Online Musing

Feedback

2005-07-23T00:12:00.000-04:00

Last week I had the Wharton feedback session. It was a good session. I was a bit surprised by some of the weak points that she point out. So, overall it was a useful meeting.

As already pointed by some of the other bloggers, the receptionist/administrative assistant who routes the calls can certainly use some training in people skills. But I don't think that is a reflection on the schools. I know that Wharton is a great school. I guess, it was a case of a insensitive person at that specific office.

On a different note, after months of hardwork, finally my project is going live this weekend. I am keeping my fingers crosses. It is a high visibility project. I hope it goes as planned.

Final decision (for the year at least)... and life goes on

2005-06-08T21:06:00.000-04:00

I am off the waitlist now. I received the final ding letter from Stern. So, no more waits. I am done for the year.

Now that I don't have a single admit, I thought at least I will reorganize my blog. So, I removed the links for the schools. I am still thinking whether I should give the MBA thing another shot. I am still thinking .... but leaning towards a "nay" verdict.

Going forward, my blog is going to contain more of my thought on areas of my interest, e.g., events and trends in finance, market and business. It is not that I am an expert in any of these areas. But I like these areas.

C.K.Prahalad's article on outsourcing (in WSJ) was an interesting read today. I was expecting a little more from Prahalad. But he took the usual efficiency-productivity-global market route. Though he did take a potshot at Lou Dobbs, he carefully dodged Lou's prime concern - the issue of US job loss. Everyone, including Prahalad, talks about the obvious gains to business and economy by lower cost, higher productivity, global competitiveness etc. But no one talks about the social implication of loss of white collar job in US.

I am a proponent of outsourcing and focus on core competency. But I am still looking for some ideas to mitigate the social implication of job loss. The only voice I have heard on this issue so far is that of Greenspan. He says that historically US has managed to innovate into newer areas and hence create new job opportunities that compensate the loss of job due to globalization. That's the key strength of US economy. Though it is not a clear response, at least it is plausible. I am still looking for an alternate theory. Either I am stupid or it is a complex issue.

Back to work, play and blogging

2005-05-31T15:35:00.000-04:00

I am back after a 4 week hiatus from blogging world (and for that matter I was absent from entire cyberworld). I am warming up the idea of "working" after a month long eventful vacation - marriage, honeymoon and everything in between. Today I am busy explaining the details of my trip to everyone. So, work takes a back seat.

I am alive

2005-05-01T16:15:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's a fact. I am still alive. But in a different world. Next few weeks I will be offline. First marriage and then honeymoon in France and Italy. Yoohuuu.... Europe here I come. Probably I won't blog for a month.....

Waitlisted at Stern

2005-04-14T21:47:00.000-04:00

Checked the Stern website today and there - the waitlist letter was waiting for me.

Four schools refused to look at my application and the fifth one is not ready to let it go :-)

Jack Welch's new book - "Winning"

2005-04-13T09:40:00.000-04:00

It had been a hectic last few days - both on personal and professional front. Phew. However, I managed to take some out to start reading Jack Welch's new book - "Winning". Only 100 more pages to go.

Though most of the stuff in the book are old-wine-in-old-cask, it has some good points. I think while reading the book it is better to keep in mind that the book is more of an validation of existing concepts rather than a collection of new concepts in management. So far, I found 3 sections interesting - budgeting, strategy and performance management.

1. Budgeting: It is the most interesting part of the book. I am impressed by the approach suggested by Jack. It is not easy to institutionalize such an radical approach to budgeting. Typically it will take years to implement the new approach. But if a CEO is convinced that it is right thing to do then certainly it can be done, however painful may be the process of convincing others. It will be good to find out if any firm (other than GE) is using such an approach to budgeting.

