#whymba

[ayonde]

Why MBA?

Like several many in India, I was an engineer. I set up part of wireless mobile network at Huawei Telecommunications. I started as a Graduate Engineering Trainee and soon was working independently, with minimal supervision and later was leading teams. After working for 2 years in various engineering functions I felt that my job was getting repetitive and wanted to try something new.

It is common knowledge in India that MBA is the key to a better salary, changing functions and becoming a Manager. So I was in the process of taking the Common Admission Test (CAT) and it’s siblings XAT, FMS etc. in 2009. Having appeared for those exams in 2006-07 during my senior year of my engineering undergrad, I wasn’t too hopeful. At the same time I came to know of my seniors who had graduated in a year before in 2006. They recently enrolled into institutes like Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto, Canada and Asian Institute of Management at Philippines, Manilla. I knew about the GMAT exam, but never gave it a serious thought since I never had the money required to pursue a Masters from abroad. My seniors told me that it’s possible to get scholarships based on the GMAT score.

A bulb just lit in my head. “So maybe I’ll crack the GMAT, get a full scholarship, get my MBA and make tons of $$$ - easy!!” I was at 24 and full of hope. I found a used Kaplan GMAT book - erased the pencil marked answers and spent like 2 weeks preparing. I took the GMAT got 600. Not earth shattering and I knew people get into schools with that score. I checked the average GMAT scores under class-profile and most said 550-750. So I believed I was in the ballpark. Since all schools mentioned on their website that they look at candidates holistically and not just the test score, I thought “I will write stellar essays and get through”.

Why do I want to do an MBA? To earn a bucket load of money. Ok, this was simple, but I cannot write that up in my essay. In my essays I wrote that I wanted to pursue a career in Brand Management. I knew very little about marketing as a whole let alone brand management. My experience had no overlap with that business unit. I had no target companies where I would pursue a career post MBA. I had no preference for location. I never cared to connect with anyone working in brand management to learn more. All I really wanted was to make the big bucks. Doesn’t matter how.

I met several people from admission committee (AdCom) during The MBA Tour and QS World MBA. I had good conversations with everyone including Mason School of Business - College of William and Mary. So In addition to Mason, I applied to schools like Kelley at Indiana University, Case Western Reserve in Cleveland, Wake Forest University etc. 

Meanwhile, I retook the GMAT since statistically speaking, people see an improvement of 70 points on their 2nd attempt. First section AWA. Done, next up was Quant. Like most Indian applicants I had little trouble with mathematics so quant is kinda easy. Section over, now comes the Achilles’ heel – Verbal. I knew GMAT was an adaptive test. It was critical for me to get the first few questions correct, otherwise my score will dip. One by one I answered the questions to what I thought was correct. After all it sounded right to my ears when I spoke it in my mind. I mean, I communicated in English just fine! I gave TOEFL without any prep scored 105 off 120. I was taught in English throughout. Heck I was into AC/DC and The Beatles. 

At the end of the exam, I had a choice to see my score and submit or to cancel. My heart was pounding, I was sweating, I was praying for a good score to flash on the screen. What will it be? 650, 680, 720?

610

After the anxiety comes the feeling of dejection. But I had hope. I had good conversation with several AdComs I meet during the MBA fair. I decided to focus on my application. Wrote essays, reached out people for recommendation. Completed and submitted my applications. I was awaiting information on the next steps. I couldn’t sleep well. Was getting up early to check my email since it would be evening in the US when people would have replied.

I was elated to see an Interview invite from College of William & Mary! I suited up at midnight India time for my telephonic interview with Amanda Barth. The interview started well, but during the conversation she asked me “Why do you want to do MBA?” I panicked, words weren’t coming into my mind. I choked and bombed the interview. Few days later, got the result. Denied. Which was a common theme for all my applications – most without even an interview. 

I was devastated. Not only had I spent so much money and effort I lost a year of the admission cycle. I locked myself away from everyone and everything for the next 5 months. I had many questions, “Why do I really want to get an MBA?” “Why do I feel that I have reached a ceiling in my career?” “Why does my job feels repetitive?” Earning money was a byproduct, cannot be the cause.

I reached out to several current students, alumni, AdComs and tried to better understand what makes an MBA student employable at the end of a 2 year program? How is that students come in thinking they would do Finance ends up doing Marketing? Then I slowly started to see myself from skills point of view. What skills do I have now? What skills am I missing for the job that I want to do? The difference is my skill gap. Can the MBA help me bridge that skill gap?

(pic: Ayon talking with Sonja from Hult Business school at QS MBA Tour 2010. Photo published on Education Times, July 12, 2010)

[dhirajsindhiwriting-blog]

Book Review: 23:59:59 - The Journey of Survival in the B-Schools of India by Sadashiv Pradhan | Dhiraj Sindhi

A commendable work done by author!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Favorite Quote from 23:59:59 "If you want something then have the courage to do anything in your power to earn it. There is no right or wrong in this world! Grab it before someone else snatches it from you" Sadashiv Pradhan

[satyambruyat]

Why MBA? 20 reasons to choose MBA. Why MBA is best?

