Are you feeling lucky ?

Google in China

What does the Chinese new year hold for you?

Spin the wheel below and find out your Chinese horoscope for the new year (this weekend) !
cheers
Ash

http://www.discoverhongkong.com/eng/interactive/horoscope/index.jhtml  

and now I suddenly feel the urge not to pursue an MBA......

well..not really....especially given the fatalistic name of this blogsite (bschool or bust)...
the thing is that I had a chat with the director of my group yesterday and he was like....work now...when the mgmt opportunities arise (and they will for me...pat pat)....then go to schools like IMD HBS Stanford for exec-ED courses to complement your knowledge of things...I can say that the ability to avoid poverty and go back to school for two years did seem tempting...but this offer did not give me the main things that Im looking for in a B school

1) Opportunity to expand my horizons
2) Learn from a diverse cohort of peers
3) Indulge myself in some flights of fancy and ideas about concepts, companies and projects
4) drink beer in the middle of the week

So...im still rather fatalistic about my blog site ! but will i get the coveted interview invite ?????? Im beginning to get a little nervous now (even though its still very early in the game.....)

-A

National Bravery awards: when was the last time that you wrestled a tiger ?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1387526,curpg-5.cms

Do you folks have a comment on this? (from BW forum)

STANFORD - Local, YOung White joes with HIgh GPA GMATs
Wharton - Indian, Young and Old leadership, community types
Hardvard - Chinese, politically correct quals - right chemistry in age/work ex/college education (read liberal arts)

-------------

odd selection: more like
S= p.c. essay A plus stats
H=leadership and age/work window
W=career progress+stats+ comm service, and absolute touching of correct buttons on essays.

New poll

Just to get an idea about the folks who frequent my blog. The order of the schools is purely coincidental.
VOTE ON RIGHT PLEASE
cheers
Ash

Interesting posts on interview invites for R2 from BWeek forum [HBS+Stanford]

*******************************************************************

From Sandy - for HBS
FIRST DRIBBLES: FEB. 2 OR SO [MARGIN OF ERROR 3 DAYS EITHER WAY]

THE BIG SQUIRT: FEB 5-MARCH 5[MARGIN OF ERROR 5 DAYS EITHER WAY]

SLOPPY THIRDS: MARCH 5 TO D-DAY, MARCH 29.

If no interview by Ground Hog Day-means nada

If no interview by Valentine's Day, keep the faith

If no interview by Ides of March, start to worry

If no interview by March 15th: in 9 cases out of 10-- UB TOAST

internationals might be a bit later in the pack in the early dribble stage, as HBS works out kinks of when it is doing e.g. alleged India hub interviews, or actually arranges all hub interviews but puts phone interview invites [often internationals] on hold, after that, not much dif.

******************************************************************

Approximate Interview schedule - for Stanford

Round 1 Early November - Mid-January

Round 2 Mid-January - Late March

Round 3 Late March - Mid-May

If you are waitlisted without an interview, you will be interviewed after you accept your place on the waitlist.

According to the Admissions411 Data, the admission invites didn't start until a full month after apps were due (first posted invite = Nov 19, Apps due = Oct 19). If the pattern holds, no one one should expect an invite for another week.

Another look at the Rd1 data seems to show they send out most invites mid-week:

Monday | * * *
Tuesday | * * * * * * * *
Wednesday | * * * * *
Thursday | * * * * * * * *
Friday | * * * *
Saturday | * *
Sunday | *

I love Admissions411. More people should post to it.

And now a podcasting site for MBAs !!!

http://www.mbapodcaster.com/Podcasts.asp#Ep3

and here come the invites....

TOO BAD I DONT HAVE ONE YET !

tracking folks on the mba discussion boards on BWEEK (links on the right panel), I have noticed that Wharton has started to send out invites. Since I have decided to spend my nervous energy on useless correlations (I work in exploration, hence I extrapolate results out of one or sometimes even zero data points)

1) I don't have an invite as yet because I'm in the "special" applicants basket, and they are worsmithing a glowing invite letter for me

2) My app has dazzled the readers and hence they are unable to act out of sheer sense of being awed and overwhelmed
3) Someone dropped ketchup on an important part of my app and that never got read
4) The dog ate the application
5) Since my name (real one) is difficult to pronounce, they don't want to send me an invite out of the sheer embarrassment of not being able to pronounce my name at the interview

OR im just thinking way too much...and should shut up..work...and wait !!!!

-Ash

Do members of the ADCOM read blogs?

Im wondering about this bcos I have seen people post some interesting (and honest) comments and then deleting them later, perhaps thinking...aahh..what if someone read that...it might change their perception of me?

