radio silence ....

off on a vacation for the next two weeks....sounds interesting...no really..
im gonna be stuck on a BIG boat with my parents..my inlaws and their parents...wohoo....the nerves on my head are already bulging...the joys of being married....


good luck to all you folks still waiting to hear from some more schools and thanks to others who really helped me keep it together as I was about to fall apart...
cheers
Ash

Notification: Blog Name update

This is to inform you all, that the name of my blog has changed.
Thank you all, who kept my hopes alive as I was jaded and almost sure that I would not get an admit...
i wish i could write more right now...but im too incoherent..

cheers
Ash

double ding?

looking at BW week posts....DB has started calling...no call here yet..looks like its over
:(
Wharton or no B school..thats the option to dwell over the next weeks to come....
-A

Ding for dinner tonight !

though i was expecting this...as i did not get an interview....when i read this....it really sunk in....yes sir....my hbs journey is over...before it even started...i officially suck.....striikkkeee and out !

-Ash out

**********************************************************
Dear Ash

The MBA Admissions Board appreciates your interest in our MBA Program and the considerable effort evident in your application. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a place in the MBA Class of 2008.

The MBA Admissions Board carefully and thoughtfully assesses each application. Because of the strength and the large number of applications we receive, we are unable to admit many candidates who have excellent credentials and who demonstrate strong promise for careers in management.

You exhibit many qualities that should serve you well as you pursue your personal and professional goals. Thank you for considering our MBA Program, and please accept our best wishes for future success.

Sincerely,


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

the longest night

if the invasion of normandy by the allied forces was the longest day (day of summer solstice)......and even though tonight is not the longest night (21 dec..in northern hemisphere)...it is sure gonna feel like it...cos DB should start calling folks from tomorrow in principle....
i have been scanning the bweek's stanford board like every 15 mins..so see when the trickle starts in asia and how and when it rolls on..and if im gonna ride that wave of be swept off it (given my performance on the snowboard last week...wipe outs look more likely)...
here are my 5 reasons to be admitted to stanford

1) i know all the bars in the neighbourhood which allow underage folks in..even though we dont need it anymore..those places are fun to hang out in
2) i know the name of the campus mailing list which indicates where there if free food/beer on campus, and i would love to share the resource with fellow students
3) I have three unpaid traffic fines from the campus police...which i would really like to pay off
4) I have a dormant SFCU accont..with a world sum of $14.56 sitting in it...its time i did something with that money
5) I have to introduce the new class to the concept of "full moon on the quad" (even though its only for freshmen)

next 48 hours are gonna be tough...made even more excruciating by the hbs ding...

cheers
Ash out

Gravity is a myth..the earth sucks !

That's exactly how i felt on the 4th day of my holidays.....while i was coming down a red run....and caught the front edge of my snowboard...

since i have started applying for B schools..this was the first time that I had that soaring feeling...unfortunately it was short-lived and the plummet below was inevitable....six feet high in the air, 4 feet laterally, doing trigonometry for a slope which had an angle of 60 degrees, that's another 7 feet vertically..and hence i came thundering down 13 feet...landing on my left shoulder...crunch....no bones broken..but i cannot lift my left arm ....woohooooo !

so hopefully from the law of averages this week should be nice...given that in the last week i suffered excruciating pain (which was offset by alcoholic binges)...but oh well...so here are the big days

1) 29th March - when I get my ding from HBS....no..im not one of those people who believes in last minute miracles...im a hard core pessimist.....will be extremely crushing as i read the ding (though as of now...it does not bother me)....but somehow I had always wanted to go to HBS (like many other people)....but i guess im not "HBS material".....c'est la vie

2) 30th March...Stanford decision...after my disastrous interview..im really scared...I did my masters (in engineering) there and i REALLLLLYY wanna get back on the farm...as from a personal point..its great too..cos my wife is from there too (she went to cal...hisssssss)...but that makes it easy for us to move back there as we already have lots of friends and family in the area...and our dog loves it there ! but....after my interview....i just dont feel good...

so here it is...the clock ticks...how will i react to my HBS reject...and what will I do if i get another rejection from Stanford...i dont know...but i hope to keep a straight face...as I need to be thankful for getting an admit at Wharton (an equally good school...just in a very cold place...and im getting a little tired of living in cold places)...

cheers
Ash OUT

The story continued!

