It Begins.......

I have landed in Singapore and somewhere in the middle of lugging my 8 bags and eating my first breakfast in Singi I realised how the world has suddenly changed. How one decision to join INSEAD has changed the course of my life. I now know it’s right when they say you have the power to write your own destiny. I guess I am rewriting mine and it feels good.

This is my first time in Singapore and what hit me immediately is how streamlined the whole city is. Everything from the buildings to the trees are well aligned and colour coordinated. It’s almost sterile and it seems the govt. even plans the distance between two wild bushes and the time between two bird cries. The fact is its amazingly green and has ample space for one to run, walk or cycle which is superb and I am loving my morning runs.

Weather is humid and my first trip to INSEAD which is a 10 minute walk ended up with me being drenched and exhausted after which I decided to tuck away all my denims and shop for some cargo shorts because that’s the way life is gonna be here it seems.

I am spending most of my time between trying to go through the pre-readings and exploring cheap food courts which don’t just serve ox tongue and frog legs. I would have to admit that I haven’t really succeeded in any one of the above .I have also discovered the symbiotic relationship between good chicken meals and pre-readings. I push myself to study for 2 hours so that I can go find the perfect chicken meal and eating a good chicken meal keeps me motivated enough to get back and study for another 2 hours.

The time when I am not on an expedition to find food I am in the superb pool at Heritage with my lovely wife Priyanka or outside of the pool having beers with my new classmates who live in the same building. I know this time is short lived and soon we all will take a deep dive in to the world of cases and assignments but till then it’s all about food, beers, pool, attempts on pre-readings and quality time with my Priyanka.

pre-reads vs pre-meets & pre-eats.

Almost 30 days back I took printouts of the pre-readings. I think I am still old school when it comes to reading books and making notes. The so called pre readings were more than what I think I studied in my three years of graduation. I wasn’t bogged down by the sheer number of pages and decided to take up the challenge .My first attempt lasted 7 minutes after which I slept flat on my papers. 2nd 3rd and 4th attempt took me to 20 minutes at a stretch and I was already brimming with confidence and feeling enlightened when my head started thinking of what all I need to pack , who all I need to meet and what all I need to eat.

It’s been a month since that day and the pre-meetings have taken over the pre-readings. Indian goodbyes are world famous in India and can extend beyond imagination. I have had 3 or more farewells with the same set of friends and relatives in the past 1 month. I have just finished a cross country trip meeting my extended family making sure everyone gets to meet the dark horse of the family who is gonna win the race one day. In the past one month I also prayed to /visited all the Gods and Goddesses to make sure I have a bright future read dean’s list and a signing bonus. The goodbyes are still on and I am currently making a list of people who are coming to drop me and Priyanka at the airport on the back of my corporate finance book, it stands at 10 on the last count and is increasing by the hour.

All these pre meetings over the past one month came with a lot of love and love in India is equal to butter chicken, butter paneer and butter nan all of which has added massively to my waistline. The amount of Indian food I have eaten in the past 1 month could have fed an entire village but I went on till my stomach gave up. The only time I took a break from food was when I was drinking good old whiskey with my chuddy buddies who patiently heard all my stories about INSEAD, about how great the school is, about how smart my future classmates are, about how cool the national weeks are etc.

It’s been a month of goodbyes and food and right now emotions are running super high in my head along with whiskey and butter in my blood. I hate to admit it but I knew that I might never meet some of the people I said goodbyes to so I made sure I met everyone who mattered to me before I took the giant leap.

Even though I have to slog my ass now to complete my pre readings I am happy that I prioritised pre meetings over pre readings and hugged & kissed everyone I love. Anyways micro economics never stood a chance against good old whiskey and butter chicken.

MBA APPLICATION : TIME MANAGEMENT

Most of the aspiring MBA applicants are surprised when I tell them that I started my Application process in Feb 2011 for the MBA batch which starts in August 2012.Thats almost 18 months. I think one of the most important ingredients which will help you securing admission in the college you like is time management.

