New beginning - 2008

Today I spoke with my PM and told him that I have got a reject this time.

He asked me for onsite but I told him that I m planning to take exams this year too and have asked for a short term for 2 or 3 months.

Seems there is no short term in the near future. So got to sit in my current co for some more time.

I will be into a new project by May first week and based on the nature of the project I am going to get into, I got to decide whether to quit my co. change to BA role or Continue the same..

Meanwhile I'm planning to do some of the following in the immediate future...

· Learn Car driving so that I can come out in my car on all the Sundays

· Join a good gym..

· Start GMAT prep and subsequently start my second innings for CAT

· Might apply for the post of a part time faculty in any of the CAT coaching institutes in Chennai. Don’t know whether this will work out but gonno try

· Continue my NGO tuition for this yr too...

· Read a lot of books (non-fiction) - a thing I gave up last September due to my prep.

It’s really imperiling to think about leading the same life for one more yr and try to get into a B school one more time missing all the good opportunities at my work place. But a dream is a dream and I don’t want to give up easily. So thought of keeping me occupied with other activities like these mentioned above.

End of 2007 exam season..(Almost)

SP Jain Mumbai result is out..I didnt get selected in the main list..
Waiting list will be out by tuesday night...Even though I am not very positive of making it in that list I would be very happy if that happens..

So its almost the end of this season..It started last April when I joined TIME for a full-time class room coaching on 04-Apr-2007..and now after an yr of hard work...2 calls and zero convert..
But the past 12 months had really been a value add in my life by teaching me a lot of "life lessons", lots of improvement on a personal front, lot of new friends esp thro PaGaLGuY..esp the BBLT and Chennai PG junta and above all it has introduced me to ppl like Prem_Ravi (One of my life's inspiration), Hameed and George (Both of whom were there with me during the ups and downs of the 2007 MBA season)..
I now know what I want to do in life and where my passion lies..So I dont repent for whatever I did and whatever opportunities and fun i missed during this one yr..(opportunities @ my work place and fun with frnds)

Anyway getting into a B school in India is not an easy thing for an avg/above avg guy like me and its just that I started late..As I said in one of my previous post I should had started serious preparation rite after I passed out of Engg.

I have made up my mind to take CAT again and this time along with GMAT...

THE FIGHT CONTINUES...

P.S. I am even thinking about shifting company or getting into a Business Analyst/Consultant role in my present organization in the near future..Got to think and decide after my mind comes out of this shock..

SP Jain Dubai Singapore GD-PI Experience (2008)

Had my SPJCM GD-PI on 08-Mar-2008 at 1.00pm..@ SPJIMR Mumbai

Specialization: Information Technology Management
Work ex - 2 yrs and 7 months in IT industry

Result: Was not called for the Dean's interview.

Round 1: All the 1pm batch guys assembled in a class room and we wrote 3 essays.
First sheet had 2 "personal question kind" essays and we got to complete both of them in 20 mins..each should not exceed 100 words.

Second had a case study and not everybody in our batch got the same case. We had 20 mins for writing a case analysis

My topic was about companies getting into financial irregularities and how I am going to make sure my company doesn't get into one if I am the CEO

After that we had to submit xerox copies of the following.

• Interview call letter
• SSC Mark sheet
• HSC Mark sheet
• Grad mark sheet and degree certificate
• PG mark sheet and degree certificate (If any)
• Work-ex related docs
• Scorecard details..(CAT/GMAT)
• Self-addressed stickers

Round 2: Group Discussion.

Our 1pm batch of 30odd ppl and we were split into groups of 7-8 members after round 1. We had our GD with that grp.
My topic was..Mother Theresa, Albert Einstein and Bill Gates..whom do u select for the Nobel prize of the millennium

We gave a good start but soon it turned in a fish market kind..then one girl pitched in and kinda moderated saying that each n everyone of us will speak out their views in order..(So finally it was not like a GD)

Round 3:

After GD we had our Xeroxes verified with our originals..so you got to take the originals also
Then we were called for the interview..

