US Economy and the "Dollar" Crisis 

Very interesting videos on the US economy and the imminent Dollar crisis

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A video by M.R. Venkatesh on the Dollar crisis:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4343898391323537541&ei=Gy00SeapNqfcqAOg3NHYDw&q=imminent+dollar+crisis

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Peter Schiff, the President of Euro Pacific Capital:

Predictions from 2006 about US economy in 2008 and as he talks about Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Citibank, and other things that we can see them unfold in the world right now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

Peter Schiff’s predictions on US economy “under Obama”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdF1CiQAkA

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Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute

He predicts US to be an "undeveloped" nation by 2012....

Here is a summary….Take a look…

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….

For complete story check:  http://www.infowars.com/?p=5938

Harvard MBA vs. HBS Grad: Alumni perspective

Found this interestig article on HBS...Take a look...Here is a glimpse...

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Paul Shafer, HBS, '79

In this Alumni Perspective, Paul Shafer, class of 1979, shares his career experience with readers and confers several revelations based on 30 years of IT practice in corporate America. We will start with a brief introductory Q&A followed by key lessons Paul learned.

Harbus: Before we dive into things, would you introduce yourself, please.

Shafer: My name is Paul Shafer. I entered the MBA class in 1977, when invited. I graduated on time in 1979, likely in the middle third of the class. Since my career started in 1975 (before HBS), I have worked as an information technology (IT) practitioner, mostly for the Fortune 500, with very few breaks. In recent years I have risen to the role of principal architect of project management standards that are being enforced across a multi-billion dollar IT practice.

Harbus: Why come forward to share some of your HBS and career experiences with our students now?

Shafer: I believe HBS students are managing their careers at a historically dysfunctional time. Unless things have changed since I was there, students may not be hearing the truth about what awaits them once they earn their MBA degrees. They may be in for greater hard knocks than they deserve or expect, once they graduate. Far from receiving favorable treatment, they may not even receive a fair shake, and worse, find that their hard-won paper makes them a target. What I relate here is something I deeply wish someone had had the decency to share with my classmates and me when we were deciding whether to invest in HBS, or at least, once we got there. 

Harbus: If you are sure of your story, why not cite names of people and companies involved?

Shafer: The purpose of this text is not to indict specific individuals years after the fact, but rather, to share important truths with those who may value them here and now.


Lesson #1:
A degree from HBS does not guarantee, nor even correlate with, a high salary and a corner office.

It is a very natural and healthy thing for young, high-potential people to want to distinguish and prove themselves. It is a very sick and dysfunctional thing to exploit them by stroking their egos and otherwise making them think they can readily achieve their goals when, in fact, if they achieve them at all, it will be through their own innate attributes against the odds imposed by a toxic corporate environment and not by anything as artificial as an expensive piece of paper. Consulting literature has reported over the years that a huge number of people, with and without expensive degrees, have left industry out of sheer disgust, to do their own purely entrepreneurial thing, join the nonprofits, or just opt out of corporate management and "getting ahead". My own experiences across many industries, even in companies rated "best to work for in America," bear this out. 

Current HBS students face an additional obstacle of recent years-an economy in which tens of millions of jobs have been outsourced, and not just junior or blue-collar jobs. As only 1 example, in the 2003 timeframe, a major Wall Street investment bank announced that it was forsaking its traditional connection with Ivy League schools to get interns from India, thus saving 60 percent of the associated labor costs. After all, dollars trump traditional ties-as another door slams in the faces of those starting their careers.

Lesson #2:

All HBS graduates are not created equal. There is a difference between an "HBS grad" and a "Harvard MBA". People coming from money and connections will always walk in where others are uninvited, and merely being an HBS grad does not narrow that gap.

An MBA degree's impact on careers is much more situational than HBS wants students to know. The three groups it most benefits are those who need it least .................

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Read the complete story at:

http://media.www.harbus.org/media/storage/paper343/news/2006/12/04/Viewpoints/Alumni.Perspective-2518139.shtml?reffeature=recentlycommentedstoriestab

NYU Done!!!

Finally submitted NYU yesterday 2 hrs before the deadline, in the midst of all the all the hungama around me...

Need to start thinking abt R2 apps...its so painful...

On a different note the much awaited BusinessWeek ranking are now out...Here is a quick snapshot...

• Top 20 U.S. Programs
• 1 University of Chicago (Booth)
• 2 Harvard University
• 3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
• 4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
• 5 University of Michigan (Ross)
• 6 Stanford University
• 7 Columbia University
• 8 Duke University (Fuqua)
• 9 MIT (Sloan)
• 10 UC Berkeley (Haas)
• 11 Cornell University (Johnson)
• 12 Dartmouth (Tuck)
• 13 NYU (Stern)
• 14 UCLA (Anderson)
• 15 Indiana University (Kelley)
• 16 University of Virginia (Darden)
• 17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
• 18 Southern Methodist (Cox)
• 19 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
• 20 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)

Kellogg Interview

Kellogg gave me a month to schedule an interview with an alumni in my city. The interview took place at a Starbucks on a friday evening @ 6 pm. 

I reached the location around 5:50 pm and the alumni arrived right on time. We ordered (and paid) for our individual coffees. We had already started an informal discussion about where the alum worked, as I used to live close to his office earlier and had something to relate to. We sat in the middle of Starbucks and promptly started around 6:05 pm. I handed over a copy of my resume to the interviewer even though he had a soft copy on his laptop and asked me if he could type while I talked and fill up the online form.

Preparation Material: I went over this site and accepted.com to obtain the standard list of questions that had been posted by others. I didn't have to go over my application again before the interview, as I had just submitted my app 15 days back and all my essays were still very fresh in my mind. I prepared answers for all the unique questions that I had collected. I practiced answering the questions in front of a mirror during my prep.

Interview Experience: Very pleasant experience. The interview was conversational and the interviewer added to and confirmed during the interview by adding his own remarks. I even asked him questions during the whole interview process.

The questions asked were straightforward. 

1. Why MBA? I answered this question starting with my current work exp and my extra-curricular involvements/initiatives/experiences that have helped me shape my future long term and short term goals. The interviewer was very pleased with what I want to do in the future and confirmed that an MBA from Kellogg will totally enable me to achieve my goals. (6-7 mins)

2. Why Kellogg? (5-6 mins)

3. My leadership expeiences? I asked if the interviewer wanted to know my work or non-work related experiences and he said, I could choose any. I added that I will give one of each. (I gave 2 examples and during one of them, he asked me more about how I had hired and motivated my employees [I am an entrepreneur]) (7-8 mins)

4. Conflicts at work place. (I gave 2 examples - 7-8 mins)

5. Tough decisions at work place? (I gave two situations - 7-8 mins)

6. A situation during work when, I could see a solution that others could not. I just gave one situation, but I was prepared with a few more. (5 mins)

7. What clubs will I get involved at Kellogg and why? (5 mins)

8. What unique traits will I bring to Kellogg? I answered this questions by talking about my values, ethics, my achievements since i was in 1st grade, what I have learned over the life thru all my experiences and involvments, the successes and the experiences gained, my strengths and which all areas will I add value to at Kellogg and how these will enhance others lives at Kellogg. The interviewer confirmed that he could already see my strengths that I claimed. (5-6 mins)

9. Finally I asked the interviewer about his experiences and his current job. etc. The interviewer very pleasantly answered my questions and added that he was happy that I asked him those questions. (15 mins)

Total ~ 65 minutes

Overall a very pleasant and satisfactory experience and I am just keeping my fingers crossed.