Category Archives: GMAT

GMAT strategy, news, Scholarships, helpful GMATprep tips.

World MBA Tour at Mumbai.

OK. I am lit’l nervous right now, since now onwards there’ll be two persons who know me ‘in person’ will read my blog. Till yesterday there was nobody. Yes, I met these guys at World MBA tour.

I was saying NO NO to the tour till the day before the event. (Even today I know, it’s bit early for me to visit such forums. As of now I am planning to apply for class of 2011?) But on last day I said OK. My cell phone was on repair & had to go to the city to get it; also I wanted to meet an online buddy, coincidentally he was going to attend the fair. These reasons were enough for me to come to the city and attend the fair. But there was one more and rather important reason to attend the event.

All these days, months, I have been reading about these b-schools, was checking their websites reading numerous blogs and various online forums, I was contented with the stuff I have about this GMAT and international MBA thingie. But the knowledge (information) I have (had) is 2^nd hand information. I never attended such event before; never visited any b-school and never a seminar or as such. Never seen a person, a b-school guy in flesh-n-blodd; how she walks, talks, presents. That”s about it. So this was the time so I thought to visit the fair.

I got a VIP pass from pagalguy.com. I appreciate this and I promise the forum ( here in public) to help and contribute, intellectually any way I can. Thank you pagalguy.com!

Since I decided to go to fair on last day, I was not prepared, neither mentally nor logistically or materialistically. I asked Iday the other day about what to wear. I know it’s a stupid question, but I think, this comes to everybody’s mind when he’s nervous or visits such events for the first time. ( and therefore I am covering this later in the post) I think formal wear + tie would be OK.

The day started and I realised that I dont have the list of the schools attending the fair. I requested in forums to provide the link. Apurv sent me the link. Thanks Apurv. I printed the list, invitation & the VIP pass.

Oh! Did I mention that my home is three hours away (by train 130 kms) from Mumbai? It was noon & I had missed 3 trains already. I was bit tensed since it was 6^th dec. the death anniversary (is that a word?) of one of the founders ( actually principal founder) of constitution of India, Dr. B. R Ambedkar. People from all places of India come to the city and gather at a place called Chaitya Bhumi. (it’s in Dadar)

Train had already travelled more than 1500kms and was ultra crowded when it arrived at my station …as expected. I had no space to move my hip by an inch! I went to city STANDING all the way. Apparently the local train from Virar was not that crowded I managed to get a window seat!

HOW I APPROACHED TO THE FAIR (READ: PREPARE)

Then, in local train, Aim-WSC had some time to check the printed list. I’d shortlisted some schools. The main attraction was the Columbia. (Yeah! theres C in my userid!) I went to library @1725. checked www, checked some websites of the schools I shortlisted. I didnt check Columbia’s since I knew already what I want to ask. After checking the websites I again shortlisted the schools. The no. of schools reduced to very small number then.

When I checked the websites, I checked the tuition fees, living expense, fin- aid & scholarship school can offer, & approx. ranks of the schools from say BW & FT and lastly ROI. Now what ( /all) I wanted to ask there (and inquire about) at fair is alumni network and demographic distribution of alumni

By 1800hrs I was out of library heading to the fair. Am I late? Event started @1700.

The attire.

From the reception counter on the way to the Hall I received many leaflets that I blindly put into my purse.

Purse? No! it was a jute hand bag actually, which some people including myself sometimes think it as awful. At least when you go to such ^posh^ area, you become even more conscious. I didn’t wear a tie. I had thought to wear it in library; ( library is my second home in the city) but on the way, in local train I met a college kid who was also going to fair wore scrappy shirt and pair of jeans. I said heck! I dont have to wear a tie. The reason: I am not gonna make any ”impact” there or something, I am just gonna sort of window-scan the b-school counters that’s it! So no tie for me, it’s still in the jute bag. A plain shirt, trouser with belt and leather shoes. A hand bag in hand & a pen in a pocket. That’s it. Perfect.

The Fair

The first counter I saw in the hall was Columbia’s. I nodded assertively and smiled.

By the way did I tell you Dr.B.R. Ambedkar was from Columbia University. (probably the first Indian!!) It was bit crowded so I moved on without stopping @CBS. I checked entire hall (two halls actually). You can gain a lot just by overhearing the conversation, provided you blindly jumped in such forums without doing your homework. I checked U at Buffalo, state U of NY. Enquire about financing options. I shortlisted few more state colleges which I cancelled to visit once I was in the hall. I already knew most of the answers, rep was giving.

I would have been happy if Kellogg had come to the tour. The Kellogg site disappointed me big time (and maybe that’s why theres no K in my userid :D)

Some other big schools came, like Chicago GSB, Tuck, Darden. But I was not interested. Thankyou.

