Mistakes, Lessons, MBA, and more...

I've failed over and over and over again

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:13:00 +0000

Let's be honest, I tried for two consecutive years to get into top notch MBA schools and I failed over and over again. But in that, I managed to get 740 GMAT, I managed to get interview calls from a few of my dream schools, I managed to get a clarity on my goals in my life, I managed all the money spent in the process, I managed to be a fellow of Startup Leaderhip Program, I managed to a part of some of the NGOs, I managed to excel in my demanding job simultaneously, I managed to get married to the love of my life, and most importantly, I managed to keep my dream of getting into my dream school from shattering. I am back in business and I know, I will succeed soon!!!

"I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." - Michael Jordon

Fruitful were my last few weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 01:27:00 +0000

Hello there,

I have a BIG smile on my face :-)) writing this post and have many reasons to back it. And to share with you these reasons in brief is the main purpose of this post.

Few of you, my readers, mailed me to check on me and asked me why off late I am not posting anything. This is the first and foremost reason of my smile making me believe that I have got some really serious readers following and I promise them and you to post more often.

A few people have approached me for guest posts and even paid advertising which signifies the popularity of my blog and the thought itself becomes one more reason.

Last few weeks I was working with 3 guys as a MBA application mentor and just completed applications with them under my initiative mentioned in my earlier post. I worked with these three for the first time and helped each with just one school application. We all have worked really hard and the increasing satisfaction in their tone with every revised version of an essay kept making me more confident and thrilled. One of them even wants to post a testimonial on my blog as a guest post, making me elated. Desperately, waiting for their interview invites now.

One of the weakness I had always felt in my resume was no international exposure. This weakness no more exists in my updated resume as from last 2 months I am working out of US and hopefully be here for many months to come.

And last but most important reason of my BIG smile is that I am getting married this December to the love of my life. Her name is Isha and we both are madly in love :)

Thanks all for this :-))

An Interview with Accepted.com

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:29:00 +0000

Accepted.com has recently interviewed me and featured the same on their portal. Here's the link - http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/2011/8/26/mba-applicant-bloggers-interview-with-a-of-mistakes-lessons.html

Accepted.com wants to interview me!

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:17:00 +0000

Today I got a mail from Sarah Pritzker of Accepted.com that they've been following my blog and are enjoying reading about my experience as an MBA applicant. They want me to share my story with them in an interview that they'll then feature on Accepted.com blog.

This mail gave me a very good feeling along with a humble feeling I am having everyday talking to a few new applicants who are interested in my consultation.

Jump to my last post to check out my MBA consultation help offerings.

My friends' idea. My hard work.

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:58:00 +0000

As I am still waiting for RSM result, I am glad to let you know that I am helping applicants with their applications for this Fall. I did help my two friends for quite some time and both of them got interview call as I mentioned in my previous mail.

That was indeed a very satisfying feeling and I would love to boast that at least in last two years I have grown quite good in reviewing Resumes and Essays.

So, the news is that both of my friends were really impressed by my offered help and understanding of the subject, and referred me to some of their friends. We talked over phone and three of those five became interested in trying my services. Though I never had thought about it myself but my friends, impressed by my consultation, encouraged me to charge for this. That would keep both the parties charged up, they said! :-)

And, this would also help me hire a professional editor, someone I real want to work part time with me since I know he is very good. This will help me concentrate more on the meaning of your content than the language of it. And, believe me that is what needed the most and that is what you will rarely find.

So, I have come up with this:

1. Guys, c'mon I know you wanna check me first: Send me any of your essays (150-200 words) or your resume and get it reviewed completely free.

2. Then, only if that first review brought a smile on your face: I have wasted a huge chunk of money (like 50K in one go :-( ) on some of the popular admission services just to feel badly disappointed. So, Let's begin with LOW MONEY and UNLIMITED ROUNDS of review (by me). Two final rounds of language editing would be done by the professional editor.

a. 500 INR for Resume

b. 1K INR per essay (<= 500 words)

c. 1.5K INR per essay (> 500 words)

FYI, all the three applicants had submitted their initial draft for review and two of them have already enrolled for one essay each. Not bad for the starters :) And, I love to feel that satisfying feeling, so gonna work real hard on these two essays!

