Pointers to Application Essays

STATUTORY WARNING:

You are reading this post to the benefit of my blog and to your possible peril. If you benefit the credit is all mine (and only mine) and if you suffer because of any information provided here then you (and only you) are responsible. What may have worked for the author may not work for you and you are advised to exercise due caution before using any of the info given below.

I first thought and had even communicated the same to the ISB-PGP yahoo group that I would post my actual essays which I had submitted to ISB as a part of the admission application. However, on second thoughts, I decided against it. I somehow felt that instead of helping the prospective applicants - the essays, especially mine (I’ll give the reasons later), could actually work to their detriment. Therefore, I shall not post the actual essays but shall give a few pointers to some of the stuff I wrote in the essay.

First the reasons for not posting my actual essays (and you could look for pointers all through the reasons):

1. My essays or essays of any other ISB admit/student could be (mis)construed to be the model essays. There is no way of finding out if the essays posted are actually model essays or not. For all you know, the essays could have been treated as pathetic by the ad-com and the person could have got the admission not because of the essays but in spite of the essays (surely, this is not my case man! My essays were truly ‘top class' ;-) )
   
2. Even if the essay posted were to be a model essay, it would still be just ‘a’ model and not the 'only' model. The best of all 'models', indeed, could be the essay that an applicant (could also be you, if you are an applicant) is yet to write.
3. A sample essay might lead an applicant to tune the essay in harmony with the given model rather than tuning it in harmony with the real self of the applicant.
4. Each applicant is different in terms of the applicant’s work-experience, education, interests and aspirations etc. What might have worked for one might not necessarily work for the other.

Therefore I am not posting the actual drafts of my application essays.

Nevertheless, I shall post in the next few days some of the pointers to what I wrote and some ‘gyaan’ on what I think worked in my favour.

Keep watching this space for more….

Coffee & Coin-Box Experiment - Update

,

Ok guys, the results are out - not of the exams but of our “Coin-Box” experiment - and the results are quite surprising.

For the benefit of those who haven’t read my previous post on the experiment of “Coin-Box”, here is a brief recap. (Those who have read the previous post can skip this paragraph). A lot of students at ISB like to have a cup of coffee in the midst of a class break. ISB makes it easy for them by stationing coffee vending machines outside the class rooms. However, the unavailability of five rupee coins (for use in the vending machine) with the students often deprives them of the much desired coffee. To address this problem we tried out a simple “Coin-Box” experiment. As a part of this experiment we keep a box having around 50 -100 coins of five rupees each in the classroom and the students can take any number of coins out of the box after putting an equivalent amount of money back in the box. The catch is that there is no one guarding the box or monitoring the process. So, what do you think has been the fate of the money in the box? Read on for the results.

“Will the guys ‘loot’ the entire money in the box or will the money remain constant?” This was the subject of much debate and discussion in our class. Let me put the debate to rest – the money has neither been looted nor has it remained constant, the money in the box has actually grown! Eight hundred and fifty rupees have been drawn from the Coin-Box in four days over eight lectures and towards the end of this period the box has eight hundred and sixty rupees in it i.e. Rs. 10 extra! Therefore, the good news is that the “Coin-Box” will continue and the guys in our class will never, not have coffee for not having a five rupee coin!

It is worthwhile considering what is it that actually prevented the class from ‘looting’ the Coin-box? Is it the trust posed in them and the moral obligation of living up to the trust? Or is it pure selfishness of having the Coin-box alive kicking? Or is it just that the amount was too miniscule to messed around with?

The conclusions are for you to draw and I am not making any authoritative statements on what actually worked. However, there is one lesson that I feel we can learn form this experiment - that in an organisation less (stringent) rules and more trust posed in the members can sometimes be a more effective way of running the system than setting up an elaborate set of rules or regulations that betray a sense of mistrust in the members of the group.

The great ISB tradition of Dunking

As the clock strikes 12:00 in the night, a bunch of around 20-30 ghosts descend on to the rooms of some unsuspecting students at ISB and whisk them away on their shoulders through the dark and chilly nights. They shout and scream as they devour their prey and take it to the altar of sacrifice – the SWIMMING POOL!

If you still did not get it, I am talking about not actual ghosts but just about this wonderful tradition in ISB of ‘dunking’ the students in the pool, on their Birthday. I do not know when and who in ISB started this tradition. Whoever it were or was deserve a big, big THANK YOU from us all. We would have missed out some amazing amount of fun in the absence of this tradition of dunking. It is great fun not only for those who have their birthday on the designated day but also for those who come just to dunk or just to view the dunk. It is all the more fun for photo enthusiasts like me for it is a time for some really memorable photo ops!

