The interview was very generic. There were no surprises. It wasn’t a blind interview. I believe she had my full application in front of her or at least, had gone through that in full. 

Here’re the Qs asked in the exact order that they were asked: 

• Tell me something about yourself covering your education, work-ex and your motivation for an MBA. (Answered as usual, but while covering work-ex, mentioned the switch from company X  to  company Y and underlined that company Y is very selective. (This was a lesson from Goizueta Interview ) )
• You mentioned company Y is very selective. Why do you think so? And why did they select you? (Explained the rigorous process. As expected, she was impressed.  Then, mentioned my traits like technical excellence, problem solving skills and teamwork)
• Tell us about a work-related team-story. (Told)
• What do your colleagues admire most about you? ( Quoted some qualities, with example. got appreciation)
• Motivation for an MBA now. (Told, she sounded convinced)
• Why Tuck? (Explained in detail, Clubs, courses, reputation; connected with my goals; she liked my homework) 
• How did you get to know about Tuck? (Told the whole story starting with the first time I saw the name in one of the rankings to the alum-hosted admission event. Mentioned how I loved the way their alum stood for them once they needed to postpone the visit. Told them how even I am connected strongly with my alma-mater. She liked this.) 
• Tell us tour involvement with Toastmasters. (Explained in detail how TM made me a better speaker, better leader anda a better person. Mentioned that I’d like to rejuvenate Tuckmasters, the now defunct TM club of Tuck. She complimented me on that saying that TM is really a gr8 organization to be involved with.)
• Any additional info that you’d like admissions-committee to know. ( Told about recent updates from work-front. She again sounded impressed and asked me to send a detailed note for this.) 

Next, she asked if i have any specific Qs related to the WL process or anything else. Here r the Qs i asked:

• Next step for WL candidates. (Nothing. It’s a long wait and all the waitlisted candidates would be evaluated at the end of last round. )
• What abt internationals? Don’t you encourage internationals to apply early to avoid Visa-hassles?? ( Yup, They are seeing to it that if possible, international candidates are notified a bit earlier. But that too will take at least a couple of months.)
• Any chance of schol/finaid for us. (Schol: no chances, all decissions with admit-decisions; finaid: chances are there.)
• Possibility of a no-cosigner loan? (Tuck is still looking, but the last she knew, there was no improvement in situation.)

Overall,  the interview went very well. I was very confident this time. (Goizueta effect maybe) I guess it was the kind taht would have got me a seat at Tuck, had it been a regular interview. EVen now i guess it may fetch me a seat some time in May.

But I don’t  intend to wait that long. In next two days, I’ll write to update them about my Goizueta result and request then to either release the result or release me off the waitlist. In any case, an admit w/o scholarship or possibility of a loan is as good as a ding for me. So better move out of the waitlist and make way for someone else.

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.

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.

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 am overall quite satisfied with the final effort and I am keeping my fingers crossed for getting an interview call.

What next??  It’s still Tuck: The scholarship deadline on Oct 22. In parallel, Duke, Darden and Emory. With the office-work piling up too, it doesn’t look that I’ll be able to manage all three.  I may have to push one of Duke and Emory to a later round.

Then, there were a couple of mail-exchanges with the Darden finaid director Larry, who ensured me that the school is trying its best to arrange for a scheme for international students and the deposit deadline will be readjusted to give the admits time to decide and to arrange funds. He also stressed on value of apping in R1, b’coz it’s in R1 that majority of merit-scholarships are given out. I also confirmed about the deferrals, which are actually awarded on a case-to-case basis. Larry has also left a comment on my previous post.

I’m really impressed by the school’s concern for deserving students and thus Darden is back in the list for me. I’m sure they’ll find a way out in case I manage to find a way in.

Propelled by this enthusiasm, I sat out yesterday evening and in a day, I have almost completed my first  drafts for all the three essays.. I had thought over the topics for quite some time, when I had got the news, so it didn’t take much time in assmbling my initial thoughts. Current status of the essays is draft version 0.9; After some basic more content addition, I’ll send my version 1.0 to my reviewers.

