The Long Wait

Now that I've got most of my essays ready for my top business schools, most of the stuff I have to do is jut clerical. And then I guess I just have to wait. December end seems like such a long time away, especially for someone as obsessive as me. I guess the time will go even slower now that there's not much work, with the business almost completely closed down. Speaking about that, I wonder whether it will ever completely finish. I mean I know it will, at some point, but having no control over it is so frustrating.

Decided to close the company down in mid-Feb and things started happening really fast. There were so many things to plan out and do, and things were happening much faster than we had originally thought. I finished over 90% of the work by May, retrenching the workers, selling off most of the stocks, selling our brand, as well as find a buyer for the factory. Till then, things were happening as fast as I could do them, the only real limitation on it, being my time. Luck played a large role (as I feel it always does in everything) in helping get through that so fast. In May anyway, I calculated that since I accomplished 90% of the work in three months, the remaining 10% should take me 10 days, and giving time for unforeseeable developments, I gave it a month to finish everything.

But life continuously surprises you. If in Feb, someone had told me that I would finish the most of the work by May, I would have thought it close to impossible. If someone told me in May by September, I would finish less than 10% of the remaining work, I would have laughed. But here I am, alone at home, having had to rush back mid-holiday to meet with the Bank manager.

This part of the job is teaching me patience beyond my expectations. I have had to go to the bank every single day for the past two weeks, playing the chess game of negotiating for a One Time Settlement. Well it would be sort of like chess, if you played chess by moving one pawn forward and then back for three months straight, without making any other moves. The majority of my work now includes just waiting. Waiting on the bank to make some move.

Like I had mentioned, I will be putting up a detailed post on banking later, maybe after the settlement is over, but I just want to mention that it is impossible for an organization to become efficient without some risk-reward ratio. The same lacks in the civil service, and a bank manager in a public sector bank is more or less like a bureaucrat. And I'm not blaming him, (well not right now anyway) but he is not motivated to make a difference, to help people, or even his own organization. He is only motivated to keep his papers clear. As long as that is taken care of, the bank could write off our entire loan amount, or force us to sell our house, and neither makes a difference to him, or to anyone else in the bank.

Anyway, planning to do a Lord of the Rings marathon session on Monday and Tuesday since its anyway a holiday here. Luckily the special dvd editions are 45 mins longer, and I have to wait that much less for the MBA admission results.

Essays and Blogging

After spending hours writing and editing essays, typing more might be the last thing that some people might think of. I however like to OD on stuff. I guess that blogging is also a contrast and relaxation thing compared to essays. You don't have to worry about planning out what to say, structure, relevance, editing out, or sticking to any word limit. And also, you dont have to worry about expectations.

Worries about expectations of people on the adcom are just creeping up on me. I did my essays for my first couple of schools quite quickly without too much editing, except making it more concise and clearer of course. The first times were easy because I have never worked on an application proces before and so didn't think too much about it, and just wrote from the heart. So I guess the essays are very true to who I am, but now that its done, I am starting to wonder about whether I am the kind of person that adcoms think are suited for an MBA.

There's a lot of talk on websites and discussions on "Indian Male Admit Ratio" and "what are adcoms looking for and so on". Meeting, or atleast hearing Mr. Thomas Caleel, Wharton Admission Director, at the Bangalore reception was reassuring. He seemed pretty much like a regular guy, and didn't seem like he was hiding some secret to how they actually choose candidates. Anyway, back on the web for a couple of days and thoughts are creeping back. The Wharton student2student discussion is a very good place to go for some reassurance again. Faith swings like a pendulum between the poles of certainty and doubt.

Back to blogging and essays, I guess writing the essays one always has to use "judgement" on what to write, and what is most relevant to the topic. But sometimes after you edit out something, you stil keep thinking about it, and building up on it, and finally have to write it down somewhere, without caring about it. And Blogger comes to the rescue.

I don't know whether I'm lazy but I don't feel I can plan out essays on what the adcom wants to hear. I think its too much work, and anyway, after all the research and reading, I still haven't got a clear idea of what they are looking for. I feel that the weakest point in my apps are possibly my college marks which are anyway too late to change. My goals and stuff can't really be changed much, and my personal qualities can't be changed at all. BTW, I put my slight obsessive compulsive disorder as the personal quality that will help the Wharton adcom know me better.

