Ross Coffee Chat at Delhi/Gurgaon

And I'll be there

No luck with the PM so I'm trying here now....

How do I locate you at the Mariott in the evening today?


...I don't want to go there and find no one

Hey Shikhin thanks for a wonderful evening
Obviously my fears my unfounded

gmatclubbies considering Ross,
Go Ross - rock and rule

vikranjit_01, Ross is one of my stretch schools. Can you share some info from your cofee chat?

Thanks!

Even I was there....though I was quite surprised...there were only 3 people...

Shikhin was absolutely smashing...with his measured words, he clarified a lot many things which I wanted to ask....Thanks a ton.

ok here goes but remember I'm no rhyme or lepium so if you havent dozed off by the time you get to the end of it, then I have done a great job

Ethics and Leadership: It will be to your great benefit if you can use these to differentiate yourselves. Even admitted students struggle to be successful in these areas.
MAP is a great experience. Shikhin was part of a team that was reporting to the #2 person in a Fortune 300 company. Some teams were even reporting to the CEO's of the companies they were assigned to. So you can guess that MAP must be very serious business at Ross. You do have a professor who mentors you but you really are on your own with your team. There is great teamwork in some teams and there is infighting in some teams - wherever you find yourself, you should try to remove the roadblocks for your team. At the end of the project you will optionally write 2 strengths and weaknesses for each member of your team, and so must everyone in the team. This is done in front of the class, on the board. This step is optional but is meant to be a learning experience.
If like me you are considering taking the entrepreneurship route after your MBA then bear in mind that there are many with similar plans who apply to Ross and aspiring entreprenuers need to bring out more passion and drive in their applications than applicants interested in other career paths.
The present expansion at Ross should be complete in time for those entering the school in Fall'08 to take full advantage of the new facilities, which are also expected to have a positive effect on the rankings for Ross.
The Business Idea Competition at Ross is geared towards helping students refine the business plans. The competition consists of 3 rounds. If your idea doesn't make it past the first round it doesn't get rejected, Ross helps you refine your idea to get it into the second round. This could sometimes result in an idea going through the first round many times but stay with the idea and it will go through to the second round. All ideas in the competition are taken seriously.
Ross is also placing great emphasis on Negotiation - it was earlier taught in just 1 term but now it is to be taught in all 4 terms. Obvoisly this is a skill Ross considers critical.
It's very easy to form a community at Ross. Just say it and you are done.
He also said the first term is the toughest. It's best to have an updated resume ready before entering the first term. You won't get much time once term starts. Everything goes by in a flash mainly because you are struggling to come to grips with the vastness of everything around you.
Simply finishing your MBA is not enough to land a job. You will need to differentiate yourself through whatever you have done during the MBA. Attending classes and getting good grades won't work.
Ross has a great reputation. Shikhin's visa interview was an easy, pleasant one all due to Ross' reputation.
Ross alumni is among the friendliest. At alumni meets, Shikhin found even the IB alumni to be a friendly lot.
While preparing for his application to Ross, Shikhin would think about what he had done and write down things as and when they came to mind. He didn't go through any admissions consultant. He didn't use any reference books. He did buy the Montauk book but never read it.
His advice to international students was it doesn't matter if we are not able to visit the Ross campus but we must reasearch as much as we can on Ross and connect with the admissions department and the students and alumni.
For us Indian applicants, he had something more to say, he said B-schools recieve apps from the world over and the apps are from diverse backgrounds but about 95% of the apps from India are the same and about 80% are from IT people.

Good for us eh, if not too many from India are keen on Ross
BTW, I hope I didn't miss out something important from our chat.

vikramjit_01

Thanks for the great recap.

Is that good or bad? I'd say it's good for you!
L.

See! I've already started on differentiating myself

Well, thats no surprise - I'd say the problem with our apps is the fact that we are are attuned to a different kind of application process, and try to apply to these colleges in the same fashion.

The Indian apps process - for any type of institute - is that if you have the acads necessary, you can make it. Sure, the interviews, the group discussions are all there, but its all a process to ensure that an applicant has a certain level of intelligence, and communication skills. Career aspirations are taken for granted - everybody wants an MBA to make more money! And thats why so many blokes get into a b-school straight out of college.

I haven't started applying to any of the schools, and I'm certainly no expert, but I find that the entire philosophy behind the international mba admissions process is different from what we are used to.

The applicant needs to have -
1 - known and experienced the work atmosphere (Work Exp)
2 - a reason to do an MBA, other than brighter career prospects (The essays)
3 - the ability to communicate his/her ideas coherently (leadership, community involvement, and again, the dreaded essays)
4 - the versatility (the extra-curriculars)

In short, the adcom probably tries to make sure that the person getting into school is a person who has 'seen life' and can apply these experiences to what is being taught in the classroom. The process actually makes you think like a manager sizing up multiple strategies or options open to him.

The Indian apps process is more about having people of a certain intellectual level at a certain kind/band of school. Somehow, I get a feeling - after discussing with some Indian bschool grads - that the syllabus tends to be more on the analytical side. Indian managers are more into analytical skills than into soft skills.

Which is not wrong, of course, just different. A 780/790 on the GMAT may not guarantee you a spot in your dream-college, but a 99.97% on the CAT is very likely to.

BTW, vikramjit, great recap. This was some good info on Ross. Wondering if shikhin is still on gmatclub and would be interested in working as an ambassador for Ross?

I'm not sure if Shikhin's going to be around. He said he posted here and at the BW forums to meet anybody interested in learning about Ross.

I think you are right paddyboy with why most applications from here sound the same. And I also think it's easier for people aware of this to stand apart in their applications . With a litte creativity, it can't be too difficult to stand apart if 95% of the crowd is pretty much the same.