Advice sought: Yale R1/R2 interview applicants

I would appreciate if anyone on this community (or reading this blog) who has ever interviewed or been invited to interview at Yale can get back to me.

I would also request fellow applicants who have been invited to other schools, to give me any tips and suggestions they may have for interviews.

A key question which I had been thinking all along(though was never invited to interview before this!) was, what if I am asked:

"How many schools have you applied to?"

Considering that I have applied to 8 schools (5 in R1) and Yale application was submitted in R2- If I am truthful, will it send a wrong impression?

If I lie, do they have a way to figure out?

There is so much going on in the mind now.......I am happy!

Finally....

I don't even know if some of the fellow bloggers remember me or not. It has been a long time since I last wrote a blog entry. But honestly, I had lost the drive after the dismal R1 results.

It would have been unfair though not to update the fraternity about a ray of hope which I just saw.....

.....I have been invited to interview at Yale.

Atleast I have one interview invite which validates that my apps were not that bad after all. With 2+ years of experience, in an IT product development company in India- I had started thinking that this profile has nailed me down.

However, I feel a wee bit positive now. Let's see how things go from here now. Being an eternall pessimist, I am not hoping much :)

BTW- this was my 50th post!

By the way....

....since I came to know that two applicants got their Tuck interview invites in their junk folder, I am focussing more on my junk mails rather than the inbox!!! ;-)

Working on my R2 essays and trying not to think too much....

My research on my R2 schools (Columbia, Ross and Yale) is done and I have started working on the essays silently.

Sometimes it is difficult to stay motivated, when you are anxiously awaiting an interview call and have already had a ding from two univs. Every time you hear about a fellow blogger receiving an interview invite you are happy, but then sad at the same time. "When will I get that much awaited call??" But then is there anything you can do about it?

As a very close friend of mine told my girlfriend- "Tell him to focus on the process and not on the results. Let him give his best and make the process better". I am trying hard to follow this advice. Though, easier said/blogged than done!

Let's see what future has in store!

Something Changed.....

Finally something changed after a long time. The status of my Darden application is now Pending, which basically means that someone in the adcomm is reviewing it. Lets see what lies in store for me at Darden.

I have just started working on my R2 apps after a two week break. Will be applying to Columbia, Yale and Ross. Wish me luck and guys!

Moreover, over the last two weeks my mind has been going through a flurry of emotions. What happens if I don't get through?.......What will be my next step?......Should I go for a safe school?(Neahhh).....What went wrong with Wharton and Chicago?..... etc etc etc. The next 6 months of my life are going to be filled with a lot of uncertainty, lets see how I handle it.

R2 Schools

After the R1 Chicago and Wharton Ding I thought for once to go for some safety schools. But then, what the hell! I don't want to. I definitely don't want to go to a school where I won't be happy or will always regret the fact that I joined. I know its a risk, but one which I want to take.

My original list of R2 schools had Stanford and Columbia. I am really not sure about Stanford though now, but am still contemplating. After some research I have also decided to add Yale to my list. Though it has a small class size and not in the same league as H/W/S....., its a great school. Moreover, it offers loan upto the full cost of attendance to internationals. A lil more research and I will finalise the school.

If someone in our blogger community has any inputs on Yale do let me know.

Tuck Application Update

Just saw that my Tuck application has gone complete. 3 Rec's recieved, official score recieved, transcripts recieved etc etc etc.........Hope vidi is also on the same boat now :)