Stumbling on Round 2 : Musings from my application process

During my application Process , I have had great musings from internet strangers. Pinning it down as a FAQ: 1.GRE/GMAT score doesn’t matter. Ofcourse , it is needed to prove your bare minimum mettle for the schools but it is not the only criteria.

2.Essays are not make or break

3.Be authentic but don’t shy away from bragging about yourself.

4.Scholarships are a black because but that being said a higher GMAT is generally equal to a higher scholarship

5.If you are not rushing to get an admit this year ,as an international applicant Early Rounds or R1 should be ideal instead of frivolously rushing your applications in R2 or R3

6. Even if you do get an application fee waiver , doesn’t mean your profile fits automatically. Do research about schools and make sure you fit in.

7. Choice of recommenders is extremely crucial. You can have a recommendation from a CEO . Make sure the recommenders know you well enough

8. While most schools say that they don’t discriminate between GRE/GMAT , this might only be true for US schools. Based on some personal feedback , have seen dings in R1 with GRE of 320-327 from non-US schools.

9. If you are gonna go in consulting/tech/finance post-MBA , many companies do ask for your GMAT score as a qualifying criteria.

10. GRE to GMAT converter is highly skewed towards Quant. A high quant gives you a higher equivalent GMAT compared to an equal verbal

11. Write as minimum in your optional essays as this often opens a door of suspicion. Avoid explaining unnessary things. The circumstances were extenuating for most if not all of us

12. I would always choose a low ranked profile fit school over a high ranked unfit.

13. There is literally an Indian and rest of International applicant pool in Canadian and Asian Schools. If you are an Indian , you are not considered as an international applicant and you really need to be an outlier as you will not be competing against the averages but against your own Indian pool. Also goes without saying , Indians living abraod without a PR/Passport from other countries are also treated in the same pool and no brownie points for being NRI (based on feedback from adcoms and personal anecdote)

14. Keep your original transcripts handy as some of the schools are stringent on this requirement even before an admit. Case in point : McCombs

15. When you start writing your applications you should from least interested to most interested school. This helps you put your stories in shape and further improves your style as you proceed with applications.

16. The whole application writing process is a self-discovery journal. While you may not get an admit from your desired school you do get to know a lot about yourself. Don’t be duped by an incompleteness of one part of your application , rather think of it as something to work on.

17. Know your why ? Do you really need an MBA ? Did you just make your long term goals because an application essay asked you to do so ? The answers doesn’t need to come immediately but you really gotta drill down and understand what is that something which drives you.

18. Rush through your applications and apply all or do every application meticulously is your own personal choice.

I am a 90s kid and I watched Kal Ho Na Ho after 17 years post its release. This is what I learned

1. Aman “Mathur” played by Shahrukh Khan is the nephew of Uncle “Chadha” signifying that intercaste marriages were cool back in 2003!
2. “I made a BooBoo” just meant acknowledging an embarrasing mistake the slang I never ever used or heard of in my 25 years of life in India
3. Lajjo (Grandmother) while doing Saraswati puja is requesting 1 dollar but in return, she wishes 10 lacs (1 million). Dadi well understood the concept of arbitration helping GDP to grow as an NRI
4. In 2003, Wearing spectacles was such a taboo, and replacing it with contact lenses could immediately transform you from dorky to pretty. “Pretty women” also plays in background on its own
5. In Evening MBA classes, you just read a “portable refresher book on buisness terminology” So don’t do an evening MBA
6. Dadi has dual faiths, prays to Saraswati and Waheguru.
7. Rohit (played by Saif Ali Khan ) was racist AF, sees a black bouncer, thinks him to be Mohammed Ali, and challenges him for a fight in the ring
8. Aman drops Rohit and Naina but seems like he drops Naina first and Rohit later and ends up sleeping with Rohit. Had he dropped Rohit first and then Naina , he could have just gone home as he lives just opposite to Naina.
9. No idea why he slept unbuttoned with Rohit.
10. For the first time, India copied the copiers China for having own Desi food in New York
11. Aman seems like in his 30s but still makes “crunchies” [crossed fingers] and hence is completely Ok to lie as long as you make crunchies
12. If somebody breaks your heart you just have to return every red cloth in your wardrobe and you will be just fine.
13. It is not easy to forget your first love but you can totally forget your advanced education program like your evening MBA class. Priorities Bruv, obviously!
14. Jigi can be a pet name for both boy and girl in a Gujju family
15. PP is popular slang for Pairi Pauna among Punjabis (Chalo beta PP Karo? )
16. Naina is doing evening MBA classes at 23 clearly signifying the importance of an MBA in your early career
17. Camila has some fine legs, Kya maal hai yaar
18. If your girl’s name is Naina, don’t fret over pickup lines. You can make anything up with the word Naina
19. Even if you give one-word dialogue to Uday Chopra, he will succeed in screwing that up too.
20. Salsa ia a form of dance and not just seasoning.
21. It is completely OK to friendzone the person you love and then stalk them.
22. Naina’s mom’ definition of strength is selfishness. Rohit tumse isliye pyaar karta hai kyuki wo janta hai tum kisi aur se pyaar karti ho usse nhi , selfish hai saala but strength hai use Pyaar Mein.
23. Its ok to flaunt cleavages and seduce young guys in 2003 but not being gay
24. There is no such thing as unrequited love, 6 din , ladki in!
25. It is important to have work-life balance while chasing girls too. 6 din , ladki in and 7th day is a week off
26. Punjabi music and performances are best because well because its Punjabi I guess?
27. Aman is dying and Rohit is mad at Aman because he loves Naina not because Aman is dying. And people call me selfish

