One for the toad!

... or for the ugly duckling. I got an interview call this afternoon from IMD! It took a while to realize that it was actually an interview call and not just some information they were seeking, because Lisa (or the lady I forget the name of) sounded nothing like I would have expected the bringer of that all-important news to... no preambles, no dramatic tones, not even a congratulations. And well, like my usual self, I started with a goof up. I looked at the caller ID, heard her voice and went... "Hey Shobs!". Thank God she introduced herself quickly enough to confirm she wasn't my just-married college friend, or I would have asked her about her honemoon!

I worry that I am a misfit amongst the hordes of super-experienced business consultants, managers, financial analysts... and professional golf players and IMD . But I do have my dreams with me - just a couple more remain. I may be the ugly duckling but yeah I'm happy I got the opportunity to evaluate if I can be a swan. I talked home, and that was a big achievement! Now on to getting them visa, tickets... and case studies straightened out.

IMD has informed me that they certainly can't let me know the results before March end and it can very well stretch to April 10th. Reason: there are many Indian applicants, a majority with exceptional W/E & GMAT's, I presume, and they would like to evaluate all of us in the Feb 1st batch before making the offer to the select 2-3. By the way, any one knows what's so right with Indians that cracking 750+ in GMAT seems a child's play for many of us? To think that I was on the seventh heaven after seven seven zero! Thud, anytime now.

The interview process... Information I have culled this from the BW forum:
http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=25844.297
http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=38972.193
http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=38972.194
http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-bschools/messages?msg=38972.341

Thanks to everyone who has helped me through this process, including Ashwini's dog, Zoey!

Then there was a Queens

I got an admit from Queens last weekend! But I decided to ditch it. It was a huge tussle, with the college, place, good life on Queens' side and career, low-risk, good cost on ISB's. In the end, as usual, money (or the lack of it) settled things for me. The university did not give me a single cent of scholarship. I was actually banking on at least CAD 10k, what with Mr. Ben Whitney all pleased and talking about me starting a band in Queens and telling me that if he were on his own I would have received a 'favorable' response then and there. Talk about confidence... I actually had imagined I'll have the highest schol in Queens just like I have in ISB.

So, without the schol, and without a penny in the bank, without any chance of a Canadian loan, and with Indian Student loans maxing out at 20l... hmm, bye bye Queens.

Am not repenting much. ISB placements stats are pouring in with McKinsey, BCG, AT Kearney, HLL... big wigs wooing the ISBians. And Queens has a record of placement worries for non-North Americans. But there was this other thing that had drawn me to Queens... The 'experience'. And it would have been great to be study with 60 bright people and learn from 25 good profs.

No worries... IMD, here I come. Provided you call me. I told Arun IMD doesn't expand to anything. He said, no it does for you... to 'I M Desperate'. Yes, I sure am.

A piece of code

I happened to look at a piece of code right now. The last time I had touched it was when I had created it way back in February 2002. I got a request from someone from somewhere to add something someplace in there. I looked through and, guess what I actually got nostalgic. Four years ago, when me freshie was firing away methods and procedures with hardly any expectation that it would be seen/run by anybody, I had my rewards in seeing it work. Today, when I create something I blow bugles and beat drums. As my stature rose I lost that self who had worked for days to create the BBA Automation module that was not even critical or urgent. Professional lethargy killed the productivity.

 

But I still looked at those lines and felt nice. Hey, I could do all this way back then!? I must have been smart... wait a minute. I am smart.