Journey So Far...

After finishing all my Round 1 applications, now I’m waiting on their results and preparing for the Round 2 schools. I decided to take some time to relax after Round 1 application, but it seems that relaxing in a journey to B-school is far from reality. The anxiety level is at all-time high, because every day while you wait to hear from the schools, you see people getting interview invites, while at the same time, no notification about your applications; hence adding up a lot of frustration and anxiety. I got a quick notification on my Duke application; however, the news was not pleasant. Now with all the waiting and anxiousness, it is really getting hard to concentrate for Round 2 school applications, so I thought of kick starting again with writing about the my Round 1 journey and plan for Round 2 applications.

I planned to apply to 6 schools – Duke, Yale, Tuck, Darden, Columbia and UCLA in Round 1 but then ended up with applying to only 4, skipping Columbia and UCLA. I decided to let go Columbia because I missed the early action round deadline due to the application load of Darden and Tuck. Columbia is anyways a stretch school for me, so I decided to concentrate on other 2 realistic applications. After Darden and Tuck, UCLA was next in the line for the round 1. I started researching about it, connecting with Alumni and AdCom to find if it is the right program for me. I found out that the UCLA teaching style is “Lecture-based”, which is a definite down for me as I’m sold on for “Case-based” style. I also found that UCLA is at a disadvantage compared to other East coast School, for someone who is seeking a position in Financial world; another down for UCLA. I choose UCLA for its strong footprint in Media and Entertainment industry, but as I was not sure if I wanted to pursue a career in this industry, I let go UCLA for its 2 down to 1 up.

Now, as I’m waiting for my Round 1 application decisions, I shortlisted schools for round 2 applications. Here is the list – 

1. NYU Stern 
2. ISB 
3. Michigan Ross   
4. Cornell  
5. UNC Kenan-Flagler or Carnegie Mellon Tepper (not sure about them)

NYU is my replacement for both Columbia and UCLA. It is located in the world’s financial capital, New York City, with a strong foothold in both Finance and Entertainment world; however, cracking NYU seems a bit tough task because of its applicant’s higher mean GMAT score. Two of these schools – NYC and ISB – have deadlines in November, and with the waiting time adding to the anxiety, making this round tougher than the Round 1. Let's see what the future holds.

If you want to know anything specific about my application progress, or want to learn about my research, do drop me a message.

Darden, University of Virginia - School Research

Darden - University of Virginia - was the last school in my targeted school list for round 1. Before I started researching about Darden, I was not sure whether to apply into this school. I want to target only among top 25 ranked schools from FT ranking and Darden ranks 27 in the Financial Time ratings; however, as I progressed in my research I started to develop a strong connection with the schools. Darden is the only public school in my round 1 schools list. I was also amazed by the fact that many of my fellow Indians applicants did apply to Darden in round 1 – A total of 26 applicants declared their application submission on BTG Darden’s wall for round 1. Here is my take on Darden.

Things that I liked about Darden –

1. Case Method – If you are looking for case-method based learning and Harvard Business School is a stretch school for you, then Darden should be your best bet. Darden graduates discuss more than 600 cases in their 2 year program, with an average of 3 cases per day. My pick is case-method because I think case-method learning makes business graduate ready for the real world problems. I also dropped the idea of applying to UCLA because of its preference of lecture-based teaching.
2. Innovative Faculty – Darden faculties are really creative in their way of teaching. I really loved how Prof. Ed Freeman uses drama and theatre to teach the leadership skills. Darden puts a strong emphasis on ethics, and the business week ranking clearly corroborates this fact. Darden graduates are famous for their impressive articulating abilities; obviously the credit goes to the great faculty team.
3. Public School – Darden is a public school, hence the tuition fee is comparatively lesser than other B-schools (approx. $47K for Virginia residents and $52K for non-residents, in comparison to $57K - $60K at other elite b-schools). Darden also provides lots of scholarship options.

Things that are not so attractive about Darden –

1. Lower Rank – Darden made 5 rank jump in FT rating (from 32 to 27) in a year. I don’t understand completely the parameters behind the ranking of the Financial Times ratings; however, a lower rank does indicate a lesser attractiveness among the recruiters and lesser salary for Darden Graduates than other elite b-school graduates.
2. Brand Name – Darden is a great school, although Darden as a brand name is a lesser known name in global b-school world when compared to the likes of UCLA, NYU Stern, etc..

