6 months in the city!

Whenever the subject of my MBA pops in a conversation, the first question that I am asked is, "So, How was it?".

It is quite difficult to give a simple answer that summarizes my real views and emotions. Ever since I moved into the city 6 months back, it has been both and exciting and testing experience. The good was that I made sure that I played all my cards on my job search before finding out where I'd fit best. I chose a project that'd give me the time to do my "Explore" phase of the MBA. I applied to many companies and roles and functions that I'd not have dared to apply to. I even interviewed at places I never expected to work. Sitting at home for a straight 3 months looking for work is never an easy choice. But this is the only way to better myself, be outside my comfort zone with no safety net.

Eventually I worked at a start-up for 3 months, bringing all the MBA frameworks and processes to a place where none existed. It was definitely a lot of fun to continue the college life style and also be paid for it :) But I feel that you need to be invested in mind and money to work in a start-up. I didn't tick both the boxes and luckily for me I had another offer to go into the world of consulting (yet again!).

I am not sure I found what I wanted in the past 15 months of my journey and not sure if what I have is what I want. But the MBA has helped me to objectively face the uncertainties and cope up with it. Would I recommend the MBA to anyone, I would if they think they need one!

I was chatting with a friend who I used to work with and she asked me "Your new job, is that really you?". There are some folks who just know their calling straight out of high school, grad school or B-school. For the rest, including me, I am sure we'll find out!

Until then, everything is awesome! 

The Global Consulting Project

Since most of my posts are wordy narrations, I will spare you of that and leave you with a video sharing my awesome GCP experience in the middle east. Things have moved on since with trips for the MBAT at Paris and the Sofaer Case competition in Israel. I will catch-up with my posts soon ...... 

The Halfway Mark

It feels like it was just yesterday that we were standing in the foyer at JBS introducing ourselves to each others with a bright smile and eager looks on our faces. Friday marked the completion of our University exams and the Lent term - the half way mark on the MBA. With this technically all the 140 MBAs should be masters in Corp Fin, OB, Accounting, Marketing, Operations and Strategy shaping up the fundamentals of management in organizations. While the horror of receiving our marks on these exams remains a distant future and expectations on placements remain to be met, I was asking myself one question as we were returning from dinner hosted by a consulting company in London. 

"How has the MBA changed me?"

I am not sure yet. Maybe all the time spent in classes listening to WACC and DCF has made me a bit more aware about the world of finance (or not). Or it is the learning gained from stories that several speakers shared with us including Credit Suisse's Chairman and Lloyd's CEO (can't seem to recall anyone's content except that of Lord Bilimoria of Cobra Beer :). Among these uncertainties, the network and friends I've added are the most valuable and memorable of my experiences thus far at Cambridge.

Now that I've got System 1 out of the way, some words from the other system. In addition to the academia that we've dunked ourselves into, we will be stepping out into the real world for a brief period to complete the Global consulting project. The map below shows the footprint of the MBA Cantabrigians over the next 5 weeks to advice companies on a range of challenges. I am headed to the Middle East to advice a port operator and third party logistics company about potential growth opportunities through M&A. My team has representation from Brazil, China, Thailand, Kazakhstan and India (me) showing the diversity of the Cambridge MBA once again. I am looking forward to my 2 weeks at Sharjah and guess the next half of the MBA will be even more fantastic than it has already been! 

What do you do, when it feels like you are in the middle of a storm?

I laugh reminiscing the words of an alumni who said, "You write a blog, great! Let's see if you can keep up when things get busier".

I noticed that it has been close to 4 months since I wrote my last post and the past few months have certainly been very eventful and a super excited journey. True to my word, I've indulged myself in many things that I've never even dreamed of in my life. I'ved tried my hand at shooting a video for a case competition while simultaneously being mistaken as a quidditch society member, attended lectures on the Entertainment industry and met the CEO of National Geographic (who would have thought), got a loyalty card in Addenbrookes accident & emergency,  attended formal dinners wearing gowns in some of the oldest colleges of Cambridge (No Trinity yet) and most importantly realized that accounting and Smirnoff are inseparable (thanks to Prof. Meeks). I am even more excited when I think of what awaits me: a consulting project in the middle east followed by a trip to Israel to participate in a case competition (if all goes well). And the biggest event that the whole school is pumped about is MBAT!

