Harvard reception in SFO

I went to the Harvard reception right after work. I have to say that it was very informative. The presentation given by one of the adcom members (a Harvard MBA as well) talked about (among other things): case study method, Harvard MBA being a transformational experience, essays, and financial aid and loan forgiveness programs.

More observations:
· Huge turnout, I would venture to say that there were at least 250 people in the auditorium. This speaks volumes of the Harvard brand. In comparison, Kellogg drew about 75 people for its information session and Wharton probably 150.
· One thing struck me is that Harvard professors concentrate mainly on teaching and not research (they even grade every paper themselves rather than relying on TAs). That struck me as a bit strange…. isn’t a new management principle, or thought leadership, based on research? I mean, writing cases is really cool, but at some point, some amount of theoretical state-of-the-art needs to be developed.
· The panelists were 4 recent MBA grads (1 VC firm, 1 Hewlett Packard, 1 education venture fund, and 1 at Clorox). They were smart, articulate and funny. I think they handled the barrage of questions really well. Oh, and one more thing, the questions from the audience were first-class as well.
· They reminded us that Competition is really tough…2 of them got into Harvard in the second try.
· Case study method, cold calling, study groups, workouts at Shaq, 40-acre campus, dedicated faculty, loan forgiveness program, and Baker scholarships, and oh “Awesome parties” are the highlights that I take away from Harvard session. Intimidating, yet quite alluring for my decision to apply there!

I ran into Riter there as well... looks like she is making good progress on her apps. I didnt stick around for long, because I had a long day, and tomorrow I need to go to Stanford for the information session. So I called it a night...

Taj...

In other news, my beloved structure: the Taj Mahal turned 350 today. The structure is absolutely magnificient and attests to the skills of architects and builders of the Mughal dynasty in India. I found this picture to be more fitting, however, to contrast the stark reality of modern day India.. the emerging booming economy and the widespread poverty that still needs to be tackled.

Kellogg application 1 submitted on saturday. Received a mail from admissions today that they have received it and it will take between 2-6 weeks for the interview to be scheduled.

End of a responsibility..

6 months..
15 consultants..
3 offices..


The next month is going ot be crazy for me. In addition to submiting all the round-1 apps, I am also working towards the culmination of a BIG project that I was managing - a team of 15 consultants, most of them senior to me, spread over 3 offices. The crunch time is approaching and of course lands right in the middle of my wharton and kellogg deadlines. I think I need to really focus and prioritize my time.

One thing which helped me yesterday was when I was in the elevator of my office. I took a deep breath and "flushed" the MBA apps out of my mind, thereby mentally entering my "work" mode. I need to do this everyday without fail. I need to switch between my work mode and B school apps mode, if I need to do justice to either one of them. The success of this project is very critical for me, so I need to have it as a high priority item.

Rankings..selectivity...yield..whatever!!

Ever since I got into the B-school race, I have to say that I am going through a cyclical process of introspection: At the high crest, I am brimming with confidence. My strengths seem out of this world and my qualifications seem like they will wade me through the apps. At the low end, I am left facing serious doubts about my candidacy, especially after reading the dreaded B-week forums, hearing about the quality of students at institution A, and so on.

As I begin writing my Stanford Applications, I am at a high end again. It was not the case a month ago, I was contemplating not to apply to Stanford in Round 1. I went through a similar cycle for Wharton. I think, at the end, after writing your essays and evaluating your so-called strategy for each school, its only that much one can do.

One thing I have learnt over a couple of years is that you win some and you lose some. But, the best part is competing. Watching the finale of the "Amazing race" last night on CBS, I thought to myself: "I just want to compete", ....if I win, it will be the proverbial icing on the cake.

Having said that, I am meeting a curent Stanford student this week to get a sense of the place. I have also signed up for information session and tour. I am still deciding who the 3rd recommender for Stanford should be.

Mountains to climb before I sleep..

Took a break from applications and headed out friday night with my wife to Mount Diabolo state park, near Danville, CA. The park is very close, about an hour drive from our house, but it seems like its away.. far away from everything. Great hiking and camping spot, most people come there to mountain bike along the steep 3900 ft elevation. We were content to just camp, drink sake, drive upto the peak in the morning, and hike a bit from there. The weather was atypical of bay area, it was actually cold at the top of the mountain. Brrr... but the views were just incredible as you can see.


Incredibly beautiful backdrop of the entire bay area.

Mount Diabolo.. Elevation 3900 ft 

Kellogg reception in SFO

Note: I had written a nice blog entry before, but it never got uploaded on Blogger and so i lost it. Oh well, here i am typing it again, maybe not with so much tenacity.

First reaction: "Very few applicants". Had this been year 2000, the room would have been chock full of applicants. The number of applicants definitely seem low this year.

Second reaction came from deep within (from my stomach to be exact): "Where are some munchies?" Since i left for the reception directly after work, I had no time to pick up food. Hence, i was left trying to imbibe some calories from carbonated drinks.

