of marketing fanfare. Everything you see here will be behind a layer of gloss, and there is nothing wrong in that because schools will try to present their best face here, just like we always send a glossy resume to potential employers (or BSchools). What i am saying is, don't fall for the gloss. Instead, try to obtain as much factual information as possible and leave the rest to ur judgement.
There are different ways to reach out and gather information about the BSchool of your liking. But none of them beats the school's website. Schools spend lot of time (and money) in preparing and organizing their websites, not without good reason. I can actually go on to say that it is possible to succeed in the application process with only the information from the schools' website. But don't try that :) When you visit the website, please do not ignore any corner of the website. I see people who visit the Full Time - MBA page and return. But in reality, the website has tonnes of information about everything that happens in a business school - from course contents to professors to club activities to Thursday Night Drinking Parties. I prepared a 3 page information sheet, for both my interviews, with only the information from the websites. If one spends enough time in all possible segments of a schools website, he/she will definitely get a good feel of the culture in the school. While it is definitely not like seeing things in person, it is a good start and perhaps the most important resource for international applicants who cannot travel to the school.
Once you have browsed the schools website and tapped as much information as you can, it is time to turn to the human side of the school - the people related to the school. Typically, after you have browsed the website, you will be full of questions - which i think can be (and must be) answered by the people related to the school. Now there are many kind of people in the school and it is probably good to think that everyone is accessible. In fact, in my experience, i have found that everyone will be glad to answer your questions provided we ask the right questions to them.
Talking to students is probably the most obvious thing an applicant can do. The students are accessible through different means and for different reasons. You will meet students in the school events and make sure you ask your questions to them. There will be occasions when they will not be able to answer your questions. In those situations, ask their email ids (the students generally give their ids to everyone) and follow up your questions with mails. If they are not the right people to answer your questions, the students will put you through to other students who are best suited to answer them. The student body is the most current reflection of the culture of the school and try to interact with as many as u can. One thing though, don't ask questions just for the heck of it. They are busy at school. Appreciate the fact that they are willing to take time out of their schedules, to help us applicants and respect the time they give us. Use it wisely :) A very important group of students will be "chairs" or "co-chairs" of the numerous clubs. They are the thought and action leaders in the school and might be able to give u information on club activities and the thought process that goes into these clubs or any other specific queries u might have about clubs.
Based on your industry experience, relevant exposure to target careers, educational background and probably something else - you will have specific queries about the course, the curriculum, individual papers, test procedures, work load, etc etc etc. The students will be able to give them a lot of their views about these topics, but individual professors might also be open for discussion. A good way to know about this would be to ask the students, instead of shooting a mail to the profs straight away. Only remember that when you speak with profs, the questions must be more to the point and reasonable.
Don't ever forget the other staff in the school - they are sources of information as well. From the people in the Admissions Committee, to the Career Services team, to the Housing Staff, to the Dean's Office - everyone is a source of information. If you have specific questions, always try to see if you can find some one who is willing speak to you. Chances are, someone will be. As they say, it is always better to hear it from the horses mouth. So talk to as many horses as possible :)
When you discuss with as many people, you will get a better hold of the school's culture, principles and values and more importantly - the kind of community the schools is made of. At some level, this community will be a deciding factor for you to apply to a school or, at a later point of time, accept of deny an offer. Also, once you know this human side of the school you will feel more comfortable in picking up qualities from your profile which you want to project in your application essays.
The last group of people who can offer you information about the school are the alumni. Getting in touch with them is kind of tricky, because the school will not come forward to give their email ids. There are alumni websites for schools, which will probably give you email ids. Else you start using your existing network and ask your friends, superiors etc about people they know who graduated from Bschools. The advantage of speaking to alums is that you will get to meet finished products, albeit a few yrs older. They will not ride on that "in school" emotion and will probably give you more subjective opinions (not to say all opinions of students are high on emotional quotient) about the school and life in the school/school's location. Also, you can get to know the market value of the school, how the school's students are looked at by the companies and stuff like that. These are the best people to ask about "long term returns" of your MBA from this particular school.
Finally, present applicants are another source of information. Applicant blogs aside, use your networking skills to reach out to fellow applicants and keep in touch with them. As such the application process is tiring and long. It will only help you to have some companions through the journey :) And believe me, it feels really good to know ur classmates even before u both get admits :)
Last but not the least, try your best to visit the schools. School visits are very good and perhaps the most straight forward (i call it "personal") way to find out information about the school. The best thing about a school visit is that you can interact with almost all the people i have mentioned above and set up contacts. It will be easy to go back to home and send individual mails to each of these people and clarify your doubts from these people. Also, you get the opportunity to sit in a class, which will also help you look at the academic side of the student community. It is like those "one day in the life of a consultant" posts. You get to see "one day in the life of a ABC School student" and being so is much much better than reading about or seeing what it is to be a student in ABC school. For me, a typical school visit will include meeting people from different departments of the school, apart from the many students one might want to meet, check out the school facilities, the school neighborhood, what's happening at school and what's not happening at school - many many things that wont be available in the brochure :) For me, at the end of a school visit if you feel like "I'd love to spend my next two years in this place", the school's succeeded in impressing you :)
Typically, after reaching out to schools and after participating in the reach out events organized by the schools, you will feel more strongly towards applying to certain schools and less certain about some other schools. You will see changes in the list you had made earlier. It is important to time this stage well, because the essay writing process will take quite some time and in my view you'll need at least two months to work on the essays. Of course, this will vary, based on the number of schools you decide to apply. After a month or so of doing this, you will have to sit down and decide on the timing of your applications - schools you want to apply in round 1 and those you want to apply in round 2.
Also, you will have enough information to start writing your essays and fill the applications - which is the topic of my next post :)
The whole process here can be defined as "reaching out". We can actually name the six months from July to December as the "Reaching Out Months", because that is exactly what both schools and applicants do in these months. Schools plan and organize information sessions, informal meets, participate in MBA fairs, send out brochures to interested students and probably do many other things to catch the attention of potential applicants. Applicants, apart from participating in these events, also tap information about the schools in all ways open to them.
These events are a great way to know about the schools and meet people. But always remember, these events do hide behind a bit of marketing fanfare. Everything you see here will be behind a layer of gloss, and there is nothing wrong in that because schools will try to present their best face here, just like we always send a glossy resume to potential employers (or BSchools). What i am saying is, don't fall for the gloss. Instead, try to obtain as much factual information as possible and leave the rest to ur judgement.
There are different ways to reach out and gather information about the BSchool of your liking. But none of them beats the school's website. Schools spend lot of time (and money) in preparing and organizing their websites, not without good reason. I can actually go on to say that it is possible to succeed in the application process with only the information from the schools' website. But don't try that :) When you visit the website, please do not ignore any corner of the website. I see people who visit the Full Time - MBA page and return. But in reality, the website has tonnes of information about everything that happens in a business school - from course contents to professors to club activities to Thursday Night Drinking Parties. I prepared a 3 page information sheet, for both my interviews, with only the information from the websites. If one spends enough time in all possible segments of a schools website, he/she will definitely get a good feel of the culture in the school. While it is definitely not like seeing things in person, it is a good start and perhaps the most important resource for international applicants who cannot travel to the school.
