Guide For MBA

Few years back I was a MBA applicant with dreams to secure a coveted place in a reputed business school.

It is then I created this blog to share the mistakes I was making and lessons I was learning along the path towards a business school.

In fact, I kept the title of this blog as "mistake, lessons, MBA and more..."

The entire journey from preparing from GMAT to  selecting the schools to crafting applications to polishing for interviews was very overwhelming. Many times, I wondered, phew...is this really worth it?

But after finishing this journey with flying colors against all the odds, I can proudly say - Yes, it was definitely worth it. It wasn't easy at all...there were lots of ups and downs, but at the end, the feeling to realize your biggest dream made all the pain worth it.

Now, after learning all the turns and twists in this journey, I want to leverage my first-hand knowledge and experience to help you.

I am going to transform this blog into an end-to-end guide for MBA to help MBA applicants to realize their biggest dreams.

Introduce yourself by leaving a comment below and stay tuned!

ARINGO: GMAT Below 720? Get Accepted!

Aringo has helped hundreds of people with GMAT scores below 720 get accepted to the top MBA programs by bringing out the real person behind the application. Founded by a former Wharton Admissions Committee Member, we know what the top business schools are looking for, and we will help make sure that your strengths will emerge in your application.

Aringo and a-myjourney.blogspot.com are Admission Consulting Partners now. What does that mean? While signing-up with Aringo, make sure to tell them that a-myjourney.blogspot.com sent you and you would avail discounts.

Aringo Consulting Group Provides you with:

> Aringo helps candidates with GMAT scores below 720 get into the top-10 MBA programs.
> Free initial assessment
> Admission rate higher by 50% on average than normal admission rates for the top programs
> Round Table Strategy

Aringo’s clients have been accepted at Harvard (MBA) with GMAT scores of 580, 660 and 670; at Wharton with GMAT scores of 640, 660 and 670; at Duke with GMAT scores of 600 and 640; at INSEAD with GMAT scores of 630, 640 and 650; at MIT with GMAT scores of 660 and 680; at LBS with GMAT scores of 630, 650 and 660; at Kellogg with GMAT scores of 640 and 680, and many more…

Aringo Video: A top MBA with a GMAT Score < 720.

Ready to get started? Sign up with Aringo, make sure and tell them a-myjourney.blogspot.com sent you to avail discounts, and get started with your admissions process today!

  

Guest Post: Extremely Useful Education Information for the Prospective Business School Student

This guest post is by Alysia Dupuy from FindTheBest.com

For those looking to pursue an MBA program, choices are numerous and can prove highly overwhelming. To lessen stress in your search, FindTheBest has built an all-inclusive, unbiased, and data-driven comparison on all accredited U.S. universities with MBA programs. Encounter the best business school for you by refining your search to acceptance rate, mean GMAT admitted, in-state tuition, and much more.  Need to boost your test score to match the bar set by that dream school of yours? There are plenty of classes ready to help you prepare, and the GMAT test prep courses tool allows users to easily sort through the vast array of options. Even if you are searching for a more personal, one-on-one study experience, the GMAT tutoring comparison allows you to find the perfect fit.

Whether you seek help with test preparation or wish to find the school that matches your preferred profile, FindTheBest’s data-driven education resources help you get there.

Hope to help!
A

Two Days Left to Apply for Beat The GMAT 2012 Scholarship

**2012 BTG Scholarship Announcement**

Two Days Left to Apply for Beat The GMAT 2012 Scholarship

Beat The GMAT (BTG), the world’s largest social network for MBA applicants, is now accepting applications for its seventh annual Beat The GMAT Scholarship Competition. This year, BTG will award scholarship packages for six winners, valued at more than $11,000. Each of the winners will receive one GMAT prep course, an admissions consulting package and a $250 GMAT voucher. BTG will accept applications until Monday night, April 23rd, and winners will be announced on April 30th.

“Giving back to the community is an important part of our mission,” says Eric Bahn, Founder of Beat The GMAT.  “We believe that our annual scholarship is an important initiative to help talented individuals achieve their dreams of going to an amazing business school.” 

Since 2006, Beat The GMAT has been able to distribute $193,000 in scholarships to MBA applicants.

The following companies made generous donations to make these prizes possible: Admit Advantage, Clear Admit, Kaplan, Knewton, Manhattan GMAT, Master GMAT, MBA Admit, mbaMission, Precision Essay, The Princeton Review, and Veritas Prep.  For a full list of prizes, click here.

To learn more and to apply for a scholarship, please visit: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/scholarship

Make the most of it!

A

Accepted.com wants to interview me!

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.

A

My friends' idea. My hard work.

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.

A

Updates on my journey so far...

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!

A

An informative morning in discussion with Shobhit, a Kellogg student

After a long time I saw the beautiful fresh morning, yes after a long time. My office starts at 11 am, and if you have read my earlier posts you might be knowing that I sleep late (around 3 am) to get up late. Today I'd a meeting scheduled at 8 am with Shobhit Chugh, a Kellogg student and Mckinsey intern, and that gave a chance to enjoy a few clean breezes and an informative discussion.

We talked about tightly knit community and team orientated culture of Kellogg, and its the top notch faculty and students that still keeps Kellogg on the top.

Then the discussion revolves around my career goals, and he shared his views regarding them. It might be tough to get into a senior management role back in industry after working for few years in consulting, as consulting job majorly deals in making strategies, and does not give much experience in management. However, technology/product management could prove better than consulting for my long term career goal of a senior level director in an IT company. Secondly, if I don't enjoy travelling much, it would be a major challenge with consulting job, as there is no other go.

Then we discussed about the challenges with starting my own company and he said a bschool could be an awesome and safe platform to implement your ideas with smart people around, but post school, it becomes really challenging to take your company forward, under huge debts without financial backing. We also discussed about the new courses related to start-ups in Kellogg.

He was too supportive and asked me to post further questions over email. It was pretty good way to start a day among these essay writing days.

A