The reason why to choose MBA? As soon as graduation is over, individuals seek a suitable post-graduation course. MBA (Masters in Business Administration) is one of the most post-graduation programs. We have come across many people who jump to get admission in top B-schools, but fail to answer a simple question - Why MBA.

[shineconsultancy-blog]

MBA is just not that easy that people assume. It takes great efforts to execute those studies in real life. #visitus at #website: https://goo.gl/DRpQAcYou 

can also #callus on 022-28928911/22/33

[iluvlasai]

MD to MBA

最近和兩位有興趣申請MBA的醫師聊天，都是主治醫師了。一位在醫學中心，已經在考Gmat了，一位在中型區域醫院，正在思考。很感謝X醫師的筆記，願意把他的記錄分享出來，他希望能給正在思考生涯的醫療從業人員參考。以下是他寫的「共筆」： ======================================= Pre/During/Post-MBA三階段

Pre-MBA的準備 - 學長選校的依據為何？地點？ • 選校的依據：除了學校的ranking之外，還有學校在healthcare相關產業的著墨和經驗（例如：Duke and Wharton在healthcare相關產業著墨就較多） • 學校地點：美國和歐洲

- 歐洲的MBA V.S. 美國MBA？ • 歐洲的MBA大多都是一年制的，的確在時間和成本上較為節省 • 整體⽽言，歐洲相對包容性大（相對於美國目前似乎較為排外的氣氛），不過歐洲⽬目前整體的經濟情勢似乎沒有比美國好，也有可能會進⼀步影響到工作機會 • 不過，以healthcare產業⽽言，歐洲的確有很多公司，對於MD⽽言，也不失為⼀個機會。

- 申請者的年齡是否會對錄取率產⽣生影響呢？ • 會的！有些MBA，像哈佛，史丹佛的平均學⽣生年齡落在26歲，年紀遠⼤於這個族群的確會有影響，但其影響並非絕對。 • 每間學校的學⽣生平均年齡也似乎不太相同，有些學校傾向比較年輕，也有些學校傾向年齡較⼤的申請者。 • 對於MD來來說，由於養成過程較長，的確會遠大於這個range • 但是MD在當屆400⼈人的MIT Sloan中，也只有⼀個（Diversity!!!）

- 該不該找代辦呢？找代辦可以提供什什麼幫忙呢？ • 對於臨床工作繁重的MD來來說，透過代辦的幫忙，主要可以節省時間成本，同時，畢竟隔行如隔山，透過他們的專業協助，較為精準的在essay中呈現出學校想看的內容，修改⾃自己表達⽅方式，讓⾃己的essay看起來來比較出⾊一些。 • BUT!! Essay的內容還是需要自己反覆brain storming和思考，發掘自己有什麼好故事可以說。甚至是接下來來的面試準備，也是得要靠自己多搜集資料，多練習幾次還是有必要的！ • 代辦怎麼選？就很類似⼤大家從⼩到大選補習班一樣，有些⼈看榜單，有些人講求磁場契合，多問幾間再決定吧，畢竟也不是⼀筆小錢！

- 是什什麼時候申請的？ Round 2 - 推薦函該怎麼辦呢？ • ⼤部分的MBA學校都會要求要有兩封主管的推薦函。請主管先回想跟你互動之後，再看主管對於推薦函的形式有什什麼想法吧！ - 對於像我們這種商科⾨外漢，商科內容是否困難上手？為什麼困難？ 是否該先在台灣就先開始惡補呢？ • 對於MD⽽而⾔言，商科的內容的確是隔行如隔⼭的困難。在商業基本功=0的狀態之下，對於基本概念、專有名詞、專業理論⋯⋯等等，可以說是一無所知。加上飛快的英文授課，外加身邊有許多都是多年業界歷練過的高手，尤其在對於內容的background knowledge不足的情況之下，的確非常辛苦。 • ⽬前一些MBA的確有⼀些線上課程，提供給非商業背景的學生做預習。在台灣也有一些補習班提供類似的入門課程，但是到了MBA勢必還是⼀場硬仗，要有心理準備。

During MBA的體驗 - 傳說中的networking? • 以Sloan MBA為例，⼀屆400人分成6班，大部分還是跟自己的同班同學，或是要找同一產業工作的同學比較有互動和共鳴。

