All results out finally...

Not that it does not matter, but the delays in sending out the results had really taken my interest off them.... But finally, one by one, the results are out and updated on the right pane....

6 Applications - 4 Acceptances, 1 reject after interview, 1 reject before interview...
Roughly 2 months to go before I take off for Atlanta....

Why are you throwing your H1B?

A strange, strange state really....

(1) I have an H1 B, the VISA most IT people yearn for, thanks to my present employer. But becuase I have an admit from a top 20, I am keen to give it up and ask the USCIS for an F1..

(2) Two years down the line, when my F1 will be near its deathbed, I will be begging for an H1 B...

Among these thoughts, just when I was about to apply for student VISA, the next step towards the education that I badly need to start this fall, my DM gave me another option... This is what he said: "Why are you throwing your H1B? Move to the US on H1-B by mid April, file a COS, work till July, get your F1, start your education in August"....

A very lucrative offer indeed.... But it has its cons...
I will be missing out on all the fun I was planning to have before I start my education... I will miss out the month long stay with my family, a vacation for which I have yearned since I moved out of my hometown for my under-grad... I had promised my mom and grand mom that I will spend a long time with them, before moving to US for MBA... :( Here are the options:

(1) Take the offer, move to US --> Financial benifits
(2) Stay at home, relax for two months --> Emotional benifits... A lot of them actually...

I am supposed to reply within a day!

Edited on 23 rd April, 2007 - Made the decision finally, tomorrow is my last day @ work!!!!!

Scholarship reconsidered!! Enrolled!!

This is not an attempt to fool anyone on the April Fool's day... :-) I was trying to negotiate the scholarship amount with the Adcom at Emory - and finally they have considered me worthy enough for 'a double'... Yahhhhoooooo!!!

It took a lot of contemplation, at first, on whether to retake GMAT merely for scholarship reconsideration. It also took a weekend dipped in Sentence Correction and a missed trip to Pondichery , the low of a 650 in Kaplan and the high of a 760 in GMAT Prep 1 & 2... and finally a 740 with quant 49 and verbal 41 in the GMAT attempt 2... :-) However, when an investment of $250 yields you such high gains, you definitely do not want to crib for the efforts you put in... :-)

This leaves me with less than 20% of tuition fees to be paid from my pockets... Very close to the goal with which I started my application process... With the acceptance deposit deadline approaching soon, I have digged the first hole in my pocket and have sent the needed $1000 draft to Atlanta...

On the other hand, McCombs is still not replying... :-( and I am losing my interest as well... :-(

McCombs interview invite

After a long long wait, the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas, Austin has considered me worthy enough for an interview....

I am finding things pretty stringent with McCombs. First, they do not offer telephonic interviews. The only form of off-campus interview is alumni interview. I have located three of McCombs alumni in India. All of them are in Mumbai. Did mail one of them, but no reply so far.... It has been more than 3 (business) days.. Should I mail another alum??? Any McCombs aspirants/admits/students with an off-campus interview experience listening????

Pre-MBA ponderings...

Just to cross-check...

Since the time I have got an admit, I am feeling as if I have very less time and there is so much to do before August 2007... Is this the feeling everywhere?

I was talking to a current student about the pre-MBA plans, who mentioned that I was just getting a bit more excited... But when I know that I am going to be the youngest member of my batch, I seriously feel there is a lot of homework to be done before joining... And considering that I am just dumped with piles of work and a new team to handle, things get that much more time-less.... Any thoughts on keeping the papers down before verfication and VISA?

Uni of North Carolina... :(

To me it seems like a sine wave, with its magnitude extending on either sides of the time line...
If last week was the positive peak, this week is the negative... :(

Dinged by UNC... :(
I now realize... It does not hurt much when you already have an admit in your pocket...
But then too, am a bit disappointed... M not sure if I would have joined UNC over Emory (which comes with $$$), but yet, a rejection is after all a rejection.... It deserves its share of sad smileys... :(:(:(...

