The Final Post

The 2007 admissions did not materialize for me. My waitlisted applications at Wharton and Stern were eventually rejected. I will be reapplying next year. Thank you very much for your interest in my blog. Wish you all the best!

WAITLISTED @ NYU Stern

The status update finally happened just about 10minutes ago.

Unlike Wharton, Stern likes you to continue the courtship into the waiting period. It wants to be pampered further, showered on with more accolades and essays. It would like to know, what in the last three months have made me better that the last 31 springs did not. That exactly is what I am going to do too. It is never over till the last bell rings.

If you know anything about handling the Waitlist at NYU, please let me know. Thank you!

A Petition to the Adcoms

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ding/index.html

Came across this link in the BW boards - a petition to the adcoms to provide feedback to all dinged candidates. It may seem that it is considerably more work for the Adcom to provide personalized ding feedbacks, I do not agree to that notion. If the application is infact read throughly multiple times, as claimed by each adcoms then adding a 5 line note by each of the reader to an online tracking system will not be too much additional work. The feedback can be part of the online application system itself. It will give a vast majority of applicants some valuable feedback to reevaluate their application. Not sure where this petition will go frm here. It has my vote.

When is no news good news?

May be when it is the last day of interview invites and you are bracing your clueless self for a DWI!

The email from NYU did not come in the morning; neither by the noon nor by the office close hour of 5PM. Since it was Feb 15th, the last day of interview invites for R1 submits I was thoroughly confused. What does this mean? Do the surprises of this admissions process ever end? So I picked up the phone and called the NYU admissions office. When I told I submitted the application by Dec 1st, she re-confirmed that I submitted a 'COMPLETE' application by Dec 1st. Then I walked her through the boring story of how misfortunate I was that my Essay 3 got lost within the Admissions office maze (of no mistake of theirs, only because of my bad luck! :-)). Did she give an all knowing chuckle then?, or was I becoming paranoidal? Then she told me in a loaded tone that if I do not hear anything back by tomorrow morning (ie. 16th morning) email, the admchair - an email now so familiar to me that I could type it with the pinky of my left hand when blind folded! I did not wait for the sun to rise; I email the respected chair right away. Promptly I received a reply back that the chair will get back to me within three business days. Wow!

What was surprsing to me was that all my mental tensions vanished right then. I did not care about the MBA admit anymore. I realized that I have done all I could do for this year, and now there is no gain to my life to continue to worry about the elusive admit. If it is to happen it should happen with all I have done so far. If it does not, then definitely this MBA race is not something which I am built for. I need it, but I do not think I can have everything that I want or need!

So, I got up shutdown the computer and went home to be with my family.

Dinged @ Columbia

There was an ominous feeling when I clicked through the links and login to reach my application status page. There, I found, a note starting with 'although' and I knew my campaign for a seat at Columbia was over. My RD application is dinged w/o interview by Columbia.

What all could be the reasons?, Too ambitious goals (some one spells it as u-n-r-e-a-l-i-s-t-i-c), age, not so stellar academics?, Well I might never know for sure. I will try to get a feedback session from Columbia.

It is sad, and I am disappointed. I hope to hear a different result from Stern this week. Then the long 6 weeks wait for March 22nd, the Wharton decision date, will be my next pit stop to know what 2007 is going to be for me.

Greater joys and the tollerable uncertainities

The greatest joy is that I became a father two weeks backs and that my wife and our son are both doing very well. The uncertainties, which does not even look worth mentionable now are that neither Columbia nor Stern cared to call me for an interview yet.

There are many reasons why I should be genuinely worried. People who submitted around the time I submitted have received their invites or decisions by now. As far as Stern is concerned there are only a few days more till the final bell - Feb 15th. For Columbia, since I submitted way before the Jan 10th deadline it is certain that the first reader of my app did not feel that I should be called for an interview. From what I heard there are couple of reads more, and if any one of those readers feels like he or she wants me to come to uptown I should get an interview call. I do not think my application is so good that Columbia is going to include me in the 20% admitted w/o an interview!

On the brighter side of things, a friend got admitted to Michigan! - Way to go girl!

NYPD Locates the Essay 3

From: admchair hide details
To: Ravanan date Jan 10, 2007 9:59 AM

Subject Re: Fwd: NYU Stern MBA Application Missing Items: Ravanan

mailed-by stern.nyu.edu

Dear Ravanan,

Thank you for your email and for your patience with the admissions process. We have your Essay 3 and it will be included with your application. Your status will be updated shortly. Thank you again for taking the time to follow up. We truly appreciate it and your interest in NYU Stern.

