ISB Weekend Visit

Well, one of the leading B-school of India and the only one I would like to go if I want to do an MBA in India. I applied to ISB in the Round 2 and as I write this post, I am waiting for my interview call. Once again, I apologize for the delay in posting this post to my blog. I visited ISB in September and I stayed in the campus for more than 24 hours. It was tough initially to enroll for this program. I went on to call the Admissions Manager and persuaded him to give me a slot and fortunately, I got my opportunity.

I went to Hyderabad on train. On reaching the campus, I knew this is the place I would love to be in. After searching a little bit about the Student Village block (hostel), I reached the reception. I was almost 1.5 hours early. There were few guys from the earlier batch also. As their end time came near, they started coming out of their rooms. We introduced ourselves. Some of them started sharing their thoughts. Almost all of them described the initiative was stupid as they did not find anything relevant. They had roamed around the campus, partied in the night, boozed and slept. That is how they described their 24 hours at ISB.

But I had gone to ISB with a different set of mind. I knew what ISB is and it could do with an MBA. I was focussed more on learning about ISB as much as possible. I had taken bath and refreshed myself right after getting down at the station. So, after getting introduced among ourselves (the guys who were visiting ISB for 24 hours), we left to our rooms. I left my room almost immediately and straightaway headed for lunch. I waited for the few students who accompanied us for the lunch. They shared their stories and tried to give us some tips. After lunch, it was time for action. I had heard a lot about LRC. LRC is the Learning Resource Center, the heart of ISB, consisting of library, computer center and reading rooms. It was really great. In fact, it did beat my expectations. I spent some time reading books and decided to come back again to it before leaving the next day.

Guys, let me tell you, Ground works magic and sometimes, pleasant surprises were always welcome. One of my friends also accompanied me to ISB. We started searching for my friends, looked through our facebook and linkedin profiles. We tried to fix times with them according to their availability and we did manage to get most of them. The other most important thing that I had in my mind was to meet the club leaders because they are the ones who are going to share their first-hand experiences with us. Let me tell you, I did talk to most of them. Talking to them, interaction just reconfirmed my belief that an MBA from ISB would do wonders to my career and life. And I would love to cherish the one year at ISB for the whole of my life.

Well, to let you know that ISB is a one-year Post Graduate Program in Management. So, every semester is about 6 weeks long. People ask me why do you want to do an MBA. I know each one of us has different reasons. The biggest reason for me is “Learning and Networking”. I still could not come out of my college days and I simply love to go back. We will discuss why MBA factor in detail soon in another post.

Coming back to ISB, when majority of participants left the following day morning, I had decided to stay back. I talked to the admissions manager about the whole admission process and discussed it at its length and breadth. We requested for a class visit but unfortunately, we were not allowed to avail one due to ISB policies. One very big USP of ISB is its faculty. Almost 2/3rd of its faculty are from abroad and that is what I feel makes it a real global school.

I talked to almost dozens of students, almost all club officers and a lot of mutual students. Couple of them really shared their honest views and I am really grateful to them namely, Sandip, Sundeep and Sumit. Let me tell you, there are few honest students and alumni anywhere and these, according to me, are the real ambassadors of the school. It is difficult to find this characteristic and I am sure that most of the universities and colleges would agree with me that of all its students in batch, this number may be very marginal. We see education as a progress to career path or in fact, meeting our goals but in the meantime, we forget that we become face of some organization or school when we work or study there and it is our responsibility to improve its image. While constantly bragging about the system without concrete examples would do more harm than good, not willing to participate in the improvement process would destroy the image completely.

My visit was one of the most fruitful visits and I wish I could have visited other schools that I applied which unfortunately I could not. One suggestion that I would give to all prospective applicants is apply only to programs you genuinely feel connected, visit them and before visit, do your ground work like what is it that you would like to know, what memories would you like to carry after your visit and so on. So do your preparation properly before going. I hope that I would be able to share a good news very soon on this blog. I applied to programs where I felt connected and I felt not only it could contribute to my career but also I could contribute back as a both student and alumnus. Waiting eagerly for the ISB interview call now…

Upcoming Webinar exclusively for Indian Applicants

This post is quick shout-out for upcoming webinar for Indian applicants by Kaneisha. Now, Kaneisha does not need any introduction on my blog. I feel this is the first time someone is attempting such a unique webinar. As an Indian applicant myself, I understand the curiosity and issues with the Indian Applicants. Being very close to Kaneisha also, I can assure she is going to give some awesome insights into the whole application process from our perspectives.