Ofcourse I am talking only about the highs, and there are both some illusive and actual lows when you do a stressful course as the MBA. For one thing I often feel guilty of not spending any time reading books (Infact I haven't bought even a single one :). With so many things happening around me - case studies, group meetings, assignments, networking events, recruitment cycles etc., I hardly have time to read the hardbound monstrous volumes of strategy and corporate finance. I am sure the MBA will have to be 3 years if I had to read it all and the 1 year format is really really fast. But I also realize that my learning is abundant and continuous, with the sources being the most unlikely of places. So, that is all for a recap of my past few months in a half sleepy state. More when I can, until then keep calm & enjoy studying!

PS: I forgot that I have converted from a category non-buyer of energy drinks to a frequent buyer. Redbull gives me wings! :)

Life as an MBA

It has been close to a month since I started my MBA and I don't know how to even begin explaining what has been going through my mind. I have met 141 new faces, tried hard to remember 141 new names, colleges, countries, experience and tried hard to summarize my whacky journey until now in the least boring way. The last part is easily the most difficult. 

I haven't explored the town too much and with strong reasons - I am a slow coach, and the pace of the MBA is insanely fast. My only city exploration happens during weekend runs, which are also becoming scarcer. Anyways, saving the dark side, black rings, dozing off tiringly on the sofa (or the classes), I just wanted to give a hint of how a typical day looks like:

7:00 am Wake up early and drink a heavily caffeine loaded drink to start the day

8:00 am Put my happy face on & walk to the college; If I am lucky and my wife is sleeping, I steal her bike to avoid walking due to laziness.

8:50 am Queue up for the first dose of cafeteria coffee and chat with my newly founded MBA family

9:00 am Classes start on the dot, and the Professors start to tell us tales from the City. PV, FV, NPV, Annuity, Risk, Return, Beta and Alpha crowd our brains fighting to find a way to stay there. (there will be cold-calling, the energized classmates firing answers, blinking eyes and grappling senses trying to keep up and the occasional time when you think - "hah, finally we are discussing something I know")

12:30 pm The first couple of weeks were spent trying to go around judging the buttery (never knew this English word meant dining halls)

Last week, this was spent meeting team mates on discussing the Cambridge Venture Project / AT Kearney Case Competition / CV or Covering Letter reviews or Catch-up on the Pre-reading.

2:00 pm Unless you had a 5 course meal, our attentiveness hits a peak (or mine atleast). We've been studying Statistics in the afternoons - Yipee :)

In 7 weeks we went from Simple excel formula to Histograms, Poisson/ Normal distributions, Multi-variate regressions, Correlations, Confidence Intervals, Hypothesis Tests and Significance levels. Life is good.

5:30 pm Check the calendar to see if the gang is going to a Pub nearby or wait there is a recruiter visiting us at 6.

Finance, Consulting and Industry Leadership programs are the first wave of companies to hit campus, wanting to steal the cream of the lot. I decide if the company visiting is one I am interested in applying to or more importantly, if will take any interest in my profile.


Typical release time from the building and its interesting color patterns is 8 to 9pm. Ofcourse there are those who stay back in the Library afterwards or the ones who go partying and come in next day with Red Bull in hand. And let's not forget the Formal Halls and the Cambridge Union Ball that a lot of the MBA class is going to tonight. But all that for another time!

Now off to meet a few friends and an alumni and hear some stories. Hope to update this space soon! 

From Mashmallows to MBA

As I sit on the edge on my bed eagerly waiting to see what lies ahead in my 2^nd week at Cambridge, I cannot stop but reminisce how I got here. I have to confess that it was not an entirely rational approach that got me here. As a marketer, I believe emotions play a bigger role in choices, although my Economics professor Dr. Jochen Runde will suggest all choices are assumed to be rational.

Having worked for a little over than 8 years across 2 industries, 2 countries and 2 companies, I decided that I need an MBA to both accelerate my career and gain an international network. I was firm that I want to stay out of a job for less than a year, due to the high opportunity cost on a 2 year MBA and because I had a clear career goal. This immediately trickled down my search to a few big schools in the world. I ruled out an MBA in India (Indian School of Business) as I already had the benefit of a good Indian brand name through my under-graduate degree. So my choices brewed down to INSEAD, Cambridge, Oxford, IMD and the Kellogg 1 year MBA program. I ensured that I chose the best of schools, so there would be no dilemma if there is the off chance of getting admitted in multiple schools.