Once you have browsed the schools website and tapped as much information as you can, it is time to turn to the human side of the school - the people related to the school. Typically, after you have browsed the website, you will be full of questions - which i think can be (and must be) answered by the people related to the school. Now there are many kind of people in the school and it is probably good to think that everyone is accessible. In fact, in my experience, i have found that everyone will be glad to answer your questions provided we ask the right questions to them.
Talking to students is probably the most obvious thing an applicant can do. The students are accessible through different means and for different reasons. You will meet students in the school events and make sure you ask your questions to them. There will be occasions when they will not be able to answer your questions. In those situations, ask their email ids (the students generally give their ids to everyone) and follow up your questions with mails. If they are not the right people to answer your questions, the students will put you through to other students who are best suited to answer them. The student body is the most current reflection of the culture of the school and try to interact with as many as u can. One thing though, don't ask questions just for the heck of it. They are busy at school. Appreciate the fact that they are willing to take time out of their schedules, to help us applicants and respect the time they give us. Use it wisely :) A very important group of students will be "chairs" or "co-chairs" of the numerous clubs. They are the thought and action leaders in the school and might be able to give u information on club activities and the thought process that goes into these clubs or any other specific queries u might have about clubs.
Based on your industry experience, relevant exposure to target careers, educational background and probably something else - you will have specific queries about the course, the curriculum, individual papers, test procedures, work load, etc etc etc. The students will be able to give them a lot of their views about these topics, but individual professors might also be open for discussion. A good way to know about this would be to ask the students, instead of shooting a mail to the profs straight away. Only remember that when you speak with profs, the questions must be more to the point and reasonable.
Don't ever forget the other staff in the school - they are sources of information as well. From the people in the Admissions Committee, to the Career Services team, to the Housing Staff, to the Dean's Office - everyone is a source of information. If you have specific questions, always try to see if you can find some one who is willing speak to you. Chances are, someone will be. As they say, it is always better to hear it from the horses mouth. So talk to as many horses as possible :)
When you discuss with as many people, you will get a better hold of the school's culture, principles and values and more importantly - the kind of community the schools is made of. At some level, this community will be a deciding factor for you to apply to a school or, at a later point of time, accept of deny an offer. Also, once you know this human side of the school you will feel more comfortable in picking up qualities from your profile which you want to project in your application essays.
The last group of people who can offer you information about the school are the alumni. Getting in touch with them is kind of tricky, because the school will not come forward to give their email ids. There are alumni websites for schools, which will probably give you email ids. Else you start using your existing network and ask your friends, superiors etc about people they know who graduated from Bschools. The advantage of speaking to alums is that you will get to meet finished products, albeit a few yrs older. They will not ride on that "in school" emotion and will probably give you more subjective opinions (not to say all opinions of students are high on emotional quotient) about the school and life in the school/school's location. Also, you can get to know the market value of the school, how the school's students are looked at by the companies and stuff like that. These are the best people to ask about "long term returns" of your MBA from this particular school.
Finally, present applicants are another source of information. Applicant blogs aside, use your networking skills to reach out to fellow applicants and keep in touch with them. As such the application process is tiring and long. It will only help you to have some companions through the journey :) And believe me, it feels really good to know ur classmates even before u both get admits :)
Last but not the least, try your best to visit the schools. School visits are very good and perhaps the most straight forward (i call it "personal") way to find out information about the school. The best thing about a school visit is that you can interact with almost all the people i have mentioned above and set up contacts. It will be easy to go back to home and send individual mails to each of these people and clarify your doubts from these people. Also, you get the opportunity to sit in a class, which will also help you look at the academic side of the student community. It is like those "one day in the life of a consultant" posts. You get to see "one day in the life of a ABC School student" and being so is much much better than reading about or seeing what it is to be a student in ABC school. For me, a typical school visit will include meeting people from different departments of the school, apart from the many students one might want to meet, check out the school facilities, the school neighborhood, what's happening at school and what's not happening at school - many many things that wont be available in the brochure :) For me, at the end of a school visit if you feel like "I'd love to spend my next two years in this place", the school's succeeded in impressing you :)
Typically, after reaching out to schools and after participating in the reach out events organized by the schools, you will feel more strongly towards applying to certain schools and less certain about some other schools. You will see changes in the list you had made earlier. It is important to time this stage well, because the essay writing process will take quite some time and in my view you'll need at least two months to work on the essays. Of course, this will vary, based on the number of schools you decide to apply. After a month or so of doing this, you will have to sit down and decide on the timing of your applications - schools you want to apply in round 1 and those you want to apply in round 2.
Also, you will have enough information to start writing your essays and fill the applications - which is the topic of my next post :)
Friday, March 16, 2007
One admit and two wishes - 3 months apart :)
Yeah - the folks at ClearAdmit, for some reason, thought it was time to wish me again for the Chicago GSB admit i received in Dec 2006 :)
Check out their latest edition of Fridays from the frontline, their weekly blog space snapshot. The recent post says "There are many congratulations to go around this week: Chicago admitted Iday..."
My immediate reaction was that I thought they missed my name earlier. But when i searched in their archives, the Dec 22 edition of FFF, which says "It’s been an Illinois kind of week for Juggler, who proudly and excitedly shared some positive news from Kellogg and Chicago, and is joined in the latter by Iday, who welcomes the end of his essay-writing days..."
All i can say is "Thanks again" :)
Check out their latest edition of Fridays from the frontline, their weekly blog space snapshot. The recent post says "There are many congratulations to go around this week: Chicago admitted Iday..."
My immediate reaction was that I thought they missed my name earlier. But when i searched in their archives, the Dec 22 edition of FFF, which says "It’s been an Illinois kind of week for Juggler, who proudly and excitedly shared some positive news from Kellogg and Chicago, and is joined in the latter by Iday, who welcomes the end of his essay-writing days..."
All i can say is "Thanks again" :)
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The 3G months!!!
3G? What 3G???
3G, for the purposes of this post, refers to the time one spends in preparing for and appearing for the GMAT - which is about 3 months. This post is about my opinions about everything surrounding this all important test, which is an important milestone in the MBA admission journey...
Before one starts preparing for the all important GMAT test, it is important that one has a lot of idea about the entire MBA stuff, his reasons for wanting one and all that jazz. From here on, I kept telling myself "Remember the bigger picture - go get that MBA, everything else is just a part of the puzzle". The GMAT, the applications and even the MBA itself - just steps in your journey to achieve the goals you've set yourself.
Myth: Preparing for the GMAT is probably one of the toughest experiences one can ever go through...
Truth: If you find it tough, you aren't doing it right. GMAT preparation is something to be enjoyed. In fact, take the fear quotient out and try enjoying the test and you will definitely do better.
