There's a lot to do of it on this blog after almost 1.5 years of being away! I'd pretty much given up on blogging, but have found some renewed vigor to blog!
For starters, I made it! I got in to the one and only program I wanted to go to: EWMBA at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley!
The past 18 months have been much more than eventful and I hope to post more in the new few days.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
GMAT Round 2
Its done. I did not do well. In fact, I did worse - 650! Last time I got a 680 #$%!
So what happened? I should have done better - especially after studying and improving my concepts and all that...! I could go on about the details of what went wrong, but the bottom line is this: I suck at these timed standardized tests.
Initially, when I saw my score I was quite distressed. Almost felt like the world shook under me (I'm in SF, so it really does shake once in a while :) ). I just got out of the center and walked home (2 hours). Could not get myself to take a cab. Just had to walk to gather my thoughts. While on my way home, I spoke to friends and my wife and in general decided that its not that bad. I still have the 680.
To cheer me up, my wife brought some REALLY good hummus, baklava and fresh pita bread. And it was worth it! It tasted just like the stuff we had back in Jerusalem. Sure helped life the spirits :)
As of now, I'm done with the GMAT. The applications are due in 6 days and I have a lot of essays to write.
So what happened? I should have done better - especially after studying and improving my concepts and all that...! I could go on about the details of what went wrong, but the bottom line is this: I suck at these timed standardized tests.
Initially, when I saw my score I was quite distressed. Almost felt like the world shook under me (I'm in SF, so it really does shake once in a while :) ). I just got out of the center and walked home (2 hours). Could not get myself to take a cab. Just had to walk to gather my thoughts. While on my way home, I spoke to friends and my wife and in general decided that its not that bad. I still have the 680.
To cheer me up, my wife brought some REALLY good hummus, baklava and fresh pita bread. And it was worth it! It tasted just like the stuff we had back in Jerusalem. Sure helped life the spirits :)
As of now, I'm done with the GMAT. The applications are due in 6 days and I have a lot of essays to write.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Starting apps
Am I screwed or what!?! Its January 18, 2009 - 2:15 AM! I have so much stuff to do!!
We just got back from a three week jaunt in Jordan (1 week) and Israel (2 weeks) a few hours ago. Before I proceed, please let me make it clear: Our visit was not religious or political. We love to travel and Israel just seemed like the right place to go (when I booked the tickets).
In fact, the Gaza stuff started to pop up in the news right when we were at the airport. My wife and I were flooded with phone calls from family members telling us not to go. However, since our first destination was Amman and not Tel Aviv, we decided to go to Jordan and then decide what to do further from there. We did end up traveling around Israel and had to cancel only one place we had initially planned to visit - Rosh Hanikra. The country felt totally safe and we had no problems whatsoever.
Overall, the trip was awesome and I really feel recharged. I'll put up some pics in a few days...
That said, after coming back and looking at my to-do list I totally overwhelmed! Its Jan 18 and the Haas app deadline is coming up on March 2. Yes I have some time, but I also need to give the GMAT within this time range. Juggling the application with the GMAT (not to mention a fulltime demanding job) really is scaring me. I'm still going to try to do it and submit the application this year. The Haas EWMBA is going to be my only app since it is the only school I really want to go to in the bay area - part time.
I already started the GMAT practice and also have a rough draft of 1 of the Haas essays. Have to work on 4 more! In the next few weeks I hope to have drafts of all the essays sent out to the reviewers and start incorporating feedback in to the essays.
We just got back from a three week jaunt in Jordan (1 week) and Israel (2 weeks) a few hours ago. Before I proceed, please let me make it clear: Our visit was not religious or political. We love to travel and Israel just seemed like the right place to go (when I booked the tickets).
In fact, the Gaza stuff started to pop up in the news right when we were at the airport. My wife and I were flooded with phone calls from family members telling us not to go. However, since our first destination was Amman and not Tel Aviv, we decided to go to Jordan and then decide what to do further from there. We did end up traveling around Israel and had to cancel only one place we had initially planned to visit - Rosh Hanikra. The country felt totally safe and we had no problems whatsoever.
