My GMAT and MBA Journey….Freeing my mind from Fears,Doubts & Disbeliefs…Believing I CAN!!

The GMAT in the context of Growth Mindset & Fixed Mindset!

2012-02-11T16:07:00.006+05:30

First of all, sorry for almost vanishing from the MBA Applicant blogosphere! I hope (No, no more hopes now), I will be more consistent in whatever I do, including posting regularly on this blog.

There is time for everything and some things just line up when you exactly need them. After a devastating GMAT experience ( which no way reflects my academic excellence), I was looking for something to cheer me up, I was determined to start all over again but needed some boost, some start to make things happen and this time again it came through a book.

I was reading through some Stanford Research and I came across Ms. Carol Dweck latest research on ‘Minsdset,’ She has summarized her research in her latest book ‘Mindset’; I went through some online reviews of the book and ordered it immediately. I have reading through it for last week or so. I believe it was perfect time to read this book; below I have summarized the same in context with the GMAT exam.

The book basically talks about 2 kinds of Mindsets – Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset.

Fixed mindset – Your abilities, talents are fixed and you seldom believe you can’t do much about it. You believe that success is a function of your natural abilities and in most of the cases you try to prove those talents; you believe you already have something and the given task is just a medium to demonstrate your talents, you are more focused only on outcomes. In case of failures, you blame external factors but never own your failures.

Growth Mindset – With this mindset, you are not limiting yourself to the natural abilities but you believe that you can always improve yourself a bit in any given situation i.e. your abilities are not fixed and there is always scope for improvement. You believe success is a function of your efforts, persistence and dogged determination. When working for goal, you are more interested in the process of learning rather than only the expected outcome. You do not try/ pressurize yourself to prove something but you try to improve your own character a bit and the given goal is a just medium to do so.

Growth Mindset in context of GMAT

After reading through half of the book, I have tuned myself into the Growth Mindset. I no longer believe that my intelligence, skills to take the GMAT are limited, of course I need lot of improvement but I am ready to put required efforts to succeed. No longer, I am taking GMAT to prove that I am the one, but I am seeing it another step in improving my test taking abilities, stamina and persistence towards my goal. Failures are seen as building blocks.

I have started my GMAT preparation with a new MINDSET…Let us see!

MBA for Smarties – Writing MBA Essays for Acceptance!!

2012-01-15T19:05:00.002+05:30

I have just gone through 5^th chapter from this book by Linda Abraham – MBA for Samrties! I have been thinking, writing, and rewriting my essays for last 2 years or so, not on a continual basis but intermittently. Right from the day I started understanding the MBA admission process for Top B schools, I knew that my essay will be biggest differentiator.

I have read every article published on this topic in last 2 years and read through some of the best books, but still after reading through this chapter of the book, I feel that still there is a scope for learning and strategizing my essays. Still I can do them better a bit. Reading through the chapter with a coherent structure of Planning, Writing and editing the essays to have best possible outcome is simply an amazing process!

Some of the highlights of this chapter are as follows, if anyone needs more information or illustrations on any of the following topics then drop a comment on this post or go for buying this book. If you are seriously interested in MBA Admission process then I strongly recommend the book.

· Using School research as a competitive advantage: Do your research in conjunction with understanding the School’s essay questions and School’s values.

· Making the connection that Matters: Make strong connection between your passions and commitments, connection between interests and activities, Connection between Past – Present and Future.

Planning

Ø Think of the most common types of the essays even before the Schools officially release their essays

Ø Evaluate the essay questions to know what school is really looking for and strongest and most illustrative examples to portray most vivid and multidimensional picture of you.

Ø Demonstrating work life balance and reflecting upon school’s values in the essays

Ø Details are delight of the essays

Ø Using the STAR model in structuring the essays

Writing

Ø Choose the theme of the essay

Ø Answer the questions

Ø Structure your essays

Ø Grab your Reader’s attention and don’t let it go!!

Ø Add insights and Analysis

Ø Be yourself distinctively

Ø Add color to your Writing

Editing

Ø Avoid the Clichés, Generic writing styles like starting an essay with a quote and avoid passive voice

Ø Edit to bring more clarity into your essay. Read the essay aloud for further fine tuning.

pIn pithy,this should be the most important chapter in the book. I believe this chapter is the heart of the book. I am now reading the next chapter which explains strategies for tacking specific essay question types including – Career goals essay, Failure Essay, Accomplishment essay and other common types of essays!!

First Looks on book by Accepted.com Founder Linda Abraham - " MBA Admission for Smarties"!

2012-01-04T20:12:00.001+05:30

I have just gone through the first FREE chapter of the book “MBA Admission for Smarties” by Linda Abraham. I have gone through at least three other books related to MBA admission for top B- Schools. Once I go through entire “MBA Admission for Smarties” then I would be able to have comparative rating for the same but as of now the approach of “MBA for Smarties” sounds really great.

By approach I mean the structure of the book. Most often we (MBA Applicants) struggle to start with the application process. It is very clear to us that it is not possible to get admitted to a top MBA without a structured and coherent story but most of the time we face the question – How do I start, what’s the first thing I should think about? Is it professional experience, personal experiences, extracurricular activities, awards, volunteer experience, achievements?

Linda’s book start with this first burning question and she rightly recommends – Career Goals – Short term and Long term career goals as the first stepping stone to start weaving your story.

I liked her approach of communicating important points through a story than doing the same through rhetoric. It is difficult to understand the advice through plain text of suggestions but it is actually easy to follow the advice with a live example. I was able to correlate myself with the story of Alex.

I mean when I started thinking about MBA almost 4 years back, I also had very fussy goals – I maybe want to go Strategy Consulting – I had no idea what it demands and what it contains – Is it Operations strategy, Business Unit Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Change management strategy ? I had no idea but as I started reaching picture become clearer and now I can precisely articulate my goals.

So it was easy for me to follow through Alex’s story and understand the steps including research to articulate the goals in better manner.

Another thing I liked about the structure is the emphasis on understanding your Aspirations, Motivations in defining your goals. This approach shifts the focus from WHAT TO WHY and this is very important when you write your essays. I mean this exercise/ introspection can be used to build another essay story. For example, in reflection process a candidate from non-profit sector can understand his motivation behind volunteer work was his belief of relentlessly helping others. Once this motivation is understood he can reinforce this theme in other essays or various parts of the application. This approach will certainly help in structured and coherent story.

Cutting long story short, Linda does a great job in – Push YOU to think differently than just providing you arid set of suggestions!!

So far so good! Please stay in touch to understand and learn more about MBA application process as I read through the rest of the chapters of ‘MBA Admission for Smarties” and present a comparative study of different MBA admission books I read.

The rise of the Phoenix......Second Attempt GMAT in 2012!

