IIMs placement to take place early – www.tenaday.in

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Ahmedabad : IIM-A students are burning the midnight oil and cleaning their suits these days. And, with a good reason too. Their placements have suddenly shifted ahead of schedule.

First it was IIM-C and now IIM-A and IIM-B have followed suit. Placements are suddenly so much nearer for students of three premier B-schools. Advanced dates of final placements for batches passing out in 2009 with recession in backdrop has become a favourite topic for chatting among student community.

With many recruiters visiting all three IIM campuses, there is a race to grab attention at the earliest, with a hope to place as many students as possible.

IIM-C started with its final placement week from February 21. IIM-A has declared final placements commencing from February 25 and IIM-B will follow from February 27. In 2008, placement season was initiated by IIM-B on March 4, IIM-A following it on March 6 and finally IIM-C commencing from March 8.

Professor Saral Mukherjee, faculty in-charge of placement at IIM-A said, “All three institutes decide on placement dates independently. And, placement dates of three campuses keep on shuffling and there is no set pattern.”

However, a student on campus opined, “Advanced IIM-C placement dates became a topic of discussion on all campuses. Anything like this at this point in time becomes a matter of concern as the uncertainty rises. A number of recruiters go to all three campuses. If they feel students of IIM-C can be accepted for the same profiles at a lower salary, why wouldn’t they recruit them, leaving lesser opportunities for us.”

The decision of advancing placement dates for IIM-A also seems like a recent decision because official website of the institute still says that pre-processes by companies and final interviews will take place in March, 2009.

Professor Mukherjee added, “IIM-A has recruiters who come exclusively to this institute. There are recruiters who go to all three but they know the quality that IIM-A offers, so it won’t affect us.”

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Source:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Ahmedabad/IIMs-placements-to-take-place-early/articleshow/4171689.cms

Now, SBI more valuable than Citibank in m-cap – www.tenaday.in

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NEW DELHI: The US financial crisis

has hit the valuation of its banks. Citigroup

, one of the largest banks in the world, with assets worth $1.95 trillion or RS 9,72,075 crore, now values less than the State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest bank.

n Monday, at the time this newspaper was going to press, the market capitalisation of Citigroup was Rs 57,328 crore as against Rs 66,449 crore of SBI (based on closing share price on Friday). The Indian stock market

was closed on Monday.

Citigroup is facing one of the worst crisis in its recent history. Its share price on Friday fell by 93% to $1.95 from a 52-week high of $27.35 on April 28, 2008. In 2007, the company’s share price had gone up to around $65. On Monday, it recovered marginally to quote at around $2.1 per share.

Share prices of other banks like Bank of America fell 94% to $2.53 on Friday, JP Morgan Chase by 65% to $17.70 and Goldman Sachs by 58% to $84.59% from their respective 52-week highs. In 2008, Citigroup suffered a loss of over Rs 80,000 crore. Against this, SBI earned a net profit of Rs 4,700 crore in April-December 2008 — first nine months of the current financial year.

Despite the fact that Citigroup’s tier-I capital adequacy ratio is at 11.9% of total performing assets, which is one of the best in the world, the bank is facing tough times due to its exposure to doubtful assets. US government is planning to hike stake in the bank to regain confidence of investors and customers. There are speculations that the bank might get nationalized.

US government had infused $45 billion in Citigroup under the troubled asset relief programme, besides extending $300 billion guarantee for assets. Against this, in the present financial crisis, SBI has emerged even stronger than earlier. Its deposits and assets base increased faster than that of the Indian banking industry.

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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/Now-SBI-more-valuable-than-Citibank/articleshow/4179797.cms

IIM-C misses Wall Street recruiters this year – www.tenaday.in

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KOLKATA: The economic crisis has taken its toll on campus recruitment

as well with the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC), finding wall street recruiters missing this year.

Sources in IIMC said the highest pay packet offering merchant bankers from the Wall Street were missing in this year of final recruitment season as most of the renowned companies were either out of business or in bad shape.

“However, we are expecting a few merchant bankers from India and other countries to recruit finance professionals from this campus,” the sources said.

IIMC categories companies depending on their salary offers and reputations and among that slot zero is treated as the most prestigious.

The recruitment began from Saturday and it will continue till February 24 and the second phase will resume from March 3 for two to three days. The recruitment date which has been preponed by two weeks has 265 students registered.

