Events this past week (MBA and non-MBA)

I was in Bengaluru these last couple of days. The Darden event was on the 17th and it was a different experience. Unlike other MBA events that I have attended in the past, this one had no presentation. In fact, there was no adcom member at the event!

It was conducted by two current students, Vinod Raman and Anand Rao. The session was quite informative, especially for those who are in the initial stages of their research on Darden. For people like me, it was a great opportunity to meet current and prospective students, discuss the case method, know more about life at Darden, and assess where we stand at this stage of the application process. Darden hasn't sent out invites to its Indian applicants yet and so "when would they" was a popular question. The decision deadline in on January 30th. So there is plenty of time left for the invites to be sent out. An interesting fact - 739 Indian citizens applied to Darden last year and 61 were offered admission.

Another important piece of information is that Darden will ensure that the admitted students get all the financial help that they need. There have been instances in the past when Darden has played the role of a guarantor for loans that require co-signors. Fantastic!

Now onto another event. I attended a charity show called "Hrudaya Spandana" (Touching Hearts), conducted by the Sahaaya Foundation, on Dec 13th. It had music and dance performances by visually challenged kids - some of the most amazing performances that I have ever seen. Here are children who, though blind, have the will power to not only be creative but also perform for charity. The event was a fund raiser for the victims of the Mumbai terror attacks. Quoting one of the performers, "We don't want your sympathy. We only need an opportunity." - touching hearts, indeed.

We had played Deloitte, in the semi-finals of a cricket tournament, earlier that morning and had come out second best. The charity event was the perfect solace.

Darden application - tips from the Director of MBA Admissions

I had planned on writing about the strategy that I had followed for my Darden application (on receiving an interview invite from Darden) but with Sara Neher advising her prospective students through her video blog, I don't think that my strategy will be as valuable as her words of wisdom. Below are her video blogs that concern application essays, recommendations, and extra-curricular activities. I hope you find them useful.





I would have loved to have seen these blog postings before I submitted my application but I am glad that I have done most things right in my application. A good reason for me to hope for the best :-)

Darden's take on the credit crisis and financial aid for international students....thank you Sara Neher

I have been following Sara's (she is Darden's Director of MBA Admissions) video blog ever since its inception. I really appreciate this initiative because the Admissions Director, in one way or the other, is connecting with her prospective students; providing them with first-hand information that they, otherwise, would have to relentlessly hunt for.

In her latest video blog, she acknowledges the apprehension that international students face due to the cancellation of no-cosigner loans. She admits that the current situation is common across all schools in the US and every school is working tirelessly to come up with other alternatives. They expect to have solutions in place before the deposit deadline (late March for R1). In case of a delay in arriving at a solution, they are willing to extend the deposit deadline!

I have been quietly confident that the schools would take appropriate measures to counter the current crisis. They would not want to miss out on admitting good students, like yours truly ;-D, simply because the students couldn't afford the fees and living expenses. It is for this reason that I stuck to my schedule and boldly went ahead and applied to Darden, Ross, and Stanford - schools that I admire and long to study in.

Here is Sara's video blog...



In other news, I'll be attending Ross's MBA event tomorrow. I look forward to meeting with the adcom members and the alumni. I will post my experience tomorrow evening after the meet.

Also, I am eagerly awaiting the ISB interview invite. The invites are expected to be rolled out before the 25th. Fingers crossed...

Darden submitted!

So, with this I have successfully completed my round one application submissions. Hopefully I won't have to submit anymore apps this year. My Managing Director submitted his recommendation for Stanford yesterday. With that, all my applications are complete. I now wait to hear from the admission committees. Its been one heck of a journey - more a road to self discovery. To be honest, my career, thus far, has been inline with my ambition do an MBA. The thought of pursuing an MBA has been in mind ever since I finished schooling in 2001. I am happy with the way things have shaped up. I am grateful to a lot of people for their continuous support; something that, I am sure, will never cease. I hope I get into at least one of these four good schools that I have applied to. It will be a huge step towards achieving my career goal.

Anyways, its now time to relax and calm the mind and nerves. They'll be working overtime in the coming weeks! I am off to Goa, tonight, with friends. I'll be spending the next four days there - away from work, tension, and anxiety. Been looking forward to this trip for a while now.

So until the next post, its gonna be...Sun, Sand, and the Sea...

Be good.

R1 apps: Darden in

Well...I had options. My choices were Wharton, Tuck, Said (Oxford) and Darden. I would have applied to most of these schools in R2 anyway. So, I decided to move one of them to R1. I chose Darden. My chances of getting admission to Darden are quite realistic. I loved the resources that Darden has to offer to its students and I am also for the case-based methodology. Their FAQ suggest that I need to send them my official GMAT score only on admission. Now that's pretty kewl. I also stand a good chance of getting a lucrative scholarship. Moreover, I don't mind staying in Charlottesville.

I spoke with my potential evaluators for Darden and they agreed to send in their recommendations. I also found time to finish one of the three essays (a creative challenge). It was a situation based essay that I had already written for Ross. So I only needed to prune it to meet Darden's word limit. I really like the essay because it portrays an important trait that adds color to my persona.

I will be waiting for my ISB results before I apply to colleges in the second round. If I manage admission into ISB then I will not be applying to any other school. I will, then, wait to hear from Ross, Stan and Darden.