Ross and Sept 25

Is Sept 25 the only day for Business schools to visit New York? Three top schools - UCLA Anderson, Dartmouth Tuck and University of Michigan Ross - conducted their admission reception in New York yesterday. The schools should talk to each other and schedule these events with no clash.

I decided to go attend the Ross reception. UCLA is visiting NYC again in Nov. I am visiting Tuck next month. Here are the takeaways from the event

* Ross is pride of its 16 years old Multidisciplinary Action Program (MAP) and claims it to be its USP. For those who do not know about MAP, it is a team based 7 week full time consulting assignment to solve real business problems at corporates with faculty guidance. MAP is scheduled during the last term of first year and just before internship.
* Ross follows a 7 week terms.
* Ross MBA does not have concentrations or majors. It is a general management program where you can choose your electives vertically or horizontally.
* One third of the class end up in consulting school.
* Students can select 3 electives in the first year to prepare better for MAP and internship.
* 40,000 Ross Alumni and 500,000 living alumni of University of Michigan. Ross is pride in being part of a university that has the largest living alumni for any university.
* Alums from other schools of UMich were also present at the event. The Ross school is well integrated with the other schools in the university.
* The alums present at the event were very enthusiastic about the Ross’s collaborative environment and non-competing students
* A significant other of a student was also present in the event. She explained about how her friendship with her husband’s classmates and how much the ODC (Office of Career Development) helped her find a job in Ann Arbor.
* "Go Blue" and football were in the blood of every UMich alum present.
* Tips for admission - Visit school, apply early, explain why MBA in detail, differentiate from your peers and show passion for Ross. “GO BLUE!!!”

QS world MBA Tour and Wharton

On Saturday (20-Oct-2008) I attended the QS World MBA tour held in New York. As part of the events Wharton conducted an admission panel session. One person from Admission committee and 2 alumni (one 2008 graduate and one who passed 14 years ago) answered questions from the audience. Here is a gist of what I got.

Re-applicants:

• The summary sheet from previous application would be read before reading the current application.
• The adcom would also look if the feedback, if one was provided, are taken seriously and followed.
• Highlight the new work experience and improvement made in candidacy

Highlights of Wharton MBA

• Strong student community
• Global Immersion Program
• Leadership Ventures
• Provide toolkit and confidence for entrepreneurs
• Provide a Way to think – Breaking down problems and analyzing them
• A great alumni network 80000+
• Will integrated with the university

Details about Adcom

• Contain 70 2nd year students who read essays and conduct interviews
• 35 to 40 % of the applicants are interviewed
• Behavioral Interview.

I also attended a session by Ben Baron of Kaplan. I did not get any new information which I did not know already. It was the usual 4 criteria used for admission namely: academic ability (GMAT/GPA), Work Experience, Personal qualities and Fit. And details around them

During the fair, I also stopped by at the booths of Oxford, Cambridge, Darden, LBS and CEIBS.

Possible tragedy for Kellogg

Yesterday was a very eventful day. Morning I completed the recommender information for Kellogg and Wharton and went to office. By the time I reached office, I saw an e-mail from embark that one of my Kellogg recommender has submitted his recommendation. That was too fast. When I spoke to him, I told him that I would give him examples to use in recommendation. I do not know what he has written in the recommendation. Just 2 days before I heard a horror story from one another fellow applicant that last year one of his recommender wrote a one line recommendation. Wish it is not the case with me.
Yesterday I also scheduled an interview with Kellogg for Oct 2nd. So it is going to be Kellogg and not Tuck where I would interview first. Kellogg being the my first interview experience, am I going to screw it? So Kellogg is getting ready for a DING?
I have received my transcripts from Ohlone College. So all set for schools which need transcripts.
Lately I am having concerns with my leadership essay as my friend who reviewed in felt it is not powerful enough. Am I not up to the level of top MBA admits!!!

PMP and more

1. Two weeks back I gave my PMP exam and passed it. A major time sucker is out of the way. The exam itself was not very hard and I did not put in as much effort I wanted to.

2. Last weekend I visited Vancouver, Canada for 4 days. The weather was beautiful and supported a nice Whale watching experience at the Pacific near Victoria.

3. Completed 2nd draft for 2 of the Wharton essays. Still need to work on the word count. The career goals essay counts 1350 words. I got too much to write for a 1000 words essay. The details about career goals sound better than the last year career goals. But do not know if it would be convincing enough for the adcom. Still need to add an answer for "Why now?" question. I am not getting a convincing answer for why I waited so long (9 years out of college) to apply for MBA. Any suggestions welcome. The innovation and leadership essays counts around 850 words. Need to work on them.

4. I have also started working on the Kellogg essay. Yesterday I submitted part I of Kellogg application. Will call adcom sometime next week and schedule an interview. I am not sure if I would get a slot before submitting the essays on Oct 17. Else I have to make 2 trips to Kellogg, one visit before the submitting part II to get content for essays and one more for the interview.

5. I have scheduled an interview with Tuck for Oct 9. I have not started anything with regards to Tuck. Need to speed up. School research, essays, preparation for interview, talk to current students etc.

6. So 3 schools finalized for round 1. Considering Fuqua and LBS also for round 1. With fast approaching deadline and the list of things to work, completing 4 applications for round 1 would be considered an acheivement. The jittery times of apping continues . . .