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.

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 . . .