Submitted my Fuqua and Darden Apps

This Monday I submitted the Duke application. The “leader of consequence” question was very challenging. I spent whole week thinking about it. The next tough essau was writing about a significant person, event or experience. Based on recommendation from a friend, I changed from significant experience to a significant person. Check out the questions at http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/programs/duke_mba/daytime/apply_daytime/

After submitting Fuqua application on Monday afternoon, I switched gears to Darden. This year Darden essays are very short with a total of 1000 words for 3 essays. Answering the question ‘how I fit with case study method’ was a challenge. Darden’s application does not use ‘Embark’ or ‘ApplyYourself’. The questions in the application were very similar to Wharton with slight changes. I copy pasted most of the content from Wharton app. There were lots of room to explain job duties, extra-curricular activities and community services. But not much space for essays?. A surprise part of the app was a short 100 words essay that asked me to complete the sentence,
“I am a person who __________, with expertise in __________.” So be prepared for it.

The busy application month of October is over and I have submitted 6 apps. I had a target of 5. I am very happy after submitting 6 apps. Working on multiple apps at the same time definitely diluted the quality of the application, especially LBS. I rushed in the LBS app to make it to round 1. Though Darden was not originally on my list, I was impressed with Darden after listening to its podcast and learning about its strength in General Management. If you are considering Darden I recommend listening to the podcast and follow blog by Dean Bob Bruner.

The waiting starts… Now I have to sit tight and wait for interview/ding/accepted.

Ross, LBS and Darden reception

Updates from last week
Oct 20th, I attended the Ross reception for prospective students and Alumni at New York. It was a yearly Ross school alumni reception. Prospective students who had earlier attended the information session were invited for the event with 1 hour allotted for the prospective students before the alumni reception. I went to the event with the primary objective of meeting Dean Bob Dolan. He is a nice friendly person. We introduced ourselves in the lift and then had a personal conversation for about 10 min. I also talked to the admissions director Soojin Kwon Koh and few other staffs, students and alumni of Ross. The number of alumni attending the event was around 300. It was a good networking and fund raising event. Few information for the readers:

1. The new building at Ross would be ready by end of this year ($125 million for the $150 million building was raised from alumni).
2. No increase in class size planned.
3. Ross would increase its global presence by including more international MAP projects (if you do not know about MAP check about my previous blog entry http://mbaapplyagain.blogspot.com/2008/09/ross-and-sept-25.html)
4. Admission tips: differentiate you from your cohort; visit the school and connect with admission staffs and students.

On Oct 21st I attended the London Business School (LBS) information session. Though I have already submitted the LBS application, I wanted to talk with alumni and the admission staffs. I clarified about the delay by my recommender. She confirmed that I would be considered in round 1. I talked to few alumni and left early. I had to work on my Duke and Darden essays. Few information for the readers:

1. LBS has started a new program called Masters in Management for people with less or no work experience. Check out http://www.london.edu/mastersinmanagement.html
2. The MBA class size would be increased this year from 320 to 370.
3. The application numbers for round 1 is similar to last year.
4. Every alumnus I talked to had chosen LBS over US schools for its global focus.

On Oct 22nd, the b-school reception crashing continued. It was University of Virginia’s Darden School of business. The event for an informal alumni and prospective student’s reception. Talked to few alumni present in the event. Dean Bob Bruner gave a short speech. He answered the questions: Should I do an MBA? Should I do now? And where should I do my MBA? He focused on Darden’s USP which the Dean referred to as high touch, high tone and high energy

1. Darden is a 100% case study school -3 cases per day and around 600 cases in 2 years. (High touch).
2. Darden has the best rated faculties. (high tone)
3. Darden is proud of the allegation of being called as the most toughest MBA program (high energy)

