Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Submitted my first round 2 app - Cornell

Yesterday I submitted my Cornell application for their 2 year program. Though I qualify for the one year accelerated MBA, I chose the 2 year program for the internship experience.
If I had got an interview invite from LBS, I would have not considered a November application and completely focused on interview preparation for LBS and Wharton. After receiving a ding from LBS, my confidence meter has gone down a bit. I postpone my Wharton interview to Dec 1 and gave some quality time for Cornell essays.
From my research, I learned that Johnson school at Cornell is very similar to Tuck at Dartmouth - small class size, general management focus, good interaction between faculty and students, collegial and collaborative students. BR Ventures and BR Incubator are very good opportunity for students looking for a career in VC/PE and Entrepreneurship.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Received a DING from LBS

Today afternoon I received the infamous “Regret” from London Business School. Given that I got an interview invite from Wharton and the increase in class size of LBS, I was confident of getting an interview, if not an admit. Find below the feedback I received.

Feedback to Unsuccessful MBA 2011 Candidates

Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we regret we cannot give individual feedback. However, we hope that these general comments will be helpful to you.

Why are people not short-listed for interview?

Our initial review of each application checks that candidates have met our basic admissions criteria. We are also looking for appropriate experience, well written essays, evidence of a lively, enquiring, reflective mind, leadership potential, team working skills and supportive references. An international outlook is another very important factor.
GMAT scores below the average score of the last class, 690, can make an application less competitive, as can a poor undergraduate performance.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Attended the conference of Social entrepreneurs @ NYU Stern

NYU Stern’s Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies conducted its 5th Annual conference of Social entrepreneurs on Nov 7th, 2008 with theme of “Measuring Social Impact”. The conference brings together leading experts from the public, non-profit, for-profit and academic fields committed to furthering the field of social impact measurement. I got my initiation for the conference through Prof. Jill Kickul when I met her at the Non-profit boot camp organized by Craigslist foundation at New York.

The conference started at 8.00 am with a breakfast and networking event. I met a 2nd year Wharton student who was representing REDF, her internship employer. There were many MBA students from NYU Stern and many other top schools. I gave a small interview to the student video team on what brought me to the conference and how measuring impact would benefit the non-profit I started. The key note speaker for the event was Mark Kramer of FSG Social Impact Advisors. He stressed the importance of performance evaluation and gave few examples on the consulting work his firm has done on social impact measurements.

The second event of the day was a panel discussion on Current approaches in Impact Measurement moderated by Blair Miller of Acumen Fund. The panelists were Margot Brandenburg from Rockefeller foundation, Debra Natenshon of Center for what works, Michael Weinstein of Robin Hood foundation and Richard Steele of Bridgespan. I gained information about what each of their organizations are doing for measuring impact and how the processes evolve from bad to less bad to good. The questions from the audience were mostly for Michael Weinstein because Robin Hood foundation was based in New York and measures impact by monetizing the benefits.

I had to leave to office when we broke for lunch. I wished I could attend post lunch sessions - another panel discussion, a case study and the award ceremony. The panel discussion post lunch was on Leveraging existing measurements tools and applications moderated by Mathew Klein of Blue Ridge Foundation. The panelist were Andrew Kassoy of B lab corporation, Rob Katz of Acumen Fund and Sara Olsen of Social Venture technology group. The case study was about the Humane Society and Beth Rosen moderated by Jason Saul of Mission Measurement LLC. The NYU Stern’s Satter Social Entrepreneur of the year award went to Darell Hammod, founder and CEO of KABOOM. The NYU Stern’s Social Entrepreneur lifetime achievement award went to Bill Drayton, founder and CEO of Ashok and also my role model

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Invited to Interview at Wharton

Today I received the much awaited interview invite from Wharton. This is a second chance given to me by Wharton. I have already visited Wharton twice. Last time it was an easy decision to choose to interview on campus. This time I am also considering alumni interview. Any advice if I should choose on-campus or alumni interview?