Rachit Chandra

Essaying your life

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 21:55:00 +0000

I can't count the number of opportunities (read conferences, summits and masters programs) I have not applied to because they ask for multiple essays! Most recent is the MiM program of LBS which asked for not one not two but 6 essays!

The anathema is partly because of the drudgery (and subsequent ding) I underwent for the HBS 2+2 application. The other part is questions like what are your career goals/where do you see yourself 5 years down the line/tell us how you fit the role of xyz etc.

I am sick of marketing myself. Indian B Schools had a more objective way of (yes, critics of IIMs/CAT bite me) screening applicants. But alas, I had to write a SOP for my lone IIM call too! Thankfully, by not asking for a resume, the adcom gave me enough content to write about!

Before leaving obvious comments, rethink! I know the merits of screening applicants through essays. I still hate them. They make me feel like a 1st year trying to act cool and score brownie points in front of seniors. :P

Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:43:00 +0000

It has been quite some time since I blogged. So, here is a quick update of what I have been up to:

Living life to the hilt in Bangalore
Joined the BITSAA International's Fund Raising team
Working for/with the National Social Entrepreneurship Forum
Did badly in Quant in CAT 2009 and got no calls despite a 99.77 percentile
Revived my twitter account @rachitchandra

There is a review of my new phone coming up very soon! Till then catch me on Twitter.

PS: I changed my number to +91 99800 44553.

Who the Indian?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:36:00 +0000

The Raj Thackerays, Gurungs and KCRs of the country make me rethink the concept of a nation (or of a similar unit of administration). Nationalism, for most of us, peaks during a T20 match (which,by the way, is too often these days) or during incidents like 26/11 (which I believe is more of a conditioned response than a true nationalistic feeling).

Rest of the times, do we really care about our Indian-ness? Who is an Indian anyway? Being born on Indian soil is a flimsy ground. A country as populous as India has no uniting thread. Thats scary.

I, myself, adore the concept of being an Indian. But, in a few years we'll need more logic and less emotion when we define how we divide ourselves into countries, states and cities. It would make our maps clearer and lives simpler. Amen!

Übermensch

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:12:00 +0000

I am too inexperienced in philosophy to appreciate Nietzsche. However, whenever I read his works, I can relate to them; not as a body of thought but at a more atomic and practical level.

As I hastily try to finish and selectively forget a chapter in my life, the following lines [Text Courtesy: Project Gutenberg] struck a chord:

The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman SHALL BE the meaning of the earth!

And here ended the first discourse of Zarathustra, which is also called "The Prologue": for at this point the shouting and mirth of the multitude interrupted him. "Give us this last man, O Zarathustra,"—they called out—"make us into these last men! Then will we make thee a present of the Superman!" And all the people exulted and smacked their lips. Zarathustra, however, turned sad ...

Nietzsche also says that God has died and we all desire for the Superman to live. I wish he is wrong about it.

But, the mirth of the multitude, more so today, proves that Nietzsche is right.

The GMAT Preparation Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:22:00 +0000

Of late a lot of juniors at BITS Pilani (:P) have been asking me about GMAT. So, to make things simpler for myself, I am posting everything I know about the GMAT.

About GMAT
Graduate Management Aptitude Test is conducted by the Graduate Management Admissions Council. The Test is a Computer Adaptive Test and is conducted throughout the year at designated venues. New Delhi has 2 centers and Jaipur has one.

GMAT Structure

Analytical Writing Assessment: 60 mins
Optional Break: 10 mins
Quantitative Ability: 75 mins
Optional Break: 10 mins
Verbal Ability: 75 mins

Analytical Writing Assessment section tests writing skills and analytical thinking. You will have to write two essays: one on an analysis of an issue and one on an analysis of an argument. The section is scored out of 6 and the score is reported separately. A 6/6 is about 87 percentile and with effective use of flag words like firstly, secondly, therefore, in conclusion (a computer does the scoring and an overworked TA checks it) can help you max the section. Apparently, when you apply to MBA programs certain universities also look at the actual essays to judge your skills and not just the score.

Quantitative Ability section is a cakewalk for any BITSian. Since, the test is computer adaptive, get the first few questions right (more on this later). The two types of questions are regular problem solving questions and data sufficiency ones. I personally found data sufficiency questions to be very tough. However, with an alert mind even these questions can be tackled. I scored full on the Quantitative Section (even though it is not necessary that I got all the 37 questions right) with minimal practice. The concepts tested are usually 10th Standard level.

