CEIBS Shortlisting

Happy Christmas to the readers ......

Time and again, there comes some hiccups. By that i mean that getting into wait list at CEIBS is no way a bad news but not even a good news as well. I wish they simply increase the number of seats to admit me. What would u sayy on that ??? (make a comment)

It was a record for me, as for my IMS comsultants as well to start and finish the CEIBS aplication in just 15 hours, less than a days time but it has turned out to be good enough to get me a shortlisting, While, few days work could's get me a chance in Emory Univ.. What is the conclusion here . I am not sure, again the time that i am taking to fill in Cambridge - Judge BS is very high and still none of the question is near completion. But i dont know how and why i am still hopeful that it will be submitted by the deadline 5 days hence.

And then i am visiting my native place early next month and there i hardly hope to work on the applications though i will certainly get a good deal of positive energy to work further.

This writing was to keep the posts updated - - --

B Bye Mr Goizueta . .

Rejection from Emory

It was a nice morning, everything was okay except my earlier days' blues from rejection from Kellogg. I get my second blow with rejection from Goizueta school of management. It was however sudden and unexpected. I never thought that i shall not even get a chance for interview. Definitely it is felt bad... A blow putting me down to earth. I realised as if i never had any wings to fly. just was imagining. Thoughtfully, it means that it wasn't just my interview performances but also my application, which was not upto standard. There must really be a terrible flaw in my candidacy. Did i make a mistake while applying ? Do i have to work further on my assumptions in 'why i wanna do MBA ?' & 'what after MBA' or is it just that the LUCK ruls..... I feel blank on such questions.....!!

But i agree to this A TRUTH THAT DISHEARTENS BECAUSE IT IS TRUE IS OF MORE VALUE THAN THE MOST SIMULATING OF FALSEHOODS

I realised that there is still some applications left for me. I understand that my interview for Fisher has gone well and i should put more sincere efforts in its application. There are others i.e. Cambridge, Oxford, MBS remaining tooo..... It goes on.....

Rejection from KelloggBS

I just received rejection from KELLOGG. Though not a big surprise because i was not happy with my performance in interview with their alumni. However, there could be various other reasons, one very eloquent could be my score of jusss' 680 (leass than 700). But certainly i am feeling bad about it now.

Seems like a bad day today. the interview for CEIBS also did not go well in my opinion. Interview is really my bad point and i should be working over it more next time. The things which i first and foremost like to imporve is my spontanienty of answer.I realize that I try to give answer from my memory rather than my intellectand thus might sound limited and light. I will try to develope a habit of thinking on my feet, when in a situation. Taking too much tension does not help in an interview or for that reason, in any examination. Need to improve on that !!

An after affect of this feeling is also my willingness to show these schools that i can beat their students in competitions. I understand that the world is not finished for me and I should try harder for getting into other good schools and develope myself there.

My CEIBS interview questions

Today on 11th December'07 i had my telephonic interview for CEIBS. I had a sour throat which i told them during the introduction but i hope my voice was clear. There were two interviewer, from China and from Europe. They were asking question in turn. I realised that the telephonic interview is indeed a tougher one than face to face, as i faced earlier two.In telephonic interview, candidate does not receive any encouragement from the interviewer.

First question was walk through resume.

Why i want to do CEIBS / China ?

Then the lady asked me, i have already made a shift from R&D to marketing and after MBA it would again be shifting to consultancy. how would i think i would adjust ?

They asked aout my work experience in teams and also my leadership style.

There are other candidates from India, why we should chose you?

Whats my weakness, which is stopping me from achieving my goals?

Overall it took 25 minutes and then they gave me a chance to ask questions if i have.....

