Good news continues to come from Atlanta.
After the admit news yesterday (which I checked on the application portal OPUS), I got the real big news today morning with the official mail:
The Admissions Committee has reviewed your file and we are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to the Two-Year Year MBA Program. You have also been selected to receive a 100% tuition scholarship per semester. Your academic credentials, work experience, recommendations and essays were all very impressive. We think you will make a great addition to the MBA Program!
I am so excited. I have been calling family and friends to inform them and get congratulated.
Finally, here’s the post for which MBA applicant-blogs are created!!
Emory gives me the first admit of the season.
Had to check the app-status on OPUS. Don’t they call their admits?? 
No info on schol yet, waiting for that eagerly.. Anyways, I am very happy right now.. Trying not to think about finances and other schools right now.. Just enjoying the feeling of success!
I had my interview with Goizueta Business School (Emory) last Friday.. The interview was mostly conversational with no tricks or traps. ( at least none that I could locate )
The interview started with the interviewer explaining to me about how the interview will proceed and how the interview fits in the entire process. After that we were on to the main course. AFAIK, it was a blind interview and my resume was the only thing that she had from my application. And there were a lot of Qs directly from my resume. Some of the Qs that i remember (in the order that I recall them):
- Tell me about this “Art of Living” course. (Had mentioned on my resume, Told her about the course that I had completed and how I continue to draw benefits from the same for managing stress)
- Tell me about your current project. (Told her that currently I am in a transition phase as my team is getting changed. Then covered the new role shortly and the work that I have done in my current team in detail)
- About the new role: do you know any of the guys beforehand? (No, though I have now attended a few meetings with them)
- Business School is a lot like this, you get to meet a lot of people and you need to start off as soon as you join. How do you react to such situation? (Explained with an example of my first project in the current job. She complimented me for quoting an appropriate example to stress my point.)
- Why did you leave your job in company X? ( Told her about the learnings and some good things from my company X experience, then told her that the work had become a bit repetitive and I was looking for more challenges)
- Tell me how you went about getting a job in company Y. (Told her that company Y is one of the most selective in industry. Explained the process in detail. She sounded impressed ; told me that getting in Emory is surely not that hard.
) - Why MBA? Why now? (No “Why Emory” explicitly)
- What do you look in a school when you consider apping to it? (Here goes “Why Emory” indirectly)
- Leadership experience. ( Told in details about my extra-curricular pursuits)
- What would you contribute to Goizueta community? Which clubs would interest you?
- Tell me about time when you went an extra mile. (Told a work-related story)
- What do you know about Atlanta? (Told her that I am a quiz-guy and no business Quiz is complete without a Q on COca-Cola. (She loved that!!) Told her what I know about Coca-cola, Sun-Trust Bank and Olympics. Also quoted the comment from one of the students when she was asked what she loved most about Atlanta. (Location! Location!! Location!!)
- After this, she went on to describe Atlanta’s location in detail and some advantages of being in such a location. (This sounded positive. )
- One word that your (a ) Boss (b) colleagues (c) extra-curricular group members (d) family and friends would use to describe you. (Gave some adjectives; was not asked to substantiate any of this)/* There were some more Qs, which I don’t remember now. Will add if and when I recall)
She stopped here and ask me if i have any Qs. I asked about GALA. She explained in detail and them mentioned that getting into GALA is not that easy, but surely that is not as hard as me getting into company Y. (WOw!! She remembered what we had discussed right at the start.. This sounded good. ) Then, I asked about the possibility of getting a no-cosigner loan. She mentioned that this option is no longer available to intebnational students, but advised me to look for innovative ways like getting multiple cosigners. ( I just hope that this Q does not make her believe that I dont have the money)
Overall, the interview was a very good experience. There were lots of “great!!”, “Your teammates must love you for that.”, “That’s no small achievement” kind of comments. I am very much hopeful on this. I do hope that I’ll make it. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
Tags: Emory, Goizueta, MBA interview
Well, in case the title made you assume that I have some good news to share, then Iam sorry for that. It’s just that finally I have decided that I am not going for any plan B (as discussed in this post ) at least for this year. For some schools that I was considering, I could not finally convince myself to apply to. One or two that I was considering a little more seriously didn’t allow me to the waive the TOEFL requirement. Sadly no TOEFL dates were available b4 Jan deadline for any of them. (Yes, I know that I was late in my planning) And I don’t want to be a last-round applicant anywhere b’coz I seriously need some funding..
