Tuck-Ding.

December 15, 2006

Dear GT,
Thank you for applying to the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. After much thought and careful consideration, I regret to inform you that we are unable to grant your request for admission to the Tuck Class of 2009.

It is often difficult to fully appreciate the competition for admission to Tuck. Our decision is not a reflection on your intellectual abilities, personal achievements or potential success in management. The factor that most often contributed to our decision to not admit an applicant was the rigorous competition created by a strong applicant pool and our commitment to maintain a small class size. This year’s pool is exceptionally strong. We know that many of the applicants who were not granted admission possess excellent characteristics that will serve them well in business school and beyond.

I sincerely appreciate your interest in Tuck and all the time and thought that went into your application. You have my genuine best wishes for success in achieving your future goals.

Warmest regards,

Dawna Clarke

Director of Admissions
Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

...and thats the way it is.

The first leaves of...spring?

Ah,ye admits have started flowing in...

JatWarrior has gotten into 1 of my fav schools - Tuck. I have been following his story from last year and I think this has been long overdue. Absolutely fantabulous-congrats dude! (slight shade of green ;-) If you were to look at his application submission dates, you can see the kind of work he has been putting in long before his apps were due...wow.

MBABlogger apparently has done some very hard work on his apps and added a pinch of pixie dust and guess what...its working! With admits from Darden and UNC, our mans on the moon already!

Heres to hoping all this rubs off on the rest of the gang too...sigh....amen.

Col. Mike Martin is dead.

- The man who choose the desert and the SAS over a wife is dead.
- The man who introduced me to the H&K MP5 and the Ka-Bar is dead.
- With these lines in his mind, he died...
And how can man die better,
than facing fearful odds,
for the ashes of his fathers,
and the temples of his Gods?

After trekking through the deserts of Arabia, the jungles of Borneo, the streets of Belfast and the Afghan mountains, after no-god and god, tending a garden, slitting enemy throats and stitching up dying friends, he is finally gone - dissolved and disappeared amidst the sordid reams of pulp fiction.

And in a way like Col.Mike Martin, Forsyth too is kind of gone...a relic of an era bygone. After some racy books like The Day of the Jackal, The Devils Alternative and The Veteran, Forsyth kind of lets us down with The Afghan. A decent plot with deep background, lots of interesting facts but a loose storyline and some improbable coincidences make for a very superficial novel (not that international conspiracy thrillers are expected to spout metaphysical truths) which is half Forsyth and half-not.

And a very shallow reason to kill Mike.

So long and thank you for everything, Mike - the Brecons, Qui Audet Vincet, Horatius and the Lays of Ancient Rome, the terrible beauty of Ireland, the Holy Quran, Saddam and the House of Sa'oud. If my father had not insisted, perhaps we would have known each other better - in the Paras, the Grenadiers or the Rifles....if only life was not what it was...ah, but it is.

Rest in peace,Colonel.

Tuck

Submitted appl: 11-Oct
App turned complete: 31-Oct
Interview call: None
Decision date: 15-Dec
Like the school: Really do
Pref for admission: In top 3

Attitude 1
Tuck is a hands-on school-believes in interviewing all potential candidates. Its been 3 months since I applied and I havent even got any interview call. Results are due next week.Therefore I am as good as out -DINGED, OUT, KHALLAAS, MATTER-KILOSED.

Attitude 2
I have been emailing Tuck since 2005 on how serious I am about their program. I have interacted with their Dean directly and met up with their alumni/profs while they were in India last year. Since I have been doing all this, they dont think they need to meet me - they think I fit perfectly! I fit,therefore I am...likely to be admitted. A week left for celebrations! Yoohoo!

Attitude 3
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Thank you, Mr.Kipling.

Darden reception at Bangalore (2/2)

ACT 5-ACTUALLY SPEAKING,THE ACT BEGINS
Step 1: Settle in after fried mushrooms for the actual presentation.
Step 2: Smile and nod at regular intervals.
Steps 3.1 to 3.9:
Listen to Jay Bourgeois speech on Darden "High touch, high tone, high octane". Pop peanut. Understand that its a small and young school. Known for high standard of ethics. No specializations. Listen to gyan about how school truly helped out an Indian applicant who lost his father. Pop peanut.

Listen to the prof's challenge about whether any other school's dean would reply in person to a mail. Seems like a nice small school in a nice small town. Not bad. Pop peanut-miss mouth. Dirty looks from Neha,Ishita,Anu and Mehgna. Decide to be careful....wonly for Ishita's sake ;-) Immediately decide to apply.