:):)

Edited:
Just dropped back to add a note... I was going through my UNC essays and found out the stupidest mistake ever... The name of the school is Kenan Flagler Business School (KFBS) and from dont know where I have mentioned "KNBS" everywhere in my essays.... :):) Not sure, if this had an impact on the decision, but it is certainly something that should have been avoided...

Into the GBS, Emory University with $$$!

Where should I start from? :):)
Just when I was thinking to write down a mail to the adcom, asking them to send in the decision as the wait was getting intolerable, I have their mail in my inbox! This is pure telepathy!!

Admitted to Goizueta Business School, Emory University with a hefty scholarship!!!
The first real taste of success for the year... :)
The feeling has not yet sinked in!!

What is it?

M just not sure if it is this long wait for the decisions to come by, or the piles of stereotype work I am dumped into, or the dual-faced attitude of most of the managers in my company..... or a combination of every thing... but there is something which is nagging me a lot!!!

I am also reading Fortune @ BOP alongside... And thats probably another reason I am getting sick with the present work I do from morning 8 to evening 6... The book describes hundreds of ways and examples to achieve things that I want to in long term... Somehow, I want to start doing all those things right from today... Somehow, I am getting impatient... :-?

Nways, just a quick check @ things in store:

1. Interview invite from NUS (late jan/early feb as per the last communication)
2. Emory decision
   
3. UNC decision (Feb 6 is so far away!)
4. Any communication from McCombs.... please... do that soon...
5. Final ding letter from ISB.... They should atleast send me that!!!

Would leave with a note of congratulations to all fellow bloggers who got into HBS... Though it was very disappointing to see the majority of blogger-HBS aspirants not able to make it for the trip to moon as they call it... :) But at the same time, it is always too pleasing to know that all of them are already into pretty great schools if not HBS... 'One school' is all that you need after all..

Emory interview and thoughts...

With each and every interview I complete, one of the things that amazes me the most is the comfort level that the interviewers provide you... They bring you to a platform where you can just open your heart out and say whatever you feel like... Such a position could be very dicy at times... If you are not (that) sure about your goals and why that school and stuff, you may end up leading yourself to a statement which contradicts what you mentioned in your essays... However, if you are damn sure of your goals, the interview proves out to be an excellent time to spill everything out... From the things that you could not include due to word limits to things that you always thought were a bit 'weird'...

Ms. Shannon Demko from Emory University conducted a telephonic interview for me last Friday... Although the administration had confirmed that they will call me on my cellphone, they finally ended up calling my permanent residence number, a place 1500 kms far from where I was waiting for their call... :) My 10 year old cousin picked the call, and after listening the US accent said 'wrong number'... :):)

Fortunately, they found my cellphone number on my resume... The interview started casually and I reminded her that we had met during the QS world MBA tour... Obviously, she was not going to recall... I later reminded her about the loads and loads of questions I had for her the other day... She said - it was her turn to ask questions then... :)

Tell me something about your work and your client...
Something about the way you handle your team with people more experienced then you...
How would your team mates describe you as an individual..
How would you describe your manager as an individual...
Long term, short term goals... Why MBA? and Why Emory?

I never realized when I exhausted the 30 mins of time I had...
Soon, it was time to say "It was great talking to you, you can now ask any questions you have.."

I wanted the interview to last longer... I wanted to speak a lot... I wanted to bring out more and more the thoughts that have gone behind the acronym 'MBA'.... But it wasnt to happen for that all powerful clock that keeps ticking...

Nways, I mailed an updated resume with a thank you note post interview...

Thats it to pen for now...

Btw, here is wishing you all bloggers a belated Happy New Year!!! Lets hope the year 2007 takes everyone of us a step (or more) closer to our goals....

UNC telephonic interview

"Hello... This is Julie Wiley, Assistant Director of Admissions from UNC KFBS calling... "

This was the biggest line in terms of numbers of words the Adcom spoke... :) For the next half an hour, it was Right all the way!!

The interview started casually with questions on my under graduation... the place, how far it was from my native place... I think I was a bit lost here and later I was able to drag myself on track.....

The next question was about my work profile and how have I been handling people with more experience than me...

Then, she wanted me to talk about my long term and short term goals.... I had to do well hear...

Why KFBS? followed... Again an elaborate explanation delivered...

