The ISB Info Session in Bangalore

Readers,
The ISB Info session in Bangalore was supposed to be held in the first week of July in 2006. I was looking forward to the meet. I wanted to get a first hand feel of what the guys at ISB had to say. There was a big crowd at the Taj Gateway. I was surprised !! Are there really so many people out there who were interested in the MBA route via ISB ? As is usual with these gatherings the crowd was hep ! The session started with some videos about the ISB Life(all about ISB). There was this picture of the guy who was the the GMAT topper in the last batch.I suddenly asked myself - am I making a realistic attempt with my GMAT score. The person from adcom told us that ISB does want people with good GMAT and good acads but that is not the only criteria. Being from IT & a male with a sub 700 GMAT all my friends had already advised me to forget ISB and other top schools. The big gathering at the Taj asked some good questions and some stupid ones . I did not wait for the tea and snacks and i did not ask any doubts either. One thing was clear in my mind after the presentation. I had to be in ISB in the class of 2008. With my mind made up i came out of the session and promised myself that what I lost in the GMAT I would make up in my application essays and the interview. It would be my maiden and only (complete) application to any B-School ever. I had filled up a preliminary evaluation on the websites of HEC Paris and IMD Switzerland. The former gave a strong recommendation to me to proceed with the application which i never did and the latter advised me to gain more international experience and then apply - that also i never did. I had ruled out all the foreign MBA schools due to one or the other reason.
The US Schools - because i really did not find a good 1 yr program there.
The European schools - bleak job prospects and IMD did not want me.

I will make one golden attempt - Only ISB. If is going to be it will be ISB otherwise i continue as i am today.

Then dear readers in my next blog i present my dilemma whether to use an application assistance service or not.
Till then,
Cheers from the Omnibus Blogger.

Now the reflection

Dear Readers,
That the GMAT was over and I had made only an average show, the question that naturally harassed me was " Have I to write the GMAT again ? ". When i told my score to friends and family there was a streak of disappointment on their faces - I could make this out. They always expected me to perform much better. Anyway that doesn't help, in my mind a battle was raging, a debate where I was speaking against myself. I did not force myself into a conclusion, instead i let myself more time to think and take a wiser decision.
More about the ISB Roadshow in Bangalore in my next post.
keep reading,
- The Omnibus Blogger

My Rendezvouz with the GMAT...

It was the last week of June, the hot summer day was somewhat reflective of how I was feeling. Even though i had relaxed myself in all the ways i knew, there was a feeling of an unprecedented sense of nervousness somewhere within me. The next course in my life would be decided partly by how i perform in the GMAT. I reached the testing centre half an hour before the appointment. The girl at the reception asked me to present my passport and after verification she handed me a printout describing the rules of the game. I glanced over it and she told me that I could start the exam before the appointed time.
I logged in and after filling in and verifying the data coming on the screen i was ready to list the five Business schools of my choice that the GMAT guys would send the exam scores for free.

Dear Gmatters , Before you go for the test please be 100% clear in your minds w.r.t. the list of 5 schools where you want to send your scores. These may not be the only schools but if you are smart you can avoid paying more dollars to send the score in a second round.

My test had started and the first bomb fell. I was thinking about the 2 essays questions and spent a lot of time thinking. Suddenly half an hour was not enough for me to put my thoughts correctly as i wanted to. I somehow put an answer in place and proceeded to the next one just in time.

Friends, consider the 2 small essays an integral part of your preparation. More importantly as i indicated in a previous entry, when you run through Mock test complete these questions and then move on to the real test. It is important to have a feel of these "Killers".

Quant was not tough - i had prepared enough and except for a couple of questions i got almost all. I did not skip any questions.
The difficulty came when I started the Verbal part. Even sentence correction was not easy. Why was everything looking so tough ? One wrong answer and another and I started imagining a score well below 730. That was my target. The problem is that i got overwhelmed by the fact that i got a couple of questions wrong in the beginning part. I almost gave up and thereafter i had a tough time with the GMAT. I completed the test by random guessing the last 3 questions. I was waiting for my score. Those were moments of real tension. Soon the score flashed across the monitor. It was much less than what i expected. I was not happy with my performance.