Fuqua - Duke visit and interview

Last week I scheduled the interview with another Applicant initiated interview with Fuqua school of business, Duke University in I reached Raleigh - Durham Airport on 16th night. Picked up my rental car and checked into a hotel near Duke University. I was supposed to register with the admissions at 7.30am and attend my scheduled class at 8.00am. But I could reach admissions only at 8.00am –delayed because of taking the wrong exit on I-85 and searching for a parking. On top of this, it was raining. Missed my scheduled class visit and registered for 10.30am class. Luckily, the on-line scheduling system did not show me the 10.30 class. If it did, I would have planned for 10.30 am and probably missed it, going by my past records.
I freshen quickly and waited at the admissions waiting area. It is part of the newly constructed, 91,400-square-foot Breeden Hall, opened on Aug. 1, 2008. It holds classrooms and auditoriums, team rooms, meeting space, the Ford Library, the Center for Excellence in Business Education, and MBA admissions and operations offices. The building also features a rooftop terrace.
Many first year admission ambassadors take turns, one hour each, in meeting the prospective students in the waiting area and answers questions. Unfortunately the first year students have spend only 2 ½ months at Fuqua and do not know much about electives courses and consulting projects. The adcom should include few second year students in the team meeting the prospective students. In 2 hours, I met around 5 first years and 10 prospective students. I learned about Fuqua Friday, Fuqua Vision, GATE (Global Academic Travel Experience), Clubs, Fellows, Student Government, Housing options etc.
Then it for time for my class visit. For the first year Managerial Economic Class, I was the only visitor. I was guided by a first year Student. He told me about the class and the Prof. Giuseppe Lopomo, popularly know as Pino. It was their last class for the term. Here is some background about Fuqua’s academic calendar. The academic year is divided into four six-week terms plus an optional two-week winter term called FleX Term. Most classes meet twice a week, either on Monday and Thursday or on Tuesday and Friday. Each class session is two hours and fifteen minutes with a 15 minute break. Visitors attend only the first half of the class. Pino was an expert on Game theory and Competitive Analysis. It was mostly a lecture and I learned about Nash equilibrium in Game Theory. The class room looked modern than the ones at Kellogg.
At noon we had a tour of the facilities guided by a first year student and followed by a free lunch. The building, with 3 levels, is large and very spacious with modern equipments. To save paper, each club is provided with a LCD panel to display details about news and events. The building is next to the Law school and has lots of trees around it. Sometimes you get the feel of being in the woods. The Duke University has a very large campus and is located close to University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University and the Research Triangle Park.
After the tour I spend some time with few more first years and prospective students. Learned about the events for the evening - speech by distinguished speaker Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase (Grapevine: Jamie Dimon’s daughter is attending Duke University), Fuqua Friday, and debut of term’s Fuqua Vision (search for FuquaVision on YouTube). I felt bad for not staying back in Durham for all the events.
My interview started at 3.00pm. It was by a 2nd year student. She had a printout of questions and a notepad to write down my answers. Here are some of the questions she asked
1. How would you explain your job to a 5 year old?
2. Walk me through your resume
3. Tell me about your community activities
4. Why MBA?
5. Why Fuqua? And how did you choose Fuqua?
6. Apart from Team work and friendly students, what else is important to you (May be I did not explain Why Fuqua well)
7. What do you plan to do when you are at Fuqua?
8. How can you contribute to Fuqua?
9. What will you do if MBA does not exist?
10. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
11. Have you quit anytime?
12. Have you regretted your decision anytime?
13. What is the biggest risk you have taken so far?
14. Have you faced an ethical dilemma in your career?
15. If you have to explain yourself in one word what will be the one word?
16. If you can choose a team of 5, who will you choose?
17. If your story is written as a book, what will be title?
18. How do you resolve conflict?
19. What will you do if you have nothing to do for a whole day?
20. Have you felt sometime that it is better to be led than lead?
21. What is the difference between Leader and Manager?
22. How do you define a leader of Consequences?
23. How do you define diversity?
24. How do you prove feedback?
25. Do you have anything to add?
50 min was already over by now and hence she let me ask questions
I asked about her background, internship and what she plan to do post MBA.
After the interview I left her the message that I am a very compassionate person.

The interview was over by 4.00pm. We walked out of the room can continued the conversation about how to prepare for the MBA experience and how I am going to miss the events for the evening. After taking her e-mail id, I went around the campus and took few pictures and left the Duke campus by 5.30 pm. When I was stuck at the traffic, I appreciated my decision to leave early and miss the speech by Jamie Dimon. I was also able to appreciate the fall colors around Durham.