Let me know if you want to know more.

SLP Admissions for Class of 2012

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:25:00 +0000

I'd recommend you to apply to the Startup Leadership Program Class of 2012. I've graduated, and become part of this incredible global network.

Here are 15 reasons why you must apply to the Startup Leadership Program Class of 2012. http://slidesha.re/b0RU0y

Here is a quick overview once again:

SLP (www.startupleadershipSLP alumni around the world (Boston, New York, Silicon Valley, San Diego, Beijing, Bangalore and Delhi).

To apply, click here: http://bit.ly/m3gt1h.

We will be taking applications to Bangalore only for one more week - till the 7th of August. Those interested are advised to apply well in time to avoid last minute rush.

Like us on Facebook for announcements: http://www.facebook.com/StartupLeadership.

Hurry up!

Interview Questions: Rotterdam School of Management

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 09:17:00 +0000

Yesterday evening, I had my interview with an AdCom of Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). This interview was over Skype because I was not able to attend the interview held previous week when she was in Bangalore (due to some personal reasons).

The interview started at 8:30 PM IST and went over for about 35 minutes. She decided to switch off her cam, because of dim lights in room. I was on cam.

This interview was a little different from my earlier ones in respect of some very new questions. Here they go (not in the exact order they were asked):

1. I have read your essays. I want to know why you chose this year to apply for MBA? Do you think it is a perfect time for MBA for you?

2. You have mentioned your career goal in your essays. Could you explain in detail about it? What exactly is your plan, which is your targeted companies, etc.?

3. I see that you have served in one of the companies for just 4 months? Why you left it so early? Do you think you could have waited for some more time there?

4. Tell me something about the NGO you are associated with and your responsibilities there?

5. If I say, that you are taking this interview for RSM, then what is that one key thing you would be looking in the applicant?

6. How are the key things that influences Indian businessmen or entrepreneurs in doing business?

7. How your friends describe you in 3 words?

8. What will you bring to the RSM community?

9. What is that one thing you are very passionate about at this point in your life?

10. What are the things that really daunts you when you think of coming to RSM?

11. Do you think you are a leader? Why you think that? What kind of leader are you?

12. What kind of leadership skills you want to improve upon in RSM?

13. What changes you see in yourself after doing MBA from RSM?

14. If career is not a factor, do you want to get settled in Netherlands or back in your country?

15. In one of your essays, you have mentioned about a very harrowing event of your life? What is the biggest learning you took from it? Could that event happen again in your life?

16. Why you chose this career in Information Technology? What drives you about your job?

17. If I say tomorrrow is your holiday, how would you like to spent your entire day?

These are more or less all the questions she asked. I will get to know the result next week. I am not yet selected in any school, and if this time I got selected, I will be in soup. I won't be able to leave the school nor I would love to have my honeymoon in there ;)

But still I hope to taste that soup!

Updates on my journey so far...

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 22:32:00 +0000

I am coming to my own blog after so long. It's a mixed feeling. I am feeling sad that why I didn't blog for so long. I think because my updates are negative, I was hiding from them and from my readers, like a child hiding from his parents after getting flunked. At the same time I am feeling good that, even though a little late, I am back to my blog and writing with a smile on my face. I have had always smiled while writing a post on this blog...somehow I loved this blog and my journey with it. And I deeply apologize to my readers, if they have visited this space with expectations of a new post or my updates.

I have lot of updates on my MBA journey and off-MBA life. Let me start with MBA:

1. You must have guessed by now that I am not selected in any school. Even though I have a 740 score and a quite decent profile, somehow somewhere I lacked miserably. Even my MBA mentors not able to judge the reasons behind.

a. One reason could be that I applied only to top-notch schools. ISB R1 (ding post interview), Ross R1 (waitlist post interview), Kellogg R1 (waitlist post interview), Richard Ivey R2 (interview), Harvard R2 (ding w/o interview), Stanford R2 (ding w/o interview), MIT Sloan R2 (ding post interview) and finally, Rotterdam.

b. Other reasons could be my non-IIT college, IT background and zero international exposure.

c. Another reason could be just above-average communication skills, which is not enough to compete; I feel so and will work upon it very seriously.