- 到了MBA之後，有哪些是跟出發前的期待或想像有落差的呢？ • 第⼀個是⼀開始的適應和生活比想像的來得困難許多，從上課內容、文化衝擊、生活起居、以及學習fit in⋯⋯等等，都比想像中來得困難。 • 第二個是就業機會其實不如想像中的好。以美國而言，現階段的移民政策，不可否認地，已經影響到企業對於招募非美籍MBA畢業⽣的意願，再加上⽬前整體美國經濟已經不再是巔峰狀態，所以相較於前幾年的非美籍MBA畢業生，不僅是就業機會變少，起薪也跟著變少。 • 然而，對於現在想要申請MBA的人而言，等到MBA畢業都是兩三年後的事情了，到時候的情勢仍不可知。

- 從學長之前的分享當中，可以發現學長這兩年的歷程的確帶給你很多東西，你覺得這些東西是否協助你完成你一開始所設定的Post-MBA Goal? • 學長的Post-MBA Goal主要還是在於亞太區的healthcare opinion leader，透過medical technology的應用，針對相關的公共衛生政策提出建議，達到更精準，品質更好的醫療，且降低醫療支出，例如continuous care, home monitoring, telehealth等等。而在兩年的MBA訓練過程中，的確得到實務上歷練的機會，例如和Biogen做了digital shared service的案子，和PathAI公司，利用machine learning做病理切片自動判讀的案子，某家巴西的雲端服務整合商，幫某家EMR公司做solution consultant，在Boston Scientific做內視鏡產品經理的實習，和朋友創立的遠距醫療服務等等的，是之前在醫生工作接觸不到的學習。

- 在兩年的學習之後，有哪些東西是你以為你可以得到，但實際上卻不然的呢？ • 本來覺得可能可以很容易找到喜歡的⼯作，但是不然 • 本來覺得自己的英文能力可能可以有爆炸性的進步，但是實際上，雖然有進步，但是仍然不到自己的預期 • 本來來覺得可以結交到很多外國朋友，但是實際上能知心的就幾個。有鑒於大家都是來做career changing，許多聊天的內容都還是以工作為主，再加上語言及文化的差異，所結交到的真正好朋友不如想像中多。

Post-MBA的考驗 - 不可否認，念MBA，找工作的確是很重要的一環，既然美國目前移民政策似乎對外國學⽣生不太友善，那麼亞洲呢？ • 目前亞洲仍然有不少工作機會，尤其是當你有漂亮的學歷的時候。同時，在找工作的時候，企業⼈資的態度也相對積極。無論是在韓國、日本或是中國大陸，工作機會、舞台、和薪資都還算吸引人。但這幾年，中國海歸的人相當多，在美國的學經歷，已經不如幾年前那麼稀有了。

- 有考慮過consulting的⼯工作嗎？ • Consulting firm的⼯作的確相當有挑戰性，也透過資料的分析和統整，不僅可以協助MD們將原本的思考模式，轉換成商業模式，對於無論是marketing, accounting,M&A（Mergers and acquisitions）的實際操作和運⽤，都是很好的訓練和挑戰。

#WhyMBA

[yourtruedost]

This is a sure shot question in IIM interviews! http://ift.tt/2kAAFOR

[cathy-chou-blog]

So much fun MCing for Fuqua Idol last night. I'm surrounded by such a talented group of Fuquans! #whyMBA #DukeDifference #FuquaIdol2015 (at Duke University)

[ayonde]

Fall, Winter and Spring (Blog#6)

I came to US for my MBA in Aug 2013. A month later I had landed an internship at Nationwide Insurance thanks to National Black MBA. After returning to Williamsburg I was undoubtedly happy. However that euphoria didn’t last long as up next were Mid-term exams. At William & Mary, the 1st year is divided into 3 MODs. Some subjects lasted only one MOD while some spread across MODs. In MOD 1 we had Accounting, Organizational Behavior, Business Analytics and IT Technology that were one MOD subject while Management communication and Leadership Development Experience was spread across MODs.

In accounting I felt like a fish out of water. Accounting wasn’t (and still isn’t) my cup of tea – like at all!! W&M does recommend incoming students at arrive early before the start of the program and attend boot camp where they go over accounting basics. In India as I studied science in my high school and then engineering during my undergrad I had a hard time classifying line items into asset or liability, let alone balancing the two.

Organizational Behavior required a lot of reading and case studies. My reading speed was slow. My mid-term results were not very encouraging. I was average at best and ended up with a 3.0 GPA Mid-term. Now there was a new threat looming. If my GPA drops below 3.0 and stays there I will lose my financial aid – which would be disastrous!

I focused all my attention in getting my grades up. In MOD 2 I had Marketing and Finance in addition to Economic analysis and Ethics. The latter two were easy for me, and I was able to get good scores. Marketing was taught by Prof. Larry Ring, it’s more like a lesson in consulting case than marketing. Really exciting and wonderful stuff but a lot of reading. I have always struggled with that when under clock. If I was fish out of water for Accounting I was a fish in outer space when it came to Finance. Regardless I somehow managed to get average grades in those two. So it put my GPA at 3.0 but top of the class grades in other subjects moved me out of danger and my GPA was at 3.3 by MOD 2.