If you want to know anything specific about my application progress, or want to learn about my research, do drop me a message

Tuck (Dartmouth) - School Research

After submitting 2 applications (Duke and Yale) in round 1 I started focusing on my next target schools (Tuck and Darden). I’ve been following activities at Tuck for quite a long time and with each update or chat about the school on Facebook, blogs or mails, my fondness for Tuck keep on increasing. Tuck is my top priority school because of several reasons. For me, it actually is the benchmark; I evaluate other schools’ culture and their alumni network with Tuck’s. Usually I write about my school research in “attractive” and “not so attractive” section; however, for me there is very little scope for “not so attractive”. Here is the rest of the story –

Things I liked most about Tuck – 

1. Tuck Alumni network – The Tuck graduates commitment back to the school is the higher than any other (70 % of the alumni gave $6.3 million in 2013 – read the full report here). The commitment describes the attachment of the graduates with the school. During my research I interacted with several alumni and each of them were so down to earth that you can just be in their awe. They appreciate your good question and also guide you when you make mistakes. The guidance I received from the alumni, especially Jed Struman, was extraordinary.

2. Program at Tuck – Tuck offers so many programs to hone your personality and leadership skills and the way professor teach them, is simply amazing. Programs such as “Research to seminar”, “Independent Study”, “Wall-Street Edge program (Initiated by Tuck student) and “Communicating with presence and Negotiations” were the few extraordinary ones.

3. Faculties – A higher percentage (86%) of Tuck’s classes is taught by full-time faculty members than at most MBA programs, as opposed to visiting professors, lecturers, and adjuncts. Prof. Govindrajan, Prof. Goldsmith and Prof. Finkelstien are among the world's top 50 management Gurus.

4. Small Student Body – Tuck has a relatively smaller student body than other elite B-schools. You have the opportunity to bond with every other student and build a more personal relationship.

Things that are not so good about Tuck –

1. Lower Rank – Tuck is ranked quite low in many B-school rating lists. Tuck made it to the top-10 only in U.S. news ranking. In fact, it is ranked 20 in Financial Times rating. In the recent Economist ranking, Tuck is ranked at 2^nd position; however, many people don’t consider Economist ratings significant as many elite b-schools do not take part in Economist ratings.

2. High Tuition Fees – Tuck is among the group of expensiveB-schools, only behind Harvard and Wharton.

I submitted my Tuck application in the early action round and now waiting for the news. If you want to know anything specific about my application progress, or want to learn about my research, do drop me a message.

 

 

My Strategy to write an effective application

 

Writing a strong application always requires lot of hard work, dedication and concentration. As we are getting close to round 1 deadline pressure to stand out of the crowd, to convince ad-com of your story and, at the same time, to write a compelling application is enormous. With my rigorous work load I'm not able to give much time to application so I decided to follow a strategy. With this strategy whatever the little time I'm having I'm able to make most efficient use of it. I call it RAD (Research, Analyse and Draft).

1. Research - I collect all the material available about a school to better understand the application process. This involves breakdown of essay, videos from admission counsellors and ad-com and conversation with current students and alumni.

2. Analyse - The problem with doing extensive research is that we get lots of advice and expert opinions, which actually are good, however, not every advice or strategy works for everyone. Such as, I was not much involved in extra-curricular activities during my under-grad and have only one story to showcase my involvement in my under-graduate study. If I were to formulate story to show that I had great achievements in extra-curricular activities during under-grad that will come superficial from me. The story will not have the same soul as I portrayed in my other stories.

3. Draft - Yes I said draft, not writing actual essay. Drafting the structure of whatever you are writing is very much necessary. By drafting you can formulate the link between your one story to another, decide on importance of your story and structure your thoughts to convey the holistic picture of yourself. Draft is very necessary as one can't write everything one has accomplished or achieved. Every prospect of your application comes with restrictions and you have to respect them while delivering the best of you in those limitations. Draft is also a great point to brainstorm about your application and revise the structure of your idea that you're formulating to write.

This strategy helped me to structure my thought and see a holistic picture of my accomplishments. I hope it may be of some help to all of you out there.

If you want to know anything specific of my application progress or want to learn about my research, do drop me a message.