week end and the year end

This week end is going to be very important for me for I need to complete a lot of stuff regarding my applications. Most of the deadlines are hanging around Jan 4th to 10th. Will let all the information flow out once I scubmit to schools about the schools i have applied to and why I have done so. I wanna extend my thanks to Nick Ruehl for submitting recommendation for me to Kellogg. With that only one Reco is due for Kellogg app to be completed.

Last week, I was quite busy discussing about jai Chiranjeeva. Once a mega movie come, it will take out a lot of time from me and of course I enjoy doing so. I am not sure if I can watch next Chiranjeevi movie on first day :-(

Signing off for now..c u all back in week end or the New year

Change is the only constant

Yes..Change is the only constant...Plans keep on changing...Submitted my Kellogg application yesterday...Stanford will be done by this week end....I have decided to submit the Cambridge application I have prepared long back by this week end..After all Cambridge and Oxford are same but Cambridge offers more scholarships as evident from their website. they have around 40 scholarships for 105 people they recruit..Also 2 scholarships of 5000 Pounds are exclusively there for Indians to grab..so I want to push up my application which I prepared almost a month back by this week end....

Apart from these there are 3 more apps in pipeline...By March end I am hoping to have paid the Initial deposot for one of my dream school out of the 8 I would have applied by that time....

Got the package from Oxford

Finally, I receive the admittance pack from oxford. There was no mention of any fin aid in that. I almost made up mind to reject Oxford now. Its real difficult to get so much loan from any Indian bank. And also the interest rates are higher which means that I will be paying more than what I am supposed to pay for a US B School. After all its all money honey!!!!

Kellogg app is done and will be submitting application this week end. Stanford is on the verge of the completion. Will be submitting next week probably. ISB sent a mail that they will get the decision by Jan 7th...Let me keep my fingers crossed for the best of moments to happen....

The week end

A Hectic week end with me spilling over essays of kellogg and Stanford..The initial plans of Wharton are changed to Stanford as I felt Stanford fits more for me..Done with Kellogg essays and most probably I will be submitting Kellogg application by this week end...

Been to Lakhsmi Audio function yesterday..Songs are so-so and I am expecting that movie will be a hit because of the combo...And this week will be hectic with Jaichiranjeeva getting released....

HSBC Loan

Finally some news from HSBC...

They are not going to offer loans to 2006 students. This is the mail I got from Mark:

Dear Nagendra,I have been passed your email as I have taken the Professional Studies Loanportfolio over from Ben Proctor.When are you intending to start at Said Business School (SBS)?If it is in 2006, unfortunately we have a problem.The scheme with SBS is under review at the moment and we are not accepitingany applications for funding for 2006/7 as HSBC may be withdrawing from thescheme.I'm sorry if this is bad news for you and wish you every success in findingalternative funding.Regards,Mark.

FUTURE - ???????????????????? Need to see where I will land in. But, gut feel says that I would be in a very good B School with very intellectual brains around

Anywhere to Anywhere

I have been talking to current students, alums of ISB and Oxford. What I figured out is that both are wonderful schools and you need to decide which is best for you. Its so easy to say that I have clear goals, but its lot difficult to decide on the schools and execute those goals :-)

Last couple of days, I have gone through lot of blogs and had lot of information on lot of colleges. Kellogg essays are under way and all the essays are pretty typical of any B School. I might be completing them by tomorrow. When I will submit the application?? Next week!!!!! hmm I am hoping so.

When I posted in my last blog that I am certain and I had a final decision, now I figured out that I am still not certain. Anything might happen anytime. I am enjoying this pressure as much because I believe I can bring out the best FINALLY!!!!!!

Some Decision Finally....

Finally I have decided to take up ISB to Oxford(Two Clauses though : Firstly I need to get into ISB and Secondly I am preparing my applications for Wharton and Kellogg for R2, if I am successful in them I will leave ISB)

So the algorithm chart goes like this:

Admitted @ ISb --> Pay 1.5 Lakhs and apply to Wharton and Kellogg R2 ---> If I get an admit from these 2, forfeit 1.5 Lakhs and go to them
--> If I dont get admit, continue in ISB

Not Admitted @ ISB --> Pay 3.4 Lakhs to Oxford and still apply to W/K and just see where it goes from there

To reject something,though I havent literally done so, is a tough one and u need to think a lot. The reasons for me rejecting Oxford are:
1. Some how I dont see UK as an alternate to India or US for a long term career
2. I havent thought of a career in UK. My plan is to work for 5-10 years overseas and then return back to India. Any American school can provide this option for me. Even @ ISB, I had fair chances of doing so. UK or I would say London is best for people in finance and I am not chosing finance, so dearth of jobs will be there down the line when market is not doing good. Also UK is not as open/free economy as US when it comes to job situation
3. Financial resources - I regret to say this, but this is a poor job from Oxford. No response from HSBC and thats not a guaranteed loan as told in website. Not much of other loans/scholarships available. So a typical indian student like me need to take lot of guts to pay initial deposit of 3.5 lakhs and then look for loan. They need to do 2 major changes to be student-friendly:
a. Allow students to apply to HSBC loan even before initial deposit is made, so that we can take decision based on HSBC's approval or rejection
b. They mentioned that scholarships will be announced in April. If I get a tuton waiver now, I will take a decision. I cant wait till April by paying fees now expecting a tuition waiver to plan the things. I dont see any subsidy for people applying in R1.
Also, they need to allow prospective students to talk to current students. I mailed them about this and no response. I called them up and they told I can only talk to them after I pay the initial deposit. This is absurd.