At the end, if I don't get admitted anywhere, maybe I am not cut out for it. I guess I have to trust the adcom's judgement in deciding that. I can just hope to give them as clear an idea as I can of who I am and what is important to me, in a total of around 3000 words.

Only September and I already got my first "Ding"

I had applied to the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad's new programme in Management for Executives, the PGPX. The interview shortlist came out yesterday and I wasn't on it. I didn't really want it so I wasn't disappointed but was kinda suprised, especially since they had contacted me the day after my GMAT via the GMASS service. Anyway, the application was also kind of limited since they ask for essays only at the time of the interview, and the letters of reccomendation only at the time of accepting admission offers. I feel particularly in my case, coming from a small business background, and that too closing the business down, the essays are my biggest tool to put everything in context. I also think my letters of reccomendation, one which I'm getting from a supplier and one from a customer since I don't have any supervisors, will be pretty good. They used to be very appreciative of my progress and efforts and the decision to stop.

Anyway, looking on the bright side, I got to use "ding," a word I just recently learnt from other MBA Blogs. I also know feel somehow like a reapplicant, which means I have a desire to make it "this time around atleast". I am able to use it effectively, I have a much better chance of getting in, since a higher percentage of reapplicants get in. The best part is that I saved a hundred thousand bucks since they have a much earlier timeline than everybody else and you have to send your acceptance (and the initial deposit) by November 25th. If I had got admitted, then I don't know whether I would have turned it down, and might have chosen to pay that, which I would have lost if I got admitted into some place I want to go to more. So I guess, as always, everything happens for the best.

Feedback from IESE

IESE Business School in Barcelona has a cool feature for their application process where you get feedback on your profile. Basically you enter in a few details about your undergrad university, GMAT scores, and work experience. Within a week or so you get a response as to their initial feeling about the strength of your application. Basically, you'll know if you're eliminated right away. For someone as impatient as me, this seemed like a great idea.

Anyway, I got an email from from them within around a week, offering to help me with the admission process and answer any questions that I had about IESE. I sent them back a long email with my detailed profile and so many questions that they thought it was just better to call me and answer my questions.

I had a very helpful telecon with Mr. Anjan, Associate Director of MBA admissions, where I got answers to all my questions and a very good idea of the process and criteria. I'm also meeting them for an interview in the MBA Tour in Bangalore.

Talking of the MBA tour, I'm also meeting the people from F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College at the tour. Their focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, where they also say entrepreneurship is not necessarily about starting a business, that its also a state of mind. Anyway, the long wait continues.

Interviews, Submissions, Catching up

I Haven't posted in a long time, I think since the time I left for the MBA tour.

So let me start with that. I had an interview with Babson and with IESE. IESE was more of an informative interview while Babson was a full blown interview, my first interview for over 10 years, the last one being for admission for undergrad. The questions went something like this

"If you could go back and change anything you wanted about your career progress and choices, what would you do?

What do you define as success? What motivates you, what makes you happy?

Elaborate on a failure, what did you learn from it?

What industry or company do you wanna work for after graduating?

Have you had a frustrating experience working in a team where one person slacked off? How did you deal with it?"

I can't remember but there must have been more questions since the interview lasted for around 45 minutes. Mrs. Bates from the Babson adcom had also told me right in the beginning, that the last question would be what i wished that she'd ask, and that i'd have the whole interview to think about it. But of course, I could only think of that once I got back home. I think it went off well, though I can't say for sure firstly since like I mentioned, its been a long time, and secondly, don't know whether there is really any way to tell. She was agreeing with me a lot, like she understood what I was talking about, so I assumed it went off well.

IESE encouraged me to apply at the end of the interview and said that if they don't feel the candidate has a chance, they tell them straight off so that they don't waste time applying. So that was pretty good. The MBA tour itself was crowded and didn't have any information which hours and hours on the net didn't give me.

After Bangalore, I had gone to Mumbai to meet an old client to ask for a recommendation. I also went to Pune to meet Sunitha and Animesh and stay with them in their new house. I got back on Gandhi Jayanthi.