Readers, the GMAT is more of a mind game. It all depends on how you manage the 4 hour duration of the test. It is fundamental to be very cool. If you get upset because you get some questions wrong, it will spell doom for you. Just carry on with a light mind. Forget the tough ones , if you don't get an answer - select the one which at least doesn't look wrong and proceed to the next one. Don't waste too much time with the questions that you are unsure of.

Failures often are the greatest teachers. But i listed some points here so that at least it helps you if you are planning to go for the GMAT.

I ran out of the test center to where my car was parked, got in and hurried off home.

take care,
-The Omnibus Blogger

GMAT is 4 days away...

Dear Readers,

GMAT was only a few days away. In an earlier blog entry i had told you to keep archived all the answer sheet from your practice days. So here comes the use. Take out all those sheets and revisit all the questions that you did not answer correct in your earlier attempts. Now try to answer them and see how many of these are correct.
Please remember that it is important to relax and cool off on the penultimate day of the test. Do not try too many new questions, do not get excited or tensed. I know it is easy to say than do, but please hold yourself well. Ensure that you do something you really enjoy, for me i packed off all my books and just spent time with my son and wife. the day was soon gone.

My gmat story in the next blog,

do tune in.
- The Omnibus blogger

Mock Tests and More Preps

As i told you in my last entry , I was now only a week and a half away from D-Day. I had to use the remaining time to practice on the mock tests. The tests from (www.mba.com) were really useful.
Even if you have attempted the test once, don't hesitate to try it again. More often than not, it will give you new questions. Of course some will be repeated but never mind.

From my experience I feel that the above sample test has an error range of -50 points to +10. i.e., if you score 700 here your score in the real GMAT could be anywhere between 650 - 710.
I made the mistake of not taking the sample tests in one shot in one sitting. I took more than allotted breaks and played with my son (that relaxed me more than expected). I also did the mistake of really skipping the 2 essay questions at the start. Somehow i have never appreciated the mind games of the GMAT designers who force you answer these essay questions first and then get into the standard test. Perhaps it is their way of ensuring that you are nuts before the test.

My advice to all you gmatters out there is simple : keep re-taking as many tests as possible. Be persistent and carry on with your practice ... there is an old saying , "Practice makes perfect". So keep on practicing.

till the next post,
cheers.

PS: I try to put here some experiences of mine that might be of some help to you. I will be glad to read your comments and thoughts. So people please scribble.

My GMAT Prep...

Dear Readers,
today i take you through my GMAT preparation. Before that let me just tell you guys that i am a software engineer by profession working more in project management out of our office in Bangalore. My job is tough and demands full attention the entire day. With this background i knew that i had to really carve out time to spend on GMAT preps. I had two options
a. Join a crash course
b. Do it all on my own. I had time on the weekends and then everyday late at night.

Somehow i have never trusted these coaching centers that have mushroomed all over Bangalore. I decided on option b. I promised myself that i will dedicate my evenings and weekends for GMAT preps. The next 7 weeks were full of maths, verbal, sample q's etc...

Stuff i used :
For the GMAT prep i used the following books and found them pretty useful.
Books
1. The Official Guide for GMAT® Review, 11th Edition
2. Kaplan GMAT 800, 2006-2007 (Kaplan Gmat 800)
I wish to tell you here that I felt the Official guide was a little easier for the Maths part than the Kaplan GMAT 800.


Sample Tests:
1. MBA prep (from www.mba.com)
2. Gmatter(www.gmatter.biz)
3. Gmattest.exe (www.800score.com/download4.html)


How i prepared :
The first thing i did was take the sample test from the Official guide. I wanted to know where i stood. I realized i had nearly forgotten all my maths formulae and that my verbal skills were not as good as my English. Very good - I just realized that i was at the foot of Mt. Everest.
Week 1.
I spent the next week brushing up my maths fundas. Slowly my high schools days unfolded in my memory and I was recollecting formulae for Simple interest, Mensuration and Geometry.
To be honest i was never a whiz-kid with respect to Maths at school. Getting 70% in every quarter was a dream i chased like wild.

