ESADE MBA: Ashok checks into Barcelona’s top business school
Written by Sameer Kamat
We’ve found out a very effective way of punishing, I mean rewarding folks who comment excessively on our blog posts. We pester them incessantly to write guest posts until they give in. Latest case in point – Mr Ashok Kadam – aka MBA Roadie. In his inimitable bindaas style, our friend narrates his story. |
Hola!!
Though I was born and brought up in a small town near Nagpur, I was fortunate to have studied in an English convent school. I went on to study Bachelors in Electronics and Telecom engineering from one of the reputed engineering institutes in India – thanks to my parent’s innumerable sacrifices!! Coming from a family with a strong educational background, I was pushed to pursue a reliable career, respected by the Indian society. Year 2006, I completed my engineering and went on to work for Tech Mahindra. I saw myself working for few years down the line, gaining valuable work experiences and then getting into a top MBA school.
Though I was proficient in my technical area of work, there was a lot to learn about business. I worked with local and international clients / teams. Soon, I felt that I was sinking into a comfort zone. I like to experiment. I hate mundane and routine life. I was damn sure I was not going to do same job for the rest of my life. With close to 3 years of work experience I thought this is the right time for MBA. But I knew I didn’t have significant leadership experiences that would help bolster my MBA essays. But I had made up my mind and took GMAT in January 2009. I scored very less compared to the average GMAT scores of top b-schools of my choice. I didn’t give up!!
I wanted to buy some more time to be able to be ready for MBA and of course the GMAT. I searched for lot of test prep companies in the city but their fees were exorbitantly high for a middle-class background person like me. But I found a GMAT Coach (his company was called GMAT Wings) in the city who was offering personal coaching only for GMAT at a significantly reduced fee. I hesitated initially but eventually got enrolled. I was happy because that was exactly how I wanted to learn GMAT. Not only I learned GMAT from him but I also improved my knowledge database about ‘MBA from top International Business Schools’. Later I came to know that he too was an applicant for executive MBA at a top international business school. Before my GMAT coaching ended, he got his admit from INSEAD for his Executive MBA!! My course somehow ended but I did not appear for my GMAT despite several reminders from my coach. Meanwhile my desire to gain more qualitative experience grew. I quit my stable job in Pune and joined a telecom product company in Bangalore. My coach kept in touch through emails. I promised him that I will appear for GMAT very soon, score 700+ and make him proud. In my new job, I travelled a lot. This gave me a lot of confidence and the client exposure that I was eagerly looking for.
Meawhile I realized I was losing focus on my main goal – getting into a top international b-school. Hence I worked in parallel on my essays and the GMAT preparation. I retook GMAT in September 2010 and achieved a respectable score which was very close to average GMAT scores of business schools of my choice. I still wasn’t happy with the score as I felt I could improve my verbal score. Googled a lot, talked to people, met test prep companies and finally joined Knewton! Now I had a plan. What if I apply to few business schools and try my luck. In worst case what would happen? I won’t get an admission but the experience would be unmatched. I shortlisted some of the b-schools on the basis of international diversity in the class, placement statistics, opportunity to learn a new foreign language, access to global recruiters, career services, the curriculum and the financial aid. I attended a lot of MBA Fairs, online information sessions, spoke to b-school representatives. Moreover I went on to visit b-schools solely to know whether the MBA program was a fit for me. For example I had visited INSEAD, NUS campuses. There was one business school that always topped my list as per my aspirations and personal fit to the school – ESADE Business school. ESADE was the only business school in the Europe I had applied to.
Getting an interview call from ESADE was genuinely the first good news in my application process but my excitement was short lived when I realized that I was waitlisted after the interview. I reviewed my application and analysed it for potential gaps. While on the waiting list, I regularly updated them with some news that added more value to my profile. For example, you might want to share if you have been promoted in your company, any leadership experiences in and out that you would like to share with the MBA admission committee, is worth the effort rather than just blindly and silently waiting to hear from them. Put an effort to negotiate rather than regret later. I might be biased to say this but the truth is that I got accepted exactly a day after I got engaged. There were 2 processes running in parallel. One, the search for my better half and the other, my MBA Application process. After close to 3 months on the waiting list, I was accepted!!
All I want to say is that you will get help from people around you. You just need to check who could give you a reliable source of information. For me, I was happy that I got help from many expert mentors and coaches from the MBA community.
During early 2011, with a stable job back with my previous employer, I was actively looking to own a 2 BHK flat in Pune on home loan and the MBA dream just seemed to be vanishing. In fact I had almost finalised to buy a flat in Megapolis at Hinjewadi IT park Phase 3. I was in a real dilemma whether to invest around 40-50 lakhs into buying a flat or into financing my MBA program. However it was my elder brother Kishore, who analysed my dilemma, studied the circumstance and motivated me to continue to pursue my MBA dream. If it were not for my brother’s motivation, I would not have passionately chased my MBA dream. Most often, moral support from your family becomes very important, which is very unlikely to be seen in a middle class Indian family. I understand this as it is very difficult to convince them because it is a matter of a risky investment of hard-earned money of your parents. And this is where your gut-feeling comes into the picture. But the point is that you live your life just once. If MBA from a top international business school is your dream, be strong and confident, go make it happen and live your dream. Yeh zindagi milegi na dobara!!!
Someone rightly said: “An MBA is a tool to create a crisis in your personal finance situation, so that you go out of your comfort zone to change.” I am looking forward to it.