Sigh when Jay announces a case study-RIGHT HERE,RIGHT NOW! Yeah,wow! ;-( Case on Latino banana plantation which brings in workers and provides acco. A socially responsible move to get local prostitutes involved as workers backfires when man leaves wife+kids and shacks up with one of the new women. In South American jungle. House goes to woman and kids? Man does what? Keep him? Sack him? Kids?Sob,sob.... Almost an Oliver Stone movie.Pop peanut.

The knives are out...Listen to Northie chap questioning morality of the move and establishing an ethical culture; Jay does a nice war dance over his arguments and stamps them out. Am very happy for my unhappy Northie friend-practice a double peanut pop.

Listen to women arguing for commitment. Wonder how this relates to business. Finally someone realizes its not about ethics and its about business. Jay closes the case by bringing in a priest into the picture and khallaas! The problem stands solved-priest decides whats right and whats wrong. Case over. Ultra-kuwik decision and resolution to pop in last mushroom for the day.


ACT 6-BYE BYE ISHI DAHLING.
Step 1: A last sip of wine,a long and lasting look at Ishi Dahling and out we go...train at 9.45, Ganja at hotel at 9.35. Will he make it? Thanks to a decent Citrix employed Mallu former entrepreneur (who ofcourse wants build a company and become an employer), Ganja gets a lift...quick exchange of thoughts on admission process and entreprenuership as we zoom down in a Corsa. Leave calling card and vaguely exchange promises of getting in touch etc etc. Indian Railways saves the day and brings the train home late.

ACT 7-HORROR IN THE ORIENT EXPRESS
Step 1: Funny looking Mallu guy says "Hellllluuuu" to snotty looking lady.
Step 2: Both exhange the usual "weather, naadu evude" etc etc in sadly practiced English accents-Ganja entreats the powers of the universe that they dont become kilose and friendly.
Step 3: Bury head into Man's World mag and stare at Claudia Schiffer,I-pods, Azzaro Silver Black and the Graham Chronofighter. Ah, the fates...two born again X'ians with fake accents.Why? Why? Why in S1?
Step 4: Man spots opportunity and asks the dreaded question "Are you Xian?" naheeeeeeeeeennnn...why me?!!?
Step 5: Denominations exchanged-Protestant/CSI. World views exchanged-Born again/Always was.The guy gently lets loose a whopper of a statement "Yaactually I gawt a Maasters in Theoology and now am eentu sochal serveez"-Go dude!
Step 6: BOOM-that statement does it! Bibles brought out-Arguments exhanged-Interpretations cast about-David the sinner/Thomas the doubter/Mary the mother. Ganja cringes and hopes they dont spot his rosary. Thankfully they dont.
Step 7: Louder and louder arguments continue till 1am. A pissed off Ganja considers giving his version of Xianity by example and then asking to shut them up, but decides to get aggro and snaps off light. Silence observed for 10 seconds. 5-5 man decides not to confront 5-11 Ganja. Softer interpretations sally forth.

There you go-that was a fine step by step description of sequential events. Logic in my blood and water in my tie...tch tch...just so like me! Gut nacht!

Disclaimer: For all the yak yak that he did, its very likely that he is actually a social worker running an orphanage or old age home somewhere in Kerala. Its just that I personally have a problem with action over words...esp when its this "my God's bigger" business. If a religion is as nice/deep/profound or true as it claims to be, it should show in the practitioners' behaviour and not in their words. With such a smug homily on religious values, GT gets back to work.

Darden reception at Bangalore (1/2)

SUMMARY
Attended the Darden reception at the Windsor Sheraton,B'lore on Sunday evening.Darden is a "warm" compact community driven B-school which espouses the case study method strongly. Has many things in common with Tuck like "designed to be small", located far away from the big cities with a closely knit community.If you are OK with that and the "Case Study" method, you should apply.

DETAILS
Ms.Lynn Garnett,Asst Director-Admissions and Prof.Jay Bourgeois, Asst Dean of International Affairs (whatever that means!) were present. I had just landed in from Cochin on one of the many a/cd Volvos that ply to Bangalore;awkward business of lobbing around a suit, a laptop and a airbag. Reached the hotel in time and stepped into the cloak room to change into the shoot.

