The Fifth Ding...

As expected..The fifth ding has arrived..from Duke (Fuqua) . I am not sure..But I feel low..although I am prepared for this..

Duke Says..Application complete..

Received a mail from duke that my applciation is complete for R-2. I have already completed Alumni interview for Duke and so the wait is here again..Till March-8. Duke is a great school and loved the Team Fuqua very much..Lets wait..and see..

Duke Interview Experience..

Today, I attended duke interview by one of the almni in Bangalore. He graduated from duke in 1995. We fixed the appointment at 1:00 PM and I reached the venue early to take care of any traffic jams on the infamous Hosur Road. Reached the venue by 12:00 PM.

He is the MD of a concern. I waited for 15 minutes and he called me in.

And..He is in plain formals and not in Suit and asked me to loosen my tie and remove my coat if I would like to..I have sent my resume yesterday and so he has got a fair Idea of my candidature..

Here are the bullets he fired:

1. About my family background?
2. About experience?
3. Why MBA?
4. Why Fuqua?
5. Dont u feel u r on the younger side? (I have only 3.5 years ex till now)
6. What do u do in free time?
7. What is the importance of order for these? 1. career 2. family 3. community 4. friends 5. hobbies.
8. What is your leadership style?
9. Working in Team? Lot more on team dynamics.
10. Any questions?

We shared his experiences at Fuqua and it is really exciting to know that he was the president of international students association.

All in all he told that I have good candidature but dont get disappointed and I can wait if I was differed admission by 1 year. I dont know whether he is suggesting that i am at a disadvantage in less experience. But he told that its the AdCom that takes final decision and his job is to say good things about me to AdCom.

Have to see how it goes..Waiting for March..

Submitted Duke..

Here comes another missile..Application to Duke MBA has been submitted and as far as I can see, it is my best crafted application. Covered all aspects from professional, personal, extracurricular and community.

The wait starts now..I am happy with the work.. Let us see

Dukes R-1 results..

Its time for duke's R-1 results and people are ecstatic about that on BW forums.
Duke is a great school with strong fundamentals and course structure that allows electives in the first year and with internationals at 40%.

Also from the stats it shows that it is great school for consulting and strategy.

Have to wait till March for my time.

Devoured..Ross and Duke ..Pounced on Tepper

Gave the final touches to Ross and Duke..Ofcourse..I will not submit them immediately..My credit card aleady has an outstanding amount of 30K and so will submit the applications a week later so that the billing comes in next round. Financial Planning..Even before joining MBA..Hahaha.

Started working on Tepper..Have to do some research on Tepper..I am skeptical whther Tepper has got any loan assistance program for internationl students.. Tepper is a good school..Based on its strong technical grounds, its program is analysis intensive the thing that is my interest. Will do some more research..

Completed Duke..

Finally,

Completed my Duke application. Will review it tonight and submit it tomorrow.
The important thing for Duke and other team based schools is it is collaboration but not Competition.

Do your home work on the schools and not just replace the word Ross with Duke. :-).

Ps: Its easy to give suggestions than to practice. Hahaha.

Done with duke essays..

My duke essays and filling the application has almost been completed. Have to review it. Already I am lagging the planned schedule by one day. So cant delay it any more.

Meanwhile, ISB results are due on Dec-15 and the wait still contnues.

Mail from Duke to submit the application before Jan-2

Dear XXX,

We are pleased to announce that members of the admissions committee will be traveling to Asia in early January to maximize the number of interview opportunities for round two applicants located overseas. While the application deadline for round two is January 8, these interviews will take place during the second week in January. As a result, we would like to schedule these interviews prior to the January 8 application deadline.
If you are applying in round two and plan to request an interview in Beijing, New Delhi, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, or Tokyo, we encourage you to submit your on-line application on or before January 2 to facilitate the interview scheduling process. Recommendations and supplemental materials may be submitted on or before January 8. Please note, if you choose to submit your application after January 2 and prior to the deadline on January 8, you will still be eligible for an interview with a local alumnus. Interviews carry the same weight in the evaluation process regardless of whether or not they are conducted by an alumnus, admissions fellow, or admissions officer.
We look forward to receiving your application and thank you for your interest in The Duke MBA.

Best Regards,
The Duke MBA Office of Admissions

I am back..with a bang..with duke essays..

Its a monday morning and really a fresh one. I am almost done with the duke essays. Have to fill the application as I have to submit it before 2 nd ,January so that the ad-com guys can interview me in delhi in the second week of january.

This is the reason why I have pushed Ross to the next in line.

Duke Essays..

Progressed a lot on Duke essays. Done with the first two and working on the third. Should be able to complete the whole thing by weekend.

The essays are pretty forward and I am impressed with my preparation. Again, the experience of already working on many applications has helped me to hone the essays.

Working on Duke Application..

I have completed ross application and am now pretty satisfied with the content.

So started working on duke. Pretty straight forward questions. Why MBA, Why duke, goals..

Sharpening and editing my existing essays.

I am realising one thing as I go down the application process. One has to live upto the standards of the schools one is trying to get into. They are the world class and best in the class. So are you?

What matters to you is what you show in the application essays. So show world class stuff. I dont mean that you have to be aparticipant in Olymics to apply for the schools but your expression and selection of the stuff should be like that.

Attended Duke Web event..

Attended Duke Web event. Came to know from other applicants that duke was not able to arrange alumni interviews for people in india.

So thought that I should better utilise the opportunity.

Duke Information session is a great opportunity to listen from the current students and pose questions to them.