I was talking to this guy, who is  a good friend and a class of 2012 aspirant. He has already finished most of the stuff that I had suggested (Kaplan comprehensive, OG etc) and is presently getting scores around 750 in practice tests. When I last talked to him about his preps, he planned to spend his last month before the test working mainly on AWA. 

If your idea of effort is something similar to this guy’s (Before my GMAT, I used to think on somewhat similar lines too, though even at that time, I would have considered 1 month for AWA as too much) , let me assure you: it’s not really worth ths amount of effort. The primarily reason that I say this is that unless you score abysmally low (which is 3.5 or lower), nobody really cares about your score.  In last two years, I have gone through numerous threads and blogs, contacted a number of current and prospective students and attended many B-school events, but till date, I am yet to find an instance, where a candidate was denied admission due to a low AWA score. Why should the schools actually care about how you write on some random topic, when they already have their essays to guage your writing skills?

However, I am not suggesting that you dismiss AWA altogether.  In particular, if you are headed towards a real good GMAT score, you’d surely like it better if it’s accompanied by a stellar AWA score too. ( At times, it pinched when while entering GMAT scores for a school, I had to write AWA percentile as 53 (score 5.0) after mentioneing Quants and Verbal as 99 and 97 respectively. ) Also, I have heard that some schools schools compare your AWA essays (yes, they get your essays too instead of just the score!!) to check whether the app-essays have actually been written by you. (I find this a bit unreasonable as it’s not fair to compare a time-bound performance on a random topic with your output on topics that are about your life and about which you typically have more than 3 months to think about.)

Another reason AWA needs to be practiced is that it’s the first section of the GMAT and if you feel good about what you have written your essays well, you’ll start the real stuff on a confident note. Also do practice a few full-length tests with real AWA essays. That will help you develop the test-taking stamina lasting 3.5 hours. 

Enough of why AWA is important and why it’s not. Here’s how I would suggest handling it:

• Get a template ready for both issue and analysis essays. There are many templates available on the internet.Use that as a base and get one of your own ready. Remember that one of the readers of your essays would be a computer. So make sure that you include proper transition words.  
• Download the list of AWA essays from mba.com.  These are two long lists of 130+ topics each and the topics that you’ll get on the test day would be from these lists. 
• Everytime you get too loaded correcting sentences or testing data sufficiency, take a look at one of the topics and think of 3-4 points for the topic.  You don’t have to write it every time. 
• For Analysis of Argument, normally, it’s suggested to keep a strong stand in your analysis.Your CR preps will help here. The claims made in the question stem are invariably bogus and you can easily find at least 3 flaws in most of these. 
• For Analysis of  Issue, normally, it’s suggested to keep a moderate stand in your analysis. Think of what stand you’d like to take on the issue. Think of at least 2(preferably 3) points favouring your stand and preferably one opposing it. After the opening para, expand each point into a para. Try to include some examples. (See next point). In the penultimate para, acknowledge the other side and then towards conclusion, mention why you still favour your original stand. 
•  If you go through the issue-list, you’d easily locate 6-7 recurring themes. I can recall a few from the list that I had prepared: “business and ethics”, “Successful/powerful women”, “rags to riches” , “technology V/s environment” (Will add more to this list in case I locate my notebook.)  Get ready a few real world well-known examples for each of them. You’d be surprised to see how preparing examples for a small list will help you cover a very good number of essay topics. 
• Find some time may be once a week in your last month to complete a time-bound AWA exercise. Once you complete that post your answers on your blog or some GMAT prep forums.  Not many would care to comment, but some times you can get some real good inputs.  (I got very good feedback as comments on the essays I posted on this blog.)
• Practice atleast 3-4 full length tests with the AWA section as well.  As discussed above, this will help you test your real GMAT stamina. Most of the tests (other  than the official ones:GMAT Prep and Powerprep) will either have no AWA secion or essays on topics different from the ones in the offical list. So it’s better to open the official list and start on any randomly picked topic. 
• FInal, but very important tip: For practising AWA, never use MS word or any other editor that offers features like spell-check or grammar-check. The editor in the real exam will have minimal features. (As far as I remember, just cut, copy, paste and undo/redo upto last one operation.) You can try that from the GMATPrep software. (Even the powerprep editor is different from the one that is currently being used.)