Rest in Peace Sushant Singh Rajput

I orginally posted this on linkedin.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jatin-batra-553b4660_why-does-it-take-suicide-by-a-celebrity-to-activity-6678007361258446849-zR_m

Why does it take suicide by a celebrity to realize that depression is real? How many more deaths until we start giving some importance to mental death?
Chester Bennington, Robin Williams, Sylvia Plath, and many more. And now MS Dhoni famed, AIR 7 in college entrance, DCE-drop out Sushant Singh Rajput.

Let’s just be blunt and honest discarding depression with hackneyed responses such as “Oh just wake up early and do exercise”. “Go Run”, considering it to be a stigma and looking down upon people struggling mentally is what all we have been doing. Nobody even wants to talk about it.

Sushant was 34 when he committed suicide, he probably had more achievements than anybody could even dream and yet the inability to cope with mental pressure is just ineffable.

DCE/DTU peeps, no matter where you are in the world right now it’s time you wake up, reach out to people especially the folks living alone in COVID times, hit a text, just a WhatsApp nudge is enough sometimes, call friends and family often, prioritize and pick up calls-because you never know when would that become the last call.

That’s the least we owe to Sushant.

RIP Sushant Singh Rajput.
DCE is forever grateful.

Reliance Jio’s 6th Deal-$1.2 Billion Mubadala’s Investment

Since Zuckerberg’s first investment in April, Reliance Jio has grabbed 5 other deals with the latest in line from Mubadala diluting a stake of 1.85% for $1.2 billion.

The Jio-Facebook Duo is supposed to be one of the biggest aggregators providing end-to-end services of literally every business which is on Whatsapp. It’s a win-win for both as Facebook will finally be able to monetize it’s Whatsapp Business in India and Jio will be able to expand its coverage and grab a bigger market share apart from being both venturing in E-commerce competing for head to head with likes of Walmart’s Flipkart and Amazon.

The benefit comes from not forcing users to download the app as all the transactions would happen via Whatsapp which has a strong user base of over 400 million.

Jio will still have to tread carefully as there might be concerns of net neutrality noting that the lash out Facebook has seen when it launched Facebook basics. And then there are concerns already with Jio Mart , completion with likes of Amazon Now ,Big Basket , Urban Clap (Urban Company ).

With investor’s trust and heavy capital infusion, it would be interesting to see how the investment pans out and where impact Jio will have on the local businesses.

Thumbnail

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/facebook-to-mubadala-investors-queue-up-for-stake-in-jio-platforms-120060500203_1.html

Thumbnails :

https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/facebook-to-mubadala-investors-queue-up-for-stake-in-jio-platforms-120060500203_1.html

Master Union School of Business-Interview Debrief

I received a call on the last day of the first round, 31st May 2020.

Here is my interview debrief :

Profile : 4 years of experience as a Solar PV Engineer with Techno-Commercial experience in IPPs including 1 year of experience in Abu Dhabi, UAE

CAT %ile : 93

Undergrad: B.tech, EE, Delhi Technological University.

The interview was scheduled at 11:00 AM UAE time and the interview took place via Zoom.