On Campus Job & SSN: At W&M, my financial aid was scheduled to kick in during the 2nd year of the MBA program, but I desperately needed a job in my 1st year to keep me afloat. I applied for an on-campus job and got one as website caretaker for an English professor. It helped me pay my monthly phone bill at Verizon at the very least. Having an on-campus job also helped me get my Social Security Number. Usually for SSN you need a job offer or an internship offer. I did have an Internship with Nationwide but since the actual start date was 9 months out I didn’t have offer letter required for SSN until later. Regardless, 2 hours and 2 bus transfers later I reached Newport News in VA and applied for my SSN. I would feel bad for myself for being middle class poor and not having a car really. My classmates from China would have $$$ thanks to their strong currency and buy cars in the 1st week of our MBA program. Most US students will get some sort of auto loan or have existing vehicles. Most Indians come from a middle class families and our savings got divided by a factor of 60 thanks to the weaker Rupee. Which meant a very tight USD budget and worrying about money most times. Worse, the Indian currency was weakening meaning my parents had to put more Rupees than anticipated to meet the budget.

1 US Dollar = 55 Rupees in Jan 2013

1 US Dollar = 61 Rupees in June 2013

1 US Dollar = 65 Rupees in Sep 2013

Updating my SSN at Verizon helped me get my $400 deposit back. Remainder of academic year in 2013 was spent managing my budget, studying for grades and finding a work life balance. Chris let me drive his car and soon I got my driving license. Chris also invited Chloe, Teru, Frank and me to his home at Newport News for Thanksgiving. He taught us the rules for American football. I soon realized that talking about football is the easiest way to break ice with virtually everyone in the United States. I learned the rules of the game, and I picked up the team names and some players names over the course of time.

 Life was past paced until 2nd week of December that’s when 1st semester concluded after End-term exams were over. All of my US friends went back to their respective home cities. All of my international friends either went to their relative in US, or went back to China/India/Thailand etc. to be back with family. Some went on to discover America. Disney world, Alaska, Las Vegas etc. I had no money for such travel. Being on a budget meant I was by myself at Graduate complex. There were 4 students in all of Gradplex. Williamsburg resembled a ghost town in winters. (See empty law school library)

PMP: Since the Green (University) Line stop running during winter break. Buying grocery meant a 2-3 hour roundtrip bus ride. I often walked to buy bread and eggs and the slippery ice or snowy conditions didn’t help at all. I was alone, poor and depressed. I thought of using this opportunity and start preparing for my PMP exam. Nearest test center was 3.5 hours via Amtrak away – Washington DC. I scheduled it in 2nd week of Jan 2014 and studied hard. I was locked in my apartment and literally had nothing else to do. Took the Amtrak to DC and stayed at my friend - Vipul’s place. Took the exam and cleared the PMP the next day. I was now a certified Project Management Professional. I was happy, not only because I cleared the PMP but also that I got to spend some time with Vipul. Vipul was my roommate during the last two years of my undergrad engineering. It was good to cherish old days.

I went back to Williamsburg after spending few days in DC as 2nd semester was about to start. Finally school reopened and Williamsburg became alive again. By end of Feb/March we were done with MOD 2 and MOD 3 started. MOD 3 was my comfort zone. Winter was on retreat and Operations, Macroeconomics, and Cost Accounting were my favorite subjects. My GPA was back up and I was looking forward to summer of 2014!!

[thatdardenlife]

We're Back!

Well, guys, I cannot believe it is already January 26!  This month has flown by in a whirlwind of recruiting events, interviews, classes and travel. January is a super busy time here at Darden….to give you an idea:

Jan. 1: Most first years return to Charlottesville sometime around the 1st-4th,  especially those with on grounds interviews.

Jan. 5 – 16:  We don’t have class these first two weeks of January (such an act of kindness by the administration). Many of the first round interviews happen on-grounds during this time frame. Typically, banking and consulting interviews happen earliest, followed by marketing and GMO interviews. Depending on the company and industry, second round interviews will either happen on-grounds or off-grounds at company offices. It’s a bit of a stressful time, with people worried about interviews and scheduling. Some folks (cough, bankers, cough) may get their offers as early as the 6th or 7th. The rest of us sweat it out for the rest of the month or well into February or March.

Jan. 19:  MLK Day! No Class!

Jan. 20:  Term 4 begins. Classes this term are Finance, Operations, Ethics, Decision Analysis and GEM (Global Economies and Markets). Don’t be fooled, however, interview season is still in full swing, and we are BUSY.

And that brings us to today! January 26 already. I’m in a good place re. recruiting:  I had consulting interviews during the first two weeks of January, I have two great offers on the table (hallelujah!), and now it’s decision time. I’ll keep you posted! 