Hope this helps.  If you have any specific Q about AWA section that is not covered here, leave a comment and I’ll try to cover that as well.

In sum, she has a perect profile for admission to anywhere. As expected, she sails through the admission-interview impressing the dean at every stage. But Opal is stumped when she is asked “What do you do for fun?”. She has no clue what fun is, because there’s nothing that she has done because she loves it. Everything was fed to her keeping the unidimensional Harvard path in mind. The dean asks her to go back and apply in the next cycle. Sure enough, she goes back, learns to live life and lands an admit in the next cycle. 

The bottomline: You do need to have a good “profile” to get in. But if the profile means bullet-points on your resume without any real passion for any of the activities, then it may actually contribute negatively to your application. 

I follow and advice a very simple rule for profile-enhancement: “Identify your passions/strengths, follow them; Identify your weaknesses, address them”. Keeping this rule as the base, here’re some other quick tips for “profile-building”.

• Strengths: Think of it, what are the things that you are really good at. Are you a terrific classical singer? Then, what about initiating a SPICMACAY chapter? Or were you the college  tennis-champ, who does not get to play now, because there’s no good partner to play with at office? Try talking to company HR and initiate a tennis-club at office. Get a coach for training employees after office-hours or maybe if you are good enough, volunteer to be a coach yourself. 
• Passions: What is that that excites you? Did you always miss having a strong alumni community in your undergraduate days? Perhaps, now that you are an alumnus, it’s time that you start working towards it. If you are passionate about your alma-mater (like I am), you must be in touch with at least some of the current studnets and some of the alums. Use this and work towards improving alum-institute interaction. (I did, though this still is a work in progress.)
• Weaknesses!! Everyone of us has some and we shy away from situations that may expose them. But  I always believe that first step to identify a weakness is to identify that it exists. Second step would be taking conscious steps towards addressing that. So if being on stage gives you heebie jeebies, then starting a Toastmasters club may be a good idea. This would not only help you overcome stage-fear, but would also give  you a lot of leadership opportunities. 
  /* As an aside, I would like to mention that I rate Toastmasters right next to my undergrad-institute in list of organizations that have changed my life. If you’re interested in starting a club/knowing more about it, leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you. */
  Similarly, if you are somebody having zero international experience (and have no realistic chances to add to that) and you feel that your school is concerned about cultural sensitivity, consider picking up a foreign language. (This was the feedback given by Tuck to a friend, who apped last yr.)
•  Extra-curricular leadership, not just activities: If you closely see the examples that I have stated above, each one of them involves some initiatives, some leadership or some organizational opportunities.  Being just another member of the local NGO doesn’t count for a lot, but leading the membership-drive or organizing a fund-raising program for the same NGO surely means something. 
  Please note that leadership is not synonymous with holding offices. Everyone of us has seen lots of Presidents, chairpersons, who hold the post just for the tag and have nothing substantial to show for. At the same time, each one of us has seen dedicated people, who work tirelesslly without holding any post. If you can be the latter and do your job well, the offices would follow you automatically. 
• How does the school benefit: You may have a great story about how you were passionate about a certain activity and how you followed your passion giving you great personal and professional heights. But the story would look incomplete if you don’t fit in the last piece: How does the school gain out of your passion? 
  This is also a great opportunity to showcase your homework about the school. Tell them how your passion fits in the activities of a certain club or if it doesn’t, how do you plan to start a new club for that. If you are a techie, who feasts on new technologies and ideas, tell them how you would contribute to the activities of Technology-club. 
  An example of the same from my application. : I researched and found that Tuckmasters (Toastmasters club at Tuck) is now defunct. So I offered to work towards the rejuvenation of the club. This homework found some appreciation in the telephonic interview that I had with them. 