Had a couple of meetings with the bank last week and finalised everything, accepted a settlement offer they gave us and got the funds arranged for the initial deposit. For the past two weeks though, our papers have been buried in paperwork in the regional office and our files were misplaced and our branch manager had to give them duplicates, which happened only yesterday. So nothing has progressed since then, though it should be over by the end of next week, making me more or less fully unemployed.

Finally submitted my Wharton, Cornell and Harvard application after last minute debates on whether I should postpone my Harvard app to Round 2. My status has changed to "Under Review - Round 1" for Wharton and Cornell though Harvard still says only "Submitted".

Started working on my IESE and Babson applications, both their essays are somewhat different and IESE has a 200 word limit for most of their essays which seems very, very short.

Anyway, the long wait officially starts now I guess, and should know by the 19th of November if I Dont Get Through. If I get called for the interviews, then have to wait for another month or so...

Temporary Insanity

Over the last few weeks since I submitted my applications for a few places, I had the feeling that I was going temporarily insane waiting for the interview invites. Luckily being in India, I didn't have to check my email continuously, just at 3 a.m. ( or 5 p.m. EST). I was wondering whether it was only me, or whether all MBA aspirants go through a period of temporary insanity. Anyway, still haven't got any invites yet, but luckily have just got bored of waiting and have regained my sanity. Luckily, the Art of Living Class we had gone for two weeks ago seemed to be at the right time for me.

Anyway, now I'm working on my apps for a few more places with deadlines coming up. That keeps me busy, but being unemployed at the moment, still need something else to do. We have a guest at home now, a friend's friend's friend from Austria so I can show him around town for a bit. We also had some jive classes last week, so I'm thinking of throwing a jive party on Wednesday. I've also volunteered to take part in a seminar introducing Fair Trade to pineapple farmers in the area, as an interpreter - from English to Malayalam. I have to go tell my high school teacher since I was pretty bad in Malayalam back then.

Anyway, if anyone is interested in jiving, drop in on Wednesday, and if you're interested in pineapple farming or fair trade, drop in on the 20th of Nov.

Dinged or Donged

I got dinged (or is it called donged if I got dinged without an interview) by Wharton and Cornell. I guess I was initially kind of disappointed, though by the time the actual result came, I had more or less already discounted it. Anyhow, it made me finish my second round or late 1st round applications. I guess I'm counting on Babson and IESE now.

I felt better after a day or two, cause I feel that God knows me much better than I do, and that things will always work out for the best. So I might think that I know which college is best for me, but God will know better. Or whether its better in the long run if I do an MBA this year at all. This may sound defeatist but I think otherwise.

Finally sent in my ISB application today. ISB is the only place which requires your 12th standard marks and so I missed the first round while I applied for a duplicate marksheet. They're also the only place which asks that you send in paper recommendations and in fact, the entire application has to be printed and mailed in after submitting online. Contrast that to Notre Dame or Carnegie Mellon which even lets you sign the Applicant Certification and send in a scanned copy. Adding a third to the list of ISB's peculiarities, it is the only school which says that a 2nd Round applicant will have less chance since seats will fill up! Anyway, that was supposed to be my back up school but the future looks a little bleak...

Fellowship from Notre Dame

I've got a $30,000 per year fellowship from Notre Dame. That almost covers the entire tuition fees of $34,000 per year. I had a telephone interview with them on the 4th of December and an email with an admissions offer on the 8th. I was really pleasantly surprised since they had announced Dec 20th as the notification date. Anyway, last night I got the fellowship offer.

I was obviously thrilled and could hardly sleep last night after I got the news. I kept worrying about not being able to sleep since I had a video conference interview with IESE today. I had the interview at Reliance WebWorld. It was my first experience in a video conference and it was a really great experience. The interview lasted for around 40 mins though they say it normally lasts for an hour. The interviewer said that I answered the questions very directly and to the point which made it shorter. Don't know whether it was a compliment exactly... They'll let me know the final decision on the 20th.

However, Notre Dame's fellowship offer has introduced a whole new variable for me to factor in. ND has given me the opportunity to finish the MBA completely debt free. At this point, it seems like an offer too good to refuse. Have to speak to someone who actually studied there I guess. Not that I've been admitted anywhere else so its not like I have much to choose from at the moment. But I don't even feel like applying to Chicago, CMU and Duke which I was planning to do in Round 2 and have even completed my essays for. It still hasn't properly sunk in, but without debt, I'm free to do anything I want or get any job I want after the MBA. I can move back to India faster if I don't have to worry about paying off loans and so on...