Next was: what do you do when you dont play the guitar?

And finally... questions (if any): I shot 3 questions which were very satisfactorily answered..

Thanks to the blogging community, the BW and PG forums, present students and alumns I was able to do a healthy research on the program and quality of life at Chapel Hill... I was complemented for that...

So... thats it for now... Will keep you all updated with more.... Chow...

Edit: My hearty congratulations to all folks who are getting their R1 acceptances! Chill out guys n gals... And keep some space for me, I will join soon... :)

Notre Dame Decision

Not a great start by any means.... :(

After a waitlist from ISB, University of Notre Dame has also waitlisted my application. Not too sure of whats happening.... I thought (and so did my reviewers) that I did a good job on my essays.. Its time to scratch the basics now:

• Decent GMAT score (this bagged an application fee waiver for me from ND)
• Significant achievements at work
• Great extra curriculars
• Decent comm. service

The negative points could have been:

• Just two years of work ex and that too in IT...
• No intl work ex...
• 75 percentile in Verbal GMAT

As far as the recommendations go, I am pretty sure of them being well above average...

So... all in all... The waitlist decision seems to be based on more subjective terms.. There are some possibilities:

1. I might have committed a serious blunder in my essays or could have mentioned two contradictory characteristics
2. Probably, I was not able to highlight my plus points through my essays
3. I might have missed to convince them of the fact why Notre Dame...

There could be many other reasons, but at present my mind is blank... I expected an admit alongwith some schol from ND.... :(

Just pondering if it would be advisable to apply to lower ranked unis...
My mind says 'NO' -- my heart says 'I DONT KNOW'...

Done with Notre Dame Interview

Hello folks,

I am through all the formalities from my end with respect to my efforts to woo the Adcoms at Notre Dame. :)

The interview started with a shocker, as I was surprised to find an answering machine replying my call inplace of Brian Lohr, Director of Admissions. Was quite a bit disappointed to find this. Just when I was about to write down a mail to them, I got a mail from Brian Lohr and he asked me to call on a number. The rest of the staff was on Thanks Giving holiday.

It started pretty well as per my expectations. Simple questions from his side, followed by long elaborate answers from me. I made sure that I spoke every word clearly and did not speed up things. The questions were pretty simple... Why MBA? Why now? Why Notre Dame? and stuff...

The long long wait begins now... Keeping my fingers crossed...

Go Irish!!! :):)

ISB results out - Its DWI... almost...

The long wait for ISB interview shortlist is finally over. And here is what my status reflects:

Short-listed for Interview:
No, placed on waitlist

And what does 'waitlist' mean for ISB? :) It means 'wait for one more year'.
Though I have been told that my application will be re-evaluated with cycle 2 applicants and the decision for shortlisting me for interview will be taken in Jan 2007, i am foreseeing their decision based on what I have heard. Taking it as a DWI... :(

Nways, there are some positive news from the US schools... I will be interviewed by the Adcoms of University of Notre Dame... And it will be my first telephonic interview...

So.... The goal for the next two days is to forget ISB DWI and prepare for the interview...
Let's hope it goes fine..

C ya all...

Wait number 1i - ISB

Here is what their web site mentions:
The calls will be sent out 1 week before the interview date. The interview date being 25-26 Nov...

Here is what a sweet voice confirmed on the phone:
The calls will be sent by Wednesday, 15th Nov evening... :)

Not sure why the calls are sent early than what was anticipated, but whatever the case is - the eagerness is mounting all over me...

Have been pulling some strings on my guitar and hitting some bars in the gym to avoid refreshing the same web-page every minute... :) ISB is the first school I sent my essays to and having said that, a positive response will be a solid confidence booster...

Fingers crossed??? No.... fingers on that F5 key.. :)

Btw... I cleared the Java Certification i talked about in my last post.. No more technical certifications for me!!!!! The week has started well... Let hope, it ends well too... :)

An update after a while...

Am through with the first two apps finally!!!
The packets for Goizueta - Emory and Mendoza - Notre Dame are on their way to the US of A...
Hope to hear from Georgia and Indiana soon...