So what next?? Ihave decided that I am not going to apply anywhere else this year. I would rather concentrate on the interviews of the remaining schools. Here’s a quick wind up of the four threads that are still active:
- Tuck: They have written back after waitlisting me and an interview is coming up in first week of Feb. I am also getting an additional reco from professional front. There have been some positive updates for me professionally. (No promotion yet, but some increase in responsibilities) Hope my recommender covers these well.
But one thing that worries me is the money-factor. Even if Tuck takes me in, I doubt the availability of fin-aid for a candidate that they had earlier decided to waitlist.
- Emory: The interview is coming up in a week from now. I do feel that I have a good chance here.
- ISB: Interview done. The results would be coming on Feb 10. The wait is already killing me. Not sure how I am going to survive waiting for three more weeks.
- Darden: This has been pretty weird. I have dug extensively on BW forums, Pagalguy and admissions411. No Indian applicant has reported an invite yet. The official interview dates were upto Jan 9 only and although Darden says that they can decide to interview a candidate any time b4the decision date, I have almost lost all my hopes. But I find it improbable that they have already sent out invites to Indians, but none of those in active on any forums. Somehow I get a feeling that if they don’t call me for the interview b4 the decision date, another WL is coming my way on Jan30. ( Naah, I don’t believe that they’ll ding me w/o an interview.)
So as you can see, it is not all rosy. But still,as shahrukh says in OSO, “Picture abhi baaki hai, mere dost.” (“The movie is not yet over, my friend”) I am hopeful that the movie will end on a happy note in next few weeks.
PS: Some of u may have guessed this already; The title of the post (“i think i’ll stop here”) is a quote from a current favourite book: Fermat’s last theorem. It’s an amazing book, do read it.
So it was the day for my second MBA interview. Strangely enough, I had not felt any nervousness till the day before. But as I got up in the morning, I had started feeling anxious about the interview. I had planned a healthy breakfast considering that the interview was scheduled at 11:10 and it would not serve me any good if i start feeling hunger/weakness in or before the interview. But I really find it hard to eat anything before any exam/interview and as it always happens, this time too, I left for the venue without having anything for the breakfast.
Anyways, I reached the venue 30 minutes before time. I found that my panel was running a bit late as I met a guy, who had a 10:20 slot in the same panel, but was still waiting for his turn at 10:40 and was trying hard to concentrate at his 100-word essay. Other than that, there were three of us, all with a 11:10 slot in different panels. Very soon, the 10;20 guy was called for the interview and three of us were moved to a different room. And then, we were joined by a girl, who was just done with her interview and had to finish off her 100-word essay. As we started to converse, I was surprised to find that I was the only IIM (Indian-IT-Male, in case u don’t know ) there. Was it an omen or a good sign that I am not competing with peers at that particular point of time at least? There was a young Doc, a girl with a family business and then, another girl, who had just returned from Canada, to appear for ISB. (Wow!! That’s some dedication!!)
Soon, we got the word for 100-word essay: regal. I wrote down some random stuff about how in past, the word used to be associated with royal families, but now it’s about the power of your dreams that makes you regal.
And then, they called me for the interview.
The panel consisted of two alums and an adcom member. One interviewer asked most of the Qs, while others scribbled quick notes as I spoke.
Interviewer 1: We are interested to know what an omnivorous reader means? ( I had described myself as one in Hobbies and interests section)
Me: Drew parallels between the food-habit based classification of animals and then told them that the way an omnivorous animal eats everything (plants and animals), an omnivorous reader devours everything from business to classics to thrillers to humour.