2011-12-31T11:11:00.004+05:30

So, this post is intended to officially declare that I have screwed up the GMAT. I even don’t want to discuss the score and G day debrief because the actual score was full 150 points less than my average GMAT score in practice tests. I simply concluded that somehow it was not my day I need to retake it.

I certainly need to practice more. I need to practice to solve more and more problems when the clock is running. I am considering retaking the GMAT in next 4 months and applying to business schools next year. Still I can take the liberty to do so because I am doing really great at my current job and with a due promotion in March I can certainly wait, improve my profile further and apply next year.

I was considering retake in December itself and apply to Round2 to some US schools but then considering my marriage plans in February, 2012, I decided to wait for another year.

With the GMAT pattern changing I am also considering GRE as an option. I have already started working on my vocabulary. Although GMAT is the most preferred exam and it is my first target, I won’t hesitate to try my hands on GRE after GMAT pattern change June 2012 (If I don’t score good in second GMAT attempt also). My target schools accept the GRE scores and hence this could be a viable option. The Math syllabus is very similar for GRE but the question pattern is significantly different. With section adaptive nature of the exam, I find GRE little more flexible than GMAT. After pattern change instead of breaking my head over the ‘Integrated reasoning section’ I could be better off taking the GRE. Let us see how the things turn out. All these are backup plans if I do not score well in second attempt of GMAT. My first target is not GMAT May 2012 and I have given name to this new project – ‘The rise of the Phoenix’.

That reminds me of some great news. Congratulations to Phenoix and Pyarapopat for their acceptance at Kellogg Business School. That’s just great news and seeing fellow bloggers going through this entire journey was great. I will all the best to them and count them for my further guiding me through this MBA journey.

I just hope that this New Year brings new energy so that clear this GMAT thing as soon as possible. I wish all a very happy and prosperous new year to all the fellow bloggers and readers.

Any words of advice about retaking the GMAT or deciding between GMAT and GRE is most welcomed!

Leaders, Leadership and their impact on Organizational culture!!

2011-12-18T20:44:00.004+05:30

I learn through observation. I do not only see the things, I observe things and then I interpret them on the basis of my belief system. I brutally question them to understand the hidden truths behind those things and this habit has helped me throughout my career. This is one of the reasons I am able to learn to lot of things in short span of time of my career. I just wanted to share my recent experience.

As you might know, I am working in so called Reputable Automobile Company in India. For the last month, I have been working in a different shop. I mean I am responsible for “B” shop but for last month I have been working in “A” shop on a special assignment.

In this month, I kept on observing how the cultures in these two shops are very different and how leadership in these two shops is responsible for this difference. It was a great reflection to understand how values, behavior of leaders percolate through the down level and subconsciously/ unknowingly build the culture of the shop and arguably culture of the organization. I love myself for such thoughtful analysis!

Below are some of the personal observations and my reflection upon the same.

· Open Door Policy: KA’s cabin doors are always open in office hours, only exception could be some confidential meeting. And in his case, open door policy is not only cliché. I have observed right from Operator (lowest person in the so called organization structure) to Director anyone can enter and have chat with him, discuss his problem and ask for guidance. He is very approachable to people at all levels.

· Listening Skills – KA somehow knows that listening is a skill. So whenever I talked to him, he allowed me to talk rather force his opinions on me, understood my point and paraphrased it to ensure that he has really understood it. In fact, in each of the weekly presentation we had, I kept looking at him for the response because I used to feel confident when he nodded his head during the presentation. Somehow, I felt a sense of ‘Importance’ while talking to him and this was the same experience of other people in my team.

I value this because I have seen some of the worst listeners in recent time in this organization. I have seen people who think that they are bosses and do not pay any attention when you talk, they would be busy in answering an email of updating their status on the Facebook. I felt F*** off while talking to such people.

· Openness – When we made the final presentation, he was very open and positive towards all the changes we have suggested in the process. Even though, some of the things we suggested were not favorable to him, he still accepted that challenge and appreciated our work. It’s not about our work only, after talking to number of people, I confirmed that if you are logical in your approach then he would respond it with open mind.

· Connectedness – I somehow felt KA is very well connected to the people at all levels. He knows details about family members; he would ask about them, he would make you feel that he cares for you “Genuinely”. I have confirmed my judgment by speaking to number of operators from different shifts.

Reflection

I thought, if I want to become a leader in the future, I must have all these qualities in me. I must care for my people, I must be connected to them and should know their life outside the office to certain extent so that when needed I can help them.

I must be open to ideas/ changes even if they are not favorable to me, I must listen to people with my heart and mind.

I must have open door policy which extends way beyond just opening the doors of cabin; it should aim at engaging the people by opening the doors of the heart and mind.

All these things helped me in reconfirming one of my strongest beliefs. “To become a good leader, I must first become a good person!”

Knowingly or unknowingly people learn by seeing your behavior and hence as leaders we have a great responsibility of building the culture we want to see. Be the change you want to see. You cannot expect apples on mango trees, can you?

(Views are Personal)

Time to prove title of the Blog...After knowing the path NOW is the time to Walk on the path...GMAT on 29/11/11...Haunting days!!

2011-11-27T22:00:00.001+05:30

So you must be asking where I vanished all of sudden. Well as the name of the blog “knows the pat hand walking the path!” All these days I knew the path and I was trying to walk on the path. But as you know that there is again difference in trying to do something and actually doing something. I mean you cannot try to pick up a ringing mobile; you actually pick up your ringing mobile. So there is no such thing as trying to do something.

Ok, enough of rambling because I don’t know what I am writing. In very simple words, I have GMAT scheduled on 29/11/11 and feeling…..I do not know how I am feeling and why I am feeling that way. I just know that there is no time to go back now; this is the time when I have to believe myself and just do it. So going through all the OG Material – all 3 versions, 10, 11 and 12 and solving almost 500+ CR and SC from the tough 1000 question series, somehow I am trying to feel confident, you know I am still trying.

I have never ever felt comfortable before the exams however I had prepared. I always had this feeling of insecurity running through my spinal cord but this time I am well prepared. I just want to stay focus in present, handling one question at a time, without thinking about the past and the future questions. That’s it, all energy focused at this given moment, I have learned to do this with meditation and this is the time to implement this, it really is helpful not to think, swing my mind between two extremes of past and future.

BTW, my recommenders have done a terrific job by submitting their individual recommendations for my first Target school, well ahead of time, that too without taking any follow-up. That is as good as it gets.

So the stage is set for proving the title of the blog – Knowing the path and walking the path! This is the time to walk on the path to move ahead in the direction of my goals. Before I again start rambling again on this topic, let us stop, I may have another post before GMAT but stay in touch for a detailed GMAT debrief…Watch out for this space because history is goanna be made here!!

