Welcome to Barcelona

I finally arrived in Barcelona today morning and what greeted me was a hot bright sunny day. It is a incredibly modern city with none of the monotony of Singapore. Each building is extremely unique and interesting to look at. Here are couple of pictures from the first day.

All Set for Barcelona and Spain

With exactly 30 days to Barcelona and having purchased my one way ticket on SIA, I am finally realizing that all my effort over the past two years to get into a world class MBA program and move to a new city is finally coming to fruition.

I will be starting my new life with a two week backpacking trip across Spain before I dive into my MBA. I am finally excited to go on a trip with my backpack, which i bought nearly 2 years ago. I have done all the hostel bookings for my trip. Meticulous planning went into the places I will visit, stay and means of travel. My target is to spend not more than 60Euros per day. Being a student I will no longer have the luxury of whipping out my credit card if i find myself short of cash. Europe generally being expensive to travel, I need to limit the number of paid attractions i can visit and focus more on exploring the beautiful cities that are attractions by themselves.

My itinerary is as follows

21st Aug to 23rd Aug Madrid(Includes a day trip to Toledo)
24th Aug to 26th Aug Valencia(Will visit Bunol for the Fiesta de La Tomatina)
27th Aug to 28th Aug Granada
29th Aug to 30th Aug Jaen
31st Aug Cordoba
1st Sep to 3rd Sep Seville

The last 4 cities are in the beautiful Andalucian region of Spain which is the olive oil producing region of Spain. It is also known for imbibing islamic and christian influences in its architecture and food.I am really looking forward to meeting fellow backpackers, walking around the Plazas and tasting the Tapas and sherry.

Preparing for B-School

As time hurtles towards the start of what will be surely a rollercoaster journey, I find myself overcome with a mixture of joy and sadness. Sadness because I will miss all my great friends I made during my 10 years in Singapore. Through I won't miss Singapore itself, I will definitely miss the local gym I have been attending for the past 4 years. I am also overjoyed because it will be my first trip to Europe and I will be living in one of the greatest cities in Europe. Plus it is first time I will be away from my parents living all alone and managing all my affairs independently. It brings with it a mixture of apprehension and excitement.

Realizing yesterday that it was less than 2 months to my departure I have started planning for it. I am looking around for a shipper to move all my personal effects over to Barcelona. Oh most importantly I have to book my air ticket. Then I also need to shop for lots of personal effects that have to last me through 19 months of my MBA.

Got a laptop for my MBA

I finally got a brand new Fujitsu L1010 laptop for my MBA. It is packed with lots of memory(4GB ram, 1 GB dedicated video memory and 320 GB harddisk) though definitely not top of the line. But it should be more than adequate for two years of powerpoint presentations, excel analysis and word documents.

Time just flies

I thought after my admit to IESE, I have so many months before I start school. But three months of my new year have just whizzed past without myself realizing. I am already getting into the so called MBA networking phase. Just a couple of weeks ago, I had dinner with a few IESE alum. It was so refreshing to see a bunch of extremely humble and fun people to hang out with. In this respect, I am proud to be in IESE. American schools tend to much more gung ho about their whole image and do everything in their power to make us believe they are the best. After the current economic crisis and issues over H1B visas, I am so happy that I did not get into any school in US.

Pre-MBA Vacations

Well I have heard the best phase of any MBA is before it begins. I have nearly 8 months before my MBA begins and I started my travelling last week when I was in Hong Kong. Tomorrow I am flying to Mumbai and will be visiting Goa. Next month I will be Chennai and Tirupati to to keep a date with God. Hopefully after that, I will try to travel to various places in S.E Asia before i move to Spain.

MBA Financing Worries

Well the euphoria of getting an admission to a top MBA program has passed and now I am saddled with worries of huge loans, debt and the eventuality of student life bereft of gourmet dinners, expensive holidays and splurging on clothes.

I already lost 5000$ by paying to reserve a seat at ISB after which i got into my dream school IESE. Then recently I paid the 5000EUR deposit for IESE. All this is leading to a hole in my bank account. But i guess this is what I worked hard for the past two years and spent more than 6000$ just to get a admission to a top school(GMAT, application fees, etc).

But at the end of the day all this is an investment that will hopefully lead to good returns in the future and a chance to move to my dream career and role.

Admittttttttted

I was finally admitted to my dream school IESE spain. After more than two years of preparation for my MBA and even writing GMAT twice, I can say happily this phase of my journey has come to an end. Tough as it may have been, i think I have learnt some important lessons and it has prepared me well for a top tier MBA program. I hope to keen this blog updated along my MBA journey and hopefully help some fellow applicants along the way.


Aditya se va a Barcelonaaaaaaaa.

First Long Haul Flight

Well I finally experienced my first long haul flight- well 2 actually: 13 hours to Amsterdam and another 11 hours to Panama. Since it was my first long haul flight I actually enjoyed it. I loved the unlimited movies I could see on my personal screen and the steady stream of drinks, snacks and meals - I loved it. The picture below is a South American meal on the flight to Panama.

I have not experienced any Jet Lag so far, I guess staying awake the first night on the flight helped. But then they say Jet Lag hits you after a day or two.

Dings Galore

Just received dings from Michigan and Harvard. Ross was one of the programs i was confident of getting in considering my career goals and gmat score. But alas this year is one of the most competitive and you really need some luck for the top schools. Well thats 3 down from 4 R1 schools. I am still holding out for Tuck. I would really love to go there considering its friendly reputation.