Verbal Ability section is the bug bear. It consists of 41 questions and has three types of questions namely

Reading Comprehension questions are passages followed by 3-5 questions and are not very difficult. If you read the newspaper daily or are into reading books (not Sheldon and Archer), it should not be too difficult.
Critical Reasoning questions are the simplest. The question has a statement and you have to pick an option that supports/strengthens/weakens/contradicts etc. the given statement.
Sentence Correction questions are the toughest. However, GMAT is a very standardized test. The GMAT mostly tests you on one of the eight common errors (more on this later too)

How is GMAT scored?

This is a big mystery AFAIK. From what I know, all questions in GMAT belong to a particular score bin (not an official term, but will make it easier to understand). Now each score bin also has an associated increment/decrement.

When you start the test, GMAT assigns you a default score (say 500). All the questions you get are from the 500-score bin. Lets assume the associated increment or decrement as 50. If you get this question right, you move on to the 550-sore bin (and if you get it wrong, you move to 450-score bin).

As your score moves away from 500, the associated increment/decrement becomes smaller. Hence, the first few questions determine your default score and the later questions just fine tune your score.

It is imperative to get as many of the intial questions right as possible. It is wise to allocate more time to the first 5-7 questions in each section as once your score is pegged by these, your chances to salvage the test become minimal.

How to prepare for GMAT?

I used the following books

GMAT Official Guide (best book to practice, its the official guide!)
Princeton Review (good for sentence correction theory and the eight error types)
Barrons (not so great)

I have heard Kaplan's 800 is a good book if you intend to max the test. I did not use it and hence can't comment.

For further queries, you know how to catch me :)

Wikipedia Read Aloud

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:24:00 +0000

Shailesh Jha is a Wikipedia entry read aloud

-Karteek

Google Squared

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:06:00 +0000

Google squared is something I discovered a few minutes ago but am already amazed. Google squared is a service that lets you type in a keyword like Largest Airplanes and builds a table automatically of the top ten results. The columns are decided automatically and are usually relevant.

It is full of very cool and useful features. You can add columns to the table, remove columns, sort by columns, convert units of the entries in the column to a standard unit and so on (and with Google's characteristic ease). While adding columns, the suggestions are remarkably well suited.

You should definitely try Best Web Search Engine (Surprise Surprise! There's no Bing in the top 10).

Last Bastion Of Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Here's my favorite quote. Its apt to remember this when the last bastion has fallen and the slide (I hope) is complete.

कौन कहता है कि रस की निर्झरी तुम्हारे बहाए नहीं बह सकती? ज़िन्दगी के फल को दोनों हाथों से निचोड़ के तो देखो.
-रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर' (राष्ट्रकवी)

@ Shailesh Jha / Pushp Saurav: Forgive me for typos.

Sanjeev T & Rainbow Bridge @ OASIS 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:43:00 +0000

Sanjeev T & Rainbow Bridge had interesting costumes. Here's a shot of Sanjeev T with an extra large badge on his crotch. Need I say more?

OASIS 2009: Day 0

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:56:00 +0000

The Inauguration of OASIS has never appealed to me (except the year when Mr Sunit Rikhi had an amazing poem to share with us).

However, today was worse when our Chief Guest Mr Rahul Bose attempted to get away with a I Have A Dream speech.

What I liked about his speech was the idea that amidst all the extravaganza, celebration and conspicuous consumption, we need to spare a thought for the underprivileged. Earlier, even Dr Raghurama, Deputy Director, BITS Pilani brought it up in his speech albeit in a much better manner.

What I didn't like was the fact that Mr Bose tried too hard to please everyone. He sounded like the jhola chaap activist who wants to fix everything in the world. Right from India-Pakistan relations to bad soaps. Everything one could possibly think of. Pretentious as Saurya put it.

OASIS 2009:Flipped

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:34:00 +0000

I realized I need to pass out of BITS Pilani when a day before OASIS all I could say about the gaggle of pretty girls at ANC was Its so crowded. However, I still am looking forward to a few things.

Mr Anurag Dutta is representing BITS Pilani in Mr. and Ms. OASIS (MAMO).
Sanjeev T & Rainbow bridge (unfortunately, and apparently due to Messrs. Shankar Ehsan Loy, the only rock Prof Show)
Sunil Pal (although he doesn't have the class of Ehsaan Qureshi
Junna (with his girlfriend!), Lokesh, Rushi and hopefully Katiyar are coming to OASIS

Best wishes to Mr. Dutta!