GMAT Preparation Update - So far So good !!!

2011-11-03T19:41:00.000+05:30

It’s been relatively good week in terms of GMAT preparation. Hum…It cannot be otherwise because I have taken the date of the GMAT. I have silenced all my critiques who were heavily criticizing my procrastination even for taking the date of GMAT. Its 29/11/11. I am a bit superstitious and I consider 11 as my lucky number so everything from email ids to passwords has a reference of 11 and the GMAT date was not different. It’s the 11^th month of 2011 and the sum of digits of the date i.e. 9+2 =11, so keeping my fingers crossed.

So I have to speed up now and that’s what I did in this eek till now. I am solving 20 SC questions from OG12, 20 CR questions from OG11, 35 PS questions from OG10 and 25 PS questions from OG12. However time I spend in office, however late I get up and whatever happens on this earth, I am maintaining this schedule for last 4 days and I need to maintain it for remaining 18 days or so as per my plan. So in pithy, things have gone really serious now and I am doing fairly well till now.

I am getting at least 17 /20 in SC, at least 17/20, at least 31/35 in Math OG10 and 22/25 in Math OG12. I will be posting my detail analysis for this week on Sunday which includes lot of graphs and analysis of the same.

I think I am doing well and will continue in the same manner till the G day and on the G day! Let us hope for the best!! I believe this thinking itself is having a great effect in my preparation, its feel good factor!

Wish me luck!!

Why SO SERIOUS - Getting an admission to my dream school is as easy as ordering my favorite dish in the restaurant? Really!

2011-10-26T23:13:00.000+05:30

If you do not believe on it right now, at the end of this article, after reading through the entire thing, you are going to believe on it and say – WHY SO SERIOUS?

This is second post in the series – I called as – “Why so Serious?” Of course, the name is inspired from the CHARACTER OF THE JOKER.

I am reading ‘The Secret’ nowadays and I must say it’s a great book. It is based on the spiritual / philosophical concepts but those concepts are explained in a manner we can understand them. So, today I learned about how to use the secret to get whatever I want in the life, I will try to explain the things with an analogy ( Exactly in a manner I understood it and that’s why it stick to mind so quickly). Getting whatever I want in the life is a 3 step process as I understood it after reading through almost an hour.

ASK: First thing really understands what I want? When I go to a place for eating, most of the time I have an idea what I like or what I feel like eating on that day. I mean I will not go to Dominos to eat Chinese food, I have some idea what I want to eat when I enter into Dominos, haven’t I? So the first thing is determining what I want - first roughly (then precisely as explained in the latter part). So, when I go to restaurant, what do I do? I go through the Menu-card and place an order. This is as simple as this! Just like I place the order for my favorite dish, I need to place the ‘order’ of goal to this Universe and Universe will start the preparation for it (Now I understand why I feel like Aladdin these days, why I imagine the Genie saying – Your wish is my command Aka!). The most important things is really defining what I want otherwise how can the chef start making what I want? Imagine a scenario if I am not clear about my order, what will happen? The waiters will start bringing whatever they have in the kitchen -Veg, Nonveg and as a pure vegetarian person, I will surely not like all the things brought to me. A joke apart, the pithy is it will be a real chaos if I do not know what I want, very precisely, to the finest detail possible. So the first step is to ASK CLEARLY WHAT I WANT!!

BELIEVE: After placing an order, have you ever thought that the order will not be delivered to you? I mean under normal circumstances have you ever started thinking that – the chef will fall down while making your order, or the chicken will run away from the kitchen and your order of chicken burger will not be completed, or the kitchen will be running out of some important ingredients, or for that matter your order will be served to someone else (If you ever thought of any of these things after placing the order in a restaurant, please stop reading immediately and see your doctor. You need him, trust me on this!). So the point is, once you place an order, you BELIEVE that your order will be well taken care of irrespective any minor problems that may arise. You KNOW that it will be served to you only. Why can’t we apply the same logic and same faith to our dreams, to our goals? I mean why the hell I think at times that I can’t get into one of the Top B Schools in the world? Why? If I can believe that my order will be served then why can’t I believe the same for my dreams? (Ok this question needs further analysis and my analytical mind is already preparing for the next post to answer it, so watch out for this space, back to this topic now). We have to act, speak, think like the person we want to be, that’s the second part of the secret! BELIEVE in your dreams; believe in them so passionately that you start thinking, acting, and speaking as if you have already achieved these dreams. In simple words, at this moment, I start acting; speaking and thinking like I have already go the admission in my dream school (Ok, as I started doing this, again my mind, this time CREATIVE part of mind has started imagination and again there will be one more post on this). So, in the second step I BELIEVE AND I KNOW THAT MY DREAM WILL BE taken care of and hence I do not create any negative thoughts which will act as impairment in this process of Secret.

RECEIVE: The third and final step is RECEIVING. As you know, there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path, there is also a difference in BELIEVING AND FEELING. So in this last step, you have to feel that you have received whatever you want, you have got whatever too desired for. This feeling of receiving will accelerate the process. This entire universe will arrange itself to complete your order (please do not ask me, how I know this, I simply know this, if you do not believe me, then I challenge you to prove me wrong. If you can’t do that, believe on me as you are not left with any options and start working, don’t break my head). So in pithy the last step in creating the momentum with your feelings, that’s the thing I always talk about (see most of the posts in this blog).

This is what I understood about “THE SECRET”

Another example I liked in the book is an example when you start the journey. When you are driving, you see only 200 m ahead of you with headlights of your car, even though you have to travel 500 Km, you never necessarily see the entire 500 Km road at one go, full light and one straight road of 500 Km, you see only first 200m and then you believe that it’s ok, you move forward with another 200m and so on…..so the pithy is not to see the entire road of the journey all the way along. I mean I need not see all the things at one go – How I will prepare for the GMAT, then Application, then Interview, Admission, Visa and Financial loan and so on….I just need to take care of one thing at a time, that’s it.

After reading through the book, decided to give it a try. I do not believe on anything unless I try the things and confirm if it works for me or not. I have taken the first step by taking the FIRST step – Ask. I have defined my dream school and I have asked my Genie to start getting things organized to get me there in this admission season. I have to start working on other two steps?

WHY SO SERIOUS? NOW YOU KNOW - Getting an admission to YOUR dream school is as easy as ordering my favorite dish in the restaurant? Isn’t it?

Why so serious? If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong! That is Life!!

2011-10-24T22:15:00.003+05:30

So, I was on my way to the home town. I was expected to reach the stop at 19.45 as per the communication from the travel agent. I was expected to meet him at around 18.15, pay him and exchange the ticket from him. So the plan was leave the home at around 17.45, reach the spot, go to ATM, take money, pay to travel agent, go to bus pick point from 18.20 to 18.45 i.e. almost an hour before the scheduled time of the bus but you know plans seldom work and as joker says – We are schemers but the reality is agent of chaos!

