A blog to share my MBA experience from application days to graduation.
|
|
| Harry Potter's MBA Musings A blog to share my MBA experience from application days to graduation. |
|
|
Wednesday, March 31, 2004 Sweet and Sour news The sour one. Got an mail from Duke adcom about the scholarship and I have $0.00 :(. A minor good news. I have been trying to upgrade my Yahoo a/c to increase quota -- got an error few days back. And today I get this mail Dear Yahoo! Mail User, We've made changes to your Yahoo! Mail account -- we've upgraded your email storage quota to 100MB, at no cost to you. As a loyal Yahoo! Mail user, you've been randomly selected to receive this free benefit effective March 31, 2004. You'll also be able to attach up to 10 files to an outgoing email message (increased from 3); and your outgoing message size can be up to 10MB (increased from 3MB). It's just our way of saying thanks! You can keep these benefits as long as this Yahoo! Mail account remains active. For your email account to stay active, you must sign in to your Yahoo! Mail account at least once every four months and comply with all applicable Yahoo! Terms of Service and guidelines. If your email account becomes inactive at any time, you will no longer have the increased storage capacity. ps: I started using Yahoo since 1998-99 :). BTW, Sloan news is round the corner... I am waiting for the 5th... It is 5 days to go. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 9:03 PM | Saturday, March 27, 2004 Visa advice Excellent Post from "hitamba" for International applicants on how to get F1. You will need to show liquid assets for your tuition and ties to the home country for the visa. Financial evidence that shows you or your parents who are sponsoring you have sufficient funds to cover your tuition and living expenses during the period of your intended study. For example, if you or your sponsor is a salaried employee, please bring income tax documents and original bank books and/or statements. If you or your sponsor own a business, please bring business registration, licenses, etc., and tax documents, as well as original bank books and/or statements. Visa issuance is a very objective decision, and is not subjective: Every visa official has a list of requirements (s)he looks for in a visa application. If they are met, then (s)he issues the visa. If not, (s)he doesn't. It is how these requirements are met that makes a visa decision seem subjective. For instance, take the requirement of showing that you will return to India. If you provide unambiguous pragmatic evidence pointing to reasons for return, he will have no reason not to grant a visa. US Visa Official Quote: "Give a rational, objective reason that even a banker would believe". If, on the other hand, you only play with words and have nothing substantial to show, it looks like a subjective decision, since it is based upon subjective evidence. Proper documents are only half the story: Visa officials know that documents in India can be easily forged. So what is on paper is not enough. What you say, how you say it, matters a lot. Sometimes it can even make up for inadequate documentation. US Visa Official Quote: "Some people complain that we did not see their documents. Remember, if we go through your documents when you are standing there, then that is a negative sign. It means we don't believe you and are checking the documents for proof or for grounds to reject you. So not seeing your documents in front of you is a good thing for you." Read More posted by Ravi Trivedi | 11:58 PM | Friday, March 26, 2004 Congratulations to FMG for the Wharton Admit. Felt sad for most of my Wharton Jollies buddies, who didnt make it to Wharton. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:09 PM | Thursday, March 25, 2004 Blue Devil Weekend and Fuqua Whartonites R2 All the best... Its 1.5 hours to go... All of you on "The Wharton Jollies" thread, I am rooting for you. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 6:18 PM | Wanna be a BWeek Journal writer It's time for BusinessWeek Online to start planning a new series of MBA Journals. Here's how you can become part of this select group of MBA student-writers Read on posted by Ravi Trivedi | 6:00 AM | The ever evolving MBA's Sandy posted this interesting article on how MBA courses have evolved around what has been in vogue... ---------------- Compromising Academic Priorities? This is not the first time that business schools have offered niche-oriented M.B.A.'s. For a while in the 1990s, programs in "supply-chain management" were all the rage, and at the height of the dot-com craze, programs in e-commerce were springing up across the country. Many of those with a high-tech or entrepreneurial focus have since struggled to maintain their enrollments. Read on posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:34 AM | Kellogg Got the regret letter from Kellogg. Dont know what kept the application for so long (interviewed mid-Dec, complete mid-Jan). Dont know what got me the ding :). I did address my weeknesses mentioned in last years feedback. My hunch is that the competition was stronger this year. Another possibility is they really hate yield... ( Long story short, they were aware of my Sloan interest ). Some one was asking me how did you find the energy to re-apply. I think the last years waitlist at Kellogg and interview invite from Sloan, gave me the energy to try again. So thank you and Bye Bye Evanston. ps: And yes folks, having an admit, makes the ding sting milder.. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:00 AM | Wednesday, March 24, 2004 New MIT Sloan Site Sloan's MBA website has a new look and feel ( flash based content). I didnt realize Sumantra was Sloan PhD. Here is an newsitem, remembering Sumantra. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:36 PM | Tuesday, March 23, 2004 Kellogg This week is the final decision week for Kellogg. Last years Kellogg WL exposed me in great details about the school. I have been trying to search down last years thread to see what pattern of Ding/WL was observed. Well , as per Kristen, a lot of results are still to go. Lets see what is in store for me this year. Will the magic wand work :). Having recived a Duke admit, makes me relaxed and at this time I am just sitting back to hear the result. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 1:38 AM | Recieved my Fuqua admit package ! Duke folks had fedexed my admit pack on 18th, which reached home today. I was happy to open my admit package. I am still going through the information present in the package. I am still deciding on whether to show : a) Duke International Loans on my I-20 or b) Use money from my friend on my I-20, besides my families funds. So far I havent spend enough time on type of Loans, the numbers behind them and other stuff. Now I am putting this task on top gear. Notebook Which one to buy ? I personally prefer the lighter one's that Toshiba has. However, I am doing a survery of the laptops and figuring out what all is available. I intend to buy them when I am in US, as there is more variety and it is cheaper. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 1:36 AM | Monday, March 22, 2004 Blue Devil Weekend Fuqua's Blue Devil weekend is on 2-4th April. Although, it is a great time to know more about a program, I am wondering whether I can make it . I would not like to disclose this news in my work place, till I secure my Visa. Considering there is a major event in 1st week of April, I cant make my absence inconspicuous. On other hand, as an international the trip would mean an expenditure of 2500$. This is a lot of money, from where I come. And I need a lot of money for showing for my Visa . Hence, I am tending towards not attending the event. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 3:14 AM | Saturday, March 20, 2004 Plans for coming weeks - Start working in getting Finances in places for the Visa. I may manage good amount from a very close friend in US, so that should be fine. - Work on getting FinAid from Duke. See if I can atleast get something. :) - Ofcourse wait for results from Kellogg and Sloan. These should be in in next 2-3 weeks. Anxious weeks, but not so much as earlier .:) Lot of buying and personal decisions are now made, as I am sure of doing an MBA now. - Write on my re-applicant thoughts in MBA Advice. Also write by thoughts for Indian IT or any extremely competitive category. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:25 PM | Friday, March 19, 2004 Financial Aid, Visa Would appreciate any tips that people have on Financial Aid and Visa. I heard Duke is generous in giving away scholarships. Should know about that in next 4 weeks. I am planning to send an update since my application to be added for the Fin Aid consideration. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:05 PM | Thank you all for your good wishes. Yes, Fuqua is a great school and I would be happy to be part of Duke Class of 2006. So couple of decisions became clear to me : a) My blogging will continue as promised while I am at school :). I will try to apply for BWeek Journal as well. b) I dont have to worry about work related changes any more. Just relax and wait... Hope my Visa goes through smoothly. The next steps of selling off my things and shifting is very ardous. As per my current plans, I should apply for Visa in June and take a break in July. Well, I am eagerly waiting my admit package. Well on a side note, one of my recommenders is a Michigan 92 MBA. What if I couldn't go to Go Blue , I am a Blue Devil now :)) I think the devil part suits me well posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:03 PM | Thursday, March 18, 2004 Harry Potter gets his first ACCEPTANCE In at Duke Congratulations! The Admissions Committee is pleased to offer you a place in The Fuqua School of Business MBA Class of 2006. After careful evaluation of your application, we are confident that you have the ability to excel at Fuqua and become an integral part of our community, both in and out of the classroom. