Book Review – Tipping Point

http://thoughtmazes.blogspot.com/2010/08/tipping-point.html

Have been thinking of reading this book myself, but never got hands to it. Nice review.

Looking forward to read it soon.

Preparing for CAT 2010 ? Take All india test series

Buy All India Test Series for CAT 2010 for just 999/-

http://www.mindinsight.com/pages/mishop/mishop.jsp
Wow, didn’t know online tests have become so cheap now a days.

Books for SALE – 2

1    Autobiography- Lee Iacocca   by  Lee Iacocca    Rs    100
2    70 Million employable Indians: strategies for global competitiveness    – AIMA- All India Mgmt Association   Rs   30
3    Marketing management by   Philip Kotler      -  Rs  100
4    Financial management  by  Prasanna Chandra   – Rs   100
5    GMAT OFFICIAL GUIDE – 11th Edition    GMAC   -  Rs 300
6    Barrons Essay that will get you into business school,    Barrons   – Rs    100
7    Kaplan GMAT Premier program   -  Rs    250
8    How to interview like a top MBA  by  Dr Shel Leanne  -  Rs    100
9    Great Applicatoin Essays for Business School   by  Paul Bodine  –   Rs   100
10    ABC of Getting the MBA Admissions edge  , by  Alan Mendonca Matt Simons    -  Rs    300
11    How to get into the top MBA program by   Richard Montauk    -  Rs 300

Contact me : dezter@gmail.com

When in London , go for Cherrypicking, Strawberry picking et al at Garsons

http://ruddhi-travelogue.blogspot.com/2010/07/pick-your-own-crop-and-fruits-garsons.html

. … drove from Farnborough to Esher to a place named as ‘Garsons’. They have a huge farm where a lot of crops and fruits are grown. They have an excellent range of vegetables variety from cauliflower and beans to green peas and potatoes. They also grow fruits– Strawberries, Gooseberries, Blackcurrant, Raspberries, Blackberries, Cherries and a lot more. The farm grows 5 types of flowers. Here, you can handpick the fruits and vegetables that you want, and take them home (obviously at a price), though its still fun to pick what you want. ….

Read the complete experience at Ruddhi’s Blog

A good experience indeed. Would love to go for a picnic at such a place sometime.

Books for Sale

One of my friends left for the US and handed me a huge carton of books to be disposed. So selling them online here. If you are in Bangalore please contact me at dezter@gmail.com with your phone number so that I can call you up and fix a time for the deal.

Books are listed in the spreadsheet below :

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmNFxW5FNavGdExESHZSUEVzU3dmWHQzY0czSE1TQUE&authkey=CJ6Qu6sN&hl=en#gid=0

If you are situated outside Bangalore and still want any of these books, still mail me your contact number, will try to work out a deal.

Updates : April 25-May 05′ 2010

Well, haven’t written anything in this blog since a long time. A lot happened this week and the last, and thought of sharing it in a digest.

Loan Application ready: Collected the documents required for applying for psot-graduate loan from HSBC, UK. Need to send them asap, so that I am visa ready. Inquired Blue-Dart and it will cost 2000 approx to send them to UK. Whhooopping amount, I think

Decision form and initial deposit: Had a demand draft of 3000 made in favor of Cranfield University for the initial deposit. Will send it across with the decision form to the university. Bunch of people (3 actually) have decided to club these and send them in one courier to save on courier costs. Nice idea ! Should be done in a few days time.

Saw a bunch of movies -

- The Prestige – Starring Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine. Amazing movie, amazing drama, mystery and thriller. Rated 8.4 in IMDB and ranks at #72 in the top 250 movies of all times.

- Syriana – Starring George Clooney, Matt Damon.  Based on the Arab oil industry and the global politics/crime surrounding it.

- The Transporter-3 – Watched it for the 3rd time. Good pastime at dinner time.

Questions in mind before accepting Cranfield MBA

There are a lot of questions in my mind regarding the Cranfield MBA. I must have thought about them before applying, but I think its not too late. Also got a mail from a fellow Cranfield admit who asked few of them, and now I am forced to think about them. I think I have concrete answers to them. Comment if you think otherwise.

“Concerns about post MBA job prospects & economy” – Well, I do have my own views on the job prospects and the economy. As suggested by many people in the industry, the job prospects depends on number of factors like the sector you want to work in, and the role/profile you desire. Since I do not have very clear picture of what I want to do post-MBA (except for the fact that I want to go into consulting) , I have not got very good picture of the job prospects.

But overall, one thing is clear, an MBA will give a lot of weight to my resume, and will definitely make me employable. One of my friends who works in UK says that with my profile (experience in IT software development) I can get jobs now even without MBA. So it means jobs are there. But with an MBA, I would like to get a job as a consultant, or a project/program/product manager in a niche sector, which might be difficult to get into. There are two main reasons for me to join Cranfield – to work in UK post MBA, and to get a quality education. And as I am not looking for a specific profile (as of now), I think I would be able to land a job.

