School Selections and Progress

Its been sometime since my last post. Since then, I've decided on my schools, spoken to my recommenders and started working on my essays.

Here is my school selection and deadlines:

* INSEAD, France - October 1st (Round 1)

* London Business School - October 19th (Round 1)

* ISB, Hyderabad - December 1st (Round 2)

I picked LBS and INSEAD for the following reasons:

- Top notch MBA curriculum

- International Focus

- Collaborative cultures

ISB is an up and coming school with a great curriculum. There are a lot of good professors teaching at ISB. In the long term, I see myself going back to India in the long term so its a good option for me. The environment is quite competitive though and the international placements are still picking up. 

I would have preferred to apply to ISB in Round 1 but if I am admitted, I need to make a decision by first week of December. I probably would not know the results for INSEAD and LBS by then.

As I mentioned in my last post, I would have liked to apply to schools in the US but as a result of my immigration status I will be denied the F-1 visa.

I had the chance to speak to ISB and INSEAD alumni. I really feel that INSEAD is the right school for me. 

I spoke to my two recommenders this week. I had the chance to go over my profile with one of them who is a past manager. I've decided not to ask my current manager for a recommendation as it can be detrimental to my career prospects in the short term. The other person was a Tech Lead on one of the projects I worked on. Both are pretty senior in the organization and know me quite well.

When contacting recommenders, I wrote out some notes on my profile, highlighting the things I had done in different scenarions. This will help them answer the different types of questions they will encounter.

I'm currently working on the INSEAD Essays. I think I have the content for the Achievements, Failure and Culture Shock essays but they are still drafts that need to be refined. The Career Goals essay has troubled me for some time but I've got some clarity and momentum now. The Personal Characteristics essay is another that I have to tackle soon.

The LBS application will start in September. I've taken at last years essays and have an idea of what to write in each of them. I will start the ISB essays once I'm done with the LBS and INSEAD applications.