2008 Update

I got a ding from Darden for 2007 admission after I was waitlisted. I am applying again this year to the following schools (in order of application deadlines):

Tuck: Oct 10th
Chicago: Oct 17th
Michigan: Nov 1st
Columbia: rolling - my target date is December 20th.

I have a self initiated interview next week at Tuck. I will post my Tuck experiences in my next blog entry in a couple of weeks.

Waitlisted at Darden!

I remain in limbo :-)

Darden Interview

I had an interview and class visit at Darden yesterday. The interviewer was very friendly (even though she was dressed in an intimidating manner :-) ), and interview went smoothly.

I had a class visit before the interview, and what struck me the most was the camaraderie in the class. This was my first B-school class visit, and somehow I always had this preconceived notion of very serious, grumpy MBA students out to cut one another's throats. But it was the complete opposite! Everyone in the class was friendly toward each other and they were very cooperative. The case study method seems unstructured but I came away feeling that this is a great way to simulate the real world and more importantly, a fun way to learn.

I will be hearing from Darden in about a month. Meanwhile I am on vacation and having a great time in DC. I will go up to NYC in a couple of days and then head back home on Sunday.

Interview clothing

Look what I found on the web when I was trawling for interview tips: Undressing for success! Feel free to post your comments and personal experiences :-)

BTW I am now disabling anonymous comments to deter spam comments.

Darden update

My application status is complete and I am visiting Darden for a class visit + interview next week. After the interview, I'm traveling to DC and NYC and hanging out with a bunch of friends that I haven't met in ages. Woooohoooo!!!

I have only one egg in my basket, hope it makes a nice omelette ;-)

[Non-MBA] The sum of your experiences

Just a random thought - I thought I'd post it here. How do you define the richness of your life? I don't mean your life right now, rather when you are eighty years old and look back on your life, what criteria would you use?

Many people try to live vicariously through their kids and grandkids. They link their success to the success of their kids, usually the conventional indicators - job, house, car blah blah blah. Others simply look at their bank balance. [I'm not dissing the importance of money, in fact I wouldn't mind being a rich lazy dilettante :-)] There are so many other things to consider - time spent being happy, a successful career, sex, circle of close friends, vacations etc etc.

It will probably be a combination of the things that I listed above and some more. But what I would value the most is the sum total of unique, different experiences. The more unusual the experience, the better it is. For example, last week I trekked alone in temperatures of -7 F (-21 C!) to get to a frozen waterfall. It was not particularly eventful, but I will cherish this day trip far more than a conventional vacation. In other words, what I don't want is a monotonous life.

I'm back!

I am blogging again after more than 4 months! I had a crazy time (both at work and at home) the past few months, and could not spend much time on my MBA apps. I missed all the R1 deadlines, and I applied to only one school for the January deadline - Darden. I know that this is a risky move but Darden is a great school and I am quite optimistic about my chances there.

I did follow the other mba blogs on and off. Congrats to everyone who got admits, and best wishes to those still awaiting decisions!

Yours tenatacularly,
Flying spaghetti monster :-)