I won’t be a part of this elite group!

So it’s official, Friday evening at 5 PM I received the first decision on my applications and it turned out to be the unfavorable one – Tuck dinged me.

I won’t be at that one school which was so close to my heart. It’s taken me quite a long time to get out of this shock, as you might have figured this update on my blog comes after more than 48 hours of receiving the e-mail. Honestly I was so confident that the least I expected was a waitlist.

My mind is a playground for doubts, inhibitions, and fear now. What might have gone wrong with my profile? Did my essays have a gaping hole? Did my experience count against me? Was my GMAT score too low?  Did I overestimate my interview performance?...and a lot of other questions, which probably will never be answered. 

But I have a great family and an amazing bunch of friends who have helped me realize that this definitely is not the end of the world. More importantly, this failure means I have to be more prudent in my R2 applications, which by the way are only a few weeks away. So back to the grind now and I hope I can make up for what was missing in my R1 application!

Though Tuck is history for me now, I can’t help visiting this Facebook page and wondering about what could have been!

Waiting for the Tuck result, should be out any day now.

Apart from refreshing my inbox every few minutes - hoping for that invite from Sloan - I am also keeping an eye on the other big result that looms around the horizon. Tuck is officially supposed to come up with its results on Dec 17. The good thing with the Tuck results is that they don’t keep you in the limbo for a long time. Officially all results – accepts, dings, and waitlists - go out that one day. But based on what I have heard from fellow applicants they do call up or mail applicants a few days before this date. Some even mentioned that they do so a week ahead of the deadline.

Like I mentioned in my previous post today, all this really does not bode too well for my R2 applications. I am spending too much time digging and reading about these when I should totally concentrate on my applications. Easy to say but so hard to keep your mind away from such impending and high impact decisions!

The 'D' month is here.

It's December and the day of reckoning is not too far away. I can already sense the fluttery feeling while I wait for my Tuck EA decision and MIT interview invite – both should be out somewhere in the second week of December.

The online forums are already buzzing with a lot of activity, fellow applicants who are tired of the waiting game and cannot take it anymore are posting their feelings on these forums and finding comfort from other's stories. Fuqua is expected to come out with its EA decisions any time now. When I read about a fellow applicant refreshing his email every few seconds looking for that magical mail, I could very well picture myself doing that in the next few weeks. I am guessing that people might have been logging into and refreshing their application page too, which might have led to the application site being down today.


All this does not bode too well for my R2 applications. I have been on the slow side and all these factors do not make it any easier. I get the feeling things are only going to get compounded over the next two weeks.

Seven lessons from my round one application.

I have submitted applications to three business schools thus far – Tuck, Sloan, and Fuqua – in that order. The last one month, while I moved from one application to the other, has proved to be a big learning exercise for me. Though I think I did justice to each of my applications, in particular the essays, I keep getting the feeling I could do better. By the time I submitted my third application, I could already see things that could do with some improvement in my first application. But then again, that’s the case with afterthought – you always think you can improve.

Nevertheless, I still have learned some important things that I surely plan to apply in the second round of application. So this post is a summary of what I have learned.

1)      Start the application (not just essays) early – By application I mean the online application process – creating a login, personal information, professional and educational background, test score, and a few other things. I waited till the last week to fill in these details for my first application, which I learned was not the ideal way. These points are equally important and it is important to devote enough time. Also, it is better to have someone review these points for you.

2)     Don’t worry about the word count for the first draft: Word limits present an important limitation, sometimes they can be a blessing in disguise too. It is important to convey your story, so to begin with just write your heart out and don’t bother about the word limit. Once you know that everything that you wanted to convey has been covered, go ahead with the editing. Sometimes it takes the skills of a seasoned Editor to trim your essay, and it might be better to associate levels of importance with each paragraph (or for that matter sentence). This way when you have your scissors out you know what to chop off!

3)     Don’t try to complete an essay in one sitting: The human mind is so full of conflicts and biases, and once you get into one of those modes it’s hard to get out. No wonder, it so often happens that a problem that you struggle with for hours is solved within a few minutes after a good nights sleep. Same applies to essays too! Work on your essays with a schedule, give yourself 7 days and work 1 hour each day. You will be surprised how much your thought process and the output improves this way.

4)     Reach out to recommenders early and follow up with reminders– I was fortunate that my recommenders were equally enthusiastic about my application and devoted enough time on it. Most of the time they submitted the recommendation well ahead of the deadline, except for the last one. My manager happened to be on a two week business tour to Europe before the deadline and she had planned to do the recommendation during one of the weekends on her trip. However, as is the case with business meetings, she was pulled into other things and by the time she came back we were facing the deadline. On the day of the deadline, she marked few hours on her calendar, worked on the recommendation, and submitted my recommendation.