I started my GMAT preparations in March. But i did not dive head first into all those prep books. Thanks to my genes (or my past experiences) i do not start doing something before i know it well. Once i knew the GMAT enough, i realized the importance of charting out a prep plan based on my strengths and weaknesses, a very personalized prep plan. Based on this plan, i went out and got the books i thought I'd need.
GMAT is one such thing for which there really is a thing called information overflow. The Internet if SO full of different opinions and experiences about the test and everything related to it. So instead of trying to compare stuff, I'd just try to explain what i did in my 3G months and why i chose to do it this way.
Getting Familiar
As i explained above, i rate this very important, if not the most important, part of my whole plan. And getting familiar with the test is not just reading the GMAT brochure available in the MBA.com website. It goes well beyond that, but yeah it starts with it and the website. I then proceeded to scout for all kind of information in the Internet. The biggest jackpot i hit in this process were the experiences posted by people who had done well in the GMAT. Especially there was one by TwinSplitter (790) and another by Ursula (45 yr old female who ended up with a 760!!!) - both of which gave me strategies and also their personal views on the test. I also hit on this document titled "GMAT 700 stories", a huge document (60+ pages) with personal experiences of many people who crossed the 700 mark. Reading these experiences slowly got me familiar with the test. By the end of it, i know the nuts and bolts of the test and the test taking experience.
The next step was to get familiar with the actual test itself. I had downloaded the GMATprep test and also had the PowerPrep tests, which were retired by the time i started preps. But i did not wanna waste one of them just to get familiar. So i scouted on the Internet again and hit on some website that gave me a 5 test pack for free. I downloaded this and used these tests to try stuff like my confidence level, competency level, timing etc. I must admit - I scored very very poorly (read - 25 in VA) in these tests :)
But by the end of it all - i knew where i stood and to an extent i knew what i had to do and what i did not have to do. It was time i started actual preparation.
Create "your" plan
I realized GMAT is to be played by everyone in their own way. No cookie cutters. This was an important result of reading all those experiences - i saw that the people tackled it the way they wanted to, the way they felt comfortable. The ones who failed, they said that they tried things differently and could not stick to it when the pressure mounted in the test hall. Of course, there were exceptions - but the biggest pattern to emerge was "Do it your way".
After all the reading and the sample tests, i knew what i had to do. I was exceptional in quant - I've been good with numbers all my life. But my verbal scores sucked. It is obvious what i should do. But i also decided i will do a LOT of practice. I wanted a long span, when i could test if my understanding of my strengths and weaknesses were correct. If i had enough practice material, i could allow myself the time to correct myself if i found something wrong mid way.
Also, i wanted a structured approach - basic preps, OG, additional practice, tougher than GMAT practice. I bought my books to help me in each of these stages. I'll explain them below.
So what was my plan???
I prepared for 3 months, I know people who prepared for 2 weeks and scored more than me. I know people who practiced more and scored less. It is perhaps correct to say "what works for me, wont work for u". At least look at it this way, take any advice with a pinch of salt, and carve out something specially for you - that works best for anyone.
I started with the basic prep books - call it "getting more familiar with the GMAT". The books i used in this phase were the following, with my reasons for each of them
Kaplan Premier program - lots of problems to try out the theories and the strategies. The only serious quant preps i ever did was to refresh my memory time and again with the list of formulas, given at the end of this book.
Princeton Review - fun book to read (which i dint know when i bought). Lots of question types, lots more than Kaplan.
Kaplan 800 - test how high you can go. The hit rate here WILL be low. But this will help to catch those stuff u assumed earlier - a nice way to proof read your preps before you go to the next step.
I would do one topic per week - let's say CR. I'll first read up about CR in Kaplan, and do the sample problems sprayed in between the theories. Then, I'd jump to Princeton and read up about CR here. After i am done with the theory part in both the books I'd do the 50 odd CR problems in Kaplan. All this will take me the good part of a week or so - i did not rush. Now i will do the CR part in Kaplan 800, only to find an alarmingly low hit rate :) Then i use the weekend to iron out the issues, fill the gaps and get CR out of the way. This way, in 5 weeks, i was done with all the sections of the GMAT, minus AWA.
The sixth week, i started doing problems in OG and the (quant and verbal) supplements. I got the supplements because i needed extra practice. Even here, I'd cover all questions in one topic on OG and the supplement and then move on to the next topic in OG. While i flew through the math questions, progress in the verbal section was considerably slow - because i was weaker here. But i stuck to it and finished it all in time.
A week before the test, i found myself with no prep material. I dint wanna spend money buying something else. So i re did Kaplan 800, the high altitude running again. This time, i was keen on both timings and hit rate - and i had improved considerably from the last time i used the book. If you think this was because i remembered the questions, no i did not remember a majority of the questions :) this also helped me be in touch with GMAT in the last day.
I prepared for AWA for all of 2 hrs, reading up material in Kaplan and Princeton. I realized that one has to structure the essays, write as much as possible and get it done. I just read a few sample essays and felt i could do this for sure.
Stick to the plan
Well - we all know how important this is :)
I had cruel work schedules during these day - a standard excuse for all software engineers. I worked crazy hours - 10 hrs per day or more. But even if i come to home at 12PM, I'd prepare till 3AM. Whatever little social life i had, it was put to rest as i spent all my weekends with the books. I knew i had to take minor detours here and there - so i saw some movies and wrote this blog :)
This is a very long process to conquer a 3 hr test. So it is difficult to keep ourselves motivated during the 3G months. But as i mentioned earlier, i kept telling myself that this is a part in a bigger journey and IT HAD TO BE DONE. Try telling yourself "If you want to realize your dreams, you must get that score in the test", rather than "If you want to beat the average at that school, you must get that score in the test. I am sure the former looks better and perhaps more motivational. Well - it did motivate me :)
I must admit here that though i was working crazy hours, my work wasn't really exciting me in the way i wanted it to be. There wasn't any spark in it. The GMAT preps excited me in a way a pack of chocolates excites a kid that hasn't seem them in ages. So i was actually looking forward to coming home every night and spending time with the books. If you are my type - you must be doing good :)
Sample tests
I used those 5 tests to get familiar. So i never bothered to look at the scores (not that they are worth mentioning anyways) :)
Then of course i used the GMATprep and PowerPrep tests - the full length ones and the short ones. I took one test each before i touched the OGs and one after the OGs - just to see how i have improved by using the OG. It really did make an improvement - i realized why the bible IS the bible :)
I wasn't impressed with the tests that came with the Kaplan and Princeton books. Kaplan questions are more difficult than the ones you'd see in the actual test and Princeton tests are a bit easier. Both of them got the scoring algorithm wrong - you get crazy scores. So just consider them practice, to check stuff like hit rate and timing. Don't bother worrying about the scores.