Week 2.
I started off with the questions on the official guide. Looked pretty easy in the beginning. Things were going off smooth , i only had to find out the time after i came back tired from the tidings at office. I made an answer template in excel and took a number of printouts that i used to fill in the answers from the tests. I put my template here so that some of you can use it.
















That's my answer template !

It will be helpful towards the end of your preparation if you file these answer sheets somewhere carefully.

Weeks 3, 4 went on like this and I was getting used to the Quant stuff. With every test I was feeling better and better.

I was somewhat done with the maths when i moved on the verbals. Now people , one word of caution - Do not underestimate the verbal part even if you have good a English speaking prowess. Give equal importance to everything . For the verbal part i felt the official guide was really useful. As soon as i started the verbals i realized that critical reasoning and reading comprehension were really challenging. I stepped up the number of study hours from 2 to 4 everyday. I knew i was in for tougher times ahead. GMAT 800 also has some good verbal parts but the official guide was really comprehensive and more GMAT like.

3 weeks was what i had for the English part and i used it all. Even in the end i was not still not comfortable to the extent i would have liked. Anyway there was no more time and i had already booked a slot for the GMAT. The test was only 1.5 weeks ahead.

Mock tests & last minute preps in the next post.

CIAO.

I get started

With the parameters clear in my mind i started my investigations. A very good friend at office was my key guide. He had already done a lot of research on B-Schools and so i was able to lay my hands on a lot of ready-to-use material. I narrowed my school scope by leaving out the IIM's ( i mean the PGDBM's) . Doing a 2 year PGDBM was not worthwhile since i had nearly 7 years of work exp. I wanted to really use my professional experience and i was only looking at 1 years courses now.
What was left -
A. From India - IIMA's PGPX & ISB's PGP
B. From Europe - IMD, INSEAD & the London Business School
C. Nothing Else

Note here that i really never considered the US schools since there is really no good 1 year program there. Of course there is Thunderbird & Hult but somehow they were never stable in my RADAR.
I had my task cut out now , I had to get a very good score in the GMAT and i needed to do more research on my target schools to narrow down to the school of my choice.

I explain my GMAT preparation in my next post.

The birth of dreams (continued)...

OK..Now that i have officially kicked off this blog let me start with sharing with you why i decided to do the MBA program from ISB.
It was the summer of 2006, when all of a sudden i realized that 7 years of my career had passed off just so quietly that even i was surprised that what i had achieved was next to nothing. Suddenly i started contemplating seriously as to what was that i was dissatisfied with and what was that i could now do about it. Actually life in office was cool and comfortable - After all the hard work in the initial years this was the time when i was reaping the benefits of all that sweat. I think this is the case with most software careers : you join a firm, you put in your best effort, you win awards , you get unbelievable pay hikes and perks, you work even harder and after sometime like this then you enter the harvest stage - where you invest less and reap even more. Well for me too that was beginning to be the case. I had a strong reputation, i had excellent rating, a handful of top awards and the praise of my management - but in all this I was silently missing something. I realized that somewhere deep within that I was going nowhere. Then i started thinking on how to define a strategy that will pep up my life and show me a new mountain to climb. It was always a dream to do an MBA but i was never completely ready for it. Too much of analysis in my mind used to finally say that I was happy and satisfied in my comfort zone - drawing a 7 figure pay cheque, eating well, sleeping well, living well.
I decided that i will investigate good MBA programs that will give me a holistic view of things. Basically i was looking for a program:
1. That would enable me to think beyond the boundaries of my mind
2. That would open up new career avenues
3. That would enable me to meet a diverse set of spectacular individuals who wanted to do something meaningful in life.
4. maximum be one year (because I have a family and a lot of loans:-))
5. Having a high credibility with the industry.

Well with the criteria clear i set out on my new journey. More in my next entry.

The birth of dreams...

This blog will be my companion towards my journey into a new innings in life. My Goal to do the MBA program from ISB and thereafter to make a meaningful contribution towards my people, my country and my own life. I also wish that blog inspires ordinary people like me to dream their dreams and work towards it.