Getting back in the game after almost 18 months hiatus. Will try to be more regular for the next few months.

Getting into a top MBA program

Lately so many people have asked me how to get into a top MBA program that I am going to just summarize what I tell others.

There are five key decision points around which an admission committee makes it's call:

- Intellectual Ability - Mostly manifested through your Academic performance/GMAT etc

- Professional Achievement - Some good indicators of this are #promotions, level of responsibility relative to your peers in the same profession

- Clarity of Future Goals/aspirations - Mostly reflected in the Why MBA? Why now? kind of questions - Again it is important to show a continuity of thought process in setting goals/aspiration from pre-MBA to post-MBA - even though these might be two different industries/career

- Personality - Who you are? What type of person you are? Are you a good person to work with?- These aspects are mostly reflected in your essays, choice of topics of your essays, recommendations and personal interview

- Quality of Recommendations - How others perceive you and how does that triangulate to your description of you that comes across in your essays/application. Consistency from all reference points - from essays to recommendation to personal interview is key here.

Apart from the above list, each school adds a slight variation/color to its selection process. It is best to get a good feel of that by talking to students from that particular school. About Wharton I could say these points - The list below is in no way exhaustive and is just IMHO:

- Wharton definitely gives a lot of importance to Intellectual Ability/Rigor - so your academic record/GMAT are critical

- Clarity of your future goals/Aspiration is critical

- Wharton tends to be more "Brand crazy" than other schools - For example, Wharton would admit a "slightly OK" candidate with an experience in a branded company such as Microsoft, Goldman etc but reject a "Slightly Better" candidate from a non-branded company/startup.

- Wharton is definitely lot more open to people with more than 5-6+ years experience than other schools

Go, light your bulb!

I was watching Swadesh for the nth time the other day and I have to say I am in love with this movie. Check this song out here - Yeh Jo Desh hai Tera - one of my favorites. Another great moment in the film is when Mohan Bhargava's (Shah Rukh Khan) boss say - Go, light your bulb!

And here is an article on the true life story that inspired the movie.

If somebody likes Gandhi, Forrest Gump and now Swadesh does it say something about their personality - I am sure it does - however I am not sure I am ready to accept the verdict!

VC Blogs

Lately I have encountered some great VC blogs - Please checkout my Blogroll

The temptations of private equity: Source thedeal.com

Planning a 7-day trip to Peru

These days I am planning a trip to Peru during the coming spring break. Why Peru? I have never visited South America. So this we be my first visit to the fourth largest continent by size and the 3rd least populated continent on earth. Of the 12 countries that are part of SA, Peru is the most intriquing. I am a history buff, and Peru offers great choices for somebody like me who has just 7 days of travel time. Peru is the home of the famous Inca ruins that offer a glimpse into the glorious past of Native South America. I plan to visit Cusco, the capital of the ancient empire. If I get time, I plan to hike in the Amazon jungles in the northern part of Peru. Also, Lima with its picturesque beaches will be another attraction.

Tickets:
I bought the tickets from expedia.com. After searching for the best tickets on different travel websites - the usual suspects such as hotwire et. al- including travel agents, Expedia offered the best price. I am taking a Delta flight from Atlanta to Lima. I paid around $600 per ticket including taxes. I think it is a good deal considering I will be travelling in less than 3 weeks from the day I booked the tickets.

Travel strategy:
I connected with few of my friends from Purdue who had visited Peru - Sandeep Jain and Dhananjay Adhikari. Also connected with a fellow Kellogg Admit to the class of 2008, Alejandro, who hails from Lima, Peru. These will be point persons to sanitize my travel plans going forward. I also bought Lonely Planet for Peru - this book was suggested by Dhananjay - he mentioned that it has ton of useful information. Alejandro suggested that I learn some basic Spanish. According to him, I should be fine at most of the touristy places by speaking just English but I might have problems when I travel to other places. So, the next couple of weeks will be spent in going through the books and picking up as much Spanish as possible.

Best time to Travel:
It appears that the best time to travel to Peru is during June to August - The winter season there. This time - Dec to April is the rainy season there characterized by hot weather. Since I dont have much choice now, only time will tell if this time will work for us or not.

Btw, the next continents on my list are : Australia/Oceania, Africa and Antartica in that order. So keep reading this space!

Venture Capital in India

I have been following the Indian VC industry for some time since my days with helping Eisodus Networks raise financing in India. Lately the booming Indian economy has definitely sparked my interest in this area even more. I have decided to blog my experiences/thoughts as I explore the Indian VC industry. As a starter here are some good links:

Blog of Indian VC/PE industry http://www.vccircle.com/
Blog from a Indian VC - http://radventure.blogspot.com/

What will the world be like in 2500 AD?