The link you can use to learn more about the webinar is here: http://buy.theartofapplying.com/india-webinar/

Rush and register yourself and let me know what you think.

ISB Information Session

I attended ISB Information Session today at Bangalore. The event was at 3 pm in ITC Windsor Hotel, Bangalore. I was along with two friends, all of us reached 20 min late as we kept on roaming around the area looking out for the venue.

Quick De-brief and thoughts:

1. ISB is definitely great. One cannot get the niche field career prospects like VC/PE or alike. As such, India is not so good on all such areas and we need time to catch up on all this. So, I hope to get armored at ISB to jump and contribute to the niche areas.
2. ISB is an amazing place for career switchers: 1 yr course and choose general specializations like finance, entrepreneurship, etc.
3. ISB is a PGP program and is well recognized globally.
4. I feel what I like the most with ISB is YLP. It is an amazing initiative, especially for people like me with great aspirations. (YLP is Young Leadership Program where companies like HSBC targets specific individuals to groom them accordingly for its leadership role). YLP is a completely recruitment initiative though I, personally, feel that it would have done wonders had it been part of curriculum.
5. Close to 40% people have IT background and they end up choosing some other career as the outgoing IT share is close to 17%, if I remember correctly.
6. Retail and Healthcare are two industries that is gaining momentum in placement segment.
7. GMAT range has been 600-780. So, do apply.
8. Nice Electives are available and so does Exchange Programs. Check the website for details.
9. For choosing electives, you are given 4000 points, you choose your electives and bid accordingly. Electives are bidden for your points.
10. Companies like Google and MS are favorites of ISB for Product Managers and so does BCG and McKinsey for Consultants. Majority of the people choose consultancy as their careers.
11. Choose your 2 recommender from your workplace, preferably.
12. 20% of the class in re-applicants – a stunning figure but it clearly shows that ISB values re-applicants.
13. Placement Season begins with international placements in October and Domestic from Jan. Now, here is what is a big question mark: one starts his season in April and then placement in October. How well can one justify his interest and company with his own capability and aspirations. Personally, I feel it is a big deal especially when goes to ISB not prepared what he/she wants to do with his MBA. So, have strong goals and be focussed. Do your ground study, build your basics before you start attending the classes at ISB.
14. Special Case 1: A lady gynecologist doctor chose to do her MBA at the age of 52. So age no bar. Amazing excpetional case.
15. Special Case 2: If I remember correctly, the guy name was Shankar. Topper of ISB batch, 2nd rank IIT-JEEcame to ISB with 9+ yrs of experience. McKinsey offered him Manager+ role with a package of 32L+ INR. He choose to start as an associate. Today he is earning in crores. Now, why I like this example is that one choose to learn over money and trust me, I feel long term goal is what matters the most.
16. Average Salary package for 80% people is 12L-22L. Now, I am pretty close to this range but then I feel MBA will make the difference because I know I can make the difference with an MBA. I definitely don’t mean in the salary rather the difference that I am talking about can only be seen in long term.
17. Yeah Beer Parties on Thursday and Friday. Lets go party every week, is the motto inside the campus. I feel that it should be that way. Work hard and party harder.

Overall, I feel ISB, ranked 12th globally by FT, is a great place if someone like me who has entrepreneurial pursuits and want to stay in India making decent money and doing what I am good at. So, my plan for ISB. I will be applying for R2. I have a very close friend, passing out from ISB in the past. Meanwhile, I am going to visit ISB next month. Go and stay in the campus for one day and night and feel the experience. I have yet another trump card for ISB, which I will disclose later sometime.