Overall, the trip was awesome and I really feel recharged. I'll put up some pics in a few days...
That said, after coming back and looking at my to-do list I totally overwhelmed! Its Jan 18 and the Haas app deadline is coming up on March 2. Yes I have some time, but I also need to give the GMAT within this time range. Juggling the application with the GMAT (not to mention a fulltime demanding job) really is scaring me. I'm still going to try to do it and submit the application this year. The Haas EWMBA is going to be my only app since it is the only school I really want to go to in the bay area - part time.
I already started the GMAT practice and also have a rough draft of 1 of the Haas essays. Have to work on 4 more! In the next few weeks I hope to have drafts of all the essays sent out to the reviewers and start incorporating feedback in to the essays.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Bombay (or Mumbai)
I've been following the news on Bombay like crazy for the past 2 days. It's been pretty scary what's been happening in that city; a place I will always call home! Most of my family still lives there!
One of my family friends and his wife were caught in the fire at the Taj. They were celebrating his wife's birthday at a restaurant on the top floor and the attacks were on the lower floors. They finally escaped after 5 hours...!
A shout-out to the Mumbai police, firemen and all those involved in the situation! You guys seriously rock! Also the residents of Bombay have shown great resilience in these tough moments and I'm sure the city will be back to its vibrancy in no time!
GMAT 2
OK! I've started studying for the GMAT! This time for real!
Here's how:
I have about 3 hours of study time everyday (1 hour in the morning and 2 hours in the evening).
- 1 hour in the morning: I spend this time studying math formulae that I should have known but do not know. As soon as I'm done, I'll start studying verbal during this time.
- The rest of the two hours are spent doing problem sets (Barron's, OG, Kaplan 800). However, this time I'm doing it a bit differently. Instead of focusing on 1 section at a time, I'm mixing it up a bit. So on day 1 I'll do 25 PS + 25 CR + 1 RC. On day 2 I'll do: 25 DS + 25 SC + 1 RC and so on.
- At least 2 papers per week (Friday evening and Saturday). 1 MGMAT and 1 GMATPrep.
- Some AWA on Sundays.
Lastly, I also need to write the essays so have been spending some time doing that everyday as well. (30 - 60 minutes). It gets tiring, overwhelming and really frustrating at times, but I don't have a choice.
Surviving so far.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
This post is untitled intentionally.
Hey Everyone,
No promises that I'm back for good and I'll blog more often. I've said that before and not kept up to my promise.
Been a few crazy past-few-weeks including, but not limited to, immigration/visa issues, vacation planning, GMAT studying, product releases, deciding to apply this year to career change decisions.
GMAT: So lots going on and honestly, I'm lost at what I should start with. Maybe, the best place is the GMAT since its most immediate.
I started (really) studying for the GMAT. A few hours everyday. I'm planning to give it in Feb 09. The deadline for the application is March '09, so I maybe cutting it close. But we'll see. This time, I'm spending more time ensuring that my math concepts are good and have been reading a math text book rather than going crazy trying to get 40 problems knocked out per day.
Decision to apply this year: I'm not getting any younger, really. That sort of shocked me. I also gave it a really long (and realistic thought) on what I want to do post-MBA. The truth is I want to stick to the software business and maybe just transition from being an engineer to more on the business side. Secondly, due to my visa situation, I have to do my degree part-time. We live in San Francisco and that leaves me with very few options of top ten schools, namely one school - UC Berkeley.
I've been researching their part time program and spoke to a few past and present students and also visited their info session. Haas seems right for me. They have all the classes I wanted, the class will be full of people who are in the software business (this has a down side to it that it may not be as diverse as a full time program, but I may be wrong here), I will not have to leave my current job, and what I learn in class can be applied at work and vice-versa.
Financially, it does make a huge difference. My employer will foot almost 1/3rd of the bill and we won't have to take as many loans.
