Why is writing about yourself so time consuming?

I was just wondering that is it only me or everyone on the MBA apps boat is going through it? When I start writing, time flies by so quickly. Before I know, couple of hours have gone by and I have ended up writing just 200-250 words :(

Is this happening only to me? I think and think and think and think.....and then end up writing a few sentences. Then, I keep staring at what I wrote and somehow it does not seem right. I end up restructuring or rewording the same thought.

Considering the fact that I am just trying to complete a pen picture of my life and am not even down to the essays yet, am I being too hard on myself? Am I trying to be a perfectionist? Or is this the way I am?

Any thoughts or a similar experience??!

Almost done chalking out my whole life on MS word :)

I was supposed to be done with my HBS first draft by this month end (read). There are four more days to go for that and I don't think I will be able to make it! Why do I always miss deadlines?!

Last ten -fifteen days have not been very productive in terms of the actual essays per se. But one good thing which I have been able to accomplish is jotting down all those small stories (which I could think of) from all stages of my life, which I may consider putting in my essays. There is just this aspect of my life, which I am yet to outline, after which I will be all set to actually start writing the essays.

I feel it is really important to first have a sketch of your entire life in front of your eyes, in a document, and then pick and choose from there. Writing down all instances from my life, which I thought maybe worth mentioning in my essays, has added much more clarity to my thoughts.

I plan to finish structuring this one aspect of my life, which is yet to be documented, today and then get going with the actual essays. Wish me best of luck!

Added to Applicant Bloggers List!

Finally, after about a month of blogging on various topics related to my MBA journey, I find my blog listed on Hella's list! It feels good :)

This way I will have the satisfaction that at least someone may benefit from my posts. Moreover I will be able to connect better with fellow applicant bloggers with whom I can share my fears and anxieties along the way.

My Father..My Hero...

I have had this habit of worrying about things all my life. I have done great things in my life. Yes! I will leave modesty apart for sometime :) But the journey to all my achievements has been full of instances when I have completely doubted myself, worried myself sick over so many small and petty issues, and kept pondering over things when I should have been working with single minded devotion and focus.

The week ending today has also been like this. There was something which got into my mind (still is) regarding my MBA apps and I wasted a lot of time thinking of so many hypothetical situations which may result because of this.

Like always I was talking to my dad about my MBA journey and he said what he always tells me. Son, keep one thing in mind- Your essays will come out best when you approach them with an open mind. Worrying about this and that is not going to take you anywhere. My dad has been my ideal throughout my life. And this is not a cliche. He has lived his entire life setting an example for me to follow.

I have never seen him worrying ever. I have seen him handle the most difficult of times with a rock solid attitude and never say die spirit. He told me once, son- I have never shied away from any responsibility in life, whatever challenges life has hurled at me, I have accepted them and tried my best to resolve them. This gives me the maximum satisfaction in life- trust me this is as true as it can get, I have seen him do this all his life.

I was once reading the first interview which management guru Ram Charan gave. He had said that he never expected anything in his life, things just took course, he just kept doing what he liked doing. It immediately reminded me of my dad, today he holds a position of very high responsibility. But I have never seen him worrying about his career. I have never seen him compromising on his values just in order to get a promotion. He is the epitome of integrity and self confidence for me. He has never carried work home and when at home he just does what he likes doing he most, reading or spending time with us. I have never seen him sulking about his work or his responsibilities. I have never seen him weak.

Without giving me extensive lectures but just by leading his life the way HE IS, he has taught me so much.

These essays are just the beginning of a long journey which lies ahead. Is getting an Harvard degree the be all and end all of life? More than an MBA degree from a top B School, what will truly help me in leading a fruitful and complete life is my attitude. It is the attitude of a human being which decides their course in life. It is so easy to write this, but trust me it takes so much more to inculcate some of the virtues which I have talked about above.

Dad, you are my idol!

Anything but satisfied.....

Last few days have been really a waste in terms of my MBA apps. There were some other things going on and I have been unable to focus on my HBS essays. I was supposed to start the first draft of my HBS essays yesterday night, but could not.

Today also I am sitting in office with nothing much to do, but I can't leave since I have a call with a senior manager in the US. Man, that's the reason why attrition is so high in the software industry!