De-Brief of Kaneisa’s webinar

As mentioned to you earlier, I attended the webinar of Kaneisha on July 8.  I did logged in bit late. It was 5.30 am Indian Standard Time and I am not a kind of early morning bird but still managed to get in 10 min late. The webinar was very informative and as expected, Kaneisha was at her best. Here are my quick few takes from the webinar:

About Kaneisha:

1. Seems to be an amazing girl: very good at speaking. I exchanged few emails with her and she is just terrific. I, highly, recommend her and her style.
2. Seems to have complete control and knowledge of the MBA application process: was visible from her preparation of the webinar and approach.
3. An interesting person to me with a helping nature, similar to what I found in my friendship with Marquis.

About the webinar:

1. Very well planned.
2. Very well organized.
3. Nice usage of color and theme of presentation, considering this is her first webinar, though I am sure she would have done numerous such presentations in HBS. perfect start.

Some take-aways from the webinar:

1. Don’t dwell upon GMAT too much. she mentioned how one of her client got admitted to Kellogg despite a score of 640.
2. Concentrate on your essay and always bring the best of yourself in your essays.
3. See if you can get some alumni to review your essay, if possible.
4. Networking is the key. I, too, feel the same but sometimes take networking to another level because that’s where it gets interesting.
5. If you have done 3 attempts to the GMAT and did not get your desired score, either work hard on your essays or move on to GRE.
6. A special webinar for Indian MBAs in planning. Visit http://bit.ly/IndianMBAGuys for details. Will highly recommend for all my Indian Readers. Do go and register for this special webinar by Kaneisha right-away.
7. Kaneisha announced two packages: individual, where she is going to work on the essays on individual basis and guide the clients thorugh each process, and a group-based, where she is going to address the concerns in a group. Kaneisha has still not updated her payment mechanisms right on her website but one can look forward to her packages at http://theartofapplying.com/services/packages/. The group program details are at http://theartofapplying.com/bdo/join/
8. No matter whether you are from traditional or non-traditional background, believe in yourself and your stories in your essays.
9. Last but most important, irrespective of any webinar, always be look out for information. I got one amazing information for my HBS essay, will keep it a secret for my essay. but again this is one of my take-away from the webinar.

Contact Kaniesha at http://theartofapplying.com/contact/ or follow her on twitter at http://twitter.com/kaneishad

Good Luck Kaniesha for your venture. I feel it was a perfect start and I look forward to interact with you more in future.

Reliance Stanford Fellowship Application Submitted

Well, whats up guys? One thing that amuses me is even though I get a very good amount of traffic to my blog, I, hardly, see any comments and feedback. Not a good habit, I tell you. Your comments and feedback are my enthusiasm and inspiration. I hope you guys are going to comment more often and interact more. Additionally, this could one of the best platforms for interaction and share thoughts and interests much before we join our classes. You never know some of us might meet in the schools and may share the same room next year. Isn’t it so? So, lets be friends from now only.

Okay, this post is going to be Reliance Fellowship application specific. I know the deadline was on June 1^st. Though I planned to write this post, I could not. I am writing this post up above the sky at 32K ft, flying back home for 2 weeks. Past one week has been crazy at office. Before I begin, there is an interesting observation. I have seen my friends, particularly, Sidin – author of the book Dork and Marquis – no need of mention of this name, mentioning about their writings on the flight. I am not sure about them but I kind of feeling a bit awkward but at the same time happy being the center of attraction. Not sure how people perceive it abroad, we, Indians, are kind of bound by society. I find ourselves always looking to someone for inspiration. We are hesitant to take a lonely and deserted road. We love to be in a herd. Hence, when a laptop is open on a flight, peeps from behind, sidewise is a very nice scene. Personally, I am enjoying the attention. When some does not like to be the cynosure, I am kind of a quite opposite personality. I will not talk about the office and will jump to the application and its essay directly.

First, there was no drastic change in the application formats. It is the very same that we had last year. I know this because I am a re-applicant to this fellowship application. The essay is same with the same 250 words limit and preferably one page resume.

