INSEAD event in Chicago - follow up

So I ended up going to this event in Chicago for prospective INSEAD students that was held by Goldman Sachs at their building downtown. At first I felt kind of awkward, since I've already been admitted and this even was targetted at prospective students, but then I thought about it and decided to sacrifice my Friday night since I thought it would be a good opportunity to meet alumni and to start networking.

It was a good event, which was filled to capacity with prospective students. Talking to students it seemed to be a mixed bunch from all around the midwest. Some candidates even came from St. Louis (5 hours away), and Milwaulkee (2 hours away), just to attend the event. The INSEAD did a great job in selling the school as a top 10 school that has excellent diversity, and which opens doors to you in non-traditional markets in various different countries. This is important, since it something the US schools simply cannot do, since they do not have the diversity and are mainly targetting US recruiters. Also they were very good at selling the school as a fun school to attend, where not only do you get a great education, but you also come away with a lot more. The alumni seemed to have genuinely loved their INSEAD experience,and all pointed it to being their best year of their life to that date.

I met some alumni and they pointed out the days will be long, and there will be a lot of work, but the profs do understand that networking is important and they fully expect and understand that you'll be working on the beach in Thailand trying to finish up an assignment on a weekend. That was good to hear. Also the sense of community for INSEAD alumni is great perhaps than that of other alumni. INSEAD alumni are more likely to hang out, meet each other up for weddings, parties from all around the world. Most other schools use their alumni network in a more formal context. The INSEAD alumni network is a way to meet people in a new city to just hang out with etc...

Also interesting to note the group of prospective students was very diverse as well, and well accomplished. I have a sense of the demographic that INSEAD appeals to, and it seems to be bright forward thinking individuals from around the world that are interested in not only a good education but also a good life experience.

All this has me very excited to start soon and be part of this great alumni network soon.

D-Day at work

Ugh..the Irony. After bragging about 2 posts in one day, I haven't blogged in over a week and a half. I'd like to thank the 3 people who keep reading my blog on a daily basis. You are my inspiration...apparently you have more faith in me then I have in myself.

So yesterday was d-day. Walked into boss' office slammed the door and yelled..." I QUIT". Well not quite...but in retrospect that would have been nice, dramatic and perhaps a more exciting way to leave. But hesitant to burn any bridges I decided to take the, it's not you, it's me approach (thank you Costanza). Actually turned out pretty good. They congratulated me on getting into INPEAD (yeah most Americans have never heard of INSEAD and were baffled when I told them I chose INSEAD over Chicago, NYU, Columbia, etc...). They thought perhaps my lack of a good GMAT, or good undergrad grades had led me to settle for an MBA education abroad, where I could pay my way in.

That night they went home and someone read up on INSEAD and came to me and said "Wow, you got into INSEAD??? That's a great school". So see now there are about 10 people in the Chicago area who know INSEAD and believe it's a top 10 school!!!

Anyways feels awkward leaving....you would think when I know I'm leaving I would walk into work at 10am and leave for a 2 hour lunch and then leave work at 4pm. For some reason though I feel compelled to work harder. I got in at 8:30 (which is super early for me), and am eager to finish all my work. This will probably die in a day or 2. Whatever...I just can't wait to be in Singapore! :)

INSEAD Event in Chicago??

Checked my email the other day and something interesting showed up. It was an invite from INSEAD to an event in Chicago.



Needless to say I'm going. I have no clue what to expect or wear, but it will be nice to meet some fellow INSEADers that are in Chicago. I posted to see if there was any one else from around here on Insy hot/not (aka Netvestibule) a while ago but nobody responded. So I came to the logical conclusion that nobody from my class is in Chicago. But now I see we have a full event? I'm excited, maybe it'll just be me and the two people that interviewed me. Well...on the bright side, if that's the case, more Booze for me!!

I think it's geared towards prospective students. But I have no clue where/how they advertise it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

INSEAD Funding - Ugh

Sitting, dreaming about being in Singapore I realized I had to find funding SOON. Really there are only 1 or 2 options if you are a Canadian living in the US. The first issue is that all the US federal loans require you to be an American Citizen or a Green Card holder to apply....so unfortuantely unless I marry an American within the next 15 days, I don't qualify, and even if that happens (as all you prospective ladies send your applications), it would probably take a month or two for all the paperwork to clear. Feel free to send applications anyways :)

So really you have only a couple of choices:
1) IEFC Loan through TERI
2) PARAS Foundation Loan
3) Private Bank Loan

Paras is an Indian foundation that provides loans, but their whole application system looks really sketchy. Also the amounts they may charge for your loan are not clear and may depend on millions of factors, which of course they choose not to disclose. I'm sure they are good and trustworthy, it's just there is not much information about them out there so it is hard to take that plunge. ALso their origination fees are high.