Tips for interviewees:
1. When I interviewed at Kellogg and Tuck, I had researched about the school well and had already written the essays. With Fuqua I did not prepare well nor written the essays. Scheduling the interview in the evening helped me to collect information about Fuqua. But it was not enough to talk about Why Fuqua. I recommend researching the school well before interviewing.
2. Make sure you pronounce Fuqua (few-kwa) correctly. When I said Fuqua for the first time, my interviewer wrote it down.
3. Be prepared to answer hypothetical questions such as who you will select as your team-mates. I took my time to think and answer these questions.
4. Do not get distracted when the interviewer is not looking at you and taking notes when you speak. In fact, more notes she takes more details to present your case to adcom.

Submitted LBS, Tuck and Kellogg

It is Friday evening. I am at the Raleigh – Durham airport after completing my interview with Fuqua School of Business. Though my experience at Duke University is fresh in my mind, the whole week was very busy - 3 applications and 1 interview. WOW!
Last Sunday I looked at the available dates for Fuqua interview and did not find any during the week of Oct 25 such that I could visit the school before the Round 1 deadline (Oct 27) and after the busy week. But unlucky me! The only dates available before the round 1 deadline were Oct 16 and 17. I choose Oct 17 and also booked my flight hotel and car.
On Oct 14 I submitted my LBS app. I worked on it only for 5 days. It all happened very fast. When I was contemplating if I should apply to LBS in round 1, I contacted a LBS alum and had a chat. He validated my career goals and my fit with LBS. He also offered to review my essays. I prepared the essays in 4 days, he reviewed it one day and finally submitted my app on Oct 14 before noon. But one of my recommender turned in his reference little late. Now I do not know if my app would be considered for Round 1. The LBS app provided lots of room to explain work experiences and extra-curricular activities but no place to explain community services.
On Oct 15 it was Tuck. I finalized my Tuck essays just after my Tuck interview. But I made some last minute changes based on the feedback I received for LBS essays. The major challenge was filling up Tuck application. The app provided only 300 characters for describing each work experience. My Wharton and LBS description were slightly longer. So I had to spend time to trim the descriptions. Finally I made it my Wednesday 2 pm. My recommenders also made it on time.
On Oct 16th I planned to submit Kellogg, a day before the deadline so that I can spend the 17th at Durham. The Kellogg essays needed some tweaking. The part II app was easy. I just had to upload the essays and transcript. The Kellogg app has instruction to include 1 inch margin on the top for all uploaded documents . I had to format my scanned transcripts to include the margin. Finally I made it by 5.30 pm, which left me with only 1 hour to prepare for my Fuqua interview. Kellogg app did not have any space for extracurricular and community activity. Everything has to be covered in the essays. This year Kellogg has the lengthiest essays (3 two-page essays and 2 two-paragraph essays), which is roughly 3000 words (3*750 + 2*300)
A good thing to do before working on the essays is to complete the application so that we know what is already conveyed in the app and cover the rest of the story in the essays.
Note: I will write about Fuqua visit and interview in my next post

Wharton Application submitted

Submitted my Wharton application today at around noon. Yesterday I looked at the Wharton essay after 1 week. I made few last last minute changes, especially in the Why Wharton section. Though I have visited Wharton last year, my recent Kellogg and Tuck school visits triggered few areas to research in detail. One was Wharton's Global Consultancy Practicum. The information in my essay was very shallow. I read more about it on the GCP site and included few more details in the essay.
Lesson: Visit the school. It would also help in researching other schools

The time to fill up the application was more time consuming that I originally estimated. My plan was to copy and paste content from my previous application. But I realized that there were many details missing or ambigous that I had to spend more than 2 hours to fill in all the details in the application.
Lesson: Do not assume the application can be completed in 30 mins.

I had all my transcripts scanned and ready. Only when I tried to upload the transcript that I realized that my latest transcript scanned doc was more than 500kb in size due to high resolution. Today I had to scan it again with low resolution.
Lesson: Do not plan on submitting the essay on the last day. Do it at least one day before.

Now that I have done my part in the Wharton application, let me keep my fingers crossed and wait for the interview invite...

