On personal front, I’ve given myself a deadline to shortlist about 7-10 schools that I plan to apply by the end of May.. Will take some more time (may be 2 weeks) to trim down the list to 4 to which I’ll be applying in R1 and another 3-4 (if need be) in R2.. So far the list is:

IIM-A (PGPX):: It’s not even my Dream-school.. (I define dream-school as the one that you’ d love to attend, but you don’t have a strong chance at getting in. ) With its avg experience of 10+ years, it’s totally unrealistic for me.. But still I’m gonna app for this.. No app fee and app deadline is 15th Aug well before the deadlines for other schools.. So apping to this will provide a dry-run for other  schools..

BTW, just got the news that a friend got into Wharton two days back. The guy already had offers from Duke, Tepper and IIM-C.. But W is big!!! Biggest of them all!! I guess I’d need to catch this guy and get some serious tips about apping..  

Meanwhile, fellow-bloggers for fall 2009, keep visiting and leaving comments here..  Anyone belonging to this tribe (Apping for 2009 and already blogging about it ) surely deserves a pat on the back for starting early. Let us start interacting on blogosphere and help each other out in whatever way we can. I’m reachable at my gmail ID: quizophobic

I was quite surprised to see that the application for PGPX-2009 adission is already on. I checked and rechecked to see if I’m looking at last year’s admission page, but I was surprised to see that everything for 2009 session is in place from the new brochure to a raw academic calendar from April 2009 to March 2010. I’m really impressed by this proactivity. Rest of my target schools are still in process of winding up their admissions for this year.

But another section of the site almost shattered my dreams of making it to IIMM-A. This was the class profile section.  I must admit that going purely by numbers, this is the most impressive average profile that I’ve seen in last 1 year of B school research. (Perhaps only IMD,Switzerland comes close) Sample this: Avearage GMAT:728 , Average work-ex 10.2 years, average international experience 5+ years.. WIth just 4 years (by April 2009) experience and 0 international experience, even my good GMAT score and above-average extra-curriculars won’t be able to push me into IIM-A. Whatever  hopes I still had were shattered when I saw this in answers to one of their  FAQs.” Adhering to minimum age of 27 years at the start of the programme, a normal graduate should have 6 to 7 years of post qualification, full time work experience” (

Anyways, I always believe, “You miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take.” So I won’t quit before giving this one serious try. . There is no fee for application  and even GMAT  scores are to be self-reported initially. Further, no essays at this stage.  First round screening is based on profile-evaluation. ( We need to fill in the application form online, in which you can list your GMAT, GPA, experience, extra-curricular activites and other leadership experience.
Even if I manage to reach the interview stage, it’ll be a good exercise and if somehow I can get in (Probability of which is lower than my getting into Stanford ) ,  having such experienced people for company will be a great learning experience.

BTW, for those who’re interested in apping to IIM-A , here’s the link: http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/pgpx/pgpx0910/login.php :)