For me the questions were fully on my work ex...

• It started with why MBA
• What after MBA
• What is consulting..(I had applied for IT and i said i want to get into consulting after an MBA)
• How do u think that this 1 yr course will make you a consultant
• What a consultant will do
• Whats ur dream consulting company
• What is an ERP
• What is SAP
• Difference between SAP and Oracle ERP
• Then i was given some case study kind Q..where there s a manufacturing co and there is a business problem..i need to choose between various ERPs for their problem..(Man how do i know all these things...)
• Main problems a company faces when it implement ERPs
• What are the disadvantages of going for an ERP
• Whats my role in my current project in my company

Result:

After that I was asked to check my status after 20 mins.
I came and asked..n gosh..I was not called for the Dean's interview.

My interview went very well that I thought that I will definitely make it...and all the ppl who made it from my batch were having 3.5 or 4+ years of work-ex..
Guess my 2.5yrs work ex should had been one of the negatives..

Anyway, I have already made up my mind for CAT 2008 and GMAT..so don mind even if I don convert SP Dubai..

Overall the process took 2-3 hrs complete..(this applies for ppl who were called for the Dean's interview also) but as its indicated in the mail..(Call for interview mail) plan your stuffs assuming that it might take 6 hrs.

SP Jain Mumbai GI Experience (2008)

Name: Raghu
Interview date: 30-Jan-2008 @ 11am.
Cleared first round n ve done well in the second...

Jus one word to describe the process - It was perfect and smooth..no stress

10.00am - Reached SP...there s an engineering and arts college along with SPJIMR...the campus s not the IIM kind dream green campus but it s very good and looked hi-fi....

10.20am - Went for certi verification....since i am from chennai's anna univ my aggregate given in my consolidated mark sheet was from 3rd sem to 8th sem..but i had calculated it from 1st sem onwards.....the first yr student who verified my certis calculated it once again and found that my actual percentage was .5 more than what i had given

She made a note in her notepad .."Good..given XX.0..but actual XX.5"
There were some "data discrepancy " comments also in her book but as far as i know/saw there was no impact on the first round selection cause of this

11.00am - My name was called and me along with 5 others went to the first floor for the interview

11.15am - Interview started
Panel - 1 lady prof and 1 male prof...
Lady prof was super cool..
Male prof was also cool but gave us some occasional stares during the interview

Students - 3 gals and 3 guys...4 marketing, 1 IM (Yours truly) and 1 operations
all the gals were freshers and all the guys had 2plus work ex...one gal was a national level athletic and basketball champion

Questions

• Tell me about yourself - Very important question..the first impression creator
• We were asked to discuss about the movie Chak De..Profs asked us whether everybody had seen the movie..I said i havent and i was the only person in my grp who hadnt seen the movie...anyway added some points from what i had read in newspapers and mags
• Recently there was a fire accident in mumbai and many children were seriously injured because of it..some even lost their lives...this was mainly because the private hospitals care/have more facilities for cardiac problems n others where they can make more money...they dont have enough facilities for burn injuries...if u were a manager and if ur goin to start a hospital and if the situation in that area was like this..what u will do
• What if all the hospitals are govt run..what will happen
• Difference between manager and leader
• SP creates managers or leaders
• Who is your favorite business leader and why..describe something about him
• why MBA and why the specialization
• The athlete gal got some more questions...it was not directed at the grp..individual questions for her
• Would you take foreign placements or Indian placement...why foreign or Indian and why not the other
• Who wants to become an entrepreneur in this gang..and why..
• At the end we asked them a couple of questions.

The End....

Everybody got equal air time and except for the discussion on chak de which was GD like..all the others were very very smooth..

Interview got over by 12pm

1.00pm - Results...4 of us got selected...moi and 3 marketing...unfortunately the athlete gal got rejected...all 6 of us did superbly and only the profs know on what basis they selected 4 and rejected 2...

