Essays H/S

I have some semblance of completed essays for H and S. After the W decision, I am not sure what to think of my chances at H and S, but I have to admit that this process of writing the essays has been the most enlightening.

As a GSB alum said "Stanford essays are not meant to be an exercise in marketing, but should be an exercise in accounting". I cannot help but agree more. I think I would like to go through this process of introspection and goal-setting every 5 years. So even if the results are not favorable, I would like to think that a lot of good came out of writing these essays.

I think both sets of essays are very similar to each other, although they look to be very different at the beginning. Both of them ask you to really look inside and express what you see. This has been challenging, for an engineer like me. However, I hope that I still have managed to convey my passions intelligently, and most important honestly.

We decided not to Party this year, given the calamity in south east Asia, and instead donate the money to charity. It may be good time to reflect and ponder on what a year this has been...

To everyone, Happy new year.. hope we all have success in all shapes and sizes this coming year!!

The Great wave

My heart goes out to all the people who lost their loved ones in this immense tragedy. The lack of an early monitoring system really upsets me. What is the use of technology, when it cannot be used to save human lives? Basically, it meant installing tidal gauges along with seismic monitoring stations. Tidal gauges are used by oceanographers to collect regular daily data about the intensity and height of waves and tides. A measuring device, floating in a well accessible from the shore, transmits the data electronically via phone lines. Seismic monitoring systems are used for recroding relative ground movement. These two instruments, coupled with a GIS system can help discern the movement of an unusal wave front (immediately following a seismic event), would have given enough time to warn the people (atleast a 3-4 hour margin). The plea that such events had not occured in the past in the Indian ocean is, IMO, no excuse for being totally unprepared for such a catastrophe.

My holidays have not been too happy after seeing the gruesome images from the event. :(

80s metal rocks!!

Thanks for everyone leaving comments on my site. I wanted to post earlier, but was out of town and drove back home last night. The drive was a 6-hour journey from a client site. While driving, my first hour was spent thinking about H essays. I mentally made points while driving, churning and discarding ideas with equal ease. The drive actually concretized a couple of essays for me.. who knew driving is good fodder for essays??

But the mental exercise got me real tired, so looked into my CD-case to find some energizing music. Not really in mood for trance or electronica, I made my way to the back - my old time 80s metal CDs. Very soon, I was headbanging to some of the songs, which while still cheesy, took me back to the time when METAL rocked the world, and somehow everything seemed to be under control.

1. White Lion - Mane attraction
2. GNR - appetite for destruction
3. Scorpions - best of
4. AC/DC - best of

Readers, add your list of CDs which you thought were cool 10-15 years ago, and which would now be considered cheesy... I will have to add Bonjovi (slippery when wet), Poison (?), and Def Leppard (Hysteria).

Ding!

Wharton dream is over. Onward to other schools. I think I am okay, after the initial shock.

Congrats to those who have got in. You guys deserve it..

Now, I should get back to sleep.

To remain focussed on the goal - "Lakshya"

Bollywood is known for producing a lot of crap, but once in a while, they do come out with gems. Here is a song excerpt for the applicants, from the bollywood flick Lakshya:

haaN yahi rastaa hai teraa, tune ab jaanaa hai (This is your path, you have found it now)
haaN yahi sapnaa hai teraa, tune pahchaanaa hai (This is your dream, you have realized it now)
tujhe ab ye dikhaanaa hai (now you have to show everyone)

roke tujhko aaNdhiyaaN, yaa zameen aur aasamaaN (No one can stop you, nor winds, sky, or land)
paayegaa jo lakshya hai teraa.. (You have to remain focussed on your goal)
lakshya to.. har haal mein paanaa hai (You have to achieve your goals at any cost!!)


It doesnt matter, whether we get into school X or Y, we shall still realize our dreams at any cost!
Good luck everyone!!

Blogging troubles...

Blogging has known to get people in trouble, else this article would not have existed..Blogger Help : How Not to Get Fired Because of Your Blog. I was also reading about the Queen of sky who got fired from Delta airlines.

I was talking to a current MBA blogger, who said that he/she was a bit apprehensive about posting on the blog about career choices and companies that he/she is aiming for. Similarly, we applicants also need to take care about what we vent on our blogs. It is true that we all started this effort as a way to vent, maintain an online diary, and so on; but we need to realize that now the whole world is reading our blogs. Blogs have suddenly started representing your online alter-ego, if you will. In such a medium, it is understandable that people can misconstrue your emotions or maybe even draw their own conclusions about your candidacy/leadership qualities/school-choices/etc. The sad demise of Godidigo, Stanford MBA, and others shows the effects trickling in..