Interviewers [ Looked satisfied, but no further questioning about specific books, which I had expected ]
Interviewer 1: We see that you won the award for a Geeky idea, what was that?
Me: Began by explaining that the same idea won the award for most popular idea in the same software-design contest. Explained the idea in non-techie terms.
Interviewers [ Looked impressed with the explanation of the idea, but no further cross-questioning ]
Interviewer 1: You have written taht you are a very innovative person, can you give some examples?
Me: Gave some generic gyan about how I am always looking for better ideas to complete a task speedily. Then, gave a specific example, trying to keep it as non-technical as I could.
Interviewer, not convinced with the non-techie explanation, dug in details and I had to resort to some technical blabber. Can you believe it: I had to explain “memory leaks” here 
? And no, none of the interviewers had a techie-background.(as i came to know later) But now, he seemed okayishly satisfied.
Interviewer 1: You have quoted leadershipin your essays. Can you tell what was the defining moment in leadership for you?
Me: Thought for a while, then said, no specific defining moment as leadership has come gradually to me. Gave examples of how I staretd as one of few volunteers from first year in the college and then how I gradually rose to the leadership positions like coordinator of fests etc. Mentioned that I continue in similar positions.
[ Expected a follow up Q on similar positions, where I could explain my current extra-curricular leadership examples. But none came. ]
Interviewer 1: Assuming you are an advisor to Ram Mynampati, what advice would you give him?
Me: Explained that I have seen a similar situation. My previous company was involved in an accounting fraud. And then, they fought back with some rebranding. The main reason that they could fight back was that the accounting fraud didn’t change the fact that they had some great engineers workingfor them and that they really made some great software products.
Similarly, the current scenario at Satyam does not change the fact that they have a great workforce or that in past, they have provided excellent software services to their clients or that they are the official Software service providers for FIFA World Cup 2010.
So my advice would be to stay focussed and may be, try a bit of rebranding to signal the market that you have changed (My previous employer used this successfully)
[ This answer was interspersed with a some cross-questions. It was good to know that Interviewer1 knew about the accounting fraud in my previous company. Overall, the interviewers looked impressed with my homework. ]
Interviewer 1: Do you have any questions for us?
Me: [ What!!! AFAIK, this indicates the end of the interview. And many aspects of my candidature are still untouched!! And some of these were the most significant ones.. I have not said anything about my extra-curricular activities, I have not got a chance to tell them about my in-depth research on ISB or my visit to ISB, And noone has asked me about my post-MBA goals.] Enquired about which of them were alums. And then asked about their time at ISB and how it helped them in their career?
Interviewer 2: She had planned on starting her enterpreneurial venture 5-10 years down the line. But ISB gave her the conviction to start it within a few years of her graduation.
Me: Did you take the elective of PAEV: Planning an Enterpreneurship venture? I have read a lot about it and am excited to know about it firsthand.
Interviewer 2: No, I didn’t
Interviewer 1: It actually is a very good course. [ Explained in a bit detail about it.]
Me: Followed up with my homework on the course, then interviewer 1 moved on to his experience with ISB.
Interviewer 1: Had been working with ISB for about 5 years after his graduation. Worked towards building Exchange Programs with leading B-schools of the world
Me: Complemented him on this as today, you name a top B-school and it’s on ISB Exchange program list. Told him that on this front, ISB is the best in the region.
Interviewer 1: It’s in fact best in the world!!
Interviewer 3:BTW, what do you want to do after your MBA?
Me: Would return to technology. In short term, tech-consulting. Told them that consulting is not a goal that I am looking at, I see it as a finishing school for my long term goals.
In long term, leadership position in technlogy: may be with some software-product company or maybe starting my own venture.
Interviewer 1: Do you think that in current situation, tech-consulting jobs would be easy to come by?
