Spend Wisely, Waste Less

70% of poor students in India miss out on their primary education because of lack of funds. Sometimes its as small as 500 Rupees (12 USD), which is sometimes the same or even less in some cases as that spent by an average urban youth in movies, haircut or partying...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjYNGj4tuOc]

There is a small message to this video - Think before you spend. I would add more to it - do not waste. Especially to the urban Indians.

Repost : Donate for London Marathon

Our dear friend Ram is running the London Marathon and by doing it he is also raising funds for charity.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=Ramotherunner&pageUrl=3

Also join the facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/pages/RamoTheRunner/164638250222333

Please donate generously. Your donation will not only help the needy but would also encourage him to perform better.

Here is how you choose how to donate :

1. £1 for every 4.2 kms ie -  £10. This says “I encourage you Ram.


2. £2 for every 4.2 kms ie -  £20. This says “Go Ram. Go”


3. £4 for every 4.2 kms ie - £40. This says “Ram! You can do it”


4. £6 for every 4.2 kms ie – £60. This says “Ram! You rock.  I will be there (morally/physically) to support you.”

John Glen on Economics of Cricket

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P06WMO8b8fk

Professor John Glen is an economist and teaches at Cranfield School Of Management. Personally, the best professor I have come across, and also the one without whom I would not have liked economics.

Love to hear him, now and then. The other day at the coffee machine, we were talking about the ongoing IPL auctions and the Ashes. Here in this interview he talks about what the recent Ashes win will do for Cricket in UK and sporting in general. Also the upcoming tour of No 1 Test Team India in summer will generate huge interest and huge returns for the two boards.

 

Feeling Sleepy in class ...

Here is the video of my friend and neighbour Subhash who is notorious for sleeping in the class.

This was taken by yours truly sitting in the bench behind him during a Supply Chain lecture by Mike Bernon.

A 16 hour slog and still going ...

This has been one of the most hectic days of my MBA life so far. And I suspect that term 2 is going to be this busy the whole period. Wow.. I am loving it.

We had a simulation exercise today which started with a submission of a project plan etc in the morning followed by the project simulation which involved a lot of running around, number crunching, trending, charting, planning, replanning, allocating resources, re-scoping, and more !!! We, in teams of 6, needed to plan to build a warehouse using optimum resources with maximising profit being the aim (a proportion of credits depend on that).  We planned for 14 weeks of activity, allocated labourers needed, calculated overheads and other costs, loans needed, repayment schedule, equipment/materials/cranes needed and lot more. Each week is sped up in 15-20 minutes by the simulation software and we get the progress of work after each week, after which we re-allocate taking into consideration the random delays the software puts in, and other incidentals.

8AM :Review project plan, collate documents, print and submit at 8:45

0845: Simulation Starts.

1000 : Already in the middle of the project and experiencing lots of delays in procurement etc. Our planning skills put to test.

1100 : First major disruption in plan - increase in scope. An unplanned activity comes up, everything else gets delayed by 2 weeks alteast.

1200 : Anothe major change, 2 of us have been deallocated from the project and people from different teams have replaced them for an hour. We managed it well as no one was indispensible in the team - good project management !.

1400 : All look good even after delays, but there are huge cost overruns because of delays.

1600: We finish with a positive profit figure but very low from what we expected earlier. Disappointment dawns. Damn it !

1700 : We also have to present the results, variances, and learning tomorrow and so we continued with preparing for presentations. And yes, for lunch people grabbed what they could get hold of and kept working.

1900 : IBE briefings were also squeezed in for today in the timetables and so we had to attend those as well. International Business Experience (IBE) is a programme of one week where we visit various companies and institutions in a different country (in June). I will be going to Vietnam !

0000: Finished preparing for presentations after that, and its 12 midnight now. Need to hit the sack as it will be an early start tomorrow at 0830 for presentations.

 

50 Things to do while in college

Here is a list of 50 things posted by Ben Jones one must do in College.

I wish I had come across this list before I went to my undergraduate. Some of them are still valid for graduate courses and I will try to achieve those. Afterall, one of my reasons for coming to b-school was to do things that I missed out while I did my engineering.

Notable ...and I quote

'1. Your friends will change a lot over the next four years. Let them.'

'18. Take Risks'

'30. If you need to get a job, find something that you actually enjoy. Just because it's work doesn't mean it has to suck.'