Wharton and Darden in

2 down and 3 more to go for 2nd Round. My bank account is going down like crazy. The payoff better be good.

R2 Applications

I realized that I made a big tactical mistake by not applying to Chicago and Wharton in the first round. Because both these schools give their decisions early, it makes it easier to decide if one wants to apply for 2nd round or not. Now I am left with the unenviable task of applying to 5 different schools for the 2nd round . I would get to know my results from Ross and Tuck only after the 2nd round deadlines. That means I am blowing nearly S$2000 on the second round apps. Well I hope all this investment and effort leads to atleast 1 admit from a good school.

I have completed 1st drafts for all schools except Cornell. I have to send my 2nd draft for Darden for review. Then I have to chase my recommenders to submit their recommendations on time. Phew what a Christmas and New Year this is turning out to be. I promise I am going to party like mad during the Chinese New Year holidays - if i get an admit from Ross/Tuck. I have put in nearly two years of sweat and hardwork for this process. Starting from my GMAT, which i gave twice, to the application process, it has been one hell of a journey. There are many aspects of it that I could have done better but there is no point brooding over it. Its time to put the best foot forward.

R1 Update

Well I have been officially dinged at Kellogg. I was pretty confident about Kellogg because I had finished the interview in early October and still had not received any call. But alas I have learned that one should not read too much into the exact timing of decision release, interview etc. Since Harvard has released almost all its interview invites I am pretty much assuming I am dinged - well at least I was expecting it.

On a positive note I do have two interviews from Ross and Tuck lined up for this week. So thats something to look forward to. I am really keen on Tuck especially after meeting the alumni and the current students. Their dedication to the school really comes across unlike other schools, where the answers seem much more programmed. I hope my enthusiasm for the school can come across in the interview.

Kellogg Interview

I had my interview for Kellogg last Sunday with an alumni based in Singapore. He is currently with McKinsey. The interview was scheduled for 10AM at Coffee Bean. I arrived early wearing a polo shirt and khaki pants. My interviewer came in later wearing a Bermuda shorts and t-shirt. I guess his overall informal appearance helped to calm the nerves somewhat. After initial introductions and business card exchange, my interviewer began by setting the expectations for the interview. Then began the standard series of questions.

1. Walk me through your career progress and the path that you took to get here.
2. Tell me a bit about your progression in your current job.
3. Greatest accomplishment in current job
4. Example of situation or project where I showed leadership skills.
5. Why do you want an MBA
6. Why Kellogg
7. Hobbies outside work
8. How would you define yourself to be successful 10 years down the road.
9. Any questions for me

Luckily I was not asked about my strengths and weaknesses for which it is difficult not to say cliched answers. The overall tone of the interview was conversational. The interviewer did not stop or interrupt me and lasted for a bit over an hour. Overall I believe you shouldn't read too much into a Kellogg interview as it is part of the overall application and I believe will be mainly used to validate whatever stories you have told in the application.

Kellogg Interview Invite

I finally got the email from the admissions committee informing me the contact details of my alumni interviewer. Eventhough the interview is mandatory, it still feels nice to have received the email. I guess it satisfies the 'check email 10 times a day urge'. HBS please do not disappoint me.

Lets have some Kellogg

I could not manage to submit the Wharton application in time. I was not satisfied with the essays and did not have enough time to review them. So I decided to wait for Round 2..damn!!!!

Anyways the good news is my essays for Kellogg are almost ready. I have received feedback from some reviewers and I believe that in the current form the essays are nearly ready for submission. I feel really good about Kellogg and have this kind of inner voice telling me that I have a good shot.

Harvard Is In

My application to Harvard has been successfully submitted. It was like doing one of those assignments back at college just a day before the deadline. Lets hope i cross the first hurdle and get that elusive interview call. Wharton is next in queue and 200o words to go.

R1 deadlines are appoaching

Well all the MBA applicants will know what I am talking about. I am currently trying to rush my Harvard and Wharton apps before the first round deadlines. I am one week behind schedule for my Harvard app and none of my recommendations are in. I think once the first set of recommendations are in, its easier for the next set of deadlines. My Harvard essays have beeen sent for review. I better complete my first draft of Wharton within this weekend.

The App Season has begun

Yes folks, The MBA Applications Seasons have finally begun. MBA aspirants all round the world will be scrambling to give their GMAT in time and start the MBA applications for various schools around the world. I just have a number of observations that i wish to share

1. The top MBA programs such as Harvard, Wharton etc have clustered their 1st Round deadlines so close together that it is impossible to submit complete applications for both unless one is well prepared. I guess the schools also do not want to admit the same applicant to both schools in the same round.

2. The MBA application process is nearly as rigourous as the MBA programme themselves. The MBA application has evolved into something of a monster on its own. Various websites, forums and companies have sprung up just to cater for this market. Students spend anything from a year or more just on the application process starting from GMAT preparation. I believe the end result of this is, it prepares the students very well for the rigours of the business school. Important skills such as time management and informed decision making are honed in this process.

Machee

GMAT is finally over

The journey of GMAT that began last year has finally come to a conclusion on my 2nd attempt. On my first attempt i ended up scoring well below 700. But on the 2nd attempt, my score crossed the 700 barrier comfortably(though i am not going to say how much).

I must say that GMAT really tests your mental stamina, confidence and poise under pressure. I think this what really separates the 700++ scorers from the rest. So it is of utmost importance that one learns to stay calm and not panic.

Well GMAT is just half the battle. Applications are really going to test my time management skills. First school on my radar is Harvard - my dream school. More on the applications later......


Machee