2. Strategy: The message is clear - "Keep it simple". But, I feel, the whole section about strategy is colored by his experience in GE. The examples and suggestions are more tilted towards firms that look similar to GE [organizations in a well established industry]. The overall message of keeping the strategy simple and focus more on execution is consistent with thinking of other real world leaders such as Lou Gerstner. Now I think all my MBA-consultant friends are going to root for my blood :-)

3. Performance Management: I have been looking for an effective performance management approach for almost 4 years now. My problem is that I can point out all the problems in the approaches used by various firms but I don't have any solution. Jack's 20-70-10 approach to performance management has some merit. I guess it will work well for senior executives. But at operational level and junior management level, I still don't have an answer.

This book is a definite improvement over his earlier book - Straight from the Gut.

No luck with Columbia

2005-03-31T20:04:00.000-05:00

Got the rejection email from Columbia. Man, I am getting used to dings. Based on my success ratio (which is "0" so far), only thing I can conclude is that my expectations were way out of line from reality.

Damn. It sucks.

Rejection and Hope

2005-03-30T23:24:00.000-05:00

One more stop on my journey - rejection from Harvard. As I did not receive an interview invite, I was not surprised by the decision. I think I put the most effort in the HBS application. So, it hurts a bit.

On the brighter side, my Stern hope is still alive. I think the Stern interview went fairly well. I was able to connect well with the interviewer. Of course, I can think of a long list of things that I could have done better. But overall it was a positive experience. Now I will bite my nails for next couple of weeks.

Out of action blogger

2005-03-27T00:46:00.000-05:00

I have been an out of action blogger for last few days. In fact just after the ding from Chicago, I wrote a long post but just before posting it the damn blogger crashed. I lost everything and didn't feel like writing again. Let me see if I can write that piece again sometime.

Meanwhile I am getting ready for the Stern interview. I am going to spend the day at the school too. My confidence level is not at the highest level but I am doing whatever I can do. No news from HBS and Columbia. So, it looks like ding from those 2 schools.

Few more weeks of wait and that's it.

Good luck

2005-03-23T00:05:00.000-05:00

Good luck to all R2 Whaton applicants !!! Keep those hopes alive and nerves in control !

Ding from Chicago

2005-03-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Dinged by GSB Chicago....

Extended Agony: No news from Columbia and Harvard
Silverlining: Stern interview

Life goes on.....

Waiting anxiously

2005-03-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

No news from GSB Chicago. After an disappointing Tuesday, I was expecting the R2 result floodgates to open at least today. But no such luck. In a way it is good. It is less stressful when everyone is waiting. Once the calls start, it will be nerve wrecking to bear the silent phone.

Tomorrow is expected to be a busy day in office. So, hopefully busy work schedule will help me not to think of the R2 results too much.

I have not been able to do much preparation for the NYU interview. I cannot get the not-so-good Chicago interview out of my mind. If I don't get into Chicago GSB then I will blame it on my lousy interview. Of course, the blame falls squarely on me.

Interview excitement

2005-03-14T15:53:00.000-05:00

I don't have access to my personal email from work location. So, when I came back from work on Friday, I had a nice surprise waiting in my inbox- "Invitation for interview from Stern". Needless to say I had a great weekend with my fiancee celebrating the interview invite. (Ya, ya I know it is a bit premature celebration.) We watched "Hitch" on Saturday. I liked the movie and had a good load of laughter. The movie was light and easy on the brain ;-)

I am excited about the Stern interview invite. I love the school location - center of the city and just a hike to Wall Street. All my interactions so far with the alumni and the current students have been very positive. Though I have been to the school before, on the interview day, I plan to attend a class and have lunch with some current students. In fact, due to my interest in corporate finance and valuation, I have been seen some of the Prof. Damodaran's class using the webcast on the website.

Looking forward to the interview day.....

2005-03-12T19:59:00.000-05:00

Got an interview invitation from NYU Stern !!! More later. Finally a glimmer of hope.