So, this is what happened in reality. While studying, at around 15.45, I felt asleep and woke up at around 17.15 and all of sudden realized that I am late somehow. In next five minutes, I got call from the travel agent that he mistakenly communicated the timing as 19.45 and the real timing is 16.45 so come to pick up the ticket as soon as possible. Still I said, it’s ok, things are within control and still I am goanna manage the things as I have already planned the things with sufficient margin.

So I started getting ready. I got ready at around 17.55 just behind the schedule, still I was not worried. As I was waiting for the auto to go to meet the travel agent, I realized that I do not have sufficient cash to pay to him, there was an ATM in front of me, just at 4 minutes walking distance, but I thought I will go the place and there are 4 ATM in the vicinity, I will take the cash from one of them and pay to travel agent, why so serious?

I reached the meeting point at around 18.20 and then all of sudden almost everything went awry. I reached to the first ATM, there was a bug queue in front of me, around 7 people, when my turn came, I went inside and the ATM went out of cash. I was down to 3 options. I went to next ATM and it was under breakdown for last 20 minutes and it was going to take around 25 minutes to get it repaired. The third ATM was also under waiting, they were loading the cash into the ATM and the fourth ATM was closed for an unknown reason. All of sudden I thought that, you know, I am just trying to prove the Murphy’s law – If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong!

It was decision time. I took the auto and went to the ATM which was around 5 minutes away, went there took cash, and came back. In the mean time, travel agent was not sure that I will pick my ticket so he was about to sell my ticket to other. I paid the cash and thanked him. It was already 18.45 and I had no idea how am I going to reach to pick up the bus. Then I tried to pick auto to go to my pick up point for the bus and for unknown reason 4/5 auto drivers denied to go to the place/ pick up point. I has not idea, what the hell was going on. Finally. I picked one auto and went some distance, the auto stopped working. I went out of the auto, picked up second auto and reached the place at around 19.10. I inquired and came to know that the bus is actually scheduled as 19.45 only….

.I mean…I felt what the hell that was all about! If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong. Sometimes, you know, the luck tests you.

But, I think this entire episode made me think deeply about my decision making abilities. It left me with so many questions – “Why I didn’t took cash from the ATM when I was waiting for the auto near my home itself? What went through my mind when I made the decision to bypass that ATM? More on this reflection in the next post.

You know. I have made similar decision in the recent past. I didn’t prepare rightly for the GMAT and let go the round 1 deadline for the business school applications but all is well that ends well. So I need to get my head down for next 5 weeks, prepare for the GMAT is the best way possible and get things done and this time I goanna plan everything considering – If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong….which means what is back up plan if this laptop which carries most of the data of B- school applications including essay crashes down?

BTW, just want to wish all the readers – Happy Diwali! May this Diwali will bring the light of enlightenment to your thought process.

Leaders, Leadership and their impact on Organizational culture!!

2011-10-22T15:05:00.002+05:30

Below are some of the personal observations and my reflection upon the same.

Reflection

I must be open to ideas/ changes even if they are not favorable to me, I must listen to people with my heart and mind.

I must have open door policy which extends way beyond just opening the doors of cabin; it should aim at engaging the people by opening the doors of the heart and mind.

All these things helped me in reconfirming one of my strongest beliefs. “To become a good leader, I must first become a good person!”

(Views are Personal)

Saada Haq Ithe Rakh….Sadda Haq Ithe Ithe Rakh…Saada Haq!! – If Ranbeer Kappor were a MBA Applicant!!

2011-10-20T20:49:00.001+05:30

I know it. I am not alone. Almost every MBA applicant during his GMAT, Essay writing or application process says this….and if Ranbeer Kapoor were a MBA Applicant…with 8 top b-school applications he would screamed this myriad times….

Saada Haq Ithe Rakh….Sadda Haq Ithe Ithe Rakh…Saada Haq! It simply means that ‘It’s my right! It’s my right and I am goanna keep that with me!!

At least I want to scream! Just as Ranbeer Kapoor is screaming in this song from his upcoming Rockstar!

You know, when you are in the process of MBA application, you start finding meaning in everything happening in your life.

At least I have started doing that, I become more thoughtful, creative and more expressive of things happening in my life. This blog and this very post is paragon example of the same.

So, here I was listening to this beautiful song from Rockstar (A.R. Rehman is magical, hats off) and I started relating the lyrics of the song with my life. The pithy of the song is – It’s my life and no one has right to decide what is right or wrong for ME. How can one have more right on my life than my own self?

OK. Those of who know Hindi and have listened to the song can argue that this is worst possible translation but to set the context this could be acceptable. J

So when I start relating this song with my life, all of sudden I realized that really how many people are trying to control my life one way or the other? Forget about others how many ways I, myself trying to control my life! I mean….

I am trying to control to get up early in the morning to study for the GMAT….

I am trying to control my thinking….thinking about my essays while doing everything…taking bath, brushing teeth and so on….

I am trying to control when I sleep, to whom should I meet and who should not considering my GMAT studies…and so on…

My parents are trying to control ….All of sudden my they want me to get married by this December….

My sweet little younger sister wants me to spend some time with her for shopping of her jacket….

My fiancé wants I should call her everyday and talk for hours when I am screwing my head in RC, SC and CR……. ( It’s unfair to say this about her because she has really good understanding of what I am going through and it’s her right to have this time but you know I am really bad at time management…so although she never demands it..I feel of doing this…)….

All of sudden my boss asks me to stay couple of hours extra at work to complete some so called urgent and important work….

The social dimension of the life has become ever demanding….

There are some mundane things like paying my Vodafone bill….this girl has given me myriad reminders to pay the same..

Electricity of my house is being cut for 3^rd time because I didn’t pay the bill for last 6 months….

My bikes needs….ok seriously needs a servicing but I am not able to drop the same at servicing center…

My friends want me to give practice tests and write GMAT as soon as possible…. They are more worried than I am because they really want me to succeed in this application process….

I need to review this Clear-admit school guide – Stanford GSB…Melanie from Clear-admit is waiting for it…

The project of writing the book is becoming more and more challenging …..

And the list can go on….I mean it can really go on and on…and on….

So when I listened to this song for the first time, I felt very connected with it and thought it very close to my heart….as if it is written for me only!!

And after this reflection / finding correlation of it with my life….I have decided to scream….

“Saada Haq Ithe Rakh….Sadda Haq Ithe Ithe Rakh…Saada Haq!!”

It’s my life and I am going to decide the rules of the same….it my right to live it in the way I want it to be…

I am fine even if it means….

