A school that didn't take 'the high road'

My last blog post was written after I attended a Kellogg Introductory Session.

Though I had already paid the fee for admissions, I decided my startup website would help me understand my areas of improvement. I hoped this will help me in applying with more knowledge of what I want from my MBA.

I had not yet submitted my application, so I was confident Kellogg would refund or defer my application: especially since the highest in ethics is expected from their applicants.

Surprisingly, though, when I wrote to them, Kellogg did not refund the fee or move my application date. They did, however, point to the fine print saying the fee is non-refundable.

Given that Kellogg expects the highest from their students in terms of ethics, this was a subpar experience for me as a prospective. If they had deferred or refunded the fee, I would be all praise for Kellogg. But because of this response from Kellogg when I apply this year, they will have lost a prospective customer.

MBA vs Startup

An MBA or your own Startup? Which would you choose?

Here is the logic I used:

1. Cost:
MBA : $100k cost of living and tuition + $120k loss of pay
Website: $20k invested - potentially lost in case of failure

2. Rewards:
MBA: Get to meet interesting people, get a great network, learn new skills and get some hands on experience too with internships
Website: Socialize with meetups and cross cultural groups to meet new people, use MBA friends to get access to great networks, learn loads of skills and test them all the time, loads of hands on experience

3. Branding:
MBA: Great branding
Website: Potentially a good brand. But no assurance

So finally, given the fact that I am also more inclined to work on my website, I decided to put my MBA on hold.

Good idea? For me - yes. For everyone? Naaah!

The attack of the admission essays

Oh the essays.
The open ended questions , & the desire to give the perfect answer! This sure makes writing a tough task. Where do I start?

Well yesterday I finally found uhat works for me. As I sat with my roommates who were watching tv, I found myself in the perfect zone for writing.
So, having already decided on the themes I will be using for the answers- I started writing, & thoughts kept flowing.
By the next hour, I had 2 essay questions down.
Nice!

Say hello to future leaders in Providence

Now that I'm done with the GMAT, I need to get into gear for the essays.

I have been looking at the essay questions of the top 15 business schools, and they are (of course) so open ended, that they have me in a dizzy.

'Tell us how you executed a plan', 'Tell us about a challenging interaction'....
oh gee - these are essays where you can't just grab a pen and start writing!

I have been introspecting and have come up with a few situations that match each topic. Now I have to decide which to write about, and then write about it really well!

I did speak with my father, who is among the best speakers of the English language I have met. He is also a management guru - having worked and consulted with large corporations in India.

He recommended trying to understand why the admissions committee is asking the question - what traits are they looking for?

In my situations I would always come up with examples of good virtues, or convincing skills - but he suggested I try to bring out several skills which subtly came into play during each situation.

Thanks, Dad.

getting a 700+ GMAT score

Phew.
Done with the GMAT. Got 710.
Well I had received way higher scores in my mock gmats - & given GMACs claim of 0.95 reliability of the exam, this really should not have happened .. Oh well.
I'm told a score of 710 should be enough to get thru the top schools- since its over the magic 700 figure.
(foreign applicants- especially indians- are rumoured to have more rigorous GMAT requirements).

What did I do for this score?
Well my Prep started 2 months earlier.
I got Princeton & kaplan gmat prep books, & the official exam guides. (i will put up an amazon list soon)
Also I attended a meetup (meetups.com) on the GMAT to find some support from others preparing for the GMAT.
I visited sites like beatthegmat.com, pagalguy.com etc
& of course, I gave the GMAT mock exams (free download from mba.com)
It really helps to get into a test mood- especially since most of the GMAT takers have not appeared for a competitive exam in a while.
For this, having someone also preparing for the GMAT along with you is a big help.

All the best- prospective MBA's!