“real ROI for people like us in IT industry.” – About this, I think ROI should be very good. As IT is still a ‘hot’ industry and there are jobs around in the UK. And the ranking as per ROI being high in Cranfield helps, as it suggests ROI is indeed high, regardless of industry.

“Another concern is couple of top ranked Unis rejected my application due to my lack of management experience” – this happened to me as well, and I do not have answer as to whether its good to go for an MBA without managerial experience in the UK, as the course is for 1 year only and the class we will be attending will have quite a lot of people people with lot of managerial experience. It will be competitive, but at the same time there might (just slight) be a disconnect.  I do not know.

“Also do u know which electives (specialization) is preferred by students at Cranfield?” – I did not do such research, but I am personally interested in Entrepreneurship, and electives related to IT only. As I do not want to move out of IT. Overall the course structure is very good with emphasis on personal and professional development, so I think the investment will be worth it.

Another reject – this time from MBS

DING !!!

Came as a surprise to me. Even Manchester does not think I will be suitable for its next class. Disappointed.

Even more so because I did not get any feedback about what went wrong.

Anyways, its not the end. Will take a break and start again.

The Pros and Cons of doing an MBA

Now that I have decided to do an MBA, there is not turning back. But still there are thoughts in my mind about the pros and cons of doing an MBA. Especially now, when global economy is under recession. And when I am married and having a good job that pays well. Let me list all of them out.

Cons
1. Huge Opportunity cost – I will lose more than 10 Lakhs PA of salary for the next 1-2 years that I spend doing an MBA. That will be a huge amount. Add to that the costs of an MBA which will be in excess of 30Lakhs (min).

2. Moving away from friends and family – out of sight is out of mind. Isn’t it ? We often do not get a chance to meet, even in weekends, living in the same city. Moving away will definitely mean less social gatherings.

3. Strained relationships – though you are in touch with your spouse over the phone and email, but its just not enough sometimes. Same about your family. Its going to be difficult.

4. Stress and Burden – An MBA is not an easy affair. Its not like the 9-6 job (oh come on! face it, we do have a relaxed job , even in IT). Its going to be stressful, and loaded. Top it up with the burden of loan which one must take. And then the tension around internships, projects, placements,visa, .. .. ..

Pros

1. Once in a lifetime experience – If you join a good reputed b-school, you are bound to have an experience that will change your life for sure. The outlook changes a lot. Not experienced personally, but read a lot about it. Also this would provide you with the much needed confidence to do anything in life.

2. Add weight to CV – before an MBA you might just be an IT professional from IIT/NIT with experience in XXX,YYY,ZZZ. But after that, your CV will read “MBA from xxxxx”. This definitely will be an added advantage in any future endeavor you might take up.

3. Career change and progression – Though not very simple, but it will be easier to change your career and a swifter progress after an MBA. All depends on how one fares in the b-school, but it is definitely easier than without an MBA.

4. Life long network – You will gain a network of friends, alumni, and faculty which will help you in the longer run. You will have to contribute as well, and thats how it works. Give and Take.

5. Money will come later – And if everything goes well, you will definitely earn more than now in long run. Enough money to cover the money you lost as ‘opportunity cost’ in a lesser time.

[Update - May 28/2010]

Read an interesting article about how to decide between an Indian MBA and a foreign MBA. A good read indeed. The most important point is about having the right expectations. True indeed !

http://www.mindinsight.com/viewblog.action?blogId=35  :

Why do I give so much of gyan?

I am good at giving gyan. Most of the times they do not make sense. But I dont get tired of giving gyan.In all the forums and blogs that I have subscribed to, I have been found myself giving gyan more than taking them.

Why do I like giving so much gyan ? Because I am an Indian and Giving Gyan is the Indian expertise.

Whether we follow the same or not , we do preach. And preach at every other chance we get. Good and bad.

Good in the sense that in anybody having any doubt on anything in this world gets an answer from the gyan his neigbour or colleague has to provide. The other day I heard my friend giving gyan on entrepreneurship, though he has never done anything entreprenurial in his life, and nor is he an MBA .

Coming back to my gyans, I have always given gyan on things that I believe in. I am an applicant for MBA for fall 2010 and as and when I am applying and researching more schools, reading more about schools, contacting alums, listening podcasts I am gaining more insight about the b-schools and applications. And hence the gyan.

Also its my moral duty to help other fellow b-school applicants like me.

Isn’t it amazing that whatever information you need on applying to a b-school is always available to you,at you fingertips. Courtsey to our brothers all over the world blogging , and posting from all over the world about their b-school experiences. I wonder what would we do without such a network.