When asked for comments, IIMC officials said the details could only be provided after the campus recruitment process was over.

Sources said during the last three years, merchant bankers like Lehman Brothers and Merill Lynch were the most sought after companies for their highest pay packets.

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Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Jobs/IIM-C-misses-Wall-Street-recruiters-this-year/articleshow/4170601.cms

Discovering the Haas State of Mind – www.tenaday.in

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It’s incredible to think that less than a year ago I was still hammering out my applications, trying to conjure up essays that stood out from the crowd. I always found the “What do you want to do in the long term?” essay the most perplexing. Seriously, do you know what you want to do 10 years from now? Does anyone? I was always tempted to answer: “Not a clue, you?” but somehow I feel I wouldn’t be writing to you today if I had done that. Besides, that would only be a four-word answer, and most of those essays require a thousand.

Indeed, I find the business school essays to be quite the paradox. With the essays, the schools test your ability to take what would normally be a one-sentence answer in the real world and explain it over several pages. Then, when you finally get into school, they test your ability to take a 50-page case and summarize it in two pages, double spaced. Interesting, don’t you think?

Thus far, life at Berkeley is great. Last weekend, I took a day off from studies and headed out for a picnic with my girlfriend at Baker Beach in San Francisco. There we watched the sun set over the cliffs and marveled at the perfect view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Life doesn’t get any better than this, and that was just a 40-minute drive from campus. While location is something you can think about before you apply, the culture (or “fit,” as they like to say) is something you don’t fully appreciate until you are actually in school.

Orientation week was the first opportunity to understand what people mean by “fit.” The thing that struck me at Haas when I met my classmates for the first time was how genuinely nice everyone was. Brilliant, but nice. There were, of course, some people who still had a case of the network bug, shuffling from person to person, trying to establish their network from day one, but even those speed daters were more relaxed by the end of the week. Berkeley has that effect on you. Of course, my classmates are all ambitious, and our GMAT average (714) will tell you we are bright. But what you won’t find here is a lot of cutthroat competition; it’s just not our style. Students at Haas are far more collaborative in nature than you would otherwise expect from a top business school, and you will notice this firsthand in your cohorts and study groups.

Support from Your Peers

Cohort is the name given to our four student factions, which are simply a way of dividing up the incoming class for school lectures. The selection is random but that doesn’t stop students from claiming they are in the better cohort. It’s all taken a little too seriously by some (but everyone knows the Gold Cohort is clearly the best). Students are then segmented into study groups of five, and within these groups you will be expected to work on cases, presentations, and exam preparation. I am fortunate to say I have some great friends in my group. Renita, Champa, and J.S. are three of the most intelligent and caring people I have ever had the privilege to meet. Support from your peers is important, particularly if you want to survive the fall term core classes.

My grandfather likes to remind me that on my first day of elementary school, feeling unprepared, I told him I was a little nervous because I couldn’t read or write. “That’s what you are here for!” he exclaimed. So after reading some accounting books over the summer, I feel I came in a little more prepared for business school. That said, no book can prepare you for the workload required for the core classes.

These classes are designed to get you “up to speed” by giving the foundation of knowledge you need before you tackle your electives. There’s no denying the pace is fast, and it will drain you mentally and physically, but I guess that’s why they invented energy drinks. I remember on one somber occasion, relieved after just finishing my last exam of fall A, I turned my iPhone back on only to see an e-mail from a Fall B professor that read: “Congratulations on finishing your exams, please find attached the homework and cases to read by Monday.” School is definitely demanding and the education you gain from these world-class professors will undoubtedly give you an edge in your future career, but it’s not the only thing to gain from your time here.

The experiences in business school are second to none. At no other time in my life will I have the opportunity to sit around a conference table, as I did at the beginning of term, and discuss entrepreneurship with an Egyptian, Russian, Japanese, Indian, and an American. With 35 countries represented among 240 classmates, I am always learning new things from my peers as well as my classes. And there is no better time than now to be learning at school. While the financial crisis is creating thunderstorms in the global market, business school provides an umbrella that will hopefully keep us dry until the skies are clearer.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Haas, and I am fortunate to say, in the game of chance that is school selection, I rolled two sixes. Never before have I met so many kind and hard-working individuals. As I write, I have been in classes for almost three months, but I already have a sense of the friendships that will endure long after I leave campus.

