After quite a long break, I return to my blog again. It's been almost 2 months, I'm knee deep in the application process. While I'm writing essays at full tilt, I also am perplexed by a question which is the topic of my post today.
I shall present two arguments, and invite comments from fellow bloggers (to whom I promise, that I shall write more often).
Writing essays is an iterative process. It's like sculpting - you start with a flat slab, and then shape it, chiselling away until what remains is what you want and only what you want. Write a draft, and then leave it. The next day, hack it, turn it upside down, and add new content. Come back to the third day, and add a fitting opening and conclusion, make some more changes, and so on. By extension, the quality of essays becomes directly proportional to the number of revisions it goes through. It is therefore a no-brainer that the best time to submit an essay is after the most revisions you can make to it (assuming you do not lose steam or burnout and all that). Which would be right before the deadline (or a day before the deadline, if you are scared of server malfunction). To this end, there is no closure.
On the other hand, I also feel that closure comes when you know you cannot do any better. Closure is not a defined, clearly visible destination that you can say you are at a certain distance from. Closure is a state of mind - you know it when you are at it. Closure is when you (or your reviwers) are truly satisfied with your work - what you say represents what you are and what you want to be. It may come within a few revisions, it may come right before the deadline, or it may be elusive, and you could continue to feel something's amiss despite having submitted. In short, closure is when you know it. Conversely, when you know it, you know it's time to click submit. That the deadline is 3 weeks away notwithstanding.
Closure is relative. What is your closure?
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Of acceptance rates and yields
I happened to look at acceptance rates and yields for top schools today, and thought I'd share some thoughts about these 2 parameters.
Its well-known that acceptance rate is a measure of the selectivity of the school (#admitted/#applied), while yield is a measure of 'relative desirability' of schools to students (#accepted/#admitted). Schools publish both numbers - and taken together, these numbers offer some pretty interesting insights.
I've compared the schools I'm applying to by normalizing the two ratios. The number in parenthesis give the two ratios (Yield, Acceptance Rate in %) for each school.
After thoughts
1. These numbers mean nothing to me. Fit cannot be quantified - it is a function of each combination of applicant and school. School X may simply be a lot 'nicer' because its alumni were more responsive, or a visit to its campus was much more pleasant.
2. This comparison is a digression during essay-writing. If you hate digressions, use Dark-Room.
Errata
Anonymous correctly pointed out that these numbers are not updated - I used the figures from Bouknight's "MBA Game Plan", 2003 edition. Apologize for this oversight, which makes the numbers obsolete by 4 years. I've since corrected the numbers (I did not find these stats for Chicago GSB or Stern).
This also renders my conclusions invalid - I've taken these out since. Thanks, Anonymous.
Its well-known that acceptance rate is a measure of the selectivity of the school (#admitted/#applied), while yield is a measure of 'relative desirability' of schools to students (#accepted/#admitted). Schools publish both numbers - and taken together, these numbers offer some pretty interesting insights.
I've compared the schools I'm applying to by normalizing the two ratios. The number in parenthesis give the two ratios (Yield, Acceptance Rate in %) for each school.
| School | Applied | Admitted | Accepted |
| HBS(89,14) | 720 | 100 | 89 |
| Wharton(69,17) | 800 | 100 | 69 |
| Columbia(77,16) | 800 | 100 | 77 |
After thoughts
1. These numbers mean nothing to me. Fit cannot be quantified - it is a function of each combination of applicant and school. School X may simply be a lot 'nicer' because its alumni were more responsive, or a visit to its campus was much more pleasant.
2. This comparison is a digression during essay-writing. If you hate digressions, use Dark-Room.
Errata
Anonymous correctly pointed out that these numbers are not updated - I used the figures from Bouknight's "MBA Game Plan", 2003 edition. Apologize for this oversight, which makes the numbers obsolete by 4 years. I've since corrected the numbers (I did not find these stats for Chicago GSB or Stern).
This also renders my conclusions invalid - I've taken these out since. Thanks, Anonymous.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Autumn heralds R1 deadlines
It's been a full 2 months that this blog has sprung back to life. With the GMAT done, I thought the hardest was over. How wrong, and how vain.
