ATK….. so near yet so far.

A lot has happened in the last 15 days. There were so many submissions, assignments, reports and other tasks in the past 10 days that I could hardly get any spare time to write anything. In between there was another WAC (Accounting one).

Life is really very tough these days, and I am consistently reminded of my days in India when I used to have a lot of free time; but then this is the true face of the life of a MBA. You have to manage your time and Cranfield MBA is teaching us quite well- the time management. I may have been sounding boring as I have been emphasizing too much on hectic life and time management, but this is how the life is going on here.

Admissions at Cranfield for the next batch have begun, and I was reminded of the anxious times when I was applying to the global MBA institutes. I still remember the day when I got the mail from the Cranfield admin regarding my admission; I was so happy.

Well, that’s history now. Let’s get back to present. I think I mentioned here in some blog that I participated in AT Kearney Consultancy Challenge but could not make it to finals. On Sunday, I got the feedback regarding my submission and I was so sorry to find that our team missed the finals by just 1 point. Gutting… just a single point. I was not depressed when I found that I have not made it to the finals, but it was really disheartening that we lost by just 1 point. The evaluater said that our presentation was well recieved, but the winning teams had used more of the MBA jargons and more of the marketing analysis tools; that was where we lost the game. Our analysis was almost similar and presentation even better; but we did not use MBA tools as we were not aware of them, then. Its pertinent to mention here that the ATK Challenge was during the first month of our MBA. Other teams consulted faculty, who advised them to use techniques, which were taught to us later in the course. Had I been aware of them then, I would have incorporated all the analysis and jargons. At the end, its all about learning and performing, and I must say that I have learned a lot from ATK challenge. One learns from other teams, from self experiences and from the research required for such competitions.

Today, we just concluded our SMS (Strategic Marketing Success) Presentations. What a day it was! 8 presentations in total and all very creative, entertaining and showed the hard work put in by the teams. Our team researched on ‘Burberry’- British heritage fashion brand. The report writing was easy but the toughest part was presentation, which involved a labour of more than 10 hours. I am enjoying making presentations and am discovering a lot of new and creative styles of presentations. The best part is that my peers give a lot of attention to my peers as they are enthralled by the passion, energy and enthusiasm that I display during the presentations. These comments are not my creation, but the feedback from faculty and other MBAs.

Last week we went to London for Cranfield annual networking event. It was first such event for me, and it was good to meet a lot of alumni (especially the people who did their MBAs long time back) amid drinks and snacks.

Just 2 weeks are left for the first term to get over, as in the third and the last week we have our exams. Its hard to believe that term one is about to complete. Then, its hard to believe a lot more things like losing ATK by one point.

Discover yourself!

One of the MBAs from the outgoing batch told us that you will discover something new at Cranfield about yourself, apart from knowing inner self. I thought I know myself well and there is no such quality which may be too important and which I may have missed so far. I was once again proved wrong.

I love giving presentations and I have been doing this during my college days and in my professional life (though not as frequently as I am required to do here at Cranfield); but after coming to Cranfield I have realised that I not only enjoy giving presentations, but I can also prepare some of very creative and interesting presentations. So far I have worked on many presentations and every time I have received great accolades from my colleagues, sometimes totally unexpected. More than the presentations, people love my presentation style and tell me that my presentations are binding as well as entertaining.

I feel that should be the target of the person delivering the presentation. You should be able to keep your audience focused on you and your presentation.

I have learnt to exploit the power point maximum, and stage covering as well while delivering the presentation.

Rest, Spanish language classes are going slow n well. Our instructor is really funny and interesting.

Some finance companies visited campus last week and are now in the process of collecting CVs. This reminds me of some doubts, which people in Asia (read India) have about the job markets in UK. I have got many queries regarding the job situation in UK. I have discussed this issue in my blog earlier too, that jobs in UK are not that easy as in India, a developing economy short of skilled manpower. In the developed nations like US, UK etc. you have to run after the companies and it’s not the other way round as is in India. So you need to work with perseverance and patience before you finally get a job.

Adios, hasta pronto!

(Bye, c u later)

Ups and Downs

When I came to Cranfield, I was told that there will be some bad patches during our stay here. I did not believe these words as all what I see is sheer excitement and fun; but I must say this is true. At times you are down, down with the work load, with the competition (though its more of cooperation at Cranfield), with the thoughts of your families- I miss India sooooooooooo…. much, down with injuries and health problems and many more such stuff.

At times we feel why we took such a drastic step and opted for MBA, leaving behind our well settled lives, great careers and joyful times. Why did we leave our native places and came far off for exploring something which you may or may not relish. The next moment you realise that it’s a trade off.

When you are sacrificing so much, why do you think you won’t get anything in return? You will get whatever best you can think of- best education, best career, best network and of-course best exposure. And that’s where you lift off.

Immediately you feel refreshed, better and raring to go. I believe there are more reasons at Cranfield to keep your mood up than down.

Last two weeks have been very hectic as usual and my hectic routines are getting reflected in lesser number of blogs. This weekend we had one of the most dreaded tests of Cranfield course- WAC (Written Assessment of Cases). You are given a case study on Friday morning and you have to discuss it with your team. Then you have to write a report and submit it by Saturday afternoon. Sounds simple, just opposite of what it actually was.

In between we had Halloween night- that was first such event I had ever attended in my life. People putting on scary masks and all that scary shit…..

Usual assignments, reports and badminton…. Just go on and on.