The Master that interviewed me was Atul Jain , Ex-CEO of Punj Llyod.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/atul-jain-15654b33/?originalSubdomain=in

Let’s call Atul Jain as A and me as J , the following was our conversation :

A: Hi Jatin, how are you? Where are you based at currently ?

J: Hi Sir, I’m well. How are you ? I am in Abu Dhabi at the moment. (I understand the question was asked because I had requested to reschedule my interview because Sunday is not a weekend here and the days starts on Sunday while Friday and Saturday being off )

A: Oh , very well! Tell me about Yourself.

J: I told him about my profile

A: (He apparently knew which company I work and how is the life in AD as he himself was in AD for like 7 years) How are you finding the life , work culture and profile in Abu Dhabi?

J: I told him about how cosmopolitan is AD , things I have learned and still learning

A: (At this point I realized that the interview was more of a chit-chat than any regular interview. Also, Atul was too polite and didn’t ask anything per se) He advised me that I should get a car and start driving as it will make life bit easier.

A : Do you have any questions?

J: I asked him he got to be associated with the school, what does he think about the first batch as in like what type of students are applying and how the Master’s network will help them get a job.

The interview ended and then a case study had to be solved.

By the way the final verdict is REJECTED.

The Business of the Business Schools-Decoding Master Union School of Business

This blog post was originally written as the essay answer to the question ” What company will you acquire if you had 100 million dollars”

If you had $100 million to acquire a company, which one would you acquire and why?

If I would have 100 million dollars (roughly translated to 750 Crores), I would acquire Master Union’s Business School(MUBS). As per livemint ¹, this iconoclastic business school having an eclectic faculty of CXOs, MDs and policy makers with  focus on technology is currently valued at 300 Crores. To acquire such an undervalued school, I would be ready to pay 100 million dollars(2.5 times as premium)  , leaving my investments in hands of industry stalwarts with years and years of experience to let them run the school and have my returns assured.

Education is one of the biggest disruptors of GDP growth in India valued to be more than $100 Billion ^{2 .} and it can be a great money-spinner if one could market it well , attract great talents,and get people placed. Indian School of Business(ISB) is one such example whose CAGR of Income has been 16% since it’s inception in 2001. The FY18 revenues of ISB are double date of the veterans IIM A, B and C. Fore-telling that MUBS is on it’s way to be another ISB/IIM is an understatement and it’s launch in these unprecedented times already gives it a head start.

These times (COVID19 Pandemic) are uncertain, unanticipated, questionable, unsettling and not so assuring. These times call for survival skills, efficacy of education, prescient thinking and an agile adaptability of a digitalization in Industry 4.0. This pandemic sabotaging a multitude of jobs is a precursor for upcoming work-force to focus on skills demanded by Industry and a value-for-money curriculum which gets them on board. This will bring in a lot of applicant pool for MUBS, will help burgeon more campuses across India and abroad. Utilizing economies of scale will help MUBS expand exponentially. Using expansive network of it’s ‘real practitioners’ , many corporates would be easy to fetch which itself create a recursive effect of Alumni hiring Alumni and effectively using mouth of word for further growth.

Master Union is bringing in people and not just “professors” who are industry experts. In med schools, doctors operate patients and the same doctors teach and this is what makes doctors best in their work, the replication of the same idea in Business schools is genius.

Lastly, Acquiring MUBS is analogous to investing in a an index fund (say S&P 500 or Nifty 50 ) where you let the top CEOs of the company run the business and time again returns of Index funds have overperformed than any individual hedge or mutual funds. Warren Buffet placed his bet in S&P500 and I would place mine in MUBS.

Below are the numbers I projected for income statement (with assumptions and Cash flow statements explained in excel , link in footnotes). This gives a lot of confidence as well as the returns (40.9% IRR with 100% equity) with this B-School³.