The last 2 months were grueling - there have been times I've thought my essay drafts were absolutely awesome - and then thought they should be gutted the very next day. It's hard, this writing game, since there are no benchmarks, no comparisons, no percentiles that serve as a crutch to your dreams. It's like shooting at flying targets in the dark - take aim, take your best shot and fire. It's a hit or miss.
B-schools make the field even more level - by encouraging almost anyone from 1-10 years out of school to apply, regardless of industry, education or nationality.
I've been caught up in this write-introspect-edit cycle for weeks now. I know not if I possess the much-talked about wow factor, I don't even know if there is any such thing. I'm visiting Chicago on October 12, and really would like to talk to folks there, since I've heard so much about this school.
My first recommender has already agreed to write what it takes, I talk to the second one tomorrow.
Sorry if this blog seems in bits-n-pieces and scattered all over, but I also promised myself that I'd blog more often - I feel it is cathartic. I also hope the now-defunct blogging community kickstarts back to life, and becomes alive with comments/posts.
The last 2 months were grueling - there have been times I've thought my essay drafts were absolutely awesome - and then thought they should be gutted the very next day. It's hard, this writing game, since there are no benchmarks, no comparisons, no percentiles that serve as a crutch to your dreams. It's like shooting at flying targets in the dark - take aim, take your best shot and fire. It's a hit or miss.
B-schools make the field even more level - by encouraging almost anyone from 1-10 years out of school to apply, regardless of industry, education or nationality.
I've been caught up in this write-introspect-edit cycle for weeks now. I know not if I possess the much-talked about wow factor, I don't even know if there is any such thing. I'm visiting Chicago on October 12, and really would like to talk to folks there, since I've heard so much about this school.
My first recommender has already agreed to write what it takes, I talk to the second one tomorrow.
Sorry if this blog seems in bits-n-pieces and scattered all over, but I also promised myself that I'd blog more often - I feel it is cathartic. I also hope the now-defunct blogging community kickstarts back to life, and becomes alive with comments/posts.
Monday, July 23, 2007
GMAT ... [OK]
Registration: $250
Manhattan Tests: $40
GMATClub Tests: $40
Red Bull: $2
Ghirardelli Chocolate: $10
760 (99)
Q51 (99)
V41 (93)
Irish Car Bomb at local bar: Priceless.
Manhattan Tests: $40
GMATClub Tests: $40
Red Bull: $2
Ghirardelli Chocolate: $10
760 (99)
Q51 (99)
V41 (93)
Irish Car Bomb at local bar: Priceless.
Monday, July 16, 2007
The Telltale Test
I am positively tired of studying for the GMAT - its wrecking havoc in my daily (or everyday?) life.
I am haunted by the passive voice - nay, the passive voice haunts me. I not only strive for parallelism, but also aim at precision. I incessantly cut down wordiness and constantly reduce redundancy.
I routinely critique my manager's emails for underlying assumptions, and am constantly engaged in rewording my own to make them (the emails, if you still haven't caught on) more persuasive. Even as I write email, I pause after my lines...thoughts swirl in my mind: "I will follow up on this" (..shouldn't this be a would?). "...it is something I'd love to do" (ambiguous 'it'...is this awkward and redundant?). I pick on my manager's emails (in my mind) for misplaced modifiers or ambiguous pronouns.
Just today, I sent an email that started with : "While it is true that specifying XYZ would serve to our advantage, I believe that deferring this until next quarter would prove even more beneficial". I've been using words like evident, notion, belief, assumption, hypothesis, redundant, ... so often that I suspect everyone around me knows I'm taking the GMAT.
These days, I always number my reasons - and leave an empty line between 2 paragraphs. I even have started using a 0.7 mm pencil instead of my favorite pen, and prefer taking notes on letter-sized sheets instead of the notebook. What's more, I must conserve my paper, for I have only 6 sheets of paper a day. Oh, and I sit at my work-desk in slots of 75 minutes, breaking for exactly 5 minutes in between. I have timed myself - I take 30 seconds in the loo, another 30 to wash my face with cold water (the holy books say it's gotta be cold), 2 minutes to down a can of coke, and another minute to walk back to my desk. I have another minute as buffer, to regain my breath, and dive back in.