A continuation of the story from Riv08....very encouraging to see that Thomas Caleel (admissions director, Wharton), himeself intervened (not offering an admissions, but asking him to contact him and connect with support groups)....

more at :
Riv's Story

cheers
ash
PS: more from snowboarding and a frozen and incapacitated left shoulder to come !

Is this worth it?

Just saw this string of posts on the Wharton S2S....this is totally psycho !
1) If this is a joke...then it is done in really poor taste and I am glad that such a person has not been admitted
2) If it is real....then...my question is...is it worth it? does an admission to a program define the fabric of our existence? does it define our ability to attain success in our lives? I think not...and sure hope not !

i just hope though that this was a joke in bad taste !
-Ash

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

From:   Riv08           Mar-16 8:29 pm 
To:     FANATICALFAN  (10 of 14)       
       
Just out of curiosity, did anyone commit suicide because of a ding?
One of my friends did over a school admission...well it wasn't Wharton MBA because she killed herself over a rejection from a college. 

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

From:   Riv08   Mar-16 10:47 pm        
To:     teladan          (12 of 14)    
               
Unfortunately this is a real story, and this is exactly what I am going to do after this message. It will be all over by midnight.

I perfectly understood that an MBA application required taking a huge emotional risk. I also understood that an MBA is just means to an end. However, I realized that I didn't like the fact that the admissions committee had so much power over my well-being. Many people take the rejection well, and move on. I am not one of these people. Therefore, I will leave. I am just too tired to continue with anything else.

The main reason for this posting is that I want to show the admissions committee how much power they have on someone's life. It hurts to even think that they will continue business as usual. I do understand my life means nothing to many people. Admissions committee, please do know that you can kill one person, even without intention.

I really should not have applied, because on one hand, I do want to continue living. Well, last addition, I already took what I had to take so I guess this is it...no more second thoughts...bye

Edited 3/16/2006 11:21 pm ET by Riv08

Edited 3/16/2006 11:23 pm ET by Riv08
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And then there was no email!

And the lord said..let there be light....and still there was no email in the inbox !

I came back from a meeting with the director of my group, after discussing my next career move (which had nothing do to with an MBA, cos in the oil business, we dont like em suit wearing kids from schools with fancy degrees telling us how to run the oil business, just as we ran it since 1838). and there was no email....so i log onto chat and ask people...whatsssup people..no news?

and then masiosa (bless his or her soul says).....check ur application u nit..and im like..yeah sounds like a good idea.... and there it was

Congratulations, you have been admitted to the Wharton MBA program.

best words i read the whole day...now i can go and snowboard in the French Alps tomorrow in peace and get drunk ! just need to load up on my stock of jager .......

AWESOME.............
-ash out

Follow up to previous post

So I obviously have an extremely brilliant audience who pointed the flaw in my formula. Ash's law stands corrected. Since figures speak a thousand words, here are some figures explaining the various lessons learned.

1) Ash's Law - The visual

Ash's Law

2) Unfortunately MBAJackAss is onto me. It is true that the party at my place did have something to do with what happened to Milosevic. Discretion has never been one of my virtues..and thus......
Mystery Solved

3) My world after 6 Vodka shots...Russian Standard..Platinum...no other way to go!
6 Vodkas Later

Lessons learned over the weekend

1) Beer + tequilla + Polish vodka + Russian Vodka DO NOT MIX
2) I am 28 now, and not 21 anymore.
    Ash's Law : The ability of the human body to handle alcohol declines exponentially with age.
    Alcohol handling efficiency = 100*EXP(21-age) [assuming 100% efficiency @ age 21]
    PS: for the nerds among you, plot the formula and see how your alcohol handling efficiency is below the age of 21
3) Asprin is not always a cure for bad hangovers
4) Burger king burgers always taste nice when hung over
5) Wearing a traditional Indian outfit to your company's black tie social is not a bad idea ! (makes a statement about who you are, and the cameras on you)

6) Snowboarding indoors on slopes with ice after being hung over is a sure recipe for disaster
7) Going to ballroom dancing after that is hazardous for your health
8) Snuggling up with your dog is the cure for all these symptoms (cant speak about wifey remedies here, she forbids me to speak about her on my blogs)

Finally this post from Dave rocks, especially the stuff done by the Wharton Follies
http://daveformba.blogspot.com/2006/03/terrific-mba-videos-on-lighter-side.html

cheers
Ash

PS: oh crap.....3 more days to Wharton decisions....
 

thank you all...

for the wonderful and supportive words in relation to my previous post......gives me good reasons to be happy !
cheers and have a wonderful weekend...for me..tonight is an experimentation in mixing alcohols (again! by now you would think i would have learnt enough)...

