Toughest bike ride yet..

Just back from a work trip to Europe, and I was totally wrung out by the time I headed back home, such was the work load...keeping timings from 8:30 am till 12:00 pm sure aint a piece of cake!I had taken my books for studying and alas, all I could manage was poring over my Kaplan during 2 hr transits!I did get my GMAT dates done though, Nov 20th is the golden date and I fervently hope I am ready to give it my best shot that day.

On the one weekend that I had free during my trip, I treaded the dangerous ground of asking my boss to be one of my recommendors.What began at 10 am went on till 6 pm where I was primarily telling him why and where I wanted to do an MBA etc.The difficult part was, he wasnt too pleased to let me go from my job if I did make it to a B-School....so much for being good at work eh!We went out on a terrain biking spree that afternoon, where apart from me trying to huff and puff my way through woods and meadows in the pristine countryside, I had the challenge of convincing him to be a recommendor of mine.It was tough convincing him but got an assurance from him finally...and I thought to myself, being good at work is certainly a double-edged sword!

This experience of mine certainly addresses the topic of 'how can I ask my current boss for a recommendation...isnt that like treading on broken glass!' Well , how I did convince him in the end to be my recommendor was by really driving the point home that I was passionate about doing an MBA.One down, one more to go people..

I ran my first essay by my reviewer and he was quite positive about it..a silver lining eh :)!I plan to pack in some solid hrs of studying and drafting as many essays as possible.Thank god that I have a pushy reviewer to keep me on track!

And some more culling out....

So after a reality-check kind of a conversation with my friend, philospoher and guide(strictly for the apping process:)), I chopped off 3 schools from my large list of 10 schools.Reasons why I decided to do so...with the number of essays per school at 4, I might end up writing very tepid essays if I hurry up and try to finish all of them in my eagerness to apply to all the million schools I fancy!I would rather not do so and focus on my essays with dedicated effort!Remember people,quality and not quantity matters...and do start with those essays at schools where you think you have the best shot at getting in.

Another reason being,few of the schools had deadlines too close to my GMAT and I dont think I should attempt at giving them a shot even though they might be very choice schools!So heres my new shortened list(a firm advice from my alumni being keep at least 7 or 8 schools as shortlist).Of course for those of you have a 4.0 and a 750, you could probably just keep it at your top 4 or 3!

(1)Wharton
(2)Kellogg
(3)Darden
(4)Ross
(5)Stern(Will I become a pauper if I get through here taking into account insane living expenses at NYC??Hmmmm....)
(6)UCLA
(7)Kenan Flagler

I am toying with the idea of Duke though...somehow, I dont know if I want to apply there instead of Stern...Sigh,the brain must stop deliberating!

Strong cuppa perseverance laced with the joy of cricket!

So weekend was a hectic hectic one for me, with me putting in 11 hrs per day on studying for my GMAT which I will give by the end of October.I ve read a lot of lukewarm reviews on Princeton Review as a good GMAT book to consider.I tend to disagree.This may not be a toughie, but is certainly an interesting read in terms of the step-by-step dissection of how to handle each type of question,it hones into a methodology for solving the questions and is a great refresher for people who have been working for a while and have no memories whatsoever of how their high school math was!Also, the style of writing is very engaging..kudos to the author!I truly love this book!One must start with this book to ease into the strain of the toughies like Kaplan800 etc.

While I thought I had turned into a full fledged nerd with no life for the next couple of apping months,yesterday was a terrific break for me!India won the Twenty20 World Championship against Pakistan!!!And what a match that was!!Wowee ,there's nothing like de-stressing with a good dose of screeching and screaming in front of a TV with 200 other office employees for support :)!

On math extension courses

I spent some time today trying to hunt up online courses which I can take up to improve my quant scores.I did find couple of univs that offer these courses.Some of them are UCLA,UCB,HBS etc. but alas, they are really expensive...averaging $500 per course!If I put in money here, I am doomed for investment for apping! :(Sigh, I really think I want to sit down and cry!

I did come across this course called MBA Math that apparently is a great course and is accepted by most of the top univs as a pre-MBA refresher math course.Seems reasonably priced too....anyone gone through this one?

Low GPAs - There's still hope!