Checked Again

2005-03-08T00:26:00.000-05:00

Checked my application statuses again. Still it says - "Application Under Review", "In Committee" and "With Committee" respectively. [Note: My other remaining school doesn't provide any status unless you hack into their system :-) ]

MBA blogs are filled with views about "HBS Hacker" incidence and the school's reaction to it. I just have one suggestion for Dean Clark - Ask the current lot of 900 "future-leaders" to provide a honest feedback of what they would have done if they were in the same situation a year ago. I think that will be a good reality check for HBS.

Dean Clark's statement reminds me of Bill Clinton's response in one of the TV interview (I think it was after the release of his book). When the anchor asked him about his after thoughts about the Monica scandal, he replied,"I think I did it because I could do it." I think HBS decision to reject the 119 applicants seems to be based on similar kind of thinking.

Entertaining Days - "Status Gate" !

2005-03-03T21:12:00.000-05:00

Last two days has been entertaining ! The whole HBS episode is hilarious. It was funny the way the folks at the school reacted. A simple statement saying that there was a glitch at the vendor software would have sufficed. With the grandstanding and threatening emails about "unethical" access, they poured oil on the flame.

It was fun watching the posts (and deletes !!!) in the BW forum. Especially the comments about HBS sleuths looking for poweryogi was hilarious. I am trying to imagine HBS folks (in long coat and dark glasses) gagging a poor blogger :o)

I hope wakechick will report back whether poweryogi is still in single piece !

When I published some pictures of New York's "The Gates", I didn't know that the next post is going to be about "Status Gate" :-)

Gates @ Central Park - New York

2005-03-01T19:27:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I came out of subway near Central Park and came across "The Gates". It's beautiful. Very nice concept.

I didn't have a camera. So, at last, I got a chance to use the stupid the camera phone :-)

Edit1: corrected the link

2005-03-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

Cool

2005-03-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

Some more

2005-03-01T19:22:00.000-05:00

Gates @ Central Park - New York

To blog Or ........

2005-02-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

I spent the whole of Sunday on the computer and internet. But still I did not blog ! I had two choices - a) Blog, b) Explore and plan for my honeymoon :-) So, it was not a difficult choice.

The Oscar evening was nice too. Chris Rock was not spectacular but still pretty good. With his comments on Jude Law, Chris managed to piss off Sean Penn ! It is hilarious. How can there be a celebrity night without a controversy?

Someone in BW forum reported an admit to Chicago GSB (Round 2). So, the results have started trickling out even though the doomsday is 3 week away (18-March). That pushes the tension level a notch. But I have many things to keep me occupied. So, I tried to be cool.

Work and read

2005-02-22T15:30:00.000-05:00

I am back after relaxing for 3-days on the long weekend. The week started slow at office. My office colleague and my client both were away. So, away from endless meetings, it is good to get some work done at office today.

I started reading the book "the Art of Profitability". It's a nice little book. But the author, Adrian Slywotzky, urges the readers to read one chapter per week and give adequate thought to the 26 profit models outlined in the book. I like his simplistic approach. It reminds me of "One minute manager" and "Who moved my cheese?".

Someone on the BW forum suggested that Prof. Damodaran of Stern has some good stuff on his site. I checked out his site today. I am amazed by the amount of information available there. It has some interesting read for anyone who is interested in finance.

Thoughts on ding

2005-02-18T12:35:00.000-05:00

So it is one down and four more in my b-school quest. As I noted earlier, I am disappointed but not completely down. Thankfully my hectic schedule at work and comforting words from friends, family and bloggers is helping me cope with the disappointment.

For last 6-8 months I have going through a stressful roller-coaster in my personal life. Given that backdrop, I am happy that I was able to put my best foot forward in the school applications. I am confident that I did whatever best I could do. I got an enormous amount of help from my fiancee and few close friends during the application process. Without their help I couldn't have maneuvered through the application process maze.

I don't believe the application process is either a complete crapshoot or a fool proof process. It is somewhere in between. Ad Comms try to make the process as fool proof as possible, but certainly there is scope for error given the large pool of applicants. Similarly, Ad Comm might have felt that other people fit better into the school culture than me. The applicant pool is a large pool of strong performers.

