Time to say goodbye

I am finally done with MBA… YAY!! I feel on top of the world and have realized how quickly time flies when you are having fun. It was exactly a year ago; I was in distress awaiting the approval of my F1 student visa. The American Embassy in Singapore had approved my visa application, but had not yet issued my visa pending a security check that was being performed in the US. I had quit my job at Teradyne and was on pins and needles waiting for that elusive e-mail from the embassy which I was hoping would read “Congratulations, your visa application has been approved”. Though I was supposed to be preparing for the first week of statistics at Johnson, I was in no mood to study as I was not sure if I would make it in time for the start of the program. Then on the wonderful morning of May 23rd, which was a Friday, Neela checked my inbox and lo and behold, the e-mail was waiting in my inbox. We rushed to the embassy that afternoon and a very nice consular officer made sure that our visas were issued in 40 minutes so that we could fly to NYC that very weekend. I arrived in Ithaca the night before the program started and got on the AMBA treadmill the next morning. I got off the treadmill last Saturday after my Intermediate Accounting final. I have been doing nothing since and it feels awesome. The weather in Ithaca has been phenomenal, which added to the “awesomeness” of it all.
I have also had the opportunity to meet some of the incoming AMBA students who will start their program on May 18th. The program starts a week earlier this year to accommodate some changes to the program format and to make more time for career management center to work with the students as they prepare for a tough recruiting season in the fall. The key to succeeding in this market is to stay focused and aggressively pursue all available opportunities. My experience at the Johnson school has been nothing short of brilliant. I came in as an engineer and am leaving as an engineer who has finally found his calling in the world of business. The Johnson school has provided me with a broad business education that will allow me to be successful in my future endeavors.
I am leaving the Johnson School with a network of friends I can call on for advice or help in the future. The AMBA class is really tight and I am sure this group will go on to achieve great things. I don’t think I would have been successful without the help and support of my wife Neela. She adjusted to life in Ithaca quickly and had to take care of my daughter Sanjana for one year as I was always in school. This allowed me to focus on my classes which otherwise would not have been possible. Sanjana provided the comic relief when I needed to get away from school, especially when she ran behind squirrels at Maplewood where we live. I can be reached at ks654@cornell.edu if anyone wants to send me an e-mail or have any questions regarding the program. This is the K-man signing out for the last time!! Go Big Red!!

A Johnson MBA in these tough times

I am back after a long hiatus. I apologize for the not having blogged for a few months, but will regularly do so going forward. Given the grim economic situation, I am sure that many prospective students are thinking if joining an MBA program this year or in the near future is a good idea. To be truthful, that very thought has crossed my mind several times over the past few months. When I applied for the program in October 2007, I did not know what was going to happen. Even when Lehmann brothers collapsed, I was hopeful that the market would rebound in a few months, and that we would be spared of a long recession. However my worst fears have come true and it is going to be a long road ahead for all of us. But it is this long road that has forced me to contemplate about my decision to attend business school and reflect on how a Cornell MBA fits into the “grand” scheme of things. The first conclusion that I have come to is that I am definitely better off today than I was 10 months ago before I started the AMBA program at the Johnson School. I have learnt to analyze complex business problems in a structured manner. The various courses that I have taken have broadened my thought process and stimulated my intellect. In a nutshell, an MBA from the Johnson School has given me the flexibility to look beyond engineering, and will open many doors down the road. Had it not been for the AMBA program, I would still be in my engineering silo, severely limited by the opportunities that would have been available for me. Most importantly, I have developed friendships that will last me a lifetime. The tough economy has only strengthened these relationships, and the camaraderie gives me hope that all will be well soon.
It is very easy for all of us to become lulled into false sense of security, that we are somehow insulated from what is happening around us. An MBA in these tough times might seem risky, but it will open a multitude of career opportunities, like it has for me. Yes, none of us know when the bad times will end, but it is certain that these bad times cannot last forever. And when the bad times do end, I know I will be “battle hardened” and ready to make my mark in the business world. I cannot be happier with my decision to pursue the AMBA program at the Johnson School and would invite the prospective students to take the plunge as well. I promise that you will not be disappointed.

