Yesterday, I submitted my Goizueta Business School application. My recommenders still have to submit the recos in a day or 2 and my application will be complete.
It is such a relief to submit essays. Thanks to my reviewers, they did a great job in pointing out gaps, mistakes in my essays and adding a lot of value.
It was my first application and I took a long time to complete the process. I hope that the process for next applications will be accelerated as I know things better now. I thought to take a day off and I did.
Due to time constraint, I had to push CEIBS to 2nd round :(
HKUST is next
But now I realize the next deadline is just 2 weeks away. I need to start working on the essays, though not from scratch but HKUST people are not very generous with word limits. There are 6 essays and word limit for 4 essays is only 200 words and for rest of them, its 300 words.
How am I going to compress everything to just 200 words?
I have got a bag full of things and I need to put everything in small pockets now. Lets see how things go with HKUST.
The first deadline for HKUST is 17-Dec. I will need to submit everything by 14-Dec so that my recommenders get good enough time to submit the recos.
HKUST Essays:
1. Please tell us your motivations to pursue an MBA program, and why is now the best timing to do one.
2. Please elaborate on your career goals. How will your academic training, professional experience coupled with an MBA education at HKUST help you achieve your goals?
3. If admitted, how can your participation at HKUST MBA enrich fellow students' experience inside or outside classroom?
4. Please pick and answer ONE of the two topics in the space below.
4a. Describe a situation where your initial attempt to solve a problem failed. Tell us how you get around to finally solve the problem.
Or
4b. Describe a situation where you created opportunities for yourself and led to a favorite outcome.
5Please pick and answer ONE of the two topics in the space below.
5a. Tell us a situation when you experienced challenges in team setting, and what you have done to help the team achieve its goals.
Or
5b Describe a situation when you got frustrated over differences in culture or work style. What have you learnt from that experience?
6. What do you want the Admissions Committee to know about you as a person?
Zaijian (Good bye)
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
First Interview Call
One must go to all the MBA fairs happening all around in Sep-Oct for many reasons. You get to know a lot more about the schools when you meet the alums, current students or some one from Adcom who come as a representative of the respective school.
I went to one such MBA fair at the Intercontinental in New Delhi, on September 27, 2008. It was great to hear from the representatives of the schools about the school, course structure, scholarships, fee, student profiles, numerous questions from applicants and answers. I met 2 of my batch mates too and we exchanged our phone numbers. :)
Because of attending just one fair, I got umpteen mails from many schools. 2 days back, I got a call from recruitment officer of HULT International Business School. He was calling from Boston, and at first I thought it was a friend calling from US :)
Then I realized it was someone else. So I apologized and started a conversation. He offered me an interview which was to be held today. I had heard about this school but had done no research. I accepted the offer as I had nothing to lose. If the school is good I would go for filling applications, if not then it will be kind of a dry run for things coming in future.
The time was set 4:30pm New Delhi time but I got a call at 4:38pm. I was told that we would be talking about my career till date and my short term, long term goals in the next 20 minutes. Simple questions were asked and I was ready for things to come thus did a decent job.
US schools and may be all global schools except Indian schools, want to know more about you, your goals, where as in India, their focus is more on asking questions like finance, current market situation, companies and their CEOs and they judge you on how much you know what is going on. US schools ( I have read so much on threads and blogs) ask about you, your goal clarity, why MBA and why their school/university.
I will not be applying to HULT because of many reasons but it was a good experience.
Emory still not submitted and CEIBS first deadline is approaching. m dead.