So, either way there is no reason to take the rejection as a reflection on my ability. It's only a reflection on my application.

Now let me wait to see what the other four schools think about my application.

Ding (without interview) from Wharton

2005-02-17T09:24:00.000-05:00

Finally received the ding from Wharton.

"..... I regret that the Admissions Committee is unable to offer you an interview or a position in the Wharton MBA Class of 2007 ....."

I was really excited about Wharton. But seems like Wharton is not excited about me. I am not too depressed. It is not end of the world. Till I get feedback from Adcom later this year, I will continue to blame the 2 spelling mistakes in my application for the rejection :-) I will whine more later. Now back to work.

Good luck to all those who got interview invites.

Things that I do

2005-02-14T18:20:00.000-05:00

List of things that I do while I wait for interview invite/decisions:

Start the day by checking email, application status websites, s2s forum, BW forum [rinse and repeat]
Create a list of people who are asking the following questions more than once a day - "Any news from the b-schools?"
Go to sleep at 3 am in the morning thinking - "Enough. I am not going to worry anymore. From tomorrow I will sleep at 11 PM".
Blog [well, not too much]
Smile excessively at everyone at home and office to hide the agony
Curse friends without any reason and make a lame excuse that - "I am stresses."

Light reading

2005-02-09T01:49:00.000-05:00

Instead of my original plan of reading "The Art of Profitability", I completed reading "Year One" by Robert Reid in last couple of weeks. It is a nice little book for light reading. Lots of funny stories. It gives a good picture of life at HBS.

On a different note, today there was an interesting article in WSJ [Career Journal] about lack of business communication courses at b-schools. The author claims that b-school communication courses focus more on marketing messages, internal communications etc. But not many schools stress enough on "managing crisis communication" and other courses about reactive media management. The reaction may be to an unpleasant event in the firm (such as unearthing of financial misconduct) or to an unexpected event outside the firm that impacts the firm significantly (such as Tsunami).

The author's knowledge seems to be dated because I know that Wharton offers an excellent elective on managing crisis communication. [But I cann't find the course on Wharton website.] I am sure other schools must be having similar course offerings.

2005-02-09T01:48:00.000-05:00

I am getting irritated with this wait for interview calls. Only little over a week to go before my Wharton hope dies. Oh well... I will continue to wait ...

Why do I blog?

2005-02-03T00:42:00.000-05:00

What a dumb question! But bskewl's post on blogging and issue of anonymity got me thinking. Though I have an idea about why I am blogging, I have never put it down in black and white. So, I thought of writing it down. If nothing else it will clear up my own thought process.

I am sure many people would have written about objective of blogging, different approaches to blogging etc. But my blog is just that - "Web Log". It is a log of things happening in my life and things moving in my mind. I am not a great writer and I am sure my blog is a proof of my simple writing style. So, writing is not a passion for me. But writing helps me organize my thoughts.

B-school application is a very intensive process. I wanted to record my journey to the MBA world (if at all). So, I started to blog. At the same time, I didn't want to make my blog too focused on MBA because I intend to continue blogging for a longer period of time. Hence, I did not choose any name containing MBA. Instead I went with "Online Musing". I think it clearly expresses the objective of my blog.

I will try to keep the posts around the major activity going on during any point in my life. At this point I am overwhelmed by the b-school application process. So, most of my posts may be oriented towards that theme.

Again, I didn't start blogging with an intention of publish my views. Someone might question - "If you don't care whether anyone reads it or not, then why to blog?" My answer is that blogging my thought process and ideas is much more exciting than writing in my diary :-) Of course, if someone reads it than it adds to the excitement too and motivates me to continue writing :-)

I am delighted to see so many MBA applicant bloggers with diverse branding and views. I am sure different people of different objectives - to publish one's independent views, to be popular in virtual world, to gain emotional support, to keep a log of day to day activities etc. It's a great virtual community. I feel as if I know these people. I got a lot of valuable information from fellow MBA-applicant-bloggers. I guess that's the added benefit of blogging :-)

Best of luck to all fellow MBA-applicant-bloggers.