ACT 1-SET WET
Step 1: Put on tie
Step 2: Put on jacket
Step 3: Bend over to wash face
Step 4: Withdraw wet tie from sink

ACT 2-EVEN JAMES BOND MAKES LOUD AND RANDOM NOISES.
Step 1:Bend to tie shoe laces
Step 2:Realize you cant bend or bow too much with a jacket on.
Step 3: Flex knee to chest to tie laces.Proud about flexible body.
Step 4: Lose balance and knock over brass flower pot and dust bin.
Step 5: A composed,serious, jacketed gentleman greets the hotel staff with an sophisticated, amused, puzzled look and turns away to tighten his tie before walking away smartly.
Step 6: 20 minutes later a panicky jacketed gentleman runs back to toilet to check misplaced mobile phone.

ACT 3-SUAVE AND SOPHISTICATED LAUGHTER
Step 1: Bend to sign in the register; ignore water droplets that drip on the table from wet tie. Disdainfully dismiss weird looks from next signatory.
Step 2: Agree with Lynn Garnett when she asks if you just flew in
Step 3: Agree with Jay Bourgeois when he asks if you are staying overnight
Step 4: Quickly join in the laughter and after 5 minutes realize it was directed at self.
Step 5: The protagonist smiles wisely at everyone again just to show he is a man of humour and walks off for a glass of Shiraz.

ACT 4-UNE PROBLEME DE COUTURE
Step 1: Join Prof. Jay in animated discussion-listen to how he offered free seats at Univ of Maryland desk for any Indian applicant who could get his name right. You naughty,naughty man!
Step 2: Happily explain about the beauty of Kerala, about the joy of work and ofcourse the Thrissur pooram.
Step 3: Mistake his animated gesture for a handshake and extend own hand.
Step 4: Realize mistake and withdraw hand just when hes extended his.
Step 5: Nervously laugh and spill some wine...put on "I ponder,therefore I am" look and walk off for another glass of Shiraz.
Step 6: Prop up sinking heart after realizing that the prettiest babe in room saw your fumble. Recognize the old "I saw you do it!" chuckle and put on stiff upper lip again.
(To be contd...)

MAD Part 2: The Interview

Preparation
- Trawl the internet for 4 hours on how to buy a new suit.
- Consider 3 buttons, 2 vents, more wool than polyester and ponder between classic black, quiet grey, navy blue and adventurous stripes - consider philosopical questions from friends "Are you zebra?"
- Try out 32 new suits in 4 different showrooms - blow off persistent salesman with specific requirement of "a single vented, three-button grey suit with a 75:25 wool ratio and flatfronted trousers".Run away while he's searching.
- Read up on schools; read up on courses; read up on interviews;practice talking in front of toilet mirrors, surprise maintenance staff at office.
- Hum out answers in the elevator; practice body language and try to act natural when the lift opens on your classic "If I were to slice my career into 4 signficant parts" gesture.
- Dress up for interview.
- Wear just tie, vest and boxers...walk around...just to get those streaks of juvenile lunacy off before the big hour.
- Practice "Serious look", "Thoughtful look", "Look of awe and wonder" and "Thinking fingers aka twirling thumbs".
- Look stupid in sticky new suit.
- Look stupid in sticky new suit in an auto in Bangalore.
- Look very stupid in sticky itchy new suit in front of 3 giggling schoolkids.
- Look very stupid in sticky itchy new suit in front of Nepali gurkha who says interviewers office is closed.
- Consider Vanaprastha in the Himalayas.

Week after 1 okkkkkay interview and 1 good interview
- Start gathering statistics about interviewed vs. selected.
- Pore through Business Week's selectivity and yield ratios for different schools.
- Try to create historical trends and juxtapose them against respective country GDPs and come up with a statistical trend to prove favourable future. (Only for experienced MS Office users; at this point, novices to consider The Art Of Living courses).
- Read interviewed University brochures again and again hoping that the greater laws of the universe will work in favour of those putting in really hard work...ie staring at pretty women in brochures er..sorry...assimilation of the school's culture and statistics.

Week 2 after 1 okkkkkay interview and 1 good interview
- Get smarter...install mobile Gmail on phone.
- Check Gmail on phone every 10 minutes.
- Stop just visiting applicant blogs and instead start commenting - "you got anything yet? what abt u? huh...me too ;-("
- Micro Schadenfreudish relief at people who havent got any invites from your fav schools....then realize the tilting of cosmic scales against you...quickly ask forgiveness and try to swing the scales again...muditaaaaahhhhh! (Powers of the Universe to take note)

Who says life is not beautiful...atleast until Dec 20/21.