In Dean Lyons’ public comments, he stresses that Berkeley’s distinguishing characteristic is its culture, embodied by phrases such as “confidence without attitude” and words like “authenticity.” In my experience, I couldn’t agree more.

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Source: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/dec2008/bs20081214_377187.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_business+schools

Marquis’ Weblog: My journey to a Stanford MBA and a career in business – www.tenaday.in

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What’s good, peoples. I know that it’s been a while since I’ve posted a real new entry, but I’ve been swamped trying to get everything set up in Chicago. So far, I’m really liking this city and, fortunately, I already had a lot of friends here, so it’s turning out to be a good transition after two weeks. The new job is going well and I’m happy to be on to a new challenge. The only downside of being in Chicago is the weather…oh my goodness, this city is colder than anything I’ve ever experienced. Before this past weekend, I don’t think the temperature had gotten higher than 30 degrees since my arrival. On Friday night, it was 14 degrees…can you believe that? And, I’ve been told that the “bad part of the winter” doesn’t come until January/February. I sure hope I can make it through this first Chi-town winter.

OK, on to today’s entry. The email below is a long one, so be prepared to take a break halfway through taking in this reader’s message. The gist of it is that the reader is an IT professional with hopes of getting into the GSB and he had a list of questions for me. As mentioned recently, super long lists of questions are tough for me because they take so much time and thought to respond to, but his email came in before I declared my preference against them. Plus, it took me forever and a day to hit him back, so I answered all of them. I feel terrible for taking so long to get back to him, but we’ll have to see if he found my responses helpful.

——-
DP wrote:

“I am an Indian and I work for a renowned software giant in the IT silicon valley of Asia, Bangalore. I am work as a Software Developer but I fear myself getting lost in the so-called technology-driven industry, though not able to figure out what makes this industry unique after almost more than a year. Additionally, I could not see myself near to what I want to do in my life-start my own company. The things probably I lag is the confidence and the network to rely on, where atleast I wont repent of trying after failing to come back banking on someone. So, the total full time work experience would be around 2 yrs 6 months+ by the time I get in to do my MBA next year, in case I get through. Apart from it, I worked for Motorola for another 5 months during my internship in Masters.

I did my Bachelors in Engineering in Comp. Sc. in 2004 and then worked for a small software teaching firm at my home town for almost a year before deciding on to do my Masters in IT in 2005-07 from one of the premier institutes of India. Though I scored 70.9% in my Bachelors (it was % marking system during our time in our university), I was among the 200-300 odd students who scored above 70% in the whole state (considering the 20000+ Engg. graduating every year alone from my state in India) and in the top 20 students of the whole batch of the college among all the Engg. streams of the college (though no proof in the form of certificates or so). In Masters, I got a CGPA of 3.41/4.00 and in one of the four terms, I scored full grade points to top the batch also. The same is during my school and high-school days. I was always among the top 10-15% of the whole batch in my colleges. Most importantly, I was also able to get a IEEE publication during my masters with my research team. So, academics is pretty OK sort with strengths in subjects like science and Maths.

About extra-curricular activities: I have been very active in the extra-curricular activities all throughout my life. I have not only participated in activities like Debates, Acting, Singing, Dancing but also have led the teams for organizing and planning major college and university events like Annual Functions and Senior Batch convocations. One of the most enthralling experience has been planning and organizing the Graduation Day function of my seniors during my masters right from scratch along with the Director and Registrar of the university and its value increases when eminent personalities like Mr. Narayana Murthy (founder and Chief Mentor of one of the biggest IT services giant, Infosys) and Mr. Nandan Nilekani (CEO of Infosys) were the guests of the event. I feel till date this job of about 1 month, I thoroughly enjoyed and that actually got the true interest of how to carry tasks from scratch. I was overwhelmed when our Director and Mr. Murthy acknowledged my small efforts by taking a snap alongside my parents during my convocation the following year during my graduation. I also founded the WebTeam and Entrepreneurship Cell team of my university during the masters apart from being the Vice-Chairman of the Computer Society of India, Students Branch of the local chapter during my Bachelors. The E-Cell eventually went on to become the part of the National Entrepreneurship Network in the same year. I was also highly active in NGO activities right from my schooling days, 1998 and probably, working for the cyclone-hit state in 1999, was the most satisfying job for me till date. Though my efforts were recognized, but I still felt the Indian bureaucracy could have done a better job that time. I have taken active as a part of that NGO for 6-7 years before I came in to do my masters. Though I was doing some efforts towards the child education during my masters time but after joining the sucking IT industry, it has come down to just to monetary helps now. The major reason being is I knew that time that I was happy and I was more open to sharing whatever I had but now I am depressed, frustrated with seeing LIFE going to nowhere and could not find enough motivation to extend a hand of hope to others when I am struggling with mine. I am also part of the company’s Employee Club, which looks into planning and organizing company events within the campus for FUN.