Boom time for IB

2005-01-31T16:12:00.000-05:00

Digressing away from b-school mania, here are some thoughts about another interesting development.

Looks like the boom time is back for investment banking(IB) community. There has been many big ticket M&As in last few days. Starting with last year's wireless telecom deals and bank mergers (Fleet-BoA and Chase-Bank One), this year it has certainly picked up pace. Latest big tickets are P&G+Gillette and SBS+AT&T deals. So, I think the investment banking community must be pretty pleased and so will be b-school graduates this year !

I rarely appreciate mergers. Especially in case of large US Banks, I am not sure how much value it really creates. Few years ago there were so many small banks. So, it used to make sense to consolidate and gain economies of scale. But today the banks are fairly big with very little scope for economies of scale. Again, with size comes bureaucracy and rigidity in culture. For example, I am not sure if a deal like Fleet+BoA or Chase+Bank One creates substantial shareholder value. As someone (I think it was Gry Hamel) wrote in WSJ few months ago, these mergers looks more like ego patting for top management of these banks (and of course good money for IBs) then any value addition to the shareholders. Apart from top management greed (money and fame), I guess another factor influencing these decision is the "peer pressure" in these industries. When Fleet-BoA declared their merger, I am sure JP Morgan Chase started to feel the heat. Same is the case with telecom industry. With the SBC+AT&T deal, I am sure Verizon will be now intense pressure to find a partner.

However, the P&G and Gillette merger looks pretty good. There isn't much product overlap. There are lots of opportunity to leverage each others strengths. In the crowded consumer goods market, I think this is a good strategy for growth. But I don't know how "Culturally Compatible" these two organizations are today. Hopefully some sensible folks at these companies or an outside consulting firm did a due diligence of the compatibility of their organizational cultures.

Ask any senior manager - "How important is cultural fit in a merger?" Most of them will reply that it is very important. But, I don't know how many of the M&A deals pay close attention to this aspect. My guess is that not many pay much attention. Otherwise, how on earth did AOL and Time Warner decide to merge???

It is evident from my rambling above that the wait for b-school interview invite is taking a toll on me :-)

Reading Habit

2005-01-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

Wishing happy republic day to all Indians...

I was thinking about some potential interview questions. One of the common questions is about books that you have read recently. It got me thinking - Hmmm..... what have I been reading lately....Ummmm....OK. It looks like my reading habit has suffered a lot in last 2 years. I realized that from mid-2002 I have been reading less and less.

I have read only 1 fiction and 2 non-fiction in last 1 year. Given the fact that I pride myself as an avid reader, it is certainly sorry state of affair. With all the essays and applications, I had a complete moratorium on reading for last 4-5 months. It's all going to change now.

My new target book - "The Art of Profitability". I started reading this book long ago and left it half finished. So, I will finish it now.

Ohh.... I was reading some funny stuff on Harbus site. It was about what experience you can claim as "Consulting experience". The following activities count as consulting experience-

- Reading to your dog
- Describing other peoples' artwork
- Theft
- Discussing wine at parties
- Having a "favorite" Holiday Inn

Now, let me add a few -

- Talking to yourself
- Using powerpoint to fight with spouse
- Naming your child
- Thinking about moving to a new house as a "paradigm shift"

Can anyone think of few more?

Edit 1: corrected the link

Dilemma

2005-01-24T01:51:00.000-05:00

I am in a dilemma whether to start preparing for interviews. One one hand I think that it is better to start preparing for the standard set of questions. On the other hand I feel - what if I don't get any interview call at all? Why to spend time?