Me: Told them that even if they are difficult to come by, the cobination of grroming at ISB and my strong tech-background makes me a very strong candidate for such jobs. Explained how I have an edge over typical IT guy due to my unique background.
[ Expected some follow-up Qs, none came.]
Interviewer 2: You have mentioned leadership at so many places in your application. What qualities do you feel constitute leadership?
Me: Blabbered about team-work, vision, desire for excellence, alluding to the fact that at different points in time I have displayed them all.
[ Expected a follow-up Q on what I had alluded to, none came ]
Interviewer 1:It was nice meeting you. All the best!!
Me: Shook hands with all three and left.
Overall, I am not too satisfied with the interview. I know that I had handled most Qs well. But I really didn’t get a chance to showcase some of the best things in my profile. (Though I have highlighted most of these in my application) If i get an admit, I would forget this all. But in case they decide to ding me, I would be very disappointed on being dinged without showing them my full candidature. I know that I have a decent chance, but after the Duke Debacle, I would not like to keep my hopes too high for anything.
Quick tip for others:
Don’t rely too much on follow up Qs. If you have a point to make, speak it out whenever you have a chance for the same.
Quick Tip2: Don’t mention Satyam, if you can avoid it. I met a girl, who was stopped midway in her answer, when she mentioned Satyam: “Let us not talk about Satyam!!”. It seems that the media has been a bit too harsh about ths ISB-Satyam connection and they have already discussed it too much.
Tags: ISB, ISB interview, MBA interview
… have all failed!! :’(
So here’s a post dedicated to the same. Hope this proves useful for future applicants.
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.
Tags: Indiana, Kelley, Kenan Flagler, Marshall, TOEFL, TOEFL waiver, UNC, USC
New year started on a good note.. I came back after a vacation and the first thing I did after entering my room was to connect to the internet and check my mail. (Hadn’t checked for last 36 hours) And there it was!! The holy mail inviting me for an interview on Jan 9.
Well, this wasn’t unexpected. I had written my essays well and I believe my profile is strong enough to make them interested to meet me. But then, stranger things have happenned last year. So it’s surely pleasant to hear from them.
The real task begins now!! Need to prep well for the interview. I have been going through the PG thread on ISB and that has been of immense help in gearing me up. Hope I can pull it off this time and start the new year in style!!
After much thought and careful consideration, the admissions committee has decided to place your name on the waiting list for admission to the Tuck Class of 2011. Since Tuck puts very few people on the waitlist, you should view this as a positive response to your application.
Well.. with no interview call, I was not expecting anything better. As they have mentioned above. I am seeing it as a positive response and assuming that if it were not for the crazy number of applications this year, I might have as well made it to Hanover.
Whatever may be the reason for not explicitly accepting or rejecting me, this result has given me some reason to be happy about. Good part is that with some recent changes happenning at my workplace, I may actually have something to tell them about my progress after the application period.
So in terms of interview invites, it’s 1.5/2 so far.. Not bad, right?? Hope Darden n Emory give me a call soon. (Though i guess now it’ll happen after the CHristmas break only.) For ISB. i am expecting some action in late Dec or early Jan.
Tags: Dartmouth, Tuck, waitlisted
Not sure what to make out of it..
I got shortlisted for an interview.. ( Not many international students got an invite) I had as good an interview as it could be.. And after all this, this is the result!!.
Feeling shattered! Waiting for another blow in next 24 hours with Tuck results coming up.
Some followers of this blog and a couple of Pagalguy members have asked me on my “tips” for Fuqua essays in particular. Now, I am not sure whether I am qualified enough to give any tips (5 more days before i get to know about it ), but I can surely discuss my take on Fuqua Qs. In fact, since I am relatively free these days (Taking a break b4 deciding whether to go for R2 schools), I plan to go ahead and publish how I answered Fuqua, Tuck,Darden and Emory Qs in different posts. I hope that some R2 applicants find it useful and may be their wishes will help me get me into one (or more) of my dream schools.
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…
Tags: Duke, essay analysis, Fuqua, Leader of consequence