With oil prices hovering above $60 a barrel for more than a year, the question of an impending energy crisis looms large. However, I am not the one who believes in the doomsday scenario that some energy pundits are predicting. For somebody who worked in the oil industry back in late 90s when oil industry was in the midst of a recession with oil at $12/barrel, I believe that the current price of oil is more a reflection of short-term supply-demand distortion than anything else. But this crisis raises an important question: What happens when the world runs out of the non-renewal energy resources such as oil and gas? Will the global economy collapse due to unsustainable energy prices leading to widespread social-geo political conflicts? Will science/technology come to our rescue? As we look into the future, the world would have either successfully resolved the energy/resource issue or not. So what will be the world like in 2500 AD?

One scenario is that the world is unable to successfully resolve this energy/resource problem. In such a grim case, the future could play out as described in Jared Diamond's intriguing book - "Collapse". Under this scenario, the world would have consumed all the earth's resources in few centuries. With no other place to go, the humans get involved in a widespread conflict to gain access over available resources. This scenario supposes that in the future space travel does not lead to discovery of another habitable planet or even if it does the cost to transport humans is prohibitive. With everyone looking out for themselves the world as we know it descends into survival of the fittest few and even cannibalism. In this scenario the world in 2500 AD is a deserted place with few surviving humans, if any, scrapping their life together from the remaining depleted resources.

The other scenario is that of history repeating itself. History is replete with examples of the rise and fall of civilization - such as the Harappan in Indian subcontinent, Incas in Peru, Mayan in North America, Shang dynasty in China, Egyptian civilization and more recent Roman civilization. Each of these civilizations lasted few centuries and led to a better standard of living for its citizens than ever before. However, each of these civilizations degenerated over time. We are fortunate to be born in yet another great civilization - call it whatever - the science civilization/western civilization - only posterity will name it. Under this scenario, the rise of this modern civilization that started in 1600s will peak in few centuries just like others. Nobody knows when this will happen and what will lead to its fall - an impending energy/resource crisis is a possible explanation. As the world uses up its scare energy/resource, the cost of such resources skyrocket leading to perennial economic depression/recession. Under such a scenario, the world in 2500 AD would look more like a third world country today.


The third scenario is more optimistic. In this scenario, the world is able successfully resolve the energy/resource crisis with the help of science and technology. The world gets smart in how it uses its resources. This leads to an even better standard of living for all its citizens in coming years and not just in few developed countries as is today. I hope that this is the scenario that plays out.

On separate note: Recently read a good article on Indian express from India's ex-oil minister Mani Sankar Aiyar. http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=88522. He describes steps India is taking/needs to take to secure its energy future.

A great economist speaks out on global imbalances!

Great read- Few must read articles on Raghuram Rajan - an economist I really admire

http://secondat.blogspot.com/2006/01/rajan-on-resolving-global-imbalances.html

Indian express also ran his interview recently
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=88291&pn=1

Kellogg vs. Wharton

Came back from a 10 day trip to Chicago. Was there to attend the Day at Kellogg (DAK) event. The DAK was a fun. Met really interesting people. I am amazed at how much effort students put in organizing this event. Since I am deciding between Kellogg and Wharton, this was my due diligence trip. Few points that stood out
- Kellogg culture is definitely casual, friendly and down-to-earth
- Students play a big role in running the school
- The school's strength is clearly in Marketing. Second could be general management.
- The school has a pretty good focus on entrepreneurship (to my surprise).
- The school is trying to better its focus in finance.
- As compared to Wharton, Kellogg has less international students. A lot of the students I met were from Chicago/mid-west.
- Kellogg definitely makes an effort to not to be very quantitative in its approach to business education. During DAK, we had a mini-class on statistics and the professor teaching the course said that he tries to avoid using equations as much as possible. He is apparently one the most popular professors. Statistics without equations - hmm - something hard to digest for me. So Kellogg lives up to its reputation of being a non-quant school.
- Placement scene seems to be good - Mckinsey made some 55 offers (10% of the class) last year. Most of the reputed companies in consulting, finance, banking were well represented.

I definitly came back impressed. However, not enough to swing my decision in Kellogg's favor. I am eagerly waiting to attend the Wharton welcome weekend.

Trying to get back to blogging after a long gap. 2006 is on its way. 2005 has been a great year for me. Few highlights for 2005 were:
- I completed my first ever marathon - go here for the blog www.apoorvmarathondiary.blogspot.com
- I got engaged to my girlfriend Ruchita on Dec 29th in Bangalore - Go for photos here:
- I left my company Riverstone after working there for more than five years to join Juniper Networks as a Sr. Product Manager

Netas strike it rich on home run - The Times of India

Here is my homepage - Beware this is really outdated - all the material is from 2001 and I haven't updated it since
Apoorv's Homepage

This is my blog ever. Lets see how it goes.