D-day
I already made a post abt my D-day experience. Read it to know what happened :)
The biggest advice i can offer to anyone is - enjoy the test. There is so much hype about this test that I've seen people get freaked out in the test hall. But i can safely say that anyone with basic knowledge in the topics and good test taking skills (which is where the poise, calmness et al come into play) MUST do well in GMAT. It is a test made for people to score better - something that becomes all the more possible with so much stuff available.
So yeah - these were the 3G months as i see it. It could be 2G for someone, or 0.5G - based on how prepared one feels and how much prep one needs and how much one believes in luck ;) But anyone who handles his preparations seriously and does a good job of it is bound to score well in the test.
3G, for the purposes of this post, refers to the time one spends in preparing for and appearing for the GMAT - which is about 3 months. This post is about my opinions about everything surrounding this all important test, which is an important milestone in the MBA admission journey...
Before one starts preparing for the all important GMAT test, it is important that one has a lot of idea about the entire MBA stuff, his reasons for wanting one and all that jazz. From here on, I kept telling myself "Remember the bigger picture - go get that MBA, everything else is just a part of the puzzle". The GMAT, the applications and even the MBA itself - just steps in your journey to achieve the goals you've set yourself.
Myth: Preparing for the GMAT is probably one of the toughest experiences one can ever go through...
Truth: If you find it tough, you aren't doing it right. GMAT preparation is something to be enjoyed. In fact, take the fear quotient out and try enjoying the test and you will definitely do better.
I started my GMAT preparations in March. But i did not dive head first into all those prep books. Thanks to my genes (or my past experiences) i do not start doing something before i know it well. Once i knew the GMAT enough, i realized the importance of charting out a prep plan based on my strengths and weaknesses, a very personalized prep plan. Based on this plan, i went out and got the books i thought I'd need.
GMAT is one such thing for which there really is a thing called information overflow. The Internet if SO full of different opinions and experiences about the test and everything related to it. So instead of trying to compare stuff, I'd just try to explain what i did in my 3G months and why i chose to do it this way.
Getting Familiar
As i explained above, i rate this very important, if not the most important, part of my whole plan. And getting familiar with the test is not just reading the GMAT brochure available in the MBA.com website. It goes well beyond that, but yeah it starts with it and the website. I then proceeded to scout for all kind of information in the Internet. The biggest jackpot i hit in this process were the experiences posted by people who had done well in the GMAT. Especially there was one by TwinSplitter (790) and another by Ursula (45 yr old female who ended up with a 760!!!) - both of which gave me strategies and also their personal views on the test. I also hit on this document titled "GMAT 700 stories", a huge document (60+ pages) with personal experiences of many people who crossed the 700 mark. Reading these experiences slowly got me familiar with the test. By the end of it, i know the nuts and bolts of the test and the test taking experience.
The next step was to get familiar with the actual test itself. I had downloaded the GMATprep test and also had the PowerPrep tests, which were retired by the time i started preps. But i did not wanna waste one of them just to get familiar. So i scouted on the Internet again and hit on some website that gave me a 5 test pack for free. I downloaded this and used these tests to try stuff like my confidence level, competency level, timing etc. I must admit - I scored very very poorly (read - 25 in VA) in these tests :)
But by the end of it all - i knew where i stood and to an extent i knew what i had to do and what i did not have to do. It was time i started actual preparation.
Create "your" plan
I realized GMAT is to be played by everyone in their own way. No cookie cutters. This was an important result of reading all those experiences - i saw that the people tackled it the way they wanted to, the way they felt comfortable. The ones who failed, they said that they tried things differently and could not stick to it when the pressure mounted in the test hall. Of course, there were exceptions - but the biggest pattern to emerge was "Do it your way".
After all the reading and the sample tests, i knew what i had to do. I was exceptional in quant - I've been good with numbers all my life. But my verbal scores sucked. It is obvious what i should do. But i also decided i will do a LOT of practice. I wanted a long span, when i could test if my understanding of my strengths and weaknesses were correct. If i had enough practice material, i could allow myself the time to correct myself if i found something wrong mid way.
Also, i wanted a structured approach - basic preps, OG, additional practice, tougher than GMAT practice. I bought my books to help me in each of these stages. I'll explain them below.
So what was my plan???
I prepared for 3 months, I know people who prepared for 2 weeks and scored more than me. I know people who practiced more and scored less. It is perhaps correct to say "what works for me, wont work for u". At least look at it this way, take any advice with a pinch of salt, and carve out something specially for you - that works best for anyone.
I started with the basic prep books - call it "getting more familiar with the GMAT". The books i used in this phase were the following, with my reasons for each of them
Kaplan Premier program - lots of problems to try out the theories and the strategies. The only serious quant preps i ever did was to refresh my memory time and again with the list of formulas, given at the end of this book.
Princeton Review - fun book to read (which i dint know when i bought). Lots of question types, lots more than Kaplan.
Kaplan 800 - test how high you can go. The hit rate here WILL be low. But this will help to catch those stuff u assumed earlier - a nice way to proof read your preps before you go to the next step.
I would do one topic per week - let's say CR. I'll first read up about CR in Kaplan, and do the sample problems sprayed in between the theories. Then, I'd jump to Princeton and read up about CR here. After i am done with the theory part in both the books I'd do the 50 odd CR problems in Kaplan. All this will take me the good part of a week or so - i did not rush. Now i will do the CR part in Kaplan 800, only to find an alarmingly low hit rate :) Then i use the weekend to iron out the issues, fill the gaps and get CR out of the way. This way, in 5 weeks, i was done with all the sections of the GMAT, minus AWA.
The sixth week, i started doing problems in OG and the (quant and verbal) supplements. I got the supplements because i needed extra practice. Even here, I'd cover all questions in one topic on OG and the supplement and then move on to the next topic in OG. While i flew through the math questions, progress in the verbal section was considerably slow - because i was weaker here. But i stuck to it and finished it all in time.
A week before the test, i found myself with no prep material. I dint wanna spend money buying something else. So i re did Kaplan 800, the high altitude running again. This time, i was keen on both timings and hit rate - and i had improved considerably from the last time i used the book. If you think this was because i remembered the questions, no i did not remember a majority of the questions :) this also helped me be in touch with GMAT in the last day.
I prepared for AWA for all of 2 hrs, reading up material in Kaplan and Princeton. I realized that one has to structure the essays, write as much as possible and get it done. I just read a few sample essays and felt i could do this for sure.