Even it means writing the GMAT 3 days before the round 2 application of my first Target school……..I am fine this considering all the things including the essays and recommendations…. are taken care of in advance..

Even it means….paying the electricity bill only after the electricity is cut….

Even if it means…getting up late and still managing my studies just in time…

Even if it means…thinking about the essays day and night….I am fine with it…I love it….

Even if it means to dare to say NO to my boss for the extra work……

Even if it means….writing this post and losing half an hour in GMAT preparation….

Even if it means….I believe…“There is no harm in getting into the problem if you know how to get out of the problem without harming yourself”….

I have decided to take control of life because…..

“Saada Haq Ithe Rakh….Sadda Haq Ithe Ithe Rakh…Saada Haq….ithe rakh!!”

ISB Essay 2 Question Confusion – What is your take? Am I over-thinking about it?

2011-10-19T19:16:00.000+05:30

Some of my friends are applying to ISB. While discussing about ISB Essay question 2 – Career goals essay, we could confused, so I just thought of writing a post about it and ask blog readers for their comment on this.

I have one question. ISB Essay Q2 asks -

“Where do you see yourself after three years from ISB Graduation?

Now, I am little confused about this? Do I need to elaborate on my short term goals immediately after ISB graduation and my career path DURING THE 3 YEARS? OR I need to elaborate the career path I will take AFTER 3 years from ISB?

I MEAN THE QUESTION IS CAREER PATH DURING THREE YEARS OR AFTER THREE YEARS? In other words, I consider immediately after ISB graduation as short term goal and after 3 years as Mid- term career goal?

What is your take on this? What could be the real meaning of the question? I think I am over-thinking about it but that’s the way I am?

Any suggestion?

Project Inception -Spirituality Series: Connecting the dots…..will it be true form my GMAT also?

2011-10-16T14:14:00.000+05:30

What is the Spirituality Series?

I have been reading through lot of spiritual material, podcasts and other things throughout my life. I believe in ‘Spirituality in Practice’, unless and until spirituality is implemented in day to day life, it does not make sense. All the theory is useless if I am not able to make my life after implementing it. So, with this series of posts, I will reflect upon the spiritual principles in references with my GMAT and MBA application journey!

Connecting the dots!

Today I was listening to a podcast of Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev, Founder of Isha foundation. It was about connecting the dots and facing the life as it comes, life is about choice-less awareness. Many time in our life we can’t see the significance of certain things with respect to future, I mean we do not understand why certain things are happening to us, why those things are needed to build a better future. At that point we do not understand WHY is it necessary to go through this phase? Why this phase is necessary to build future.

One of the leaders I admire for “Tenacity” and “Never say Die” attitude is none other than Steve Jobs! The speech at Stanford GSB on Graduation day is one of the best speeches I have ever heard!

One of the points he mentioned he mentions in this speech is ‘Connecting the dots’. He explains how he dropped out of the college in six months and started taking only the classes which he felt interested. He explains how the class of ‘Calligraphy’ which he took at college helped him in designing the Mac book keyboard and beautifully designed fonts. When he took the class, he had no idea what is the significance of this class in his future life, why it was needed for the future.

So even after dropping out Steve took this class for a reason! Only in the future he was able to connect the dots! I can only connect the dots by looking at the past and not in the future.

If I consider this analogy then – What this delay and long procrastination is trying to teach me? When I will look at these moments after say 5 years, how I will connect the dots? Why this procrastination is required? What all things are trying to teach me? When I thought about this, I came to conclusion that it might be about self-discipline. I have to be more disciplined and committed to my GMAT study. Considering the accuracy rate (whenever I study), I believe I will be able to make it.

So, with only 5 weeks remaining to the G-day, it’s time to get more focused and confident through structured preparation!

Imagining the “Life at Stanford” through Clear-admit Stanford guide!!

2011-10-15T18:57:00.000+05:30

It was cold, little colder than usual. I was sitting at the 8981 foot long Golden Gate Bridge at San Francisco. I was alone; I wanted to remain alone for some time to think about my life at the Stanford GSB. I was reflecting - How and when this thought of MBA started, how I studied for GMAT, prepared one of the best applications, got accepted at Stanford GSB and now here I was, having deep retrospection exercise to reflect upon my life.

And in the middle of this introspection I heard – “My heart will go on…Every night in my dreams I see you, I feel you…” I thought why the hell Titanic is sinking at Golden Gate??…… Alas! I was dreaming and that Titanic song was my alarm tone.

Today morning I woke up and realized that yesterday night I felt asleep while reading the “Life at Stanford” chapter in the Clear-admit Stanford School Guide!! I must say its information packed chapter, especially for an Indian like I am. You know, I hardly understand the difference between East Coast and West Coast. I do not know which cities are parts of these coasts. So, for a beginner like me it was good to read about the life I will be having at Stanford GSB!

This chapter really helped me in understanding the culture and social life at Stanford GSB and I could not stop imagining myself at Stanford and hence felt asleep while reading this chapter!

I imagined myself at huge – 8200 acres Stanford University with 1200 acres central campus. The 3, 60,000 square foot Knight Management Center has 29 flexible classroom and 48 breakout rooms. This complex signifies Stanford’s commitment to personal education and collaborative team building spirit.

I imagine myself sleeping at Schwab Residential Center and studying case studies in new library at Bass Center.

The guide also contains information about Castro Street – retreat for Gay and Lesbian community, Chinatown and Mission District – Latino community in San Francisco. It also had valuable information about “E Week” – action packed week related to Entrepreneurship activities. It will be really good source of information especially for people outside US. I mean I cannot afford to visit Stanford GSB at this moment, so I have to just keep imagining it through this information, You-tube videos, pictures and schools guides!!

Last but not the least, I imagined the Admission officers reading my application at “The McClelland building – GSB’s new home for MBA Admissions and Financial Aid”……I imagined admission director Derrick Bolton’s office and there he was sitting there and giving his final approval to admit me for the class of 2014 at Stanford GSB!

I just can’t stop thinking about my life at the Business schools, in fact I don’t want to stop thinking about it till I get there!! I want to create momentum through my thoughts! I am the one!

Bye for now!!

Continuing with Clear-admit Stanford Guide - “Admission”!

2011-10-09T00:29:00.002+05:30

I just read through the chapter-6 “Admissions” in the Clear-admit School guide. One may argue that most of the information in this chapter is also available on the Stanford website, the guide saves time in browsing through the website and collecting the information. Also, I liked the details mentioned in the first section of Stanford Visits.

Some of the highlights/ contains are as follows:

Stanford Visits: The school guide contains detailed information about on campus visits. Right from the days you can visit Stanford, visiting timings, dress code and other minute details are also covered. This information might be useful in planning your visit.