Tuck Visit and Interview

I got a companion to visit Tuck. We met at Wharton as prospective students and we continue to help each other in our MBA application process. He is also applying Early Action at Tuck. But he could only get an interview slot on 15th Oct- the deadline for EA. So he decided to join me to experience Tuck before applying. FYI: applicants can schedule an on-campus interview with tuck before the application deadline.

Because of delays on and off-road, we ended up at the admissions office only at 10.30 am, a delay of 45 minutes. We missed our class visit. We convinced the receptionist to get us some other class. After looking at various options, she found a 2nd year class at 4.45 pm. The next scheduled event was only at 12.00 pm. So I took some time to see around the Dartmouth campus. The Thayer school of engineering is close to Tuck and they both share the library. We also looked at the construction of the new student housing building. Before lunch I got back to the admission office and talked to few prospective students. A guy came from Turkey to interview.

Tuck provides free lunch to every prospective student who visits campus and connects them to a first year student. At noon a group of 5 of us had lunch with first year student Johnathan. He has worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers before coming to Tuck. Surprisingly, Tuck was the only school he applied. He provided information about his background and why he came to Tuck. He talked about his experience at Tuck so far – the study group, 1st year sections, clubs, extra-curricular activities etc. For some one who does not know about Tuck’s study groups, the incoming class of about 240 students is split into 4 sections. Each section is split further into study groups of 5 or 6 students. The study group works together for a minimum of 3 hours each day. After Fall A and Fall B, the sections and study groups are shuffled for winter and spring classes. Most Tuckies are member of few professional clubs and few recreational clubs. The Tuckies are crazy about ice hockey (What else to do in cold winter?)

After lunch, we had a tour of the facilities. That is when I saw the whole crowd of prospective students, around 25. One important feature of Tuck facilities is that all the buildings, including the on-campus student housing, are connected by tunnels – a feature well appreciated during winters. A new building with classrooms, study rooms and student housing would be opened in Dec 2008. The halls and buildings all have a traditional and cozy feel. The class rooms are below the ground level and the faculty offices are above ground level.

After the tour we meet with Dia Draper in the admission office. She answered all our questions about admissions. Some takeaways are:

• Three important criteria for admission in the order of importance are Essays, interview and transcripts. For Americans, educated in US, the Quantitative part of GMAT is important. For internationals, both Quantitative and Verbal are important.
• 40 % of the applicants use optional essay
• Do not discuss too much about your weakness
• If rejected feedback would be provided in spring
• Interview measure Emotional Intelligence of the applicant
• It is ok to send additional information such as improved GMAT score after submitting the application.
• 30-50% of the students get scholarship from $5000 to full tuition

After the Q&A, I had to wait for almost 1 hrs for the interview. I used this time to talk to other students waiting for interview and to read about Tuck from its alumni magazine “Tuck Today”. My interview was with a 2nd year student Nykia Wright. She has done her internship with a consulting firm and is going to be a consultant post-MBA. The interview was more conversational. Both of us were speaking equally. She added her perspective for all my responses. Some of the questions asked were

1. Walk me through your resume. (She interrupted at many places and asked follow up questions. She was very much interested in my entrepreneurial experience.)
2. Why MBA?
3. Why Tuck?
4. How will you contribute to your study group?
5. How will you contribute to the Tuck community? (I kind of repeated the answer to the previous question. I could have talked post-Tuck contribution to the community)
6. After 30 min, she asked me if I had questions for her

We spend a total of 40 minutes and the message she received was that I am passionate about entrepreneurship.

At 4.45pm I attended the class “Leadership out of the box”. It was a touchy feel course and one that meets only once a week for 3 hours (Other classes are 90 minutes). The class was very interesting as I could relate to the class easily. Everyone in the class had some story to tell. The students were very nice and outgoing. During breaks, they themselves initiated conversation with me and also provided contact information for further questions. The professor was Ella Bell and she was very nice, friendly and innovative. She introduced us (just my friend and me) to the students and talked to us about Tuck and it’s Corporate Persona. (The class was about individual’s Corporate Persona and how we box ourselves). After the class I felt that the morning delay was a blessing in disguise and helped us attend a 2nd year touchy feel class rather than a 1st year accounting class.