Why MBA? well, my answer to this: I credit it to basically my current environment where I am completely lost and hence, frustrated and depressed with the daily routine job of coming to office, writing some pre-determined code and then go back. I just can’t resist following rules all the time. I want to do something different. But at the same time, I feel with strong instincts of having my own business own day, I would like to do my MBA from a top university. Another good reason being is: I feel that my failed attempts of forming a group to go for a new venture after my studies was due to wrong people around, who were more job-oriented rather than trying something different and get their hands dirty and messy. Its not that I did not initiate anything. I did, in fact, but failed to actually build on it. The example was when I along with a group of students tried to actually take up a course, drastically different and taken only by us, till date in the whole university, though eventually we failed to accomplish the final desired results but not before solving a big problem around it. The major reason being is the team was not completely motivated and was not willing to take risks at the right moment of time. Now, with a good MBA univ, I want to form a small team of like-minded guys who can dare to dream and then most importantly, believe in their individual dreams to follow them to make a COMMON DREAM become REALITY.

I have varied interests also like currently, I am writing my first movie script along with a very dear friend of mine, to try a hand at movies too in future but I do that basically for fun and I love it.

GMAT: I have not taken GMAT yet and will be taking it in November and thus, obviously will be trying to put on my applications for the second round. I do expect a decent score of 700+. I am confident in Maths but I struggle a bit in English, which I feel in due time I will be able to pick it up.

I visited USA last year and was there for almost 3 months in the Silicon Valley and thus, happened to visit Stanford for about 4-5 times and thus, have developed an emotional attachment to it and thats the reason I guess when I decided to go for either Stanford or Harvard, the answer always seems to be ONLY and ONLY STANFORD. Though, I am not sure how strong is my candidacy, but I want to go for it with all arms loaded. The only drawback could be the the timing of the application-2nd Round.

I completely understand that “You are not a part of the Admissions Committee and these would be just your suggestions”, as you repeat this statements in your blog again and again. So, trust me even your help is going to be the guidelines for me, which may help me deciding my course of action and approach to the elite B-Schools.
So, here are my questions:

1. Recommendations: What is the approach to go to the Boss, when there is a high possibility of a negative impact on your job afterwards, especially when one knows the person is a bit close-minded person? This question becomes very important as most of the Univ. ask one of the recommendations from the direct reporting manager, preferably.
2. Being with this profile, what is your sincere OPINION of my chances at STANFORD in the R2?
3. I have financial constraints and so, I will be definitely looking towards the AID and probably, a job later on after my MBA to wind up the LOANS as dollars can match only dollars. So, not sure of this due to strict visa regulations and the current market trends. Though I am in the highest bracket of the earning guys in a job of my age and educational background in India, but its a very meagre amount in terms of dollars. What’s your take on the possibility of getting aids, in case got admitted in the 2nd round.
4. I understand you have stopped taking up review of application essays, but if you feel I could be a potential candidate, can you do that again for me, for which I will be highly grateful to you. I have already started forming ideas for the essays for few Univ., including STANFORD.
5. Any additional suggestions?
6. Any further tips for a good and decent GMAT score? What should be the ideal score target for a guy with a profile as of mine to target STANFORD?

Waiting for your valuable guidance…

DP”
——-
DP,

What’s going on, man. I need to start by apologizing for taking so long to respond to your message. I’ve been ridiculously busy for a while now and I’m just now getting to my emails that came in back in September. Second, I HAVE to say something about your message…you might have just set the record for the longest email I’ve received in five years of writing my blog. I don’t know how long it took you to write it, but it sure did take me a long time to read it. I can tell from your email that you feel a connection with Stanford GSB, so I hope you can put together a strong application. I hope this email isn’t getting to you too late to be of use as you’re putting together your application package.

