Reliance Fellowship Essay Done…

Okay Guys, What’s up? How is life going? I guess each one of us is anxiously looking forward to the upcoming admission session. Last week, Stanford GSB and HBS released their application essays for the 2012 batch. With hem, I guess all of us must be gearing up to put our best to our dream schools.

I have lots of update from my side.

Firstly, I am done with the essay of the Reliance Stanford Fellowship. It was a fun writing the essay and changing it again and again. It becomes really challenging when reviewers try to give their comments and suggestions. I don’t know how many reviewers try to put themselves in our shoes to look from our perspective. But I fell that should be the ideal and honest approach for helping the applicants. What I found challenging while writing the essay was the topic “How do you aspire to shape India’s future?” and that too in 250 words or fewer. You gotto be kidding me. That was the first reaction when I tried to analyze the topic. I wanted to tell a lot of things but there wasn’t enough space for me to do so. What I did was I thought I should first try to understand what it really tries to mean and most importantly, what message I want to convey here. Trust me this approach helps as one knows very well where and how thought process is is shaping up. Next, I straight away sat down for almost 7 hrs to write down whatever came to my mind following those guidelines. I did not look back to re-read it at that time. Not surprisingly, I wrote almost 9 pages. It was well above 1500 words. But then, every alternate day I used to sit for 2 hrs re-reading the essay and fine-tuning it, using each word economically and appropriately. The last 2 weeks, I took advice from couple of friends and took their opinion on the essay. A lot of them appreciated the starting and the end paragraph though there was one who did not like my concluding statement but when I inquired about it more from others, they agreed with my statement. Basically, I would say the concluding sentence is the statement that came right from my heart and the only sentence in the whole essay, which I just changed in due course but never was in a mood to take it off at any cost. As for personal opinion, I feel each one of us should have his/her own USP of the essay and it should never be compromised because if we do we lose ourselves in it. Here are few guidelines when one approaches the Reliance Dhirubhai fellowship essay:

• The focus should be on giving a shape to India’s future. Remember there is a big difference in “shaping” and “changing”. A good way of tackling this is to think of a current scenario which can be harnessed further to have a strong effect. It would be really nice if someone tries to link his current professional experience coupled with Stanford MBA to address it.
• Discuss human and socio- economic issues in India and how they form part of your plan of shaping India’s future. Show your love and commitment to India’s growth and future genuinely.
• Try to link your professional aspirations to the theme of the essay. Try to dram a roadmap from your past life to Stanford MBA life and post MBA India life. Always remember, the fellowship requires fellows to come back to India within to 2 years of their graduation for at least 2 years to work in public/private organization.
• How MBA from Stanford fits into the overall scheme of things. Do your school research and try to show “HOW”.
• keep in mind the word limit (only 250 words). It is definitely too less and everyone is bound to struggle as I did. Probably, 100 words could do more justice to it.

So, well I am ready with my essay and I will be probably submitting it today or tomorrow. Overall, I am satisfied with the final shape of the essay.

Secondly, on GMAT preparation front, I am spending a lot of my time with the OG. I am bit terrified but I am confident. I feel I have got a good grasp on SC and CR now and have to work a bit more on the RC front. Quant section is never a problem for me as I generally score on the range of 47-51 on it. So, all the focus is on the verbal front. I will be taking the tests from tomorrow regularly to judge my course. I am yet to take a date and probably, I will wait for the Reliance Fellowship results because if I happen to be in the 5 finalists, then I can get a GMAT voucher for them. So, as of now, anytime July mid will be the GMAT date.

Finally, I have developed a strategy for choosing the schools. It is very similar to the recruitment process that is generally followed in all the institutes in India. I am going to have two Dream B-Schools and in terms of priority it is going to be Stanford GSB and Hass Berkeley. I am passionate about both of these B-Schools. In fact, they are the only two universities that I have visited on my USA trip last year. Honestly, Stanford GSB has been always been my only unchanged and permanent love because somehow I feel deeply connected to it and I feel no matter what, Stanford can understand me and my aspirations. I am going to go full guns loaded to it. In fact, I got in touch with an alumnus, who has assured me of helping to develop my profile for the GSB. While interacting with him for last couple of months, I found that we have a lot of similarities and when I approached him with the idea of helping me out, he instantly said yes.

So, apart from the dream schools, there will be 4-5 schools where I feel have a good competition to get an offer, which would depend a lot on my GMAT. I have got a tentative list of almost 12 schools in this category but have to dig around a lot more before finalizing the FOUR. Other than this, I am going to apply for ISB and NUS in Asia.

