Essaying your life

I can't count the number of opportunities (read conferences, summits and masters programs) I have not applied to because they ask for multiple essays! Most recent is the MiM program of LBS which asked for not one not two but 6 essays! 

The anathema is partly because of the drudgery (and subsequent ding) I underwent for the HBS 2+2 application. The other part is questions like what are your career goals/where do you see yourself 5 years down the line/tell us how you fit the role of xyz etc. 

I am sick of marketing myself. Indian B Schools had a more objective way of (yes, critics of IIMs/CAT bite me) screening applicants. But alas, I had to write a SOP for my lone IIM call too! Thankfully, by not asking for a resume, the adcom gave me enough content to write about!

Before leaving obvious comments, rethink! I know the merits of screening applicants through essays. I still hate them. They make me feel like a 1st year trying to act cool and score brownie points in front of seniors. :P

Updates

It has been quite some time since I blogged. So, here is a quick update of what I have been up to:

• Living life to the hilt in Bangalore
• Joined the BITSAA International's Fund Raising team
• Working for/with the National Social Entrepreneurship Forum 
• Did badly in Quant in CAT 2009 and got no calls despite a 99.77 percentile
• Revived my twitter account @rachitchandra

There is a review of my new phone coming up very soon! Till then catch me on Twitter.

PS: I changed my number to +91 99800 44553.

Who the Indian?

The Raj Thackerays, Gurungs and KCRs of the country make me rethink the concept of a nation (or of a similar unit of administration). Nationalism, for most of us, peaks during a T20 match (which,by the way, is too often these days) or during incidents like 26/11 (which I believe is more of a conditioned response than a true nationalistic feeling).

Rest of the times, do we really care about our Indian-ness? Who is an Indian anyway? Being born on Indian soil is a flimsy ground. A country as populous as India has no uniting thread. Thats scary.

I, myself, adore the concept of being an Indian. But, in a few years we'll need more logic and less emotion when we define how we divide ourselves into countries, states and cities. It would make our maps clearer and lives simpler. Amen!

Übermensch

I am too inexperienced in philosophy to appreciate Nietzsche. However, whenever I read his works, I can relate to them; not as a body of thought but at a more atomic and practical level.

As I hastily try to finish and selectively forget a chapter in my life, the following lines [Text Courtesy: Project Gutenberg] struck a chord:

The Superman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: The Superman SHALL BE the meaning of the earth!

And here ended the first discourse of Zarathustra, which is also called "The Prologue": for at this point the shouting and mirth of the multitude interrupted him. "Give us this last man, O Zarathustra,"—they called out—"make us into these last men! Then will we make thee a present of the Superman!" And all the people exulted and smacked their lips. Zarathustra, however, turned sad ...

Nietzsche also says that God has died and we all desire for the Superman to live. I wish he is wrong about it.

But, the mirth of the multitude, more so today, proves that Nietzsche is right.

The GMAT Preparation Guide

Of late a lot of juniors at BITS Pilani (:P) have been asking me about GMAT. So, to make things simpler for myself, I am posting everything I know about the GMAT.

About GMAT
Graduate Management Aptitude Test is conducted by the Graduate Management Admissions Council. The Test is a Computer Adaptive Test and is conducted throughout the year at designated venues. New Delhi has 2 centers and Jaipur has one.

GMAT Structure

• Analytical Writing Assessment: 60 mins
• Optional Break: 10 mins
• Quantitative Ability: 75 mins
• Optional Break: 10 mins
• Verbal Ability: 75 mins

Analytical Writing Assessment section tests writing skills and analytical thinking. You will have to write two essays: one on an analysis of an issue and one on an analysis of an argument. The section is scored out of 6 and the score is reported separately. A 6/6 is about 87 percentile and with effective use of flag words like firstly, secondly, therefore, in conclusion (a computer does the scoring and an overworked TA checks it) can help you max the section. Apparently, when you apply to MBA programs certain universities also look at the actual essays to judge your skills and not just the score.

Quantitative Ability section is a cakewalk for any BITSian. Since, the test is computer adaptive, get the first few questions right (more on this later). The two types of questions are regular problem solving questions and data sufficiency ones. I personally found data sufficiency questions to be very tough. However, with an alert mind even these questions can be tackled. I scored full on the Quantitative Section (even though it is not necessary that I got all the 37 questions right) with minimal practice. The concepts tested are usually 10th Standard level.

Verbal Ability section is the bug bear. It consists of 41 questions and has three types of questions namely

• Reading Comprehension questions are passages followed by 3-5 questions and are not very difficult. If you read the newspaper daily or are into reading books (not Sheldon and Archer), it should not be too difficult.
• Critical Reasoning questions are the simplest. The question has a statement and you have to pick an option that supports/strengthens/weakens/contradicts etc. the given statement.
• Sentence Correction questions are the toughest. However, GMAT is a very standardized test. The GMAT mostly tests you on one of the eight common errors (more on this later too)

How is GMAT scored?

This is a big mystery AFAIK. From what I know, all questions in GMAT belong to a particular score bin (not an official term, but will make it easier to understand). Now each score bin also has an associated increment/decrement.

When you start the test, GMAT assigns you a default score (say 500). All the questions you get are from the 500-score bin. Lets assume the associated increment or decrement as 50. If you get this question right, you move on to the 550-sore bin (and if you get it wrong, you move to 450-score bin).

As your score moves away from 500, the associated increment/decrement becomes smaller. Hence, the first few questions determine your default score and the later questions just fine tune your score.

It is imperative to get as many of the intial questions right as possible. It is wise to allocate more time to the first 5-7 questions in each section as once your score is pegged by these, your chances to salvage the test become minimal.

How to prepare for GMAT?

I used the following books

• GMAT Official Guide (best book to practice, its the official guide!)
• Princeton Review (good for sentence correction theory and the eight error types)
• Barrons (not so great)

I have heard Kaplan's 800 is a good book if you intend to max the test. I did not use it and hence can't comment.

For further queries, you know how to catch me :)

Wikipedia Read Aloud

Shailesh Jha is a Wikipedia entry read aloud

-Karteek

Google Squared

Google squared is something I discovered a few minutes ago but am already amazed. Google squared is a service that lets you type in a keyword like Largest Airplanes and builds a table automatically of the top ten results. The columns are decided automatically and are usually relevant.

It is full of very cool and useful features. You can add columns to the table, remove columns, sort by columns, convert units of the entries in the column to a standard unit and so on (and with Google's characteristic ease). While adding columns, the suggestions are remarkably well suited.

You should definitely try Best Web Search Engine (Surprise Surprise! There's no Bing in the top 10).

Last Bastion Of Hope

Here's my favorite quote. Its apt to remember this when the last bastion has fallen and the slide (I hope) is complete.


कौन कहता है कि रस की निर्झरी तुम्हारे बहाए नहीं बह सकती? ज़िन्दगी के फल को दोनों हाथों से निचोड़ के तो देखो.
-रामधारी सिंह 'दिनकर' (राष्ट्रकवी)


@ Shailesh Jha / Pushp Saurav: Forgive me for typos.