-Ash out....

did i blow it?

i just cant help get the feeling that i blew my Stanford interview...i focused a lot on the why mba question...but not enough on how i can contribute to the Stanford community and the other contributions i have made to the community in the past !

sigh....did i blow the big one? cant help but get that sinking feeling...
i need to mope around in a corner now ...
-A

The overenthusiastic interviewee (the Stanford interview story)

The day just started off all wrong...two double booked meetings..project manager not elated with my progress towards upcoming deadline...and not enthusiastic about the fact that the other project Im working on is taking my time....I have a course organised on 9th and I had not yet booked the room....etc...etc...

and then I rush up to amsterdam, beat the traffic...find parking (a tough job)...and show up at the interviewer's office...and he shows up and says
"I thought we had the interview on thursday"....i just saw the Stanford dream wither away....!
Turns out..he said....cya thursday at 16:30.....and i read that as tuesday...and i replied...sure ...cu tomorrow... and he did not catch that.. (purely my fault)...anyhow being a nice natured person that he was (or pretended to be)...he said "give me 5 mins to finish up a report I need to send away...then I need 30 mins to go through your resume and collect my thoughts"

I was ushered to a nice room....served coffee/tea/etc and waited for him as i read some papers on some simulation models im working on....he showed up again in 40 mins....as says
"okies...dont worry...dont apologize....better this way....but i have to carry my cheat sheet of questions on me...id normally memorize them..but in this case excuse me"....oh..excuse him...at the moment I felt lower that the tinest microbe crawling on the floor of the office....

he laid out some basic rules
1) Supposed to be 30 min interview - to level the playing field across applicants to ensure that no applicant gets more "air time"
2) He would offer me no feedback after the interview....and he would be informed of my result, one day after I got it
3) He would take notes, but the lenght of them meant nothing..they were to serve as reminders to him when he filled out the whole review later

so he started off with....why my mba....why now?
as i explained my answers (focussing on the requirement of the next generation of leaders at Stanford), instead of asking me "Why Stanford" he asked me "How will you get those leadership skills at Stanford"

He then referred to my resume and noticed a lot of team work...he asked me to elaborate on different situations....he asked me some probing questions on those situations..how did i react...what did i do in specific to earn their trust....would i do the same thing again?

Do i get feedback often? Does it "hurt" when I get feedback? How did i reflect from a personal growth perspective related to that experience....
A few more questions related to the personal issues.....

and then he asked me if i had questions for him
overall the interview was on a very personal level....very touchy feely personal probing questions....i have very mixed feelings about my performace...okies..in all honesty..it was either a 9/10 or a 2/10....only time will tell....

thats it for now..the only piece of advice...dont show up 48 hrs before your interview !

cheers
Ash

its today already ?

just came back from Houston, got told off by another project manager about commitments related to an upcoming project deadline and suddenly realised....i have my Stanford interview today (3.5 hours from now) ! shitttttttttttt....................

did not get an "prep time" in Houston...though I had done all the basic questions when I was preparing from the Wharton interview...anyhow....1.5 hours driving over to Amsterdam should give me enough time to work through the answers mentally......hope i don't botch this one up....this is the BIG ONE !

-A

............

small breath in.....small breath out...
nothing interesting to say................

Houston we have a problem !

I just had to say that as Im in Houston on a business trip...the tough part is to prepare for the Stanford interview when i get back..

I love being in the US for a few reasons...ability to flick through many channels on TV and still listen to the folks speak in english...and ofcourse Im going to eat a big steak tonight at the taste of texas and will go to the rodeo over the weekend....sigh....the life...

im losing hope on HBS...i believe that they have a Paris hub interview on march 16th and i aint seen jack...so perhaps thats written off...

among other interesting news...hmm...driving in houston sucks.....and my gps sucks...it made me drive off from the airport onto the toll road..and i had five different currencies on me but no dollars....so that was an interesting experience...

work is great....but working in a large company is like working for the government....too much beauraucracy..

well...miss my wife and dog...hate sleeping in a hotel bed....

so mixed emotions...but i guess the steak on my plate tonight should make me happy

:D