Turned down the admission-offer that ISB had for me. The reason I am calling this as a bold move is that I have still not figured out the finances for Emory completely. Was busy in some other important tasks and have not taken any step on working on this in last few days.

But in any case, I am in no position to deposit INR 2 Lakhs that ISB would need as a deposit in case I want that safe in my kitty too. I am sure that Emory would come up with a no-cosigner loan that it is working on actively as per the Accepted Students website. Even in the absence of it, I guess I would somehow be able to arrange for the living expenses. 

I know ISB V/s Emory (with schol) is a debatable issue. I am very clear about what I want from my B-school and hence, clearly it’s Goizueta for me. I understand that this issue deseves a detailed post.. Don’t worry, it’ll be here very soon. Keep watching this space.

Going through the life-cycle of a number of MBA applicants through their blogs, I knew that after getting the admits, the next wait is for the official confirmation in forms of admission-packets. It’s a bit strange that even in this world of web and e-mails, how good it feels to have something tangible to see and show up. 

So I too was waiting for the official admission packets. In fact, I was regularly tracing the journey of my packet from Atlanta through  Hongkong through  Mumbai to finally Noida through the UPS tracking system. I was really waiting quite eagerly for this one. And suddenly, just 2 minutes after I had checked the status to be “Arrival-scan” at New Delhi, I got a mail from the office-mailroom informing me about the arrival of a letter for me. “They can’t be that quick”, I thought, but still reached the mailroom almost jumping and running on my way.

It was not the packet from Goizueta, it was the acceptance letter from ISB. The ISB letter was quite plain. It was simply the original mail this time in hard-copy format. No additional info of any kind. But as written above, it felt good to go through the contents again and again. 

And then, in the evening, the mailroom people contacted me again. And this time, it had to be from Goizueta!! I cut short whatever conversation I was having with my colleagues and rushed to the mailroom minutes before its closure for the day. And there it was: my admissions packet from the school that I’ll hopefully belong to in near future. The packet had a black leather folder with a Goizueta notepad. In addition, there were two letters one each about my acceptance and scholarship. And the best part was: a handwritten note by Director of Admissions, Mrs Julie Barefoot complementing me on my acadmic credentials. A personal touch like this surely does make you feel good. 

I was really very happy to see this. Monday wasn’t particularly a good day for me at office: some health issues, some struggle with the new line of work and then some more things.. But a moment like this makes you forget everything else. 

BTW, as you may have realized from the new category that has come up on this blog: “Go Goizueta!!”, I have frozen my decision to attend Goizueta. Have I arranged for the living expenses and other things already? Not yet! But I am confdent that I will be able to figure that out. Meanwhile, I initiated the wire-transfer for the initial deposit, but for some reason, it failed. (I got the mail informing about the same today morning.) I perhaps would need to do it the old fashioned way.(money order/DD)  :(

It’s such a lovely feeling to be admitted to the school, keeping which in mind I had embarked on “Mission MBA” This is one school that was never off my list since Jan 2007, when I had started giving MBA  a serious thought.. 

That said, things have changed since then.. I have researched internatonal MBA in depth and now I really want to have that  experience myself. So i believe that today’s admit doesnt change much.. I still plan to fly to Atlanta coming July.  But it surely feels better to know that if it’s Goizueta that I go to,then  it’s by choice, not by default.

Will finalize this ISB V/s Emory thing in a week or so.

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.

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.

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!!

Some confusion was there about the submission deadlne time. Had got a mail from the adcom stating that The deadline for submitting your online application is 11:59:59 of Dec 1, 2008 (IST)

AFAIK, if you do not state AM/PM, the time should be taken to be in 24 hours format, which would make the submission deadline as 11:59 AM. Now, instead of confirming from the adcom, I decided to slog it out and meet the noon-deadline. So finally, I submitted my application at about 11:15 in the morning today. Called my recommender for the 5th/6th time since Saturday to remind him about it. And he submitted his recommendation in time too. After that the first thing I did was to check Pagalguy and there some R1 admit had confirmed that it’s actually 11:59 PM.

In any case, I am happy that I did it well in time. The essays have come out very well finally: surely my best set of essays so far. Though I am not sure whether they gave me chance to present my complete picture, but I am sure I did a very good job. If nothing goes wrong terribly, I am confident of getting an interview call.