Best regards,

NYU Stern MBA Admissions

Birthday Wishes

Today I turned 32. Four years back, when i was 28, a friend from the past (A Ph. D) made a very solid argument backed with historical evidence that, 'Life mein kuch teer marna hai to woh bateez ke pahle hoga'. Translated crisply it reads, "if you were to achieve something great in your life its going be before you turn 32". It stayed with me ever since. So, untold to anyone till now, and now told to a few dozen people in the blogosphere, I was secretly hoping that a Wharton Admit on Dec 21st will be my big deal before my 32nd B-Day.

When I look back, which is a natural thing to do on B'days I am happy. I have professional as well as personal satisfaction. I have been a good employee as well as a loved employer. I have been a caring son, loving brother, dashing boyfriend, responsible husband, loyal friend, devouted student and a taxpaying citizen. I have made a few good impressions on the societies I lived and I also believe that I have tried to help a lot of people. I hope people who like me outnumber those who dislike me by a huge number. I am thankful to thousands of people whom I met over the years and from whom I have learnt invaluable lessons of life. I am especially thankful to my teachers who instilled in me the ability to learn new ideas and skills with an open mind.

2007 is going to be an important year. The rest of my career is going to turn in a different direction one way or other. The excitement of embarking on the unknown is plastering a smile on my face all the time. Though I cannot detail that path here yet, I will be writing about my 2007 here sometime soon.

Downtown or Underworld!

Friends who are following my humble journey will remember that I submitted the Stern application more than a month back. I made many trips to NYU including a special trip to drop off the creative essay. Last Friday, Stern sent me a mail that my Creative Essay, the infamous Essay 3 of Stern is not to be found!

I am shaken by the inefficiency. While I hope that they will eventually locate my Essay 3 some where and I will be considered for R1, I fail to understand how such a cursory check will not be done for so long on an application that was submitted before Dec 1st, that is before the actual R1 deadline.

Stern applicants know that NYU essays are 'different'. Not only because of the Essay 3, but even the way Essay 2 is structured. An essay dedicated to know what all you have done to reserach the program!!, Come on!, that is not a reasonable use of 500 words in an MBA application.

If my Essay 3 fails to be found, it will be a blow. Rigors of my personal life will not let me work on another Essay 3. We are expecting a baby anytime now, and so naturally my life from now on is going to be much different. This was the primary reason why I finished all my applications by new year. So I will have to use a backup essay that I wrote in place of Essay 3. That is if Stern is ready accept it for Essay 3. I am waiting to hear back from Stern on my email detailing how and when i dropped off Essay 3 at its office, and physical descriptions to locate the same.

In the meantime, I will watch Ebay and Canal St. to see whether my Essay 3 mysteriously turns up for sale. At least I will know the sreet value of Essay 3.

Columbia Submitted

I submitted the Columbia regular decision application a few minutes back. Compared to the other two applications this was a bit easier to do. The reason is that most of the subjects discussed in the essay are from the beaten track. Now there are only long waits to complete. My interview at Wharton, thorough research on Stern and Columbia and three mock interviews I took so far have adequately prepared me for the interviews from Stern and Columbia. So practically my 2007 application work is over.

Personal and professional life are going to be hectic in 2007. The uncertainties of the admission process are also there. In addition in the last few weeks, partners from my entrepreneurial past are brewing up an interesting concoction of a promising business idea. I am excited about the thought of getting back into the fire in the belly days of scouting for investments, setting up the office, hiring people and most importantly creating something new. Things will be clearing up as the days progress.

This post will mostly be my last for the year. 2006 has been a wonderful year. I rediscovered many of the paths I traveled in my past. I made a bunch of new friends through the application process. Family life was wonderful. Was blessed with a nephew. Most importantly got a chance to reflect on my life so far and clearly define where I want to go and how I want to reach there. A journey that started as a career move to put a rubber stamp validation on my resume took many new dimensions of self discovery. So I want to thank the admissions process of these eminent business schools for forcing thousands of applicants to critically analyze their lives each year. Grueling as it is I can see the value.

Wish each of you a wonderful 2007, Chase your dreams, they will come true!

WAITLISTED @ Wharton

Wharton Waitlisted me!. If you have ever worried about your darkest fears coming true, you know exactly how I feel now. The Wharton Waiting List was the worst decision I 'expected' from Wharton. And that is exactly what I got.

Yesterday I spent about an hour on the S2S chat with a lot of fellow applicants all travelling the same boat - D-Day wait. Today I learnt the fate of many. The most active ones got rejected. It is a sad feeling.