2. Important: I feel it’s necessary to mention here that I took the services from Kaneisha Grayson of The art of applying and found them totally waste of money. I am in MBA admission process for last two years now (unfortunately though), have worked with many people in this industry, and very well understand the difference between good, bad and worse service providers. And Kaneisha Grayson’s services fall, according to me and my experience, in the last category. I would strongly discourage you to take her services. I will soon write a detailed post about my horrible experience with her. Disclaimer: These are solely my personal views based on my own experience.

3. My Rotterdam is interview is scheduled for tomorrow and even if I get selected in this last school for this year, I might not be able to attend the school in January 2012. The reason for this I mentioned in my point 5.

4. Important: After scoring 740 GMAT, having two years of experience in resume preparation and essay writing, working with so many amazing, good and not-so-good mentors, and interacting with many alumnus, students and applicants, I have gained a real good insight about GMAT preparation, and essay writing and reviewing. If you have noticed, I have received the interview invites from almost all the schools. This itself explains the quality of my submitted Resume and Essays. Owing to this knowledge, I consulted two of my friends, in their Resume and essays for Ross and Darden. Both of them had received the interview invites. If you need any help or reference, drop me an email.

5. I am getting married soon with the love of my life and I am very elated because of this one reason. At least life is on progress for good, if not MBA then MarriageJ.

6. This doesn’t mean my MBA dream is dead. I am very much planning to re-apply with full enthusiasm and stronger profile in 2012. My love will support me for my MBA, she promised. But that time only to one-year schools. I am grown old for two-years now, and practically won’t be able afford them.

7. I am getting an opportunity to work in US for a few months. This would give me much needed international exposure and could shine in my resume. I am very much looking forward to it. Also for my honeymoon ;)

8. I am also planning to join toastmaster to nurture and master communication skills. Hope this would help.

9. Last but not the least, I have a passion for writing fictions and sketching portraits, which I had never shared on this blog. Follow me on my personal blog and let me know how much you like my work. I will wait for your comments there!

Seems like a lengthy enough mail to compensate my absence!

Never let yourself down by failures, God must be weaving something more pleasant for you!

Love…Cheers!

Power Eating For Exam Time - Guest post

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Tue, 10 May 2011 12:40:00 +0000

Since its a season when many applicants are studying to slay the GMAT, here is a guest post by Lior for some wonderful tips on healthy eating during this stressful time. Hope this helps!

Exam time for students is not only a stressful time because of the extra study time required and the pressure of the exams themselves, but it often centers around a busy season as well such as Christmas for example, or Easter in the Spring. This adds additional time constraints to the student.

The first thing to suffer during this time is a healthy diet. Yet this is the time when proper nutrition is needed most. Extra energy is needed to be able to cope with the additional time constraints, and lack of sleep means their resistance to colds and flu are dropping. Here are a few hints to help keep you on the right track with your eating habits.

Pre-prepare

Take a bit of time to do some shopping for some quick healthy snack foods. These will come in handy when you are really pressed for time. Items such as granola bars and some veggies and dip pre-prepared are good choices. You can quickly grab them while you are on the run, or are studying. These will give you at least part of your daily quota of vegetables even though you are not able to sit down and eat a proper meal. If you prepare these at the start of exam week you should have enough to carry you through the week. Be sure to carry a few of the granola bars with you as they will carry you through as a quick snack when needed.

Health drinks

Try to stay away from the caffeine laden energy drinks. Instead, replace these with vegetable and fruit drinks. You will be replacing some of the vitamins you are missing as well as not stressing out your body with the caffeine. There are some great combo drinks available that are a blend of fruit and vegetables.

Meal Replacements

If you have to miss a meal, try to be sure it is no more than one meal a day. In this case drink one of the liquid meal replacement drinks. These contain a high quantity of minerals and vegetables.

Have a fortified breakfast

There are some excellent cereal on the market that are fortified with extra vitamins and nutrients as well. Make use of these and replace your sugar coated cereal with these at least during exam time, although they are good to be used on a daily basis and not just during this stressful period.