Finally, a word on ethical aspect of profile-building. Many applicants feel that profile-building just for the sake of MBA applications is a bit manipulative and unethical.  I’d agree with this if your profile-building steps strictly fall under the category of “just for the sake of MBA applications”. A quick test for this would be to ask yourself: Would you still be doing it if you already have the admit from your dream-school? If the answer is “yes”, go ahead and build your profile; you actually have a passion for your passion. But if your answer is a clear “no”, you will be just another Opal Mehta and you may not be as lucky to get a second chance.
But what if you are in doubt? In that case, I would still encourage you to go ahead with your profile-building activities. At least, you would be getting some opportunities and exposure, which may actually ignite your passion for that activity. In any case, you are still doing a better job than those losers,  who cook up stories in their essays just by buying off some certificates.

So wish you all: Happy Profile-building! Happy apping!!

Recently, when I forwarded the old link to an interested batchmate, he pointed out that with sentences like “perhaps I’m not the right person to rely upon for guidance” and “none of this has been tested to work.”, the old post perhaps needs some brush-up. I re-read the post and somewhat agreed to what he said. In addition to the removal of sentences like these, the old plan could do better with a bit of tweaking:some steps about which I got to know in the later part of my preps.(though in essense, the old plan still remains more or less the same.)

So here’s how I would recommend tackling the GMAT:

1) Get started!! Dont know anything yet abt GMAT?? Know everything about it right at the first encounter. Start by taking out a slot of 3-3.5 hours for yourself on a weekend and go for a full-length test. I would recommend going ahread with Powerprep Test-1 first.

/*You can download Powerprep and GMATPrep from the following links: 
http://www.gorillatestprep.com/ppgmat30.exe

http://www.mba.com/mba/TheGMAT/DownloadFreeTestPreparationSoftware/

*/

First one is older version of GMAT software from makers of GMAT.. Second one is the latest one.. Both of these can help u know what all things r asked in GMAT..But I’d suggest u use Powerprep now and save GMATprep for a later stage , when u hav a fair amount of preparation under ur belt.. At that time, GMATprep score will giv u a fair idea of what u r likely to get on the G-day.

2) Now u know at least something about each section of GMAT.. Also, by this time, you know your areas of strengths and areas which require immediate atention. Now is the time ot get the real preps started. Pick up some strategy book like Kaplan(comprehensive/premium) or Princeton Review.I have heard mixed reviews about PR, but Kaplan is something that I have tried myself and would surely recommend to anybody. From whatever I’ve heard, I’d suggest staying away from Barrons

 3) For a good number of aspirants, sentence-coorection is the major pain-point. To have a control over this section right from the start, go with Manhattan Sentence-correction guide. That’s really an amazing book to get you started on sentence-correction. Some people recommend brushing up grammar from books like Wren-n-Martin. I personally don’t think that it’s of much use (though it’ll never hurt). Because GMAT doesn’t test the puritan-grammar. It tests what we can call as GMAT-grammar, where sometimes you need to pick from two grammatically correct sentences and decide which one is more correct. And if strengthening your GNAT-grammar is your aim, there’s no better way to start than Manhattan SC guide.  

4) Once u feel that you have perfected the strategies, go for Powerprep-2 and compare the results since you first started.Another reason for going for Powerprep-2 at this stage is that a number of Qs in the test are directly from the OG. So it’s better to use the test before u start with OG. 

5) Next is the turn of the bible: Official Guide to GMAT.. At my time, it was OG11, but i guess OG12 is already in market. Complete it from cover to cover.. Excellent collection of Qs and all the real ones.. No strategies, just Qs, As and explanations. But u know the strategies quite well from step (2)..Better do all 5 sections in parallel.

( Most ppl preparing for GMAT do (2) and (5) in reverse order; I too did the same as suggested by many ppl.. Did OG11, then Kaplan Comprehensive) Still I’d suggest u to do a strategy book first.. OG will give u lots of chance to apply those strategies)

6) By the time u reach this step, u’ll know a lot of things, and u can decide for urself what u want to do next depending on your prep-level.

In case, you clearly know that one section needs attention, tackle that first. In case, it’s still sentence-correction, you can  try Sahil’s or Spidey’s notes (Look over on net and u’ll find these)

In case you feel that your preps are in a good shape: you are scoring 700+ consistently, but want to take it still  higher. go for Kaplan 800.. The level of Qs is higher than the real GMAT, but still that’ll gear you up to face Qs at the toughest level. 