[leezardly-blog]

Another Night Another Dream

A lot has been on my mind the past few days. The test obviously, applications, resumes, recommendations, schools, just to name a few. However the most daunting question of "Why an MBA?", unanswered to this day, follows my thoughts everywhere I go.

I started this journey about 6 months ago in June, from having no idea of what I want to do with my career to reading all the Manhattan GMAT books almost twice. However, I still feel like I'm stuck at where I started. No clue as to why I want an MBA, other than to justify the time already invested to get there. However, I'm still optimistic and I know there will be resolution. Maybe some time [after my test] spent away from all these problems may help me find my true calling.

The test is less than 2 weeks away. My hopes, my dreams, and all that hard work leading up to this point, I'm looking forward to pay off. My main goal right now is to focus.

I'm glad I started writing my thoughts on this blog. I'll look back to this entry one day and smile.

And yes, the title of this goes to Real McCoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pav2f4b-1ZE

[ayonde]

First week in Williamsburg, VA  (Blog#4)

So finally, I decided to enroll at the MBA program at College of William & Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia in USA. I paid my deposit fees, and applied for student visa. I explored various flight options and found that British Airways had the most generous baggage allowance. 3 bags upto 23 Kgs (50 lbs) each are allowed for students as check-in luggage. Additionally, you can carry another bag of 23 Kg as cabin bag if you can lift it up to stow in the overhead bin.

While, I was making provisions to come to United States and learning how to cook, I contacted a lot of W&M Alumni/current students. Through LinkedIn I found few graduates of the MBA program living in New Delhi. My admission committee (AdCom) helped me connect with few more graduates as well as with incoming students. I organized a meet & greet, and learned a lot about life in America and Williamsburg in particular.

Networking: One keyword often mentioned by the grads was Networking. And it was an alien concept to me. So far I was operating in an environment where people ask question and you answer – or vice versa. For a job, you go through set pattern. Apply online, get invited for interview, answer the questions you are asked, clear the technical rounds, then talk salary in the HR round.

Networking was different. Make small talk about things, interests like sports or cars, find a commonality and leave an impression. It was like if you are 8 years old and your parents moved to another city. Now you have to change schools and make new friends. This was way outside of my comfort zone which was being direct. You want a job, you ask for it. You don’t talk fluff to pad time and then ask for a job, this was very close to being deceitful in our culture. But, I was told that the direct approach doesn’t work in the west.

Elevator Pitch: There was another concept of elevator pitch – which my W&M MBA’s career services people told me about. The situation is that you find yourself in an elevator with the CEO of your dream company, you have 60 seconds to introduce yourself in way that leaves a positive impact on the CEO’s memory. 60 seconds?!! I thought, I cannot even decide which pizza toppings I want in 60 seconds. And my fate could be decided in that time? Nevertheless, I started working on my elevator pitch. 60 seconds to include something unique about myself that would possible separately me from other applicants vying the same job.

Certifications: I started to do another self-assessment. I knew I did not have a stellar GMAT, and I wasn’t from a traditional business background or enrolling at Harvard. All my work experience to this point was technical engineering. I saw LinkedIn profile of students who had their undergrad in Finance with minor in accounting, then went to do CFA level 1, 2 and 3 before joining the MBA program specializing in Finance and graduating to become Director at a firm. Such candidates I thought would go on to become CEO or CFO by the time they hit 40. To be competitive and pad my resume, I needed certifications. I cannot appear to be just an engineer to the person reading my resume. In April of 2013 – 4 months before I was to leave for US, I enrolled in project management classes. The plan was to arm myself with Project Management Professional (PMP) and Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) certifications. The classes were on point but I couldn’t take the PMP exam. The project management course was taught on the newer version of book of knowledge that the examination centers at New Delhi had yet to update.

Since the India edition of the Green Belt book was much cheaper, I bought that book and started reading. But honestly, most of my time in India was spent with my wife, family & friends. Soon it was end of July and for the first time I was jobless. I was on a tight budget and had accounted for my monthly spending not to exceed $1000.

So finally 10th Aug came, and after a teary goodbye to wife and family, I boarded the BA flight. It was a long journey. 8 hours to London from New Delhi, layover of 3 hours. Then another 8 hours to NYC, take luggage to do immigration during the 5 hour layover, then another 2 hrs flight to Norfolk, VA and finally another hour in taxi cab to Williamsburg, VA. I was contemplating my decision to not enroll into other schools and borrowing all my parent’s life savings and investments to get my fancy MBA. Failure would be a bitter pill. Will I get a job? Will I adjust to US education system? Too many questions and self-doubt. It was too late as the plane was on the runway. Found some comfort watching movies during flight.

