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!

IIMA PGPX Term 1 - Captured to Cherish

April 4th 2013 and 85 of us walked inside the hallowed walls of The Institute - aspired, inspired and motivated.

 

A few were acquainted through social networks and alumni meets; connections were there but friendships were yet to born. Everyone, behind their smile, was hiding the anxiety of what’s in the store for the next one year, however, all were equally excited and proud of becoming a part of this prestigious phenomenon called IIMA.

We had 3 days before the classes – which few referred as the “days of our freedom before grinding”.  Proactive ones among us coordinated introductory presentations and X2 alumni meet. That’s when for the first time we entered CR1, our temple for next one year – darshan timings from 8:45am to 1:10am with few sudden emergency poojas at 3:00pm. And the most prominent gyaan from X2 was – “it will come like a storm; don’t tremble, take it easy”. Did we?

 

All spent those 3 days arranging groceries, settling in new rooms, exploring the local Vastrapur market, mapping each other’s names with faces, carrying heavy-weight vidya from old campus to our rooms, playing badminton and pool, adjusting to the scorching sun, familiarizing with the beautiful IIMA campus, partying, and waiting for the unknown.

The course formally started with the grand inauguration dinner attended by many dignified professors. Spouses and kids were also invited, and it was a great way to interact with professors and mingle with 85 and their families.

The first morning, everyone was on time, well-dressed, clean shaved. Would this going to like this for long...ahem? ;-) We had heard the dreaded truth but the professor confirmed it on the very first day – forget your sleep, it is a luxury here at IIMA. And so, the course began.

 All 85 were divided into 15 Syndicates – our core group to help us sail through good times and mostly bad.  Every evening team members started meeting in their allocated syndicate rooms, trying to understand each other as well as the cases on multitude of functions and industries.

Inside the class we were dealing with the cheetahs, the elephants, the skylabs, the cash flow, the symphony, and outside we were learning to work together in teams of fellow peers. CP inside the class and assignments outside started taking the toll.  The pressure eventually started building up with tougher cases, and the back log started piling up. "TGIF tomorrow" on Thursday evenings became a trendy status on chat messenger. Sleep deprivation was on its all time high and so was the caffeine intake. And then emerged some sleeping beauties :)

 

Amidst our busy schedule of attending classes, analysing cases, brainstorming with syndimates, completing assignments, making presentations, and experiencing morning light, it suddenly struck to a good soul that we are in campus for these many days and never played its traditional game – Frisbee. And a mail floated, Frisbee Tonight @ 10 @ IMDC lawns. And it became a routine for some. Sometimes we snatched people from their syndi rooms to play Frisbee for an hour.

 

We also started having our share of get-togethers on Friday evenings and dorm 26 became our adda. Sports enthusiasts formed the teams for badminton, tennis, squash and pool, and the big boys enrolled for gym.

The roller-coaster ride was taking up the speed and we all 85 were having a blast, learning something new with every turn and swing. The spouses and the kids in PGPX were good friends by then. They started meeting in the park, having potlucks, participating in cultural events, shopping together, having girls' dinner out, and the list goes on. All in all, spouses had started having the gala time!

 

We had our elections, some great pitches, and various committees were formed. Hats off to the election committee to handle the process so transparently and seamlessly. Focus industry groups were also formed targeting for specific industries, though some souls like me are still going to multiple focus groups, demeaning the meaning of focus. Hope we find our focus soon ;)

 

In between all this speed, our amazing speaker series committee managed to invite two eminent personalities - Mr. Ronnie Screwvalla and Mr. Annirudha Deshmukh, providing us the fortunate opportunities to interact and learn from the proven leaders. At the same time, the media committee also improvised PGPX blog and make our presence felt on FB and twitter. We also had some photo competitions during which few hidden photographers of our batch emerged.

 

 

In between we also had some fun time watching the shooting of a Bollywood movie taking place on the campus: an adaptation of Chetan Bhagat’s “2 states” - the main attraction was Arjun Kapoor, Aliya Bhatt and Remo. Some smart ones managed to get a click as well.

The ride was getting faster when suddenly we hit FRA and the its "surprize" downturns. But somehow we managed to ride pass safe. IIP decision was one more such turn that shaken up the ride near its end but IIP committee handled all the confusions and dilemmas very well. Hats-off to them!