Any way, now I am more looking to complete essays of Wharton and Kellogg and see where I stand in those schools. I am hoping for the best to be in either best schools in US or the best school in India

Options...Options...Options....

This is not so an easy decision to take..which school to chose and which path to chose..There are lot of differentiators and lot of options available for me...After a lot of thinking over the week end, I have nailed down to these options:
1. Join Oxford and put your blood to get the finances(I really mean blood as loans in India are not so easy and if I miss out HSBC they are the only option)
2. If I get into ISB(I believe I have very good chance, I would say 99% for getting in), pay 1.5 Lakhs and book your seat, work out on apps of Wharton and Kellogg in parallel and apply to R2 for them..If my app for them is good enuf to fetch an admit for me, forfeit this 1.5 lakhs and go to them, else chose ISB
3. Leave away ISB and apply to 4 US B Schools, 2 - Wharton and Kellogg and 2 other schools which I feel confident of getting in(2 out of UNC, Duke, Emory and Univ of Michigan)

As of now I would say chances for 1 and 2 are 40% each and 3 is 20%...So still not sure of what to chose...I am hoping to decide atleast by next week end...what ever happens, I am starting my work on Kellogg and Wharton essays as a back up plan...

Need to see how it goes....

TOEFL 267 :-)

Got my TOEFL score yesterday...Got 267..Pretty ok with that as I havent had any preparation for the test.

Met Swapna Dutt today and had a chat with her on jaiChiranjeeva..Her confidence was shown in the way she spoke...I am prety confident of this movie becoming big hit and the release date is now confirmed as Dec 21st what ever might happen

Daily Routine

No work in Office....Getting up @ 9:30-10:00 AM...Going to Office @ 11:30 AM...Checking mails, Browsing till 7:00-7:30 PM and then leaving home...This is the routine and I am sure next few months are gonna be the same...One more thing in my daily routine these days is calling up HSBC Oxford...Today I called admissions office and asked them whats going on!!!! Sarah told me that drop them a mail and wait for their reply and she told me that they are pretty late normally.....So still some hope on the loan....

96 hours of training on Verbs, Tenses etc., I think people who take TOEFL scores have no brains in doing so..Ask my company and they asked me to take a 96 hrs training because I dont know how to communicate :-( I dont think even if you go to Vivekananda Speaking course you will spend these many hours...Any way I am trying to skip it...Let me see how it goes

Oxford :-) :--(

Getting bugged with HSBC-SBS loan scheme...It seems theres no one who can provide me oinformation on this :-( Admissions committe/website had provided me a contact number and contact person. I mailed that person, called him up n number of times, but no response....I spoke to 2 current students at SBS who are Indians and their loan got rejected :-( and no reason provided by HSBC :-( so its all confusion now..with out a loan its difficult to pursue education @ Oxford..any way I need to get a response by another 10-15 days failing which I need to rethink of my decision to take up oxford.

I realized now that I should have backup options apart from ISB. I am planning to MIT Sloan School of Management and Wharton now. I might apply to them for R2. I want to get the app ready and see how it goes from there

Scholarships!!!!

I was just going thru the scholarship listings and I found that British Chevening and Rhodes are the major scholarships for Indians at Oxford. But, I would not be able to apply to both, not because that deadline is over but because I am not eligible. For British Chevening, the elibility is that you should be between 25 and 35 by Nov 30, 2005 and for Rhodes, you should be less than 25 by Oct 2006. I will be 25 by Feb 12th which means I am not eligible for both!! Aghast!!!!! I guess its time for these people to give some sort of relaxation on age part as Indians tend to take up higher studies at relatively lesser age...

Sheer Coincidence

July 24th..One of the date that i like most for Indra and Toliprema, my favourite movies got released on that date. Yesterday I met doctor along with my wife and she confirmed that my wife is a pregnant and had given the delivery date as 24th July 2006..Oomph!!! I am also becoming a proud father now. ..My son/daughter is gonna spend their first days of life @ Oxford most probably!!!

The loans in India are the worst part...I have been experiencing the same...Ask hell lot of documents which will serve no purpose is the bet of the day..Managers would like to give loans to people who will escape but not to the one who deserves. Yesterday I have been to HSBC and just got shocked after i got information about their education loan. They told that education loan from them is just like personal loan and you need to start payments right from the start. This is absurd!! How can i do payments during my education?? They have an answer for this that I need to have a sponsor who will be my parents or wife...ot even siblings are allowed!!!!

A Great Thanks to all of my co-fans(I mentioned co-fans because few of fans of other heroes apart from megastar are in the list) for helping me out to get out of this trouble of arranging the finances.

Admitted to Oxford!!!!!

Got the mail yesterday...Now I need to find out from ISB...But most probably I will be taking Oxford for the diversity of the students in the class...Will post furtrher details as and when available...