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 10:41 PM | Duke The results for R3 wouldnt be out at 10:00 AM. After waiting for a while, I called and checked up. The adcom mentioned the results and the mails should be going out in afternoon and definitely before 5:00 PM. So well, I will take a break, and head home. It reminds me of my MIT Sloan result, when I couldnt sleep till 3:30 AM :). But well it worth it. This time will it be worth it ... Hope so... Potter is very positive today.... posted by Ravi Trivedi | 6:13 PM | Kellogg I have gut feeling that I should hear from Kellogg next week. I interviewed in mid-Dec and submitted part 2 close to deadline. For most of the internationals, the results would be in last week (unless you are very very strong). The ad com would like to see all the files especially if one is a borderline candidate. I was wondering if I should send an update to Kellogg, especially since I got the results of Yearly performance ranking done in my company. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 12:18 PM | Back in Action -- MIT Sloan interview I just returned back from Mumbai after my MIT interview and the first thing I am doing is writing my blog :) . I was away for long. Well, I landed in Mumbai on 16th evening ( from Bangalore). It was hard for me to get some sleep, since my mind was very active. Based on advice from lot of you, I had two strong coffee's in the morning to make myself fully awake for my noon interview. When I had first scheduled the interviews, they had told me the first slot for the day is at noon, but well, later on, I guess they added more people to be interviewed, so the interviews started at 10:00 AM. My interviewer had come from Bangkok the previous night . Good for the interviewer that the time difference in Bankok and Mumbai is 1.5 hours, so no jet lag. In all, they interviewed 9 people in Mumbai. In the evening they had an alumni reception. ================= My interview lasted 25 minutes. There were few questions like : - Why MBA, Why Sloan - Show an example when you displayed creativity - Show an example of difficult interaction - What do you feel proud of yourself . On the positive side: - I spoke with lot of emotions and was myself . I was confident answering few of the questions, and had solid examples. I was able to show my interest for Sloan. On the negative side: - I think I rambled a lot, went on digressions ( well thats me :). - I dont think I had a great answer for creativity question. - I didnt get any hint as to how the interview went. Besides, mine lasted 5 minutes less that what some other people went through. I couldnt figure out how the interviewer felt about me. If I had to rate my interview on a scale of 10, it would be 7/10. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 12:47 AM | Wednesday, March 17, 2004 Wharton Based on my understanding of Wharton application evaluation (as compared with other schools) they give a lot of weightage to well written and crisp essays. I am not satisfied with the quality of my essays for Wharton and hence decided to not take the R3 plunge. As an Indian IT Male, it is an uphill task to get an admit in any round, so it doesnt make sense for me to waste a chance with half baked essays. So that leaves me waiting for Duke, Kellogg and MIT Sloan results. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 9:32 PM | Other updates HAAS served me with a Ding on Monday. Honestly, I was surprised my both Michigan and HAAS results. Considering the time, I have spent on applications since last year, I thought I had a good grip on having a gut feel on what my decision could be. But guess what, I was wrong. Truely the Admissions process is highly unpredictable... And being a IT Indian Male from India, definitely, I am pitted against very strong competition. Waiting to hear from Duke tommorow. Meanwhile they send out a mail inviting me to join FuquaTalk. I think it was a mass mail. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 9:27 PM | Saturday, March 13, 2004 Will be off the blog for a while The blogging will continue to be less in coming days. I should be back in action after my Sloan interview on 17th March. All the best Chunky for your HAAS decision posted by Ravi Trivedi | 4:25 PM | Friday, March 12, 2004 Got the ding from Michigan. Ok, so it is time to prepare for Sloan interview with even more efforts. Dear Harry Potter, Thank you for considering the University of Michigan Business School. The Admissions Committee has thoroughly reviewed your application. Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you a place in the Fall 2004 entering MBA class. As always, the number of applicants far exceeds the 430 places in the first year MBA class. Because we have so many applicants with excellent credentials, selecting the class is a challenging task, and admission to the program is extremely competitive. Should you wish to reapply to the program, please click here to learn about our feedback and reapplication processes. Again, thank you for your interest in the University of Michigan Business School. The Admissions Committee extends its sincere wishes for your future success. Sincerely, Lisa Hurst Associate Director posted by Ravi Trivedi | 10:58 AM | Thursday, March 11, 2004 No news from Michigan or HAAS Michigan has already called most of the admitted Indian applicants. No news for me. Similarly a long silence from HAAS. Dont know what is in store for me. Patience... Harry :) . Oh well, few days and time will tell :). Congratulations to all Michigan admits!! ps: Thanks for the wishes. Yes, I am maintaining a positive outlook with a "realistic" attitude. I want to use this as an reason for working harder on what is still in my hands -- Sloan interview and Wharton Application. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 6:55 AM | Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Welcome Rajat Rajat, who is an Wharton admit has started his blog at mbatrooper.blogspot.com. Welcome to the Blogger Community. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:17 PM | More Information on HAAS R2 As posted by K640 on BWeek I went to the super saturday this past weekend and thought I would share some useful information with all the anxious R2 applicants who are awaiting the 3/15 final decisions. There was a bunch of useful statistics that were given out before the super saturday started---there were approx 1,000 applicants in the R2 pool with approx 175 total interview invites given out (60 of those went to super saturday, and the other were alumni interviews--both count the same). They admitted 125 in round 1 and have a R1 waitlist of about 100 students that is monitored throughout the admissions season. I don't think there is a hard and fast rule that they will give all the final decisions to all the R1 waitlisted candidates on 3/15, but I imagine that some will hear on 3/15 or sometime later that week. Just my guess, but not sure. They didn't tell us how many admits they would give out to the 175 invites, but I think they said the admit rate for the previous super saturday was around 75% (which would be about 130 admits for R2). Read more posted by Ravi Trivedi | 11:00 AM | Tuesday, March 09, 2004 The calls have began for Michigan The first message on BWeek for R2 Michigan admit appears. The adcom have started calling admits . I have heard internationals usually get an email. All the best to you. ps: I confirmed that all the students who are admitted do not get an call, especially if you are an international. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:30 PM | MBA Advice for 2006 applicants Techie has taken the initiative and created a blog at mbaadvice.blogspot.com where all the bloggers can add their views and advice about the application process. I hope that we as a community would be able to share our experiences and wisdom, which you will find useful. ps: We decided to move to a new site for the MBA advise blog, which is at http://www.iqexchange.com/site/blog/mbaadvice/ posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:27 PM | Interview preparation With hectic work schedule and other distractions, I havent been able to focus on preparing for the Sloan interview. Its high time, I get back in action for the Sloan interview preparation. As always balancing multiple things on applications, work and personal life would be tough. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:58 PM | Michigan From the Monroe Street Journal - University of Michigan Business School In Through the Out Door: An Administrative Update By Kris Nebel and Al Cotrone, Directors Office of Admissions and Career Development Published: Monday, March 8, 2004 Mid-Winter Update Admissions Activity At this point in the year, Admissions is furiously working on finalizing Round 2 MBA day decisions, BBA reading and getting ready for Go Blue Rendezvous April 2nd-4th. Our Round 2 admits will be called this week, and all decisions will be posted by Friday, March 12th. Next week we will give a summary of what the class is looking like! There are some really impressive candidates in this batch................ For more posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:37 AM | Thoughts on upcoming results With no interview invite from HAAS, it is either a ding or WL. If I have an admit from Michigan, then hopefully I should hear in next 2 days. The final result would be out at 10:30 AM IST on 12th March. I have an meeting at that time, so I was wondering if I will walk out for a while and check my mail. :). posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:01 AM | Monday, March 08, 2004 Admissions Guide, Fellow Bloggers gettogether I like the idea of jointly putting together the Admissions guide. Being a veteran :), I will be happy to contribute. Techie, I second your idea of Fellow Bloggers get together. I am sure it will be a fun meeting people face to face. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 4:47 PM | Newscrawler, Atom, RSS Feed I have been playing around and have got nearly all members (Mark and Jie, Trip, Hella, Joey, Chunky, FMG, Naveen, and Power Yogi ) of our community who have enable RSS Feed/Atom for their site. We still have some people whose sites are not set up for that. Well, nice to have the updates from all the sites so quickly and easily. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 4:45 PM | Application count down for Monday - Michigan : At Most 4 days - HAAS : 7 days - Duke : 10 days - Kellogg : At most 21 days - MIT Sloan : 28 days. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 4:08 PM | Sunday, March 07, 2004 Happy Holi to all of you Holi is another big Indian festival. Holi, the festival of colours, is celebrated across India at the onset of spring. People apply colour on each other, distribute sweets and take out processions, dancing to drums in a melange of colours. (ANI) ps: Its evening after a gala "holi"celebration. I still have colors on my hand and head. Well, that is the fun of holi :). I am glad my MIT interview is not the next week, and I still have time so that the colors will fade off and I will look normal :). posted by Ravi Trivedi | 1:23 AM | News Crawler I just set up News Crawler to take the syndicated content from Mark's, Hella's and Trip Enels site. I think it will be useful if all of us MBA bloggers setup an RSS point/Atom. It is really cool news reader. Any new post on the websites appear like a mail in the reader. Great stuff, will save my pinging to all the sites for any news. :). Mark , give it a shot once you have your atom.xml in place . posted by Ravi Trivedi | 1:10 AM | More about RSS Feeds and Atom So you are tired of going to individual bloggers page "n" times a day, to see whats happening. With our community of MBA growing, you would like to read all the blogs and their new contents. Welcome to the world of RSS Feeds/Atom. These standards allow your blog to be syndicated, which then can be read by any of the newsreaders(NewsCrawler, NewsGator) that aggregate content. Well, Mark was mentioning about Atom. Atom, is another way of providing XML feeds to the syndication engine. I enabled that few weeks ago for my blog. So you can use mbamusings.blogspot.com/atom.xml for getting a feed from my site. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 12:41 AM | Saturday, March 06, 2004 Application count down - Michigan : At Most 6 days - HAAS : 9 days - Duke : 12 days - Kellogg : At most 23 days - MIT Sloan : 30 days. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:49 PM | Duke application is complete Finally the ETS mixup issue is sorted and Duke application is complete. I should have my result by 18th march. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 6:52 AM | Friday, March 05, 2004 Michigan will post decisions earlier The mail from adcom reads The University of Michigan Business School is pleased to announce that we will post admissions decisions on line for Round 2 (January 7, 2004 application deadline) MBA applicants to the MBA Class of 2006. Since you applied on line, you can take advantage of this feature to obtain your decision on line. Decisions will be available on line effective 12:01 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on March 12, 2004. To obtain your decision, simply log on to the site where you completed your application using the same login information that you used when you submitted your application. Instructions will be displayed on how to proceed from there. It’s that simple. If you have any problems logging in, please contact Embark technical support services at embarksupport@custhelp.com. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 12:42 AM | Thursday, March 04, 2004 Kellogg continues to post its admission decisions . I wonder when I will hear from them. I had submitted Part 1 long back, so interviewed in mid-Dec. My Part 2 however was submitted close to deadline. But since they wait for all the application elements to be complete, I am sure they would have reviewed my file earlier ( compared to people who interviewed mid-Jan or later) . So I am waiting with fingers crossed. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:29 PM | Sumantra Ghoshal is no more Management guru, leading economist and founding dean of the Indian School of Business Hyderabad, Dr Sumantra Ghoshal, passed away in Hampstead, United Kingdom, on Wednesday due to brain haemorrhage, reported The Economic Times. Sumantra was a strategy Professor at London Business School. I felt sad hearing this news. I liked his thoughts in "Lessons in Excellence" aired on CNBC India and books "World Class in India" etc. I hoped, I would have opportunity to hear him in person. :(( ps: I just realized, I blogged about Sumantra at the beginning of this blog in May 2003. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:30 PM | HAAS Berkeley From the BWeek forums on todays chat : - 95% of the interview invites have been made for HAAS. The remaining 5% will go out next week. However, I havent seen any invites to people in India in R2, so there is still some hope. Lets wait and watch. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:17 AM | Wednesday, March 03, 2004 Duke update I finally succeeded in getting a reply from Duke adcom on my GMAT score situation. They have promised to keep my file in Round 3 on best efforts basis. I looked up my credit card statement and it appears ETS has posted the score on 25th Feb. Since, the Duke interviews were allowed till 8th March for Round 3, I would guess if my GMAT score reaches them by that time, it should be fine. ETS folks said around 10 business days for the score to reach, so I am hoping, it just makes in time. I hope I get my result on 18th March. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 10:20 PM | Today night is the Berkeley chat. Last time there were too many people on the chat and it was very chaotic. Based on this, I am wondering whether it is worth it to stay awake till 3:00 AM for the chat. Hope one of you will save the chat, so that people in inconvenient time zones can access it later. Thanks. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:20 PM | Tuesday, March 02, 2004 MIT Sloan interview resources R1 : http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages/?msg=34788.1 R2 : http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=39727.1 ps: For the curious , there is a glimpse of Sloan adMIT 2003 at http://www.mit.edu/~t_stocky/videos/index.html This has a good 10 minute Video about the life of a Sloanie. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 5:56 PM | Berkeley MBA Online Chat Dear Prospective Student, Do you have questions for the admissions staff? Would you like to gain insight from current MBA students? You can chat online with members of the Berkeley MBA Admissions Committee and Haas Student Ambassadors on Wednesday, March 3, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Follow the link below to enter the chat and ask your questions. We look forward to chatting with you! The Berkeley MBA Admissions Team Chat Link: www.haas.berkeley.edu/MBA/prospective.html * Please do not respond to this message. For questions about the program, please visit us at the chat site or call the MBA Admissions Office. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 3:36 AM | Monday, March 01, 2004 Sloan interview preparation I am yet to kick start my preparations. Last year, I had spend a lot of time and resources for the interview, so all my material would be useful. I plan to do some practice mock interviews, preferrably with some one who knows the MIT's behavioural interview pattern. I think some of my MBA friends and current Sloan students will help me. So I have a lot to do in coming weeks. :). I like that. The busier I get, the more efficient I am. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 10:28 PM | Can we ALL meet for an online chat ? How about having an online chat on this site on the decision dates or earlier. I am sure they would be good experience for all of us anxiously waiting for our results. Folks your comments. ps: I participated in chat at Tad's site last year and they were fun. In the meanwhile, let me see if I can expand my chat board to a bigger size. posted by Ravi Trivedi | 8:24 PM | Wharton I am coming in Round 3 :) Work is progressing on my Round 3 application. I have asked my recommenders to give one final recommendation. The starting point were my feedback notes. Alex Brown, FF, Tanniah et.al keep one place for me ;) . posted by Ravi Trivedi | 7:20 PM | |
|
| |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