Zai Jian (its pronounced as Chai chian, correct me if m wrong)
I went to one such MBA fair at the Intercontinental in New Delhi, on September 27, 2008. It was great to hear from the representatives of the schools about the school, course structure, scholarships, fee, student profiles, numerous questions from applicants and answers. I met 2 of my batch mates too and we exchanged our phone numbers. :)
Because of attending just one fair, I got umpteen mails from many schools. 2 days back, I got a call from recruitment officer of HULT International Business School. He was calling from Boston, and at first I thought it was a friend calling from US :)
Then I realized it was someone else. So I apologized and started a conversation. He offered me an interview which was to be held today. I had heard about this school but had done no research. I accepted the offer as I had nothing to lose. If the school is good I would go for filling applications, if not then it will be kind of a dry run for things coming in future.
The time was set 4:30pm New Delhi time but I got a call at 4:38pm. I was told that we would be talking about my career till date and my short term, long term goals in the next 20 minutes. Simple questions were asked and I was ready for things to come thus did a decent job.
US schools and may be all global schools except Indian schools, want to know more about you, your goals, where as in India, their focus is more on asking questions like finance, current market situation, companies and their CEOs and they judge you on how much you know what is going on. US schools ( I have read so much on threads and blogs) ask about you, your goal clarity, why MBA and why their school/university.
I will not be applying to HULT because of many reasons but it was a good experience.
Emory still not submitted and CEIBS first deadline is approaching. m dead.
Zai Jian (its pronounced as Chai chian, correct me if m wrong)
Friday, November 14, 2008
Essay Reviews
Hey Guys...
Once you start writing essays, you will realize that its really tough to answer the simple questions. I wont tell more as you will get to know for sure.
Tip:
Get reviews from someone (read somemany) ..
You should get your essays reviewed from a number of people. My mentor told me this and I read it in a book, that there are 5 kind of people, you should get your essays reviewed from:
1. Your really close friend who knows (almost) everything about you
2. Someone who knows everything about the application process (current student, alum or even co-applicant
3. Someone who doesn't know anything about Bschool application process
4. Someone who has good writing skills and who can point out grammatical mistakes and can help you rephrase some lines/language
5. mmmmmm... who was that..? I guess it was who doesn't know anything about you and your profession.
These people will help you look at your essay from different directions. The thing is when you are writing and reading the same thing for days or weeks, you tend to overlook a lot of things. So these people will question you and tell you about things which you cant exactly see.
So get a good review from some good reviewers.
I have got just a few reviewers and I would like to thank them, especially my mentor B-San. He has spent a lot of time with me, discussing things and re-reading my crude essays and helping me overhaul them. Thanks B-San. And thanks to other guys as well. I still need some more reviewers and if you think you are fit to be one, please do let me know ;)
Zai Jian ( m not sure how to pronounce this.. :) its Chinese )
Once you start writing essays, you will realize that its really tough to answer the simple questions. I wont tell more as you will get to know for sure.
Tip:
Get reviews from someone (read somemany) ..
You should get your essays reviewed from a number of people. My mentor told me this and I read it in a book, that there are 5 kind of people, you should get your essays reviewed from:
1. Your really close friend who knows (almost) everything about you
2. Someone who knows everything about the application process (current student, alum or even co-applicant
3. Someone who doesn't know anything about Bschool application process
4. Someone who has good writing skills and who can point out grammatical mistakes and can help you rephrase some lines/language
5. mmmmmm... who was that..? I guess it was who doesn't know anything about you and your profession.
These people will help you look at your essay from different directions. The thing is when you are writing and reading the same thing for days or weeks, you tend to overlook a lot of things. So these people will question you and tell you about things which you cant exactly see.
So get a good review from some good reviewers.
I have got just a few reviewers and I would like to thank them, especially my mentor B-San. He has spent a lot of time with me, discussing things and re-reading my crude essays and helping me overhaul them. Thanks B-San. And thanks to other guys as well. I still need some more reviewers and if you think you are fit to be one, please do let me know ;)
Zai Jian ( m not sure how to pronounce this.. :) its Chinese )
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Final tentative list..