1. https://www.livemint.com/education/news/gurgaon-to-get-rs-300-crore-business-school-with-tech-focus-11586495260322.html
2. https://www.ibef.org/industry/education-sector-india.aspx
3. Cash Flow Model Projections for MUBS

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BTR1GEBQwzHf6oxH8m4KruA3MXhLrjIuKZO4Z66e5-8/edit?usp=sharing

What if Eminem wrote “Killshot” the GRE way

You sound like a bitch, bitch
Muzzle the [Shut the] f**k up
When your extollers [fans] become your haters
You done?
F**k, your beard’s grotesque [weird]
Alright
You bawling [yellin’] at the mic, you grotesque [weird] beard
We doin’ this once
Your beard’s grotesque[weird], why you bawling [yellin’] at the mic?Rihanna just hit me on a text
Last night I left blots [hickeys] on her neck
Wait, you just disparaged [dissed] me? I’m flummoxed [perplexed]
Deride [Insult] me in a line, applaud [compliment] me on the next, damn
I’m really aplogetic [sorry] you want me to have a heart attack
Was watchin’ 8 Mile on my NordicTrack
Discerned [Realized] I forgot to call you back
Here’s that autograph for your daughter, I wrote it on a Starter cap
Stan, Stan, son, listen, man, dad isn’t exasperated [mad]
But how you gonna do a moniker [name yourself] after a damn gun and have a man bun?
The giant’s bestired [woke], eyes dilated[open], irrefutable [undeniable]
Endowing [Supplyin’] smoke, got the fire stoked
Say you got me in a scope, but you grazed me
I say one call to Interscope and you’re Swayze
Your retort [reply] got the crowd bawling [yelling], “Woo”
So before you kick the bucket [die] let’s see who can outwit [out-petty] who
With your corny lines (Slim you’re antediluvian [old])
Ow, Kelly, ooh, but I’m 45 and I’m still outselling you
By 29 I had three albums that had flourished [blew]
Now let’s parley [talk about] somethin’ I don’t really do
Go in someone’s daughter’s mouth purloining [stealin’] food
But you’re a f***’ mole hill, now I’ma make a mountain out of you, woo!
Ho, chill, actin’ like you put the chrome barrel to my bone marrow
Gunner? Bitch, you ain’t a bow and arrow
Say you’ll run up on me like a phone bill, disseminating [sprayin’ ] lead
Professing[Playin’ ]dead, that’s the only time you hold still
Are you devouring [eating] cereal, or oatmeal?
What the f**k’s in the bowl, milk? Wheaties or Cheerios?
‘Cause I’m takin’ a shit in ’em, Kelly, I need reading material
Dictionary
Yo Slim, your last four albums flunked [sucked]
Go back to Recovery, oh shoot, that was three albums ago
What do you know? Oops, know your certitudes[facts] before you come at me, lil’ goof
Opulence [Luxury], oh, you broke, bitch?
Yeah, I had copius [enough] money in ’02
To smoulder [burn] it in front of you, ho
Younger me? No, you the whack me
It’s funny, but so true
I’d rather be 80 year old me than 20 year old you
‘Til I’m not senile [hitting old age], still can fill a whole page with a 10 year old’s umbrage [rage]
Got more fans than you in your own city, lil’ kiddy
Go play, feel like I’m cosetting [babysitting] Lil Tay
Got the Diddy okay so you spent your whole day
Shootin’ a video just to f***’ exhume [dig] your own grave
Got you at your own wake, I’m the billy goat
You ain’t never made a list next to no Biggie, no Jay
Next to Taylor Swift, and that Iggy ho, you about to really blow
Kelly, they’ll be putting your name
Next to Ja, next to Benzino, kick the bucket [die], mother*****
Like the last mother**** sayin’ Hailey nugatorily [in vain]
Outlandish [Alien] brain, you Satanist (yeah)
My lofty [biggest] flops are your bombastic [greatest] hits
The game’s mine again and ain’t nothin’ changed but the locks
So before I exterminate [slay] this bitch, mwah, give Jade a kiss
Gotta wake up Labor Day to this (the f***?)
Bein’ rich-shamed by some prick usin’ my name for clickbait
In a state of beatitude [bliss] ’cause I said his goddamn name
Now I gotta cock back, aim, yeah, bitch, pop champagne to this
It’s your moment, this is it
As big as you’re gonna get, so savour [enjoy] it
Had to give you a career to decimate [destroy] it

Arguement Analysis-GRE

Mass media and the internet have caused people’s attention spans to get shorter. However, the overall effect has been positive: while people are less able to focus on one thing, they more than make up for it with an enhanced ability to sort through large quantities of information and find what’s important.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

This is industry 4.0 and the way we conduct business is different from what it used to be. With the pervasiveness of internet and mass media including social media, the business have gone online and have become a part of people’s social networking site. The delivery of news from paper based platform to the LED display of mobile phone has shown the portenet potential of mass media pervasisveness. The pursuit of dopamine hit seems to be a major challenge. Slangs such as FOMO(Fear of missing out) have become more and more common.