Most applicants use the tackle one at a time approach so GMAT is the priority and most spend months studying for GMAT then comes applications and essays and in the end is the interviews. This approach is not entirely wrong if you have timed yourself well .Timing is everything and you need to make sure you have enough time for each of the above.

School Selection: 2 month at least: Please don’t be part of a RAT race in selecting your college. Just because you are in INDIA, ISB doesn’t become the best school for you or just because Havard tops all MBA ranking it’s not the best value for you. It’s important to recognise the set of right colleges which fit your criteria and bill. Research online, attend the info sessions if you can, talk to aluminise. (Refer to my post on college selection)

GMAT: 5 Months: It’s not a difficult exam and is more about common sense and skills rather than theory, calculus or advanced statistics. Join a prep program immediately and give the exams when in top form. Leave enough time for a second attempt.

Application: 1-2 month per school: Writing good about yourself is the most difficult thing in the world and if you are the kinds who take a week to write your CV you better budget a lot of time to each essay. There would be overlaps in essay but every school is looking for a different you. You need more time if you have more schools simple.

Interviews: Prepare in advance:you will get about between 10 days to a month for interviews but if you have applied to multiple schools the interviews would fall in the same month. So its better to prepare certain key questions in advance.

Financing and scholarships: 6 Months – 1 year: In case of INSEAD you can apply for 5 scholarships and a good scholarship essays would take time like your application essays. Financing you MBA can be the most difficult and sometimes harrowing experiences especially if you are in INDIA and don’t want to spend your parents hard earned money. You need to arrange for appx 75 lakh Indian Rupees and only you know how much time you would take to arrange for the same.
So if you are looking at the batch starting August 2014 you need to start in Jan 2013 Max.

I will detail more on each of these important factors in my upcoming posts

INSEAD ALL THE WAY

It was my last day in Delhi and yes it was a little heavy leaving the city which has given me so much and made me the man I am . However its nothing compared to the excitement and anxiety of starting my life at INSEAD. It feels almost like I have gained independence from all the shackles which were holding me from my ultimate flight to glory. It seems like my life now on will always have two eras pre INSEAD and post INSEAD.

The coveted INSEAD experience which all the alumni spoke about in my interviews actually starts from the day you get your interview calls. You meet in most cases two INSEAD Alumni who are assigned as per your level of seniority and your field of experience. In my case I was interviewed by the CEO of SAP INDIA and the MD of Arcelor Mittal India. Both of them were leaders in their field and need less to say super busy but I could see the same passion and pride in their eyes for INSEAD and they made sure that they spent enough time to select the right people who will be added to their alma matter. One of them loved the INSEAD experience so much that he went twice once as a student and once as a partner. From the moment I finished my interviews I had this urge of getting connected to and be a part of this super powerful cult of INSEAD alumni’s and my prayers begin.

It was early November when I got a selection mail from KELLOGG one of the other two schools I had applied to. I was super excited however I wanted INSEAD as if something karmic was pulling me towards INSEAD. Next day morning HANNY ( my contact at INSEAD) called me and I knew it that I had made it to the league of extraordinary men and women.

Ever since that super day it’s been a joyride. Followed by the call you get a starters kit which explains the steps you need to follow, things you need to do over the next 6 months. Most importantly you get your password for MBACONNECT which is like an all in one platform for all students before and during their programme. Though MBA CONNECT was great in terms of the info it provided it was a little limited in terms of the social connect. I felt like connecting to all my batch mates and went ahead created a facebook group for my class. The best abrupt decision I took, the group exploded and now has over 550 students. All of us have been interacting every day, making travel plans, sharing info about almost everything under the sun. There are meets planned all across the world and I have already met most of the students going from DELHI

The energy is unbelievably addictive. Every day I eat , drink , sleep and dream INSEAD. Every day I think about my life at and after INSEAD. Every day I feel that I have become part of a select group of super achievers from every single country I have ever heard off. Every day I feel that I along with my 500 super smart, creative, collaborative mates am gonna change the world. Every day I dream of the spectacular year that’s gonna start in about 20 days …Its INSEAD all the way.