SO THE QUESTION IS: do ADCOM members read student blogs and does it influence the decision making process?

In principle, members of the ADCOM should not be influenced by what they read off the net. But here lies the dilemma, some of us are rather honest on our blogs and that offers more insight into who we are. My blogs reek insecurity on occasions (which might be percieved negatively by someone). Not all blogs are anonymous (mine isnt!), and thus it is easy for someone from the adcom to trace my app. Hence, if a member of the adcom comes across my blog, should he/she take it into consideration? (after all, this site represents another data point). Could his/her judgement be influenced (negatively or positively) by what he/she reads?

Given that ethics is (and should be) a strong focus in b schools, should adcom members take into account what they come across (perhaps accidently) on our blog sites or in the spirit of neutrality not even explore this domain?

Perhaps I have not been very coherent about I am trying to say, but if someone understands what I trying to say, Id really appreciate some comments. How open are we all / how open should we all be on our blog sites?

cheers
Ash

My take on HBS essays

Well, this was the most fun part of the application process (up there with Essay A).
Seven essays asking you about various aspects of your life, but giving you not enough space (or so I thought initially). So how what was my strategy (again the disclaimer: I'm a R2 applicant and not yet rcvd. an interview call or an admit).

1) Start with the "important" essays - Leadership story - 3 accomplishments and Why HBS. I also bought this book from Amazon: 65 successful HBS essays. Gave me a great idea of what HBS essays are like.

HBS ESSAYS BOOK

2) HBS is definitely looking for leadership (which is an aspect of the school i like, as there is a huge leadership lacuna in my business ). It is important to highlight this trait in you, in some manner in all the essays that you write. If you refer to the letter which HBS sends to admitted students (read below, I got this from a BW forum), you can note that it welcome the future leaders on campus. This is the trait that DEFINES HBS and you should weigh your options about whether you want to pursue that belief (I do!).

3) Though this advice might be hard to digest, pretend that there is not word limit on these essays. Pour your heart (and head) out in the initial drafts and DO NOT focus on your wordcount.

4) Once you done that, start distilling out the less impactful/useless components of the essays. Use friends and family to get verbosity of the essays under check. For instance, I reduced my wordcount by appx. 20% using the wonderful English language skills of my wife, did not change content, just trimmed the fat.

5) Try to break your essays into 4-5-6 paragraphs. do not have 400 words put out in two or three paragraphs. I just believe that it makes the reading easier.

6) remember, you know your work well, the other person does not. Avoid using company/professional jargon.

7) Ensure that your essays have your touch. Breathe some passion into what you write.

8) What does one feel after reading the seven essays. Do they read like 7 different chapters of the same book or do they read like seven different books? One should avoid the latter.

When I started off, I thought that 400 words could not be enough to convey things I wanted to say. At the end of the process, I was amazed, how 400 words is ALOT of space to say what you want to convey. My tendency to be verbose (espoused by my past belief that more words = more content = better results) was conquered while writing these essays.

Any other thoughts/comments?

cheers
Ash

HBS Admit letter from the BW forum
(if I am violating some copyright law, please inform me and I will take it off)

Dear Ms. xxx:

Congratulations!
On behalf of Harvard Business School, I am delighted to offer you
admission to the MBA Program. Your admission recognizes your outstanding
record of accomplishment and your potential for future success.
Each year, the MBA Admissions Board selects a class from among the
brightest and most accomplished young individuals in the world. We
aspire to find leaders like you who have the highest standards of
integrity and who understand that leading is a privilege.
The Harvard MBA Program offers more than just an academic degree; many
find it to be a transformational experience. By immersing yourself in
the case study method, and by working with distinguished faculty and
students, you will teach others as you learn. You will build deep,
practical knowledge while developing your leadership capabilities. In
joining our community, you will become part of an influential worldwide
network of alumni who will support you throughout your life.
We hope that you will accept our offer and want to make sure that you
have all the resources you need to make this important decision. Our
Prematriculation Web site will be your main source of information over
the next few months. It will direct you to key activities that will help
you learn more about HBS, such as Admitted Students' Weekend; in
addition, it highlights key requirements and logistics related to
joining HBS. You can immediately access the Prematriculation Web site by
using your username: xxx, email domain: mba2008.hbs.edu, and password:
xxx.
Your offer of admission is exclusively for the MBA Class of 2008,
entering in 2006, and it is contingent upon the verification of your
transcript(s), verification of your employment history, a signed copy of
"Joining the HBS Community" (a document that highlights our Community
Standards), and a tuition deposit.
We believe that you have the potential to make a real difference in the
world and hope that you will decide to become a part of the Harvard
Business School community.
Sincerely,