Now remains wharton and Columbia.

I just looked at big W’s stall, the most crowded one. Sigh! I never wanna go there. I know A to Z of W’s website. Heck I have been checking the site since I got the internet connection @home. I know I am crazy. But there are many crazy people around here, reading my blog :p

I had a healthy talk with one of the CBS alumni. ~20mins I was @ CBS stall.

Asked some questions about blogging ( yeah that’s right. You wanna hear it?) also whether adcoms do investigative job & check applicants other online activities? @ MySpace, forums or @ blogs et al.

The answer is NO. unless you specify about it in you essay. The other alumna also gave me strat on how to deal with such situations. Haa haa though I have no bad record in cyberspace it was for my other online buddies 😀

Overall the visit paid off.

Met Rohit and Sonam, these guys work for pagalguy.com thumbs up once again thanks for the pass, fellas.

My online buddy was in seminar which I missed. I attended some of the last part of the seminar which was cool. No regrets though, since I was talking with CBS people then.

I met the online buddy there were two of them. And together we complete another round in the hall. On return I saw a familiar face at the other side of the counter. I greeted him and asked whether we have met earlier? Yeah! the person has done MBA from of that particular school. I am so happy, Now. I was not aware that this guy is one of the alumni of my one the fav. School. THIS IS A BONUS.
And the best part is he’s in the same industry that I am interested in. that’s triple bonus!

BONUS BONUS BONUS.

Things I regret for:

Not attending seminars, they were good and boy! it was Matt Symonds. yet was free of cost.
Not taking down the address/ visiting card of alumni with whom I talked. But I know I will meet him sometime in future (the bonus guy, yes very stupid of me, not taking his card).
And most importantly for not asking question to alumni about the total expense in MBA education. What I mean is, is there some truth in Forrest gumps BW finding?
You can discuss about it here. Is really Harvard or to say any top notch school�s that expensive? $345000?

I think alumni are best persons to answer this.

So all you readers/ bloggers out there please tell me the answer, sicne I forgot to ask about it in the fair.

SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE ATTENDANTS:

Make best of your trip. Do good homework.
Bring a pocket notepad.
Check with alumni & if day is good, ask for visiting card.
Believe in yourself attire is not that important afterall, the place’s always crowded. But if you’re expecting instant interview, or have taken appointment of any adcom/person: wear suit. (And if it’s New Delhi: always wear the suit)
The fair also showcase huge no. of scholarships for various MBA programs, get the forms filled & all the best!

BeatTheGMAT! [part I] the scholarships

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There are so many GMAT preparation websites. Most of them provide quality content. And then threes are some fake websites. Lets not talk about those sites. Lets assume all renowned GMAT preparation sites and forums are genuine and provide quality content.

Among them,

· there are some sites who charge $$ to their prospective clients/ students/ GMAT aspirants/ members for the so called premium content they provide.

· Then, there are some semi-free websites who provide mediocre content to their general members and premium quality content to their ^VIP^ members.

· Then, there are some sites that are absolutely free. They share everything; all content / material with their members.

· And finally, there are some sites who provide not only all content/ material free of cost but they also offer $$ to their members.

Wait wait wait!. Does this fourth category really exist?

If yes then I am in!!

Yeah! Dig more and youll find that there are no such sites present on the world wide web except one…the name is beattheGMAT!

Yeah! You heard it right. Its www.beattheGMAT.com

BeattheGMAT! Offers monthly $mini-scholarship$$ and two mega yearly scholarships to GMAT aspirants who are members of the site.

So register now!

TO BE CONTINUE…

What it takes to be the best B-school

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dear b-schools, DO YOU HAVE IT IN YOU? (lolz :p)
Check this out!!

I have a question. People normally talk about “Top Business Schools”. My question is which exactly are the top business schools around the globe ? What qualifies a school to fall in this category ?

Baccardisprite answers:

It’s a good question.
My answer / definition, both arguable and debatable is – A top business school (below in no particular order):

is almost immediately recognized and recalled (instant oohs… and aahs…) i.e a well-known university or legacy brand that has built itself over many years of the success enjoyed by its alumni (both of the university and the business school)
offers it’s students a superior allround academic, social and cultural experience
(in a stable/good economy) opens professional doors for the students in the form of strong access to its closest job market with less regard to a students back-ground, origin, or citizenship or in some cases even pre-MBA experience – in other words the opportunity to change elements of one’s career (industry, function and geography). Example – a Top US school to the US job market. An INSEAD all over Europe and the UK. An LBS in London.
has a strong, legacy network of alumni who are known for their willingness to help current graduates
has career services that possesses the street-credibility to bring top companies from various industries to campus; therefore the oppportunity for MBAs to meet, network and interview with; and offers the right king of training, advice and guidance for students to confidently go off-campus to find their jobs
offers you the ability to experience a program with smart (or smarter), ambitious, knowledgeable and wise peers.