Wharton released the decisions in batches. People in China, Singapore and other Asian countries got calls first. I frantically tried refreshing the status page till 9:10AM. Then I was convinced that Wharton is going to let people like me, the ones in East Coast of US know the results towards the later part of the day. So I proceeded to do something else, take a friend's mock interview. This friend has an interview scheduled for one of the top business schools tomorrow. We spoke over the phone for 30 minutes. Most of the answers were good. I gave feedbacks on delivery, structure and content, wished luck to each other, and I returned back from the conference room. Out of curiosity I clicked refresh, and there it was, a decision letter link at the bottom of the application page. When I clicked on it I saw, what you can see on the upper left - WAITLIST.

Rationally speaking this is not the worst case scenario. Unlike Harvard where noone is usually picked from the Waitlist, Wharton do select competitive applications from the Waitlist pool during the next round. The aganozing part is the wait. Anyone who is serious on an MBA admission must have at least put in one year till now to make a competent R1 application. I did. Starting from the day I started serious preparation for GMAT till now it is more than an year. Though a blip in the bigger scheme of things a wait for three more months is painful. It pains even more when you know that there may not be a clear decision on March 22nd the next decision date. Adcom will consider the application for its relative strength with respect to the applicants in R2, and then may either Accept, Reject or Waitlist - Continue :-)

There are cases from the past, where R1 Waitlist has extended all the way to Preterm.

The light at the end of this tunnel be worth this bumper to bumper traffic.

I salute all those who got admitted to Wharton. Now I know for sure that you all put in a better application than I did. All the best!

For me, this decision gives an increased vigor to apply all I got to the one application I have left to do - Columbia. In adition, I will explore Stern further (I have setup a meeting with a student for tomorrow morning) to define my interview strategy. Stern is very keen in fit, and a fit I will be able to show only through enough interactions with the school.

A productive 24 Hrs

From 1 to 5 in 24 Hrs. I completed all my Columbia essays. From my experience I would say they are 85% done. A couple of them are precariously touching the outer limits of acceptable word count bulge of 10%. Once I cut some flab my Columbia Essays will be ready to upload.

On the downside it means I will have more time at hand to brood over what Wharton has in store for me. I was hoping that Columbia apps will keep me occupied till the D-Day. That was not to be.

Shedding all modesty, I feel I have a strong chance to make it to Wharton. While I am on the wiser side of the average student body, my experience and goals should add a unique color to Wharton 2009. Did I sell myself correctly?, that is the million dollar question. I can only hope that the adcom sees things as clearly as I would want it to see.

I also did some serious thinking on what I would REALLY do if none of my admissions come through. I will come back to India earlier than I planned, and will enroll in the 2009 1 yr MBA programs either at ISB or IIMA. Such an education coupled with my experience should help me reach my goals.

One up in the Uptown

Prof. Michael Morris is a great teacher. The students are exceptional. The school environment was surprisingly casual. And as of now, I could write my 'Why Columbia' just by citing my experiences at the Managerial Negotiations class Prof. Morris took.

Since I am writing the Columbia Essay1, and because I cannot do justice to the 'Why Columbia' without sitting in a class, I shuffled many important parts of my office life to attend a class at Columbia. It was worth the drive, half day off from my work, $36 for parking (no I did not live there for a week, it was for 3hrs), and $5.40 for a slice of pepperoni pizza (No, not the whole pizza!). Though it was the final class of the course, and though the major part of the class was role play simulations, I experienced what each of those admits are capable of - the intellects, clarity of thought, strategic positioning and effective decision making skills. I can see myself becoming a better leader through such a structured educational environment.

In addition, this visit changed some of my preconceived negative perceptions of Columbia as an uptight, fiercely competitive, finance oriented, school. While I would not go anywhere near of rating it as the best collaborative environment (for which the winner is Wharton), there is no question in my mind that there are only exceptionally bright minds in there - students and faculty. How great will it be to know those people for life!

I will submit by columbia RD application later this month.

The countdown to downtown

'Downtown and down to earth'. That is what Stern stands for. I am all set to submit my R1 Stern application. In fact, I may do it right after I publish this blog. []Update : And Yes, true to my word, I did too. So that is two down and one to go]

Stern application is a lot shorter than Wharton's. There are only three essays to tell your story with, of which one is an odd ball - the creative essay where you can submit anything but food, electronic media and worn T-Shirts. There is no space in the application for your job responsibilities, but of course it requires a resume. Another oddity is that Stern needs your official transcripts , and a copy of the degree certificate.