1.15pm - Had a 7 min psychometric test

2.00pm - Gathered in the registration hall once again after our lunch

2.15pm - Called for my second round interview

2.30pm - Second round started....
Panel - 3 members
Prof 1 - the HOD of the IM department.(Guess i remember it rite)
Prof 2 - Quantitative ability prof
1 First yr student

Students - 3 marketing, 1 IM (yours truly), 1 operations and 1 finance

The panel was super cool and their body language was like "COME ON GUYS LET US SCREW YOU WITH OUR QUESTIONS"

But at the end it was cool...compared to other panels our session was very very cool

Questions

• Tell me about yourself and tell us why SP needs to select you
• What SP will lose if we dont select you
• Which is difficult..selection or elimination and why
• 3 marketing guys got screwed.they were asked why marketing and one gal was asked to sell a water bottle to the panel
• Selecting a bad candidate is ok or rejecting a good candidate is ok
• What you will do when you meet me 6 years down the line at Mumbai airport
• Tell us one good joke

3.30pm - The end of the second round and we took another 50 mins psychometric and personality test.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall picture

They can ask you anything and everything under the sun and even if we dont have an opinion on them..wait for others to speak and give your opinion based on what ppl speak..

Why mba and tell me about urself are almost a give and they are the "First impression" setters

Dont prepare too much by seeing the questions on others experience..go with an open mind and with lots of confidence..you jus have to speak well and be clear in what you want to do and why you want to do it...

I thought of meeting our SP puys Abinav and Prasanna n asked a couple of seniors about their "whereabouts" but seems they were busy with their classes on that day

The day before CAT 2007 and the D Day

On 17th...

Did everything wat a sincere aspirant s expected to do..revised a bit...went to temple..watched a movie...cooled me in whatever way i can and went to bed with lots of confidence..

But alas...didn't get sleep..went to bed at 10.30pm but was awake until 1.30am..finally got some sleep after changing 2-3 rooms and woke up at 6am..

On 18th...

Me and Venky had Vel's college as our center and we use to take all the mocks together..we never worry about anything n use to crack a lot of silly jokes n u can always see us laughing..
we did the same thing on sunday (n it was natural for us) and we were really in good mood..were not tensed..
Wen to the exam hall with a lot of confidence..

DI-QA-VA is my order...

DI

Gave full 50 mins....read all the sets..did 3 questions from 4 sets and didn't attempt one set

Got 11 rite 1 wrong..scored 43

QA

Thought the paper s 2006 like and expected QA to be a bit easier although not as easy as 2006.
Started the usual way...from question to question..but i didn't get first 4 questions..suddenly butterflies started flying inside my stomach..

so i went to the last page of the QA section and started from there...but suddenly i got struck in a 2 question set and spent close to 10 mins in that without any solid progress.

Got tensed...i thought thats the end of CAT 2007...but something in me told me that i m still not lost and i should fight till the end..

Then somehow regained a bit of confidence and started again..identified 8 doable sums and solved them...n moved on to VA

Alas..i ve got many wrong in those 8 and ve got a single digit score...

VA

Was tensed a bit after a bad QA but somehow managed to give my usual AIMCAT like performance
Did 14 questions

Getting something around 25-30 according to various keys..

Anyway the story is over..i didn't prove in QA..thats the end...looking fwd for other exams

CAT 2007 - After effect

2.3 lac wrote this time.....

assumin that 20,000 ppl studied hard workin their ass out for the past 8 months or so and assumin that they are damn sincere...finally only 1600plus are goin to be selected among them

so where will others go..may be another 300 in xlri, fms, iift and other top school..leavin away the A grade and Bplus

will all those ppl take cat again...
can they afford GMAT and the cost of studyin aboard or
will they jus say bye bye to cat..if they say bye bye why did they take cat.. they don ve any dream,...

These are the points that flashed my mind..after checkin my scores and i thought i really got to do something to change this in india...indian educational system sucks...(personal opinion)

Comin on to CAT 2007...

