Making travel plans to US

• One of the first things that students have to do once they are accepted is to block the air ticket. You need not pay anything while blocking, it’s free! You can pay later (generally 10 days before departure) after your ticket and schedule is confirmed. Block flights with many airlines.
• Try and book a direct flight to your place, even if you have to take a local airline in United states it is better and safer than the bus service greyhound, which usually has its stops in the shadiest area of towns. Buy a single ticket all the way through – add on are very expensive. Avoid change of airline,a direct flight is the best.
• If change of airline can't be avoided, leave at least 4-6 hrs gap between the scheduled arrival of one flight and the scheduled departure of the connecting flight. This is to ensutre that you don't miss flights incase the onward flight is delayed.
• Baggage is usually safe with a single airline - change of airline sometimes leads to misplaced luggage. Some airlines don't take care of baggage transfer - you may have to personally carry it (check this while booking) and cross check every thing you are promised by the Travel agent with the original air lines. Even if you have confirmed ticket in you hand.
• Remember to ask for student concessions.Generally all the airlines will come up with one or the other discount offer for students, so check all this out before you pay the money.
• Typical expenses: Rs.27, 000 - Rs.35, 000/-

Please note: Most of the tips in this section are by Vikram Nagda, an MS student. I made use of these tips while planning my trip to the United States.

Warren Buffet's speech in University of Florida

Interesteting value investing concepts from Warren Buffet himself:

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Part 4:



Part 5:



Part 6:



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Part 8:



Part 9:



Part 10:

blog on iphone.

For those of you who have been wondering what I am upto these days, Here is what:
http://iphonerevealed.blogspot.com/

I have just started working on it. It still needs a lot of work to be done. I hope you find it useful.

Recommendation letters

Recommendation letters form an important part of the application process. However it is also a subject of much confusion and uncertainty. Here are a few of the issues that potential B-school applicants face and my take on them.

How many recommendation letters do I need?

Most colleges that I have applied to have asked for two recommendation letters. You could also send in a third recommendation letter if you feel that it will increase your chances of getting into a particular college. However, I have seen colleges discouraging people from sending in a third recommendation letter. One particular college explicitly mentioned that applicants will receive negative rankings for a third recommendation letter. so, the moral of the story is: Carefully read the application requirements of each college and make a judgement call.

Essentially, you need two recommendation letters for each college. Let us say you are applying for six colleges, you need twelve recommendation letters. That's a lot! Imagine asking someone to write six recommendation letter for you! what should you do? That takes us to the next question of this section:

Who should recommend me?

Ideally b-schools would like to hear from your immediate supervisors, colleges or managers that you have worked under. This is a problem for students with no work experience. Many students who apply to b-schools fresh from college try to get recommendation letters from their professors and Heads of the Departments. Most B-schools place little or no weightage on academic recommendations. This is mainly because b-schools believe that professors are in contact with many students and are unlikely to know you on a personal basis. In fact most b-schools are quite upfront and explicit about this. This also puts most working professionals in a fix because most working professionals would like their immediate supervisors/managers know about their b-school aspirations. Asking supervisors/managers to recommend them would expose applicants intentions.

There is a solution this fix, fortunately. B-schools are also quite open to recommendations from customers /clients. In fact, I believe that a client / customer testimonial carries more weightage than a supervisor / manager.

How does a recommendation letter look like?

Have a look at the sample recommendation letter below:

Are there any ways to improve / influence the recommendation letter?

Fortunately for us, there are specific ways to improve / influence the recommendation letter.

1) Give the recommender a copy of your application essays - this will help him / her in understanding how you are trying to project yourself and he / she can word the recommendation letters accordingly.

2) Give the recommender a copy of your resume highlighting your accomplishments in areas related to their purview. This has the same function as first one.

3) Let them know in advance that you will be asking them for recommendations and also let them know when you need the recommendation letters back.

4) Keep sending friendly reminders in case you haven't received the letters by the due date.

How do I send the recommendation letter?

Most B-schools require you to send the recommendation letters to be sent to them along with the other necessary transcripts. However, off late, a few b-schools have started asking people to fill in and submit recommendation letters online. This is a great benefit for those who are seperated from thier recommendors geographically.

Top 10 Business Movies

Hi all,
I am going to take a departure from the regular stuff that I write about. Lets talk about something very interesting - Movies! Movies about business are few and far between. There are, but a few rare gems amongst those few that Hollywood decided to make amidst thier end of the world movies. Here is a list of my favourite ones

1) Barbarians at the gate
2) The Insider
3) Wall street
4) Citizen Kane
5) The aviator
6) God father II
7) Glengarry Glen Ross
8) The network


hmm... doesn't add up to 10 does it?

Application check list

Hi all,
managing all the aspects of the application process can be very tricky. Please find below one the means to organize information in an organised manner. Please feel free to modify to better reflect your personal priority and style. This was adapted from the book "Game plan for getting into Business school" by Peterson's


School name:

Date information requested:

Date information received:

Deadlines:

a) Application:

b) Financial aid:

Under gradate transcripts requested:

Other transcripts requested (if applicable):

Under gradate transcripts received:

Letters of recommendation requested:

GMAT test date:

TOEFL test date:

Essay written:

Resume updated:

Reminder to recommenders:

Fill out application form:

Gather recommendations:

Date application form sent:

How many applications do I need to submit?

This is a tough decision that most applicants face. If you apply to very few b-schools, you risk not getting accepted. This is a bad situation as you have to get started on the application process all over again in the next year. On the other hand, if you apply to too many B-schools, you end up spending a lot of time and money. Have a look at the application costs listed below:

• 100$-200$ on the application.
• 20$ or so for each additional score report for TOEFL and GMAT.
• 20$ or higher for sending your transcripts.

Other than this, you also need to spend a lot of time preparing the essays, getting recommendations and filling in applications for each college.

The best way to go about this is by placing b-schools in three categories:

1. Aspirational
2. Reach and
3. Safety

Aspirational colleges are colleges that you would die to get into but are quite tough. Reach colleges are colleges that will fit into your profile and desirable. The last item of the list, safety colleges are colleges which are not exactly the most desirable but are those where you can be certain of acceptance. I suggest that you have at least two colleges in each category. For example, see a list of colleges that I applied to:

1. Aspirational - Chicago GSB & Babson College
2. Reach-UC Berkeley, Ross (University of Michigan)
3. Safety- William E.Simon (University of Chicago), McCombs (University of Texas)

I hope this was of some use to you.

MBA Rankings by speciality

Hi all,
I noticed that a number of you are interested in the rankings section of this blog. While it is okay to look at the overall rankings of college, you get good value for the money you spend in your mba program if you focus on the best colleges in your specialisation. Please find below a list of programs ranked by thier specialisation.
Please note: This is 2004 data from US News and world report. There might be slight changes in subsequent years.