While driving to work, I try not to look at other cars and their license plates. Numbers like 43, 37 and 101 are devious and prime. They make me cringe, for I cannot cross-out common factors. On the other hand, I am very nice to drivers with plates that have numbers like 4096 and 8649 - they are perfect squares, and all perfect squares have an odd number of prime factors. At the lights, I know I have an average of just 2 minutes until it turns green - so, my mind races to find possible values for A and B, since the plates I see in front of me read: AXB(=)1101. I hate driving on interstates - I start thinking of the number of different ways I could choose a lane if 2 of the 5 lanes are occupied. It gets convoluted on a circle (Dupont Circle, if you are in DC) - clockwise and anti-clockwise are the same.
I can hear the voices you know - they are so close! It's just a matter of time now - I am nervous, for I must not fail, yet excited in a strange way.
I'm also ready to buy a drink to anyone who (or that?!) can (could? god!) help me get over this.
(Crudely adapted and force-fitted from Edgar Allan Poe's The Telltale Heart)
I am haunted by the passive voice - nay, the passive voice haunts me. I not only strive for parallelism, but also aim at precision. I incessantly cut down wordiness and constantly reduce redundancy.
I routinely critique my manager's emails for underlying assumptions, and am constantly engaged in rewording my own to make them (the emails, if you still haven't caught on) more persuasive. Even as I write email, I pause after my lines...thoughts swirl in my mind: "I will follow up on this" (..shouldn't this be a would?). "...it is something I'd love to do" (ambiguous 'it'...is this awkward and redundant?). I pick on my manager's emails (in my mind) for misplaced modifiers or ambiguous pronouns.
Just today, I sent an email that started with : "While it is true that specifying XYZ would serve to our advantage, I believe that deferring this until next quarter would prove even more beneficial". I've been using words like evident, notion, belief, assumption, hypothesis, redundant, ... so often that I suspect everyone around me knows I'm taking the GMAT.
These days, I always number my reasons - and leave an empty line between 2 paragraphs. I even have started using a 0.7 mm pencil instead of my favorite pen, and prefer taking notes on letter-sized sheets instead of the notebook. What's more, I must conserve my paper, for I have only 6 sheets of paper a day. Oh, and I sit at my work-desk in slots of 75 minutes, breaking for exactly 5 minutes in between. I have timed myself - I take 30 seconds in the loo, another 30 to wash my face with cold water (the holy books say it's gotta be cold), 2 minutes to down a can of coke, and another minute to walk back to my desk. I have another minute as buffer, to regain my breath, and dive back in.
While driving to work, I try not to look at other cars and their license plates. Numbers like 43, 37 and 101 are devious and prime. They make me cringe, for I cannot cross-out common factors. On the other hand, I am very nice to drivers with plates that have numbers like 4096 and 8649 - they are perfect squares, and all perfect squares have an odd number of prime factors. At the lights, I know I have an average of just 2 minutes until it turns green - so, my mind races to find possible values for A and B, since the plates I see in front of me read: AXB(=)1101. I hate driving on interstates - I start thinking of the number of different ways I could choose a lane if 2 of the 5 lanes are occupied. It gets convoluted on a circle (Dupont Circle, if you are in DC) - clockwise and anti-clockwise are the same.
I can hear the voices you know - they are so close! It's just a matter of time now - I am nervous, for I must not fail, yet excited in a strange way.
I'm also ready to buy a drink to anyone who (or that?!) can (could? god!) help me get over this.
(Crudely adapted and force-fitted from Edgar Allan Poe's The Telltale Heart)
Monday, July 2, 2007
The Identity Crisis of the MBA Blogger
I am going to write about a completely divergent topic today. I cannot do more GMAT questions, and just need my mind to wander just so it is away from the CRs and the RCs and the DSs.
I was wondering over the last day or so over this - as an MBA blogger, should you keep you identity secret? Those of us who work would appreciate this question - most employers are not very kind when it becomes known that you intend on leaving them in a year from now. So it is in the best interest of the blogger not to divulge any information that may lead to a possible exposure. You are the mole, that double, not what he/she pretends to be!
On the other hand, putting in some context sensitive info about yourself on these blogs can be a huge plus. You can accumulate comments that are more specific to you, your profile/blog is oft-visited by like-minded MBA bloggers, and this forms a community within a community that is focussed, and much stronger than the sum of its parts.
Personally, I believe that keeping it under wraps has advantages. This could be significant if you are due for promotion sometime towards the end of the year. Why would an employer promote you if you intend to leave within 5-6 months anyway?