I went to Stern on Monday afternoon. I carried a rather conspicuous package, my creative essay. After I submitted the essay and the transcript I enquired whether I could attend a class. I knew the class visit schedule was full. Even so they were nice enough to ask me to hang around to see whether there are any open slots. Though I was keen to attend a marketing class, in this situation I took what was available. A class on Global Banking Risks. The class blew me away!

The quality of teaching was way better than what I experienced in Wharton. Again please take this comment with lots of salt. Since, the Wharton classes I attended were the last ones before the midterm. Hence the subject matter was at a much more advanced state. Where as, the Stern class was an independent capsule in itself. The professor was a very respected Wall St. Executive with lots of hands on experience. In addition, I had in depth knowledge on all the cases he discussed in the class - the LTCM collapse, Russian debt defaulting and the Japanese Real Estate decline. So it is quiet possible that my Wharton class visit is not quiet representative to be compared with my Stern class visit.

I will conclude with a line I penned to a friend few minutes back. - So to summarize, my brain likes Stern more where as my heart still beats Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...''Whar'..'Ton'...'

The IT Pride

In the MBA Admissions world, Indian, Engineer, IT (IE-IT) combination apparently is plenty. At least that is what many IE-ITs out there think. A large number of IE-ITs also think they are in a tremendously competitive 'pool'. This thought naturally is extrapolated to a bigger question, How will I differentiate myself from the other 999 clones?. While an important question, in my opinion the roots, progression and manifestation of the question are all wrong.

I am an IE-IT applicant, So my words, thoughts and actions have some credibility. I do not expect everyone to agree. I would love to have a healthy debate In case you differ with my opinions.

In my opinion, a regular IE-IT applicant has tremendous advantage. The advantage is firmly rooted on many unique aspects.

India has 28 states and 7 union territories. Each of those states differ from each other in more than subtle ways. We come from different cultures, talking different languages, experiencing different ideologies and reading different newspapers. Let us not even go near the cuisines; how lame is it that so many restaurants out there call themselves 'Indian'?, Can there ever be an Indian restaurant showcasing at least 28 dishes; one each from each of those states?, How many chefs are going to be there!

Your experiences mould you. And since those experiences are different, how you became who you are is different. Hence I do not see lack of uniqueness in an IE-IT.

Now, let us focus on the IT aspect. My IT experience has made me an expert in certain areas of the following industries; investment banking, pharmaceuticals, food and nutrition. I know aspects of book publishing and assessing personalities in 29-dimensions :-). I know how e-commerce makes money, and I know how to analyze the customer demographics to make informed marketing decisions. How many applicants out there, you think, carry such a huge opportunity to learn so many different businesses? I would say very few. In any year, most of IE-ITs shift across three business segments. You are supposed to learn, master and apply skills in completely new industries overnight. Now, it is easy to get tangled in braces, semicolons and asterisk. But those with business dreams written all over will learn the business of the project they are in. If you do not, please do. While how you comment a line of code may change from project to project, and may at times be an exciting learning opportunity, do not miss the bigger picture and miss the chance to internalize one more new business knowledge. Believe me you the uniqueness will be written all over each of us once we do this internalization.

IE-ITs are exposed to tremendous leadership development opportunities daily! You know what I am talking about, we get to learn from our managers up close, we get to lead teams fairly early in our careers, we get client facing assignments sooner, we interview people...And, if your job is not letting you do all these, you have the option to turn in your papers and walk over to some where across the street where you get what you want.

International experiences are something that sets IE-ITs apart. We do not get to work in 'one' country abroad; we frequent countries. Be in the look out for new cultural experiences. Understand the local customs, the way people do business, underlying philosophies etc. Don't take comfort in the dal and chapati. Experiment. Get to know your neighbors. Learn from every morsel of 'newness' that comes across you.

While IE-ITs have similar opportunities to be unique, the uniqueness of these opportunities make all the difference. So, I believe being IE-IT is nothing but a great advantage when you are trying to set yourself apart.

Ohh, one more thing, stop worrying about that high GMAT. Nobody cares much!

A tough question - That still lingers

My Wharton interview is over for many days now. As days pass by the vividness of the interview experience is fading. With a busy schedule of NYC schools' admissions looming in the background, distancing from the Wharton experience will help reduce stress. How much ever I try I guess part of my mind will agonize over the criticality of Dec 21st - the decision day!.