Anyway, I'm not complaining. So many more decisions are now to be taken.

ISB Interview, ND Deposit, Other Apps, New Blog

I had an interview with the ISB adcom in Chennai on the 30th of Jan. Yes, it was quite a long time back but I had got a blogwriters block. Anyway, think it went ok, though can't say for sure. Questions went something like: What would you do differently if you started Shaadis.com now? What did you learn from closing down your family business? How did you learn guitar on your own?

They were the only guys who didn't however ask which other schools I've applied to, or why ISB. They did tell me to contact their career guidance centre and perhaps consider a career in operations as well. This was contrary to what all my other interviewers said which was that entrepreneurial experience will be excellent for a consulting career. Anyway, will have to wait till Feb 15th for the final results.

Sent in $1,000 as a deposit to ND. The deadline was one month from the notification so couldn't miss out on it. Anyway, will have to consider that a sunk cost and factor it in, at the time of making my final decision by April 1st I guess. As of now though, I still haven't got a choice at all.

I sent in my Duke and CMU applications. Decided in favour of LBS instead of Chicago again mainly due to the European location. Will send that in only by the 15th though. My Duke essays came out quite well I think but lets see how it goes.

In other news, I started a new blog Whatever I Feel Like. I felt that since I had put this blog up on the MBA opencoder list, I would be wasting people's times by my constant divergence from MBA related stuff. Anyway, got a feed from one blog to the other if anyone is interested

Interview for Simon

I just got invited for an interview with the adcom of the Simon Graduate School of Business - University of Rochester. I have a choice between either going to Bombay on the 21st or Delhi on the 23rd. In either case, I guess my planned month long holiday will now turn into a month and a half. It doesn't make sense for me to travel back to Kerala since I have to be in Haridwar on the 29th for my white-water kayaking trip, and then Beks and I are planning our month long trip in Feb from Jaisalmer to Varnasi. Anyway, maybe I'll go to Delhi early and hang in Mussorie or go up to Gangotri to pass the time.

Waitlisted at Babson

Didn't make it to Babson but am waitlisted there. Not sure exactly what that means and what my chances are of getting through now. I was really disappointed because I had really hoped to get into Babson. Whether I would have chosen Babson without aid over ND is another question... Anyway, now all my R1 results are out and its only the R2 apps left. I was also wondering whether it made sense to work for another year, setting up a retirement community in Chennai, and apply again for 2008 or 2009. I guess I will make a final decision after all the application results are in by April or so. Fed up of this waiting and uncertainty.

Fellowships to Rochester and ISB, Carnegie Interview

After my interview in Delhi, I got an admission offer and a 20% tuition fellowship from Rochester on Tuesday. This evening, I got an sms from ISB offering me admission and later an email offering me a 22% fellowship. Rochester has given me till May 1st to decide while ISB has given me only 15 days! Thats a really short time to decide. My parents are both in favour of me joining ISB and while my dad said it openly, my mother pretends to be impartial. ISB seems to them to be a safer bet, and I think every parent, no matter what they say, would like their children somewhere close by. I on the other hand though, especially after spending the past 7 years here, want to be far away. I'm not sure of what to do, though I think I would prefer Notre Dame for the change of pace, wider exposure, diversity and more non-techie students, the two year course with the internship and so on. Anyway, I have to decide in the next couple of days since Beks and I are off on our month long trip from Monday onwards. Any views will be appreciated.

In other news, I had a telephone interview with Carnegie Mellon on Tuesday which I think went off pretty well. They'll let me know their final decision by March 12th. INSEAD invited me for an interview but the alumni I was supposed to meet in Cochin said he's out of town for the next couple of months. Since I will anyway be travelling in North India for the next month, I've asked them to hook me up with an alumni in Delhi to meet for the interview. They will let me know their final decision by March 14th. Anyway, all these dates won't really matter if I decide to take up ISB... In other schools, I'm still waiting to hear from Duke and LBS. The more I think about it, 15 days is really too short a time to finalize on a school.