The countdown begins!!

8 more days to go before the D-day.. companies are already scheduled with their slots, you know which companies you have applied to.. the only thing remains is the shortlist.. once thats out, you can at least gauge when you will be done with the biggest thing you pursued an MBA for.. at least I would know.. :)

The next post now will be with the details of all the interviews I did and the ones I was able to convert.. so bite your nails, like I am doing and be ready for a thumping victory post from me.. ;)

87.5% MBA!!

Back after a sabbatical!!... :) Yeah today I am 87.5% MBA.. just one more term to go and I can call myself an MBA from ISB.. WOW!!... :) But I think it would be even better if I have a tag of a good job along with it.. and how many more days to go for that? Just 8 more days.. can you beat that? 8 more days and we would see the academic center buzzing with students right from the wee hours.. that would be sight which was missing since the core terms.. the only difference this time would be that students would be dressed with "white color" attire.. :)

Next term, we expect it to be one of the most chilled out terms.. if the profs allow it to be like that... :) I have picked up courses like Retailing, Negotiation Analysis, Global Issues in IT Management and Strategies for Success in Web 2.0 ..sounds interesting.. lets hope they are.. Tried to pick courses which have the minimum amount of work through the term but found none.. :( :) :.. Anyways.. I am ready to take the last term head on, knowing thats its the last one!!.. :)

75% MBA

Here I come again, with another post on me reaching one of the milestone of being a complete MBA!! Today I was done with my last exam, Evaluating Technology Investments. I dont know about investments in technology but it definitely reminded me of the investment I have done of coming to ISB, giving up one year of experience and the money that I could have earned.. not to forget the loan for paying the fees here.. :) And time has come for me to make sure all these investments bear fruit.. yeah placements.. this word has ruled my posts for some months now.. and now its just a month more when we would have almost a clear picture as to where we are headed..

When it started off 8 months back.. I was like... will this be the kinda life I will spend for the next few months.. will I survive? But then as its said "practice makes a man perfect".. in my case, if not perfect, it has definitely made me a "dont-bother never-mind I will reach where I want to" guy.. :) and guess what.. I am still one of those "75% MBA" guys.. ;)

7th term begins!!

Our second last term begins on Monday and fortunately for all of us, almost all courses have been done away with the end term exams for this term. This would ensure that all of us will have at least a week then before taking on the placements head on.. I wonder how it would be then.. I mean the excitement in the air, mixed with sad and happy emotions.. dont know about others but I am definitely looking for those tense nail biting moments.. sitting outside the interview room waiting for your turn to get screwed.. :)

I hope all of us are placed well and at jobs that we wanted at the end of it.. 8th term would be so easier then.. almost every one around has made plans of just chilling out for that term.. I am so very looking forward to playing cricket every day in the front lawns of my student village... laze around in the shades of the founders lounge.. wow!!.. :) I hope we do get time to do all that after toiling so hard in the last few months.. :)

So yeah... we are reaching the end of one of the finest years of our lives.. and a great job would just add a bucket full of sugar on it!!

Marching towards 2007!!

Christmas eve celebrated... Annual Alumni meet, Solstice 2006 celebrated.. what remains? The new years eve.. but what will you find me doing? Studying for my 6th end term exams.. :) But no qualms.. why? Because I will mostly be on my way to make every new year to follow a memorable one with the kind of job I will probably get.. I mean I at least hope it to be that way.. :)

What do I see in retrospect? 6 terms at ISB.. added with 3 months at Infosys.. the ecstacy of at last making it to ISB after 3 years of following this institute.. the feeling I had when I finally got a mail which mentioned that I have been moved to the "admit" list from the "waitlist".. the response I got from so many of my friends whom I had pestered over these three years about me doing an MBA... the feeling on entering the campus of this grand institute.. the 6 terms of hard fought battle with assignments, projects, presentations, workshops, seminars, guest lectures, classes etc etc.. the new friends I made here and who will remain dear to me for years to follow..

What do I see in near future? One main final battle still remains.. the placements.. two more "xerox" terms remain.. though I feel it will be lighter than before.. then the grand day of graduation, will be ready to throw the hat in the air.. :).. then the first day at the new job.. the reputation of being an ISB grad.. all this awaits.. and how excited I am to take it on.. so here is a heart warming, bear hugging welcome to the year 2007!!... ROCK ON!!.. :)

Team ISB Cricket!!