These are some tips on what to eat to help you get through exam time, but you also want to be sure you pay attention of what not to eat. Loading up on high caffeine drinks and chocolate only provide quick but temporary energy boosts, and are really hard on your body. Grabbing a bag of potato chips to stop the hunger pangs, is not a healthy move either.

With some careful planning and preparing some healthy meals ahead of time, then freezing them is also a great step to take. This way when you are pressed for time during your exams, you can quickly and easily heat up one of these meals and still be eating healthy.

This was a post by Lior who works for an MA in Israel program and also for the MA in political science program in Tel Aviv university.

I am in top ten of 2010-2011 Best of Blogging competition :-)

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:10:00 +0000

I am overwhelmed by this news. I am in top ten of 2010-2011 Best of Blogging competition :-)

Thanks to all the readers and voters. And many congratulations to other winners.

Cheers!
A

Why do you want an MBA?

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000

April is over and with that the last deadline of almost all the schools. While many applicants are busy through the complicated process of arranging visas and hefty loans, a few are making every possible strategy to win the adcom's heart and flip their tedious waitlist to refreshing admit. And while many others are trying to figure out their mistakes and deciding their next moves in life, many are on their high to start this journey fresh.

I congratulate the first many, wish the second (including myself) but my this post and the upcoming ones would be for the last two manys.

You must be knowing or will learn soon that is essential to have a plan throughout the application process. So, whats the plan and how to make it?

1. You want to apply for 1 year or 2 years or the mix of both?

2. How many schools you want to apply?

3. How to select schools and so on...???

You need to answer these and many more similar questions before you make a plan but before that you need to answer the utmost important question, which most of us take lightly or think only at the time of writing essays in bschool applications. - "WHY DO YOU WANT AN MBA?"

Most of the applicants think that MBA is some magic which will change their life, provide them cool status and make them rich. And, without even knowing what MBA actually is they start preparing for the GMAT. I did the same, and it was the biggest mistake. Indeed, MBA could change your life but only when you know exactly how it will change your life.

Ponder very very seriously over this. Think what you really want to do. What kind of work you really enjoy and what kind of companies or jobs you want to see yourself in after some years. Then, connect to the people (esp. alums or senior managers) who are already in those companies or jobs and try to understand how they reach there. Start reading blogs of MBA students. Research getting an MBA online. Start visiting sites of your dream companies. This would help you understand the whole MBA thingy. And you might also learn the alternate routes to reach there without spending thousands of dollars.

So, as the fresh season starts, put on your thinking caps to answer this question. And believe me, it would not be easy to find the honest answer. So, don't try it alone. Talk to as many people as possible. And when you would find your honest answer, the rest of the path would seem a little clearer.

Dedicate the month of May to get an honest answer for yourself.

All the best,

The BoB nominee

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:55:00 +0000

After a long time, I have seen a mail starting with "Congratulations" in my mailbox and it indeed made me happy. Thank you ClearAdmit team for nominating my blog for Clear Admit’s annual Best of Blogging competition (the BoBs) and giving me this smiling moment. It came to me as a pleasant surprise.

But more importantly, this nomination's significance that my blog's content stands worthy and useful for other MBA applicants gives me immense happiness! I promise to share more of my worth sharing experiences.

I request and encourage you to vote for me: http://www.facebook.com/#!/clearadmit?sk=app_180649451980850

And, I wish all the fellow nominees good luck.

Cheers!

Kellogg essays and ApexWriters

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 10:03:00 +0000

I am done with my applications long back and was interviewed by couple of schools including Kellogg. Got busy with my personal life and also wanted to take a break from tiring application process so didn’t blog.

As I posted earlier, I deferred my Kellogg application to round 2 as I was not confident of my essays in round 1. And, then I decided to take help from a professional service which can give me some critical feedback. One of my friends redirected me to ApexWriters where a group of graduates from business schools provide a feedback and editing service. I found their service absolutely suitable and decided to hire them for solely Kellogg essays.

They offer various services and the service I took (Scratchpad service) included two discussions over telephone one hour each and then three rounds of reviewing and editing for each essay, including unlimited email exchange.