My Fisher Interview Dec'07

I was asked to meet Ms Albert Kara, at 1:30PM at Taj Hotel, Mumbai. I reached before time however it took me some time to locate her in the hotel lobby. It was 5th December'07, the day of world MBA tour and there were many B school representatives who were conducting interviews.
My interview started with her casual remark that it was great that i could locate her in the rush. i observed she was a always smiling kind of lady who would not let me have a clue about her opinion of me. Her first question was 'take me through your CV, starting with the latest engagement'. It was the set question and i answered easily. Next was why MBA, that too gone okay where i elaborated on my desire to better knowledge of all function. She further queried regarding my post MBA plans, why Fisher- I did well. Then suddenly she asked me to describe a hypothetical situation where i would breach any company policy. this question caught me off guard and i said 'okie, let me think '... she said fine u can take your time...' i was unable to find in 6 - 7 seconds and she told me 'it is okie... '. I told her that there is nothing at the workplace which i can think of that might take me to break the policy rules, however there are dilemmas, which sometimes exist but never a question of policy violation. She asked me who is your role model. i answered Ratan Tata and related Tata's group's initiatives and works in the social work to connect to my long term career goals. 'Have you written your essays? ' 'Not yet but planning this week'. ' Have you taken your GMAT' ' yes i said i got 680'.she said it is good , college's average is 670 and i have a strong work experience too. She asked me whetether i have taken TOEFL, i told her my plan to take IELTS this week. She said it was nice talking and may be we see each other soon. I said thanks and did bid good bye.
Overall it was a nice interview and i look forward to write the essays for the same.

My Kellogg interview - Nov'07

The interview took place in an office which is at 17the floor on Hilton tower. The view of the arabian sea was magnificant and i enjoyed befor the interviewer arrived 10 minutes later.
My Kellogg interviewer was Mr Rahul Khanna, an alumni of 2000 batch. He was very friendly and a sober natured guy. He tried to break the ice with trying to pronounce Lanxess, in which i helped him out. Then he straight away asked me to say something about myself. He enquired further about the growth of paint industry as a whole and seemed satisfied with my answers about the growth rate and the structure of the industry. Then he asked me details about one of my achievement of cost reduction in asian paints which i could again answer to his satisfaction.
Next discussion stood at the industries and areas for which i am responsible in Lanxess. This too went fine.
Next he asked about why i want to do MBA and how Kellogg is a good choice and how many other colleges i am trying. In answering 'Why MBA' i answered about academic repute, experiental learning and explained them further. After i finished he explained more things about Kellogg
by going in to the details and told me examples of diversity and team work there. I think he was not satisfied with my answer because he then touched upon the kind of students Kellogg is looking for . He used the phrases like 'leaders on their way' and 'out in class'. It is also possible that he was also trying to sell the school to me. He asked me if i have to tell something about India as a representative what would i say. This question went really bad because after answering the previous question, my confidence was down. I said only very little to explain about large consumer base and increasing literacy. He was surely must not be satisfied since he told me more things about the school and indicated that person should be able to 'speak up'.
Next he asked me about my leadersip style to which i answered in a explanatory way and he named it as 'servant leadership style''. he added that there is no right or wrong answers and that we only see the quality of thinking.
It was already close to one hour and he still explained things about Kellogg and the team and competitive cultures coexistence. He asked my GMAT score and said that he was 690 but that was long back and now a days the scores are usually higher than 700. I understood that he want me to think that there are no chances for me to hope for Kellogg offer. Then he told that he will send his opinion to the school and exchanged the business card and said good bye.
And then i come back home with a feeling of lose. But ready to build upon the inputs and ready to work harder.....
Date : 26 November2007

why it so happens

Hi,

I have an interview early next week and i am still struggling to get in the furious preparation mood. I am not sure that whats us pulling me back and what i can do to pull the right gear. Except putting the efforts, which i do know that will be needed sooner or later, sooner the better because then the quality of my work will also be better. It is quite possible that i am doing this exercise also to get in touch with the ambitious self who will enthuse me to get back to the track, which i seems to have lost somewhere after the deepawali vacations. I wonder whether the much awaited deepawali vacations were needed with the family which i had to miss due to the preparations of the various applications andthe stuff alike. Possibly yes. but may be again, i am looking for the alibies....

As in my memory Henry Ford said "Enthusiasm is at the bottom of all success". Where is the source ?????

well !! lets see, i am giving it one more try to get back to the race.

I greet to the reader.....

Vishal Agrawal

This is me

Me is sitting over the net and trying to find the answers to my life's wishes and career aspirations but i think i never had thought about and that is why i am stuck for last few days trying to think over which roles i wanna play or which compnaies i wanna go or more precisely, what i want to do in life.

But to no avail so far, i mean upto no avail on paper yet. Way to go for me and in between starts logging in various various websites. Just had an idea of creating an account on blogger and start doing what almost every successfull persn seems to be doin........ hey u can welcome me if u want..