Stick to the plan
Well - we all know how important this is :)
I had cruel work schedules during these day - a standard excuse for all software engineers. I worked crazy hours - 10 hrs per day or more. But even if i come to home at 12PM, I'd prepare till 3AM. Whatever little social life i had, it was put to rest as i spent all my weekends with the books. I knew i had to take minor detours here and there - so i saw some movies and wrote this blog :)
This is a very long process to conquer a 3 hr test. So it is difficult to keep ourselves motivated during the 3G months. But as i mentioned earlier, i kept telling myself that this is a part in a bigger journey and IT HAD TO BE DONE. Try telling yourself "If you want to realize your dreams, you must get that score in the test", rather than "If you want to beat the average at that school, you must get that score in the test. I am sure the former looks better and perhaps more motivational. Well - it did motivate me :)
I must admit here that though i was working crazy hours, my work wasn't really exciting me in the way i wanted it to be. There wasn't any spark in it. The GMAT preps excited me in a way a pack of chocolates excites a kid that hasn't seem them in ages. So i was actually looking forward to coming home every night and spending time with the books. If you are my type - you must be doing good :)
Sample tests
I used those 5 tests to get familiar. So i never bothered to look at the scores (not that they are worth mentioning anyways) :)
Then of course i used the GMATprep and PowerPrep tests - the full length ones and the short ones. I took one test each before i touched the OGs and one after the OGs - just to see how i have improved by using the OG. It really did make an improvement - i realized why the bible IS the bible :)
I wasn't impressed with the tests that came with the Kaplan and Princeton books. Kaplan questions are more difficult than the ones you'd see in the actual test and Princeton tests are a bit easier. Both of them got the scoring algorithm wrong - you get crazy scores. So just consider them practice, to check stuff like hit rate and timing. Don't bother worrying about the scores.
D-day
I already made a post abt my D-day experience. Read it to know what happened :)
The biggest advice i can offer to anyone is - enjoy the test. There is so much hype about this test that I've seen people get freaked out in the test hall. But i can safely say that anyone with basic knowledge in the topics and good test taking skills (which is where the poise, calmness et al come into play) MUST do well in GMAT. It is a test made for people to score better - something that becomes all the more possible with so much stuff available.
So yeah - these were the 3G months as i see it. It could be 2G for someone, or 0.5G - based on how prepared one feels and how much prep one needs and how much one believes in luck ;) But anyone who handles his preparations seriously and does a good job of it is bound to score well in the test.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Especially to the folks nearby...
A friend of mine put up this post in her blog about Tejas (meaning radiance) Vocational Center, a place in Chennai that helps drug addicts (and their family members) learn vocational skills to help support themselves once they are out of the addiction. Most of the people come from the drug rehabilitation center of the TTK hospitals, but the center is welcoming towards people from outside too.
The post particularly speaks of the Eco-Friendly Jute bags which are made by the rehabilitated folks, and also suggests that by buying these bags one can support these guys as well as help the center continue with the good work they are doing. Sounds like a good thing to do :) And bags are something we Indians do use in many places.
If anyone has any plans and needs any help in proceeding further, leave a comment and i shall try to help you guys out (either myself or i'll put u thru to this girl i know).
The post particularly speaks of the Eco-Friendly Jute bags which are made by the rehabilitated folks, and also suggests that by buying these bags one can support these guys as well as help the center continue with the good work they are doing. Sounds like a good thing to do :) And bags are something we Indians do use in many places.
If anyone has any plans and needs any help in proceeding further, leave a comment and i shall try to help you guys out (either myself or i'll put u thru to this girl i know).
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Shortlisting Bizz Schools
Now that someone decides that an MBA would be the next step in his career and assuming he/she has gone through the self realization and introspection journey - the next big question is to decide where he/she will pursue the education over the next two years. As much as the importance to the answer for "Why MBA?", the answer to "Where?" is also very very important. Anyone who gets one of these wrong, the whole MBA plan goes wrong.
The first thing one has to understand here is that everyone cannot be comfortable in ANY school. Just like our clothes, we'd be comfortable only in a school where we FIT in. And this FIT is the collective result of the answer to the "Why MBA?" question. It is important for everyone to find the schools that fit their requirement and not fall to the name or fame of the different schools.
If an individual has to avoid making mistakes in school selection, the first and the biggest thing he has to do will be to appreciate the fact that each school is different in a particular way. In many factors, we cannot actually "rank" top schools. They will all score very highly in most of the key features on would want to see or have in a school. But they are different from one another in a few ways and as an applicant, we have to spot these differences. Instead of calling them differences, we should call them uniqueness - we really have to figure out what makes this particular school unique.
When i started looking schools, i categorized my expectations from a school into the following:
I am a career changer. So it was very important for me that i get solid education and experience in the theories and practices related to my target job function or the target industry at large. This might sound like a no-brainer, but it is important to know what kind of classes u wanna have at school. Just because i had a clear plan about my short and long term career, i knew i wanted this particular type of education. But this does not apply to everyone. There are lots of people who go to B school with an open mind - they want to explore. They will probably have a broader set of classroom expectation, but less specific. It is hence the responsibility of the applicant to realize what he/she expects from the education point of view.
Apart from the education alone, there might be special requirements. Do you want to take a particular paper? Do you want to specialise in a topic that is not available in all schools? Do have particular professors in mind? Does a particular (out of the ordinary) teaching method excite you? What kind of a study group do you want to be a member of? There could be many such factors. The key here is, when u read information about a school, think on the lines of "Can there be an alternative to this approach? If yes - will that suit me more that the one followed by this school? If yes, now which schools follow this diff approach?". List out all factors you feel are important and then do all that you can to obtain information about these aspect. Then compare. There will of course be no cookie cutter result - but you'll realize where you'll be more comfortable or at least you'll know the trade-offs you might have to do in picking school X over school Y.
Outside the Classroom
This is where, in my opinion, the fit comes in :)
Chicago GSB, in their admit letter, said "We take students based on a FIT". I am sure all schools do that. The AdComms, in my opinion, also factor in the "kind" or "type" of students they admit each year. In all probability, these are the flag bearers of the school and all that it stands for, for the entire life of the students. They'd definitely want to rope in those kind of students, who they think are in line with the values and beliefs of the school.
Similarly, it hence becomes the responsibility of the applicant to look for these criterion about a school. What are the school's values, what does the school propose, what kind of a student body they have, what kind of alum represent the school, what clubs are most active, what clubs have been recently started, what does the school's brochure say, what do the students feel about the school (they are the ones who experience what the school stands for. So their opinion, though influenced by their personal experiences, are very important), what kind of professors teach in the school - there are many ways to know the school. Visiting the school is another great way to feel the "vibe" of the school. If you happen to be an international applicant who cannot afford to visit a school, attend all possible events. If you happen to have issues traveling (like i did) make sure u speak to other applicants who attend these meetings (again, like i did). The more you know about the "personal" side of the school, the better for your decision making process - either while applying or while selecting an admit.
Immediately after graduation
Simply put - will i get that dream job if i study in this school???
All top schools have absolutely wonderful career services teams. Period. You cannot really differentiate school X from school Y based on the strength of the career services team - you'll end up seeing two really successful teams. If there is any way to differentiate between two schools in this particular aspect, it is the answer to "Will the school cater to my specific employment needs???".
