click SUBMIT..not yet

Last 2 weeks have been hectic..
I finally came back for a vacation..took off for a week..

Before I took this vacation, I got a chance to attend the MBA tour in Taipei. I had lots of expections when I registered for the tour. And I have to say - I was very dissappointed. I got almost nothing out of this crowded fair. Most of the fellow applicants were very much undecided on the schools (even if they needed an MBA). The tour was fully targeted for them.

I did chat with adcoms of my target schools. They obviously give a general encouragement - but nothing specific at all. I felt talking to alumni is a much more useful excercise.

And then I had this great "essay" vacation. Yes, I visited my parents. But, most of my time was with essays :)

I had 3 awesome reviewers for INSEAD essays. 2 of them are INSEAD alumni and 1 is a INSEAD 07 participant. The good part is they all felt I had great stories to tell adcoms. The stories fall into place for the questions asked by INSEAD.

There is always a but :0
My good essays need to be great !! And they had several comments to make them great. All my reviewers giving almost same comments made me really happy. And all of them mentioned my draft version is good with lotsa TODO..

I did change lotsa stuff after review - especially my career goals essay.
I have 5 more days before the deadline. I will continue to be critical before I click SUBMIT.. :)

OOOF..Work, Work and More Work

With great powers, comes great responsibilities..
- my boss (not Spiderman’s uncle)

My boss knows I have been slogging out the whole of last month. He believes I have been doing a good job too. My current job has given me immense opportunities (read work load). But, frankly, I enjoy ever bit of it (read – I am workaholic).

The side effect: of course, my R1 applications. I just managed to complete my reco packet and sent it out to 2 of my supervisors. My direct supervisor is the best boss one could get and he is extremely supportive with my MBA thingy. He has been extremely busy for last few weeks, but he promised me to complete the recos soon. My second recommender is my dotted-line supervisor and he knows me pretty well too. I believe he is gonna give me a good reco too :)

And finally I managed to do one more round of proof reading of my INSEAD essays (after my first reviewer’s comments) and sent it out to 3 alumni reviewers. All of them are busy people and I really hope they don’t get pissed off with my essays (read- I hope they feel it is not bad)

And am talking to alumni from other schools too.

Betw, I will be attending the MBA fair in Taipei next week. Hope it is gonna be useful. Will keep everyone updated.

:D

Rolling on..

Couple of weeks back, I thought INSEAD essays are so straight forward and not so interesting...
Man! I was way off. I have just fallen in love with their questions.

Reason is quite simple...
A simple question leaves the door open. Applicants can fill in what they want and be themselves. INSEAD doesn’t require a traditional CV. It is quite interesting as it is up to the applicants to project their job history in the way they want. Applicants can really differentiate with what they have done and elaborate on things out of scope. They don't need to be stuck with a typical CV syndrome..

I am just enjoying this.

Betw, I got all my INSEAD essays to a decent shape and got them reviewed by my prime reviewer. This friend who is currently in a top B-school gave me some candid feedback (he knows me well. So, he would call it a bull shit if it was one). But, he liked my stories, I am learning a lot from his experience and yupe, I have a month to tune my essays.

LBS essays are taking shape as well. I am yet to start on my Tuck App and I hope I could get started soon.

I had talked to 3 of my recommenders. I sent them out the request. I have another Chinese colleague who could potentially recommend me. Need to decide soon.

Another task pending is to get the transcripts requested (it shouldn’t take more than 2 weeks)

Lots of work ahead...

Why choosing a b-school is like choosing a hair solon

No. I am not trying to be funny here...
I just had a bad haircut (probably the worst ever) . Ya. I also finished reading freakanomics..

and now..I found a strong link between a hair solon and a b-school.
Everyone wants to be in the best fit b-school -The school which caters what you want.
The way you choose a school is oftentimes similar to the way you choose a hairsolon (of course, the impact is much more).

You try to
- see the place from outside
- checkout if the solon dresser has been doing a good job on others
- its fits all your specs (cost, time etc)

Now, once you decide to enter a solon, the choices are not much.
Of course, you can tell the dresser what you want (like choosing electives, specialization). But, the end result is not fully in your hands :)

This might sound stupid !! May be it is..

Betw, I added a new school to my R1 list. Tuck seems to fit me well..Atleast from outside :)

Killer essays..

A phone call woke me up in the morning..Its been a lazy day so far. Today's typhoon is making it a cozy saturday and it is obviously tough to get me out of the bed. But, I gotto do some work on my essays. Yupe - the awakening :)

Agenda for the remaining part of the weekend..think about ideas to convert ordinary essays to KILLER essays.

After finishing a long life history draft, I completed my first draft essays for a R1 schools. Its been interesting to write essays so far. I seem to have lots of stories and the essay thought process is quite intruiging. Now, I am entering the tougher part - choosing the right stories for the right questions and making them unique..

This whole MBA blogging has got on to me. Reading tons of blogs and getting into this network is also helping a lot..

Ok. let me get on to the job..!!

Weekend Wanderings..

I was having lunch in the nearby Subway outlet at 12.30 today..as usual alone in Taipei..
Being alone for months..and being alone in this part of the world has helped me in lot of ways..

My wandering mind was thinking about mundane things around me..With all these b-schools essay questions..I have lot more to think these days...Today's question: Am I disciplined enough to follow plans?

Most of my friends think I have great personal planning habbits. It sounds funny to me. I hardly plan my day to day activities. Thinking of this, I started realizing why I always end up finishing things much before any schedule. Answer: I dont like to see tasks pending..And thats the only reason.

Hook or crook..good, bad or ugly..I end up finishing things much faster. This gives me ample time for reflecting back and forth..

Not bad, I thought of myself :)
I have decided to stick with this working funda. This has worked for me for years now..

I have finished the first draft for 5 LBS essays.. But, I would say I am 20% done..With 2 months before the R1 deadline, I hope to complete my rework and re-re-work (thats the 80%)

Again..need to stick to my plans...call it "best laid plans"

Enjoy the essays

Now that I have decided on 2 schools for R1, I started the big task - writing essays !! I have never been so interested in writing. Atleast, thats what I used to think before I started writing some tech articles couple of years back. Until a week, I thought I was OK writer when it comes to tech jounals but essays are gonna be daunting..

Intrestingly, I have discovered I am enjoying my essays much more than I expected :)

People hardly get a chance to write about themselves. Though most would think it would be easier to write about others than themselves, I strongly disagree :) b-school essays are obviously a good place to be you and write what you feel about you. I like the concept of essays in the whole application process. But, what makes me a bit annoyed is this whole admissions consultant thingy. Why should anyone give their essays to be written by others? After all, its about being yourself. Aint't it? So, i digged in more.

There are 2 types of essay service. Though I am ok with this review concept, I totally dont get the need for full fledged writing service. If you can't handle your own essays and show who you are, is it worth to be in a top b-school?
When these admission consultants boast of writing the best essay for their clients, is it not organised crime? The more I think about this the more I see the dark side of it...

Anyways..I really dont get it..!!

Betw, I started off with both LBS and INSEAD essays... I seem to like LBS questions better. They have asked questions which I have asked myself several times..its easier that way :)