Crawling Towards Spring!

it seems like spring is in the air..there's a light chill, sporadic winter rainfall still going on.. the weather's still slightly cold, but i can sense the change. it's spring.

i wonder who named the seasons we have. it's actually quite interesting if you sit and start wondering about the origin of various things. you'd reach at conclusions that would surprise you for sure. saw a great program on tv yesterday, on travel channel called planet food. it highlighted how 'spices' have changed the way we live, and have made us truly global. chillies from mexico, saffron from spain, vanilla from mauritius..amazing! recounting the days back in the 15th and 16th centuries when the world was actually fighting over spices, and comparing it to what the world is fighting over now... quite a stark contrast.

let's hope the changing weather, trends of globalization and what not bring good news for all of us this spring..

on a light note.. have you guys ever wondered if talking about the weather was banned or made taboo, what would happen to conversations across the globe! happy thinking ;)

no news is......what news?

So yale and cornell still haven't gotten back.. and here's where i'm questioning the age-old wisdom of "no news is good news".. ah, well, the people who coined that phrase definitely weren't mba applicants!

oh well, there's still plenty of stuff to do while waiting i guess. met a client today who thought an mba degree is useless. its funny though when you run into people like that. you start to doubt yourself when people tell you mbas have flooded all the markets, and that its no longer a distinguishing factor. hmm. 

came across something new today. isn't it great discovering new things? 'kinesis routine' is what i learnt today from my gym instructor. it's the new routine to make muscles, tone yourself and the works. pretty interesting stuff... although i have to admit, i think i prefer the good ole treadmill, stepper and cycle... :)

Boothing the Booth

So I don't know why I chose the subject as that, but i guess it kind of goes :)

So here it is, my recent Chicago Booth interview experience!

As I'm an international applicant, and Booth could not find any available alumni in my country, I had a phone interview with an admissions representative. We set up the time and date well in advance.. and here's what the conversation was like (about 35 mins long); no surprises, usual MBA interview questions -

-Why MBA?
-Why Now?
-Tell me about yourself starting off with early years.
-Why did you switch from x job to x job?
-What surprised you when moving from x job to x job?
-Why Booth?How would you contribute?
-What do you outside of work?
-Why do you want to come all the way to America? :)
-ST and LT goals?
-What student clubs are you interested in?
- Any questions for me? (I had quite a few)

Some interesting questions I remember are:
- How do you think the work environment / work culture would be different in the US compared to x country (where I am from).
- Where else have you travelled in the world?

We even had a brief discussion on New York, as a city :P so all in all, was quite interesting..
the interviewer was friendly, relaxed and an easy conversationalist..

My advice to any future applicants / interview awaitees would be...have smart questions to ask at the end..be well prepared, re-read your essays and app.. look up previous interview experiences from accepted.com and clear admit.. the most important thing is to be yourself and know WHY you will be a great fit at Chicago Booth! :)

ciao :)

Laziness?

Ever since i got done with the writing part i.e. ESSAYS of the MBA apps, ive started feeling so free! its like i have lots of time at my hands to do all i wanted to do when sacrificing time for the mba process... ah it sure does feel good having some free time!

here's some of the stuff ive re-started / indulged in since Jan:

-Reading a lot of books

- catching up on my long list of movies.. speaking of which, what did fellow bloggers think of slumdog millionare and curious case of benjamin button? i really do get why both have been nominated for best movie.. my bet's on slumdog millionaire!

- swimming! aahh what ayy life :) its the most relaxing activity

-gym-ing: this is how my waiting-for-decision-frustration is taken out!

- baking: new recipes, lots of time, good fun..

-...and lastly, work...sigh going to office seems so hard every morning..what is it about winters that just deem sinking into a warm quilt the best thing to do...

:) so thats one way of spending the time until waiting for the MBA decisions!

Weekend prep

spoke to a Booth alum to find out more about the student life at Chicago.. sounds fun... the city seems great, very diverse. i visited it this summer, and really found it to be just that - very multicultural.. apparently there are quite a few cool student / extra curric activities out there..nice!

in other news, am waiting on my booth interview now, which is scheduled for later this week. lets hope that goes well. the weekend went by so quickly though, what is it with times these days, its running too fast!

wiling away the days..

Time seems to be passing by so fast.. its actually a bit strange.. other bloggers speak of how time has slowed down after the app process, but for me it's just the opposite! i can't believe its already february and we have just 1-1.5 month to hear back on final decisions! yikes! things at work are also quite busy, hence the busy-ness.. no complaints though, its much better than being free!

Fuqua interview experience

Had my interview with a Fuqua alumni today.. lasted about 40 mins.. overall, was pretty much what I was expecting.. no big surprise questions...

The usual stuff.. Why MBA, Why x school, Why finance (thats what i want to do), How has your experience been working at x and x firms, how did you find a change in work culture between x and x (i switched to a new place recently). what kind of a role do you take in teams, tell about a time when you faced a conflict, how will you contribute to Fuqua, if your friends were to describe you in 3 sentences, what would they say..

Some interesting questions i remember are.. if you had a free day to spend, how would you spend it.. outlook for financial industry in the next 12 months, what was the last book you read and what did you like about it :)

My advice to any prospective Fuqua applicants is to know thyself - know your strengths and weaknesses.. re-read your essays, application, resume.. read up on past interview experiences on Clear Admit and Accepted.. it really helps!

preparing for interviews

so chicago booth got back and said they dont have any alumni interviewers in my country.. seems like it will have to be a phone interview then? as for the fuqua one, its coming up this week, and i still have to really prepare for it well..

fingers crossed...

Interview invites!!

So here goes... I got interview invite from Fuqua last week and am really excited about it! Been reading up a lot on it, and hope it goes well..

On another note, received an interview invite from Chicago Booth just a few minutes ago!! :) The system is acting up and not showing any interviewer in my country...wonder if any one else is facing the same problem? Any tips, people?

My 1st blog

So, i'm new to the world of blogging..have been reading up quite a bit on others' blogs and finally got inspired to try my own!

just some stuff about me and my voyage to an mba :)