Finally we left Tuck around 8.00 pm and felt bad for not being able to enjoy the drive through the scenic woods. Tuck is pride of being a close-knit family environment and its small class size. We could see it in all the activities we were part-of. The students are very friendly and ready to help. If you are city-person, Tuck is not for you. Tuck is in a rural small town and is the best place to develop close relationships and also get a good education.

Kellogg Visit and Interview

I decided to rent a car and drive from Chicago O’Hare airport to Evanston, even against recommendation of hiring a cab. Traffic delays due to construction on I-294 resulted in not making it to Kellogg by 8.30 am. (Recommend not to use I-294 till 2010 to visit Kellogg). I had to miss the first class. I could not attend 2nd class at 10.30 as well. I had my interview at 11.00 am. So used the time to go around the Northwestern campus, find a good parking spot and try-out few ties that would go well with my suite. Before the interview I had to fill up a form with details of Degree with major intended to do at Kellogg, short term and long term career goals. Be ready with details to fill these up. To write the correct names of the majors, I had to look at the Kellogg fact sheets available at the reception.

The interview started right on time. The interviewer was Nancy Sims, the assistant director of admissions and career management services. I had attended an admission panel she participated in New York City. I acknowledge that fact. Then she gave me an overview about the interview process - 30 minutes time, the interviewer will not read the application, first read by two 2nd year student, then by someone from admissions, then by Beth Flye, director of admissions and financial aid and finally by Dipak Jain, the dean. The dean reading applications was a big surprise to me. Here are the questions asked
1. Give a one paragraph summary of yourself.
2. Why MBA
3. Consulting experience
4. Why did I sell my company
5. Experience at start-up in San Francisco
6. Why Kellogg and how did you learn about Kellogg
7. Any challenges in undergrad or grad school
8. Any challenging project at current company
9. Leadership experiences
10. Working in teams with peers
11. What kind of person do you have difficulty to work with?
By this time 20 minutes was over. I was expecting probes in my answer. So I kept my responses at a high level and did not go into details. But I did not find many follow-up questions. Within 20 minutes she was done with most of her questions. This is when I got the unexpected.
12. What else do you want to convey about yourself? My immediate reaction was “We have covered everything on my resume”. Then I talked about one of my non-profit initiatives.
13. Then she let me ask her questions. I asked about KWEST and resources for soft-skill development. I felt stupid asking such question. Then I told her the fact that I was prepared for a 2nd year student interviewer.

Then she walked me out of her office to the reception.
After coming out I realized how I could have managed the last 10 minutes of the interview better. I could have talked about lots of things – my first job, extra-curricular activities, my recent non-profit initiative, etc. I felt worse when I heard from another interviewer that his interview went on for 45 minutes. I could have done lot better. But I was satisfied that it was better than my last year Wharton interview and did not screw it up. Now my application has to make wonders to get admitted.


Thursday no official lunch with current students, so went to the cafeteria and tried talking to students. But all I got were few Hellos and few smiles. Most of them had preplanned things – case preparation, checking e-mails, discussing with other students, etc. After lunch I went around the Jacobs center and took few pictures. At 1.30 pm I attended the “Competitive Strategy and Industrial Structure” by Peter Klibanoff. It was a case study about consolidation in used car industry. The class started with videos from “Fargo” movie and litigation on dealers. I learned some details about used cars industry such as dealer reserve. The first year students participated well in the discussion and provided some useful ways to gain out of consolidation. The final conclusion was about the market conditions necessary for consolidation, when it would work and when it would not work with few more examples.


At 3.15 pm I went on a tour of Kellogg facilities. It was just 3 of us, another guy from New York and a guy from Bangladesh apart from our tour guide. The 45 minutes tour gave me opportunity to talk with the 2nd student and her experience at Kellogg. Everything at Kellogg happens at one place - Donald Jacobs center, named after the dean previous who made Kellogg very popular. The facilities at Jacobs center were impressive though old. It had a large auditorium, many study rooms with flat large panel monitors, quite study area and loud study area, print facilities, old and new model classrooms etc. Kellogg students does not interact much with other schools in NW University. The joint degree programs are exceptions.

After the tour I left Jacobs center with a good feel for Kellogg except for the cold winters. The Jacobs center is close to Lake Michigan and the winds make life hard during winter. After another delay in traffic I reached the airport and flew back home, thinking how I could have interviewed better.