Similarly, a new line of paranoia emerges, when you imagine that adcoms and interviewers are reading your blogs. I know that we have discussed this ad-nauseum; I still think this may command some more introspection. While some of the bloggers have been exteremly candid of their experiences and emotions; some have taken a more formal approach. In the end, it is what you feel most comfortable doing. I think, the sad part is, that we may lose the human element of blogging, if we place such restrictions on our writeups. Like everything else in this world, its a tradeoff!! Comments??

Trip

Last week was hectic. I reached Philadelphia on 8th morning (after a horrendous red-eye, why do I always get a seat next to bawling babies, and old men who sleep with their headsets at full blast??). Philadelphia was a pleasant surprise. I liked the UPenn campus and the contrasting architecture styles of various buildings, especially Huntsman Hall. I attended the information session, campus tour, class visit, and lunch with students. First impression of Wharton - excellent facilities but maybe a tad overcrowded, students seemed a bit stressed out (complained of lack of sleep) and focussed on job search (maybe because of DIP coming up); and a vey international student body. Later, I met a friend and his wife, who I went to college with and who now works in Philly, for dinner. At dinner, I was introduced to this really cool beer called "Yuengling".... good way to end the day.

The next day, my wife joined me in Philly. We went together to the campus for my interview. My interviewer was a 2nd year, who covered a lot of questions in a fairly short amount of time. We discussed the usual questions like Resume walkthrough, why MBA, why Wharton; as well as leadership qualities, and definition of sucess.

Following my interview, we headed out, grabbed the car rental (were pleasantly surprised that I was upgraded to a SUV), and were soon on our way to Boston. Coming from sunny california, one thing that bummed us out was the constant torrent of rain from Philly to Boston. It did not stop for even a minute. Tired and sleepy, we checked into a Boston suburban hotel...

The next day brought worse weather, but we made our way to Harvard via the T. As we landed at Harvard square, the first thing we did was dash to the nearest store and bought the biggest umbrella our money could buy. We walked to HBS, and went to Dillon. The lady there was extremely nice, and even gave us lunch coupons. We toured the campus a bit, attended the information session, and then met the Mark and Jie at a TGIF event. Mark gave us a tour later and showed us the on-campus housing as well. Thanks a lot M and J for everything!!! First impression - The campus is truly amazing and very different from the rest of the schools I have seen. I will write more about the school later... Due to the rain and the lack of time, I didnt get a chance to see MIT. Moreover the MIT ambassadors program had finished on Dec 2nd.

The next day, we headed out to NYC. We reached NYC, stayed with a family friend, went to Times square (which has become incredibly filthy now), and to ground zero. The next day we woke up early and went to wall street, brooklyn bridge, and battery park. I love New york's subway system. Once you have the day pass, it is so easy to see the entire city. Note to myself: try to find an summer internship in NYC!!!

4 days, 3 cities (well 4 if you count New Haven where we stopped for Coffee), 2 schools, and new and old friends.. not a bad trip, if you ask me!!

Trump this....!!

Well, in case any of us poor reality TV souls were still debating the authenticity of Apprentice 2, this link shoul provide the last straw. Ivana, of course, gave us a glimpse of her retro undergarments in a previous episode, but this Maxim spread has to take the cake..

whats next?? Trump's assistant ...

Somehow I thought Pamela was beyond all this, she was the one I had some amount of respect for. But this spread shows that the participants on the show have no class, no leadership qualities, and no brains ..

Work and relaxing weekend..

Last week was horrible at work. Some days, I didnt get time even to check my email, let alone blog. But the work was great .. it involved some heavy data crunching and MATLAB stuff, which is something I always enjoy (Btw, I was talking to a Stanford Grad and he was telling me that the I-bankers in his class know all the short-cuts on Excel, so they never use the mouse .. they work on a different time-scale as far as spreadsheets are concerened!!). I am not a very big fan of Excel, it just doesnt cut it for analyzing engineering and scientific data.. MATLAB from mathworks is a much better option. Anyways, I deviate...

Well, my wife was not terribly pleased with my late nighters at the office, so on Friday, we went for a night out in the city to eat at "stinking rose" - a garlic lovers delight. The concept was brilliant, too bad the food was nothing compared to the other gastronomic delights that San Francisco has to offer.

Saturday was my company holiday bash, aboard a WW2 aircraft carrier docked in the bay. It was very exciting venue, and as they say "a good time was had by all".

Strangely, I have not been preparing too much for the upcoming Wharton interview. I have read my application essays, covered the Why ??? questions, Goals, and so on. I am going to do some more reading on the website today, and that will be it. After reading other bloggers interview experiences, I believe that Wharton interviews are meant to be relaxed, tell-me-about-yourself type affairs, and there is no point getting stressed about it.

OK, now i should go take care of my monday morning.....