Now that Wharton interview invites started trickling out, I am getting more and more impatient. Thankfully all of those who reported as having received interview invites so far are early birds. They submitted their application before Christmas. I submitted on the last day. So, I am not too tensed so far.

I think I will take the risk of my alter ego mocking myself and start preparing for the interview from tomorrow. What am I going to lose anyway? - Only a few hours of TV-time.

This cold weather in the east coast is keeping me happy. Unlike most people, I like snow. [FYI - I don't have to shovel snow as I stay in an apartment building. So, no pain for me.]

Flurry of activities

2005-01-19T20:38:00.000-05:00

Phew..... with the R1 results for Stanford, GSB Chicago and Harvard declared this week, helluva lot of activities going on the BW forum. The forum is filled with admits, dings, waitlists, still-waitings and psyched-to-death-R2-applicants such as yours truly :-)

Congratulations to Poweryogi, wakechick, megami and all other bloggers who got good news this week. I hope some of these positive vibes will spread to other bloggers too :-)

I was reading wakechick's blog today. Her thoughts about Chicago coincides a lot with mine (hint hint...). Because of the unique essays, either people love those or hate those. One thing for sure, those cann't be copied from some other school essays. So, the person should be ready to build those essays from scratch.

I had a good time with those essays. I loved them. The fact that I visited the school during Fall Preview and collected a lot information helped me shape the essays. In one essay, I used a good dose of humor too. Overall I was quite impressed with my Chicago essay themes as well as content. Let's see if Ad com likes those.

Only discomforting thing in my Chicago application was the "interview". I scheduled the interview during the Fall Preview. At that time, I haven't even finished GMAT exam. So, I was grossly underprepared. To add to that, I had fever too. Probably if I have to give that interview today then I am sure I will have aced it. But at that time, I don't think I really connected well with the interviewer. He was a very nice guy and made every attempt to make me feel comfortable. But I never saw any sign of excitement in his face about my resume or responses. It was kind of mechanical. I stumbled while answering many standard questions such as "what is the recent book that you read", "why now" etc.

Anyway there is nothing I can do now. Just wait and watch. (and kick myself for the interview). I will be happy if I am selected, but I won't be surprised if I am "dinged".

Week ahead

2005-01-18T10:00:00.000-05:00

After a 3 day holiday, I am back at work. Today it is 12 degree in NY. I am freezing.

Wharton interview invites will start trickling from 20th January and tension will start mounting. A month ago when R1 applicants were in high tension, I was watching from the sidewalk. Now I am in the game. It sure is nerve wrecking. The BW forum adds to the tension.

But I am enjoying while it lasts. I have to focus on my work this week. I have been going slow on work for last couple of months. Now with the applications behind me, I can concentrate on work till I start getting interview invites :o)

2005-01-15T13:34:00.000-05:00

Ahh...
Posted by Hello

Pit stop

2005-01-15T13:26:00.000-05:00

Finally I am done with all my b-school applications. Ahhh....now time to take a pit stop and relax for sometime. It has been been a grilling but interesting experience so far. If nothing else, at least, I know what I have done so far in life :-)

The tension will mount again from Jan 20th when Wharton will start sending interview invites. Till that time I can relax and catch up with old friends, movies, golf practice and cleaning up the house !

2005-01-14T21:54:00.000-05:00

One more day to go then my application process will end. I am happy that I didn't apply to any more schools. I don't think I can write one more essay with full enthusiasm.
Posted by Hello

No "essay" day

2005-01-12T23:14:00.000-05:00

Today is my no-essay-day. I don't feel like writing another essay, I don't want to do a sloppy copy-paste job either. So, I am relaxing ! Watching TV, listening to music, reading blogs, practicing putting and cleaning the hard disk of my laptop. And, of course, writing pointless blogs :-)

I will submit my final application on Saturday. I guess, I will have a lot more time after that..... Hmmm.... I have to do all the things I have been stalling for last 6 months. The wait for results will be killing. I have seen the agony of R1 applicants. Now, I have to go through the same process.