I had a few nervous moments, though schools are a lenient about deadline for recommendations, why take a chance? I started reaching out to my recommenders 4 weeks before the deadline; in hindsight I should have done it at least six weeks earlier. With the holiday season coming up, I will ensure that for round two I reach out to them at least by next week – 8 weeks before the deadline.

5)      Never recycle one schools essay for another: I think this is what we read everywhere. But after writing that one great essay it is not wrong at all to feel you have the right to use it for another school, especially if questions are similar. That’s perfectly logical, but what that does is it sets a platform for your essays which is hard to tweak or change. Best would be start with the bullet items for the new essay, form a structure, and then try to use content from the previous essay to fill in.

6)      Give your reviewers enough time: I had very good experience with my first essay, multiple reviews with 3 different people (2 friends and a current student) - all handled very nicely. But my third essay, that’s a slightly different story. I kind of rushed it and ended up rushing my only reviewer too. Though I feel extremely good about the third set of essays I submitted, I was not happy the way I did it. Allocating enough time for reviewers is important to get the most out of them.

7)     Do one school at a time: This is how I approached my first three schools and it worked out perfect for me. Sometimes, when the essay questions are similar, there is a tendency to tackle the similar ones together. I don’t think this is a good idea, though the essay questions might look similar each school is different in the way they ask for it and it requires extreme care to make sure those finer details are addressed. More importantly, working on one school at a time allows you to portray a holistic perspective of your candidacy by presenting different aspects in different essays.

Essays, essays and more essays!

Last week I submitted my first application (the only one till now), that was four essays and since then I have jumped on to Sloan and Fuqua applications. I took a two day break - now that the first one was done with subsequent ones should be a piece of cake. Absolutely wrong!

The MIT essays require a totally different approach, not that I did not know of this, but I assumed that my experiences writing the Tuck essays will come good. That has not been the case, thoughts flow naturally and take decent shape in the form of words and sentences, but each time I read my essay after completing a draft – it’s like I am missing some piece of the puzzle. Then I go into that endless loop trying to fit everything from my story into a single page.

Word limit does not help too. Almost every time I write an essay, I feel 700 is the right count for me. Somehow, removing those extra 40% takes more time than actually coming up with the first draft itself. 

Submitted!

Finally, after pondering over my application package (mostly the essays) umpteen times, for what seemed like an eternity, I mustered enough courage to submit my first MBA application. Yes, it was the Tuck MBA application! I did that on Oct 12, exactly 24 hours before the deadline.

I guess that kind of explains why I have not been able to post anything here for last two weeks. Well, this was just one reason – last two weeks have been so hectic (Actually that has been the theme for almost two months now).

So what kept me busy over the last two weeks? Here is a brief list:

¨      My Tuck application

¨      Tuck Interview (and obviously the preparation for it)

¨      Fuqua interview (and preparation)

¨      Fuqua campus visit and tour (which featured a special event!)

¨      MIT Ambassadors program

¨      Working on the other apps for R1

I think all of this deserves a separate post of their own, and it is on the cards. Hopefully by this Sunday my blog will have caught up to my activities (sounds like someone else’s responsibility when I put it that way!). 

MBA Application Essays: Is it all about creative writing?

It’s that season! If you are reading this, you probably know that I am not talking about the ‘Fall’ season. Yep, I am talking about the approaching first/early round deadlines. Time to put those finishing touches to the essays and hit the Submit button. Talking about that, it’s really amazing how much strength it takes to finally hit that Submit button, it’s more than just a click!


Of late I have been reading about fellow applicants trying to get the opening of their essay right. My friend was talking about how he was struggling to bring his essay to a good ending – in his words “a good climax”.  To an outsider this might look like a bunch of people trying to get the next big script right, the next ‘Avatar’.  So is the MBA Application essay really about creative writing? 

There isn’t a unanimous answer to it. A member of the MBA Marketing team, from a top school, once told me “MBA essays are all about creative writing”. Some current students I have spoken to are also of this opinion. But some of the chat sessions that I have attended and blogs from admission committees don’t really concur with this. 


The best answer that I ever came across was during my Tuck visit. During the session with the admission committee, one of my fellow prospective students asked this question “I believe I am a strong candidate and have faith in my abilities. But my writing skills – it’s nowhere close to creative writing, to the point that I think I am a ‘dull writer’. Will that be held against me? ”. It was an honest and blunt question, and the answer matched it in those aspects. The response was “We don’t mind if you are a dull writer and will read it thoroughly irrespective of how dull it may be. But if, at the end of reading all your essays, you come out as an equally dull person, we will find it difficult to consider you. If not, we will treat you as just another competitive applicant”. 