 Week 1: The first week at Williamsburg was as unique as it was challenging. Every student in our MBA cohort was put into a team of 5. I was in team 3. In my team there were two Americans – Chris was ex-army and wanted to get into healthcare, Chloe was a scholar who loved green energy. Frank was from Taiwan and was a Finance guru, Teru hailed from Tokyo, Japan and had several years of experience as marketing manager of Maserati.

Week 1 was orientation, to foster team building we all were made to do several team based activities. My favourite was ropes course. They’ll present a challenge like as two teams of 5 to go across the rope tied between two trees, the catch is that if you touch the ground your team is out. It brought out lot of different leadership styles and taught us to trust one another. This week was also very tough physically and mentally. I was still suffering from jet lag, I did not have a phone with me, because I did not have any documentation needed to get a cell phone. No address proof, no bank account, no social security number.

I did not have a car to commute and had to rely on university line bus service known as green line. If the bus was late for whatever reason, meant that I was late for team meetings etc. In US, even if I was late by 2 mins it was looked down. In India people usually understand that one can be +/- 10~20 mins late due to traffic – not in US. 8 means 08:00 not 08:01 or 08:15 come what may.

One of the days, I couldn’t get up in time in the morning and was late for a team activity. I had no alarm clock and did not know where the nearest supermarket was or what it was called. Current students were either still concluding their internship or visiting family and had not yet returned to Williamsburg. Clearly, I had let my team down and I was disappointed. I felt miserable all around, the food consist of salads, sandwiches and pizza slices, which didn’t help either. I was home sick, I needed Indian food. On day 6, I went to an Indian restaurant to eat dinner with one of my Indian classmate. We ate till our hearts content, the bill? $100!! This further added to my misery. I couldn’t sustain the financial status quo, something had to change and soon.

[ayonde]

Final Year of my MBA - Part 2 (Blog#9)

I had one goal in mind – to have a full time job offer before graduation. I, along with other international students would often see American students dressed in suits that signaled that they had interview scheduled. We will also get news of their internships being converted into full time job offers by companies like Deloitte, Visa, Wells Fargo, PwC etc. International students didn’t or couldn’t convert their internships into full time jobs. Few spent the whole summer looking for internship but couldn’t. International students weren’t getting interview calls either. I felt fortunate that Cartesian replied back.

I got two days to prepare and research about Cartesian before my interview. Since the interview was case based I spent all of that time preparing case interviews. On the fateful day, 30 mins before the interview my glasses broke. I am blind as a bat without my glasses. I had a spare but at home. Commuting by either bus or by walk would take an hour unless someone would give me a quick ride in their car. I asked few of my classmates but everyone was tied up. I started panicking but had to calm down for the interview. I decided to focus on the interview – unfortunately I totally bombed it. It was just not my day.

I gave the whole interview holding my broken frame with my left hand while taking notes with my right. It wouldn’t have made a difference even if my glasses were unbroken. Dejected. I searched LinkedIn for people who worked at Cartesian. Several students were from schools like MIT, Dartmouth, and Columbia. I hated myself for ruining such an opportunity. I knew I had failed the interview so bad that I didn’t even bother to write a thank you note to the recruiter.

I had spent the winter of 2013 in Williamsburg and experienced it becoming a ghost town. I didn’t want to go through it again. Luckily I had saved some money from my GA and booked return tickets from India. I would not pass the opportunity to spend 5 weeks with family. Hiring freezes over the winter holidays and many people are on vacation. I wasn’t expecting any action.

During my stay in India, I got an email from Cartesian’s HR stating that I did not clear the interview but they wanted to schedule a time to speak with me. “Duh” I thought “of course I didn’t clear the interview but I knew that already….Why do they want to speak with me? Do they want to convey me personally over phone that I sucked?” I scheduled regardless.

To my surprise, they really liked my resume and my past telecom experience. They wanted to consider me for another position in their Management Consulting team. I couldn’t believe my luck! Of course I agreed. I gave another phone interview the following week. I told them that I was in India and return by mid Jan. They said they’ll touch base end of Jan 2015.

Electives: I returned to school, and it was time to select electives. I wanted to try out new things so instead of taking Lean Six Sigma or Project Management – which were popular choices of students who wanted to specialize in operations, I went the other way and “Generalized” my MBA. I took Change Management, Design thinking and Analytics. Change Management and Design thinking / Creative problem solving were life altering courses for me. I found Business Analytics to be dry. I also tried my best to not fit into the “Indian techie” mould. I know many people who would see a brown guy and automatically assume that I was good with Excel and running software. I was good, but because I was logical. I could apply the same logical reasoning in creating a Go-to-Market Strategy or strategic thinking. But they would limit me to running some sort of tool only.

February Madness February of 2015 was action packed! I received a call from Cartesian and scheduled a power day of interview. I would have 3 rounds of interview via Skype. At the same time, I got a call from Capital One based out of Richmond, VA. I managed to clear their telephonic interview which was case based. They invited me for power day as well. Cartesian’s interview was tough but enjoyable. Capital One’s power day was interesting and their case interviews were different. More about credit card parameters than Cartesian’s Fiber to Home. I did not clear the Capital One power day. I was again frustrated about letting an opportunity slip out.

