Calgary

Today it is two weeks since I came to Calgary. This place will last in my mind for a few reasons. First was the shocker of sorts admit from ISB which I got immediately after I landed here. The next thing is the biggest thermal shock I got in life. In spite of the fact that I lived three winters in Kansas the cold here was at a different level. I landed here to face a -23ºC for around three days with continuous snow. Work started slowly but with this kinda low weather I started feeling low myself.

But bang came the Chinook wind, another fantastic new phenomenon I learnt and the temperature came up to +2ºC. I read about these winds in Wikipedia and came to know that these moisture laden winds can bring up the temperature by even 40ºC.

Then came the weekend. Yours truly still has a valid US drivers license. So me and my roomie here rented a car each and drove the eight member team to the Canadian Rocky Mountains. . It was a scenic 2 hour from Calgary and the view of the snow capped mountains was really scintillating. We went up the Sulphur mountains in a Gondola and then hiked (board walked) from Sulphur mountain to Sanson's peak. It was bitterly cold and to add to the misery we played with the snow and my lips totally froze. It took a while for me to recover but all in all it was fun.

On the way back we stopped at Lake Louis. In fact we walked on the frozen lake. Watching kids play ice hockey was a real treat. We wrote our names on the snow and clicked our cameras.

These two weeks have been one of the most intense professional learning periods in my stint with Infosys. Well Infy probably realizes that these are the last few days I'll be dating her and she wants to treat me well !!! As we get into the last week of the due diligence work gets out of proportion. I just hope that I can squeeze in a few hours and catch a glimpse of the Polar bear at the Calgary zoo...

Itz gonna be ISB

Finally I decided that itz gonna be ISB. A couple of ISB admits advised me to mathematically analyze the situation. So my admit decision has turned out to be my first b-school style problem.

Here is the matrix I came up with. Just plain totals as opposed to weighted scores to keep things simple. ISB beat RSM considering my requirements. So i think I'm on my way to ISB even though RSM is a lovely school!!!

Columns
A - Diversity (1-5)
B - Reputation in US (1-5)
C - Reputation in Europe (1-5)
D - Profs (1-5)
E - Placement (1-5)
F - Family Visa/Acco (1-5)
G - Low Cost factor (1-5)
H - Alumni Network (1-5)
I - Exchange Progs (1-5)
J - Total
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Parm | A B C D E F G H I | J |
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RSM | 5 2 5 4 3 3 3 3 4 | 32 |
ISB | 4 3 2 5 4 4 4 5 4 | 35 |
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Scoring Key
1 - Low/Poor
2 - Average
3 - Good
4 - Very Good
5 - Exceptional

Results time

All the results of my MBA applications are out now. It has been a gratifying two out of three admission offers. Even though the ding from INSEAD was painful admission offers from ISB and RSM, Netherlands make me elated. I now have to decide between ISB and RSM. Each school has itz own selling points.

I chose to apply to RSM after a lot of thought. The summer internship at RSM(I'm from IT and I actually don't plan to change my stream but want to decide between strategy or marketing within IT), the diversity of the class(students from 40 countries) and the Personal leadership development program are the key things that made me decide on RSM. But RSM is high on the fees front and is slightly low on some aspects of b-school rankings but ISB doesn't participate in any rankings. Becoming a global MBA makes RSM really attractive.

As for ISB itz reputation is second to none in India and it is catching up in a very very big way around the world. The class composotion is the best in India(In fact I believe it will be more competitive than RSM) and the placements are also very good. I also want to settle in India in the long term which makes ISB very alluring.

Thatz the problem although I realize it is not a bad situation to be in!