Let me go back to my activities of a meaningless day.....

Go ... Chicago ... Go

2005-01-11T01:20:00.000-05:00

Today I submitted my 4th b-school application - GSB Chicago. Thanks to the system problems, I got couple of extra days. I think, my essays were pretty cool. Now, moving on to NYU Stern application - The last school standing :-)

2005-01-10T01:29:00.000-05:00

My Columbia application is in.... Huuhoooo.... Tomorrow I will submit the Chicago application too. Little more effort....
Posted by Hello

Downhill

2005-01-09T19:40:00.000-05:00

Finally, the pressure of b-school applications is easing a bit. Though I have not submitted all the applications, I don't feel the pressure. Most of my essays are done. It's a matter of minor tweaking here and there.

I guess there will be a "pause" for few weeks until the interviews will start trickling..... Either I will start brushing up my basics for the interviews or I will be down with depression :-) Well, I am mentally prepared for both.

Now it's (almost) time to relax during the half-time.

2005-01-08T01:32:00.000-05:00

Application week mantra !!!
Posted by Hello

The "R2" week

2005-01-04T19:54:00.000-05:00

I am swamped with b-school applications. There are 3 deadlines this week - Wharton, Harvard, Chicago. The story doesn't end there. Columbia deadline is next Monday. Hmmm.... looks like a busy week ahead for me. Last minute reviews, hiccups, shoutings, jumpings ...........

The art of b-school essay writing !

2004-12-23T10:43:00.000-05:00

For last few days I am practice the art of essay writing a.k.a. b-school admission essays. Other than summer of 1998, I don't think I have thought so much about myself in such a short span of time. But the process is interesting ..... though sleeping for only 4 hours a day is not really fun :-)

Well few more weeks to go than I will be back to my usual schedule and start working on the long list of people I have been ignoring for last few weeks.

The visit to Harvard Business School

2004-12-12T23:20:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I scheduled a class visit in Harvard Business School for December 10th, 2004. On December 9th, I received an email from HBS Admissions Office that 10th being the last day of the term there won't be any representative class on that day. I was disappointed a bit. But as I had already made my travel plan, I went ahead with it.

The experience was "fascinating". Last month I visited some other top schools. But the HBS experience was completely different. HBS truly has a distinct and unique personality, something that makes it stand out.

To start with the campus is huge. It is not a single building. The campus is self sufficient in all respect - huge and fully equipped gym, post office, classy restaurants in student center and the famous "Baker Library". All the facilities have a classy finish. They are different from a typical facilities in other schools.

The culture seems to be more formal and structured compared to other schools. Other schools focus on how much fun it is to be there, but not HBS. HBS gives an air of structure and professionalism.

When I reached Dillon House - the admission office, the receptionist apologized that I won' be able to attend the class. The explanation given - "It is the last day of the term - so all the classes are the review session and not representative of the Harvard method of teaching. So, we would not like to expose future students to this experience."

Some of the other visitors/applicants were very upset and angry. They thought it is unfair. But, I guess, it sounded a good explanation to me :-) In return they offered an once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to meet with an admissions committee member and a guided tour !!!

The tour was nice. The campus is much cooler then any other top school. I liked the gym and the student center with classy restaurants - with cool fire places and nice sofas. It looks more like a hotel then a student center. The only flip side of the tour - It was raining all the time.

Next we headed for lunch with first year students. I picked up some lamb stew and mashed potato for lunch. The students were very friendly. They answered all our questions. Some interesting findings:

- Companies are not allowed to contact students during the first 2 months
- A typical day is about 2 or 3 "case" day
- Classes are very interactive and intellectually stimulating
- Campus housing is awarded by lottery

One of the students offered to take me to the marketing class by Prof. Anita Elberse. Though it was not a typical case-method class, I was able to get a feel of the dynamics in the class. The professor had put a lot of efforts in the class preparation. As it was the last class, students had a lot of fun. I was amazed by the quality of the professor as well as the students.