Right now, it’s Tuck time.. Giving final touch to the essays and filling up the data-forms. Also added the names of both my recommeders to the app-form. My recommeder #1  (my manager) is out-of-reach today, will call him tomorrow to push him in action ASAP. My recommender #2 (from my extra-curricular involvements) promised that she’ll be keying in the reco maximum byMonday.
Overall, Tuck application seems to be in good shape. (as far as timely submission is concerned at least. ) I believe I’ll comfortably meet EA deadline.

I was finding it tough to manage Ross and Tuck together. For Tuck,I am relatively in quite advanced stage and I’m in the process of fine-tuning my drafts. On the contrary, though I have raw drafts ready for all four Ross essays, they are nowhere close to even be called first drafts.. More importantly, I wasn’t myself convinced with the stories, particularly the most significant professional achievement. I feared that my app was not strong enough, but at the same time I strongly wanted to go by the R1 deadline.

Then, I was reminded of adcom’s fav line: “Best round is the one when your application is strongest”. Considering this, I decided to push Ross to R2. Their R2 deadline is in jan, I’m sure i’ll get some more clarity by that time and will be in a position to put in a stronger app. In any case, I do have an accomplishment-in-making on the professional front and I hope that’d give me a stronger answer.

IT was a tough decision as Ross (tied with Tuck) was my top choice. But taking this decision has surely made life easier for me. Now I can focus primarily on Tuck essays. The reviews are mostly in and I need to rework some of the stuff. Am targetting one round of overhaul this weekend, before I move on to Darden and Duke.

I am very impatiently awaiting detailed reviews from the first two reviewers. Both of these are quite senior to me and are very busy people. I’m already grateful to them that they could find time for me;  not really sure when I should  ping them for reminding.  But as of now,I’m really finding it hard to concentrate w/o their feedback and I feel that  before I proceed to write another set of flawed essays, perhaps it would be good if i can get the basics right.. (Am i using this as an excuse for procrastination!!) After reviewer2’s comments, I’ve gone back to read my Tuck-drafts at least ten times and somehow I stil am in love with my efforts.

So what else I’m doing other than getting confused over my reviewers’ comments.. Right now I’m concentrating on Ross drafts. Yes, I’m lagging behind the schedule that I had set for myself, but the essays are giving me a hard time.
Alternate profession essay is quite tricky, I’m still confused between two possible professions.. (Yeah, the goal-clarity is missing in alternate career too!! ) Also struggling with “Most significant professional achievent” essay.. Not sure how can I narrate my stories without getting too technical. Can’t tell them how the debugger was misbehaving and how I  cracked a number of the bugs by putting printf() statements in all the right places, neither can i go on to tell them how I dug  deep into code and resolved a number of memory leaks. (Non-IT blog-readers, pardon me here! ) Regarding “a challenging time in your life”, I have a story, but that’s in distant past and then it’s a bit common.. Essay-advisors on BW forums have advised me against using that.
Had planned to reuse the Tuck essay (in parts) for goals, but that too is under fire from my reviewers. Add to all this the fact that none of the four essays cover my extra-curricular leadership efforts, so i’m forced to go for an optional essay as well!!(May be here I can reuse Tuck leadership essay with some tweaks)
In sum, with less than three weeks from submission,my essays for Ross are really in a bad shape. But hopefully, I’ll be able to set things right soon. Maximum by Monday EOD, Ross first drafts will be dispatched to the reviewers.

Gurus say that life becomes easy once you’re done with first two-three sets of essays. Partly because you get in flow of expressing your ideas cogently in prose and partly because you may be in a position of recycling your essays written so far for subsequent schools. (of course, with some tweaking and editting). Let’s see if that holds for me.

For now,it’s over to Ross.. Yes, for some silly reason, I’ve chosen to write Tuck essays first, though the deadline for Ross is full five days earlier than that for Tuck!!
And yes, got this wonderful video on Tuck courtsey Yepsee. Hope you’ll like it too..

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQtLsz5za5E&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&fs=1]

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.