Recently, you might have seen one of my recent entries where I said that I wouldn’t respond to long lists of questions and you asked a LOT of questions here. Since your email came in before that recent entry, I decided to hit each of the questions. Plus, with the time you took to write all that text, I figure that I can take a little extra time than I’d usually allocate for a reply. Here we go…

1. Recommendations: What is the approach to go to the Boss, when there is a high possibility of a negative impact on your job afterwards, especially when one knows the person is a bit close-minded person? This question becomes very important as most of the Univ. ask one of the recommendations from the direct reporting manager, preferably. —> Awwww shoot, I really wish I’d gotten to your email earlier because I’ve got a good tip for this one but it might be too late for it to be useful. But, before getting to that, I would advise you to not assue that your boss is close-minded. He/she may appear that way in a work context, but that might be the mindset he/she has adopted to get the job done. If you were to ask for his/her help in getting into business school, you might end up pleasantly surprised with the response. OK, now to my tip…I would recommend that you do your best to establish a “mentor” relationship with your boss in preparation for requesting the reco. I put that in quotes because it won’t be a full-on mentorship situation in the traditional sense. What I’m referring to is for you to build the sort of relationship where you’re comfortable asking your boss for advice and counsel on issues that matter. In the course of that, you could discuss your long-term career goals and ask for his/her advice on how to best reach those goals. Establishing this sort of groundwork is a great way to lead into the “will you write a recommendation?” conversation. At that point, the conversation would begin with you discussing your roadmap toward your future goals and bringing up the idea of you going to business school. You could discuss your reasons for wanting an MBA, ask for your boss’ input/advice on it, and then ask him/her to be a part of MBA mission by writing a recommendation for you. Taking this approach sends the message of “I would like your help in achieving my career goals and would be honored if you’d write a reco”, not “I hate this job and I’m applying to business school to get away from it and, most of all, YOU”. It’s amazing how much something as simple as making someone seem important and valued can affect their outlook and mindset when it comes to you.

2. Being with this profile, what is your sincere OPINION of my chances at STANFORD in the R2? —> Well, since you understand that this is only my opinion, then I have no problem giving it. From what you’ve told me, you seem like a good candidate to apply to a top business school and, if you can tell your story well, you could have a decent shot of getting into the GSB. It looks like you’ve got solid academics, great extracurriculars, and OK work experience, but you do still have to knock out the GMAT, get some good recommendations, and write those essays. I really want to emphasize the impact your essays will have because that will be the admissions committee’s main window into who you are as a candidate and why you want an MBA. Just a word of advice…PLEASE think of a better way to tell your “why MBA” story than you did in your email above. Based on your email, it seems like you want to go to B-school because you feel that you made the wrong choice in going into IT, don’t like to follow other people’s rules, and couldn’t get a group together to start a new venture after your Master’s program. All of those things may be true, but you have to dress your story up better than that. If I’ve misread any of that, then you might want to think about the way you’re communicating it when you write your essays. And, as for applying in round 2, I’ve always heard that there isn’t a disadvantage to applying in that group, so don’t let that worry you. If you were looking at round 3, you’d be fighting an uphill battle, but round 2 isn’t a killer for your chances.

3. I have financial constraints and so, I will be definitely looking towards the AID and probably, a job later on after my MBA to wind up the LOANS as dollars can match only dollars. So, not sure of this due to strict visa regulations and the current market trends. Though I am in the highest bracket of the earning guys in a job of my age and educational background in India, but its a very meagre amount in terms of dollars. What’s your take on the possibility of getting aids, in case got admitted in the 2nd round. —> I know that Stanford offer need-based financial aid to admitted applicants, so, if you get in, you’d likely get as much as the Financial Aid office determines that you need. I never talked to any of my international classmates about the structure of their aid packages because I felt that was a personal thing and way out of bounds for me. With the current state of the credit markets, your bigger concern shouldbe about the rate on your loans. I’m not sure if there’s anything you can do now to get a lower rate, but you might want to talk to some of your associates who studied in the US for advice on that.