'34. Ask for help. Often.'

And many more...

 

Tips for Letters of Recommendation

Applying to b-school for 2011 is still on and I got a few queries on LORs. So here it is. A lot of this was mentioned in an earlier article, but thought its worth mentioning it again.

Letters of Recommendation

This is one of the significant constituents of a b-school application. References or Letters of Recommendation (LORs) are a must to submit. Unless otherwise specified you must submit a reference from your immediate manager from your current company (or the previous company, if you have quit recently). Most schools need 2 recommendations, while others ask for 3.

You can provide references from your professors of the last school/college you attended. Also it is advisable to get at least one recommendation from your current supervisor/manager.  If you cannot manage a reference from your current company, you must explain the reason for the same in your application, and provide alternative recommendations, like from some client/vendor you might have worked with. If you also work in an NGO or sorts, it’s sometimes good to include a recommendation from such people as well. Remember, that b-schools want to know about you as a person, more than what your resume or application or degrees say. Also remember that what’s written in the letter of recommendation matters more than who writes the recommendation.

Remember, if you are making 5 applications, you will need at least 10 LORs. Make sure that you give enough time to those writing your recommendations and discuss beforehand the specific areas you want them to focus the LOR on. Make sure that your application, your essays and your LORs make a coherent theme. Your recommendations should, preferably, enforce the claims you make in your essays. Word of caution – do not write your own letters of recommendation.

Planning for Essays and Recommendations:

Needless to say, this phase begins once you have figured out the list of schools you want to apply to. Do not do the mistake of selecting the schools based on the number or level of difficulty of the essays to write. Even before you start selecting schools, or get started with GMAT you should have your resume (preferable one page) and SOP (statement of purpose) ready. Write your SOP in a detailed and exhaustive manner, listing down all you have done and achieved in your life so far, all the significant events in your life and all that you want to achieve in future. This should answer all the basic questions which most b-schools ask in their essays like ‘Why MBA?’, ‘Why Now?’

Here are a few other points to be taken care of while submitting your LORs.

1. Do not write your own letter of recommendation, and ask your referee to just submit it. Believe me, the readers who go through the application are experts and read a hell lot of such letters daily and they will know by the style of writing that you have written it yourself. Moreover, there are chances that you will miss some of your own strengths and weaknesses, if you access yourself. Remember, it’s a good point in your career to find out more about yourself and hence advisable to start this process as early as possible so that you can take corrective actions if needed.


2. If you want, you can write the basic qualities of yourself, or a basic skeleton/format which you want your referee to follow. But not the whole thing. Make sure you give your referee enough time and liberty to write a full detail of what he thinks of you and how he thinks you are ready for an MBA and/or a senior leadership role.


3. Make sure each LOR focuses on your different qualities, and not on the routine things like hard working, good leadership etc.


4. Make sure you ask your referee to add a few personal qualities, other than technical/business skills. Also ask for examples. Just writing about qualities is not enough unless corroborated by evidence.


5. Make sure you submit in time. Also make sure you remind your referees, and give them enough time to submit. (Typically 4 weeks). Most LORs are to be submitted online, or to be sent via their official email ids. Make sure you find the process of providing recommendations beforehand, and have a meeting early to discuss everything.


6. If you are applying to a large number of schools, make sure your referee is OK to that, as it might be overwhelming, and the same LOR might not be usable everywhere.(Different Schools follow their own way, some accept essay type LORs, some have questionnaires etc.).

 

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how my blog did in 2010, and here's a high level summary of its overall blog health:



The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,300 times in 2010. That's about 15 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 78 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 108 posts. There were 7 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 4mb.

The busiest day of the year was March 22nd with 65 views. The most popular post that day was UK B-Schools : List and Rankings.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were pagalguy.com, gmatclub.com, google.co.in, how2immigrate.com, and mail.yahoo.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for cranfield mba, cranfield mba interview, cranfield mba blog, strawberry picking in london, and strawberry picking london.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

UK B-Schools : List and Rankings November 2009
2 comments

2

Welcome changes in Tier-1 Immigrant Visa for UK – From April 2010 March 2010
8 comments

3

Interim CAP on Tier-1 and Tier-2 Visas for UK implemented July 2010
4 comments

4

About Me September 2009
4 comments

5

Questions in mind before accepting Cranfield MBA April 2010
2 comments