I fixed my first meeting and sent all my essays to the counselor assigned to me. He called me on time and we took our first essay. He told me absolutely what's wrong in my story and even appreciated what's right. He broke my essay and explained what's impressive and what's not. He also explained me in detail what to keep in mind and how to draft a story more effectively. We were able to discuss over only two essays in first meeting. Following his feedback, I was quickly able to fix my essays and send them over.

Within 24 hours, he returned my essays with detailed review on almost each paragraph. All his comments were elaborate and made real sense. The purpose is to give feedback on overall strategy of the essay as well as on the minute details. He even pointed out what's missing from an admission committee perspective. That was really impressive. We followed the same for other essays and after the two rounds of reviewing each essay, the last round was for language editing. Following this entire process, I felt confident that my essays are up to the mark and in ready to submit state.

ApexWriters service was a relief for me. I found them very ethical and supportive in their approach which was exactly I was looking for. I really vouch for them.

Results of Kellogg are pouring in and I am desperately waiting for some good news.

All the best to all of you waiting,

Disclaimer: I have received 20% discount on service fee for review on ApexWriters services on this blog. However, these views above are purely from my experiences and the reader should assume that discount that I am availing does not impact my analysis above.

Let's see how was 2010 and It's time to learn How to Sell?

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:53:00 +0000

Yet another rejection mail, this time from Richard Ivey.

But I don't want to keep the title of this post as rejection or dinged or blah blah...It's not a failure story. So, Read on!

When 2010 started I thought this would be one of the best years of my life. I got a 740 GMAT in late 2009 and was charged high; I was dreaming of congratulations mails from big bschools in march and international plane tickets in august.

March went by with no congratulations mail but 2 waitlisted ones post interview...Ross and Tepper. I was rather happy than disappointed as I'd just rushed through my application and still was waited in two prestigious schools. July came harsh with rejection mails from both.

I started again with full vigor and planned for round 1. But then some really serious turbulence happened in my personal life and I wasn't able to follow my plan even though I kept trying. I wasn't able to apply to the schools I wanted to and deferred them for round 2. The schools I applied rejected me after interviews with rejection from last round 1 school today.

Hmmm! the other day, I was just talking to one of my friends and was cursing the year 2010. It was really a bad year both in light of my personal life and my bschool acceptance.

But is that true? Let's think further and see!

2010 made me learn I'm not scared of rejections. I learned that failures don't affect me much. In fact they give me reasons to retrospect and fight harder. I never knew this before 2010. When I see people around me feeling dejected just by one or two failures and loosing all hopes, I thank God for giving me this amazing mindset and thanks 2010 for helping me discover this.

Since my starting of GMAT preparation 1.5 years back till now, I have genuinely work hard every single day with a few exceptions, even with rejections, even in turbulence. 2010 made me know I am not scared of hard work.

While writing so many essays for my applications, I discovered I write quite well and started writing fictions and started a blog (other than this blog). And people quite loved my stories and I won one writing contest. 2010 gave me happiness.

I learned that there are 2 parts of getting into a bschool. Your written application in which you need to market yourself and your interview in which you need to sell yourself. Due to same reason of working on so many applications and getting them reviewed from quite good consultants, I gained a good understanding of addressing bschool essays. Now, I do review essays of my friends and my blog readers, and they quite feel my comments convincing and sensible. 2010 has made me proficient in marketing, but I have to work harder in selling myself.

2010 gave me a chance to talk to a lot of MBA students and alumni, and to understand better what I want to do post MBA. It also gave me a chance to be a fellow of SLP (Startup Leadership Program) and to be in the closest network of India's budding entrepreneurs. I'm getting encouraged to start my own MBA consulting services now :)

I became friends of David Park, CEO of Beat The GMAT. We have met on skype 10 times now, and he truly believes in me. He is an amazing mentor and friend and motivates me like no one else does.

My friends and family were there with to support me throughout 2010. I didn't loose any friend and got quite new ones. I attended a lot of family celebrations, spent time with my family and friends far more this year.

And most important, 2010 has gifted me an amazing girl friend who makes me believe that all my failures are lessons and learning, and something really best is waiting out there for me.