These are the things I wanted from my school. Below are the schools that largely fulfil these criteria. These regularly turn up in the rankings NOT because the magazines think so but because they have built themselves over years of success and investment of time, money, and effort to the criteria stated above:

USA – Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, MIT-Sloan, Chicago, Kellogg, Columbia, Michigan, Tuck, Duke, Darden, Haas, Yale and a few others I might have missed.

Canada – Richard Ivey, Rotman, Queens and York – good because they’re good schools and I understand that Canada has recently started offering MBAs the opportunity to work in Canada for 2 years after graduation (this needs to be confirmed).

EU – INSEAD, London Business School, IMD + more recently the European schools that made it to the UK Government’s HSMP list of school’s whose MBA graduates are eligible for a work-permit (NOT tied to employer) in the UK.

Asia Pacific – IIM (A/B/C) – now with the PGPX which is likely to be a success, ISB, INSEAD (Singapore), U-Chicago (Singapore EMBA for more experienced people in the region), Ivey (Part time in Hong Kong), CEIBS (Shanghai).

Notice that I would NOT rank the top 2 Australian Schools here until /unless Australia offers a good opportunity for Internationals to work in Australia after the MBA. Currently not the case as Australia is generally unwelcoming to non-Aussies or non-permanent residents. Unless the country offers an automatic opening to work there or at least a short term chance to work without having to be sponsored, this is NOT a good place to study.

If someone has recent updates that show an improvement to this, please share.

Given their weak career services I would also NOT rank NUS & NTU (Singapore) and CUHK and HKUST (both in Hong Kong).

Hope this helps everyone.

COURTESY NOTE:
Taken from B-schools-Assistance desk thread of pagalguy.com. (very heavy and informative thread by the way!

the thread is mostly controlled by the big-guy.

This guy, (calls himself baccardisprite) lives in Switzerland (spelling check :p).
Whaterver he writes is pure gold, product extracted from is wide work-experience (more than hundred months of international work-experience.) and twelve months of heavy duty MBA from one of the top b-schools in the world. JohnyCAGE recommends to go through all articles he posted.
I have extracted some of his thoughts on what it takes to be the best business school.
(reference link)

Jack GMAT story compiled

[case study] Jack’s GMAT story

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Jack’s GMAT Story is a cautionary tale of a typical MBA aspirant, ‘Jack’ who plans his GMAT prep and MBA application journey. It’s a multi-page article converted from series of posts for ease of browsing.

Index Page
Preface
Jack’s Story : Wrong approach
Solution to the dilemma
What went wrong
The right approach

I’ve konwn thousands of GMAT students and many relate to Jack’s story. I might add couple of more posts about the survey/poll I conducted on various GMAT forums for this article.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Jack’s GMAT story: [part- IV RIght Approach]

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Case A: An undergrad student.

This is the best time to take the test. Although, average age of GMAT test taker is more than GRE-folks, it is still recommended to take it in early ages.

A college student can get good resources from the library, he has peers, friends who can study together & motivate.

The life after graduation is quite miserable, plane and lonely. (believe me!)

Jack could have decided to take GMAT on December, joined some quality forum boards- gained some mixed opinions and knowledge-networked with other fellow GMAT students & MBA aspirants. By Feb-March Jack could have taken the GMAT test successfully.

Case B: Person has all free time, nothing else to do but to study for GMAT.

Jack could have got max out of it (… out of this period). He really doesnt have to join any tuition of preparation classes. As he could have done it all alone, with stable mind of course.

Jack has plenty of material and online resources such as forums and blogs. The key is to get to know what suits you out of the materials available.

Most of People (most of Jacks!) say that they need as much material as it is available on earth.
No!. It is a wrong approach. Yes, you should review every material available, but then you have to decide what suits you.

There are certainly loads of resources and hard/ soft material available. And each material has its own style; each tutor has her own style of approaching to the plan ( what it’s called the strategy) or particular problem.

Each unit/ coaching class / tutor has his/her own strategy. You have to decide which strategy works for you.

Its not about getting the maximum material available but about getting the maximum out of the material available.

Case C: Balancing work and study

This is very crucial!

We have loads of similar cases here.

Jack has full time job. He hardly finds time to check with his parents or his old friends. Jack lives comfortable life (read: earning money) and focus on GMAT in this case, goes fading.

In order to avoid this:

Jack should learn to love his GMAT journey first. May be he should keep a blog or do some other inspirational stuff.