Outreach Events: It also covers basic information about off campus Information sessions. I had attended one of these sessions and it’s been wonderful experience. I have shared my experience in detail in another blog post. The information provided is basic but still useful.

Application Requirements: This section describes the application requirement including Application Essays, GMAT/ GRE/ TOFEL and other requirements. The Stanford essay topic analysis is being done separately in an appendix section. Stanford was one of the first leading schools to accept the GRE along with GMAT score.

Deadlines: This section mentions the deadlines and elaborates the advantages/ disadvantages in applying in different rounds. It is highly recommended to apply in round 1 or 2. Round 3 is certainly not recommended.

Joint and Duel Degree programs: This section explains the Dual degree offerings, importance of each program offered along with brief contents on each program. Stanford offers dual degrees in Law, Education, Environment, Medicine and Public policy.

All in all, it was fair information about Stanford’s admission procedure in this chapter.

So far so good…watch out of this space to know more about Stanford….

What GMAT means to me? It’s not just another Standardized Test for me….

2011-10-05T23:15:00.000+05:30

I took a hard look at what GMAT means to me. For sure, it means more than just a Standardized test for me. Reading through lot of forums and experiences, I understood that GMAT is really personal affair, means starting from your study approach, study materials and timeline it varies greatly from individual to individual.

So I thought of asking myself what it really means to me and how I am going to tackle this challenge. I believe that although things are delayed (ok much delayed), they are still under control and manageable. Here we go…

Faith of my parents: Even after so much of delay my parents have not lost the confidence on me. When my mother says, “You can do it and we know that you will do this when it really matters. Relax and do not think about what is already gone, just do it!!” it really matters to me. I mean they have lot of faith on my abilities and they know once I make up my mind then I will do it. I do not want to lose that faith at any possible cost. Even though lot people have heavily criticized my delays still I have not pushed the “Panic” button because of faith of parents in me.

It’s not about only studying…It’s about rooting out procrastination: I do not just want to get a good score; I want to develop a system based on Self-Discipline. I want to start the study exactly on the planned time, end it on time, and follow my plan meticulously. Of course GMAT score is important but the habit of discipline that I will develop will help me in B-school and the life after that. I must organize myself in terms of my time management and priorities. I want to use GMAT as a tool to develop this habit of self-discipline.

Verbal section is more than just RC, CR and SC to me: I want to develop certain skills while studying for the GMAT. I mean for example, RC. I do not want to just solve passages from OG but want to develop skills of reading faster and comprehending better. This investment of time at this point of time is going to help me in B-schools in analyzing the 20 page case studies. Also these mastery over the language will help me in streamlining my writing skills and will help me in enhancing the quality of the book I am currently writing.

GMAT is one of the outcomes to confirm “my Style” of doing certain things: Completing the preparation in the best way possible then only attempting the Actual exam and Practice exam for that matter. I mean, once I finish all the planned study, I will never regret that I have not put enough efforts. I mean there will not be any halfhearted efforts. Either you do it with perfection or you do not do it!! I even can’t expect better results with incomplete efforts. I know that if I get test today I will get anything between 650 to 690, surely but I don’t want this to affect my studies or have some short cuts in my studies. I just want to do it with efforts with my heart and mind.

I am just going to do it, you believe it or not!!

My experience with Clear Admit – Stanford GSB School Guide!

2011-10-04T20:01:00.001+05:30

Wow! That was my reaction when I first time browsed through the pages of Clear Admit Stanford GSB School guide. Even though I have researching about Business schools for more than couple of years now, still I felt how little I know about the B- School and how many factors play role in admission and life at B-school in general.

First impression about this school guide is “Excellent”. In this post and a series of at least 5 posts, I will let you know WHY I am saying this.

Introduction

There are nine major parts of the guide – Introduction to Stanford GSB, Academics, Special Programs, Life@ GSB, Life after GSB, Admissions, Financing your Stanford GSB MBA, Essay topic analysis and Further resources and contact details for same.

So, if you see, it almost covers most of the information needed to understand GSB and especially to write your essays.

I just read the first chapter and here is my opinion about the same.

First chapter covers major highlights of the program which includes Personalized Education Small class size, Focus on Entrepreneurship and Silicon Valley location. All these highlights are succinctly discussed so after reading them you know what you might want to highlight. I recommend making a connection i.e. personalize your essays. I mean understand the highlight and ask yourself – How I can relate this highlight with my experiences. I think, thinking in this direction will pay dividends here. At least it is working for me.

Next, we have evolution of MBA degree with respect to rise of Stanford GSB and the role/ influence Stanford has created in developing the MBA as a top notch degree. It was good side information for me; I mean after reading through it, I felt proud that at least I dare to apply to such a prestigious school.

The most important part I felt in the first chapter was – Student Demographics which contains the information about Incoming class size, Gender distribution, Minority student intake comparison, Prior industry experience, Undergraduate major distribution of the incoming class and so on.

This data helped me in realizing that Stanford GSB REALLY values Diversity. This is surely one of the most diverse communities you will ever interact with. This directed me to think – How I can highlight this aspect of Diversity in my profile and in my essays.

USP of the guide – Comparative study – I mean all the above mentioned data is presented in comparison with Top-10 programs US. The graphical presentation of the information in comparison with other programs makes it easy to understand how GSB is different.

Other aspect is information about other schools in one guide. I mean I need to search through different material to understand about other school. I mean although I am reading Stanford guide, I am also understanding unique things about Tuck and Hass (Small Class size) because Stanford’s unique aspect of small class size is explained in comparison with Tuck and Hass.

In fact, this is very good tool for school selection. When reviewing one school, you can understand what are you gaining in that particular school and what are losing in your other Target school. If those things are missing in your target schools then does it make sense to apply to these schools? Such questions can really help in understanding my needs and where they are getting full filled.

I have only completed reading the first chapter and felt satisfied for having this one. I am not reading guide serially, so next I would be reading the “Admissions” chapter and hopefully I will be sharing some admission secrets with readers of this blog…So stay tuned to know about Stanford GSB through Clear-admit Stanford GSB guide.

Bye for now!

My interview with Accepted.com – Reflection of my personality and passion for B-schools!

2011-09-24T21:19:00.001+05:30

As I posted earlier, I had interview with Sarah from Accepted.com. It was a good experience, the good thing I gave all the answers spontaneously; I mean it was good that I was able to think on my feet!

(http://blog.accepted.com/2011/09/23/mba-applicant-blogger-interviews-sankets-journey/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+accepted%2FSMTE+%28Accepted+Admissions+Blog%29&utm_content=Google+Reader)

I just thought of the structure i.e. the B- School and Girlfriend analogy and answered the questions based on that. I will be positing the logic behind some of the answers given in this interview.