Brit K. Dewey
Managing Director, MBA Admissions & Financial Aid

Stanford/HBS R2 interviews?

when can one expect them? when should one expect to start hearing about them? since they have not mentioned anything like Wharton about dates, Im curious.

any comments?
-A

Mixed feelings about my blog

So I decided as a new years resolution to blog my Bschool experiences for two reasons
1) To help other folks out there, share and learn from my experiences, since I benefitted alot by reading other folks blogs
2) To serve as an outlet of the nervous energy building up in my system

Two weeks later, I have mixed feelings. While I have had some good comments on my blog, I somehow feel that Im not reaching out to enough people, or if I am, for some reason the number of comments on my site are low. Makes me wonder why?

Any comments? or am I speaking into space again?

cheers
Ash
PS: the stats of the week look like this....

Im going nuts! how are the R1 applicants handling it?

Not even two weeks since I have submitted my apps and Im a bundle of nerves. Wonder how the R1 applicants are handling things with results coming out over the next two days?

-A

A hotel in a harbour crane, a lighthouse or a rescue boat

A very interesting recommendation from a colleague of mine, why not spend a night in a rescue boat or a lighthouse or a harbour crane, refurbished as a hotel for the night?

sounds awesome ! doesnt it? click on the link below and be amazed ....and if you are visiting NL sometime add this to your list....lonely planet...you listening ????

http://www.vuurtoren-harlingen.nl/eng/index1.html

cheers
Ash

The Wharton application Story

For those of you applying to the H/S/W trio, I would definitely recommend beginning with the Wharton essays. They should serve well to help you structure your thoughts and accomplishments.
The problem that I found with the Stanford essays was that there were just two of them, without any word limits. So there was no end to my ramblings (and yes I do ramble a lot when not controlled). So I rambled for 10 pages in my Stanford Essays, talking about everything from my wife to my dog and ended up by writing something about my MBA aspirations. The issue with the HBS essays is that 400 words is too short (or so I thought to begin with, 3-4 drafts later, 400 words seemed to be the right length).
I stopped working on the H/S essays and focused on the Wharton essays because the topics helped me focus better and the wordcount of 500 was somewhere inbetween the two limits. This helped me a lot.
Common things that I learned while writing in the essays
1) Slot in the metrics. Don't talk about your projects, etc in intangible terms. Write the project value, mention the cost saving or increase in revenue due to you. USE those METRICS to highlight your achievements.
2) The focus is on you. Ill give an example for the HBS "undergrad education" essay1. Initially I wrote, Prof. XYZ organised alot of lectures from leading industrialists to ensure that we learned about the experiences of setting up industries in an emerging economies ======NOW READ AS======> I learned a lot from lectures organised by Prof. XYZ from leading industrialists on key traits of entr.....
notice...the focus on the apps is on you...not the situations around you...but on more on how you reacted/imbibed from them
3) Use the active voice if possible. eg. I was selected for the diversity team ===NO READ AS====> I volunteered for the diversity team. (both these are true), but the active voice sounds better
4) Dont just mention facts and events. Try to weave them together into an interesting story.
5) HAVE A THEME/RED THREAD through all your essays: make sure that your essays are not disconnected from each other, but they are well linked.
Eg. in my case, I want to bring changes to the oil business in its approach to a few technical and management practices, that forms the basis of my MBA aspiration (read older entry on why I want an MBA), and that was my red thread coupled with my international experience (in 28 countries).
6) Do not use company/professional jargon: Assume that the person reading your essays knows nothing about your job and try to get that message across. All people do not know what MS&E and PE means.
7) be yourself, be honest (do not misrepresent) and ensure that your essays have your flair. eg. a feedback from a friend of mine was that initially my essays were stiff (much like my posts here), and they lacked the "ash touch", the ash who likes to party with mates, watch B rated Hollywood movies (like big trouble in little china), is intensely passionate about his work for its social ramifications, who has travelled 28 countries, and i made sure that my essays represented my "voice"

any comments ?

cheers
Ash

What is a Wiki?

so I have been reading the ClearAdmit wiki for the last few days. And i was pondering on why they called it a wiki !!! (ofcourse at this point wikipedia did not pop into my mind)

And then i read this entry on what a wiki means.

Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly.
Wiki is unusual among group communication mechanisms in that it allows the organization of contributions to be edited in addition to the content itself.

Interesting isnt it? Gosh working in the oil business I feel so removed from things out there. When I was in college, I was so on top of these things and now I feel like a rusting person.....
note to self: cant rust no more ! Nehow I think that CA's wiki is quite interesting and I would encourage you folks to contribute to it.

cheers
Ash

PS: anyone know of good tech podcasts I can listen to (driving to and back from work) to ensure that Im not "wikied" the next time !