It would be an understatement to see that the attention span of the people have reduced considerably , infact it has abated so much in some specific cases that it could actually would have rewired the nueropathways in the brain. FOMO or fear of missing out refers to the pyschological fear in which an individual craves for constant attention because of mass media or internet and common examples includes checking facebook notifications every five minutes , texting somebody and then craving for a response every one minute , sending an email to sombody and wondering when could the response be received every second. All these things have led to a very short attention span. Such short attention spans have not only effected homospaiens in terms of being productive but also in a manner in which they spend their repose time. People with short attention spans often find it difficult to even watch a 3 hour movie since they are always craving for a news from mass media or internet.

Undoubtedly , Internet could be the best invention ever . It has disrupted businesses, lives, education and almost everything. If used properly , internet is a best resorce ever. But with everything good , it comes with it’s own foibles. Internet seems to be doing more harm than good. While it helps users to focus on what’s important and let them sort through a pile of information quickly , making them accesible in a just a click , it might also distract them from being on the right path. Thus, saying that even though internet and mass media has led people to have a short span of attention yet have made them productive would be specious since it is in the hands of users of how they use the information and steer their path. It’s easy to get distracted as the dopamine hit is an instant gratification and humans crave for the same. While on the other hand it requires stentorian spartan efforts to be a martinet.

The founder of Ruby on Rail, a popular coding language to develop websites, has claimed that he is not on any social media and doesn’t endorse emails or any ther masss media communication so as to do a deep level of quality work.In his book Deep Work, the author Cal Newport has exemplimed and enumerated multitudes of examples wherein most productive people prefer to be off the grid when it comes to Mass media and Internet as they think high quality deep work required an excess of attention span . And then there are instances of many students who have become addicted to the notification tone of their iPhones to an extent that it effects their psychology and the way they work in real life.

It is ironic that Internet can help filter out the important data and let one focus on the centrality of theme at the same time there are traps of mass media which can deter the attention span and hence even if the information is available one might procrastinate over it.

Manhattan-Analyzing the Arguement -1

Pirouettes Ballet School is the clear choice for any child. Of all the dance schools in Elmtown, Pirouettes has the most intensive program, and our teachers have danced in the most prestigious ballet companies all over the world. Many of our students have gone on to become professional dancers with top dance companies.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.

From the arguement , one can infer that Pirouettes Ballet School is posed to be Stanford of the dance schools in Elmtown. To ascertain the potential of the school and to verify it’s claims one needs to look from several angles.

The first things that snaps at the reader while reading the arguement is the name of the school itself. Pirotuettes Ballet School seems to be a ballet school which is one of the popular dance forms but not all the dance forms. So to understand one needs to go in a trenchant manner so as to see what all are the availble dance forms in the Pirouettes Ballet School. It has been claimed that the Pirouettes have the most intensive dance program but to understand the efficacy of an intensive program is to look at the way it has been rated by third parties such as Parents , Alums and third party rating websites or surveys who are able to rank the school with other schools. Not only that it is important to understand that if an intensive program is really called for. While it is apparent the intensive program keeps the students at their tows all the time but it certainly drains them out probably causing burn outs and hence an intensive program may not after all the best thing when it comes to learning.

Brand name of a school is what provides a headstart once the students are graduated and it is what makes them further standout when it comes to new endeavours such as jobs , business etc . To understand the impact of the brand name Pirouettes portyays , one should look at the Alumni and where they have been throughout their life , how they have progressed in the industry and the pervasiveness of the name of the school in current market scenario. While the school claims that many of it’s student have become professional dancers with top companies , it is important to see the distinction with respect to other top schools and what their studnets have been doing. While it is certainly an achievement to work with top companies as dancers , it is likely that students from other schools might have achieved even better fates.

Coming to the school’s claim that it’s teachers have danced in prestigious competition but the participation alone cannot posit the statement. To analyze , one should look at how many teachers have participated lately and how many have won the competition or atleast how many have been able to perform in a competitive manner. The efficacy of it’s teacher is important to understand how much the competition has mattered, A comparison to other teachers also doesn’t harm one when it comes to competition. One should also keep a check on how are the other teachers doing and how they have been doing compared to teachers of Pirouettes Ballet School.

Answering to above questions will definitely help evaluate the recommendation. .