The Admissions process

The admissions cycle for the Class of 2011 is in full swing and I am delighted to meet with prospective students at Sage Hall. It is very gratifying to hear that students, i.e. you are reading my blogs using them to decide if the Johnson School is right for you. Use all the resources at your disposal, including a school visit if possible to make an informed decision. Several students I have met have asked me about the essays and their content. I will spend some time in this blog outlining what the Johnson Admissions group is looking for in potential candidates.

1. Coherent believable story: I cannot stress on this enough !!. Your story has to make sense. The AMBA program is a one year intense program, which means that you have to be focused. If you are looking to make a career switch, i.e. from engineering to investment banking or what is left of it, then the AMBA program is not for you. You will be better served with the 2-year program that allows for an internship which is critical to make the switch into investment banking. This is a great program for corporate finance, general management and consulting. Tailor your essays specifically for the AMBA program. Talk about what makes the AMBA program (strong analytical skills, management practicum, advanced degree requirement) and the Johnson School (small class sizes, innovative curriculum, Ivy League) unique and how you can contribute to and benefit from the program.

2. Recommendations: Ensure that your recommendations highlight the key strengths that you mention in your essays. Once again, a specific example that speaks to these strengths is more desirable than a general recommendation letter. This shows that the recommender is genuine in his / her recommendation and the time that he / she has taken to write the letter. So make sure that you talk to your recommenders well ahead of time so that they can think of a story that best highlights your strengths. This naturally implies that the recommender should have known you for a reasonable period of time. Trust me when I say that admissions folks can see through fluff immediately.

3. Resume: ONE PAGE RESUME ONLY. For all international students applying to the program, the Johnson School requires a one page business resume as part of the application process. A business resume is different from a technical resume. Firstly, it is bulleted, no paragraphs please. Secondly eliminate core technical terms and highlight your achievements, i.e. “improved process efficiency by 10% leading to $1-Million in annual savings”. Do not write “designed the UltraFLEX BBAC instrument and co-developed the signal delivery architecture (this is what I did prior to my MBA)”. You can see what I mean. Once again, one page only.

4. Addressing weaknesses (GMAT / GPA): Let’s face it, we are not perfect and the Johnson school recognizes that. However, a successful leader always acknowledges his / her mistakes and most importantly takes steps to address these mistakes. There is no shame in having a low GPA or GMAT score. If you are having this problem, use the additional essay to acknowledge that you have a problem and what you are doing to address this issue. This could mean that you might have re-take the GMAT or take business courses in a community college and build an “alternate transcript”. The fact that you are mature enough to take corrective action is a positive step. But tread carefully; do so only if you feel you have a genuine weakness. A 710 GMAT score is not a weakness!!

For all you ranking junkies out there, the Johnson School is ranked 11th in the latest 2008 Businessweek MBA rankings. This is testament to the changes that the school management has taken over the past few years to make the MBA program even more relevant. This is the tip of the iceberg and I am confident that the school will grow from strength to strength. GO BIG RED !!!!!!

Finally, to all prospective students, these are tough times, both for you and for us in the Johnson School. This is a perfect opportunity to do some soul searching and to build on our strengths and what makes us unique. Make sure that your strengths come out in your essays, stay confident and focused, and you will be just fine.

Till next time, this is the K-man signing out.

The financial crisis

History is being rewritten as I write this blog. Investment banking as a career choice post MBA has almost but disappeared. It was shocking to all of us at the Johnson School to watch the financial markets collapse in a matter of days. Several of my classmates in AMBA program were seriously considering a career in investment banking and asset management. Though a career on Wall Street is not out of the question, it does mean that all of us need to have a plan A, B, C, D and E with regards to our career choices. This also has a cascading effect on recruiting for other industries. The most important suggestion for prospective AMBA students is to stay flexible. There is confidence that the dust will settle in the next 8-10 months and that things will be back to “normal”, but the key takeaway is stay open regarding your post MBA dream job.