7) In between all these steps, keep taking timed tests to guage ur progress.. 
Final lap: Back to the basics: In last two weeks, it’s recommended that you come back to the basics. Do OG a second time. Even if the Qs are same, try attempting them. Don’t allow your mind to fall in the trap that you know the answer. Ask yourself whether you are really clear why that particular option is the answer.

Also do join som active mailing list/forum to discuss Qs…. It particularly helps u utilize ur free office time  when u dont have access to books and would not like to open GMAT forums..:D Also read success stories from PagalGuy/Businessweek/GMATClub ( hope u r already a member at all these forums.) That’ll keep u motivated and charged up… 

Some FAQs: 

Is coaching needed??
Depends. IMO, most of the stuff that is asked in the test is quite elementary and can be learnt if you plan properly and then stick to your plans meticulously. Moreover, lot of online help is available in form of online study groups/forums. But coaching can be useful if historically, you have had probs with Maths/Grammar. If this is the case, you should actualy go for a coaching. The stuff that they ask is quite basic and can be covered well with good guidance. 

How many full-length tests?
As I have written above, keep taking the tests regularly. Keep the average to a mininum of once every two weeks to a max of once every week. The tests not only keep you updated of your preps-level, but also provide you with the test taking mindset, which is missing in most of us after years of corpo-life.  

Is AWA important? 
No, it isn’t, unless it’s absymally low. But if you’re like me, you won’t like your score of GMAT 770 to be accompanied by AWA 4.0 or something. Mine was 5.0 (55 percentile) and it pinched me everytime I needed to fill it up for any school. (Particularly, the percentile part. ) Trust me, with very little effort, 5 or more is quite attainable. 

Which tests??
Nothing can come close to the real thing. So GMATPrep and Powerprep are surely unmatchable. Next, I would rate the MGMATs by Manhattan. You can certainly locate some Qs which you won’t ever expect to see on the actual test, but still the overall level is quite similar. Kaplan tests are surely not a representative of the real thing, but I would still recommend them to build test-stamina. 

How much is a good score?
Depends. I have seen people with 650 getting calls from everywhere and people with 770 getting dinged at a number of places. So GMAT is actually just a part of the package, But remember, it’s one of the only few parts of the package on which you still have control. Moreover, if you are from a competitive pool (like Indian-IT-Male), chances are that you’ll need a good score to have a reasonable chance at your dream schools. 

In case you have any more Qs about the above steps or GMAT preps in general, leave ur Q in the comments and I’ll try to answer that.

You see when I started this blog, I was not exactly sure why i am doing that. Work-load, GMAT preps, extra-curriculars.. were these not enough to keep me busy? Was starting off with an applicant blog really a good step? Well, as I look back, it has been one of the best steps I have taken along the apping journey. 

This is one of the things that I suggest to every B-school applicant who comes to me for advice. Not many do start and only some of them do maintain regularity on their blogs. (Amongst my applicant friends, I only remember McCoy, who is still alive on blogosphere.) So I decided to post something about blogging here and may be that will get some more guys in.. (BTW, those who know me in person, know that it’s not only the apping blog that I promote; I also encourage people around me to start personal blogs. )

Here’s what your blog can achieve for you:  (in no particular order) 

