and finally sunk at HBS

Dinged.

Winning

I read this amazing entry on the Dilbert blog, posted below. I first noticed Blake in last year's US Open and his match against Agassi was just awesome.

====================
Recently there was a tennis tournament in Indian Wells. It’s one of the biggest tournaments not counting the four “Grand Slam” events. Because tennis is an individual sport, there are always great stories within the game. This year’s biggest story was James Blake’s comeback.

If you don’t follow the game, let me give you some background. Blake is the son of an African-American dad and an English mom. He was raised in Connecticut and had to wear a back brace for years when he was a kid. He took up tennis, excelled, and went to Harvard for two years before going pro. He looked promising, along with a number of other young Americans, but not top 10 material. He was most noted for his sex appeal and great personality.

I became a fan after watching him play Lleyton Hewitt a few years ago. After some calls that went against Hewitt, the Aussie singled out an African-American linesperson and complained to the chair umpire. Hewitt used a poor choice of words that led observers to think he was complaining of racial favoritism. Hewitt says he didn’t mean it that way, but nonetheless it became the story. And the media tried hard to get Blake to bite. They wanted him to complain about racism, maybe get a little mad about it. That’s good TV. But Blake didn’t take the bait. He politely pointed out that people say things in the heat of the moment, and whatever Hewitt said was Hewitt’s problem, not his. It seemed to me the perfect response. Sometimes trivializing is the best strategy.

Blake’s ranking bobbed up and down, peaking at 22 in the world. He shaved his dreadlocks and gave up his sex symbol image along with millions in potential endorsements. (I’m guessing his hair was prematurely thinning.) Then in 2004 he had the year from Hell. He ran into a tennis net post and broke his neck. Then he got a shingles virus in his face that paralyzed it on one side. Then his dad died.

There was some doubt that Blake would ever play tennis again. He watched the major tournaments from his couch and wondered about his future. In time, his body recovered, and he felt that he had been given a second chance. He grabbed it by the neck.

I don’t know what kind of training he did, but oh-my-god. I watched him play in person during the first week of the Indian Wells tournament and thought it couldn’t be the same guy. There was ferocity to his strokes. He wasn’t just hitting the ball, he was punishing it. His court speed was breathtaking. His shot selection was brilliant. His backhand, previously a weakness, had become a rocket.

You only needed to listen to the court sounds to know that Blake was heading deep into the tournament. When a tennis racket strikes a ball perfectly, it creates a sound wave that spectators can feel in their entire bodies. If you play tennis yourself, you can practically close your eyes and know who is winning.

Blake blasted through the field of world-class tennis players and found himself in an unlikely semi-final with a Spanish force of nature named Rafael Nadal. Nadal is the #2 player in the world. He hits with brutal topspin. It’s a relentless attack that less than a handful of elite players have been able to withstand in the past year. Nadal brought his best, but Blake blew past with a combination of game and gamesmanship that surprised almost everyone, not the least Nadal himself.

Now it was time for the championship match against Roger Federer, the best player in the world. Correction – make that the best tennis player who has ever lived. That’s not just my opinion. He already has seven Grand Slam wins. If he stays healthy, many people expect him to hold every important record in tennis.

Against all odds, Blake blazed to a 4-1 first set advantage against the all-time greatest player on earth. It seemed as though nothing could stop him. And then something happened. The momentum shifted. The rest of the match was all Federer. Blake seemed to fade away, settling for runner-up, but his effort that week was enough to put him in the top ten in the world.
At the trophy ceremony, Blake spoke to the crowd. He said that in 2004, when he was in the hospital with a broken neck, only one tennis player sent him a note to wish him well. It was Roger Federer.

I wanted Blake to win that match, yet somehow, by losing he found perfection.

Sinking at HBS

HBS Round 2 decisions are out exactly 8 days from today. I dont have an invite yet so 99% chances are that I am sunk at HBS, however to quote HBS Adcom "interview invites go out till the very last day" leaves a glimmer of hope, albeit fast disappearing. I am almost prepared to get the ding on March 29th barring a miracle at this point.

Now, the HBS app took up most of my time and it was the toughest as well. A back of the envelope calculation reveals approximately 150 hrs of my time working on those 7 required and 1 optional essay and atleast 80-90 hrs of my wife's time helping me with drafts, revisions, activities sheet, resume etc. The result of this massive effort? An HBS application that both my wife and I were quite confident and happy about. Got my HBS app read by an alum and a current student and got both their blessings. But, still no interview and doesnt look like I am getting one either.

Another thing the massive HBS exercise did was that it left very little time for Wharton which was due only 2 days after HBS. Not that I didnt work hard on Wharton but the fact is that I am waitlisted and perhaps spending some more time on the app might have led me to do something differently or better. I will never know that for sure and it is futile to go back and think about these things now.

What I have thought about though is Wharton's waitlist process. In the spirit of fairness they refuse to accept any updates or additional information from a waitlisted candidate. However, they accept the same (ofcourse only genuine updates) from a candidate before the decisions are released. One doesnt know how their internal decision making works so outsiders wont have a clear picture of why it is so. I am still alive at Wharton so I'll draw away positives from that, I just wish that waitlisted candidates were given the opportunity to atleast present any significant updates regarding their application.

Very close but not quite ....

Waitlisted at Wharton! So the wait continues till May 18th when they release their next round of decisions. I actually fancied my chances at Wharton so this was somewhat of a disappointment. Perhaps I am classic waitlist material - singles here and there but not a home run. 2nd waitlist in a row - Columbia and now Wharton, this is going to be a real test of patience.

Unable to get a read ...

... on my Wharton interview.

So I had my interview on campus last week with a second year adcom member. The interview lasted exactly 30 mins and was pretty uneventful, ie no trick questions or mess ups from my side. I was told at the beginning of my interview that my interviewer would take detailed notes and keep track of the time so I should not take it otherwise.

And it was exactly that! I was asked the standard questions - Walk me through your resume, Why current job/role, Short-term and Long-term goals, Why Wharton, Why Now, Example of Leadership, How do you motivate people on a team, any potential weakness or concern on the application and if I had any questions for my interviewer.

What alarmed me slightly was that no follow up questions were asked based on my responses. My interviewer spoke for about 6-7 minutes to ask the questions and I talked for the remaining 24 minutes. Despite my every effort to turn it into a two-way conversation, it didnt happen that way. My interviewer gave out no clues at all (facial expressions, nodding of head, smile, frown - zilch) about how my responses were being received, but took notes furiously - probably every word that came out of my mouth is documented in that interview report.

I left the room with a mixed feeling - good that nothing was botched, bad that I didnt seem to have too much control on the flow and couldnt engage in a conversation during the interview.

Either way, I will find out in 8 days.