I am taking Macroeconomics and Financial Statement Analysis this semester. My course selection has been timely to say the least as the ongoing financial crisis has a direct impact on key macroeconomic indicators such as GDP, unemployment and interest rates. This course which is taught by Professor Ori Heffetz has allowed me to appreciate the impact of this crisis on the US and global economy. Incidentally, Professor Heffetz studied at Princeton University with Paul Krugman who has just won the economics Nobel for 2008. The financial statement analysis course is designed to teach us just that i.e. to analyze financial statements. A SEC ruling that requires companies to mark their assets to market has been blamed for the current crisis. Interestingly, it was the investors’ a.k.a the market, who demanded that SEC require companies to follow this rule as it made it easier for them to value these companies. Ironically, the same rule that was designed to help investors is also being blamed for their current downfall.

I have had the opportunity to meet a few prospective AMBA students on campus over the past few weeks. It is extremely heartening to hear that they had read my blog and found it to be useful. In retrospect maybe they were being nice. In any case please feel free to reach out to me if you are planning on visiting Cornell in the coming months. I will be more than happy to meet with you. As you might have noticed, I have not been able to blog for the past 4 weeks. It has been crazy with corporate briefings, applying to companies and keeping up with my coursework. With interviews on campus starting next week, it will only get more hectic. But I will do my best to stay on schedule, i.e. write one blog per week. Hopefully, I will have good things to write about my interviews next week. So wish me luck!! Goodbye.

The Johnson and Cornell Alumni network

The same time last year, I was short listing business schools that I wanted to apply to in the fall. In addition to the reputation of the various MBA programs, I was interested in learning more about each school’s alumni network. I spoke with several students at the Johnson school, including my friend Srikanth Babu Tummala who was enrolled in the AMBA program. The fact that the students were willing to spend take time off their busy schedules to answer a prospective student’s (my) questions was an eye-opener. I was thinking that if these students were representative of the Johnson and Cornell alumni network, then I could only imagine the lengths that they would go to help their fellow “Cornellians”.

As a student at the Johnson school, I have had the opportunity to experience the generosity of alumni who are willing to help us in any way they can. The fall recruiting season at the Johnson school is in full swing with corporate briefings four days a week. On Monday of this week, Citi’s Global Transaction Services Group was here for their annual briefing. Johnson is a core school for Citi and the school’s alumni network at Citi is huge. Paul Gallant, the CEO of Citi’s GTS group is a Cornell alumnus who promotes the school and university in any and every way he can. Sean Day, a Johnson 03 alumnus was also here to talk about Intel’s new Accelerated Leadership Program (ALP) for graduate MBA students. Sean ensured that Intel included the Johnson school in its list of core recruitment schools for the ALP program. The same can be said for GE’s Rebecca Cain, Chad Schmidt and Monica Schmidt who come on campus every year to recruit for GE’s world famous Experienced Commercial Leadership Program. The list goes on and on, and I am sure that I will get to know more alumni in the coming weeks.

On a personal note, I have contacted several alumni across the globe for help and information about consulting and general management positions. Johnson and Cornell alumni can be found at every major consulting firm and almost all companies across industries. The school and university maintain a fantastic database that contains background and contact information of all alumni. The response from the alumni has been nothing short of outstanding. They have called and e-mailed me and offered invaluable company and career advice. Now, I finally understand what it means to have a powerful alumni network backing you up. Please consider this when applying for an MBA program. Its importance and usefulness cannot be overstated. I cannot wait to give back to the school once I have graduated. Some of you have read my blog and contacted me for information. I apologize if I have not responded as my schedule was all over the place. Rest assured I will get in touch with you shortly.

