After my MS degree, I had plans of working for a few years, and going for a 2 year MBA in the US after that. However, there was one thing running at the back of my mind, and that was, I wanted to gain experience in a country I had not been to…
After my MS degree, I had plans of working for a few years, and going for a 2 year MBA in the US after that. However, there was one thing running at the back of my mind, and that was, I wanted to gain experience in a country I had not been to till that point of time.
As it turned out, I got a great job offer from Intel Malaysia, and there was something about this offer which no job offer in the USA could have promised to me – disciplining myself through the rigors of working at Intel, and at the same time soaking in South East Asian culture which has historically been a potpourri of native, and Chinese, and Indian elements.
After 2 years at Intel, the lure of working in Singapore was enough to urge me to accept an offer at LSI Technologies in Singapore. LSI was not as rigorous as Intel, and hence I started concentrating on taking the GMAT. I was able to notch up a 740 score even though my exam had not gone well owing to personal issues.
Having gotten the GMAT out of my way, I now wanted to move back to India for sometime, and harden myself with some experience in India's competitive work culture. This led me to join Cisco Systems in Bangalore.
Just some time into my innings at Cisco, Singapore called me back again, as Hewlett Packard gave me an offer I could not deny.
It was during my days at HP that I decided I had gathered enough exposure (4 countries to be precise, and 3 Fortune 500's – Intel, Cisco, and Hewlett Packard), for me to get the maximum out of an MBA. And the choice obviously was the one-year degrees because they would not keep me out of the real thing (the industry) for long, and because I was a married man by the time I was applying for MBA's, with responsibilities to shoulder. (One has to take decisions keeping the sum total in mind. It is all about having a great quality of life, and not just a great job or a great degree on one's resume)
The next part of the decision was to choose where to go to school. I chose Europe for two reasons, the first being that I had never worked full time in Europe yet, even though I had worked day in and day out with folks from Europe, meaning I could gain meaningful Europe-exposure by studying in Europe. The second reason was that living in Europe would give me easy opportunities to learn Spanish or German or French language, which would come very handy in the business world.
The last step was narrowing down on the exact candidate universities. This was a complex procedure, and it took me weeks of reading, research, and talking to people of experience to understand what would suit me the best. I browsed through university rankings, saw average GMAT scores required by each one of them, got an estimate of what the total cost of the MBA would be each place, while accounting for the cost of living at each place, and the fact that I would not be able to work while on a full-time MBA, and even toyed with the idea of going with a part-time MBA. Taking into account all the aforementioned criteria and a few more, I was able to arrive at university rankings customized to my requirements, based on how much weight I gave to various criteria. After I came up with the rankings, I was able to shortlist 4 to which I applied.
As it would later turn out, I was selected for interviews by 3 of the 4 schools I had applied to, and finally got admission acceptance letters from 2. I would say my strike rate was high because my focus was laser sharp, and my methodology was scientific. The only art involved in my applications was (to some extent) in the college essays writing part.
I am keen to share this formula for success with my students, and help them ensure they focus all of their energies into making meaningful applications that will strike deep into the hearts of university admission panels.
If you want to know more about this, then come get in touch with us. Just leave a note here, along with your contact details. Or call or email me at +91-95913 31555 or [email protected].
Remember, that making good applications is 95% science and 5% art. With the knowledge that science is something that can be characterized, modeled, and re-modeled, we assure you we can guide you in making the best possible applications. Happy Applying!!!