I REALLY need to speed up now. I have set this month end as the target for completing my HBS first draft. Lets see how it goes. To add to the woes, I have to travel this weekend :(

Its all about being yourself!

I have been reading a lot of articles/blogs of B School students from the top schools lately. One common message which I could extract from all of them is that- It pays to be who you are.

From your essays during the application process to your time spend at school, what really matters is that you be yourself. I have decided one thing for sure. In my essays I am going to be myself.

People have loved me always for my enthusiasm and energy. Friends and superiors like me for my passion and commitment. Juniors from college and subordinates at work love me for my sensitivity and willingness to help others. My ex managing director feels that I am destined to do well in life. So many people have faith in me...there has to be something about ME??

As my father says...if the B-Schools do not select me, it is their loss, not mine!!

Interesting outcome of conversation- Why so much fuss about GOALS??

Day before yesterday I was having a talk with a HBS alumni. He also happened to be in the ad comm during his school days.

He told me something which is REALLY interesting and contrary to popular belief. I was telling him that I really don't know what my long term career goal is and am worried that how will I handle it in my essays. I was worried primarily because my research from various sources always pointed me to- Dude, you need to have your goals absolutely clear! Ad comms are looking for candidates who demonstrate utmost clarity about their future.

He told me that it is ABSOLUTELY normal if you don't know for sure what do you want to do in the long run. Even if you have some clue but do not know the HOW, its fine. It is okay to mention this in your essays as well.

In fact this had to be true. I don't know why everyone focuses on the GOALS so much. I agree that you need to have a rough picture about where you want to land after an MBA, but being crystal clear is not every ones cup of cake. It is a fact that a majority of B School students do not know initially what they want to do . But still everyone creates a fuss about goals.

After all most of us want to do an MBA to switch careers and to find out our calling. B Schools are supposed to clear the dust and make you think hard as to where do you truly belong .

What did I do this week...

This week was a really busy one for me. Other than finishing those career related questions on Monday, reading a few pages from the Montauk Book, thinking a little more about my short term and long term career goals and random reading on a few forums and applicant blogs I did pretty much nothing substantial.

One of the reasons for this is that I was extremely busy at work as well as in preparations of a skit competition in which I participated. The best part is that my team won!! The feeling was just so amazing, specially so because a lot of other teams had put up a good fight as well. Such small accomplishments add so much more meaning to your life and the learning which you get cannot be taught in any book.

This makes the weekend really crucial for me. I really need to wrap up a lot of things before I get cracking on the actual essays. I really am running late :(

Got my Richard Montauk Book!

I had ordered this book a week back. Finally it is in front of my eyes, as I type this. I just got it this evening. I have heard only good things about this book and I definitely don't want to miss out on reading it!!

The only thing which is worrying me is its size. Its really thick. Now, since I am planning to apply to 4 schools in R1, I have a time crunch. But what the heck! I don't want to be impatient, what if I am not able to apply to all schools in R1? I will defer some to R2. After all R1 and R2 hardly make a difference.

I don't wanna apply just to satisfy my ego! I will do so only when I feel I am there.

Finished answering the career questions

I finally finished writing the answers to the career related questions which I had been trying to answer for a long time. Sunday was when I started making bullet points and then connected the dots last night to at least come up with something.

I have sent it to the good Samaritan who has agreed to review it. These questions I had asked myself are not directly part of any essay questions for any of the universities I plan to apply. However I was really keen to find answers to them so that I have some clue as to what have I been doing at work. Writing things down really helps clear your mind and you have at least something on paper.

I am not worried much about my career progression, rather I am more worried about what I am doing at work. Being from the IT industry you really have to think hard on how to make your work sound interesting. I am happy at having completed my first written exercise!

A valuable lesson learnt

Today I was going through the blog of an applicant from last year who got into HBS and Stanford. One thing which came out clearly from her experience was that being honest and YOURSELF matters the most.

You may try and be someone else but then your thoughts will flow best when you just be what you are in those essays. I mean after all it is important to enjoy the whole process, which I am sure all of us will, if we just be who we are. This way at the end of the journey we can look back at our essays and learn a great deal from them about ourselves.

After all how many times will we get an opportunity to do the post mortem of our entire life?!

Notes from a long talk with a Wharton Graduate.

Around a week back I had this long conversation with a Wharton Graduate, who happens to be an alumni of my college. I am just pasting my rough notes from that call.