I found out this morning that I have been elected as the VP of special events and planning for the General Management Association (GMA). I will be working with my fellow AMBA classmate, Tayfun Uslu over the coming months to organize corporate events on campus. I hope that when some of you start the AMBA program next year, you will find the GMA as an even better resource that what it is now. My case interview practice comes along thanks to Dhruba De. It is time for me to get started on my cover letters. So till next time, goodbye.

Start of the fall semester

The fall semester has begun. AMBA’s are now officially second year students and we can customize our courses depending on our career preferences, having completed the core courses in the summer. As I have mentioned previously, I am interested in a consulting or general management career and have enrolled in courses that will augment my existing accounting, finance and economics knowledge. I will write more about these courses as the semester moves along.

One of the unique and performance learning advantages of the Johnson AMBA program is the management practicum hosted by Randy Allen, who is the associate dean of corporate relations and senior consultant in residence. During the summer, Randy works with several companies to obtain projects in consulting, high technology, healthcare and financial services. These projects are then assigned to us depending on our career preferences. The groups then work with the companies during the fall semester with both company and in house (Johnson) advisors, who provide us with guidance and feedback. The capstone of our practicum experience is a two week on site internship, where the teams present their projects to senior company executives. I am working with Citigroup’s Global Transaction Services on an industry analysis project that promises to be an exciting learning experience. In addition to the opportunity to apply our business education to a real corporate problem, the practicum provides us with interview talking points, especially since the AMBA program does not allow for an industry internship. We are extremely thankful to Randy who has done a phenomenal job in procuring these projects for us in a slow economy.

Some of us in the AMBA program including yours truly volunteered in facilitating the Johnson Outdoor experience, which is a two day off site team building event for the incoming first year students. This event is organized by second year students, but AMBA students are encouraged to help for a couple of reasons. Firstly and most importantly, it helps us network and build relationships with first year and second year students. Secondly, we have tons of fun. This is just another example of several leadership opportunities available in a small business school such as Johnson.

I am also a teaching assistant for the Strategic Hospitality Management course for Professor Cathy Enz in Cornell’s world renowned school of hotel management, which is situated across the street from the Johnson school. I am confident that this assignment will strengthen my ability to think strategically about business problems while allowing me to help undergraduate students with their coursework. The fall semester promises to be a roller coaster ride. I can feel the adrenaline flowing already.

The AMBA summer experience

This past Tuesday, the AMBA class of 2009 celebrated the end of the summer season, and the summer term with a dinner at Dean Doug Stayman’s house. It was a pleasant evening as I did not worry about completing an assignment or studying for a quiz or an exam. But it was also mildly unnerving as I was not used to having any free time on my hands. Technically, I do not need to be at Sage Hall (home to the Johnson School of Business) for the next two weeks, a thought that is all but alien to me. The summer semester was brutal, but arguably it was also the best summer of my life. Sleeping five hours day, waking up bleary eyed for early morning finance quizzes and seldom going home, tell only a part of the story. Learning from my incredibly talented classmates, the Johnson School professors and staff more than made up for lack of sleep, and this in essence is what makes the Accelerated MBA program at the Johnson School a unique and unforgettable experience. On our first day, Dean Joe Thomas remarked that we would all graduate in a “few weeks” and he was not kidding!!! The recruiting season is around the corner and I need to get cracking on preparing for consulting case interviews. The “free” time that I think I have is nothing but a mere illusion.

Greetings

Neela and I are originally from India, having spent the last seven years in Boston and Singapore. We have a beautiful 17 month old daughter Sanjana, who is extremely excited at the prospect of "exploring" the big wide world around her. Prior to coming to Ithaca, I spent three years leading a product development team in Asia for Teradyne Inc, the world's leading semiconductor test equipment manufacturer. Travelling across Asia was an exhilarating experience, but proved to be a big dietary challenge, yes I am a vegetarian!! I have an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pune in India and a graduate degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts. I want to switch careers from engineering to consulting, and found the Accelerated MBA program at the Johnson School to be the perfect fit given my background and career aspirations. I look forward to sharing my experiences and perspectives about life in Ithaca and the Johnson School over the next 12 months.