Finally, I attended the information session and the meeting with the admissions committee member. The information session was a standard session with details about - mission of the school, life in campus and admission process etc.

It was an awe-inspiring experience for me. The school definitely has a unique personality. Of course there are good aspects and bad aspects to it. But certainly different from other schools. I think it will be good place me and, if I can add, the rest of the 7199 applicants might be thinking the same too :-) The question is - What the adcom thinks :-)

I went weak on my knees when the students revealed 2 facts -

1. Warren Buffet gave a lecture few days back
2. Michael Porter takes some classes [though he chooses his students by interview]

Who needs another reason ......

Writing about me, myself ....

2004-12-07T01:42:00.000-05:00

I am writing my essays for b-school applications.

In last few days, I have realized that writing cohesively about myself is one of the toughest writing assignments that I ever tried. I know what everyone says - build a story, it should be fluid, all encompassing etc etc... How do you build a story? I think I should have paid more attention to my english teacher in school :-) There are so many things happened so far in my life, it is really tough to put them in paper. I cann't decide what to write and what to omit.

Phew ... One more month to go. Let's see how well my story comes out. I am nervous.

In a way - it is a good exercise. Can you think of a product manager who cann't explain the value proposition of his/her products? Or cann't list down 2-3 strengths and weaknesses of his/her product. If there are product managers whose answer to these question is "Yes" then I can fairly assume that they are "clueless" managers.

I am my biggest product. So, using the same logic if I cann't explain what are my strengths and weakness then I am a "clueless" person. In order to extract most out of my life, I need to know what I stand for, what I am good at and, more importantly, what I want to do in life. It is amazing how we get caught up in living the life that we forget to analyze are we living the life that we want to live?

Now the disconnect - Is this essay writing exercise a real soul searching exercise? I would say - "It should be". Many people tailor their essays to make it more appealing to the admission committee. Though it might work for few people, I don't think it is a great idea. I would rather be honest and not get admitted to any b-school then fabricate some facts and fool myself. I believe my "honest" story is quite unique and interesting. The only challenge is to pick up the right points and weave it together in a seamless fabric to build my story .....

Diluted holiday mood

2004-11-30T01:27:00.000-05:00

When holiday time comes, even with the enthusiasm all around, at times, I feel sad. I don't know if everyone feels the same. May be it is due to so much of commercialism. Even before thanks-giving holidays people start talking about Christmas. Lot of productive time gets wasted. I have never seen any work getting done in December. So, 8% - 9% of the time every year is wasted - year after year. Looks like the percentage is increasing every year.

Wouldn't it be nice if the celebration started during last week of December and end with new year? That would have been fun - "fun-on-the-rocks". I don't like this diluted-fun for 5 long weeks.

Need to pick up pace

2004-11-18T01:45:00.000-05:00

Now that the euphoria of good GMAT score is subsiding, I need to start focusing on my essays. I don't want to rush in last few days. I have to write essays for 5 schools. That'll take some time. I think, I should put my initial thoughts together by this weekend. Let me start with Wharton and Harvard. They are my dream schools.
Time to think -

GMAT - The beast is dead

2004-11-16T19:59:00.000-05:00

After 2-2.5 months of intense preparation, finally, I appeared for the GMAT exam and got a score of 99 percentile overall.....Yuhoooo......

Though I started with a target of 99 percentile, by the day of the exam I was expecting the score to be somewhere around 95 percentile.... So, it was a very big surprise. I was very very happy and danced like this

On that day I went and watched "The Incredibles".....really it was an incredible experience for me. I still cann't believe I cracked the crazy GMAT with just a couple of months of preparation.

It was possible due to the good wishes of my friends, family and fiancee. Now starts the task of "application" !

Musing? Online? Duh !!!

2004-11-15T01:08:00.000-05:00

This is my first post on this blog. From time to time, I will post my "musings" on this blog. My musings may vary from personal to philosophical.....