I've started looking at the essays and also started forming skeletons of the essays and thinking of theme's I want to focus on for each essay.
Work: Been very busy. But that is something everyone says. Had my first product release as a team lead on Wednesday. A lot of weekends went into this release and its a relief that we got the thing shipped! This does help with my manager being very happy and will write a good recommendation (Haas needs a letter from the immediate manager).
I've also been considering transitioning from Engineering to Product Management. More on this later. In a nutshell, I'm in a limbo right now.
Vacation: Ah! This is the fun part! Before I made the decision to re-give the GMAT in Feb and apply this year, I went ahead and bought tickets. We're headed for a three week jaunt to the middle east to see (among other places) a rose-colored city and a city that has three western religions right by each other! We'll also climb up a fortress that has more than 2000 years of history. Any guesses? :)
The vacation does complicate the GMAT thing a bit. We're going in December (last week) and coming back in January (second week). A three week break might throw me off guard. My wife and I decided that we'll make sure that I spend 30 minutes doing something related to the GMAT everyday when we're there. That way, I won't completely lose touch. I think it should work out okay.
So that's life now. More later. Gotta sign off and hit the GMAT books again.
No promises that I'm back for good and I'll blog more often. I've said that before and not kept up to my promise.
Been a few crazy past-few-weeks including, but not limited to, immigration/visa issues, vacation planning, GMAT studying, product releases, deciding to apply this year to career change decisions.
GMAT: So lots going on and honestly, I'm lost at what I should start with. Maybe, the best place is the GMAT since its most immediate.
I started (really) studying for the GMAT. A few hours everyday. I'm planning to give it in Feb 09. The deadline for the application is March '09, so I maybe cutting it close. But we'll see. This time, I'm spending more time ensuring that my math concepts are good and have been reading a math text book rather than going crazy trying to get 40 problems knocked out per day.
Decision to apply this year: I'm not getting any younger, really. That sort of shocked me. I also gave it a really long (and realistic thought) on what I want to do post-MBA. The truth is I want to stick to the software business and maybe just transition from being an engineer to more on the business side. Secondly, due to my visa situation, I have to do my degree part-time. We live in San Francisco and that leaves me with very few options of top ten schools, namely one school - UC Berkeley.
I've been researching their part time program and spoke to a few past and present students and also visited their info session. Haas seems right for me. They have all the classes I wanted, the class will be full of people who are in the software business (this has a down side to it that it may not be as diverse as a full time program, but I may be wrong here), I will not have to leave my current job, and what I learn in class can be applied at work and vice-versa.
Financially, it does make a huge difference. My employer will foot almost 1/3rd of the bill and we won't have to take as many loans.
I've started looking at the essays and also started forming skeletons of the essays and thinking of theme's I want to focus on for each essay.
Work: Been very busy. But that is something everyone says. Had my first product release as a team lead on Wednesday. A lot of weekends went into this release and its a relief that we got the thing shipped! This does help with my manager being very happy and will write a good recommendation (Haas needs a letter from the immediate manager).
I've also been considering transitioning from Engineering to Product Management. More on this later. In a nutshell, I'm in a limbo right now.
Vacation: Ah! This is the fun part! Before I made the decision to re-give the GMAT in Feb and apply this year, I went ahead and bought tickets. We're headed for a three week jaunt to the middle east to see (among other places) a rose-colored city and a city that has three western religions right by each other! We'll also climb up a fortress that has more than 2000 years of history. Any guesses? :)
The vacation does complicate the GMAT thing a bit. We're going in December (last week) and coming back in January (second week). A three week break might throw me off guard. My wife and I decided that we'll make sure that I spend 30 minutes doing something related to the GMAT everyday when we're there. That way, I won't completely lose touch. I think it should work out okay.
So that's life now. More later. Gotta sign off and hit the GMAT books again.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Tweets
Just a quick note to let y'all know that I've started tweeting. Some things are just too small to be a full blown post. Hence the tweets. Short and simple.
http://twitter.com/mbamonk
http://twitter.com/mbamonk
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