I think this would be a good start for those who want to understand more about me and my personality! Enjoy it and I would be most interested in any feedback on the same…till then..Happy Weekend!!

Finally feeling confident about Sentence correction – Bringing GMAT preparation on track!!

2011-09-16T16:24:00.000+05:30

This week has to be one of the most important weeks in my GMAT preparation; I will be reviewing the progress of the entire week in next couple of posts. This one is specially written to update the progress of today as of 16:00 hrs.

Today I solved almost 100 SC questions from OG11 with couple of breaks and got almost 90 questions right which boils down to 90% accuracy rate. More importantly, I somehow developed a gut feeling to judge the right angers. Sometime I knew the right answer before looking at the options and then just searched the options for the right answer. I believe these are good signs.

The weakness was lack of concentration in long SC questions, especially with entire sentence underlined. I need to focus more on them. In addition to this I have already solved around 450 questions from 1000SC series with good accuracy rate. Also solved around 30 questions from OG12. SC preparation is mainly limited to these resources only – OG10, 11, 12, Manhattan and 1000SC series.

The strengths are Subject-Verb agreement questions, Pronouns, Comparisons, logical interpretations and some other chapters. Weaknesses are Modifiers and couple of other things.

Apart from this yesterday I solved some 30 CR questions from OG11 and got 26 rights which is decent accuracy rate as well. Still need to focus on RC.

Math seems to be no problem at all with more than 95% accuracy rate but I need to study higher math chapters.

So all in all the bottom line is – “ Ek bar maine commitment de di to main khud ki bhi nahi sunta” means something like “ Once I give the commitment then I won’t listen to my own self also”. The problem is and always has been is consistency in the studies….I am person with a very different mindset….I like the process of reaching to the destination than the destination itself….You know I only feel confident when I achieve results over a consistent period of time….So just want to maintain the momentum to get this done….

P.S. – Yesterday I worked on my essays significantly and as usual I came up with great ideas to present my authentic self to the admission committee…Essays were never worrying point for me…So time to get things done with this GMAT…

Excited about my First interview – it’s with Accepted.com!

2011-09-16T02:00:00.002+05:30

Couple of week back, Sarah from Accepted.com got in touch with me ( in fact after seeing this initiative I dropped a mail expressing my interest to be part MBA blogger community at Accepted.com) to have an interview with me about this blog I am writing and to know more about my MBA application journey in general.

She dropped me a mail with 7 questions and I had to respond to those, with some editing if required they will be published on Accepted.com. Though I submitted the answers in 4 hours after receiving her mail (read after burning the midnight oil till 2:00 am), I was in queue to get the interview published on the website. Maybe this Saturday, they will be able to publish the same. I am damn excited about this because I have answered all the questions in details with lot of elaborations and examples, so it would be a great read!

After the interview goes live on the website…I will be re-posting it on this blog to explain the logic behind each questions…I will try to explain why I responded in that manner only and not the other way…I believe this will surely help some prospective applicants in their essay writing.

Watch out for this space to know more about it…Keep reading…

Importance of feedback in B- School Essay Writing --- good to see the way people perceive me!

2011-09-11T22:57:00.002+05:30

Last week I received some feedback about my behavior. One of my friends has written a blog post about his experience with me for last 3 years or so. Such feedback is of utmost importance.

As a leader I should be open to feedback.

It helps me in understanding when I do something how I perceived myself and how was others perceived it, what impact it had on them. Sometimes there is a stark difference in the logic with which you do certain activity and the way it is being perceived by others. As a leader I should understand/ judge the impact of my actions, my decisions on others.

Below is excerpt from the blog post which my friend has written about me (the link to his blog - http://rahul-xmen.blogspot.com/2011/09/brand.html?spref=fb)

“Mutants possess incredible powers, Powers that not only raise their stratum among their fellow inhabitants but also help them contribute to the welfare of populace around. But it is never easy for any mutant to identify his powers. In fact many of them never realize their mutations and end up spending an entire life just as other ordinary homo sapiens. Only a few go on to understand their powers and the purpose for which these powers have been granted to them. Imagine a mutant who is gifted with the power not only to identify the mutations among people but also to guide those mutants use their powers in a constructive manner to bring the best out of them.

This guy is a master at this art that supersedes any other mutant power in my knowledge. This ability of his separates him from not only the Homo sapiens but also from the regular breed of mutants. He played the trigger behind igniting all the minds in our group making them grow beyond their limited horizons so that they could think big – which of course is the first step towards doing something big. He showed us the path towards the greater things than regular manufacturing and operation activities ranging from entrepreneurship to strategy formulation to consultancy to branding. But then, as this mutant often utters, there is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path. He was always there to ensure that we all walked through the narrows towards those paths through continuous guidance & follow ups.

With time, his efforts resulted in many of us unlocking or identifying a number of hidden mutations within ourselves as we grew from being normal Homo sapiens to Level 1 mutants. His mutations had a life changing effect on us and it reflected in the alterations in our day to day activities. “Plan”, “Schedule”, “Goals” – such words were never a part of our jargon till we met this guy. People are born leaders, born warriors, born idiots, but this guy is a born consultant. He knows how to generate an idea and feed it into someone else’s mind such that the other person thinks it was his own idea. I wonder if he actually rendered this idea to Christopher Nolan to make Inception.

This really is another classic mutation in his genomes. His suggestions are custom made for everyone. He convinces a person to follow the most suited path without making him feel that the idea is being imposed on him. This actually helps those who are not able to discover their calling despite continuous introspections. It also sometimes helps people come out of some sort of deadlock situations as his ideas create a new path out of nowhere to keep those people moving towards their goals. Such great powers are like gems that need to be disguised or else they may outshine many shining stars around.

Often we see heroes with superpowers disguise themselves into their human forms to hide their true identity from the world. Normally these human forms are so insipid and timid that they make the crowd ignore the superhero. The human form of this mutant is the stupidest of them all. You will find him doing the most idiotic activities you could ever imagine – forgetting to switch on the headlights while driving at night, trying to kick start a two-wheeler without switching on the ignition, trying to prove that he is not drunk by walking along a straight line and making the most annoying Facebook updates. These activities however keep the populace around feel connected to him. It keeps the people away from the fear of being overshadowed by his otherwise brilliance.

His exceptional powers and down to earth persona makes him very special in the mutant community. Anyone looking for any help related to MBA, he is the best possible person for you to look up to. He is a living encyclopedia of MBA universities and courses all across the globe. I am sure someday he’ll overcome his self-imposed hindrance and actually write a GMAT on his way to a successful MBA application. I wish the best of MBA institutes is blessed with this guy’s full time presence so that the institute can later on boast of creating one of the finest thinkers around.”

Project Inception - My Experience – Stanford Admission Event at Pune on 24th August, 2011 – Worth Attending!!