My Stanford Essay A journey : what matters most and why?

Each essay written over the last 3 months was a lot of fun, insightful and allowed me to discover more about myself. Perhaps the most difficult/revealing/introspective was the Stanford Essay A. Ofcourse, I am still in the Stanford appplication cycle and I have not yet been invited for an interview, so these are my thougts, without any associated "success".

I read the essay topic, 3 days before going to Africa on a holiday. This was the best thing that happened to me. In Africa in the midst of the wildlife and the stunning setting with my wife, I started to distill and piece together elements of my life with a view to understand "What matters most and why?"

Now here are my thoughts

1) Reaction 1: My wife edits and provides me feedback on my essays. So obviously I was inclined to write that she matters most to me, to ensure the continuity of my marriage. However, one thing became obvious, I am not sure that I could get into Stanford professing my love for my wife (though surprisingly, later I did figure out how she fits into the cosmic sense of things of what matters to me).

2) My first drafts were based on what I thought I wanted Stanford to hear, a bloke, grew up in one part of the world, studied in another, working in all the other parts of the world. Sounds good right? Well the answer was NO ! When my wife read that essay, she said, "THATS NOT YOUR TONE AND VOICE" (so heed to the advice of asking your friends and relatives, does that sound like me)

3) I wrote 4 different drafts, with a new (slightly modified theme) each time. Eventually it happened. What matters most was always clear to me. However, when I started penning it, I was overwhelmed by an urge to please the adcom, I felt the need to be literally profuse and I felt the urge to sound "unique". That was the problem. And I knew it was a problem because after each draft I was uncomfortable with "voice" of the esssay.

4) I then scarpped all my drafts and wrote the most interesting events(note not SIGNIFICANT or ACHIEVEMENTS)in my life to date, including my family, friends, studies and work. Put them on yellow stickies on a wall. And then I could see the thread, because deep down inside I am driven by certain beliefs (which I will post once Stanford tells me whether Im in or not), and these beliefs drive me personally and professionally.

5) I put this belief down in an essay, without trying to impress the adcom or myself even. It was more like "Hi ! Im Ash. This is what I have done and what I like because....Do you think I'll fit into your community?"

It took me 3 months to reach my final draft, but when I read it, the tone was me and I felt truly honest about everything that I wrote.

Any comments on what you did for essay A?

cheers
ash

why are there so many bay area bloggers?

Reading several blogs of folks over the last few days, I realised that there are loads of em from the bay area. Makes me wonder why?
Too bad when I lived in that area (4 year ago), the did not have blogs then. But Im intrigued by the proliferation of blogs from there...
-A

Interesting article on B School rankings

was looking around for something on Stanford (my dream school, cant wait to get back on the farm again), and came across this VERY INTERESTING article, about B school rankings (a personal ranking done by the author, takes a good shot at BW).

If you are bored, this should be amusing.

cheers
Ash

Who am I and why do I want to do an MBA?

I got an email from someone out there (which is encouraging to hear that Im not rambling alone and that atleast a few people read my blogs), asking me, who am I and why am I considering an MBA?

About me:
Ash
Male
28 yrs old
Married w/ wife
Have a dog
Love fusion cooking
Can read palms of women (men..only when im not drunk)
Born in India
Undergrad in India
Masters Stanford (CA)- college beerpong champion
Working and living in The Netherlands for 4 years now(and yes I speak some Dutch)
Most of my business in The Middle East, US and CIS countries
and I do eat cows (not Indian cows though)

Why do I want an MBA
It took me two years to arrive at this answer. And I need to thank my wife for this as she pushed me out of my comfort zone, where I have a decent secure job where I am reasonably recognized.
Im in the energy business. In this business people do not react kindly to MBAs, infact they are generally distrusted. However, this business has perhaps the most archiac management techniques you will ever come across (which can also be a good thing sometimes). Bottom line is that I see enormous amounts of inefficiency around me, in terms of investment decision procedures, organisational set up, management procedures, etc.

Doing an MBA will not impact my salary at all, infact it will hurt me a little, as I will miss out on two years of "seniority" (the structure in oil companies is very much like civil service), but I am driven by the belief that an MBA will broaden my horizons and allow me to be extremely efficient (and hopefully revolutionary - power to the people) when I return to this industry, a few years later.

so my reasons are
1) bring about some fundamental change in the way the energy industry works by learning about management procedures and tools
2) Sharpen my wits - i would like to spend some time with people from different fields and hear their views and basically sharpen my wits by immersing myself in a pool of extremely smart and ambitious people
3) build a network - I already feel connected to a few people out there, and Im not even in Bschool. Im sure networks help a lot
4) Sample something different out there, just in case I feel Im better at something else (GOOGLE watch out)

So these are my reasons. What are/were yours?

cheers
Ash

how often do you check your app status?