So for me final list goes like:
Emory - 2nd round and rolling :(
CEIBS - first round - 30-Nov
HKUST - First round - 17-Dec
NUS - its rolling so after HKUST, I ll try to close this one
Dropping Queens most probably, becaues its 2nd deadline is 28-Nov and its rolling as well. Moreover I do not have much time. CEIBS and Queens deadline is clashing. so will drop Queens most probably.
Other schools, I may think about if I submit the apps for above schools in time and am satisfied with the applications/essays I would submit
Krannert. Depends on when I take TOEFL
NTU - have to do the research
AIM - would not go for it because of the political situation there.. but would do the research.
Adios
Emory - 2nd round and rolling :(
CEIBS - first round - 30-Nov
HKUST - First round - 17-Dec
NUS - its rolling so after HKUST, I ll try to close this one
Dropping Queens most probably, becaues its 2nd deadline is 28-Nov and its rolling as well. Moreover I do not have much time. CEIBS and Queens deadline is clashing. so will drop Queens most probably.
Other schools, I may think about if I submit the apps for above schools in time and am satisfied with the applications/essays I would submit
Krannert. Depends on when I take TOEFL
NTU - have to do the research
AIM - would not go for it because of the political situation there.. but would do the research.
Adios
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Sending Transcripts to the school..
Its important to do a good research about the Bschool, whether its about the faculty, ranking, placements or the admission process.
Admission process is the first thing.. so always keep a few things in mind. Go to the website of the school and Read carefully what are the things you need to send through by post and what are the things you need to submit online.
Some schools ask for: online application, online recommendation and only transcripts by post Example: Goizueta Business School, Emory University.
Some schools say that the full application bundle should reach their office. Take printouts of everything, fill them and then send.
So its important to know these things well before hand so that you can plan for submission date accordingly
It’s 6th November, 08 and I started the application process officially. Sent my first transcripts to Emory. When you spend some money, you get a feel yeah.. I have started something and now I need to complete it.
I am still a long way from submitting the full application. I have written 2 essays and struggling with 2 more.
Some important things you need to take care of to keep track of things:
- Talk to your recommenders well in advance. If your first round deadline is 30th, ask them to be ready with recommendations by 25th because once you submit your application, a link will be sent to your recommenders and then they need to fill the stuff. Your recommender may take a day or 2 to fill that and send that. Your application is not complete until and unless everything reaches the university. So if you submit your app. on 30th and your recommender fills and submits on 3rd of next month, it means your application was not complete in first round so may be considered in 2nd round only. In unavoidable circumstances, you can always talk to adcom and sort it out but when you know this and if you have enough time, try to submit it well before the deadline.
- Send your transcripts to school atleast a week before the deadline as in normal case it can take upto a week if you are sending an application from India to US. There is always an option to send the documents/transcripts in 2 days (DHL charges extra Rs 1250/- for that)
Save some money: Fedex and DHL both charge around Rs. 2000+ for documents (weighing less than 500gms). But DHL is charging giving more than 50% discount to all who are sending it to some school over there. So they are charging just Rs. 990/-. Tell them before you book an order.
For faster delivery (2 days) DHL charges 1250/- more but for students again, they are charging just Rs 500/-
Cheers to DHL..
I still have 2 essays left for Emory. I really need to focus. I really need a Click.
Ciao.
Admission process is the first thing.. so always keep a few things in mind. Go to the website of the school and Read carefully what are the things you need to send through by post and what are the things you need to submit online.
Some schools ask for: online application, online recommendation and only transcripts by post Example: Goizueta Business School, Emory University.
Some schools say that the full application bundle should reach their office. Take printouts of everything, fill them and then send.
So its important to know these things well before hand so that you can plan for submission date accordingly
It’s 6th November, 08 and I started the application process officially. Sent my first transcripts to Emory. When you spend some money, you get a feel yeah.. I have started something and now I need to complete it.
I am still a long way from submitting the full application. I have written 2 essays and struggling with 2 more.
