Sunday, April 01, 2007

Updates on my MBA journey and life

Hey people,

Its been more than 4 weeks since i came here in US and now i am feeling settled. I have taken a nice apartment at rent and have set my routine here now. The weather here is still cold but certainly better than when i came here. But i am loving this place now, and the feeling of home sickness has also almost vanished :).
I have not been able to find time to look for any community service organizations in Minneapolis, as i want to continue on this. I have been part of teaching in poor children's school back in Hyderabad(India) and want to do something of this sort here too. It really gives a sense of satisfaction and gives me a feeling that at least i am doing something in life. Though i started this just 6 months back, but i really enjoy doing it.

Now on my MBA thing, last week i have again started working towards my GMAT ( not much though) and also i have started seriously on my search on B schools thought i have done it loosely sometimes previously. But now i am doing it thoroughly, one school at a time. After reading through the blogs of Iday, Inblue, juggler and many other people, my search at this point of time is pretty much organized. Thanks to these guys. As i search more on these B Schools there are many questions popping in my mind and i need to clarify them from someone who has been through all this process. Will need help from my fellow bloggers on this.

I will definitely start my GMAT prep in full swing this week and will give a computer based test in 2 weeks time to gauge my present level of prep. This will help me decide what more i need to do and how i need to spend my prep time on various sections. So in next 2 weeks i will practice each section a bit and give one Kaplan test. (I don't have any other test right now, powerprep and GMATprep i don't want to use them, right now, i have saved them for the last 15 days of my prep).

As mentioned in my previous posts, i have already completed OG 11th Edition and Kaplan premier program book. Now after some amount of practice from online material and 1000 collections i need to start with my Kaplan 800.

Lets see how it goes. I just need to keep that motivation and enthu going and keep up my confidence.

Any suggestions are always welcome.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

feel free to email me at forrestgump47 at gmail dot com

righty said...

Hey Achi...
Great to know that you are settling... Prepare well and bang it!!! :)

HairTwirler said...

Minneapolis has a very innovative charter school system. Perhaps that's something you could get involved in volunteer-wise?

Sreenath said...

Hey
All the best buddy..Its really good for the GMAT as well if you can do some community service in US.I was there in Hyd Infy long time back and now i have moved out of infy.Keep in touch and let me know incase you require any help on preps.

Sreenath

Boywonder said...

I sent you an email, so feel free to send me questions.

I took a slightly different approach to MBA research. I identified various factors, created a standard template and filled out the template for each of the top 15 schools. My template included items such as professors I would want to meet/work with, what clubs I wanted to be involved in and why, what research centers interested me, what grading system they had, lecture vs. case, what I wanted to accomlish at each school (largely similar but some schools allowed for variation), what core courses I liked, what elective courses I wanted to take, etc. These were just things particular interesting to me...but it helped me compare schools. Hope this helps...probably not.

Mocha said...

Thanks for swinging by my blog.

It looks like you've made your first step in your MBA journey. Best of luck to you! I find studying GMAT is a big hassle for me. The very first test I did, I scored 550 (yeah, very disappointing). But I continued to study hard for it, and my hardwork paid off. Although I still want to improve my score on that for the next time I apply for MBA.

Have you set your eyes on any MBA schools yet?

Mocha said...

hi Achilles,

It really sucks that you have to prepare for your GMAT while you're moving around the country. But what do you do that requires so much traveling? Consulting?

I live in Hawaii, actually. You might read some comments on my blog about Seattle, but that's because I might move there for the job. So...I am trying to enjoy as much paradise as possible before I move away!

You were initially from India?

Mocha said...

>> Achilles...
Sorry that it takes me forever to respond to your comment. You're in IT consulting..wow. I've always wanted to know how it is in the consultant field. I have little to no experience in that field, nor did I know anyone who is in that field. You mind sharing some of your experiences with me?

My specialty is ... well in entrepreneurship. I guess you can assume everyone can have a little entrepreneurship spirit in them. I was raised in an entrepreneurial family; and I was exposed to nothing but "starting-a-company" mindset all my life. So, following my mom's footstep, I started my first company at 17. But what she didn't have that I do now is the overwhelming opportunities for women in the workplace. I wish to gain more experiences from other companies in any field that's to my liking (primarily IT-related). After all, learning the best practice from others can always prepares me to improve my company right! :P

Janet Nakano said...

Welcome to the US!

Good luck on your studies with the GMAT.

Here are some podcasts that you might find useful in your application process:

- The 360 Degree Guide to Applying For & Getting Your MBA: Everything You Need to Know for a Successful MBA

- MBA Admission Strategic Plan: What You Can Do Now to Help Get Accepted Next Year

- The GMAT: Everything You Need to Know About The Test

Listen at www.MBAPodcaster.com

Keep us posted!