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.

Feeling shattered! Waiting for another blow in next 24 hours with Tuck results coming up.

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…

The interview was scheduled at 6 in the evening at his office in Delhi. I had planned to reach at least 15-20 minutes before time, but Mr Murphy does not normally like me reaching anywhere in time. I had an urgent client meeting at office, which was suppose to end at 1:30, but stretched way beyond 3:30, when I was forced to excuse myself. Rushed to home and got ready in business formals. Following that, there were some traffic jams on the way,which caused me to be late by about 3-5 minutes. I was planning to start with an apology. I hate to start on a defensive note.But as it turned out, I never needed to. The interviewer was stuck in some important work and the actual interview started only at about 8!! Now, this was particularly exhausting because I had missed my breakfast,lunch and evening snacks for different reasons. And a banana and a few biscuits was all I had for the entire day!!

Anyways, the interview started with him taking a look at my  resume and asking me some ice-breaker questions like for how long, I have been in Delhi.(and some more around that.) That was followed by a question on my fav subects in college. (This made me wonder if he was from techie background too) I answered algorithm-design, data-structures and databases, adding stupidly that I am no longer in touch with databases. Somehow, didn’t want to be grilled on first normal form n all, though a data-structures interview would have been perfectly tolerable . Interestingly, next, he asked me about my least fav subject too and Machine Drawing was almost the clear winner here.

Now, we were on to the main course.. “Tell me something about yourself, starting wth your education.” The qualifier, “starting wth your education” surely helped me shape the answer better. I believe I was able to handle the Q quite well,with him interrupting quite often to ask a question or two.. Then for one particular competition that I had won, the discussion went a bit too long (which, of course, was good for me) and after that, we shifted to the ever important Qs: “Why MBA? Why now? Why Fuqua” in this order.

I gave him my goals and showed how an MBA helps me reach there. He argued how the same can be attained without an MBA. I agreed, but still insisted that an MBA will prepare me better for the challenges. Arguing “why now” was not that difficult and I have done enough research on Fuqua that  I don’t think that “Why Fuqua” can  let me down anywhere. From his expressions, I felt that he liked my homework on Fuqua. (though I somehow messed up slightly when I forgot the exact name of the course and had to say the “strategic planning thing” in place of “strategic planning practicum”)

Here’re some Qs that I remember from rest of the interview: /* More to be added as and when I remember */

• Strengths and development opportunities. Bragged a lot (of course, everything real ) and then mentioned a real improvement area.
• What role do i play in a team? Depends on my responsiblities, I am a good follower, good peer and a good leader too ; quoted examples (from professional and extra-curricular areas) of each.
• Tell me about a team-effort that did not work out well. Stumped me! Dug deeper and then mentioned an event at my undergrad.
• Tell me about a time when you had to convey a difficult message to somebody. Again stumped me, but then remembered a recent incident when I discovered and admitted a goof-up I made 2 years back.
• How would you enrich the cultutre at Fuqua? Mentioned a club i’d start (for Duke Univ, Fuqua may not have enough members for that) , a club that I’d like to rejuvenate and 2-3 clubs that I’d be a part of.
• If given a chance, what would you like to change in your life?  Re-mentioned a couple of failiures/mistakes that i had already covered and told him how I learnt from each of them and would not actually like to change those. Then, concluded with sth like.. “only thing that I would perhaps like to change would be my focus on physical health.” (I used to be underweight by any standards; still not that healthy.)
• Is there anything else that you’d like me to know? Now this was something that made me happy. Because thinking over this Q made me realise that I had successfuly uncovered almost all major portions of my candidature in the interview. There wasn’t much to tell, except for a story about overcoming a challenging time before my undergrad days, which I decided to tell him next.
• Is there anything you’d like to ask?  I asked about his Fuqua experience and about Fuqua alum-community in India. He answered very excitedly for the first question, which reinforced the spirit of Team Fuqua that I have visualised in my mind. For the 2nd Question, he very candidly mentioned that in terms of numbers, Fuqua@India is a small, but strong and growing community.

Overall, the interview went quite well, There were some small slip-ups ( not all noticeable) and the questions made me uncover more mistakes than I have normally seen in an interview. But I feel that i handled each of them quite well highlighting the lessons learnt and what I did after that and this hopefully made sure that none of them actually sends out a negative signals.