Some important things you need to take care of to keep track of things:
- Talk to your recommenders well in advance. If your first round deadline is 30th, ask them to be ready with recommendations by 25th because once you submit your application, a link will be sent to your recommenders and then they need to fill the stuff. Your recommender may take a day or 2 to fill that and send that. Your application is not complete until and unless everything reaches the university. So if you submit your app. on 30th and your recommender fills and submits on 3rd of next month, it means your application was not complete in first round so may be considered in 2nd round only. In unavoidable circumstances, you can always talk to adcom and sort it out but when you know this and if you have enough time, try to submit it well before the deadline.
- Send your transcripts to school atleast a week before the deadline as in normal case it can take upto a week if you are sending an application from India to US. There is always an option to send the documents/transcripts in 2 days (DHL charges extra Rs 1250/- for that)
Save some money: Fedex and DHL both charge around Rs. 2000+ for documents (weighing less than 500gms). But DHL is charging giving more than 50% discount to all who are sending it to some school over there. So they are charging just Rs. 990/-. Tell them before you book an order.
For faster delivery (2 days) DHL charges 1250/- more but for students again, they are charging just Rs 500/-
Cheers to DHL..
I still have 2 essays left for Emory. I really need to focus. I really need a Click.
Ciao.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
NUS.. a bit of info!!
Application Deadlines:
For Full Time NUS MBA Applicants:
Round I: 01 Oct 2008 - 31 Jan 2009
Round II: 01 Feb 2009 - 31 Mar 2009
Scholarship qualifying period (only for the full time NUS MBA applicants): 01 Oct 2008 - 31 Jan 2009
There is no Application Fee. :)
Tuition Fee: Full Time MBA: S$50,000 (approx. 17 lakh INR, 1S$=34.19Rs) payable over 3 semesters
Recruitment stats and some insight:
I got this info from NUS site only.
About 64% of the batch got a job in Singapore only. Rest of them got in Rest of the world (obviously)
The highest % of people were employed in Finance/Accounting and got the highest package. So keep this in mind that if you are going for any school like NUS, HKUST Business school, and if you want your career in finance, you cant go wrong with that but looking at the current situation, I dont know if you should think about finance in the first place. But as they say, everything passes and these financial crisis come every 6-7 years, so hopefully things will be fine in next 2 years.
Yes the next question is.. getting a job in non-financial sector.. yes even I am looking for that and since these schools are good, hopefully we will be able to land in a good job of our choice.. cant really comment on this.
By function, only 8% people got a job in Gen. Management and only 6% in MIS. while industry wise 21% people got a job in tech. industry ( I am looking for a job in tech sector only.. 21% looks good but am not sure about the profile or anything.
Function wise MIS peopel got the lowest package and industry wise tech people got the lowest package.
Highest package we know - financial services, consulting services, and real estate.
So apart from finance, the school looks good for consulting as well.
69% got placed by the time of graduation and number rose to 93% within 3 months of graduation.. so job placement wise, NUS looks promising..
mind you.. most of the people got job in Singapore only.. people come back to India as well but after working there for few years.
Avg work experience is 5 years. Dont worry if you have less experience. What matters more is the whole package and I would say, the most important part (i feel) of package is your essays (for most of the schools in the world)
In MBA Recruitment Partners list, I could see some names (of my interest) like Cognizant, HCL Technologies, IBM, Oracle, Motorola among lot of Investment Banking names (big ones)
So it gives me (and probably you guys) an idea about NUS. Read some blogs, some forums to know if NUS has what you are looking for.
I am contemplating about applying to NUS.. Since the first deadline is 31-Jan-09, we have got some time.. but I have no idea if NUS has rolling admissions like Queen's. If thats the case, hurry up. If anyone of you has any idea about, do let me know too.