4. I understand you have stopped taking up review of application essays, but if you feel I could be a potential candidate, can you do that again for me, for which I will be highly grateful to you. I have already started forming ideas for the essays for few Univ., including STANFORD. —> Come on, pimpin’…you know I can’t do that. If I were to do it for you, then I’d have to do it for everyone. [NOTE: Knowing that I’ve stated several times that I’m not willing to do this, I’m somewhat taken aback that you would make this request anyway, actually to the point of being a little offended. Step into my shoes and ask yourself how you’d think about it…you give your time by responding to emails and all you expect is for people to respect the boundaries you put out there. Then, you get an email from someone ignoring those boundaries. Need I say more? ]

5. Any additional suggestions? —> Well, I’ve actually got lots of additional suggestions and they’re pretty well laid out across years worth of entries on my blog. And, I’m not being facetious with this statement either. It sounds like you might have read the archived entries and, not to pat myself on the back, but there’s a goldmine of MBA application tips sprinkled in those archives. At a high level, I’d advise you focus on three things as you put together your application:
a. Your MBA application positioning, which includes the way you describe your background, experiences, and desire for an MBA
b. Writing some GREAT application essays
c. RELAXING a little — you seem to be really stressing yourself out over this and, while it is important, nothing is worth sacrificing your sanity

6. Any further tips for a good and decent GMAT score? What should be the ideal score target for a guy with a profile as of mine to target STANFORD? —> I don’t know if there’s an “ideal score target” for a person targeting Stanford. As far as I know, the admissions people truly look at each candidate as a total package and not just as a single GMAT score. My advice would be to do the best that you can and, once you’ve done that, focus on the rest of your application. I don’t have any specific tips on getting a good score except to buckel down and study hard for it. For some people, that means taking a GMAT course and, for others like me, that means buying a good GMAT prep book. Mastering the GMAT is all about being as prepared as possible for the questions you’ll face and putting in the time to study is the only way to do that.

I hope the answers that I’ve provided above are helpful as you think about applying to business school. It sounds like you REALLY want to get into Stanford, so I hope it works out for you. Take care and good luck on your business school applications.

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Source: http://marquisweblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/responses-to-applicant-with-questions.html

B-schools haven’t been immune to the feeling of anger at those behind the attacks and the government – www.tenaday.in

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New Delhi: How would you have dealt with terrorists taking over your company’s hotel or office?

That’s the question students at New Delhi’s Faculty of Management Studies (FMS) and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) are answering or getting ready to answer.

November’s terror attacks in Mumbai, where Indian Hotels Co. Ltd’s Taj Mahal hotel and East India Hotels (EIH) Ltd’s Oberoi-Trident hotel were extensively damaged have introduced terror into B-school curricula.

At FMS, questions on how managers can cope with and respond to terror attacks have become part of a corporate strategy class taught by J. Mitra, dean of the school.

At IIM-B, associate professor Amit Gupta plans to introduce a module on crisis management, including coping with terror attacks, into a course in leadership and change management that he teaches. “It was unprecedented,” said Gupta, referring to the attacks. “(I don’t think) any of our organizations can respond to armed terrorists entering their premises. What could be the response?”

B-school campuses haven’t been immune to the overwhelming feeling of anger at the perpetrators of the terror attacks and the government that pervaded most large cities. The attacks were also aimed at crippling the economy and, from the students’ point of view, placements on campuses.

“They (terrorists) are attacking the economy,” said Deepti Pillai, who heads the student council at the Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies (NMIMS) in Mumbai. “A lot of lateral thinking is coming out of it,” she added, referring to the ideas coming from students on how to cope with terror attacks. The school’s social responsibility cell plans to conduct a workshop on the topic in February.

“It was really, really heated,” FMS student Shivani Poddar said of the corporate strategy class. “It was about how all of us will have to deal with it (terror) tomorrow. The chairman of Yes Bank (Ashok Kapur; he was killed in the attacks) was there. I personally know a CFO who was living in the Taj (at that time)”.

Poddar said one of the suggestions which came up was that conglomerates such as the Tata group—of which Indian Hotels is a part—need to have an internal crisis management team.

At IIM Bangalore, C. Sathyanarayanan, a first-year student, said he would opt for the course offered by Gupta. “I am interested in any organization that has to deal with change.”

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Source: http://www.livemint.com/2008/12/09235749/Terror-101.html

The MBA Value Proposition Blog – www.tenaday.in

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The life of an MBA applicant can prove hectic during the approaching holiday season. A number of school’s first round deadlines have already passed, others loom on the horizon. So, for those of you taking the GMAT, interviewing, and writing essays–this time of year can seem like you are already back in school taking exams and finishing up class projects.

I hope that when you were making your decisions about where to apply you didn’t select your top 10 and then set about to complete as many applications. If so, I may need to come and visit you for a personal intervention or serious pep talk. Our advice at Forte is to pick 3-5 schools. Pick 1-2 stretch schools, 1-2 schools where you are very competitive based on the applicant profile, and a back-up school where you are fairly sure you will be admitted.