•  It can serve as a log-book: If you are like me, chances are that you like to keep a log of things-to-do and things-completed in whatever you do. Why should your apping be any different? And keeping it online has advantages of regular scrutiny by co-applicants and the Gurus. 
• Get your AWA essays reviewed for free: Agreed that AWA is a not-that-important component of the GMAT. But at the same time, it’s the only component for which which you do not get enough material to score you. Post your essays online and  you’re sure to get some very useful reviews. 
• Networking!!:  An international MBA is all about networking. All you need to start networking is to keep updating your blog and keep visiting the blogs of fellow applicants and current students. If you are lucky, you may get some very good friends through this exercise.  It was through blogigng that I got in touch with ahembeea. We became good friends and chatted regularly. Little did we know at that time that we would end up going to the same school!! (There’re a number of other good friends I gained through blogging, you can find some of them on the Blogroll on right)
• Info-gathering: Blogs are primarily for info-sharing. Can these be used for info-gathering? For an answer to this Q, see the comments section of any popular blog. If you keep your blog alive enough, you can be sure of getting the right answers to any Q that you may have just by posting it in your post. 
  The high point of this blog was when I got a comment from Larry Muller, Director of Fin-aid at Darden on one of my posts.  I had dropped Darden off my list at that time and it was this comment plus some follow-up to it that brought Darden back on my list. 
• A loyal audience: If it’s already 3+ months that you’re into the apping and GMATting thing, you must already be knowing it. Once you’re into into it, you keep thinking of the schools, essays and similar things 24X7. If people around you are not co-applicants, very soon you’d find them getting bored of your blabbering. Don’t bore them, tell us your stories (through your blog) We’d  listening for sure!!
• Congratulations and Consolations: The joy of acceptance or the pain of a ding: both of these need to be shared. It really feels good when within hours of your sharing a good news with people you have never met, you get a flurry of congratulatory messages. But it feels even better, when you are broken up after a ding and these strangers come and cheer you up with their comments on your post. 
• Job-offers and freebies!! : This may seem unlikely, but I know at least one instance of this happening. Somebody at Deloitte offered to forward iday’s resume in his company if he agreed to post a promotional video from Deloitte on his highly popular blog.  And as an example of the freebies that you may get if you r lucky,  I got a free copy of Clearadmit Fuqua guide as a recognition of my efforts on this blog.  
• Your own writing space!!: Last but not the list, your blog is your area: you dictate the rules here. So you can give vent to your emotions, without any fear of grammatically and politically correct language or word-limits. This may seem insignifcant as of now. But trust me, this point would hold meaning when in one essay after another, you would be forced to tell the most important stories of life in 600, 500 or even 250 words!! 
  It’s such a breather to come back  to your blog and keep scribbling down without fear of being verbose. (See the last para of this post for a sample of this relief)

  Gradually you become so attached to your blog  that very often the first thing that you’d do after a submission, acceptance, ding or an interview, is to go and post it on your blog. (See my posts from mid-Oct to Late Jan for some examples)

  These are just few of the things my blog has achieved for me. Will add more to the list ( a bit sleepy right now ) But i guess this much is sufficient for you to start a blog of your own.  :)

Anyways, better late than never.. Here’s the review, picked up directly from the incomplete draft that I had started 7-8 months back.. 

Am just back from a visit to the Fuqua. Amazing school!! The trip surely makes the school tied with Ross and Tuck as my top choice. Everything i had heard about “Team Fuqua” was true.One of the current students assured me: “There really is a ‘we do it together’ mentality here; it’s not just marketing. ”  And with my immediate goal of moving to consulting and long term entrepreneurial dreams, Fuqua seems to be an ideal choice for me. Durham seems to be an amazing town too: lively and interesting at the same town. 

Well, if you either follow me or this blog regularly, the preceding para must have appeared weird to you. Till my last post (or the last time you met me) , I had no plans of being in the States and here, I am writing a post about a visit to Duke. Yup, you are right. I didn’t visit the school really. I am just back from a virtual visit to the school. 

Thanks to a kind gesture from clearadmit, I got to read the Fuqua School guide and believe me it’s the closest that you can get to a school in case you are unable to visit it actually.The guide starts with some key highlights about the Fuqua MBA and some history, moves on to some data charts depicting the student demographics. After that it delves deep into the acaedmic structure detailing the core courses and the electives. There’s special focus on things that make Fuqua MBA different from all others. And then there’s something which made me love Fuqua even more: a detailed discussion on Student-consulting and entrepreneurship. The guide also covers life at and after Fuqua too quite well. 

Yes, most of the stuff is something that you can find if you go through the site thoroughly, attend their admission-events and contact a number of students and alumni. But not all of us have the time and resources to do all this. And believe me, I actually did all of the things that I have listed above and hence, many things were just reminders to me. but still, there were a number of things that were new to me too and I guess that can create a difference, when I answer “Why Fuqua”. 