 

By then, our sports committee was in place as well and it took out an amazing initiative to coordinate PGPX 2013-14 first sports meet with the badminton and table tennis matches. It was exciting to see everyone participating with full enthusiasm and spirit. Three evenings worth spent. There was one more sport played there. Check out the fourth pic below ;)

We also had a great time interacting with some of the Ohio students, who visited us for lunch in between a trip to other businesses in the area and even attended our marketing class. This is what some had to say:

The case study method used in PGPX program leads to a lot of interaction between the Professor and the students. The exchange of ideas therefore is very high and good for thought generation.

By now, all of us were tuned to the exams, surprise quizzes, complicated cases. Discussions on cases were shifted from syndicates to coffee shops, and in syndicates we started doing better things - someone celebrating the joy of becoming a proud parent or someone enjoying the feel of getting older (wiser) by an year.

Out of many good things, Connexions planning was one that took off early this year. That gave us a lot of time to strategize the event better, invite extraordinary speakers, coordinate among all the required committees and stake holders, and most importantly improve the PGPX brand.

 

When MSH folks felt a little out of touch, the amazing dorm people invited all MSH with their families to a class dinner. It was a welcome get-together which started with a paper dance, followed by delicious dinner, concluded by ice-cream and lasted by some great friendships.

Within no time, we were giving standing ovations to our profs after their last lecture for Term 1, and were buckling up for our end term exams. However, some felt exams were more relaxing than the daily cases and assignments ;)

The 1/5th of our ride was over in a blink, and we marked this end of term 1 and the beginning of term 2 with a bash - KAISHI KINEN - 歓迎幸せ (A Happy Beginning in Japanese) - in which the entire batch and their families came forward to make it grand.

 
 

The ride is still on. It is not going to be easy however it promises to be more thrilling and much more exciting. Stay on!

One month into PGPX program in IIMA

I am little more than a month old in IIM Ahmedabad and what a month it was.

New subjects, long studying hours, sleep deprived days, surprise quizzes, individual and group assignments, daily case-study preparations, mid-terms, presentations and much more. It sounds really overwhelming isn't?

But the feeling of living inside IIMA and learning with so many exceptionally talented professors and students made it really worth it!

All 85 of  us are grouped in teams of 5 or 6 and we call each them a Syndi. I am in Syndi F with 5 more. Each Syndi has its own Syndicate room where we meet for our group studies, mostly post dinner. Going to have huge projectors in each Syndicate rooms soon and plans of a movie together is already cropping up ;)

I have to write short today because of two assignment submissions tomorrow, 2 quizzes in this week, 3 presentations, and end-term starting from next week. But from now on I will sincerely try to come here and blog. For now, please enjoy the video of our one month into PGPX, IIMA prepared by me and my classmate. Hope you like it!

Cheers,
A

Applying for your MBA? What Matters Most on the Path to Admissions

I'll never forget how nervous I was when I was first started applying for my MBA. The whole process can feel like a terrifying experience when you first start applying to schools, but should you put in the work and time, you'll be accepted to a great program and on your way to obtaining your MBA in no time.

Looking back, I wish I had someone to help me get through the MBA application process. Don't get wrong; the application itself wasn't hard to figure out. The most difficult process was knowing what areas I should focus the most energy on, whether it be my GMAT scores, letters of recommendation, work experiences, or volunteer time. If you're about to start the MBA application process, here are four areas you should focus on the most.

Work Experiences

It's easy to say you have an interest in something; it's an entirely different story to prove that you do. Before turning in your MBA application, make sure to draw attention to any and all work experiences that indicate you have a strong interest in business administration. People with all different kinds of majors eventually decide to get their MBA, but what matters most to admissions is what you did with your degree(s) after college. If you have absolutely no work experience, perhaps it would be a good idea to take a job at an evolving, ambitious company for a while and mention that unique experience when you decide to apply for your MBA the second time around.

Letters of Recommendation

On paper, we can make ourselves sound fantastic, but without people to back us up, we are just spouting a bias point of view. Whenever you're applying for your MBA, seek out those teachers, mentors, and colleagues who inspired you to drive forward in your career and ask them to write your letters of recommendation. It's always best to choose someone who knows you and your work ethic very well, so your letter will sound genuine as opposed to generic.

Essays

I think essays are the most important part of the admission process. Think of it this way: the essay is the only place in the whole application process that you really get to express your passion, creativity, ambition, and enthusiasm. Through your words, you'll be able to emphasize why it is you want an MBA and what you plan to do with it years down the road. Never underestimate the importance of essays because the last thing you want to do is put your enrollment opportunity in jeopardy just because you didn't care enough to write one or two essays well.