Now that we’re all on the same page, a couple of tips for making it through the next couple of months.

• If you haven’t already, take the GMAT as soon as possible so that you can move forward with the remaining steps of applying to b-school. Having this test behind you will make the rest of the process go more smoothly.
• Spend some time in preparation before you start writing or interviewing. Ask yourself the hard questions about why you want an MBA, how will it advance your career, why have you chosen the particular schools on your short list, etc. Make sure you have strong and valid reasons that you can share through your essays and campus interviews.
• For tips on application essays and interviewing, refer back to earlier entries in this blog. Also, check out the Getting Your MBA section on Forte’s web site. The Articles link will take you to lots of great articles about the admissions process.
• Once you’ve completed a draft of your essays, ask a colleague, friend, or family member to review the essays. Be sure to pick someone who will be straightforward and constructively critical of what you’ve written. Asking someone who attended business school or who has a business background is also helpful.
• Spend some time incorporating clarifying points and strong examples into your essays.

And finally, don’t forget to relax–enjoy the time you can spend with friends and family over the next couple of months. Keeping that balance will give you perspective and help you focus as you write your essays and interview.

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Source: http://www.fortefoundation.org/blog/forum/2008/12/deadlines-approaching.html

MBA school plans more global tie-ups – www.tenaday.in

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Encouraged by the positive response from students, after a tie-up with two foreign universities, one of the US and the other China, the Mysore-based SDM Institute for Management Development (SDM-IMD) is on the lookout for more tie-ups.

An arm of the Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Educational Trust, SDM-IMD signed two agreements recently, with the Shanghai University, Shanghai, China and Mays Business School, Texas A & M University, USA. It also had an association with the University of Minnesota, Duluth Campus.

Under the exchange programme with these two universities, SDM-IMD students get an opportunity to spend a semester in a foreign university and their counterparts come to Mysore for a similar study.

The agreement signed with Mays Business School for student and faculty exchange programme in October last provides for four students from SDM-IMD to spend a semester and attend courses at the Texas A&M University. An equal number of MBA students from Mays would study a semester in SDM-IMD’s award-winning campus in Mysore. Instead of four exchange students, Texas University could send 20 students for a short visit.

The agreement envisions undergraduate students from Mays attending a five-week summer programme focused on conducting business in India, at SDM-IMD, during May-June. The exchange also aims at promoting exchange of faculty for teaching and collaborative research programmes.

Earlier this year, the institute had signed a similar agreement with the Global Management Education Institute of Shanghai University. Two SDM-IMD students have already spent a semester in Shanghai between September and November. Shanghai University has indicated of sending students to SDM-IMD in the next academic year.

SDM-IMD director Ramesh Venkateswaran told Business Standard that students are selected based on their academic performance and on how they would fit into an international environment. “The initial response has been favourable and students are excited with this opportunity,” he remarked.

There is no tuition fee charged to the student for enrolling at the partner institute. He however bears expenses towards travel, stay and living. The institute could help them through soft loans to take advantage of this opportunity.

“Opportunity to spend a semester in a foreign university gives our students an international orientation to their MBA programme and widens their horizon and perspective for their qualification. They also get to see international faculty, interact with students from different countries and have an exposure to different teaching styles across the globe. When we get exchange students in turn our students get to interact with international peers and that is a good learning process for our students.”

“Such tie-ups definitely have a positive effect on all stake holders – Students and recruiters. General response has been positive as recruiters see SDM-IMD as a progressive institute offering courses relevant to today’s context,” Venkateswaran said underlining the benefits of the tie-ups.

He expected that the tie-ups would have a positive effect on the number of applications it received.

“We are on the look out for more meaningful associations. We are talking to some institutions,” Venkateswaran added.

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Source:  http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=342120

The campus really rocks – www.tenaday.in

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The big stars, rocking performances and bigger brands are all still there. The prize money at these events is as big and the competition as fierce as before.
Unmaad 2008, the IIM-B fest sponsored by 17 big companies, had cash prizes ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. National Law School of India University

, Bangalore, gave Rs 35,000 to the winning rock band at the TOI Strawberry Fields, which saw performances by Shruti Haasan and rock band Pentagram. Srinivas Gowrishankar, from the event management committee of NLSIU, says things were a bit difficult at the beginning but they managed to pull it off. “When we started talking to sponsors in June and July, we got a positive response. But at the end of September and October, companies started pulling out because of the economic climate,” Srinivas says. Banks, however, came to the aid of the college. “There was a bank that had changed its logo and used the fest for branding and promotion, spending a lot on the exercise. Others also invested substantial amounts,” he adds.