I think 2010 made me a better person who knows more about himself now than ever. As they say, "if you have never failed, you have never lived." I have lived 2010.

Tonight was the last rejection of 2010, and I know I have to work harder to learn how to sell!

If I deserve it, I'll get it sooner or later!

Beat The GMAT Practice Questions - Premium accounts available

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:08:00 +0000

In my last post, I mentioned about the Beat The GMAT Practice Questions. Check them out: http://practice.beatthegmat.com/

I have some premium accounts left with me; if anybody interested please email me using the button on your left.

Hurry up! Else you are missing an important part in your GMAT prep!

An evening with Richard Ivey

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:33:00 +0000

She was waiting for me, standing tall next to the pillar, with folded hands and crossed legs, as I entered the Taj lobby. I was 15 minutes before the scheduled time and she was free, so we decided to sit at the pool side. It was a pleasant evening wheather of Bangalore with no drizzling thankfully. Some wedding preperations were going on there and we started with a light conversation about Indian weddings and how they are like grand parties and she told she wants to attend one. And then, the interview began.

It was not a blind one and she was well informed about my application, but it was quite standard with a few spontaneous questions. She was easy going and so was the interview.

Walk me through your resume briefly.

Why MBA?

Where do you see yourself just after MBA? Exactly what role you think you would be playing?

What do you see in a MBA school?

Any leadership or team work experience.

Any challenging situation in team. How you handled? What you learned?

What concerns career team in Richard Ivey could have with your placement and how they could address them?

What's your long term goal? Any specific company in mind for long term?

Any constructive criticism from the manager.

Why we should take you?

Any questions for me?

And the pool side meeting was over in half an hour with hand shakes, smiles, a light conversation about her India visit, and a final hand shake.

Was it a date? Will be revealed on Dec 17 ;-)

The fight is on

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 05:11:00 +0000

So yesterday ISB broke my heart once again, don't know what's the problem...so the fight is still on and for the much better.

Congratulations to all who are in, and for those who are not, don't loose hope and believe in yourself. The best is yet to knock the door...and the life would change forever!

Some fun, lost rhythm, and the wait...

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 05:54:00 +0000

Though a little late, I wish all my readers a very prosperous Diwali and a successful Year ahead. Wish we all get into the schools of our choice.

Aha! Last ten days were real fun with my cousin’s wedding and Diwali celebrations. In amidst of chit-chatting with cousins I met after long, dancing on every single song, relishing the variety sweets, drinking Bacardi with dad, licking my fingers on mom’s delicious food, and playing cards with family till 2 am, I managed to write stories for first two essays of HBS and get them reviewed by my reviewer.

I am back from home but will confess that the rhythm of writing stories every night is lost somewhere. Yesterday, one of my closest friends made me realize that the time is running faster than I, and I don’t have a single minute to waste provided I have 5 US schools and I safe UK school in my list for round 2, and I have one more cousin’s wedding coming up in last week of this month. So from today, I am going to regain my lost rhythm with more focus and efforts.

I personally feel one more reason for this lost rhythm – the anxious butterflies inside and outside me waiting for ISB result - though I keep saying to myself and everyone that nothing going to happen there as these results are so relative. These butterflies remind me of one more news to share – interview invite from Richard Ivey on 19th – face to face with manager of admissions in Bangalore. If anyone has Richard Ivey interview experience, please do share.

My next post would be only after ISB result – all the best to all who are awaiting the result!

A new approach to practice GMAT from Beat The GMAT

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 18:47:00 +0000

Beat The GMAT has launched a brand new product for GMAT practice, making it more interesting and effective to practice for GMAT, including more than 700 brand new maths and verbal questions. Being an official reviewer, from last four days I am reviewing some of these questions and found each one of them testing and teaching a new concept. The best feature of this product according to me is that every practice question features a video explanation for the given question, written/produced by a veteran GMAT instructor. I wish I had these explanations when I was struggling for my GMAT last year; my 740 could have been 20-30 points up ;)

Some other useful features:

Its classifies the practice section wise, so you can concentrate on your weak sections first.
Its supports completely online practice, so you can study at work or at home.
It provides the ability to customize your preparation based on subject area, with just a few clicks.
Performance reporting to identify your strengths, weaknesses on GMAT subject areas.
Adaptive practice algorithm that mimics the real GMAT - the better you do, the harder the questions become in your practice session.