· Most of the people do an MBA for switching careers. So not having a major in that subject does not matter much. It may matter though for streams like finance.
· HBS specializes in Strategy. People do a set of courses which are across different areas of business. Thus, it touches all aspects of business.
· Wharton looks at a little higher work experience as compared to HBS and some other schools.
· Wharton looks for candidates who are intellectually strong. Have a vision about where they are headed, have a solid work experience and have the ability to contribute to the society.
· For people looking at a career in Biz Dev and marketing the bigger issue is not that you don’t have relevant work experience but, how much knowledge of the market(in which you are gonna work after graduation) you have?

Hope it helps some fellow applicants.

Sunday morning..running behind schedule...

I was supposed to finish this task yesterday itself...I am a day behind schedule :(

One crucial piece in my application would be my career progression. Since I have less than average work experience, I need to handle this part intelligently. Moreover being from the IT industry my responses need to be clear, concise, unique( I need to find the uniqueness somehow!!) and I cannot afford to take the generic route.

Now though the above is good to read, trust me when I start thinking of what I am gonna write, I can't think of the right words. Hmm..the solution.. I need to have answer some basic questions which will clear my thoughts , give me direction. I need to have the answers to the following on paper( MS Word!) by tonight.

• What are my job responsibilities/ What do I do at work?
• How does it fit into the bigger picture of my company?
• How/Why is this role crucial/important for the company?

If I am able to have a rough draft at least by end of day today, I would be delighted. Someone who I have known for around a couple of years now and is a big shot in my industry has agreed to review the answers to these and fine tune them. Thanks to all the good samaritans who will be guiding me in my journey.

Target Schools

As with all decisions in my life I have been really confused in deciding what schools to target in the first round! As of now I think I would be applying to 7-8 schools split between R1 and R2.

My confusion was that whether I should be applying to all schools I REALLY wanna attend in R1 itself or split it over 2 rounds! I have finally taken the decision....I guess?! I will be going for all my dream schools in R1.

• HBS
• Stanford
• Wharton
• Chicago

Unike many other applicants, my school choice is solely based on gut feeling! Yes, I have done my share of research, going through websites, forums..etc etc etc. But in the end what I noticed was that if you are aiming for any of the following as a career, you will definitely find all "TOP/GOOD(read top 15!)" schools interesting:

• Consulting
• Finance
• General Management/Strategy

The only school which I didn't find somehow, as they say, a "FIT" was Kellog. I could infer from their website that they are too formal for me! And I did not find them encouraging candidates with lesser work experience.

Other than the schools I have talked about above, there are some others which are in my mind. I would finalise on some of them as I progress in my journey. These are:

• Darden
• Tuck
• Duke
• MIT-Sloan
• INSEAD

As I progress in my journey, some of these choices may change and I will definitely keep everyone posted.

Who are you?

This is the first question which fellow/future applicants want to have an answer to. Well as with most other applicants, I would prefer not to disclose my name or the company which I work for!

A little more about me follows:

• I am from the largest demographic pool of applicants.....Bingo!! You guessed it right. Male-Indian-IT
• To add to it, I have less than the average work experience in most B- Schools. Though I take my lesser years of work-ex as an advantage considering the fact that a lot of B -Schools these days prefer younger candidates. But again, do I have a choice if I am not positive about it?!!
• I have a 700+ GMAT score, atleast that is out of the way. Enough for schools not to reject me based on GMAT alone.
• I plan to apply to the top US B-Schools in R1 and R2.

Thats pretty much it about me in a nutshell.

Finally the decision is made....

After a lot of thoughts went into... To blog or Not to blog about my entire MBA applications journey, I have taken the decision in favour of "TO". I was not very sure whether I want to BLOG it out, but then as my research started, I thought I would be a fool not to . Why?? Here it goes:

• I know it is going to be one hell of an experience , something which I would want to look back and smile at, learn from and maybe, be proud of myself someday.
• To clear my thoughts and track my progress. I strongly feel that writing down your mind makes it a lot lighter and focused.
• Thirdly and lastly since I myself have received a lot of help from applicant blogs of previous years, I feel that my 2 cents MAY turn out to be useful for some.

I will make it a point not to be very long in my posts as I have felt often that somewhere along the line people loose focus in longer posts. Lemme see if I am able to stick to it in future posts!!