The Ball of Guilt

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:11:00 +0000

I am tired enough not to get done with my Things to Do. But, I am not tired enough to recount a peculiar incident that happened to me on a bus journey.

I was engrossed in my book Amritsar : The Last Battle of Mrs Gandhi. I was trying to create a mental time line of the events that led to the infamous Blue Star and subsequently the assassination of Mrs Gandhi. I was brought back to the cacophony that prevailed in the bus by a tug at my elbow.

The tug didn't beg.The tug chided.

A young man ( displaying obscenely conspicuous signs of being a Hindu) was motioning me to scrunch and let an elderly hunchbacked man sit. I obliged. The elderly man, before he slumped onto the seat in obvious relief, asked me twice if it would not cause me any discomfit. The question caused much more discomfort than having to share the seat.

The incident touched a chord somewhere. Are we too engrossed in our academic pursuits to pay any heed to the real problems that our world faces?

But, you know what made me smile? The elderly man was a Muslim. Notwithstanding all the rhetoric RSS or Maulvis might generate, in a mofussil town there is a(n apparently) devout Hindu who chides an urban boy for not letting an elderly Muslim sit on a crowded bus.

It might be unfashionable and politically incorrect to use Hindu/Muslim as adjectives in secular societies. However, a lot of us acknowledge religion and still manage to be secular.

Un-cool

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 18:54:00 +0000

Its better to be unwanted than unvalued.

K4rt33k

Reva NXG

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:42:00 +0000

This is one car I am going to watch out for. Electric cars are going to be in vogue soon. And Reva NXG (unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show and designed by Dilip Chhabaria) definitely looks the part :)

Prices for the European market are really high (INR 700,000-1,000,000). I'll wait for the Indian prices. These are the times when I hate the recession and the consequent job market.

Conquest 2009 on ET Now

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:41:00 +0000

Here's the much awaited ET Now coverage of Conquest 2009. I love the shot when BITS Pilani gate gets its due. Finally :)

Great work, Gautam, Deepika and Prateik. I am so proud of this :)

Long Break from blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 19:30:00 +0000

Its been quite a while since I blogged. A quick update on what transpired in between.

A ding from HBS 2+2 without an interview
A splendid Conquest 2009
A job offer
A new CEL President
A shift to left of center

As soon as IPC manages to restore internet in my room, I shall resume full scale blogging.

Conquest 2009 Grand Finale

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 15:37:00 +0000

It is ten days to Conquest 2009 (August 8th and 9th) and preparations are in full swing.

Interested in knowing more? Follow conquest2009 on twitter and check out the Conquest homepage.

Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 21:31:00 +0000

Update : I got dinged

I am waiting for the decision to the Reliance Dhirubhai Fellowship for an MBA at Stanford GSB. I don't know how the shortlist of 50 will be decided based on academic scores and a 250 word essay on How do you aspire to shape India's future.I must have got really tired of refreshing my application homepage to blog about this!

In its inaugral edition last year, the fellowship received 1400+ applicants. The shortlist of 50 included 3 BITSians. Finally, 5 fellows were selected. Acceptance Rate ~0.35% .

The five fellows included our own Aditi Pany (One of the Founding Members of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at BITS Pilani) and Varun Jain (IIT Kanpur) from the Class of 2007 of Goldman Sachs Global Leaders (and an Engineers 4 Social Impact 2009 Fellow).

HBS 2+2 Application Submitted

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:43:00 +0000

At 10:23:00 AM EST, 6/23/2009, I got done with my application for Harvard Business School's 2+2 program.

PS: Search for HBS on Google and this blog comes up on the first page! To save this moment of glory (:P) for posterity, here's a screenshot. (Click on it, my blog just manages to occupy the lower most piece of screen-estate)

BITS Pilani bags three medals at Robogames 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:56:00 +0000

Well, I am sure you have heard about Acyut winning Bronze at Robogames 2009. But, did you know there is a team of BITS Pilani students that won a Silver and a Bronze?

Here's to the unsung heroes : Read Hindu's online article about them.

Pretty Much My Life - 2

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:48:00 +0000

This is what I blogged about in the last year.