Academic Performance

Sorry to break the news to you, but your prior academic performance is one of the most important things to MBA admissions. So if you did extraordinarily well during your bachelor's or master's degree program, that's great; make sure to highlight that in your application. If you didn't do that well, perhaps you should focus more on the areas in which you did succeed, such as work experiences, awards, volunteering, etc. It's not a complete deal breaker if you didn't get straight A's in college, but just remember that an MBA is an educational program, so you'll certainly have to put in the work to do well when and if you do get accepted to a program.

GMAT Scores

Last but certainly not least, the GMAT is one of the most important factors in applying for a good MBA program. The GMAT is a strong indicator of your potential for academic success, so it's important that you dedicate enough time preparing for this required exam. If you've been out of college for a few years, it's probably best you spend a little extra time studying for this exam. Should you not do all that well on the GMAT, however, you can always take the test over again, and although your GMAT score is important, it's only one part of the admissions process. To get into a great MBA program, focus on creating a well-rounded application and don't fret too much over your GMAT scores.

Getting an MBA isn't for everyone, but should you find yourself interested in getting a business administration degree, make sure to put the most work into these four areas of your application.

Katheryn Rivas is a freelance writer and resident blogger at online universities, a site dedicated to distance higher education. She welcomes your comments at katherynrivas87@gmail.com.


Don’t Bend the Truth when Applying to Top B-Schools: 4 Things Admissions Will Always Check

When it comes time to apply to business school, the process of application can often be more overwhelming than the decision about which school to attend. There are so many I’s to dot and T’s to cross, that making sure you have included the correct information on your application can take some effort. And, because all the information in this tiny acceptance packet can either make or break your chances to get into the B-school of your choice, it can be tempting to, shall we say, bend the truth here and there. However, the top business schools in the country are more than prepared to thoroughly vet their applicants. Once your application has been accepted and moves into processing, it will be gone over and verified. Here are the top five areas where admissions will make sure applicants have their facts straight:

1. Undergrad Attendance

The first thing that a business school will check on is that you actually did attend and graduate from the schools that you listed on your application. Make sure that you include the correct dates, and the correct institution names.

2. Grades

You may feel the desire to bump up your GPA by rounding up. But, remember, this will be one of the first things schools will verify. If it looks like you don’t know how to round properly, your business school application may be thrown in the trash.

3. GMAT Score

Business schools will always check up on your GMAT score. Even if you include the correct documents, the admissions department, or an outside company, could be required to make follow up calls to verify that your GMAT scores are above board.

4. Employment Information

If you are thinking about bending the truth about your employment history, you are going to need a long trail of falsified information and collaborators. Business admissions will surely make calls to the past employers listed on your resume, regardless of the amount of time you spent there. They have the power to do as much fact-checking as they like about everything from start and end dates to salary.

5. Recommendations

If you list someone to vouch for your character, whether it be personal, professional or academic, make sure that they will be able to verify any of the information you have used as part of your application. If stories don’t match, it could signal a red flag for admissions

This is a guest post by a Houston-based writer, Jane Smith blogs about the importance and difference a thorough employment background check can make. For more information feel free to contact her at janesmith161@gmail.com.

**2012 Write Like an Expert Announcement**

Beat The GMAT's 2012 Write Like an Expert Series - Free Webinar Series

How would an admissions expert answer this year's top business school essays?

Beat The GMAT is back with their annual Write Like an Expert series! In this 14-part webinar series, the world's leading admissions experts break down this year's top business school essays.  From HBS to Haas, experts analyze each essay 2012-2013 essay requirement so that you can craft your own story.

You can sign up for each of the sessions through this link.

"Write Like an Expert" Series Calendar

• Harvard - July 31 at 5pm PDT
• Stanford - Aug 2 at 5pm PDT 
• Wharton - Aug 7 at 5pm PDT
• Columbia - Aug 8 at 10am PDT 
• INSEAD - Aug 9 at 5pm PDT
• Yale - Aug 14 at 5pm PDT 
• Kellogg - Aug 15 at 10am PDT 
• Booth - Aug 16 at 5pm PDT 
• Haas - Aug 21 at 5pm PDT 
• MIT Sloan - Aug 22 at 10am PDT 
• Cornell - Aug 23 at 5pm PDT 
• NYU Stern - Aug 28 at 5pm PDT 
• Fuqua - Aug 29 at 10am PDT  
• Tuck - Aug 30 at 5pm PDT 

Make sure you RSVP today!

A

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

A big thanks all my readers!!