Had been real busy with loads of work and some pathetic Java certification coming up...
Time to get back to it again.... :(

C ya all..

Resonating Core Values

I have never taken more time than what I am taking now to write a double spaced page. This one is for Essay # 2 for Goizueta School of Business, Emory:

Of Goizueta’s core values (courage, integrity, accountability, rigor, diversity, team,community), which value resonates most with you and why?

The initial problem I faced was chosing one of these values as I never wanted to gang up everyone and beat - arnd - da - bush. And once I am clear with my thoughts, I am just pondering over the way to start the essay....

This is the toughest one till date for sure... :(
Time is running with R1 ending 1st November... I better hurry up....

Done with ISB Application!!! :)

Name of the Applicant: **********
Application was submitted on: 03/10/2006
Click here to Download Application (PDF Format)
Application Status: Completed Hyderabad 500 032 INDIA
Printed application and supporting documents received on : 04/10/2006

Admissions Comments : Application is Complete. Further update will be available, once the application has been evaluated.

Visit to ISB

The scene was all set... It was time to pay a second visit to the only Indian b-school i will be
applying this year... The Indian School of Business, Hyderabad..

I had registered for their Friday session held on 22nd September, 2006.
And here are some observations:

• The TIE-Connect program was at its peak... I could see many visitors loitering around the coridor..

• The venue was changed to EC 8 because of unavailibity of class room. Though the receptionist was too shy to inform this, the pion was very courteous to escort us to EC 8..

• I was one of the early birds... And so, it was time to explore...

• Peaked through the glass windows in one of the ongoing class and the atmosphere was no different than what I had in my school...

• The front rowers were all attentive, with a posture suggesting that they would die if they missed a word of what the prof had to say...

• The lords of last benches were.... :):):)

• By the time I returned to EC 8, they had distributed the brochures and the feedback form... I asked for the same, but was disappointed to hear that they were limited in number.. Common ISB!!!
  

• The session was scheduled to start at 3 and it started at 3 sharp.. Hmmm.. Impressive!!

• Amit started the session and it was handed over to Srinivas (the one who got an admit from Fuqua as well)...

• The presentation was quite lively - a mix of video, audio and ppt slides... Srinivas had lot of info to be shared..
  

• I was quite pleased to know that ISB had 4 centres of excellence and 2 more are to be added soon...

• Srini was then accompanied by Nitin, an IT fellow from Trivandrum... It was such a pleasure to see a fellow IT wala.. :)

• Nitin along with Srini and the man himself, Srinath took the questions...

• As usual I was the first to break the silence, and it was asked just to break the silence...

• The questions then flew in - there was one fellow who was stuck on the exchange program that ISB has.. Pehle admission to ho, phir exchange karna yaar... :)

• It was probably coz i had researched a lot through the student blogs and ISB website and other forums, I was getting bored...

• I had a list of questions which i wanted to ask and i was raising my hand after an interval of 4-5 questions from others...

• One of my question also got the nod saying 'This is a very good question'... Tussi chha gaye!!

• Got to know some of the 'buzz' words which ISB looks for.. Good finding...

• The Q & A session streched too long and within no time, it was 5 o clock...

• Srinivas and Nitin had their class and so Srinath accompanied us for a visit around the building...

• As it was raining cats and dogs, we were not able to visit the student villages.. No lose for me as i have been there before...

• Found some new friends, some of them were still to take GMAT and some were still to plan if at all they ll apply to ISB..

There was a strange difference I felt this time as compared to my visit two years ago...
The student who conducted the session two years ago was kind enough to give his personal mail id in case if we had some queries... But unfortunately, i had no queries then...

I asked for mail id from one of the students this time, but i was given the google group id... :(
Though disappointing, but ye... I can understand the work pressure they must be facing.. No complaints...

All in all, come what may.. I am apping to this cross the road school...
Will be submitting the packet within a day or two...
With recos and the application form ready, i am just waiting for review comments on my essays from my friends..

Not sure how am i supposed to send them the application fees of INR 2000/-..
Will search it out on their site...

Chow for now...

Retake GMAT?

Hmmm... This is interesting!!

