Indian Admits 2009 : Keep all desi discussions here!

Hey Guys,

First of all, thank you for your time and opinions. I really appreciate it. However, I am not quite sure what a 'good' essay is. I mean I wrote what is close to my heart, what a college senior from India would write. But I am very undecided on how good it was. SO I guess 9th Feb will tell me.

As for Pawan's critique. First of all, many thanks for the same. The reason I have applied to these schools is not JUST that they are niche schools. That of course is one of the reasons. But the MFE program is something I mot probably won't join if I get through. That is one application I made just because it was Oxford. I could have applied to LSE, Imperial, Haas (MFE) etc. as well, but didn't. I am focused on an MBA right now, and hence applied to 3 b schools rather than have my hands in everything. You are very right about me applying to MBA and MFE giving a sign of my confusion, but 1) HBS doesn't know I applied for the MFE thingey and 2) I really am not interested in it. That was just an application to see whether I get in or not; whether I am good enough for Oxford. It is a great degree nonetheless, but I would rather go to XLRI than Oxford (I would love to say this in my XL interview )

As for my plans in life, I am 21. Although quite old, still very young on this forum. Let me paste a part of my essay on future ambitions and career goals here to give you an indication about the tone of my essay and my plans.

My short term career plans include working in the consulting/finance industry for a period of 5-10 years. Ultimately, I would like to found my own consulting company, with the environment as its key focus. I believe this field has tremendous untapped potential as climatic changes, that are a direct consequence of human actions, are threatening our ecology. As I come from a developing nation, the advancements in this aspect would be highly warranted for, so that a stock of the situation can be taken well in time and an irreversible major disaster can be averted in the future. I am greatly interested in such a venture as it would not only have a decent market size to explore, but also help make my country a better place and help in the planet’s conservation.
I also plan to invest a fixed percentage of my company’s income towards the education of the rural population of my country. I have visited many villages on visits to my ancestral homes. On these visits, I have discovered that most of these ‘illiterate’ people are actually very smart in terms of implementation of technology and are up to date regarding their own areas of interest such as farming. However, basic efficiency and money managing skills are missing, which lead to them barely managing to survive, even though they might possess a huge amount of land and get a good produce. Based on my observations and interactions with villagers, I plan to start a nonprofit organization, where ex-army officers, teachers and industry specific people, would volunteer to go and teach villagers about various subjects and give demonstrations on practices that would benefit them greatly. Through this, I hope to create some kind of impact on the life of the ‘true’ Indian population by bettering their living conditions, improving their incomes and influencing their thinking process.

I think that could make the picture clearer and also give you a chance to tell me about the quality of my essays. Please do keep in mind that I am a 21 year old college senior

Best of luck to everyone for interview invites!

Regards,
Ankit