He can join a preparation classes. Some reputed or may be third grade; it doesnt matter as long as it is making Jack’s GMAT journey stimulating. (Caution: the above statement is valid only if Jack has other wise materials available.)

It is very important for Jack to keep his GMAT interest alive. May be he should network with other GMAT aspirants and meet on weekends. Such tiny things can help Jack stay alive.

If Jack is successful in keeping his GMAT interest alive the rest things become “cake walk”.

No matter how hectic your life is, you can always find some
time for your favorite activities.

Indulge in GMAT related forums- get addicted. No harm, if you find the zeal to study at age of 29. Being addicted is sometimes beneficial. 😉

I think I have provided three vital scenarios ( cases I mean). However if you, readers find new case feel free to discuss it here or on some forums boards where I am available.

Thank you.

Jack’s GMAT story: [part- III What Went Wrong]

1 Reply

Jack has been studying for GMAT since long. And during this period he missed quite a few opportunities to take this test.

Most of the time, what he missing was right approach, strategy to prepare for the GMAT and some good advice.

When Jack was completing his degree, it was ideally the best time for him to take the test. Honestly, it gets more difficult once you get a full time job. Jack had his classmates to take the test. It would have been definitely easier for him to take the test then.

But he missed the boat.

After finishing his education Jack had some free time that could have used wisely for GMAT preparation. He in fact did utilized that time but not so wisely. Too many cooks spoil the soup.
Yes! Same thing happened with Jack this time.

Unfortunately he couldnt resist to apply for jobs simultaneously. Jack failed to realize the case if he gets a call from a prosperous company on the verge of taking the GMAT. Exactly same thing happened and Jack faced this dilemma. He had to drop the idea, one more time. But he wouldn’t have gotten success in GMAT because the wrong approach he followed.

He had all free time available for preparation, Jack bought all material available on earth also he joined tuition/classes. Well in most of the cases it is recommended but Jack went to extreme and end up confusing himself for the right strategy that would work for him.
Yes! too many cooks spoil the soup. Oh! I forgot to mention about the forums and blog he used to indulge in!!

After resuming to his job, Jack hardly finds time for anything extra work like studying for GMAT. Though Jack turned wiser than before, he has time constrains, mental stress and job responsibilities. He’s struggling to manage work-life balance forget about extra efforts for GMAT study.
He needed the force to go for GMAT study. He made up by his own… He could have done much better if he had joined some classes this time.

Above all things of Jacks story went wrong Jack could have done better. To know the right approach read on.

Jack’s GMAT story: [part- II Solution]

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I must confess that, this dilemma of Jack is genuine and is tough to provide the correct solution. What makes this situation really tough is his GMAT-score 610.
Jack still has plenty of time (may be couple of more years) before he would apply to b-school.
610 is critical score, an ‘on-the-wall’ score you can say; which is not a good score but given a chance, with proper study strategy he can improve his score to a respected level
610+40=650! which is at least an average score for decent business schools. But note that it could go really tough for Jack to improve his score by more than 40. therefore I call 610 as a critical score. Anything less and I would not advice Jack to retake the test. Remember, you cant fool this test.
To be cont….what went wrong

Jack’s GMAT story: [Part-I wrong approach]

Jack’s GMAT story [part 0: Preface]

1 Reply

I am presenting you a story of Jack, a normal GMAT test taker.
Lately I observed, students� negative drive towards taking the test; Jack is one of them. I can see many Jacks here n there. They usually postpone or retake the test because of low score they observe during their practise CAT tests.
As a result of it, I decided to write an article in my blog, based on how important it is to take GMAT once and for all.
Later I dropped the idea and thought to place it on GMAT forum… That way I would make it more interactive.
[Editor’s note: I have published it in some GMAT related forums first for response & one month later I published compilied story on blog.]
I want your comments on the Jack�s story, folks.
I have my own opinion on this story (of course! I have written it. which you can read in the next episode/articles)
Before I write further, here�s my background:
You might wonder that why should you read the story of the fictional character and later hear the opinion of a person who has not taken the test?
I have been thinking of b-schools since last 5-6 years. And GMAT is in my mind all day all night for last two years. In a process, I read as much as I could get on the internet. I joined online forums, interacted with people, enough for now, to make a firm opinion on GMAT issues. On June end of this year I was fully prepared for GMAT. But due to my ignorance to the fact that I needed a passport on the test day, I dropped the plan. I do not have passport yet!
People,
Feel free to post the comments on the story. However, I am posting just first part of the series, Latter parts contain my opinions followed by right approach etc.
Check all series of articles the case study of Jack’s GMAT.

Link to the relevant thread on forum will be available upon request.