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.

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

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?

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