If you are preparing for GMAT and need to know more about this product, please don't hesitate to mail me using the link on left. I have a few accounts of this product specially for my blog readers, so let me know if you are interested.

Hope this helps,

ISB interview done, what's next

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Ahh, I'm done with ISB interview again last Sunday and it was all together a different experience than last time, in terms of both staying in Hyderabad and the Interview. Let me rewind a bit...

Last year it was fun and easy, as I had my awesome friend in Hyderabad living 5 minute from ISB, and he had a car, you know ;) He picked me from railway station, breakfast was ready at his home, and I had a feeling of refreshment after seeing him after long. My interview was in the morning next day and I had a whole day to roam, revise, and relax. He dropped me to ISB, and gave me moral support. I was the only one without a formal jacket; felt a little awkward but was quite confident. Post interview went out with him and his wife, and had lots of masti. Interview experience was alright. The very first question, tell a story, made me nervous, which they asked only after I provoked them saying I love writing, but overall it was pretty cool and went for around 30-35 minutes. I was too confident and happy post interview, but that happiness didn't last long, as you know!

This year it was hard, as I get down to a alien station of Kacheguda, ran to catch a local MMTS train to reach Hafizpet, get an auto to reach my hotel after he took me to two wrong hotels, and had breakfast alone. The interview was on the same day in evening and I was tired of the whole night journey, with cockroaches playing on my face even in third tier AC. After sleeping for 2 hours, I got my formal jacket ironed, revised some points, and left for the interview. This time I was in jacket like all others but was not that confident. This time the interview was quite different. It went for just 15 minute with 2 guys and a lady in the panel. One of the guys was all in mood to grill me asking so many cross questions all related to why this career and why mba, with a no smile face. Then I broke the ice when the other guy asked me to show some salsa steps and I asked the lady, mam will you dance with me ;) Everyone laughed, though I didn't dance. Then they all got engrossed in listening my personal story I mentioned in an essay, and before I knew, they said we are done. Don't know what to make out of it. Que sera sera, as one of my friend rightly said.

I'm not keeping any hope, so I am all set to start for round 2 apps. Thinking of HBS, Stanford, MIT, Kellogg, and Ross. Also, keeping Cranfield and Manchester in the list. But looking at few disturbing factors and festive events lined up in next 2 months, I might have to cut short my list.

Anyways going home tommorow for my cousin's wedding and Diwali celebrations,
Its a Refreshing feeling!
A

Interview calls update

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:27:00 +0000

I'll keep it short and sweet...

2 days back, I came from my office, tired, to see a rejection mail from Cambridge. Quite fast and shocking. Didn't know why I got dinged in round 1; to find the reason I logged onto a few forums like pagalguy and guess what many Indian aspirants were shocked like me. Don't know what has happened.

Many of my friends have received ISB interview calls, and I was hearing that today is the last day to receive a ISB call for people located out of Bangalore. I have lost all hopes, in fact I think i was not hoping, and suddenly my cell beeped at 7 PM...yeah, you guessed it right :) So have to prepare for interview now...5 days to go....

All the best...to me ;)

Why I had to defer Kellogg to R2?

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 13:58:00 +0000

This was not an easy decision – to defer an application to R2 on which I was working so excitedly from last 5 weeks, yes 5 long weeks!

I started the Kellogg leadership essay on September 1st. I was writing day and night but it took me to 8 days to jot down 2 success and 1 failure leadership story. I tried to write them in a narrative style, taking reference from Harvard 65 successful essays book. I send them to my reviewers; only one replied after a week and found my stories pretty weak and suggested a lot of rework. By that time it was around 15th. I have already sent my goals essay for review. He replied pretty quick and a few places he mentioned gaps, with a very typical long term goal. He mentioned your profile is strong but is coming out well in this essay.