The whole admissions process was an introspective experience. Of all the probing questions that my interviewer asked me, the one which caused significant introspection to me was , "How will you define success?". My spontaneous answer which covered some qualitative and quantitative aspects of success was very original, and once again took me through the now so familiar self discovery zone. So, to all the applicants out there, do ask yourself this seemingly innocent question : "How will YOU define success?"

The Wharton interview

Four hours back, exactly at 11:50PM EST, I finished my very enjoyable 40mnts long interview with a Wharton Graduate Assistant. Everything Mr. Thomas Caleel, preaches is true as far as Wharton's admission process goes - there are no tricks.

Interview started exactly on time, and my interviewer first explained to me what is the format of the interview and what to expect. She then proceeded with the ice breaker of walking through the resume. She followed up with a Question on my leadership style. Then we discussed , Why MBA?, Why Wharton?, Leadership Example, Team work Example, How I'll define success , What will I contribute, How will my classmates remember me by and a few more questions expectable from an MBA admissions interview. Lastly she answered all my three questions to her at length, and escorted me out into the lobby.

She did a wonderful job of showing complete involvment in the interview process. In fact though I was a little nervous in the beginning she made me feel completely at home through her friendly approach.

In short I love Wharton even more now, and will look forward to the decision day, December 21st.

Wharton would like to see my face...

Today Wharton invited me for an interview. What a wonderful thing to write. It is exciting to know that the endless hours spent writing, editing, fine-tuning the application and the long months spent learning, teaching and dissecting GMAT complexities did not end with no tangible results. Statistically Wharton admits 50% of those interviewed. It is an important milestone, yet no time to rest yet!

The Stern Essays are coming up very well. The Wharton essay experience has sculpted my writing style from raw clay to a beautiful flowing art-form. It definitely was not through self discovery. It was through the numerous feedback sessions from my friends who wore a ruthless critique's cap to dissect my essays. Thank you all. In retrospective, internalizing your teachings has also helped me reduce your critiquing efforts for the later essays. However, you still amaze me with those invaluable suggestions that gives my essays new dimensions.

At some point of time, definitely after all the admissions excitement is over, I'd publish those essays here.

But for now, let it all be Robert Frost , "Miles to before I sleep..."

One down and Many more to Go

I submitted Wharton R1 application on October 11th, one day before the deadline. I felt relief and pride at achieving an important milestone. The essays took a lot more time than I anticipated. It went through a complete rewrite and then continuous incremental tightening to convey my story in the most concise way I could. My friends helped me all the way. Each critic has contributed invaluable quality to my final version. Finally when I felt each sentence has a purpose, and each word inside each of those sentences are the most accurate one to convey my message I stopped.

Even the final day had enough drama. I feel every applicant may have one black sheep essay - the one perceived as the weak one. I had one too. So in the last two days I decided to pick a new topic for my last essay. I completed the essay, tightened it, whartonised it and finally was left with two glowing essays. I had to fight hard to pick a favorite. Finally, in an anticlimax, I went with my original essay.

Once Wharton applications done, I decided to visit Wharton. It takes close to two hours and $13 for me to reach Wharton. I attended two classes, had lunch with students, and made a few new applicant friends. Looked like I was the only R1 applicant. The students were very impressive. They showed us around and gave us very good information on the application process, curriculum, life @ Wharton and housing options in Philadelphia. I decided to head back after lunch.

Now I have self set deadlines of Nov 20th for Stern and Dec 21st for Columbia. It gives me one month for Stern and two months for Columbia.

The F-Factor in the Applications

It is ironic that there is no 'F' in the word 'MBA Admission'. I would love to pluggin an 'F' before and after each letter. The 'F' stands for Friends. And where will my essays be without all those friends to help me out.

Do not get me wrong! I still have not reached the bad state where I shamelessly ask my friends to pen the Essays for me. As of now they are my support system. Some are brutal - waiting like a hungry lioness for the fresh essay to popup on their inbox, and some are like parents - 'Why would you do use that word?', and again some are like seasoned editors - with my essays coming back via return mail, neatly commented in the margin with anecdotal suggestions on how to improve. And an unique critique of the lot is my dearest wife. She loves everything I write! After seeing the brutal treatments from other editors she currently is trying very hard to change her outlook and really look for places to change. And she made some wonderful suggestions that tied my essay sets together.

Overall I am in a good shape with my essays. One school's is done. It is a challenge to work with word limits when Essays pretty much want you talk about your whole life. Still, that is one of the main aspect tested; concision in communication.

If this essay set does not win me an interview and an admission, I will be sure that I missed the bus for some other factor - not essays. Still I will sleep well at night with the satisfaction that I gave my best shot.