I think that sums up what the ad-coms are looking for (mostly). Creativity or lack of it doesn't really matter. What matters is the ad-coms interpretation based on the essays, and it is your responsibility to make sure they interpret it right. If you can write creatively, it probably can have a better impact. If not, that is no reason to get worried about. Simple words and plain language is enough to convey that you are a strong fit. After all, you are not expected to churn out the next Pulitzer prize winning piece of literature after b-school (though you definitely can take that route!).

Playing catch-up : Connections, how I got connected with my Tuck contacts?

I am going to play catch up here at my blog; last few weeks have been so hectic I haven’t had a chance to post a lot. I plan to make amends for that over the next few days and post some interesting things that took place over this period.

Late in July, I had posted about reaching out to current Tuck students as well as alumni. I will devote this post to – How I connected with my contacts? My first contact at Tuck was a ‘friend of a friend’, sounds obvious I guess! I contacted this person and filled him in on my career aspirations, and guess what, based on my choice he got me in touch with two more alums.

The alums I spoke to had some great insights, but a lot of the key information that helped me make up my mind about Tuck came from current students. Again, it was one of these alums who got me in touch with a current student. The Tuck website is also a great resource to reach out to current students. Each student led club has its own web page, and apart from a lot of useful information about the clubs activities, they also have contact details of the club leaders. These are current students, mostly second year. So I looked up these clubs, found the ones that were of interest and e-mailed one member from each of these clubs. I did not get any response the next day, realizing that these students were in the middle of their internship I figured it was not reasonable to expect a prompt response. To maximize my chances, I contacted other members as well from each of the clubs and to my surprise I was flooded with responses. Within 2 days I had a response from all of them, I ended up speaking to eight current students with a wealth of information. 

Should you really visit the school you are considering?

Yesterday a friend of mine, who is in the same boat as I am in (with regard to MBA application), asked if I had made any substantial impact after my recent Tuck Visit. He pointed me to this excerpt from the HBS admissions blog – “Visiting campus has absolutely no impact on how your application is reviewed. It may have a gigantic impact on how enthusiastic you are about US - that's where the value-added comes into play”. His question was very valid; do you really want to visit the school just for the sake of it, especially if the school does not think that it impacts the application?

Here is what I think about this. Two years is a big timeframe in one’s lifetime, more so for people with partners and families. The balancing act can be very tough and you want an atmosphere that makes it convenient for everyone around you to enjoy, instead of having to struggle. Add to this the cost factor – the tuition going out of your pocket and the income that is no longer coming in. Now imagine spending these two years at a place that you do not like and it becomes really difficult to get the best out of the school. This is the time when you want to focus the most on studies and activities with the least possible distraction. But if you are not happy about your choice your mind will constantly be troubled by the thought of not having the best possible investment of your time and money.

You might ask - At a top 20 school nothing can go wrong? Not really, these schools are so different in so many aspects and there can be that one thing which really gets onto you. Some might find a large classroom intimidating, some might find a remote location suffocating and some might find a school right in the middle of a big city too distracting. A school visit will not only help you identify such concerns (if any), it will also help you identify the areas that make you a better fit at the school, something that will add great value to the essays. Agreed a lot of information is available on the internet and school brochures. But visiting the school really allows you to put things to perspective. Some people really get that ‘wow’ feeling after visiting the school and the decision process becomes very simple. It happened with me, I visited a school that was #2 on my list and after the visit it now sits right at the top! If you are planning to move in with your partner or family it is important to check the facilities that the school provides and more importantly to know whether your partner/family will have enough opportunities to keep themselves occupied and have a good time.

The school visit does not change anything from the Ad Coms perspective about your candidacy, but if utilized well it has the potential to empower you with enough reasons to justify why you are a good fit for a specific school. The second sentence from the HBS Admissions blog (above) really sums this up in a subtle manner. Not everyone is well positioned in terms of location to visit the schools of their choice, but whenever possible it definitely helps. 

My visit to the Tuck School of Business – Modern day Gurukul

I had the opportunity to visit the Tuck school of Business last Friday. Being close to Boston I have visited MIT & Harvard umpteen times (as a tourist and as a volunteer attending the meetings and activities of the NGO that I work for). However, this was the first time that I visited a business school as a prospective student and obviously I was very excited. A couple of my friends have been egging me over the last couple of days for details of the trip, but preparation for Onam feast on Sunday and a hectic schedule at work kept me from writing for the last few days.

The Tuck school is about 3 hours drive from where I live but I chose not to drive early morning on Friday. Instead I stayed with a good friend of mine at his place in Keene (a little over an hour from Tuck). For majority of the journey from Keene, it was a lonely drive through the woods of New Hampshire. I am someone who prefers such narrow and winding roads over monotonous highways and enjoyed the first half of the drive before taking the highway. The first sight of Hanover, when I exited the highway, was that of a serene lake with walking trails around its perimeter. Within no time I was near the heart of the town where most of the school buildings were located. The first few minutes at Hanover were enough to convince me that Tuck is the closest to a modern day business school equivalent of Gurukul (an old Indian school system with strong emphasis on amity and bonding). I parked my car in the Medical School parking area and took a shuttle to the Whittier Hall. I was well ahead of the schedule and enjoyed the calmness around the hall while waiting for the event to kick off.