I am quite optimistic about the results. It’s a wait of 16 days starting today.

Fuqua finds my application interesting enough to extend an alum-interview invite to me. And this time, I surely have reasons to be happier, because this is my first adcom-initiated interview.

Folks, pray for me!! Hope I soon publish the magical post titled: “I am in!!!”

We have received all necessary materials to consider your Duke MBA application complete for our Round 1. You will receive notification of an admission decision by December 19, 2008.

Please keep us updated on any changes to your addresses. If you need to update your E-mail address, please be sure to update your online application profile and send a written request with your new address to Application-Processing@Fuqua.Duke.Edu.

 I got this mail yesterday morning and was elated to think that finally my app is complete and must be heading for a review soon.. But as it turned out, the mail means that they have everything they need to decide on my candidature and they won’t be calling me for an interview. (A co-applicant  on PG has confirmed this from the adcom.)

Technically, I am not out of the game as they say that the interviews are not mandatory. However, realistically speaking, I know that I must now turn my focus to other schools as the Fuqua chapter is as good as closed. There is no way that they are going to admit just another IT applicant w/o an interview.

The decisions are to be released on Dec19. Keeping my expectations low, perhaps I would be now happy with a waitlist.

There’s an update to the above stuff. Please read my comment below.

But then, you don’t need a “significant” news for posting on your own blog, So here’s a quick round-up:

Tuck: Application submitted an hour before the EA deadline. Status changed to Complete in next 3 days.. No change since then. With AppleTuckBoy (BW forums) and Italian Stallion (PG forums) already getting invites about 1-2 weeks back, I am losing hope now. Only ray of hope is that they are perhaps visiting India in Dec first half. May be they’ve decided to keep Indian files on hold till then.. (AM I hoping too much?? I guess so )

Fuqua: Again submitted an hour before R1 deadline. No status change till date. With the EA applicants getting their results yesterday, I expect some action now for R1 applicants.

Darden: The status is showing “Application received.” As I get to know from other applicants, it’ll change to “Pending” (ready for review) next and then to “Under Review” before I can hope to get an invite. So it looks to be a long wait. 

Emory: This is what I am targetting next. Will submit my application in next two-three days. Theirs is a roling admission system. But it seems I have allowed it to roll for too long. Sometimes, I feel strict deadlines work better for me. I am sure I would have managed to submit on time had the deadline been some time around November 5 (non-rolling).

ISB: Have started the apps. Will manage to submit by their R2 deadline.

Kelley/UNC/Ross: My R2 targets (if need be) Will need to write TOEFL for Kelley and UNC. :’(

BTW, just saw this video from Darden. Ignore the obtrusive font size and you’ll really like this video:

[youtube=http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=XffeU37icjg]

These people are doing phenomenal marketing through youtube. ( I guess you must have already checked Sara Neher’s video-blog.) Videos like these are exactly what the international students need to get to know more about the school. And I am really impressed by the efforts the school is making to reach out to prospective students. Great going, Darden!!

Speed of time == 5 seconds/second!!
Now this is what I’m feeling these days!! Time is running out so fast..

It feels like yesterday, when I was talking to ahembea “With September starting tonorrow, every deadline would be “next month!!”". I find it hard to believe that 10 days have already passed and I’ve not achieved much. I know everyone around is feeling the same.. September is perhaps the fastest disappearing month for R1 applicants. (And perhaps December the slowest, when the results take their own sweet time to appear)

Meanwhile, here’re a few highlights:

• Have got my scores sent to Ross, Tuck and Darden. Amongst my target schools, I had already sent the scores to ISB and Emory on the G-day. Will wait for Duke. (See next point.)
• Duke is confusing me. The info regarding the no-cosigner loan on their website has changed from “guaranteed loans without a US cosigner ” to ” Information about the International Student Loan is forthcoming.” What does this mean?? Are they planning to discontinue their “International Student Loan “??
  My apping to Fuqua will depend on answer to this Question. I’ve written to them, but no response yet.
  (FAQs page still confirms theavailability, but I’ll trust the finaid site more)
• Talked to my recommenders:: Had told my boss even before writing GMAT. Needed to talk to two more. One of them, an ISB grad, is a program manager in my team.. He’s a great guy to talk to!!  I discussed the feasibility and practically of B-school targets and post-MBA goals with him. He’s ready to write a reco for me and to review my essays as well!!
  Today called upp my third recomender too. She too is happy to write a reco for me. She’s my supervisor from one of my extra-curricular invovements. And since it was she. who recommended me for one of the leadership positions in the organisation, I’m sure she’ll write a gr8 reco here too.
• Transcripts:: Stll trying to get hold of a junior to get these. If anything doesn’t crystallise in next 6-7 days, I guess I’ll have to make a trip to my alma-mater myself.. That has been a dream for long, but I don’t think that I’m in a position to afford that luxury at this stage.
• Goals-essay:: First draft mostly done.. Though need to add the “Why MBA” and “WHy now” part to it in addition to “Why school X” for  each school. This is the essay that needs to undergo a reality check by a few experts. (And may need a good amount of overhaul in case I’m not specific enough.)
• Tuck essays:: Leadership essay and Constructive criticism :::: first draft done.
  Personal deadline for rest of the first drafts:: Sept 13.
• Ross essays::
  Developing outlines for “alternate career” and “most challenging time” essays.
  Personal deadline for all first drafts:: Sept 16.

Hope I’m able to stick to these deadlines. Given the shape of the drafts that I’ve ready, I know that they need a lot of polishing as of now before they can be even sent to be reviewed by some of my close friends.

BTW, if anybody gets to know anything confirmed about Duke Interational Loan, do let me know.

However, I managed to get in one more component to select schools:: the essays!! I remember somebody big (perhaps Senapati at Pagalguy) saying “Thou shalt not select schools on basis of essay Qs.” But I don’t find myself completely agreeing with this. Though selecting schools purely on basis of this would be sheer idiocy, but when confused between two equivalent schools, the essays can be used as an effective tie-breaker:: Based on your profile and experience, how answerable the schools’ Qs are or do the Qs allow you to project the best of you through your answers.  On this basis, I had eliminated MIT Sloan long back;I don’t have answers to most of their Qs..

So based on all this, here’s my (almost) final list in no particular order::

• Stanford:: All depends on Dhirubhai Fellowship. If I get selected as a finalist, Stan will be my top choice. If I don’t, I’ll drop it.
• Ross:: Loved their action-based learning.. Interesting essays, helping me to project the best of me.
• Fuqua (Duke)::  Looks very good. Need to dig more and contact a few students as well.. Qs totally changed from the last year and are quite different from other schools.
• Tuck:: Fierce alumni-loyality. Would love to be a part of such a closely-knit community. My only two concerns were:: Tuck brand in India and the rural life @ Hanover. As I dug in, the second doesn’t appear to be too negative and the first is mostly compensated for by the fact that the strength of the community matters more than mere numbers.
  Essay Qs quite answerable..
• Darden:: As mentioned above, initially I was very apprehensive about 100% case method. Am still not fully convinced about using this method for some subjects.. Still the strong curricullum and the tremendous opportunities in consulting make it too hard to ignore.
  Still waiting for the essays. (I’m expecting some changes from last year.)
• Emory::  the Pagalguy thread on current Emory students taking Qs was very useful.. I read it to the full and at the end of 4 hours, I had finalised Emory in my list.
  Essay Qs look good. (Last year’s; this year’s Qs not released yet) 
• ISB:: The one school taht has never ever left this list:: In fact, it was the only school with which the journey had started 18 months back.It’s almost sure that I’ll be applying to all the seven schools above, though I still need to divide these into R1 and R2 schools. Will try applying to minimum five schools in R1. I do think I can manage that.. Let us see how it goes.  AFAIK, All the schools above offer good program in General Management, provide loans upto costs of attendance without an cosigner and offer decent to excellent opportunities in consulting.  Blog-readers, please let me know if you locate any discrepancy here.

  In addition to above, I’m also considering HBS and Yale. But the latter is very,very selective with its small class size and the former is almost prohibitive with its exorbitant fee (I’m not expecting any schol, even if I pull-off a miracle ad get an admit). The Qs of both are very good and I’ve good answers to almost all of them.. lemme see, if I need to drop any of the above seven or if I need to expand my list for R2, then I may consider taking a chance at these two.