Meanwhile, Dr. Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm visited W&M. I was selected as 1 of 10 students to have lunch with him. We had amazing conversation – once again thanks to my telecom background. He said he would help me out. I reached out to him afterwards and applied to couple of positions at Qualcomm thinking that I would surely get an interview call. To my surprise – nothing! The frustration was building up. Nothing I did worked and I wasn’t getting any updates from Cartesian as well. I had another interview with TDS telecom based out of Madison, WI but that did not go well.

Job offer: Finally, I got the call from Cartesian and this time – thankfully! – it was in my favor. I was eagerly waiting for the bus to escape from snow falling on my hand. I had grocery bags in my hand. I will never forget that day. I called my parents in India at 3am their time. I wanted them to be the first to know. Not only did Cartesian gave me a starting six figure salary with signing bonus they also wanted to apply for my H1B work visa ASAP!!

H1B: Cartesian assigned me an immigration lawyer – Larry. He explained the whole process. H1B visa a US work permit issued for people in specialty occupation. There are 65,000 slots in general quota. In 2015 number of applicants was over 233,000. As demand outnumbered supply every year USCIS conducts lottery. Petitions picked in lottery are processed. Additionally, students who hold a Master’s degree from US are put in a separate pool that has 20,000 slots. Unpicked petitions from Advanced US Masters pool get another chance in general quota as well.

 Since my H1B petition was filed in March, before my graduation in May, my petition would not be considered under Advanced US Masters quota but under general quota dropping my chances at 25%. Odds were against me, however I knew that coming into US. I had a job offer and I knew that chances were high that this would be my last hurrah in United States. So, I wanted to make it special. I invited my parents, my younger sister and my wife to visit US for my graduation. This was their first international trip. First time out of India. They were excited. I was excited. The trip would start in New York City then travel south to Williamsburg, VA followed by a week at Orlando, FL visiting Disney and Universal studios.

RFE: By mid-April, Larry called me to congratulate. My petition - even though considered under general quota - was picked in lottery. I was elated! Two weeks later he informed me that he has received a RFE (Request For Evidence). RFE letter had some 20+ points on which USCIS demanded clarification. From authenticity of Cartesian to proof of sufficient work for the duration of H1B – 3 years, to making sure that I was an authentic student at The College of William & Mary. Graduation was fun. I enjoyed vacation with my family at NYC, bitter sweet moments saying goodbye to my friends and classmates and at the same time running from pillar to post collecting documents from MBA administration in response for my RFE.

 Finally, my MBA journey concluded. I had a job and my H1B was picked. All this before graduation and I had my family who saw me walk the aisle in graduation regalia. After a long time life was looking good.

[ayonde]

Final Year of my MBA - Part 1 (Blog#8)

While returning to school I realized that the upcoming year would probably be the last time in my life where I’ll get the freedom to try out different and new things. This became my mantra throughout 2nd year of my MBA – try everything different – probably stuff that I will never get to do again in life.

CAMs: The fall semester introduced us to Career Acceleration Modules (CAM). I came to US thinking that I would “major in Operations” specialize in Supply Chain Management and “minor in Finance”. I thought “If I have to understand how a company works I need to understand Operations and Finance”.

In both the cases Enterprise Engineering (EE) was my 1st CAM choice. EE introduced a lot of concepts in Operations, IT, Analytics and some in Supply Chain. I found the subject to be extremely dry and boring. I just couldn’t see myself doing Holt-Winters model in any organization.

Another CAM that I wanted to take was Finance. I wanted to learn about it – but honestly I was lucky that I could barely pass Finance and Accounting in 1st year. It was for the Sharks on the Wall Street. I wasn’t a Shark but a haddock at best. I also realized that no one is going to give me a Finance job just because I took a Finance CAM. So I decided to take Business Marketing a.k.a B2B CAM. I was able to connect to the subject and found it intriguing. I thought that it could help me setup for Product Management roles in a telecom organization.  The student consulting project for Cisco and the field trip to Lenovo at Raleigh, NC was also attractive.

I started Graduate Assistantship in the 2nd year. Steady flow of stipend was super helpful. There were lot of papers to grade and I had to schedule office hours for undergrad and grad students but it was fun. It was that time of the year where National Hispanic and National Black MBA Associations hosts their annual conferences.

Career Fairs: This time I was well prepared. I registered early. I realized that to be successful in a sea of similar students I had to stand out. I bought a pack of linen paper and printed my resume and cover letter on it. A recruiter will most likely keep my resume since it would feel different texture than other resumes on plain paper. I also did my research and targeted specific companies. I did not spend energy – as I did last year – targeting firms like General Motors or General Electric as I knew they didn’t sponsor H1B Visa for International students.

