Kellogg 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Well that makes the two of us :D
Made a similar faux pas. Screwed up the dates. I mailed em immediately informing them of my idiocy. They replied asking me to send them the updated CV. Whether this worked against me - I don't know.

On another note, I interviewed with an alum in Paris last weekend.
She was most affable - gave me loads of time to talk. Went through the expected bunch of questions. Flow was to the tune of:
- Tell me about yourself
- Career goals
- Biggest achievement
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Talked alot about my frequent travel and cross cultural up bringing
- Left plenty of time for questions about her. Candidly revealed how when she saw my profile she went oh-oh (I'm from an OVER-represented group).

All in all an easy going interview - loads of smiles and laughs. Think I managed to convey myself and my passions. Although that's just my perception. No idea what she actually thought. And wrote. And evaluated.

The most sound advice I read on this thread was RiverRipper's comment saying 'Be professional. Be personable.' I'd add = Be genuine. That's probably Kellogg's unofficial motto anyway.

All the best to you guys who are lining up your interviews. Hope to catch some of you at Kellogg

Cheers,
Z

They are called 'sections' and since you get to take core classes at different time you won't necessarily end up in the same class as your section buddies. Sections are generally used during orientation week where each section compete with each other in various fun competitions.

Hi vinnaray,
I am from Hyderabad. Will submit my application in round 2. Infact, Kellogg MMM is the only program that I will apply to.
Initially, I thought of submitting my application in 1st rnd, but was not ready. So dragged it to round 2.
Regards,
rahul

I am from Mumbai. Submitted Round 1. No interview invite yet.

From Delhi as well - no invite as of now. Submitting part II in Round 1 by Oct 18th. hoping to see some action post that. On a separate note, what question are you (not only the Indians ) choosing in Essay 4?

Although I largely agree, I feel you should always dress business attire. If i am invited to interview (Dear God I hope so) it's gonna be the full treatment with cufflinks et all. The reason is, an interview at your dream business school could be a once in a lifetime opp, and a make or break. Adcoms ALWAYS advise to attend interviews in a professional manner - which normally business attire. There could be a raging debate around this, but thats how it is and what is expected in the interview. Even if the interviewer shows up in a Polo Tee with trousers and you go in a suit, ITS ALRIGHT. Just cause someone else dresses differently, you dont too.

On a separate note, of course if your interview is in an open air cafe right next to the beach where the temperature is 100F or something, of course you need to dress down a bit. I would however still recommend carrying your coat/blazer and giving it to the folks at the restaurant, and while you are at it, let your interviewer see it What I definitely suggest though, is experimenting with your wardrobe colour. White and blue shirts are safe, but you can def go with another cool shade. I personally prefer wearing grey suits than blue/black - blue/black are WAY too common - atleast in India. Plus I find grey to be a more 'soothing' colour than a black

if you specifically ask, no matter how casual the interviewer may sound in his response, he will def think why you asked cause its an interview and business formal is the way to go in absence of information. So best not to ask and be safe in your dress code.

I think I'll go with People may be surprised to learn that I...

What abt u?

I'm deciding between "Describe a time you presuaded a reluctant person or group" and "People would be surprised to know..."

I'm writing both essays and sending them to my proofreaders for feedback. Whichever one gets the best feedback I'll go with it. I really need to finish these drafts ASAP!

I am doing the surprised to know essay. I thought I had planned out my essay timelines perfectly, but the Kellogg deadline seems to be coming up quicker then I am ready for.

I couldn't stick to my timelines. Essay 1 took me over 2 months to write. I am not good with word limits so fitting everything in the allotted word count has been difficult. 400 words is killing me right now.

Yeah even I am doing the surprise essay. So a class full of surprises eh? I just hope the adcom doesnt send out emails titled 'You may be Surprised to know that ...' when they give decision, and play it back on us hehe. All the best guys!

In India, as you all must be aware, applicants for each round SIGNIFICANTLY outnumber the alums. Hence only a very few folks actually get an f-t-f interview with an alum.

From my experience, the way it goes for most of the Indian applicants (and other areas where concentration of alums is very low) is something like this -
1. All the folks submit an off-campus interview request
2. The very few folks that ad com can match up with alums are taken care off.
3. All the others are put into a pile of 'waiting to be interviewed'
4. All these folks receive a letter indicating an 'interview waiver' (usually post part-2 deadline) which basically states that due to overwhelming demand in your area, your interview cannot be scheduled and that if additional information is needed to render a decision, either a telephonic interview or a f-t-f interview with an alum will be scheduled...
5. So now comes the interesting part...if your credentials (work ex, GPA, GMAT etc.) don't make you an auto-reject for some reason, you will most likely be sent a request to schedule a telephonic interview. So you better be praying hard to get this email from Kellogg coz if you don't get it, you can be rest assured of a ding..
6. Once the telephonic interview is conducted, your application is reviewed and the normal application process flow continues..

Just thought of sharing this so that people don't speculate wildly...I know it's hard not to speculate when official information is so scarce...Been there, done that..

And ya, btw, I'm also writing "People may be surprised to learn that...."
Interesting times we live in with people with plenty of hidden talents!!

Actually, I'm not taking the hidden talent approach to that particular question. I looked at it as an opportunity to shed some light on my background. People are often surprised by it once they find out. Using the whole, "not everything is what it seems" type of angle. Don't know if I'm going with that essay yet, but I felt that I was retreading other subjects with the other two questions.

+ 1 for R1. Just submitted Part 1 today, working on Part 2.

Do you guys think if I dont hit the 600/400 word limit on all the essays its going to be an issue? I think I've said all I want to in my drafts but am 25-75 words under on some essays. I dont want the admissions people to think that I am a slacker.

thanks

No I don't think they will see you as a slacker. But I would have someone read your essays without giving them the questions. Let them tell you what question you're answering. If they can't get the question from what you wrote, you may have more to convey. If they can give you the basic gist of the question with what you've written, then you should be good to go. Don't use words just to use them.

MMM is a pretty cool program. May I ask why you are only applying to this one program?

Just to add a comment about this. Assume formal unless told otherwise. My interviewer told me casual was fine so I went with polo and jeans. It worked out fine.