The question that haunts me day and night is this one thing, why did I not know anything about the importance of having a stellar GPA for a top B-School while I was attending undergrad?The odds just stack up against you when you realise GPA is so darn important 4 yrs down the line after you completed Bachelors!

Anyways, so while I was morosely going through Dave's blog, I came across an article from BusinessWeek that had a low GPA admit thread running...its inspirational I can say!Wharton sure seems fair and forgiving to those who can prove why they should not be judged or chopped off based purely on their low GPAs!This thread is very helpful to go on with a tiny smile at least that I am not spending time, effort and money in vain.

Min GPA admits into various top schools from MBA Buzz(though I have come across certain stories with lesser GPAs who have got into some of the schools.)

Berkeley - 2.8

Carnegie - 3.2

Chicago - 3.2

Columbia - 3.0

Cornell - 2.6

Dartmouth - 2.6

Duke - 2.7

HBS - 3.4

Indiana - 3.3

Michigan - 2.5

MIT - 2.8

Kellogg - 3.1

NYU - 2.9

Wharton - 2.8

Stanford - 3.3

Texas-Austin - 2.8

UCLA - 3.2

UNC - 3.0

Virginia - 2.5

Yale - 3.0

Bottom line, you can still get into great schools with a low GPA. Off I scamper back to my preps with renewed vigor!

A math course now?

Do I take an online math course to pump up my avg. quant scores?Do i or should i is the million dollar question!

Anyone know any great online courses that can be done within 2 months?

Million months of scrutiny & finally a shortlist of B-Schools!

Been trying to shortlist schools forever and ever now..after much wading through Princeton Review,US News,forming intricate xl sheets complete with color coding in all shades of the rainbow,I ve finally settled on the list
The primary factors in choosing B schools were the following:

(1)A considerate GPA acceptance
(2)Consulting as its main focus
(3)Tuition fees

And of course I am trying my best to stay away from the West Coast thanks to their tax rates!So far I am still dreading the thoughts of being rejected with one look at my GPA, but I ve had a rather smashing career and I am praying and hoping that I will really make a winning statement with that.

I ve narrowed it down to 10 univs(and not 8 as I had hoped)..why such a large number?Well I want to be really really sure on getting through and not making the mistake of applying to high end colls that might reject me at the instant sight of my GPA!After some thorough research on univs, accpetance rates,location,consulting focus etc., Ive slotted 2 in Dream(2 - 3% chance of getting through),3 in Reach(10 - 15% chances),3 in Mid (> 50%) and Safe(>90%).See below my choices(in no particular order)

(1)Chicago GSB
(2)Yale
(3)Darden
(4)Ross
(5)CMU
(6)UCLA
(7)Duke Fuqua
(8)Cornell
(9)Kelley
(10)UNC Kenan Flagler


I was torn between Stern and Tuck, but Stern was dropped due to high cost of living in NYC and the fact that it is primarily a fin college.Tuck was ideally my dream college but the app dates will be too close to my GMAT dates and I really wont have time to send them out so I settled on Cornell instead.

I am yet to delve into the finer nuances of each univ, their curriculum etc which I will be doing in the following days.I plan to give my GMAT by mid-end October since I am currently preparing as well as juggling essay writing/shortlisting etc. all at once...its a rather tall order but I seem to work best under higher levels of stress and pressure so I hope all will end well.

Any comments on the above choices are quite welcome from readers....and in case anyone has an opinion on how to substantiate for the non stellar GPA, I d be very happy to hear about that too!

My journey begins......

Here is the first of my journal to my MBA dream in a premier US B-school.I have been trying to get myself to pick up the books and study but alas!Nevertheless I have been wading through tons and tons of blogs of hopefuls and learning a lot from them...I would say clearadmit is one blog that really shows the path!All of you beginners who are in a similar situation as me, try that to begin with as well as throughout your journey.

I plan to put up all the blogs that I refer to as of today as soon as I am done with this post.My intent of this blog is two-fold, one to streamline myself and two, to get comments from other applicants such as I trudge on toward my goal.

After some massive research on what books I need to start my preparations(yes I know, July is probably way overdue to start prep but nevertheless, if not R1, i ll make my peace with R2!), I ve settled on the following:

(1)Official guide - 11th edition
(2)KAP 2007(Book + S/W)
(3)KAP 800

Off i go for the day, for a cuppa tea and some book buying!