This is the email alias we have for the official ISB cricket team... and we played, most probably, our last match on 16th December against Virtusa. We won it, though I wont say comfortably.. after all we should at least behave the way our Indian cricket team does.. try and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.. but seems defeat defeated us after all and we managed to win.. :)

I used the word "most probably" because we could not make it to the next round and with placements coming up in the next month.. the students wont be able to participate in the tourneys for another 2 months.. come March, we would have just one more month at the ISB and no tourney gets over in just one month.. so theoritically, it was our last match as part of the ISB cricket team..

Added to other things that ISB offered, I really am thankful for they had this official cricket team.. I could not have imagined a year without playing cricket.. and ISB didnt let me down.. :) The moments on the ground.. playing under floodlights on a field that could not have been any greener.. it was an experience I was not expecting at all when I joined ISB.. the fun of still going for a match with your end term exams hanging over your head for the next day.. but then after the exams feeling that it was a good decision to go for the match as any amount of preparation for the exam would not have helped... All these things were some things I would have to take another life for experiencing.. as I dont think I am in the mood of doing another MBA in this life of mine.. :D

So ya.. I had to write a word for the contribution cricket has done to my life here at ISB.. HAIL CRICKET!!.. :)

PAEV comes to an interesting end!!

If you have been a frequent reader of this blog, you would have observed that there was one post which talked about this elective course we had, PAEV (Planning an Entrepreneurial Venture). I had taken it up as I felt this would give me a holistic view of planning, launching and running a new business. While on the journey to finish this course, we experienced a lot of hurdles.. not the traditional ones that one would expect in launching a new business...these hurdles were of a different kind. These were the assignments, presentations, projects we had for the other courses we had taken. We had to literally pull time out of our schedules to prepare a good business plan. I had Sonali and Anshul, my ever dependable friends to give me company of this journey.

Finally last week we were done with the final submission of our business plan and heaved a sigh of relief. Not because we didnt like the course but because one load was off our shoulders.. :) But then came the testing times, we were fortunately or unfortunately shortlisted for the ISB B-Plan Competition, where in you are mechanically made to volunteer yourself as you had taken the course. With over 4 assignments to take care of over the weekend, we were a bit scared to devote the whole of Saturday into this. We made some stupid excuses to our dear Professor and he picked those up quite brilliantly, leaving us high and dry, and at the mercy of the judges for the semifinals on Saturday morning.

Then came the prime time with the "Escapades!" team (yeah that was our team and project name) standing in front of the judges giving a 10 minute presentation, only to find out that they could not finish their presentation within the stipulated time.. :) They didnt know whether to be happy or sad.. happy because this might have saved them half a day and sad because there was this opportunity to gain some satisfaction for the effort gone into it in past 3 months. The results for the finals were declared by Dr. Nicholas Burns, Undersecretary of United States for Political Affairs. To our surprise and shock, our name was called out 4th from the 9 finalists.. the expression on our faces was worth watching with all of us standing with gaping mouths and clapping for ourselves.. :) The finals went well with us finishing the presentation in time but we didnt bag the final top 3 slots.. we werent sad.. it was a really rewarding experience for the effort which lasted over 3 terms. I would say the experience was really worth it.. and I am sure my colleagues would definitely agree to it!!.. :) A satisfying end to the course, I must say!!

Media Conclave just around the corner..

The most awaited event of the past few months is happening at last.. the Media Conclave.. the first time at ISB. Why was it most awaited for me? Because it was eating up a lot of time from our schedule and we wanted to get done with it soon so that we are relieved.. ;) Kidding.. it was and is fun to organize these events as you to get in touch the YOU-KNOW-WHOS of the industry and its further exciting when you do receive replies from them showing interest. This is what the ISB tag can do.. help you in having people lend their ears and eyes to hear and see about what you have for them... :)

Now why this mail about the Media Conclave? Do you think I would write a blog about something I am not involved with? .. :D I am also one of the organizers for this conclave and we have top shots arriving for this one. You can just visit http://isb.edu/mediaconclave and find out more about it. Once the conclave is over, you will find more about the happenings on the day of the event in the ISB home page in the news section.. :) Catch ya all soon.. :)

62.5% MBA

I am done with my EGGJAMS!!! Done with it yesterday and ESPN had a perfect thing set up for me for the evening of the last day of my exams.. but guess what.. The Indian Cricket Team had other plans.. they managed to pull out an excellent defeat.. :) a disgusting one to be precise.. :) I think the ISB cricket team would have played better.. ;)