Getting a Private Bank loan is really not an option if you don't own property and have your own line-of-credit. I don't own a house, so I'm pretty much not eligible unless i can throw down some serious capital. I can't, so i'm SOL

Lastly there is the IEFC loan option. If you are an alien in the US (WTF????) then you can apply for a loan with an eligible co-signer (US Citizen). Three banks provide loans through IEFC and each has it's own pros and cons. 2 of the banks provide LIBOR + 2-3% rates, but they have high origination fees of around 6%. The other bank can give you 0% origination fees depending on your credit, but it's rate is Prime + 1%. So it's a bit of a toss up. Either way you lose.

Option F has you finding a rich relative that can sponsor your tuition :)
Option G = Sugar Momma

So far I'm still looking for Option F or G, so looks like I will have to go with the IEFC.

As for Scholarships...well:
a) I'm lazy and can't be bothered writing 20 essays
b) I don't know how to justify that I'm in a financial crisis when I have a good job, parents are doing fine as well, have some investments etc...

So we'll see how that goes, though I did find one for Canadians that is basically a loan given to students for X amount htat you are expected to pay back to the organization when complete. Also you must have the "intention" of returning to Canada. Now...hmmm...I do have the intention of coming back someday...just not in the next 5 years..lol. Does that count?

Random Thoughts...

Ugh....I'm sitting at work, scraping everywhere for any ounce of motivation to get things done. So of course, now I have a new distraction...my BLOG.

So let's see...what can I blog about?

SENS

one win away from a finals appearence and they lose at home....ugh...this better just be a blip along the way. But since most of you reading this probably don't care about my Sens or hockey at all, I will not bore you more. They better win though so i can stop ranting about them and watch them in the finals!!!

INSEAD

a) booked my tickets to Singapore. Since I'm officially a student again, I am eligible for student rates!! Just realized that and got an awesome deal. 400$ one way to Singapore in the summer. All you need is an ISIC card.
b) Update on where I'm living. I just realized my last blog update regarding my housing in Singapore was that I'm living in a two bedroom place in Dover. Well unforutnately that didn't work out since the two bedroom was taken right before we put our deposit down. The fortunate part is that we got a 3 bedroom and found another roommate. So now there are 3 of us at Dover in a 3 bdrm. Bharath (who's blog I've linked to) is one of my roommates. He's really lucky and travelling around Europe for a few months before starting at INSEAD. I'm travelling vicariously through him.
c) Student Meets in Fonty, SIngapore, NYC, Boston, SF, Toronto, MExico, Lima, Tokyo, HK, Shanghai, Delhi, Mumbai, Cairo, Beirut, London...HOW ABOUT FREAKING CHICAGO?????? Is nobody at INSEAD currently living in the midwest? Am I the only one who will not have met someone from class of 08 before starting? NOT FAIR.


LAPTOP

So for those of you that don't know, I've been debating what kind of laptop to get for INSEAD next year. I'm a bit of a gadget "freak", so I enjoy having all the latest toys. So really I wanted a cool new box that I could take out to the bar and pick up with...(not really)...seriously though I wanted something cool and practical that could replace my desktop(s).

So i was going through Netvestibule (INSEAD's hot or not), and came across postings where people were interested in getting a MAC...a mac? why? so it can look cool and they can pay twice as much and not run ANYTHING ON IT? speaking of which let me rant about those STUPID mac ads. Who are they really targetting? I mean PCs can be whatever you want them to be. Can a mac do that? Don't you want something that can be customized (hardware and software), run different applications not created or necessarily endorsed by an evil company? Wait..you can't do that on a mac, cuz nobody cares and nobody ever builds anything for them. Try finding a quality game made for the mac...goood luck. And for those that argue back saying you can run windows on a mac? If you are doing that then why are you paying twice as much? lol

Anyways, to each his/her own. For me after all the research I decided I wanted a tablet. A tablet is perfect for class, you can take notes using a "pen", you can use it as a computer. They are thin and light like regular laptops, and they run either Vista or XP. The only problem is they are bit expensive. Fortunately I found a great Lenovo deal where the Tablet ended up being 50% off. So I got the following system for 1400$:
X60 Tablet
12" SXGA+ screen (1400X1024)
Core 2 Duo 1.6
Windows Vista Business
2 GB RAM
120 GB HD
8 cell battery (8 hour battery life)
3.7 lbs

I'm pretty happy with the deal I got, as I was expecting to spend around that much for a non-tablet notebook.

RANT OF THE DAY
I hate People Energy. They are the local gas company in Chicago. So here is my story. Back in December I signed up for automatic billing. This means they should charge me automatically for the month's bill and deduct it from my credit card. Fine, everything taken care of right? Not exactly...

So the other day I decide I want to cook, so I attempt to turn on the stove...NO GAS...ugh..what happened? So I go downstairs and go through the general pile of letters with wrong addresses and what do I find? A letter from people's gas warning me that they will shut off the gas if I dont pay. Curious I check my emails from December, and sure enough they sent me confirmation that I've been signed up for auto-payment. So I call them up and ask what's going on.