2011-08-25T21:50:00.001+05:30

A bit of rain just enough to make me wet, pre-scheduled meeting in the office, 12 hours of hard work in the office and bad condition of my bike could not stop me from attending the Stanford Admission Event on 24^th August, 2011 at 19:00 hrs! And no surprises, it was worth attending!!

For me it was not less exciting than meeting my girlfriend for the first time….really!

We had about 30 students, so it was small group and helped us in having really good and long interactions throughout the session.

The session was administrated by a lady, an admission office representative; she was warm and impressive in her communication skill. We started with a round of introduction. It was good mix of people - people from Manufacturing, IT, Military, Entrepreneurs, Education consultants, younger applicants and social innovators…all of them were there…it was little intimidating at the start of the session but you know…I believe on myself so much…my uniqueness…So I settled down and said…they are what they are but they cannot be ‘Sanket’….He he…I love myself for this…

Then she posed a question – ‘What do you see are the challenges India would be facing in coming future of say 10 years?’ we had good discussion on this – Topics ranged from Education, talent management, poverty, healthcare and so on..

Then we started with a bit formal standard presentation…Started with a clip of Steve Jobs’ address at Stanford Class Commencement...the point was – we all are going to die one day then why not to make this one life more meaningful ….more meaningful and impact driven from various perspectives….it was lovely perspective to start with…

The presentation then moved to Stanford MBA philosophy, slides on three pillars – CAT, Innovative Thinking, Personalized education, personal transformation ( she said, “ One thing is sure, you will change, you will see the things from a altogether lens, from a very broad perspective.”) One things was consistent in the presentation – THE FOCUS OF THE STANFORD MBA IS ON “YOU!”

Although I am researching Stanford for last 18 months, still the information session was informative in terms of getting new information. For example, the ‘Talk Series – 09’. If you think you are an interesting personality and your life has some learning to offer...then this is the forum to share the same with your classmates…every Monday morning at nine you can listen to a classmate talking about how he has become the person he is today! That’s a nice concept.

I liked it….and believe me as usual -- I started dreaming --- I imagined --- I signed up for the session and volunteered to explain about my life till now – imagined about 400 people ( read between the lines – to whom am I talking about – yup! You guessed it right! Those intelligent and sweet girls at Stanford GSB…he he) waiting to listen to my life story --- I kept on imagining --- how will I start? What will I say? And so on….

I don’t know whether I missed some part of the presentation when I was dreaming. The presentation lasted about an hour. Then we moved on to Open Qs session. I urge all the people who are attending the information session – Pls do your homework! I mean it was so irritating to me when people start asking the questions for which the answers are easily available on the website.

I mean imagine….you are asking Mr. Anand Mahindra (Vice Chairman, Mahindra Group) – “Do you manufacture Scorpio (Mahindra Automotives flagship brand)?” ….I mean that’s irritating…..Mahindra is by default known for the Scorpio…isn’t it? (At least in India).

If you start asking about basic data ( available on the website) – Average class size, average work experience, structure of the curriculum over two years….that shows a lot about your passion for the school and the research you have done before attending the information session.

So that one hour was good but not very informative…what was interesting to observe the lady handled all the questions without a trace of irritation ( she must have been through number of times)…her patience was remarkable..he he…it ended just past nine as scheduled!

The she Just wished us luck in the application and asked us to stay connected in near term. It was good session and was worth attending if you are serious about Stanford GSB.

As usual, I talked very little and listened more and more….thought about my story and how am I going to present in the application process….triggered some thinking…let’s see how things turn up!.....Ok not how things turn up but how I make things happen…this time I mean it!!

If you have any specific questions then them in comments section on this post!

Anyone for the Information sessions at Pune – Stanford GSB!

2011-08-21T22:56:00.002+05:30

They say – if there is a will, there is a way! If you are truly passionate about something and want to do something with your heart and mind then the universe opens the doors of opportunities.

Something similar has happened in last 3/4 days.

I desperately wanted to attend a Stanford Admission event and as said in the last post it was not possible for me to attend one event planned in Mumbai on 22^nd, I was hoping that somehow I get leave from office or admission event get cancelled and so on.

And here we go, as per the latest update, Stanford has announced an admission event in Pune itself. It’s planned on 24^th August at 7.00 pm. I have scheduled to attend that. I will update you about my experience at the event, I not hoping anything less than spectacular!

Anyone for the Information sessions at Mumbai – Stanford, Darden, Chicago Booth, Tuck, Ross?

2011-08-14T11:47:00.000+05:30

Certainly the things have started to become busy. Essay questions of almost all the top schools are out and still I am preparing for the GMAT. For me the things are still in control and still I have not pushed that panic button. This has pushed to plan every single thing required to have successful application.

Almost all the top schools except Harvard would be traveling to India some time in next 6 months. I have started listing down the priorities. Attending the information sessions requires lot of planning especially if you are travelling to destination from other cities.

I am planning to attend all the sessions in Mumbai only as traveling to other cities from Pune would be little expensive and time consuming for me.

So here is the schedule:

August 22, 2011 – Stanford GSB – Really want to attend this because there are very few opportunities on the website to interact with current students and alumni. Stanford does not share any contact information n its website.

September 05, 2011 – Chicago Booth – I have been interacting with Chicago Booth students for almost an year now but still hands on experience has its own benefits.

September 18, 2011 – Darden Business School – Again great interactions with current students forced me to attend one in person.

October 21, 2011 – Ross Business School – Love to attend one to understand/ feel the things like MAP, research – “ Bottom of the Pyramid”.

November 02, 2011 – Tuck Business School – Again great interactions with current students forced me to attend one in person.

I will be posting the some information before each session. I hope to interact with some of you – prospective students at these information sessions. Let us hope to meet you people!

If Farhan Akhtar were an MBA applicant then how he would express his frustration n GMAT…creativity personified…. my first try for the poem…lighter side of Project Inception…

2011-08-06T23:06:00.000+05:30

I was watching ZNMD ( Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara) one of the best films I have seen in the recent time. I was completely immersed in the beautiful lines of poetry in this film; it was so beautiful to just reflect back on those meaningful lines….it always a refreshing experience to completely immersed in something bigger than your own self and forget everything around you…

So I decided to write something myself…so I started thinking, thinking and thinking but you know I so engrossed in this MBA application and all the elements of this process that these things by default ingrained in the very structure of thinking….

So I decided why not write on my mental state….completely impressed about the GMAT and MBA application….so here we go….this is my first poem…ok sort of poem as still I am not able to have right rhyming words…..but still I consider it a decent try…..so please read on an share your thoughts….

the downside is still I have written the same in Hindi language…..will try to write one in English but till then bear on with this version….still one more is one the cards….