Third and delayed reaction: "Why is it so stuffy in here, someone turn on the AC". The event was at a prominent Investment bank, but after seeing to some cool swanky high tech offices in the south bay, the bank offices really looked grimy.

Kellogg threw a lot of acronyms at me: GIM, LEAP, BASE, CHAOS, MMM...whichever you fancy. Anyways, here are some salient points I picked up:

• Kellogg is big on global issues: GIM is a very popular event among the students. It lasts 10-weeks where you pick a region and industry, and culminates with a trip to that region.
• Kellogg encourages students to be "co-creators of knowledge". If you are interested in a particular industry, you can do more work on a class project with a Professor, and turn it into a paper or case study.
• Kellogg is promoting its finance dept as a hidden gem in the program. Two brochures at the event were dedicated to this.
• Alums were down to earth and friendly: Most of them were in finance roles as opposed to marketing, some were in high tech.
• Prof Petersen and Prof. Sawhney are among the popular Profs at the school.

In all a good event. I picked up some pointers which I need to incorporate into my essays.

Apprentice 2

I had watched the show on Thursday. My wife had missed it, so she wanted to catch today's re-run. Except that she had to work again today, so she asked me to tape it. Okay, fine..except one minor caveat. Our old VCR had konked out.

Well, not to be outwitted, I came up with a solution. I have a camcorder pointed at the TV right now, taping the show on the TV screen. The quality may not be great, but it has to do.

Thoughts on the show: the people competing are actually pretty talented (judging by the resumes posted on the NBC website). I liked the first job assigned of designing a toy: the engineer (and kid) in me would have loved to do this. Hey, the entire prototyping staff of Mattel is at your command...what else do you want? And all the guy's team came up with was a lame "Crustacean-nation"!! (This was truly dissapointing). The women's team did a better job of creating a "design-build your own toy car" type of concept. They definitely deserved to win.

One more thing: any apprehensions that this show is NOT rigged were dispelled after watching some team's comments on a kid's hairstyle in front of the MATTEL team. Comon, these people have worked in corporations, started businesses, went to best schools, and they willingly do something that asinine, in a setting which is judging their entire personality. The show is rigged people,.. so lay back and enjoy the show for what its worth: ENTERTAINMENT. Please, do not confuse this with BUSINESS!! My 2 cents :)

Mathematical art...

My blog gives me a chance to display my so called "mathematical art". For some years, I have been dabbling in this art form, generating cool surfaces and landscapes using simple algorithms on the computer. This particular one, I call "Toss a coin!!", which simulates a series of random walks by tossing a coin and counting the head or tails as a cumulative summation with heads counting as one and tails counting as minus one.

I know,..some people may find this nerdy. However, I find beauty in mathematics. Look around, and nature is full of such beauty!! From the fractals of fern leafs to the string theory, we indeed live in an "elegant universe".



Toss a coin!!

KELLOGG application..

I started my labor day weekend in the right earnest as far as Applications were concerned. On Friday, I finally had a chat with my manager and told him about my B-school plans. Good news: he was very supportive of my move and promised to write glowing recommendations for me. He also promised me that this would have no effect on my current position or upcoming reviews (I am anticipating a promotion this year!). Later, I met with fellow bloggers (Aregon, Riter) and had a lively chat about B-schools, application process, blogging pheonomenon, forums, and Thai food.

Kellogg essay writing has begun and I have some rough drafts completed for K-1 and K-2. I feel like there is some redundancy built into the questions, but maybe I am not READING the questions well. K-3 will need some work as I need to target some salient points regarding my candidacy to the admissions committee.

I also have started work on Kellogg Online App. Part-1. (Britchick, you were incredibly fast on that one!). I have also started work on my resume. These miscelleneous things certainly take long and should be finished between TV-breaks, Lunch breaks and coffee and tea breaks!

I like Kellogg's approach of a 2-stage application. I guess that it is needed, since they interview ALL applicants, and this may be an initial screening process to weed out some exceptionally weak applications. I am thankful that we applicants get a chance to have an interview before other schools send us "invitations" for interviews. We will atleast have one interview under our belt by then (and GOD, i do hope I get a couple of those invitations)

Some more "dates":

• World MBA tour, San Francisco, September 14th.
• Kellogg Information session in San Francisco, September 15th:One Sansome St, 37th Floor.
• I am also organizing a "Happy hour" for the professional group I am associated with on September 16th. Looks like next week will be a busy one.

Risky Business

Twelve years ago, Hurricane Andrew drove many insurers bankrupt and was the costliest disaster to date. This year seems all set to surpass those losses.. $7.5 Billion for Hurricane Charley and an estimated $35 B for Hurricane Frances (if it continues on its deadly trail). As a point of reference, WTC losses to date have been $30 Billion, while Northridge earthquake have been $15 Billion.

However, Insurers are apparently protected this time, mainly due to the establishement of the Florida Insurance Council. The strategies they have employed have been:

• Raise rates to increase reserves
• Increase deductibles
• Formation of a 14 Billion fund