Please feel free to contact me for any questions that you may have in your application process. I will be happy to help you to the best of my knowledge and experience.
Hasta pronto!!
Gracias! – MBA Roadie.
Any queries for Ashok? Please ask all your questions only in Spanish.
Btw, for the sake of disclosure, Ashok is not a client of MBA Crystal Ball and his post is not meant to endorse our services. The same applies to many more folks who have shared their stories on our blog.
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It was a great ride of ups and downs with roller coasters .. But you sailed upfront in great fashion.. You have inspired me a lot from your journey to MBA .. and hope you will inspire a lot many people in coming days..
Best of luck for your successful MBA!!!
Awesome post , Ashok! It’s delight to read about your journey and I know you how determined you were in this whole MBA app process. Surprised to see that you missed mentioning about Laughter Yoga stuff. Smile in your pic speaks loudly about that.
All the best and have a awesome journey at Barca !
Thanks Sameer for punishing( rewarding) people .
Cheers !
My dear laughter buddy, thank you so much!! Absolutely! I still remember the time when we used to practice laughter yoga. Certainly a stress buster and, I must say, a source of positive energy that apparently transformed me, making me much more healthier, wiser and sensible.
By the way, all the curious janta who want to know about laughter yoga and want to experience its benefits, please feel free to ask – I am a certified laughter yoga teacher
Thank a lot my dear bro’!!
Ashok-bhai, shubh kaam mein deri kyon?
Why don’t you explain the rationale/science, technique and the benefits of it?
Maybe your ESADE friends will read your response and ask you to start a club for them.
Welcome to ESADE Ashok!! GREAT photo btw…
[...] to pursue his MBA dream and take his career to a new level – what a rollercoaster ride! Click here to read his story! [...]
Hi Ashok,
First of all congratulations!!!
I was very involved by your story.
I am a second year student, it was great to read your story and all the steps you needed to make in order to come to ESADE.
It is a great school, and people are incredibly smart. This is a once in a life time opportunity, and I am sure you are going to live and enjoy every day as you progress in the program.
I am sure that your consistency and dedication will bring you great things in the near future. I really look forward to seeing you around the school.
Good luck in this journey, and welcome to the ESADE family
hi ashok …first of all many congratulations for your grand success .
wish u all d best for future ..
i had some questions regarding esade admissions …first is a 680 score good enough to apply to esade (considering I belong to Indian applicant pool ) , second , i will be having 3+ work ex. in i.t. by july 2012 ..will that suffice ..third ..is learning spanish a must ?
would be obliged if you could answer that ..
Hi Nikhil,
Thanks a lot for your wishes!
Please find below my answers.
1) Remember that a top business school evaluates a hoslistic profile of the candidate. GMAT score is very important but it is just only a small piece of your application. You will also need to connect with and justify other pieces of your application that includes essays, recommendation letters, academic potential, professional work experience, etc. Well, I think 670 was the mean GMAT score for our batch. I know Indian applicants make it even more competitive but probably 680 is a good enough score to go ahead.
2) Ok, by July 2012 you will have 3+ work exprience but I have no clue about the qualitative side of your work experience. So I won’t be able to comment on this. I just want you to ask and answer for yourself- Why do you think 3+ is an ideal entry point or why 3+ years of work exp is a benchmark that you have set and will make you ready for MBA? Why not more?? or Why not less?? Why MBA at this or at that point of time in your life/career?? You get my point..eh??
3) No, you don’t have to know Spanish before joining the program. It’s just a misconception!
Hope that helps! All the best!!
Please feel free to contact me via email: mbaroadie@gmail[dot]com
Thank you Mary!!
Hi Arturo, thank you so much!!
HI Ashok,
I am kousik from India and I got admission from ESADE for SEPT2012 batch; however, I had to defer it to next year for many personal and professional reasons. I know Indian community in any B-School anywhere in the world is very high and it is good to see you writing your story that would definitely help middle class Indians to give it a try. Back in India we think too much on job security and easy career and most of the people get stuck at a certain stage in their lives. Of course MBA is not the ultimate tool to make some magic with your career, but the experience he/she will earn from an International MBA would definitely change the course of anyone’s life. And your story is really very inspiring
As I see some people here are too much focused on GMAT – for them I can tell that GMAT is extremely important but not after a certain level. Unlike Indian school, where first round of filter happens on score, International MBA programs gives equal importance to essays, personal stories, Interview (precise, too the point, and very objective answers with extreme focus and determination)….Another and probably the most important is that whether you are ready for a challenging and bright future. To me MBA interview is much more different than a JOB interview… JOB interview is all about selling yourselves. But MBA interview is all about expressing your desire.. and the people who take your interview is smart enough to catch your lies.. so better be prepared……Extra curricular activities is also another important item to differentiate one’s resume from a strong pool of similar candidate…. family back ground also matters in case you contributed to your family crisis…. any evidence that paints your contributions towards society is also highly valued….. you know what?? to get an MBA, and to enhance resume – you must enroll in all these things and in the end you would end up contributing to a great deal to everyone.. and I think that’s what an International MBA demands from you….
Therefore to me, an International MBA preparation should start right after you graduate your engineering or anything else – if not earlier than that…. just getting a great GMAT and good academic profile throughout wont make it for you unless you are exceptional. They want MIXED VEGETABLE not just CHICKENS