Coming to the most important part, you might like to look into my post for my perspectives that I posted earlier. What I did different this time? Nothing much but tried to ask myself at each line – what is the relevance of “this” sentence at this place. Does it add some value or it is just another sentence which if I strike out, the effect is still intact. Analyzing each and every sentence in this manner gave a fresh new look to the essay. This time, I decided to connect the essay with my career aspiration, which in turn could reshape India. Kind of dedicated the first three paragraphs to my career and aspiration and how could it help in shape the future of India. Lest one last paragraph to tell how an MBA from Stanford could prepare me to run on that track I mentioned earlier. I sent the essay to some of my friends and the feedbacks were amazing especially with the feeling. I guess I understood the importance of being “personal”. The learning that I take forward is that even though we might have similar career aspirations but it is our experience and feelings that will make that common goal an unexceptional experience for the reader. So, my suggestion Is to go blank and pour your feelings as they come while writing any essay. Another important outcome of this essay is I came very close to my career goal essay and with little modification; I should be ready with the carer goal essay.

Do also read through my perceptions about writing the essay that I wrote last year while writing the same say. The post got special mention in the blog of Accepted that time discussing the introspection.

Wharton Information Session Bangalore

Yes Guys, I did attend the Wharton Information Session this Wednesday at Bangalore. The information was awesome. Kathryn Bezella, Senior Associate Director of Wharton, was really impressive. I loved her way of presentation. Fortunately enough, we had 2 current students: Pushkar and Vaibhav and one alumnus: Anjali Gupta at the session too. I interacted with all of them but most importantly, I was impressed with Anjali. She was honest in her suggestions. Her answer to my one question made me her fan. I asked her, why did you apply to Wharton when you were considering to do your MBA. She replied that she was sure in her mind that if she had to do an MBA, it has to be in the top 5. Now, generally we find lot of answers to this questions but the manner she replied, I was floored by her truth. She did share her business card with me and I will definitely contact her in case I manage to grab my dream. Let me tell you one thing: I did googled about her and read a lot about her just from a single business card and she is just awesome: Wharton Dean’s Merit List, an Entrepreneur from heart and mind before she stepped into a business school too.

At one moment, I thought of including Wharton in my list. But the reality is I am from India and I can’t afford such a costly affair in addition to what I intend to spend. These are few of my observations and views that I perceived from the Session:

1. Wharton gives a lot of weightage to Academic Record, which may include your GMAT score too.
2. Wharton’s WEP is one of the best: Will highly recommend googling about it in case someone is planning to apply. Everyone does not stop praising WEP in the session.
3. Proximity to Wall Street makes Wall Street a hot destination for Wharton Graduates.
4. T-Group or something similar group is formed in the first t=year of coursework and people generally end up making best friends from this team. Amazing Diversity and team building.
5. One-third of the coursework is Case Study based, one-third in Lectures and another third in the form of Experience Learning.
6. Leadership Lecture Series every week is one of the biggest source of attraction for students and alumni (as shared by all Vaibhav, Anajali and Pushkar).
7. Kathhryn did mention that an application go through 3 rounds of reading before the committee decides to give an interview. Additionally, after the interviewer feedback, another 2 rounds of reading is done before the final decision is made.
8. One thing that concerned me was: All 3 of them: Anjali, Pushkar and Vaibhav were working in USA when they applied and I don’t remember but one of the current students, Vaibhav/Pushkar, seems to be from USA as he has done his BS from University of Berkeley.

Overall, I am impressed with Wharton but can’t consider it due to time and other factors like I have already 4 biggies in my list and I can’t afford to go for another one. Before I end, the one thing that surprised me was that I saw a lot of people asking Anjali and others to review their application essays. Boss, only people who know you can help you in reviewing your essay. Only those people can give honest feedback on your essays. I found it very silly and immature. In my opinion, one must not forget professionalism and attitude at any cost. One can score very high in GMAT but let me tell you, no b-school in this world can teach you this basics.