Ciao
For Full Time NUS MBA Applicants:
Round I: 01 Oct 2008 - 31 Jan 2009
Round II: 01 Feb 2009 - 31 Mar 2009
Scholarship qualifying period (only for the full time NUS MBA applicants): 01 Oct 2008 - 31 Jan 2009
There is no Application Fee. :)
Tuition Fee: Full Time MBA: S$50,000 (approx. 17 lakh INR, 1S$=34.19Rs) payable over 3 semesters
Recruitment stats and some insight:
I got this info from NUS site only.
About 64% of the batch got a job in Singapore only. Rest of them got in Rest of the world (obviously)
The highest % of people were employed in Finance/Accounting and got the highest package. So keep this in mind that if you are going for any school like NUS, HKUST Business school, and if you want your career in finance, you cant go wrong with that but looking at the current situation, I dont know if you should think about finance in the first place. But as they say, everything passes and these financial crisis come every 6-7 years, so hopefully things will be fine in next 2 years.
Yes the next question is.. getting a job in non-financial sector.. yes even I am looking for that and since these schools are good, hopefully we will be able to land in a good job of our choice.. cant really comment on this.
By function, only 8% people got a job in Gen. Management and only 6% in MIS. while industry wise 21% people got a job in tech. industry ( I am looking for a job in tech sector only.. 21% looks good but am not sure about the profile or anything.
Function wise MIS peopel got the lowest package and industry wise tech people got the lowest package.
Highest package we know - financial services, consulting services, and real estate.
So apart from finance, the school looks good for consulting as well.
69% got placed by the time of graduation and number rose to 93% within 3 months of graduation.. so job placement wise, NUS looks promising..
mind you.. most of the people got job in Singapore only.. people come back to India as well but after working there for few years.
Avg work experience is 5 years. Dont worry if you have less experience. What matters more is the whole package and I would say, the most important part (i feel) of package is your essays (for most of the schools in the world)
In MBA Recruitment Partners list, I could see some names (of my interest) like Cognizant, HCL Technologies, IBM, Oracle, Motorola among lot of Investment Banking names (big ones)
So it gives me (and probably you guys) an idea about NUS. Read some blogs, some forums to know if NUS has what you are looking for.
I am contemplating about applying to NUS.. Since the first deadline is 31-Jan-09, we have got some time.. but I have no idea if NUS has rolling admissions like Queen's. If thats the case, hurry up. If anyone of you has any idea about, do let me know too.
Ciao
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Queen's School of Business, Canada
Queen's School of Business is one of the premier business schools in the world.
Founded in 1937
Courses:
Full time MBA, Executive MBA, Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA, Accelerated MBA
Here we will talk about the Full time MBA only as I am looking for full time only.
#1 in Canada
Queen’s full time MBA is an intensive 12 month program, focusing mainly on team work and leadership.
3 highlights of the program:
1. Focus on personal assessment and personal development. A personal coach will guide you through out your MBA and even after that, helping you enhance and fully leverage your strengths.
2. Focus on team work. Learning more about teams, developing your team and leadership skills
3. Personalize your MBA through international exchanges, elective streams and earning professional designations during MBA only eg. PMP and CMA (these certainly will add to your profile)
Positives:
- 1 year course so your time away from work is less so investment is relatively less
- Smaller class – more attention/interaction with profs and faculty
- Tuition fee – CAN $65,000 (+ around 20-25k for living expenses) so its quite less expensive than most of the US bschools
- Major + is that you can apply for PR in Canada and your 1 year will be counted in for 3 years requirement
Negatives:
- one year course, less time in college so I guess less learning time
- smaller batch size means less people which means less knowledge sharing (may be) some people like smaller batches and some don’t..
The deadline for first round is 28-Nov and I was surprised to see that quite a few guys have already been offered admits. I didn’t know Queen’s have rolling admissions. I thought I had some time but every passing day means chances are becoming lesser (even if by .001%)
So all of you guys who are looking forward to Queen’s, get going and get faster.. there is not much time left. But again I would say, submit your app. only when you are fully satisfied.
Best of luck.
Ciao.