Most of the stuff above was written when I had not started on Fuqua. But as I look back, I am confident that knowing Fuqua in and out surely made some difference in my essays, which got me a call for the interview. Even in my interview, there were stages, when the alum interviewer looked quite impressed with my homework on the school. (Just to point out: I didn’t get an admit, but don’t hold  this against the guide. )

In short, I’d recommend this guide to anybody, who doesn’t have an opportunity to visit the school in person. 

PS: Don’t ask me to forward the guide to you. I won’t be doing that, although I’d be happy to answer any questions that you may have b4 u go ahead and purchase it.

Enough of preface, here’s a quick sneak into both books:

1. Snapshots from Hell: Half of you must have already guessed the name of this one while reading the first paragraph. After all, which MBA blog is complete without discussing “Snapshots from hell” at least once.  :D
   Seriously, for those of us, who are not fortunate enough to visit the schools in person or talk to the students/alumni in detail, SFH is a must. It deals with life of a student during his first year at Stanford GSB. The best thing about the book is that the writer Peter Robinson does not ever try to paint a rosy picture of his alma-
   

   Snapshots from Hell

   mater; his primary aim is to give an outsider a first-hand honest view of life@Stanford. In the process, there’re times when he’s grossly irreverent too, like the time when the high-ups of the school try to patch up things after a fall in the rankings or when he refers to a professor, whose voice didn’t reach beyond the third row. I understand that in the process, he may have made some enemies from the loyal alumni group, but as an author, he succeeds in what he wanted to achieve. 
   I really loved the details he delves into while discussing each class.  (And no, he doesn’t ever let that be boring.) If you’re a mathematics junkie like me, the discussions on probability and decision-modeling are sure to excite you. (In case you’re not, this may scare you as well, but then, you’ll at least know something that you need to work on. ) And then, there’re elaborate case studies, which give you a flavor of what you’d be studying shortly.
   Finally, it’s a short glimpse of life after Stanford (skipping the 2nd year almost completely), which makes you think that if this is the life after hell, then perhaps that hell is the place I want to be at!!  And here too, Peter is totally honest in setting your expectations.  He does mention cases of compromises and failiures too. In sum, it’s a book, which an  applicant can’t afford to miss. Whether you’re still contemplating embarking on the MBA path or you already have a few admits in your kitty, make sure that you read this one from cover to cover.  

2. Joker in the Pack: Unlike SFH, JITP isn’t book that you’d often find being referred to in the world of applicants. But in case you are an Indian and want an inside view of an Indian B-school, go ahead and pick this up. (In case you’re not from India, you can afford to skip this one.)
   

   Joker In the Pack

   The book begins with a prologue when the protogonist Shekhar Verma has finally “arrived”.  
   After that, the story goes in a flashback.. Strating from the days of his childhood,  Shekhar narrates a story to which almost every middle class Indian can relate to. Nagging aunts, parents judging their kids by their academic performance, general sense of directionlessness in career and then going ahead with a path that your peers are going to without analysig whether that’s where you want to go:: Aren’t these things that most of us have gone through??
   Very soon, the book reaches the main course: the life at IIMs. And here you get to know how things happen at the top managment institutes of the country. I won’t spoil the fun by going into the details, but I would like to point out a few striking attributes. One would be the quality of intake at the IIMs: If you ever needed an example for the phrase Crème de la crème, IIMs are the places for this. I knew this and this book proves this at different points in the story.
   But at the same time, the book very clearly brings out the lack of goal clarity even at the top B-schools of the country. I understand that going to a B-school with an open mind is one thing, but being clueless even till the day of placements, that’s something which disappoints you. Yes, even to this date, the careers of many of us are decided by which company came first for the recruitment. Some of the other things that I liked: the way people show solidarity with each other during the placements and the way the effect of hectic schedule on Shekhar’s love life is portrayed. The story is  set in IIM-B. But from whatever I have gathered so far form two of my good friends at IIM-Bangalore and IIM-Lucknow, it seems that most of the stuff holds true for any top B-school in India.  

             So if you thought your shopping was complete when you bought the OG, Kaplans and Manhattans, I have just added two more to your list. But believe me..find time to read both of these and you won’t regret it.

After the Duke debacle and Tuck waitlist, it was time for Plan B for me. This time, I was looking for more realistic schools: schools where the chances of admission are a bit higher and which give schols a bit generously. (Market conditions and USD-to-INR conversion rate is making the already grim scenario all the more scary!!)