In other updates, Emory interviews have been suspended in wake of Mumbai events. And I am having my first B-school interview tomorrow. Fuqua had offered me a telephonic interview with an alum, but fortunately, the alum expressed interest in meeting me personally! The interview is scheduled at 6 in the evening tomorrow. I am nervous and excited, confident and scared all at the same time.

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!!

I had requested to arrange a class on Monday. Luckily, I got to meet one of the ISB students on Sunday and when he got to know that I’m a prospective student, he advised me to attend “Corporate Finance” by Prof Bhagwan Das Chowdhry, who was considered a God in coporate-finance.  Finally, with a number of mail-exchanges with the admission-office, I was alloted the slot of 2-4 PM.

So I got dressed in the best set of formals that I had in my luggage. As I was reaching the school, the sky started getting overcast.  And surprisingly the auto-wallah didn’t know the location.. I had expected the school to be a known big entity at least in the surrounding area.. But perhaps, not many visitors to ISB use an autorickshaw to get there.

Finally, I was there.. I was really excited as I strolled through the serene road to the main-campus. The road was flanked by trees and at a distance, I could even spot a peacock!! I was really enjoying the leisurely walk, when suddenly my train of thought was disturbed by a sudden burst of rain.. And there I was running towards the main campus with all my might. At that moment, that felt like a scene straight from a bollywood  movie:: My manzil (destination) was in front of me and I was running hard in the downpour to get aboard. Only thing that would have completed that scene to perfection would be someone landing a helping hand from there and pull me inside.. ( No!! I’m not hoping that someone to be the girl of my dreams!! Even a senior elderly member from Adcom would have done. Just take me in!! :D)

Anyways, enough of digression!! Finally I was in the main campus. The rain had undone all my efforts to look good, but in any case, I had to proceed. After asking for directions, I was there for the class in time. I introduced myself to the prof and he happily allowed me in the class.  Now, I decided to take a vacant seat in the middle-row. But just for the formality, I asked the student seated next to the seat in question: “Is this seat taken?” The guy gave me a weird look and said “Of course, it is” and pointed to the name-tag at the desk. I explained that I was a just a prospective student. Got to know that the prospective students/ teaching-assistants and others have to sit separately in the corners of the room. Worse part was that since the corner-seats were also full, I was to get my own chair for the class from the nearby room. Thankfully, I spotted a service-boy and was spared the weirdness of getting my own chair to the class.

The class was terrific!! Though I have no background of finance at all, but the teaching style was so good that I could make sense of most of it. Of course, the fact that it was the first class for the term helped. And I must mention that I really liked the way the class participated actively in the discussion.  Relevant questions were asked just at the  time when I felt I’m losing it. (Seeing that I was missing mostly those things that current students are missing too gave a boost to my confidence.)  And yes, there cerainly were some Qs asked just for the sake of it:: targetted at marking one’s presnece in the class. This is something that many of your friends pursuing MBA anywhere (I’ve heard from students at IIMs, NUS and US schools) will tell you. I’d have been surprised if I found ISB as an exception.
After an hour, the class broke for 5 minutes and I decided to use the opportunity to (try to) talk to some students.. I found most of the guys quite smug and reluctant to talk. At least three conversations ended something like: “Hi, I’m a propective student <some more stuff>”
“Ohh gr8!! So are you liking the class?”
“Sure I am… BTW, how is the ISB experience so far.”
“It’s great”|| “It’s hectic”|| “In one word,hectic <pause>; In two words, very hectic” (And the guy excuses himself from a boring discussion.)
Come on guys!! I had expected more from students of a premier institute like ISB. Your life surely could be hectic, but I still feel you have better words to describe it to a prospective, eager student. If I were in your place, I’d have perhaps offered the prospective student a quick walk around the campus.. Okay, I guess that’s a bit too much time off their “very hectic” schedule. But at least a 3 minute discussion would not have hurt.. RIght?? ( Or I’m expecting too much without seeing the B-school life from inside.)

The second half of the class was interesting too, but the effects of lack of  proper sleep last night were quite visible. And I had to struggle hard to make sure that I was not thrown out of my first MBA class. After the class, I had to make a quick exit as it was still overcast and I didn’t want to get drenched again.

Overall, the visit was quite good and inspiring. I’d love to be be part of such a great class even if that means making my life “very hectic”

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.