Stanford ding and other updates

The big news is that the Stanford admission decisions for Round 1 are out and I, unfortunately, do not fit in their scheme of things. I am not disappointed though. A call from Stanford would have been a bonus in any case. I am, nevertheless, glad that I applied there. Their application process sure did make me think deep and hard and connect with my inner self. I attended the Ross Waitlist Online Chat today. It was hosted by Linda Abraham of the Accepted.com fame and had members of the adcom and current students taking questions. A nice initiative. The chat's transcript will be available online in a week's time. I'll post the link as soon as it comes alive.

Onto other news now. My team and I played in a soccer tournament a little over a week ago. We finished Runners-up. We did bag some of the big individual prizes though. My teammate won the 'Golden Boot' for ending the tournament as the highest goal scorer. Yours truly bagged the 'Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament' award. Then, on Sunday we played Satyam Computers in our first match of a corporate cricket tournament. We won quite easily but I didn't contribute much. Had an off-day. We are playing the State Bank of Hyderabad this Saturday in our first match of another tournament. Hope I score a few runs there.

Moving onto dance - I'll be dancing, with my team, on-stage at HICC Novotel, Hyderabad, on Jan 30th. Will be performing the salsa and the merengue. I'll try and upload pictures of the dance, if possible. Work has been rather hectic. I have a deadline to meet on Jan 30th (yep. same day as the dance). So you can imagine the kind of schedule that I have before me. I am having to balance work, dance and sports but the good part is that I am enjoying it. It has taken my mind off the recent disappointments.

Oh...before I end...did I mention that I am applying to a couple of European schools? More on that in a later post at a later time.

BW Business School Rankings

The latest BusinessWeek b-school rankings are out. As per the new rankings, the top U.S. programs are:

1. Chicago
2. HBS
3. Kellogg
4. Wharton
5. Ross
6. Stanford
7. Columbia
8. Duke
9. MIT
10. Haas

Well...I am surprised that Stanford has been ranked no higher than 6th. But I am delighted that both Ross and Stanford figure in top 7 and Darden isn't far behind (#16). My Ross and Stanford applications are currently under review and the Darden applications should be reviewed soon too. Please please send me the interview invites. I am so looking forward to them :-)


The top Non-U.S. programs are:

1. Queens
2. IE Business School
3. INSEAD
4. Ivey
5. LBS
6. ESADE
7. IMD
8. Rotman
9. IESE
10. Oxford

Here again, I was caught by surprise when I didn't see HEC Paris in the top 10. That is one school that has been consistently ranked high among b-schools in Europe. HEC, Judge and Cranfield figure in the second tier.

For more information, please click here. You may also wanna read about the crisis at the schools.

Stanford and HBS guarantee International Student Loans without a US Co-signer

A friend of mine, Nitin Rao, forwarded this information to me and it got me all excited. I am sure others reading it would be as happy as well. So what exactly am I talking about? Here you go...

Stanford MBA Admission Blog (Link to the actual post):
International students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business will not be impacted by Citibank’s decision. The GSB Financial Aid Office has a close working relationship with Stanford Federal Credit Union and for the past two years we have made arrangements exclusively through SFCU to provide international students at Stanford the ability to take out private loans without a US co-signer.

HBS MBA Admission Blog (Link to the actual post):
There's been great uncertainty out there about international student loans so we are extremely pleased to be able to make this announcement:International students at HBS will continue to have access to need-based loans without needing to find a US co-signer.While at this time we do not have further details about specific loan programs with private lenders, we are able to make this important - and reassuring - statement about continued accessibility.All students - both international and US citizens - will continue to be eligible for Harvard Business School fellowships - the money you don't pay back. This year HBS will award $22 million in need-based fellowships; the average MBA fellowship is $25k per year.

Stanford app submitted!!!

Today was the big day...

All my dreams, my ambitions, and my vision have been properly packaged and are, now, at the doorstep of, probably, the best business school in the world, the Stanford GSB. Yes..I have submitted my Stanford MBA application.

I started my application in the first week of August. The last month and a half have been really enjoyable. I have loved answering every bit of the essay questions. On seeing the app, the first thing I realized was that I had more than one good and convincing reply for each of the essays. They, nevertheless, made me dig deep into my past and unearth situations/experiences that I hold dear and had really learned from.

At 13:45 IST, I closed my eyes, said a little prayer and hit the submit button. Its now a long wait for the interview invitation. Two of my recommenders have already submitted their evaluations. The third person is currently out of the country. He will be submitting his recommendation by the first week of October.

With this I end my planned set of Round1 applications. With over a month left for the deadlines, I am tempted to apply to one more school.

Well...we'll just have to wait and see.

Stanford MBA Program Meet

So...I attended the Stanford information session today. It was a meet that I had been waiting for for close to a month. Ms. Raja Ashraf, Assistant Director of Admissions, conducted the session. She was accompanied by alums Mr. Lokesh and Ms. Kirthiga. It was a 2 hour session and it made my resolve to get into Stanford stronger. I really really hope to get admission into the GSB. The session started with a briefing on what Stanford has to offer, on the revised curriculum and on its future goals. This was followed by a Q&A period that was mainly handled by the alums. Ms. Ashraf, finally, wound up the meet with a briefing on the financial aid and the admission process. This is one school where I will really fit in well but it is also the most difficult school to get into. I know a few close ones are praying hard for me and I sincerely hope our prayers are answered.

Runners-up at Mir Khasim Ali Cricket Tournament!

The D. E. Shaw cricket team played brilliantly today but lost to a superior team, TCS. The TCS team has been our nemesis on previous occasions as well. But today we ran them close. Scoring 25 runs of the last over was a tall order and we failed to knock them over. We beat HSBC, the tournament favourites; for the first time in the company's history; in the semi-finals. As the Captain, I am extremely pleased with the team's performance. It is a good start to the season - reaching the finals of our very first tournament!

Some good news on my MBA app front. My one-page killer resume is READY. It comprised two pages earlier but now the one page thingy looks absolutely fabulous...I hope it does its bit in helping me get into a school of my choice.

I have one more essay to write for my Stanford application - "What matters to you most and why?". I have the answer ready. I just need to pen it down and weave it into my application's theme.

The Ross essays are done. I am waiting on my current supervisor to submit the recommendation. I'll probably submit the application this coming week.

That's me signing off...