To view the Worlde tag cloud for the year before that click here

BITS Pilani Counselling Procedure

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:29:00 +0000

Kindly note that I take no responsibility for the accuracy of the information. For official answers, please contact the Admissions Office, BITS Pilani at admnoc at bits dash pilani dot ac dot in.I am posting this as a lot of you have emailed me/called me with the same doubts.

The admission process to BITS Pilani is completely online. You do not need to attend any counselling. You will not be invited for admissions just because you wrote the BITSAT and scored 400. You need to apply online at the Admissions site.

As part of the online application form, you need to fill up a preference form. Fill up the programs you would want to attend in the order of your preference. Remember, Computer Science at Pilani campus is a different option from Computer Science at Goa Campus or Hyderabad Campus.

BITS Pilani will announce the results of the first iteration at a pre announced date. In each of the iterations, a software sorts the eligible applicants in order of their BITSAT scores, starts with the applicant on the top of the list, allots the highest available preference to him/her and then moves on to the next person on the list.

After the results of the iterations are announced, you need to pay a part of the fees as an indication of your continued interest in admission at BITS Pilani. Only applicants who pay the required fees are eligible for the next iteration.

So, after each iteration, you slide up in your preference order as a few top scorers drop out of the fray. Even if you are on the waitlist and wish to be considered, you need to pay the fees.

One more thing, stop searching about {backward class seats, OBC seats, reservation, quota} at BITS Pilani. I was shocked by the number of visits on this blog through these searches. At BITS Pilani, there are no reservations. No quotas.

And before someone corrects me, the only quota is a Direct Admission to Board Toppers. Being a direct admit myself, I'll be more than happy to answer any queries you might have about this.

Well said Nietzsche

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 20:37:00 +0000

Bugged by the thought of facing a quarter life crisis, I have been spending a lot of time reading philosphy. When my spirits hit periliously low levels , I resort to watching the Steve Job's Stanford commencement speech one more time.

But, something that has stuck to my mind is an excerpt from Nietzsche's The Gay Science ( I am reading a translation by Walter Kauffman) and I quote

Third, it is usually said that such times of corruption are gentler and that cruelty declines drastically,compared with the old, stronger age which was more given to faith.All I concede is that cruelty now becomes more refined and that itsolder forms henceforth offend the new taste; but the art ofwounding and torturing others with words and looks reaches itssupreme development...The men of corruption are witty and slanderous; they know of types of murder that require neither daggers nor assault; they know that whatever is said well is believed.

We, as a race, are biased towards people who look suave, talk smooth and weave magic with words. We have become accustomed to be given short and crisp 30 second pitches. We do not have the patience to evaluate an idea on its merit rather than the communciation skills of the person presenting it. We have just become intellectually lazy.

HBS 2+2

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:53:00 +0000

It was about 400 days ago when Nayak told me about HBS 2+2, the special Harvard Business School program for college seniors (pre-final year students). The process (atleast in principle) is very simple.

Seniors apply in the summer before their final year, get an admit by early fall of their final year, work for 2 years in an organization of their choice and then go to HBS for 2 years for a regular MBA.

As HBS put it, the application is a marathon and not a sprint. I have been at it for almost 6 months now. I thought taking the GMAT would be the toughest part but as it turns out be it wasn't.

Writing essays for HBS has been a long drawn process. I have at least two huge (I guess 3' X 5') sheets of paper bearing testimony to my entire life story. I don't know what to include, where to include and how to abide by the word limits.

It has been fun too. Explaining to people why I wrote my GMAT so early, putting down whole of my life on two sheets of paper, realizing that I cant write my HBS essays like I write my blogposts and receiving those tantalizing the crimson seat is waiting mails from HBS.

I have never crossed my fingers harder.

Peer Respect

noreply@blogger.com (Rachit Chandra) — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:42:00 +0000

As an E4SI Fellow, I am interning at Ujjivan Financial Services. It has been very interesting till now.Today, I attended a talk by Jerry Rao at my office. He is an amazing speaker. He gave us a few pointers on leadership and career adavncement. Most of it is very intutive but it is still worth sharing it.

*Leadership is situational. True leaders recognize this. They seamlessly move out of the driver's seat when the situation demands a different type of leader.

*Successful leaders are not usurpers. They have a legitimate accession

*Peer respect is more important in the long run for a leader. Followers respect you because of a reason

*Share credit and take blame alone.

I am in a thinking overdrive these days. Lots of food for thought!

BTW, Set your Goolge Alerts for Jerry. He is going to make big news soon.