I know, I know...it's a matter of drawing that fine line, of not letting anyone know AND getting that elusive promotion AND the admittance letter from X (insert your stretch school here). I just wanted to elicit responses from fellow mates.
I was wondering over the last day or so over this - as an MBA blogger, should you keep you identity secret? Those of us who work would appreciate this question - most employers are not very kind when it becomes known that you intend on leaving them in a year from now. So it is in the best interest of the blogger not to divulge any information that may lead to a possible exposure. You are the mole, that double, not what he/she pretends to be!
On the other hand, putting in some context sensitive info about yourself on these blogs can be a huge plus. You can accumulate comments that are more specific to you, your profile/blog is oft-visited by like-minded MBA bloggers, and this forms a community within a community that is focussed, and much stronger than the sum of its parts.
Personally, I believe that keeping it under wraps has advantages. This could be significant if you are due for promotion sometime towards the end of the year. Why would an employer promote you if you intend to leave within 5-6 months anyway?
I know, I know...it's a matter of drawing that fine line, of not letting anyone know AND getting that elusive promotion AND the admittance letter from X (insert your stretch school here). I just wanted to elicit responses from fellow mates.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Deception
It is surprising how effective focussed effort can be - still in GMAT mode, and can't help feeling that I've overcorrected verbal, and not allotted sufficient time for Quant.
On GMATPREP 2 today, I improved on most counts. Here are stats:
GMATPREP 2: 780 (Q50, V47) and (Q6,V3)
The score is deceptive - on GMATPREP 1, an insipid performance (Q7,V11) got me a 760. Relatively, this is much more 'solid' - it is based on a fewer number of mistakes. I'm beginning to think that the mistake scale is a good indicator of improvement while preparing. On a bad day, mistakes on key questions could lower your score to 720 despite the same (Q7,V11) pattern. It suffices to say that the Q6,V3 is much more satisfying to me than the 780. The 780 is just an extension of Q6,V3, and cannot be the primary goal, atleast during the prep-period.
On a separate note, Q6 is embarrassing. I thought I was a quant person. Oh well, hubris punctured. Time to strike back at Q.
On GMATPREP 2 today, I improved on most counts. Here are stats:
GMATPREP 2: 780 (Q50, V47) and (Q6,V3)
The score is deceptive - on GMATPREP 1, an insipid performance (Q7,V11) got me a 760. Relatively, this is much more 'solid' - it is based on a fewer number of mistakes. I'm beginning to think that the mistake scale is a good indicator of improvement while preparing. On a bad day, mistakes on key questions could lower your score to 720 despite the same (Q7,V11) pattern. It suffices to say that the Q6,V3 is much more satisfying to me than the 780. The 780 is just an extension of Q6,V3, and cannot be the primary goal, atleast during the prep-period.
On a separate note, Q6 is embarrassing. I thought I was a quant person. Oh well, hubris punctured. Time to strike back at Q.
Friday, June 29, 2007
kickStart
Admittedly, it's been a late start for my B school roller-coaster. GMAT's within 3 weeks. Feeling fairly comfortable so far. I've about 1.5 months of straight prep work behind me.
I've consistently followed a strategy of focussing on mistakes than scores. This strategy is a double-edged sword - it pinpoints weaknesses amazingly well, but never allows me to feel happy about things. I believe that any experience must be enjoyed, and this strategy does not allow me to enjoy the 'process'.
Stats so far: GMATPREP 1: Taken 3 weeks ago: 760 (Q50, V41); but on my mistake-scale, I scored Q7, V11. Quite poor.
The numbers are improving though. This week, I scored Q2,V5 and Q0, V5 on 2 GMAT Sets.
I've consistently followed a strategy of focussing on mistakes than scores. This strategy is a double-edged sword - it pinpoints weaknesses amazingly well, but never allows me to feel happy about things. I believe that any experience must be enjoyed, and this strategy does not allow me to enjoy the 'process'.
Stats so far: GMATPREP 1: Taken 3 weeks ago: 760 (Q50, V41); but on my mistake-scale, I scored Q7, V11. Quite poor.
The numbers are improving though. This week, I scored Q2,V5 and Q0, V5 on 2 GMAT Sets.
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