People gas lady: How y'all doin'? Can i elp u?
Me: YOU SHUT OFF MY GAS WTF???
Lady: yi know ya shoulda paid ur billz
Me: I had automatica payment.
Lady: you HAD automatic payment, but we cancelled it back in January.
Me: Thanks for the notice.
Lady: We sent you mail advising you of the change.
Me: You've been sending mail to the wrong address. I live on a UNIT on floor 4, I dont just live on the whole floor.
Lady: That's not our problem
Me: So you send me a notification by email when i sign up, but you dont let me know by email when for some reason you decide to randomly opt me out.
Lady: uh-huh...that's our policy. in fairness though we sent you a notice by regular mail
me: yeah to the wrong address
lady: unfortunately...but I have it changed now.
Me: TURN ON MY GAS
Lady: Not until you pay 250$
Me: Fine charge me
Lady: ok..(she takes credit card info and puts through)...its on hold dont look like it goin thru...u have another card
me: (puzzled)...ok take this
lady: didn't go through either
me: fine I'll pay online ( go and pay online)
lady: call me back when you have paid so we can reconnect

So I pay online. 2 days later I check and 3 payments have gone through for 250$ each. ANGRY, and wanting my gas back I call them

lady: can I help u?
me: probably not, but you charged me 3 times and disconnected my gas without notice.
lady: ill try my best to help
me: try harder
lady: sorry about the triple charge...look on the brightside, now you dont have to pay for a while...(laughs)
me: not funny
lady: so the next appointment we have for reconnecting your gas is on Monday from 11-5pm
me: first of all it's TUESDAY. You didnt have to come in my unit to disconnect, why do you have to come to reconnect? Secondly, 11-5pm??? What is that? I have a job, I have a life, am I supposed to sit at home all day waiting for you to show up? Can't you give me a more specific time.
lady: no sir we need to get into your apartment to reconnect but dont need to get in to disconnect. Also we dont have specific time slots. So we'll see you on Monday. Thanks for doing business with People's Gas. Have a nice day
me: cancel my gas. Its summer anyways and I dont use my stove. Screw you and your stupid monopolistic company. Cick.

So now i have no gas. Whatever, It's not like I've been cooking. But these people are idiots. What unit were they billing me for anyways if they had the wrong address? How can they have such stupid policies? Ugh.... Eventually I did cave in and schedule the appointment for Monday. I wish I had time to sue them, just on principle. But really I dont think it would impact them or their policies.

Anyways thats my rant and why i HATE people's gas.

a day in May

So I haven't posted in ages. My blog is getting stale...:( Honestly I meant to post earlier. Lots of things going on. Here is a brief rundown:

a) Varun's Wedding - Just got back from an awesome wedding. It was my friend Varun's wedding in Toronto. Varun I have known since second year in college and he is like my brother and his family is part of my extended family. It was a great wedding, everyone from back in the day was down, music was great. The girl is from Bangalore so we thought it would be appropriate to crash the Mehndi in Dhotis. It was pretty funny actually. Have some pics that I will post when they become available. Was really tiring though. I left last Thursday and got back on Sunday, and during that period I must have slept a total of 7 hours. Well worth it though, as it was a great time and a great wedding.

b) My Sens - we made it to the conference finals. Playing Buffalo. Series starts tonight. Couldn't be prouder of the team disposing of the Pens and Devils in 5 games each. Could this be the year? Not like I can watch them next year anyways. Would be a nice sendoff. I have had a kill other team avatar for the past 2 rounds, so it is time to reveal the one for this round (FYI I found it on a sportsnet forum):



c) My Raptors - very dissapointing to lose in 6 games to the hated Nets. Just went to a wedding and we were all around a friend's blackjack refreshing the game every 2 seconds until we finally found out that the Raps lost by 1 in game 6 and their season was over. Sad, but this team is young and will have many good things to come.

d) Serb's Engagement - Next weekend I'm attending Serb and Komal's engagement in Paducah Kentucky. Now that should be a blast. I've never been in small town USA before and this is as small as it gets. Apparently we'll be hitting a local establishment and turning it dry.

e) Mexico City - So as if I didnt have enough things going on, I decided that it would be fun to spend the long weekend in Mexico City with an old friend from back at Microsoft. We'll be going for Memorial Day. Should be fun. I've never been there but I've heard its crazy. Any INSEADers in Mexico who want to meet? Give me a shout. I really want to go to this place called Tepico market...but apparently it's a bit dangerous :) You see, I have this thing, when I go to a big city I want to check out the Ghettos.
eg:
DC - Anacostia - DONE
Chicago - Cabrini Green - DONE
Atlanta - College Park - DONE
Toronto - Jane and Finch - DONE
New York City - The Bronx - DONE
Paris - Montmarte - DONE
Johannesburg - Hillsboro - DONE
Nairboi - ANYWHERE - DONE


So that's what is going on on this day in May....