I had written GMAT with the sole aim to apply to ISB but people and friends around were of the strong view that I must apply to other B-Schools as well. I got carried away and started with the FT100 list.
I looked at all top schools in the US. But talking to people in those colleges and a few knowledgable people around I quickly found two major weaknesses in my profile :
1. My workex would be about 3 yrs by Sept-2009 when most of these courses start. Average work ex was about 5 yrs - 8 yrs in these colleges. Harldy anybody below the age of 25 studied in those colleges.
2. I had no international exposure. This was another major weakness as colleges like diverse students with a global outlook.
So I striked off all top US colleges like Harvard, Stanford, Kellogg from my list. Chicago interested me a bit and speaking to the alums here in Mumbai gave me confidence that if there was a US school which I deemed a correct fit to my profile. But every few days a few schools would add into my list and a few would vanish as more and more information was available to me.
However by mid-May I had a major rethink. I figured what I really wanted. I wanted a 1-year program which was of extreme intensity in nature. So keeping this mind I researched again. I found a few European, Australian and Canadian schools which fit the bill. Australian school had late deadlines, Canada as aplace didnt appeal to me and most European schools were too stringent about Work ex and International experience. But INSEAD excited me the most. If there was a school I never wanted to regret not applying to that would be INSEAD. So despite hoping against hope I decided to apply to INSEAD.
June 1st - ISB application opened. I browsed through the application and noted the three essays. Parallely I started working on the INSEAD essays as well. More so on INSEAD than ISB.
INSEAD had about 7 Essays to write. Each was too different from the other and more or less covered major facets of my life. Writing them was a real pain. There are so many things you are supposed to take care before you submit the essays because these can make or break your application. Word limits didnt help. Some essays the length was too less and in others too many. A smart applicant can use this to their advantage. After many edits and drafts (about 8 of them) I froze my essays for INSEAD by August end.
ISB had three essays out of which the first one was standard. But the other two were challenging and to my surprise I realized by beginning of August that they had changed the third essay !! But having written INSEAD essays I had understood the nuances of application English. So I could freeze the ISB essays by September 1st week.
September 7, 2008 - Just another sunday of the year. I submitted both my applications and got ready for a long and tiring wait. I despatched my transcripts to INSEAD by courier. To my surprise it cost me on Rs. 800/- only. On 15th they confirmed receipt and told me that my application was complete and I would hear from them by Nov 7th.
ISB told me that I would hear from them 3-7 days prior to my interview date which would by 14th - 18th October as Mumbai interviews were scheduled from 21st October - 24th October.
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