You really don't get any time to rest once school starts. You register for CORE and then hit the ground running - to get that darned summer offer in you dream company. So you need to be sure of the statistics :)
All schools release placement statistics - for both summer offers and final placements. Check the % of students placed in ur target industry, target company & target job function. Check whether the school brings in particular companies to campus. Check if these companies have openings in ur target job functions (this might change y-o-y based on the needs of a company at that particular time). Speak to people (in school and in the industry) to check how the school is valued in the target industry (like Chicago GSB is considered a "core" school @ Wall Street). There are many ways to find this answer out - speaking to alums is another way.
There might be special cases where your target jobs profile or company will be a unique situation. So check out if the school has courses related to this. Check out how active the career services is in bringing new companies to schools (schools release this figure - but i think it will only be open to students. so ask them). Speak to students to see how receptive the career services guys are if you come out with a unique request. There will be these kind of students every year, check how hard career services work with them to help them find that job. You need a lot of inside info on this - so speaking to students, admissions team or even the career services team will be of immense help.
The long run...
This was very important for me. In all probability, this is the last time I'm going to school (even though the thought of returning as an academician lingers) In other words, this is the brand i will live with the rest of my life. Unless i go to school again, i will be the Chicago GSB grad. Of course, this will vanish the moment u hit some gold mine in ur job and then people call you the Million Dollar Baby or something like that. But even then, there will a line in ur profile that says "this MDB is a grad of ABC school" - making both you and the school proud :) And people very often check out the grad school one came from, to know what kind of education you've had. The point about "market reception" again surfaces and i definitely believe different schools make diff kind of impressions in diff markets :) So make sure if this is the brand u wanna get associated with.
I really should speak about the rankings here, because i wouldn't have known 90% of the schools i know today without the rankings. Even though there are pros and cons abt all the rankings that exist these days, rankings are an effective tool in a sense that they try to quantify the quality of the schools, withing a particular set of criterion, and help you compare between schools in these areas. But then, since rankings only involve a subset of the qualities a school might possess, applicants should be careful to analyse the ranking methodology before analysing the rank list. This way, you would get a clear picture of why school X ranks ahead of school Y or school Z. You should then go back to prev ranking lists to see whether the surprises and shocks u see are either momentary highs/lows or a result of continuous improvement or otherwise. A single rank list never gives the complete picture.
I used many rankings - and used them to gather a pool of schools i wud then go on to investigate. I remember selecting around 10 different schools, all of which i then investigated for a month or so. I checked websites, i wrote to people, i ordered brochures (free!!!), i read profiles in many websites - and i was eliminating schools from my list slowly till i ended up with the 5 i applied to in Round 1.
School selection is a LONG process. I think i started with the rankings in Feb 2006 and ended up with the final list in August 2006. It might be long, but not boring at all. If anyone selects target schools in a short time and tells u he did a good job of it - he's lying or I'm too slow :)
The first thing one has to understand here is that everyone cannot be comfortable in ANY school. Just like our clothes, we'd be comfortable only in a school where we FIT in. And this FIT is the collective result of the answer to the "Why MBA?" question. It is important for everyone to find the schools that fit their requirement and not fall to the name or fame of the different schools.
If an individual has to avoid making mistakes in school selection, the first and the biggest thing he has to do will be to appreciate the fact that each school is different in a particular way. In many factors, we cannot actually "rank" top schools. They will all score very highly in most of the key features on would want to see or have in a school. But they are different from one another in a few ways and as an applicant, we have to spot these differences. Instead of calling them differences, we should call them uniqueness - we really have to figure out what makes this particular school unique.
When i started looking schools, i categorized my expectations from a school into the following:
- Inside the Classroom
- Outside the Classroom
- Immediately after Graduation
- The long run...
I am a career changer. So it was very important for me that i get solid education and experience in the theories and practices related to my target job function or the target industry at large. This might sound like a no-brainer, but it is important to know what kind of classes u wanna have at school. Just because i had a clear plan about my short and long term career, i knew i wanted this particular type of education. But this does not apply to everyone. There are lots of people who go to B school with an open mind - they want to explore. They will probably have a broader set of classroom expectation, but less specific. It is hence the responsibility of the applicant to realize what he/she expects from the education point of view.
Apart from the education alone, there might be special requirements. Do you want to take a particular paper? Do you want to specialise in a topic that is not available in all schools? Do have particular professors in mind? Does a particular (out of the ordinary) teaching method excite you? What kind of a study group do you want to be a member of? There could be many such factors. The key here is, when u read information about a school, think on the lines of "Can there be an alternative to this approach? If yes - will that suit me more that the one followed by this school? If yes, now which schools follow this diff approach?". List out all factors you feel are important and then do all that you can to obtain information about these aspect. Then compare. There will of course be no cookie cutter result - but you'll realize where you'll be more comfortable or at least you'll know the trade-offs you might have to do in picking school X over school Y.
Outside the Classroom
This is where, in my opinion, the fit comes in :)
Chicago GSB, in their admit letter, said "We take students based on a FIT". I am sure all schools do that. The AdComms, in my opinion, also factor in the "kind" or "type" of students they admit each year. In all probability, these are the flag bearers of the school and all that it stands for, for the entire life of the students. They'd definitely want to rope in those kind of students, who they think are in line with the values and beliefs of the school.
Similarly, it hence becomes the responsibility of the applicant to look for these criterion about a school. What are the school's values, what does the school propose, what kind of a student body they have, what kind of alum represent the school, what clubs are most active, what clubs have been recently started, what does the school's brochure say, what do the students feel about the school (they are the ones who experience what the school stands for. So their opinion, though influenced by their personal experiences, are very important), what kind of professors teach in the school - there are many ways to know the school. Visiting the school is another great way to feel the "vibe" of the school. If you happen to be an international applicant who cannot afford to visit a school, attend all possible events. If you happen to have issues traveling (like i did) make sure u speak to other applicants who attend these meetings (again, like i did). The more you know about the "personal" side of the school, the better for your decision making process - either while applying or while selecting an admit.
Immediately after graduation
Simply put - will i get that dream job if i study in this school???
All top schools have absolutely wonderful career services teams. Period. You cannot really differentiate school X from school Y based on the strength of the career services team - you'll end up seeing two really successful teams. If there is any way to differentiate between two schools in this particular aspect, it is the answer to "Will the school cater to my specific employment needs???".
You really don't get any time to rest once school starts. You register for CORE and then hit the ground running - to get that darned summer offer in you dream company. So you need to be sure of the statistics :)
All schools release placement statistics - for both summer offers and final placements. Check the % of students placed in ur target industry, target company & target job function. Check whether the school brings in particular companies to campus. Check if these companies have openings in ur target job functions (this might change y-o-y based on the needs of a company at that particular time). Speak to people (in school and in the industry) to check how the school is valued in the target industry (like Chicago GSB is considered a "core" school @ Wall Street). There are many ways to find this answer out - speaking to alums is another way.
There might be special cases where your target jobs profile or company will be a unique situation. So check out if the school has courses related to this. Check out how active the career services is in bringing new companies to schools (schools release this figure - but i think it will only be open to students. so ask them). Speak to students to see how receptive the career services guys are if you come out with a unique request. There will be these kind of students every year, check how hard career services work with them to help them find that job. You need a lot of inside info on this - so speaking to students, admissions team or even the career services team will be of immense help.