Exactly a week ago, i was singing at the top of my voice that 700 is what i am aiming at.. 700 is what i deserve... Anything above that will be a bonus...

And now, when i have a 710, my inner voice is urging me to retake-GMAT!!!!!!!!!

I dont know from where this thought initiated, but yes, i am able to give lot many reasons to myself for a stint at GMAT once again!!

• 710 - fine.. But Verbal - 35 (75 percentile) not at all fine... :( The score is not balanced...
• AWA - didn't write the issue satisfactorily, haven't got the score yet though...
• Can now concentrate more efficiently on my weak points, as things are still fresh...

These were the pros which my psyche concludes... And here is what common sense inquires:

• What if there is no significant rise in the score?
• Will I lose a lot of time which i should devote to my applications?
• Am i running after numbers???
• 250$, am I nuts??

Thought process going on folks!!! Need to convince myself to a conclusion soon!!!!

The G-experience...

My humble journey for a 700+ in GMAT was precisely an example of the way i have taken things in life, the way i have aspired, the way i have fought and the stupid last-minute shocks i have always given to myself... :) Not to mention, the way i have always felt - "i could have done better!!!"

The G-date i had selected was Tuesday June 27th, 2006. I wanted to take it on Monday 26th, but there were no seats available and so i had to opt for Tuesday... And frankly speaking, this proved to be a blessing in disguise... :)

After a 750 in PowerPrep -2 followed by 700 in GMATPrep -2, there were hundreds of 'ifs' and 'buts' which ran through my mind.... Although i tried to avoid the GMAT thought as much as possible on 26th, i was just not able to... I tried watching some movie on the television, but while doing that, i was not at all interested in the story of the movie... I was only interested in pointing out grammatical errors in the dialogues and in thinking better ways to present them... :) Sentence Correction was getting over me!!!!

As Monday progressed, i was trying to accumulate the different rules and exceptions in a piece of paper... I would refer to the list that i had prepared after every 2 hours... And surprisingly, on the last day before GMAT, i found that my SC accuracy while practising 1000SCs was closing 100%... :) This was such a relief, it helped me boost my confidence and probably, also saved me from drowning below 700...

I dont know what was wrong with my roomies Monday night!! :) Neither were they interested in sleeping, nor were they ready to let me sleep... :) The jesting continued till 12:30 in the night... As i was about to close my eyes, i realised that the day i was waiting since last few months had started... It was the day when i was going to take the longest and the costliest of all the exams i ever took... :)

Somehow i feel surprisingly chilled before every major exam i take... I do crazy things which i dont do daily, and those things keep me relaxed... :) Nways, lets not dig into the crazy things i did in the morning, and lets straight away move to the examination center...

"Pearson Professional Center", followed by some crap thought on 'future' - was what the board read... After reaching the center at 8, i learnt that the gates were to be opened only at 8:30... So, i had no option but to watch the stray dogs performing their morning exercises... :) The watchman at the gates was quite an interesting character.. I got some statistical updates related to the number of students that come up to give GMAT and more interestingly their reactions after the exam... :)

The lady admin officer arrived around 8:20, in her white saree... She reminded me of one my high school teachers whom i feared like anything... But on the contrary, with a beautiful smile on her face, she politely called me in and commented that i was before time.. :) She then asked me to read 2-3 rules which were written in a frame hanging on a distant wall... Here was the catch... It was then that i realized this --> i was not carrying my spectacles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes.. i am dumb, a jerk or whatever you wanna call... Though i dont wear glasses usually, i am advised to keep them on while in front of that stupid box... I had them on, in all my practice CATs... I knew without having them on, my eyes were gonna water when i enter the crunch minutes in Verbal... But... but.. but.. i had no option... It would have taken me an hour to go home and come back... I checked with the admin officer, on whether i could start my test a bit late.. But she politely denied my request, saying that though she would have wanted to allow me, the company policies do not allow her to do so... The mighty Righty was down and shattered... :( That was such a crime to be committed...

I went to the rest room, sprinkled water on eyes, looked into the mirror and said to myself... "If you think about your spectacles and crib, you will waste all the money and time you have invested... But if you dont think about it, there is a chance that you might still reach the score you are here for..."