1. ppl said CAT is movin towards reasoning as calculators can do calculations and all CEO and managers ve laptops which comes with built in calculators

2. ppl said IIM wants ppl from all background so they wont make quants very tough as that would be a disadvantage for ppl from non-engineering back ground

3. ppl said CAT is movin towards GMAT and verbal is going to b less of grammar and more of verbal reasoning..(althought this may be rite n 2007 also)

4. ppl said n number of things and i believed in many of the things ppl said..but alas....i don think many of ppls predictions came true....

Hameed's post acted like a flashback for me..IMS class TIME class ..time test series...
I ve been thro all the stages he had mentioned although i was not religious during 2004 and 2006.....
but this time i was doubly sincere n doubly religious..i don know whether i can work harder than this..may be i can but i m not able to say it confidently at this point of time....

My scores

DI - 43
Verbal - 26 to 32..
QA - Single digit

IIM dreams shattered...B schools below IIM no hope with my QA score..

but lookin forward for other exams...i ve all the agony anger aggression n hard emotions still in my heart i don wannu pour it out now...i wannu prove myself in other exams...i wannu prove that HARD WORK PAYS...

WILL STRIKE BACK....I SWEAR..

The Quota Issue

27% reservations in central educations institutes (OBC quota) is the most popular issue that’s rocking the nation for the past few months. When the politicians or the people who support reservations in the Central educational institutes argue about reserving a few seats for the OBC, they create sympathy and argue in such a fashion that they are going to provide these reserved seats to the under privileged and down-trodden. When I hear these words I visualize images of people in rural India or in the slums of big cities, farmers’ sun/daughter, sun and daughter of people who are doing third grade jobs (read jobs that required very less amount of education – no hurt intended) and siblings of people working in the lower grades of the state and the central machinery.

But honestly speaking if the reservations are going to be implemented, are these people going to be benefited? Do these people know that there is a big debate going on for OBC quota? Even if they know about it by some means of the other, do these people really know what’s there in store for them? They might think that the government is doing something for their caste’s benefit but they don’t even know how to go about reaping those benefits. I am not blaming them for their innocence. Solution – The government has to address these issues are the grass root level. They should concentrate more on giving basic education of all the down-trodden. If they really want to do something for them in terms of higher education benefits, they have to take those measures only after imparting the primary skills in them.

So who is going to reap these benefits once its implements? It’s going to be the rich, upper middle class and to some extend the lower middle class in OBC. These people are enjoying the same economic status and same level of awareness as the FCs do. So what’s the point in reserving seats for them? That will be an unfair advantage for them. And it’s difficult to avoid the creamy layer from them. If creamy layer has to be removed then why include only OBC for reservation?

Viewing the same problem from another angle – Will the reservation (If implemented which I think will be done for the next academic year) that we are going to have in IIMs and IITs going to affect the quality of the output from these instititutes? Let’s assume we have 100 seats in IIMX of which 27 seats are reserved for OBC. For these 27 seats close to 50,000 (a lenient estimate of OBC ppl just assumed for this case) people will take CAT. So for one seat close to 1900 ppl will compete. That means less than one percent of ppl are going to be selected. This standard of selecting the top one percent or less is very less compared to the percentage of ppl getting in top US Business schools. So definitely these top percentages of ppl are the most capable and we definitely can’t say that the output is going to be bad when they graduate out after 2 yrs.

To view this issue in an entirely different perspective – IIMs and IITs have to increase their intake sooner than later so sustain the current economic growth of our country. So can this issue act as a blessing in disguise to facilitate increase in seats? If it’s not possible in one go, let them do it in installments. Probably few years down the line we will have more talent coming of these premier institutes.
So whatever are the consequences of the implementation of this quota in central institutes, if it’s given a green signal it will at least increase the number of brains coming out of it every year and at least the increase will happen for all the wrong reasons if not for the right reasons!