I clearly remember my first visit to Judge Business School in October 2012 and being pleasantly confused by the creativity in the architecture of the school’s building. The ice-breaking session organized by adcom was no less on this measure and required us to convert a few spaghetti sticks into the next Al Burj. The challenge was that our building equipment was limited to a few pieces of sticky tape, a small piece of thread, a group that full of new faces and the structure had to balance a big marshmallow. We worked as a team to resist the urge to eat the marshmallow and be done with and ended up building the tallest structure. But most importantly, I was impressed by how the school communicated the essence of an MBA and the type of students it expected to recruit, in a simple and fun way.

Believe it or not, I got admitted into almost 3 schools on that list and now it was a tough choice to select between the best. Traditionally there is a lot of comparisons made between Oxford and Cambridge and most of you know the differences (and similarities too). I did not hit the submit button for Oxford mainly because I thought Cambridge was better suited for my career goals in Consulting and/or Industry. But, why did I choose Cambridge over some of the others?

Maybe it was because Cambridge offered the best combination of affordability, selectivity and diversity. Or it was the old and beautiful buildings steeped in history and creativity. It could be the fact that the degree was from a university with an over the top brand recall. Or it may have been the location advantage of proximity to London and no requirement to wade through visa processes and immigration departments of other countries. It could also be because I lived in Oxford for 3 years and it would be only logical to close the loop in my Oxbridge living experience. Or maybe it was just because I like Marshmallows :)

Whatever the reason, I am positive that I am in the best university in the world and amongst 141 of the world’s best emerging leaders! 

PS: This is a blog post that I wrote for the Cambridge official blog and so wanted to post it here too (despite some of the ideas being a repetition). I know you are probably looking to hear about what has happened in the first week of my MBA. I will follow up with another post on that soon. :)

My Kellogg Interview Experience

Although I did not end up choosing Kellogg, I did spend a humongous amount of time preparing and submitting my application. Infact, given the larger consumer appeal of the US MBA, especially to many Indian applicants, I receive many e-mails from my under-grad MBA apping club about my Kellogg experience. So, in an attempt to answer some of those questions, I am re-posting a blog entry that I wrote for Clear admit.

Kellogg MBA Admissions Interview Questions: Round 2 / Alumnus / Off-campus

I had an interview scheduled with an alum in a coffee shop and got there well in advance. My interviewer came on time and after a few pleasantries we started off. He explained the format of interview (blind), anticipated duration (45mts), Q&A time (10mts) and had a copy of my CV although he had not looked through it. He jotted down notes as he spoke to me. The questions were pretty standard, but it became very very conversational, casual and zero stress. It was interesting in that he was a client of my current company and so I had some specific challenges that he posed.

- Elevator pitch: Take me through your resume (He interrupted me after 1 minute and asked me to elaborate a few points that interested him)

- Why change in industries between Job 2 & 3

- Specific questions about my consulting background and some challenges based on working with my company

- Why MBA?

- Why Kellogg?

- Why 1Y (this got answered in the process of answering the prior qns. He stopped to offer some advice based on his experience here)

- Which other schools did you apply for?

- An example of how I manage a global team

- An example of a successful & challenging consulting engagement – He probed with: 1) What did you do specifically?

- What was a difficult decision you made as a team leader that impacted your team? (I took some time to think about this as it was not something I prepared for)

- What clubs will I participate on campus?

- What is the single most weakest point in my application (I had prepared for this, but he delved deep into this point and so important what you choose to answer. I think I came out strong but we will see.)

- Being a member of a demographically over-represented group, he asked how will my application stand out of my peers?

He then asked me about any questions I had. We discussed for a while and he wished be the best in my application process. Overall this was an anticipated Kellogg interview with no surprises. I think it is great that Kellogg adds this additional dimension to evaluate all applicants and add a personality to each essay they read. Hopefully I land in Evanston with my performance and wish all R2/R3 applicants all the best.