I shortlisted Kenan Flagler (UNC) and Kelley (Indiana) as my immediate next targets. On digging further, I also started considering Marshall(USC) and Krannert(Purdue). (though not entirely convinced about either) For Marshall, the LA factor attracted me, while Krannert’s low costs (and good chances of scholarships) promise that I’d be able to afford it if offered an admit.

Now, all these have something in common: TOEFL requirement from Indians, irrespective of medium of instruction in undergrad. From whatever I had heard, I knew that TOEFL is a breeze for anybody, who’s comfortable with English.(and I think I am!!) But the problem was that there were no dates available anywhere in India before Jan 10. (I guess they too have Christmas holidays and pretty long ones!) So I decided to try requesting waivers from the prospective schools.

Since Krannert normally does not interview candidates b4 offering admissions, I was sure that they would be rigid about TOEFL.But I expected the rest to budge a bit. For Kelley and UNC at least, I had heard some precedents too. (unconfirmed) And I did believe that my high GMAT verbal score (97 percentile) may swing chances in my favour. Besides, my tasks at workplace and my extracurricular activities require me to comunicate a lot internationally and nationally, of course in English.

But one by one, I have got replies from all three and all were on similar lines:

Candidates who have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree from a US college or university or whose total education was conducted in English in a native English-speaking country do not need to submit a TOEFL or IELTS score. India is not considered a native English-speaking country for purposes of this requirement.

So what next?? UNC is already gone(deadline is tomorrow). I am considering writing TOEFL some time around Jan12 exepecting that Kelley considers my application complete by the deadline (Jan15), though the score will reach them a bit late. I’ll take the final decision on whether to write TOEFL and app to Kelley depending on how I fare in ISB interview.

So w/o further ado, here is my Fuqua essay-analysis:

Short Answer Essays
1. What do you hope to gain from The Duke MBA? How does it fit into your short- and long- term goals? (required, single page limit, 1.5 line spacing)
   Pretty straight-forward stuff. I started upfront with my goals. Followed it up with a brief career summary (3-4 lines) Showed what part of my experience will help me attain my goals and what do I lack. Showed that an MBA will help me bridge the gap. Next without mentioning Duke/Fuqua, I went on to state my expectations from the B-school. Then jumped to how Fuqua fulfills that perfectly, specifically quoting Fuqua concentrations, courses, practicum and clubs. 
2. How will you contribute to the overall experience of your peers at The Duke MBA? (required, single page limit, 1.5 line spacing)
   Started with a one-line summary of traits that I’ll bring to the school. Next, 2 paras for my undergrad experience. Covered diversity, extra-curriculars and leadership and the overall impoact of my alma-mater. Followed it up with what I am today. Covered my extra-curriculars and other leadership experiences. By  this time, I had established my credentials well. Next I started specifically discussing what I will do at Fuqua. Mentioned specific clubs that I’ll join, initiate or rejuvenate. Since Tech is my forte and is related to my goals too, I specifically dug into activities of Hi-tech cluba and mention the events that I’ll like to work on. Finally,ended with a forwarded looking statement about me and Fuqua.

3. Discuss a person, event or experience that has significantly shaped your life and explain why. Note: The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally. (required, single page limit, 1.5 line spacing)
    It was a very personal experience of overcoming finacial hardships before my undergrad. I had asked a few consultants on various forums (BW, pagalguy) about mentioning this  and most of them had advised against using a story that is too old and too common. But Jon (from Precision essays) suggested that if it’s a story that really impacted my life and if it’s a story that I am born to tell, then I should go ahead and tell the same.
   This was all  I needed to finalize this story as my answer. Of course, since that was a personal story, I could not  post that in detail on the public forum and hence, the lukewarm response from the consultants.  But that experience indeed was the turning point of my life and I believe that the final story came out very well. 
       I would suggest looking for the events/experiences, which really made the difference in your life. Try subtracting that event/experience from your life and try thinking whether you’d have been a diff person then. If the answer is YES, you have chosen the right story.
    (You can go for a life-changing person too, But when I tried to choose a person, I found a bit dificult to keep the actual focus on myself.)