The long run...
This was very important for me. In all probability, this is the last time I'm going to school (even though the thought of returning as an academician lingers) In other words, this is the brand i will live with the rest of my life. Unless i go to school again, i will be the Chicago GSB grad. Of course, this will vanish the moment u hit some gold mine in ur job and then people call you the Million Dollar Baby or something like that. But even then, there will a line in ur profile that says "this MDB is a grad of ABC school" - making both you and the school proud :) And people very often check out the grad school one came from, to know what kind of education you've had. The point about "market reception" again surfaces and i definitely believe different schools make diff kind of impressions in diff markets :) So make sure if this is the brand u wanna get associated with.
I really should speak about the rankings here, because i wouldn't have known 90% of the schools i know today without the rankings. Even though there are pros and cons abt all the rankings that exist these days, rankings are an effective tool in a sense that they try to quantify the quality of the schools, withing a particular set of criterion, and help you compare between schools in these areas. But then, since rankings only involve a subset of the qualities a school might possess, applicants should be careful to analyse the ranking methodology before analysing the rank list. This way, you would get a clear picture of why school X ranks ahead of school Y or school Z. You should then go back to prev ranking lists to see whether the surprises and shocks u see are either momentary highs/lows or a result of continuous improvement or otherwise. A single rank list never gives the complete picture.
I used many rankings - and used them to gather a pool of schools i wud then go on to investigate. I remember selecting around 10 different schools, all of which i then investigated for a month or so. I checked websites, i wrote to people, i ordered brochures (free!!!), i read profiles in many websites - and i was eliminating schools from my list slowly till i ended up with the 5 i applied to in Round 1.
School selection is a LONG process. I think i started with the rankings in Feb 2006 and ended up with the final list in August 2006. It might be long, but not boring at all. If anyone selects target schools in a short time and tells u he did a good job of it - he's lying or I'm too slow :)
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Why does someone want to do an MBA???
This we all need to get absolutely right. I'd say that this is perhaps the most important part of the whole MBA admissions process. Is it because all schools ask you to explain this as a part of their essays and the essay we write in response to this question is a crucial part in our getting shortlisted for the interview? Perhaps - but that comes only later.
In my opinion, having a clear response to "Why MBA?" defines the whole MBA application process for everyone. It is like the steering wheel. It helps us find answers for all other questions that pops up during the admission process.
Off the top of my head, these are the questions one might have to answer in the MBA admission process:
Now how does someone answer this question??? I met a current second year ChiGSB student @ the Coffee Chat held in Bangalore. One of the guys who attended the meet asked him a question on how to write better essays (yeah - there are people who ask these kind of questions in a student meet). He said "Divide a sheet of paper into three columns. Your present skill sets, from your education and career, go into the first column. Your target skill sets and career goals go into the third column. Now try to map between these two and you'll realize what you need to do at business school." I guess that works perfectly well.
This sentence might be cliche, but this is very true - Don't look at the MBA as the end of it all. It is anything but an end. It could be a new beginning for some, a part of a jigsaw puzzle for others, a stop in a continuous journey for others - each student will (and must) have and know his reasons for doing an MBA.
As i said above, the answer to this question also depends on how we answer all these other questions and the answer to this question defines the answers for these other. They're all so beautifully interlinked. So in a way one can get the "complete picture" by the time you figure out answers to all these questions.
Enough of ranting about how important this. I guess we all agree. Now let me try explain how one can figure this out.
I started with looking back at my life. What have i done all these days, what have i acquired during my formative years, what skills do i possess, what are my passions, what are my second loves - basically what is my profile! It is important not to fall into the typical definition of a profile here - Indian/IT/male/25yrs old-4yrs exp. This is just the numbers, doesn't make a profile. My belief if that everyone lives a unique life and hence can present a unique MBA application. The story i tell (which basically is my definition of a PROFILE) will be different from a majority, if not all, of the applicants. So I started with this.
Based on your understanding of you and your profile, you will be able to answer a lot of the questions that will come up during the MBA admissions process. Big city or Suburb? Large class (900) or small (150) or somewhere in between (500)? Competitive or Cooperative? Or any of these questions. You should be able to see where you will fit into! The top ranked schools are not necessarily the best for you. MBA is a personal choice :) And it is important to make the correct choice.
Once i had covered the past experiences, i looked into the future. What do i want to be after an MBA? This is the target we are trying to achieve over the next two years. This is the beginning that might define the remaining of your life. It is very important to take an informed and well researched decision here and not fall for the flair. I remember mba.com giving a series of articles titled "A day in the life of..." These were perhaps one of the first literature i read on this topic. Of course one has the able services of Google and Wiki, both of which will literally throw us into a wild maze of information. It would be a better option to try Wiki after you've zeroed in on a few roles. If u go there with an open list - you'd end up insane :) Also, once when you have zeroed in on a few (which is one or two) roles of you choice - go visit the websites of the companies which are major players in those roles. All the I-Banking companies had information of the various jobs they offer and i read most of them. This becomes especially important for a career switcher like me. I wanted to know if THIS was the exact thing i want to do.
Now that the past and the future has been explored, are we done? Nope. I then focused on the time I'd spend in school. Apart from the business education one would obtain during the two years at school, one also has to remember that he gets to spend two years with a group of amazing people and wonderful facilities. So it is also important to think of the life in b-school outside the classroom. What are your favorite pastimes/passions? Do you intend to continue them while at school? Do u intend to learn something new? What kind of options does the school provide u in these areas? Does the school organize events related to these stuff? Or is there something close by that will help u pursue your interests? Obviously - one can make compromises here based on what one thinks as compromisable entities :)
As you can see - i have not answered the question directly, because there was never a direct answer for this. The answer to Why MBA is the big picture - the whole purpose thing. So by the time you can say you clearly know why you need to do an MBA, you'll know a lot about yourself and your life - what it has been and what it will be. If someone cannot answer the individual questions but just feels or knows that he has to do an MBA - he is either lying or hasn't yet done the necessary research.
Once i knew the purpose, i next researched about the schools. This is very important because i wanted to know whether there are schools that helped me do ALL that i wanted to do in life. I was a bit apprehensive about that happening and wanted to know exactly what a school could offer. Once i started researching, i figured out that i can actually study about a particular thing i was planning to do outside work. Needless to say - i added this as my second long term aspiration. Such research will only help us add more weight to the application - not in terms of content but in terms of relevance.
My school research went on so well that i actually chose all 5 schools i eventually applied to even before i started preparing for the GMAT. Actually there was a list of around 10 schools i had shortlisted before i started preparing and the select 5 kept changing :)
So the next post is about School Selection and I'll write about more of that in detail :)
In my opinion, having a clear response to "Why MBA?" defines the whole MBA application process for everyone. It is like the steering wheel. It helps us find answers for all other questions that pops up during the admission process.