There are folks who have their exams going on till Friday but the question is "Am I bothered?".. I am not because I am done.. Next term starts on Monday.. and I have just two courses lined up as of now as I managed to get just 2 out of the 5 courses I bid for.. :) Will get more once the term starts, and now dont ask me why and how? The course selection and bidding for the elective terms is something you will understand more when you are at the warfront here to experience it. So me mentioning that I will be able to rope in two more courses once the term starts should be enough information to convince you that the system is good.. :)

So nows whats coming up? Chill out for today and tomorrow.. watch DHOOM 2... Man I want to watch this and Casino Royale as well.. lets see how it goes. Saturday is the day we play the third cricket match of another Corporate Cricket tourney, so YEEYYY it will be cricket again after two weeks.. :) Sunday evening, I am planning to again try and cheer up our forlorn India team against South Africa.. exciting weekend isnt it?.. :) I am excited, arent you?.. :P

International placement interviews kick off

The placements have started off with a good note.. much earlier than last year.. and the recruiters are impressed. The scene around is also looking good.. applicants are positive.. most of them have decided where to go and where they are headed to. The scene as I remember at the start of the year was completely different. So many confused faces.. questions like "Do I know where to go?" were quite prominent on everyones face. But now its settled in, sunk in that "this is it".. "this is where I need to go"..

Believe me, the stress of finding out that you are confused, is much more than any of the course that ISB can offer you. Moreover it gets worse when people around you fake that they are completely decided on their fate and they have it control.. and you are like.. "WHAT THE HECK? Am I the only one?".. only to find out later in the year that those same people are running haywire applying to all possible companies.. and you are the one choosing which company you want to go into.. :) So the gist.. if you are a prospective MBA candidate -

If you have decided where to go and are too sure about it, great!! Really great!! Hats off!!
If you are confused (which was the state of most of us here), just make yourself believe something till the interview is over and then start off with your MBA. The initial few months that you spend at the school will make you find out what you are made for.. :) Overly planned people will be there around you, but this is no reason for you to be psyched about. Just chill and time will come when you will find out what to do.. :)

Locking Supply to your Craving Mind..

This is the name of one of the courses I have taken.. :) To make it simple, its Logistics and Supply Chain Management.. :) no qualms about taking this course and no one to blame but yeah its one of the toughest courses I have learnt. When I say learnt, I am questioning myself here as I am still to figure out what it is.. ;) Its so heavy.. even after my friends and alums telling me that the course is heavy, I ended up taking the plunge.. Now that I have, I will have to make sure I make the most of it.

The reason for the naming the post the way I have is because the assignments for this course are time consuming that I have ended up staring at the ceiling while trying to catch a wink.. what do you expect me to do when I get in to bed at 6am in the morning and have to wake up at 7 for a class at 8.. :)

All said and done, the course is good, if at all I had more time to give to it.. :) Makes me look at any "operation" happening around and wonder if there is anything that can be done to improve it.. ;) Thats what ISB does to you... adds perspective.. :)

That time of the year again..

Its that time of the year again... when you keenly look into your inboxes to check if you have been shortlisted for the ISB interview. Now its been 3 years I have been a part the isb-pgp yahoo groups. First year as a rejected applicant, second year as a waitlisted applicant and now third year as a student.

I am aware of the exact emotions you feel during such a phase. Helpless.. you have submitted your application and just waiting with your fingers crossed for first of the special emailes to arrive in your inbox. The interview invite email.. every day, you end up checking your inbox at least 10 times to find out if its there, seeing some others get invites on the group, you end up calling your friend in the current batch who is busy with the tight schedule.. he suggests you to get in touch with the admissions department, you end up calling them just to find out that the interview invites for your city is yet to be sent. You are also told about the date they will start sending the invites for your city. Still this does not make you stop checking your inbox frequently..

The emotions on the yahoo groups reaches different levels. People receiving invites bombard rest of the applicants with the good news, some who didnt receive any mail after being from the same city feel that they have lost the battle... But friends its not the case.. who can tell you better than me who got in after trying a couple of years. It will definitely bore a fruit.. just be patient, work on your profile.. dont just sit for a year and apply again.. be positive and you will definitely make it. For those who have received invites, best of luck and be sure to crack the interview. Be prepared with your own application .. :) let the dice roll!!