I guess starting early on all fronts will help me getting things proper at the right time and not rush. I am planning got decide on my recommenders also soon. I wrote my first essay with the Reliance Fellowship essay and I feel to get a good essay, one has to bring himself inside out. Though I always knew, what and how I think about my India, but this exercise showed me my shadow in the mirror in true sense. I am really excited about the application season and I hope it is going to be an amazing ride to hidden revelations about myself. One thing for sure is “The mantra for writing essays should be bringing one’s INSIDE OUT”. The more one knows and reveals him in the essays, the more comfortable and confident he would be with the essays.

With Almight blessings and blessings of my parents, I am going to submit the Reliance Fellowship Application today or tomorrow. Ia m keeping my finger crossed.

AWA 30

When someone achieves greatness in any field – such as the arts, science, politics, or business – that person’s achievements are more important than any of his or her personal faults.

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your point of view with reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

I completely agree that one’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults especially when he or she achieves greatness in some field. A lot of people are born and then they die after spending a span of time on earth. But there are very few people who leave their everlasting marks on the sands of time, which pushes the life of the other people on this earth forward. It is this capability of those few people’s achievements that gives us the courage to face the realities of life every day. I believe that such people’s achievements are definitely more important than their failures due to the following reasons.

Firstly, there is no doubt that when someone achieves something great in any field, it shows a new path to the whole world. Sometimes, these paths are so strong that they change the course of the current world. For example, let us consider Abraham Lincoln. He changed the course of American history with the abolition of the slavery. It is his greatness that people in America are better people than anyone in this world today. Similarly, Mahatma Gandhi changed the course of Indian history with his beliefs on truth and non-violence. It is due to his sheer will that made the whole country run for the struggle of Independence unanimously. People like Dhirubhai Ambani led the Indian business to a new level by bringing Economic Liberalization in the country in early 1990′s. Narayan Murthy has led the country into a new blend of truth and ethics while creating one of the most successful IT services companies of thew world – Infosys. People like Thomas Elva Edison gave a new direction to the lives of people and science with his invention of Electric bulb.

Secondly, it is the achievements of the successful people that gives inspiration and motivation to the younger generation for more new innovations. One cannot ignore the fact that it is the failures that make the ordinary lives of great people extraordinary. But it is their achievements that draw people to look into their lives do closely to draw inspirations from. For example, even though Edison was thrown out of his class citing poor intellectuals, he went on to become a great scientist. Similarly, Abaraham Linclon failed miserably in his business and other ventures before going on to become one of the greatest leaders of the world and most influential President in American history. The point here is that we know the past of these successful persons only because they rose to become successful person and leaders in this world at some point of their lives. It is their achievements that took us to go into their past.

Due to the above said reason, I agree with the opinion stated earlier that a person’s achievements are more important than his or her personal faults.

AWA 7

The former secretary general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjold wrote, “Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step: only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find his right road.”

While such a philosophy may be appropriate for the leader of the United Nations, it may not be an acceptable practice for ordinary individuals to follow as they go about their daily lives. What is your opinion? Support your position with illustrations from your observation, study, reading, or personal experience.

I believe that Dag Hammarskjold’s philosophy is true in all circumstances for all the people in their lives for the following three reasons.

Firstly, every people have certain dreams but very few actually dare to go to fulfill them. The people who follow their dreams change not only their life but also people around them significantly in future though they may have to face obstacles in the short-term. For example, Dhirubhai Ambani went through all the his initial painful years sacrificing a lot of conventional life to build the largest private company of India, employing 60000 people today and benefiting the economy of the country.

Secondly, ordinary people have certain aspirations. For example, children might get the right education in future if he could be able to save a few dollars of his income sacrificing his present.

Last but not the least, though ordinary person cannot ignore his daily struggle of life but at the same time he cannot ignore the importance of what he wants for himself and his family in future. He needs to act responsibly ignoring the present circumstances to lead a comfortable life later on. For example, our current prosperity is due to the abolition of the evil laws like bonded labor, inequality, etc in the past. I still remember our current Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, brought liberalization policy in 1992, as then Finance Minister despite all criticisms, only to see the today’s healthy growing economy.

Therefore for the above said reasons, I strongly oppose the author’s believe that fulfilling long-term goals with risks in present, is only the characteristics of high profile people and not ordinary people.