Off the top of my head, these are the questions one might have to answer in the MBA admission process:
- Why is this the correct time for you to do an MBA?
- Why is this the correct school for you to do an MBA?
- Why does this particular short term professional goal make sense to you?
- Why do you say this to be your long term goal, professional or otherwise?
- How do you see yourself surviving or succeeding in this particular school?
Now how does someone answer this question??? I met a current second year ChiGSB student @ the Coffee Chat held in Bangalore. One of the guys who attended the meet asked him a question on how to write better essays (yeah - there are people who ask these kind of questions in a student meet). He said "Divide a sheet of paper into three columns. Your present skill sets, from your education and career, go into the first column. Your target skill sets and career goals go into the third column. Now try to map between these two and you'll realize what you need to do at business school." I guess that works perfectly well.
This sentence might be cliche, but this is very true - Don't look at the MBA as the end of it all. It is anything but an end. It could be a new beginning for some, a part of a jigsaw puzzle for others, a stop in a continuous journey for others - each student will (and must) have and know his reasons for doing an MBA.
As i said above, the answer to this question also depends on how we answer all these other questions and the answer to this question defines the answers for these other. They're all so beautifully interlinked. So in a way one can get the "complete picture" by the time you figure out answers to all these questions.
Enough of ranting about how important this. I guess we all agree. Now let me try explain how one can figure this out.
I started with looking back at my life. What have i done all these days, what have i acquired during my formative years, what skills do i possess, what are my passions, what are my second loves - basically what is my profile! It is important not to fall into the typical definition of a profile here - Indian/IT/male/25yrs old-4yrs exp. This is just the numbers, doesn't make a profile. My belief if that everyone lives a unique life and hence can present a unique MBA application. The story i tell (which basically is my definition of a PROFILE) will be different from a majority, if not all, of the applicants. So I started with this.
Based on your understanding of you and your profile, you will be able to answer a lot of the questions that will come up during the MBA admissions process. Big city or Suburb? Large class (900) or small (150) or somewhere in between (500)? Competitive or Cooperative? Or any of these questions. You should be able to see where you will fit into! The top ranked schools are not necessarily the best for you. MBA is a personal choice :) And it is important to make the correct choice.
Once i had covered the past experiences, i looked into the future. What do i want to be after an MBA? This is the target we are trying to achieve over the next two years. This is the beginning that might define the remaining of your life. It is very important to take an informed and well researched decision here and not fall for the flair. I remember mba.com giving a series of articles titled "A day in the life of..." These were perhaps one of the first literature i read on this topic. Of course one has the able services of Google and Wiki, both of which will literally throw us into a wild maze of information. It would be a better option to try Wiki after you've zeroed in on a few roles. If u go there with an open list - you'd end up insane :) Also, once when you have zeroed in on a few (which is one or two) roles of you choice - go visit the websites of the companies which are major players in those roles. All the I-Banking companies had information of the various jobs they offer and i read most of them. This becomes especially important for a career switcher like me. I wanted to know if THIS was the exact thing i want to do.
Now that the past and the future has been explored, are we done? Nope. I then focused on the time I'd spend in school. Apart from the business education one would obtain during the two years at school, one also has to remember that he gets to spend two years with a group of amazing people and wonderful facilities. So it is also important to think of the life in b-school outside the classroom. What are your favorite pastimes/passions? Do you intend to continue them while at school? Do u intend to learn something new? What kind of options does the school provide u in these areas? Does the school organize events related to these stuff? Or is there something close by that will help u pursue your interests? Obviously - one can make compromises here based on what one thinks as compromisable entities :)
As you can see - i have not answered the question directly, because there was never a direct answer for this. The answer to Why MBA is the big picture - the whole purpose thing. So by the time you can say you clearly know why you need to do an MBA, you'll know a lot about yourself and your life - what it has been and what it will be. If someone cannot answer the individual questions but just feels or knows that he has to do an MBA - he is either lying or hasn't yet done the necessary research.
Once i knew the purpose, i next researched about the schools. This is very important because i wanted to know whether there are schools that helped me do ALL that i wanted to do in life. I was a bit apprehensive about that happening and wanted to know exactly what a school could offer. Once i started researching, i figured out that i can actually study about a particular thing i was planning to do outside work. Needless to say - i added this as my second long term aspiration. Such research will only help us add more weight to the application - not in terms of content but in terms of relevance.
My school research went on so well that i actually chose all 5 schools i eventually applied to even before i started preparing for the GMAT. Actually there was a list of around 10 schools i had shortlisted before i started preparing and the select 5 kept changing :)
So the next post is about School Selection and I'll write about more of that in detail :)
Thursday, February 15, 2007
A series of tiresome milestones...
I was browsing the websites of MBA bloggers from previous years and landed up on a particular post by Marina. She calls it The Been There Done That Guide to MBA Admissions. She also features at number two in the Best of Blogging (2005 - 006) list released by ClearAdmit. Check out the blogs of these folks - extremely informational.
The particular post done by Marina inspires me to write down my own perspectives on the various milestones that make the MBA admissions journey. What i am gonna write will be a result of my experiences over the last one year and what worked for me need not work for everyone else. In fact I have instances when i had suggested what i did, only to hear an immediate "This wont work for me". Since the MBA admissions process is a jigsaw puzzle with numerous parts, it is as much important to know what wudnt work for an individual as to know what would work.
The particular post done by Marina inspires me to write down my own perspectives on the various milestones that make the MBA admissions journey. What i am gonna write will be a result of my experiences over the last one year and what worked for me need not work for everyone else. In fact I have instances when i had suggested what i did, only to hear an immediate "This wont work for me". Since the MBA admissions process is a jigsaw puzzle with numerous parts, it is as much important to know what wudnt work for an individual as to know what would work.
Peter Robinson says that the writing of Snapshots from Hell was "a simple act of decency, like going back to the last calm bend in the river and nailing up a sign that reads 'Waterfall Ahead!" Though not something as dramatic, i hope these posts will help a future applicant in some way.
I will try to document the different possible paths to each of these milestones, just to inform someone who is new to the whole journey about the different paths one can travel towards these milestones.
The topics i intend to cover are the following:
1. Why MBA and Where??? - the beginning of it all.
2. GMAT - the numbers game.
3. Testing Waters - investigation on the schools.
4. The Essay writing highway - those 3 months!
5. Handling the recommendations.
6. "Will I? Wont I?" - Post submission doubts/stress.
7. Interviews - preparation and performance.
I might possibly write about handling wait lists, but i need to gather information on the same as (by god's grace) i was never on a wait list myself.
Also, I can make posts on preparing for the MBA - in terms of post matriculation procedures (Scholarships/Visa/Loans), settling down and also about preparing for the academic courses. But i am afraid these would become specific to Chicago GSB and also my plans. I might still go ahead and do it :)
I have also set up a section on the left, where i will accumulate the posts I've promised here.
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