Dunking is enjoyed by all in ISB but the guys who seem to enjoy it most are the guys from the Section E. And the credit for this goes primarily to the two ‘office bearers’ of the ‘Section E - Birthday Club,’ Swati and Bikhyat. These two are the ones mainly responsible for remembering each one’s Birthday, organizing the parties, cakes, booze and for rallying the ‘big gang of ghosts’ to devour the Birthday Boy/Girl in the dead of the night. It is really surprising to find, in ISB, students who take up an initiative that will not give them any ‘spike’ or a ‘bullet-point’ on their resume. It is even more surprising to find them take this initiative forward with the sincerity and dedication that Swati and Bikhyat do. Great work guys! Keep it up!

I should also not forget to give credit to our section junta which turns up in huge numbers for dunking and for anything else related to the section or ISB. Some amazing spirit of camaraderie we have in the section. Hope we all keep it that way.

May be I should think of a way of putting up ‘Kaala – Tika’ on our section to ward of any possible ‘Buri – Nazar!.’

A few photos from today's dunk...(rest at flickr)

ISB, Coffee and Experiments with Truth

This post is about an interesting experiment planed for our Section E.

If you were or are an ISBian you would be familiar with the shortage or the difficulty of finding five rupee coins to purchase your coffee(off the vending machine). A lot of students want to have coffee in the midst of class break but are unable to have it for the want of five rupee coins. Some of the students do carry a few extra coins but still the coins are not enough.

The experiment planed is to address this problem of five rupee coins. What we plan to do is to keep in each class/lecture (of our section to start with) around a hundred five rupee coins in a box from which the students can take the required number of five rupee coins. Please do not let your wily side go wild! The coins will not be distributed free but the amount taken from the box will have to be reimbursed by the student by putting back (in the box), a currency note (or coins of smaller denominations) equivalent to amount of the coins taken out – ten rupees note for two coins, twenty rupees note for four, fifty for ten and so on…

The catch is that there would be no one monitoring the process (of taking money out and then putting an equivalent amount back into the Coin-Box). Therefore, it is quite possible that a particular student might just take the coins without reimbursing the equivalent amount in the box. The question is will someone actually stoop to this level and betray the collective trust posed in whole group for an individual gain of just a few rupees? Or will the bindings of personal / collective morality and conscience prevent him/her from doing so?

This is the question our experiment is trying to find an answer for while trying to fulfill the collective need of five rupee coins for coffee.

My take is that we have no reason to worry. All humans, I believe, are basically honest and are many a times led to dishonesty because of the dishonesty around. However, if the surroundings, system or milieu is trustful, truthful and honest I don’t see much of a scope for the dishonest. In fact, the honesty in the milieu, I feel, will rub off on the dishonest and lead them towards honesty.

It could all sound like some philosophical mumbo-jumbo but it actually is pretty simple. It is just about sending a message to your group/community about the high level of trust you pose in them and about building up a kind of a moral binding to let this culture of trust and honesty prevail.

Will we be successful in setting such a precedent and in starting the desired culture of trust and honesty?

To find out we will have to wait till Monday, 18^th June 2007, the planned kick-off date for our coin-box experiment.

So, guys and gals of Section E from the Class of 2008, are you ready for the experiment?

Watch this space for more....

Status messages on G-Talk and Lull in Posting.

There is a lot about which I want to write but very little time in which to write. I took a conscious break from blogging as it was eating into a lot of my study time (as it is I didn’t devote much time to studying!). I thought that I would write a lot in the Holidays (Oh yes! We do have holidays at ISB though only for a few days that too at the end of a semester) but alas I went back home and my net connection was down all these days. Now, I’m back in ISB, back to a reliable net connection and hence back to blogging!

Term 2, I am told, is going to be the most hectic of all terms and finding time would be really difficult. However, it will be a conscious effort on my part to sneak in at least one post per week and if possible more.

For now, I’ll leave you with some of the one-liners I coined for my status message on G-Talk. I coined a new one-liner every day for my first few days at ISB, just for the fun of it and had no idea then about what I was getting into. However, after the first week, whenever I didn’t change my message, I was forced by a barrage of messages from my G-Talk friends to change the status message. And the result is that I have been coining a new one liner every day for the past 55 days! My friends and now even I want to see how far I can take this i.e. for how many more days (keep in mind that around 55 days are already gone and there are around 300 days more to go!) can I keep on coining a new one-liner per day by the day.

Sample some of the one-liners.

Chaandni raat, Books ke saath!

Baat Sun meri, Kitaab Phek teri.

Baat Suni meri? Band Bajegi teri.

Blog padh mera – gyaan badaa tera.

Flickr pe mere - dekh chehre sunehre

Naya Post, Pada kya Dost?

End of week Three – I want to Break Free.

Exam ka kaam tamaam – kare Ram ka naam

Aayi Shaam, Uthao Jaam – Bhulao Exam!

Election news – Don’t blow your fuse!

Uda kya fuse? Absolutely no use!

Uda fuse – Total Confuse – Study, No use.

7 Question aaye – Aadhey kar na paye!

End of Term 1 – Amazing amount of Fun.

Term 1 khatam – Do laakh hajam!

Waiting to see how many more one-liners I can coin.