Soon other prospective students started showing up and at 10 our host kicked off the event by handing each of us our ‘package’. This contained the agenda for the day and some informational brochures. The first thing on the agenda was a tour of the school premises. A 1978 Tuck alum showed us around the school and he had a lot of interesting facts to offer. Here are some of the key points that I noted from the campus tour:

¨      The Stell Hall is amazing!! With a view of the woods and the river in the background you wouldn’t find a more tranquil setting. We were told this hall was the fulcrum of a lot of school activities and is buzzing with students all the time. 

¨      The Tuck infrastructure really fosters a collaborative & close knit environment.

¨      The close proximity to the schools of Engineering and Medicine helps a lot of entrepreneurial projects, with ideas originating in the Engineering & Medial schools that are then implemented by MBA students.

¨      The alumni contribution really shows up in the infrastructure as well, some of the dorms are equipped with Tempurpedic beds (all courtesy Tuck alumni).

¨      Most of the students with partners and families stay in the Sachem Village, a couple of miles from the campus. But we were told that the Sachem Village did an ever better job of nurturing close bonding and there were a lot of activities that partners and families could look forward to.

Next up was a mock class with Professor Golder, who presented some of the findings from his ongoing research in the field of Marketing and Product Innovation. Prof. Golder laid out some interesting facts and demystified a lot of common (mostly false) beliefs regarding the origins of some of the most common household items. This was followed by a lunch with Students and representatives from MBA Program Office. All of us (prospective students) were seated at designated lunch tables and each table had either a current Tuck student or a representative from the MBA Program Office. Our table had a representative from the MBA Program office and it was a good opportunity for us to ask our questions in such a small group. Later a student panel (comprising of 4 T’12 students) presented their view about the school and shared their experiences. Their views were of tremendous value and they had so many of them I cannot put all of it in this blog, but one thing I must share is that the common underlying of all their experiences was the camaraderie and togetherness that the Tuck environment facilitates.  

After the lunch session we moved back to a classroom where members of the Career Development Office (CDO) were already waiting for us. The agenda was to help us understand how the CDO prepares us for our career goals. The interaction with CDO starts very early during the MBA program (as early as the second week) so it is important to understand what the CDO can offer so that students can make the best out of them. Here are some of the noteworthy items from the presentation by the CDO.

¨      Tuck recruitment team is emotionally vested in their student’s goals and they have a one-on-one relation with each student (Based on everything that I heard from the students, this has to be absolutely true).

¨      Tuck has a ‘half-close’ list for offers from companies, which means recruiters only get to pick half of the students of their choice (for interview) and the other half is open for students to bid for.

¨      The CDO tries it’s best to help International students get offers here in the USA.

¨      The CDO has a lot of resources to place students but the onus is on the students to ‘actively manage their career and own it’.

The last item on the agenda was a presentation by the Admissions panel followed by a discussion. Let me quickly summarize the key points from the presentation.

Admission Committee’s guidelines for applicants:

¨      Application is reviewed in a holistic manner; there are no minimums (for GMAT or GPA).

¨      Tuck has a ‘blind interview’ policy – interviewers do not have access to essays.

¨      Use STAR method for interviews, use anecdotes where possible and avoid long-windedness.

After the scheduled events for the day had ended I drove to Sachem Village, after all this is the place where I might end up staying with my family (obviously if I get in). The theme of this place is along the same lines as that of the Tuck school with the addition of more open spaces and playgrounds. I am pretty sure that Tuck must be unique in this aspect, by providing such a wonderful setting for students with partners and families Tuck makes sure that the 2 years during the MBA are equally enjoyable for partners and families as well.

Tuck has been in my scheme of things for quite some time, but this visit only reinforced my belief and now I am ‘all in’ trying to present the best possible case for my Tuck application. 

August - A very hectic month so far

I have barely made any progress on my essays over the last few weeks. August has been a very busy month for me till now and the last week only promises more activity. Earlier this month I was in New York for a couple of days to attend the Destination B-School event organized by Kaplan. Last week I attended the Tuck event at Hanover.

In between all my B-school research I had to make sure that my social life does not go underground. We had to plan and celebrate Onam at our place, there was a lot of planning and preparation involved. My wife took a lot of the responsibility to ensure that I had as much time as possible for my school research. Thankfully the Onam celebrations went well. We had a grand feast at our place, everyone (especially the kids) enjoyed it.

Now things at work have really caught up and next week promises more work. I will be heading to Omaha for four days. I hope I will be able to carve our some time to write my essays and do more research on some of the other schools that I am considering.