I then tried to divert my mind by talking to the fellow aspirants... We were 4 and two amongst us had glasses on their eyes... :) I tried not to look at those two, so that i could keep my mind off that thought and chatted more with the person without specs... :):)

All four of us were asked to place everything from our pockets into the respective lockers... I found this very idiotic... You cant even carry your hankerchief inside!!!! What the hell!!! I asked the admin officer whether i could carry a tissue.. And she again denied very courteously...
I was alloted the system number 2... The gentle man besides me on system 3 was taking his GMAT for the second time and was only 32 years old!!! :) Kudos to him and his attempt!!!

The test started smoothly, with a very simple argument. I had thought of a structure for the argument and i think i have done well there... Then came the issue.... And my Goddd!!! I was blank!! I was literally blank!! Dont know was it the anxiety of the examination or the absurdness of the issue, but i was finding it very difficult to accumulate the thoughts... This was very unusual for me as i have done well with respect to my writing skills in the past... Still managed to type around 30 lines stuff... Dont exactly know how well i will score in AWA... :(

Break number 1: Had some water sprinkled on my eyes, a sip of Tropicana for my dry throat, few smiles for the admin officer:) and off i was!!

Quant: Hmm... My strong point, right? It was only the second question, which made me ponder for a while and that too because of the terms that were used in it... All the other questions were like pieces of cake... I had 2 probability questions, and both of them were very simple... I was getting into my rhythm and it was such a good feeling to have... Its like you start realizing that you are clicking the correct option... I was initially rechecking every answer twice before i clicked the next button, but later i found it to be very boring... and so with all the trust that i have developed in my rhythm, i sailed through the section with more than 9 minutes to spare.... And i knew, i had done well!!

Break number 2: Eyes were paining by now!! There was this burning sensation i was able to feel!!! I just repeated the same procedure of sprinkling, sipping and smiling :) and went inside the test room..

Verbal: Something that i did then, saved my verbal section... I reduced the brightness of the monitor and placed it a bit away from its usual position... And this did work!! I found that my eyes were not burning, and i was not missing my glasses... :) My confidence in Sentence Correction was sky high, and when i started with one of the SCs, it only added to my confidence.. The RCs were ok... 4 of them, with around 15 questions in all... What did me, i feel, were the CRs.. In most of the questions, i was only able to eliminate 1 or 2 and for spotting the correct answer from the rest, i had to rely on my guessing abilities... Though i dint guess in the first 15, i had to do so in the CRs after 15, as i thought i was going to run short of time other wise... Finished just in the nick of time, with 4 seconds left... And the battle called GMAT, for me, was over!!!

You just feel like kicking that Dell monitor in front of you, which asks hundreds of questions you already answered while registering... While i was reading them just for the sake of reading, i heard scores like 650, 670 from the people who started the test with me... And then came the most stupid question of all times... "Will you like to see your score?" I wonder if there are any GMATters who click a No here.. With no one else in the room, and just the admin officer and a office boy viewing me from the security glasses, I clicked Yes with all the zeal i could gather... It tool exactly 4 and a half seconds for it to calculate my score... I had placed my right hand on the screen and was hiding the score for a while, in order to give myself the feeling of a dramatic end... :) I pushed my hand slightly to the left and saw a Zero at the last.. :):) This was very obvious... I shifted my hand to the right now... and ... and.... there you go!! There was a seven (7)!!! I was least interested in the middle number now and so i took my hand off the screen and had a close look at the score '710', the scaled scores '50' and '35' and the percentiles '95' and '75'...

I thought i could have done better in Verbal, especially after a damn good Quant... But nevertheless, i was happy...

The admin lady gave me the prints of my score and escorted me off the PPC.... The watchman too was happy to know my score.. :)

So, this was it... My date with GMAT... Though this was the end of the test, this was just the beginning of a great journey and hopefully, a great success story!!! :)

Now, I just need to save this world a couple of times, get an olympic gold or two and get few promotions in my office.. and then i stand a 50% chance at Harvard!!!! :):):):):)