Harish G, head of publicity and media relations for the students’ cultural committee, IIM-B, says the institute plans to cut down on the number of events to manage the financial constraints. “Last year, there were two big stars performing on two days. At Unmaad 2009, we’ll have one big event with big stars like KK to pull in crowds. We’ll also have some amateur rock bands as we want to promote talent,” says Harish.

The cash prize will remain the same in 2009. “A lot of effort goes into choreography and fashion shows, and if we cut down on prizes the whole purpose is defeated,” he says, adding, “We also need radio partners to give rock bands a slot.”

Arup Haldar, culture secretary of IIM-B, maintains that the college has managed to raise the necessary funds for Unmaad 2009. “Last year, our cultural fest was the biggest compared to previous years. So, while next year’s fest may seem average in scope, we’ll manage within the budget,” says Arup. He adds that it’s too early to predict the number of sponsors for the January event.

Fest O’Comm, the three-day festival of Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune, will have more than 30 colleges from across the country participating. Bharath Shastri, media trainee of Symbiosis Institute, says the sponsorship this year has been better than last year. “It will be bigger than this year. We’ll have a lot of music and dance events, besides seminars. Last year, we had Palaash Sen and next year also we’re looking at someone as big to up the glamour quotient,” he says.

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Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Potpourri/The_campus_really_rocks/articleshow/3784163.cms

Slowdown creates student rush to graduate schools – www.tenaday.in

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As the rattled economy causes companies to shed jobs, business schools across St. Louis are reaping the benefits. Spring applicant numbers have soared with students interested in riding out the economic storm.

At Fontbonne University, MBA applications for spring 2009 are up 13 percent over last year’s figure, according to Jerry Bladdick, associate vice president for graduate and adult education.

“Many are looking to add to their credentials because there is more competitiveness in the work force,” Bladdick said.

At Saint Louis University’s John Cook School of Business, applications for the part-time MBA program are up 15 percent over last year, according to Kathleen Day, assistant dean and director of graduate business programs. The application deadline for SLU’s full-time, one-year MBA program isn’t until May, so it may be too early to gauge the full effect on applicants, Day said, but attendance for fall open houses was up 24 percent.

At Washington University’s Olin School of Business, the number of applicants that met the first-round deadline for the MBA program was significantly higher this year, according to Evan Bouffides, assistant dean and director of MBA admissions and financial aid. Washington University does not disclose those figures.

“Our expectations were that they would go up, but we were surprised by how much,” Bouffides said. “The economy must have something to do with it.”

The recent uptick in action in admissions offices is not surprising, according to Sam Silverstein, manager of media and public affairs for the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC). His company publishes the GMAT, a widely used standardized test for business school applicants.

Worldwide, registration for the GMAT is on pace for a record year, Silverstein said. GMAT registration volume through Oct. 31 was 250,890, which represents an 11 percent increase from 2007.

“When the economy shows weakness, GMAT volume shows considerable stren-gth,” he said. “GMAT levels go up when employment goes down.”

Though the applicant pool is growing, so is competition, as not all schools will be able to facilitate larger class sizes.

Washington University is sticking with a class size of 150, although at University of Missouri-St. Louis, Fontbonne and SLU, enrollment will likely increase in the coming semesters.

Last year at Washington University’s Olin School, 33 percent of applicants were accepted with an average undergraduate grade point average of 3.38.

This year, student stats will likely change in two directions — the percentage of students accepted will lower and the average GPA and GMAT score will be higher.

“It is obviously going to be increasingly more selective and very difficult to get in if volume is up,” Bouffides said. “They need to be strong in all elements of the applications and be more competitive.”

At UMSL, class sections will be added as more students are admitted, according to Thomas Eyssell, associate dean and director of graduate studies.

For the evening program, Eyssell said the school has about 520 students. But for their programs, like the weekend professional MBA, UMSL has about 45 students and could potentially reach capacity in the coming year.

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Source: http://stlouis.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2008/12/01/story8.html?b=1228107600%5E1739824