It was 18th and I was at square one. I went home to attend my cousin’s engagement which ate my 3 days. Just 2 weeks were left for Cambridge and I left Kellogg and picked up Cambridge, which has one atypical IT problems essay. As the time was running and none of my reviewers were replying, I decided to take help of a professional reviewer. She seemed very confident, but I always had a suspicion owing to my last year sad experience, and she transformed my suspicion into a belief. She wasted initial 7 days saying “she was busy with other clients; don’t worry, you are in safe hands.” It was 29th when she actually looked on my essays. I was hoping for see the best reviews ever but to my disbelief she return back the same essays - no review comments, just deleted a few lines – the lines which according to me were my strengths. When I tried to ask the reason, she replied I’m trained in this – I mean that could never be a justifiable explanation. Finally, I dismissed her service and prepared all my Cambridge essays myself. I feel they are pretty good. Fingers are crossed!

It’s was 6th Oct and none of my Kellogg essays was in submittal state. Further, I had Richard Ivey to submit on 12th. It was freaking me out. I knew how hard I would try I won’t be able to complete Kellogg and Ivey essays in a week without an outsider eye. One of my friend introduced me to another professional reviewer (pretty expensive), stating they are awesome. Can you believe after having bad experience twice with consultants, I took their service for Kellogg. Again to my disbelief, they turned out to be – awesome this time ;) I was like wow. I wanted a sanity check and the way they reviewed my essays, I was surprised. I have already incorporated my reviewer comments, but still so much to change. From 7th till yesterday, I wrote essays around 14 hours every day. But was able to transform just two Kellogg essays into a decent version, and still have scope for improvement. It was so tight, almost impossible to do another essays in 2 days when I had to submit my Richard Ivey (managed to write decent essays and also get reviewed by a student) as well. I was feeling worse thinking how I got stuck in this situation. I finally took decision to submit Ivey and defer Kellogg to round 2.

People say it’s not much difference between round 1 and 2 evaluation, but somehow I personally feel round 1 is always a edge. Time will tell...

Don’t know this is a wise decision, but I know I have to plan a little wiser now!

I hope this post might help others also to plan a little wiser in R2 – because time fly fast!!

ApexWriters - A personalized service!

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:08:00 +0000

Two days back, after writing and re-writing my essay to a decent shape, I thought let's get it reviewed by some professional. One of my friends told me about ApexWriters - http://www.apexwriters.com/

They have this amazing service of editing an 100 words essay for free with no hidden costs - http://www.apexwriters.com/free-essay-editing.in. I uploaded my essay and the next day I got the edited version. It was completely changed with logical comments and a much impactful language.

They have a few very amazing and customized services:

MBA Profile Evaluation and Business School Selection

MBA Essay Editing

MBA Resume Writing

MBA Interview Services

These guys are really impressive!

Cambridge Judge business school - submitted

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 20:54:00 +0000

Just submitted my Cambridge Judge business school after multiple reviews and spell-checks with few friends and myself. The Cambridge announces the interview decisions in November first week and result in just 2-3 days post interview. I was just talking to my friend today in London that if I get an interview call, I might fly to Cambridge for the one day exclusive school visit plus interview. So, the fingers are crossed as usual and a little tighter this time ;-)

A few updates:

1. ISB interview calls are floating in pagalguy forum but I'm still checking my inbox for the same.

2. Planning to submit Richard-Ivey in two days.

3. Post which I could concentrate completely on Kellogg.

Time to sleep!

Star wars and the bschool essays

noreply@blogger.com (A) — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 13:46:00 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, I am in constant touch with BTG CEO, David Park discussing over various topics including BTG $100K challenge, SLP, writing good narrations for essays et al.

Today he sent me an assignment to complete before moving to R2 applications. And, to my surprise, the assignment is to watch 70 minute video review of star wars: phantom menace: http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/12/17/watch-this-70-minute-video-review-of-star-wars-the-phantom-menace/

Embarrassed I admit, I have not seen original star wars and the more recent star wars phantom menace, so he recommended me to watch them first before watching this review.

He says:

this probably sounds really weird to you. after all, what does making a movie have to do with writing business school essays right? imo, those two things are very closely related. ultimately, writing a good essay is all about telling a good story. the 70 minute video review has some very cool ideas about what makes a story good.

Interesting huh!
A