I was on a weekend getaway when I saw a congratulations mail stating that my blog has made into top 3 MBA blogs.

This is indeep a proud moment and I would like to thanks all my readers for their support to make this happen.

THANK YOU ALL!!!

A

My blog in Top 22 MBA blogs. Your one vote could push it to the top!!!

Excited to announce that my MBA blog has been selected by eCollegeFinder.com as one of the Top 22 MBA blogs. The most important reason for this is YOU, my readers. This blog is a medium though which I could share my MBA information and help you in some way or the other. 

So, now I request YOU to help this blog win and appear in the top of the list. Kindly vote for this blog by clicking on the badge on the right side of the screen OR by directly click here and select Mistakes, Lessons, MBA, and more.... The voting is open till March 30, 2012 5 PM EST.

Your vote matters!

Thanks a ton,

A

How to improve your chance of getting into a business school?

As everyone of you might know, there are two stages of getting accepted into a business school. Your written application in which you need to market yourself and your interview in which you need to sell yourself. Improve on these two and you improve your chance of getting accepted. Simple?

Improving written application: A business school written application has many pieces, some of which you can improve and others you can't. Ideally, to stand qualified and competitive for a top-notch business school, all the pieces should be up to the par, which couldn't be possible for many. So the idea to improve your overall chance is to improve your best on the pieces you can improve to compensate on those which are below average and couldn't be improved. Below listed are the written application pieces:

1. GMAT: Try to score good i.e. 720+. This might compensate for the low GPA.

2. Resume: A good one page Resume could create a lasting impression. Jump to my earlier post to know about resume building in detail.

3. Essays: Your stories are the most important and could set you apart. They must be compelling but at the same time easy to comprehend.

4. LORs (Recommendations): This is also a very important piece and depends on how well you select your recommenders. Your recommenders must know you well and could back up your stories.

5. Professional Growth in both title and responsibilities: The companies you have worked with and the growth curve both in the title and responsibilities are very important. Remember, schools are looking for the leaders both in professional and personal life. Secondly, how many from your company have made into good business schools makes a difference. Means if you are working in company X where 1 of every 10 gets into a business school, improves your chances quite a bit.

6. Extra Curricular and community work: You can't improve much on these except you are planning to apply after a year or two and have enough time to work on these. But don't join just for the sake of the mentioning it your application. Be very serious about it, else they will make out in the interview.

7. University and GPA: Where are you graduated from? If it is a renowned university like IIT and is heard by the admission committee makes a difference. You can't improve these but could compensate.

Improving your interview: Interview is the final but the toughest part of the admission game from your side. No matter how perfectly who have marketed yourself in your written application, but if you can't sell it in the interview, they won't buy you.

You are at the interview stage means admissions committee likes your application and is interested in knowing more about you. Mostly a business school interview goes for 30 to 60 minutes and this is the time where you need to back up your written pieces, most importantly your essays and professional responsibilities, in a very smart and impressive manner, and this requires your soft skills, improving those is not easy and demand a lot of time. Below listed are a few ways:

1. Keep your responses short, succinct and to the point.

2. Rehearse your responses before the interview. You could record your responses for the basic interview questions (like why MBA?) and improve by listening and practicing them time and again. You could also practice in front of a mirror to get more confidence.

3. Take mock interviews with your friends and ask them for the honest feedback.

4. Take mock interview with the experts. There feedback is worth the money.

5. If you have enough time and not good enough communication skills, join a communication course / class and improve your communication skills to the best you could.

Hope this helps improving your chance of being accepted into a business school.

Best!

A

Straight from a Schulich MBA

One of the MBA aspirants admitted to Schulich Business school mailed me asking the placement scenario in Schulich. Luckily one of my friends has just completed his MBA from Schulich and got placed in P&G in marketing. I forwarded this request to my friend and below is his response:

If you are interested in marketing, then only come to Schulich. In fact, even though I am a Schulich MBA myself, I will not advise Schulich in general to anyone. Moreover, in general this is not a good time to come to North America as things are pretty tight here right now.

Even after this if anyone is interested, then:
1) For Finance go to Rotman
2) For Consulting go to Ivey followed by Queens

And don't even look at other schools.

This is straight from a recent Schulich MBA. Hope this helps you decide.

A

I've failed over and over and over again

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

An Interview with Accepted.com

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

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

Interview Questions: Rotterdam School of Management

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!

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

Why do you want an MBA?

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,

A

Kellogg essays and ApexWriters

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,

A

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.