Further I customized my resumes for specific jobs at specific companies. I bought a paper folder, put my cover letter on the left, resume on the right, and inserted my business card as well. I went out to the booths of my target companies introducing myself and gave them my folder. This surely created an impression. I had also applied to various job postings beforehand and had 6-7 interviews lined up.

Since my positive experience with career fairs last year I pursued W&M MBA’s Career Management Center (CMC) for a more structured approach to MBA career fairs that included a CMC sponsored bus to the events. They listened. One of the conference was in Atlanta while the other was in Philadelphia. Time management was critical. I had to extract and utilize every possible minute of my day. While others would watch movie or sleep or chitchat on the bus. I would isolate myself to the back of the bus and grade the IT papers. Sleep a bit in the hotel and then research more on the companies that I would target.

Out of 6 or 7 interviews, 4 were for Leadership Development Program. LDPs are a rotational program where a company hires you and put you through various functions – Operations, Marketing, HR, Finance, Project Management, etc. The program usually lasts 2 years and at the end of rotations they will assess your fit and performance upon which they’ll offer you a position. This was very appealing. I had amazing interviews on-site especially with Sprint and The Hartford Financial. Only to learn that H1B sponsorship is not applicable for LDP programs. The remaining interviews also did not materialize to anything.

Home Depot: Home Depot hosted an invite only event in Atlanta. I couldn’t get an invite however I kept in touch with their HR and managed to get the invitation at Philadelphia in National Hispanic Conference. Since it’s invite only – Home Depot controls the event beautifully. 20 or so students with over 30 recruiters, Managers and HR. I had amazing conversation with one of them and he wanted to hire me for Supply Chain Analyst. “Awesome!!” I thought, but he said that the salary was $45,000 and in Atlanta. The first word that intuitively came out of my mouth was “NO”. My parents had put a lot of money into my MBA and I had done back of the envelope calculation. I needed a minimum salary of $85,000 to make my ROI work. $45k was an undergrad level salary. Unfortunately I returned empty handed.

CSSGB: In October I learned that Green Belt Certification Exam will be hosted in Richmond, VA by American Society for Quality (ASQ). Lean Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (CSSGB) was on my radar. I initially wanted to get it done through electives during my MBA. I realized that doing it from W&M won’t get me the certification. If I take the exam from ASQ on my own instead, not only can I get the certification, but also I can get it faster and cheaper as I can then utilize those 4.5 credits studying something else.

That’s exactly what I did. In-lieu of car, I took the Amtrak from Williamsburg to Richmond. Spend the night at a 2nd year student’s husband’s apartment. Took the exam next day, changed two buses to reach the train station. Took the evening train back to Williamsburg. Amtrak cost me $18 each way. I was frugal. I had to be.

Few weeks later I got the good news and received my certificate in mail. In addition to PMP I was now a CSSGB.

Diwali Night: At the start of my 2nd year I had resigned from all the clubs – Operations, Consulting, Honor Council, MBA Association etc. as I wanted to focus purely on getting a job. However, I also wanted to do things that I have never done or will never do again. Enter Diwali Night. Every year the Indian students at the MBA program organize Diwali Night. Catering, Performances, Dancing – the whole works. It’s one of the most celebrated festivals at W&M.

I overcame my stage fright to participate in a drama and two dance numbers! Organizing the event, taking out time to practice the moves, selecting menu items, negotiating and organizing food pickups etc. was a great experience.

Job Search: Nearing the end of semester my GPA was in good shape nearing 3.5. My focus anyways wasn’t grades anymore it was finding a full time job. I was applying to jobs online morning, afternoons, evenings and night. One time I applied for a job posted at Deloitte at 2am only to get the rejection email at 2:25am. Either I was getting dumped by some automated process or an elf was working at Deloitte screening my application at 2:30am. Online application wasn’t working. I had to change my strategy.

2nd year classes ran Mon to Thu so Fridays were off. I bunked one Thursday and took the Wednesday night Amtrak to NYC. I spent Thursday and Friday meeting W&M MBA Alumni, networking, and introducing myself to Alumni across the NY and NJ area. The trip was helpful and insightful but didn’t materialize into anything.

It was November and I was getting desperate. I realized that my chances of getting a callback from big name companies like Microsoft, EY, KPMG etc. were slim. I started applying to Telecom companies like Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint thinking that they would appreciate my previous telecommunications experience but not a single call.

Now I started searching for jobs with keywords like Telecom + MBA to cast a wide net. I chanced upon a job posting by Cartesian. It was for Strategy Consultant. Luckily, as a part of their application process they gave their HR’s email id. I sent an email with my resume and cover letter. To my surprise I got a response in two days asking for my availability to interview.

Perhaps my luck was changing.