Reliance Fellowship Application Submitted

Well, this is almost a follow-up post to the yesterday’s post. Today, I submitted my application to the Reliance Fellowship at Stanford. I am feeling good with the overall application and I am quite optimistic. The only issue in the application could be “Financial Need” section. I accept that in terms of IT professionals in India, my earnings are bit on the higher side being working in the niece high end technological front in a leading MNC. So, I am having my fingers crossed and I hope everything will fall in line this year. The results will be declared on 1st July and if selected in 50 finalists, I could redeem the GMAT voucher given by the Fellowship program. Hence, I am going to wait till 1st July before finalizing my GMAT date. I guess it is going to be early August only. As for the application and the essay, on the personal front, I feel both shaped pretty well and I am optimistic about the outcome. So, let us wait till 1st July and I will update you about the status. I completely understand with the fact that there were about 2k applicants for the fellowship last year and Stanford is going to finalize just 50 out of them. The competition is stiff but I am prepared for it. So, you guys also pray for me and wish me luck. Also, I wish all the best to other applicants too.

- Deepak

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.

Update on Reliance Scholarship

Wondering where I have been all these days.

Well, it was a real hectic 2 weeks. I was off to Delhi for a friend’s marriage and then went to the hometown for a minor surgical operation. I have been traveling a lot in train for all these days. The train to Delhi took almost 34hrs from here. I had to rush to catch the train from the bus stop and guess what, got a bad asthma attack, which I had to carry all through this 34  hrs. The worse thing was I forgot to carry my inhaler and medicines as I was not using it here for quite a long time as I was taking all sort of precautions. Anyways, normalcy came slowly once I reached Delhi and got fresh natural air. After 2 days of stay and marriage, I started for my hometown, again a journey of 25 hrs. After a week’s stay at home and partially recovering from the surgery, I returned today back to Bangalore after 27 hrs of train journey. I may not travel again in train as I am lose a lot of time just in traveling and sleeping.

Anyways, the good point is about the train journey was: I almost nearing to the completion of the essay for the Reliance Stanford scholarship. No  matter of what the outcome, Stanford is my first choice and I am not going to give it up so easily but this fellowship is an opportunity to do something good for my country at the same time fulfilling my ambition of doing MBA.

Initially, the draft for the essay came to around 1000 words. I felt I want to to tell my reader quite a lot of things and 250 words is a very samll amount for this. After so many edits, the draft has come down to 450 words. I know I have still a lot to do as the next cut of 200 words will eliminate some of the detailed picture I have in my mind for the essay.

I am planning to send the essay for review by the mid of this week to 3 people for their honest comments before submitting it before the deadline. Probably, once I complete this essay, I feel I can give my honest views on this essay as the 250 word limit is a very strict constraint which can change the analysis completely, at least in this essay.

On the GMAT front, the preparations got completely halted in this period as I did not do anything. I will kickstarting it from today and I am planning for sometime around June mid to July first week. I will be finalizing my date in next 2 weeks.

AWA 20

There is only one definition of success – to be able to spend your life in your own way.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with this definition of success? Support your position by using reasons and examples from your reading, your own experience, or your observation of others.

People define success in various terms. Some associate it with wealth, some with life, work, social status, recognition, fame and many more. In my view, the way one leads his life defines whether he/she is successful. I believe in it due to the following reasons.

Firstly, defining success on materialistic terms is the most foolish and absurd thing. A person, who is richer today, may not be rich tomorrow. History has shown enough examples in this respect from time to time. For example, when multi-billion companies like Lehman Brothers of 150 odd year’s history collapsed in the current financial global meltdown, it brought enough of high earning executives and billionaire investors to their knees. Similarly, it was shocking to know when a top fashion model of India died on the streets of Delhi last year or top-Bollywood actress of 1980’s, Parveen Babi, died in her closed apartment, the news of her death going unnoticed in her flat for 2 days.

Secondly, more than getting recognition and fame, the real success is holding onto it and it can be done only with sheer hard work and sincerity. And these two generally come when people do what they love to do. They should enjoy each moment of their life. If one cannot love what he/she is doing in his daily life, then it would be very difficult for him to drag on and sustain that life at all, eventually either giving up or succumbing to its pressure, resulting in a dull, unsuccessful, terrible life not only for him but also for her family.

Last but not the least, it is the way that an individual tries to live his life that defines him in his true self. Successful people like Mahatma Gandhi, Edison, and Abraham Lincoln led their lives in their own terms that made them great, successful and immortal forever.

Due to the above said reasons, I strongly believe that success is all about living a life in own terms and the way we want to live it, rather not that the circumstances force onto us.