Founded in 1937
Courses:
Full time MBA, Executive MBA, Cornell-Queen’s Executive MBA, Accelerated MBA
Here we will talk about the Full time MBA only as I am looking for full time only.
#1 in Canada
Queen’s full time MBA is an intensive 12 month program, focusing mainly on team work and leadership.
3 highlights of the program:
1. Focus on personal assessment and personal development. A personal coach will guide you through out your MBA and even after that, helping you enhance and fully leverage your strengths.
2. Focus on team work. Learning more about teams, developing your team and leadership skills
3. Personalize your MBA through international exchanges, elective streams and earning professional designations during MBA only eg. PMP and CMA (these certainly will add to your profile)
Positives:
- 1 year course so your time away from work is less so investment is relatively less
- Smaller class – more attention/interaction with profs and faculty
- Tuition fee – CAN $65,000 (+ around 20-25k for living expenses) so its quite less expensive than most of the US bschools
- Major + is that you can apply for PR in Canada and your 1 year will be counted in for 3 years requirement
Negatives:
- one year course, less time in college so I guess less learning time
- smaller batch size means less people which means less knowledge sharing (may be) some people like smaller batches and some don’t..
The deadline for first round is 28-Nov and I was surprised to see that quite a few guys have already been offered admits. I didn’t know Queen’s have rolling admissions. I thought I had some time but every passing day means chances are becoming lesser (even if by .001%)
So all of you guys who are looking forward to Queen’s, get going and get faster.. there is not much time left. But again I would say, submit your app. only when you are fully satisfied.
Best of luck.
Ciao.
Introspection and writing essays..
You want to apply to a B-school? Are you sure?
This is important. Because if you are not sure, be sure first and then start the process. Or may be start the process and then you will have a better idea.
When I started this whole process, I didn’t know anything (obviously). I started with talking to my mentor – B San and reading random blogs. I was amazed with how much people knew about their future goals and about themselves. You know yourself? Really?
I didn’t. I didn’t know where I was going and what I really wanted to do. Ask yourself – where do you see after 5-10 years. I was always blank after asking myself this question. Of course I always wanted a good life, money, a big house, financial stability, international trips and so on. But I could not see myself in a career after 5 years. Of course I wanted to lead, be important but where and when and how. I didn’t know much.
But since I have started writing some essays, I have started knowing myself better and now I see future.. not literally but ya, now I have some idea about, not what my future will be, but how I want it to be.
Writing essays.. its gonna be a bumpy ride.. but trust me.. this is one of the most important phases of your life. I would suggest, go on and write some essays even if you are not planning for mba in near future.. after writing the essays.. may be you will.
hasta luego..
P.S.
After writing just 2 essays, I feel like I have done a lot .. but still I am no where and still have to do a LOT.
I have miles to go before I sleep..
This is important. Because if you are not sure, be sure first and then start the process. Or may be start the process and then you will have a better idea.
When I started this whole process, I didn’t know anything (obviously). I started with talking to my mentor – B San and reading random blogs. I was amazed with how much people knew about their future goals and about themselves. You know yourself? Really?
I didn’t. I didn’t know where I was going and what I really wanted to do. Ask yourself – where do you see after 5-10 years. I was always blank after asking myself this question. Of course I always wanted a good life, money, a big house, financial stability, international trips and so on. But I could not see myself in a career after 5 years. Of course I wanted to lead, be important but where and when and how. I didn’t know much.
But since I have started writing some essays, I have started knowing myself better and now I see future.. not literally but ya, now I have some idea about, not what my future will be, but how I want it to be.
Writing essays.. its gonna be a bumpy ride.. but trust me.. this is one of the most important phases of your life. I would suggest, go on and write some essays even if you are not planning for mba in near future.. after writing the essays.. may be you will.
hasta luego..
P.S.
After writing just 2 essays, I feel like I have done a lot .. but still I am no where and still have to do a LOT.
I have miles to go before I sleep..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