I just wanted to check, how many of you are obsessive compulsive like me? I have been checking my app status atleast twice a day, sometimes even on weekends for Wharton, even when I know that they wont send out interview calls before jan 19 (assuming I get one, forget getting one on the first day). I know its wierd and hence I confess to doing it. How many of you do the same?

cheers
Ash

IMD

IMD - started exploring this school as Im also considering a European MBA! I am quite attracted to their program. Need to explore this some more. Have asked for an alumni listing. Any comments folks?

cheers
Ash

uggh

Re-read my essays today....big mistake...they did not feel as awesome as i felt them to be when i wrote them...bottom line is..the application has been submitted...no point reading it all over again and stuff like that...let it be....

sigh
Ash

why he fears rejection? and why do i?

I read this blog on Murlov's site WHY I FEAR REJECTION

An amazing thing to read, though I must confess Murlov, I am not convinced with the answer. I have two reasons why I fear rejection

1) Internal belief in my own abilities: each success serves to boost my confidence in my abilities and I use success to feed my aspirations/desires. Hence I am fearful of failure. I know that the reason is not good enough, but thats how it stands.

2) External perception: perhaps this is where my shallowness surfaces. I am scared of how my failure with impact people's perception of me. "Inspite of all what he did, he never got into HBS". "Not Stanford material". This part worries me the most that I am concerned about external perception. Must work on this weakness of mine

Perhaps over the coming months, I will get to develop more ideas and views on this topic, but I will keep this thread alive. Post your feelings here?

-A

Some info on preparing for the GMAT

Here is what I think of GMAT, or so I have learned....I may stand corrected.

1) A good GMAT score helps, but does not ensure that you get into a good B school. I know folks with GMATs ranging from 760-800 who have been rejected from B schools. B schools are looking for the overall package and the GMAT is only one element of that package.

2) A bad GMAT score may hurt, again they are looking for ur ability to handle the course load of B schools. A good GMAT score coupled with good grades indicates your ability to handle this workload. However a "bad" (define bad, for Indians a 710 might even be a "bad" GMAT score) score might be overcome by providing other evidence of analytical and quantitative ability.

I spent something like 2 months preparing for my GMAT (typicall 1 hr/day, and did a few practice tests). Initially, my scores were not improving and the verbal section was not going so well. Also the quantitative section was not great because of stupid mistakes. Here are the tips which helped me get a 720 on my GMAT.

1) I read this blog on Dave's site. This is where I discovered the world of online blogs and this helped me a lot in my admissions process (far from complete). Scroll to below on Dave's site and read about the article. Also on the side bar, refer to the GMAT stories, including this dowload. 700+stories

2) I used the GMAT CLUB

3) The Testmagic Forum had good articles and discussions.

4) Finally I have posted documents that I used a lot on my Yahoo briefcase site. Since I cannot publically share that information, please send me an email at [ashblog -AT-gmail.com] and I will send you the documents. Also suggestions on how to share documents on the web are welcome.
EDIT - Okies so I have put all my stuff on this esnips site!

The bottom line is, GMAT was all about nerves. In my preparation, it was important for me to understand where I was making mistakes and work on it. For sentence correction, I had to understand the different question types and that helped a lot. Finally, do not loose your cool. At the end of my GMAT test, I almost felt like cancelling my score. I am glad that I did not as I got a 720. So the bottom line is, READ BLOGS, WORK ON A STRATEGY, DONT LOOSE YOU COOL and you will do great.

cheers
ash

Calling all passengers: B School 2006 has started checkin

Howdy to all you folks out there !

I have used the blogs of many folks over the last fed months to prepare for my GMAT and my Bskool apps.

Having applied to H/S/W, R2, I join the huge number of hopefuls out there trying to get into B schools.

On an interesting note though, I do not feel competitive with the people trying to get in. Its rather strange that via this blog, I feel connected with some of these people, even though I have not emailed them or spoken to them, or even met them. But reading their journey, listening to their hopes and fears and aspirations, I can connect with them, and do not feel like a dork anymore.

So as I wait for interview calls, admission letters (hopefully), I have decided to bare my thoughts and the milestones of my journey on this blog. I have benefitted a lot from the blogs of people out there and the least I can do (whether i succeed on getting into a BSkool or not) is to put my thoughts and views on things.

hope this helps

Cheers
-A