 Long Essay
1. Today, companies must navigate through complex and interdependent issues. They must deal with health and security matters, environmental impact questions, and diversity and cultural concerns. Leaders need adaptability, imagination, and emotional intelligence as well as business acumen.
Upon graduation, a Duke MBA will be a leader of consequence – able to deal simultaneously with complex matters and engage skillfully with colleagues, clients, and community. What impact do you hope to have as a leader of consequence? (required, two page limit, 1.5 line spacing)

Tough question, but very critical one.
For this in the first 3/4 page I covered a leadership story and established that I have in me what it takes to be a “Leader of consequence.” Next, I brought up some issues that I’ll like to address in the long term:the societal goals that I have in my mind for my community. I covered the same in my Stanford Scholarship essay but fortunately this time space was not a constraint and I could discuss my plans in more details: depthwise and widthwise. I also touched briefly how my leadership experience (covered in first half) will help me, what I am already doing towards these, why currently I am not in a position to address these in a wider manner and how the Fuqua experience will help.

 So this was how i tackled my essay Qs. As I was approaching the Qs, I used various forums extensively for ideas. Besides, I never miss the topic analysis by the three terrific resources that i have listed in the blogroll. (clearadmit, accepted and stacyblackman) It’s interesting to see that how often these differ on their takes on same set of essays, which only goes on to show that there is no single right way to answer an essay question. Research extensively and then, finalize a style that suits you and your story the best.

Coming up next: Tuck essays analysis…

Not sure what your mentor told u. But I go by this classification (mostly similar to yours):
1) The closest friend: who can tell whether u r projecting the right picture of ur personality. Smbody, who can point out “Hey, why don’t u mention that incident?”

2)The BSchool guy: (Alum,current student)These are the guys who have been through the process; they know what it takes to get through.

3)The Grammarian: Try getting  in touch with your English school-teacher, your journalist aunt or may be your college-magazine student editor: somebody whose grasp on the language is impeccable. This person can point out errors of flow and grammar.

4)The colleague: Somebody who know you in professional capacity. (Your recommender may be one of the best choices for this.) You may choose to handover only the essays on professional topics to this person.(if you dont want to reveal your personal side to him.)

5) The Adcom Eye: Somebody who knows u only thru chats/mails. Whose only window to know u will be your essays. This is important as this will be the view the adcom will have to your candidature. In most cases, this would be a co-applicant, wom u have met online. (Of course, do ur homework on this person b4 u choose to handover ur essays to him.)

This surely is not a non-overlapping classification. Your best friend can be your colleague as well as a master of language. The B-school guy you get to pick may not know u first-hand and can serve the purpose of the adcom eye.

Final advice: Don’t drown yourself in a sea of reviews. Different people will have different opinions, but your application is your story; it’s your opinion that matters most. Make sure that u don’t lose your voice that’s coming out of ur essays. I, too, have used many reviewers for my Tuck and Darden essays and I know that I have ignored many,many of those review-comments because I felt that incorporating those may have affected the message I wanted to deliver.

Please note this is strictly what I feel works for me. Some Gurus strictly advise against having more than two reviewers.  ( As you may have noticed, I too would prefer fewer reviewers, if the multiple roles listed above can be played by a single person.)

I attended a B-school fair last year. There one of the adcoms (from Vanderbilt or HEC, Paris i remember) gave this simple magic formula. I’ve started using it; so thought of sharing it with my blogosphere friends.

When you’ve completed the essay, give it to somebody who knows you well: a friend, a colleague, your wife or anybody you deem fit for this. You may be wondering, what’s new here.. The new part comes here:: Give them only the essay, not the question.  And then, ask them  to guess the question.
If they guess the question correctly or are even close,Bingo!! you’ve been writing the  essays well. At least you’re answering the questions!!!!
But in case they guess “What did you learn from a failiure?” or ”Tell us about a challenging time in your life” when the question is “Tell us about a constructive Criticism that you’ve received”, may be the forced-fitting hasn’t come out well.  The theme and the story may remain same, but perhaps you need to concentrate less on the challenge faced and more on the post failiure/challenge feedback,

Hope that helps!!