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Discuss your long- and short-term career goals, how these goals developed, and what you hope to gain from graduate study at Krannert. Limit your response to no more than 500 words.
After my MBA, my short-term goal is to be an equity or bond analyst to further develop my ability to think critically and provide value-added analysis. In the longer term, my aspiration is to be an asset manager who invests in opportunities related to China profitably, safely and ethically. While building my career, I want to actively seek mentoring opportunities. My goals are rooted in my Chinese heritage: five thousands years of tradition, philosophy and wisdom. My desire to use my talent to give back to my country defines who I am and what I do. After a quarter of century as the Most Favored Nation and as a new member of WTO, China offers many growth opportunities for international companies. US companies in 2002 alone have made more than $70 billions of investment in thirty thousand projects. On the other side of the world, the US finance industry will continue to grow. 78 millions aging baby-boomers with billions of hard-earned retirement funds will increase the need for value-added financial analysis. With a passion for finance and extensive knowledge in both cultures, I believe I can reach my goals and contribute to the American and Chinese economy. My path toward my aspiration was multi-dimensional and it developed in me a solid foundation with many skill-sets. I started to invest five years ago. Through a bull and bear market, I learned many things. I devoured the Thestreet.com website since its inception, studying every piece of writing and wisdom by Jim Cramer, Todd Harrison and Doug Kass, all professional asset managers. To get more perspectives, I examined manias and crashes, companies and charts, the rise of many financial giants as well as the fall of a few. Along the way, I experimented with many different styles of investing, from value to momentum to systematic to penny stocks to arbitrage and options. The result is that I predicted and profited from three major turning points. In these years of battling in the Wall Street trenches everyday, I cultivated a habit of hard work, independent analysis and anticipatory thinking. In addition, the rigorous computer science program at Purdue honed my quantitative and technical proficiency. Spending a third of my life managing and improving the family small business was a labor of love and it sharpened my leadership and entrepreneur spirit. I worked at Guidant and Applebee's to compliment my lack of management experience in large enterprises. Although the duration is short, I have gained many insights in the inner working of American companies: its finances, operations and cultures. However, there are many more steps ahead. A successful asset manager needs a theoretical framework in finance to accurately assess the securitys fair value. He also needs a rigorous study of business combining money management, people management, strategy creation and execution. Without it, he cannot anticipate the changes created by M&A, new technologies and emerging markets. The Purdue MBA experience, I believe, will accentuate my strength and accelerate my progress toward my goals.
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Describe how your skills, knowledge, and life experiences could benefit potential classmates. Limit your response to no more than 500 words.
The uniqueness of MBA is found in its diverse student body and study methods. Many talented students of business gather to expand their expertise in management, technology, operation, finance, marketing as well as how they all fit together in an enterprise. Through the core curriculum, case studies and consulting projects, the faculty and students share their knowledge so others can gain an insight. It is in this setting that, I believe, will bring out the best in many and benefit the class as a whole. I have followed the technology industry for ten years: from Netscape's IPO to AMD's 64bit Opteron. Therefore my contribution to technology related case studies will be substantial. I will apply what has happened before to make sense of what is happening in the case studies. I have done that many times to make a profit. From telecom overcapacity, to B2B craze, to PC and DRAM saturation, to unrealistic growth of telecom chip, to infamous legacy of Exodus, to premature emergence of 3G and the resurgence of telecom survivors, my breath of technology exposure will enable me to make valuable contributions. Besides technology, my expertise is in the stock market. I have invested for five years and along the way, I have learned from investment classics as well as professional asset managers. With these experiences, I can contribute from the point of view of a market practitioner. For example, I can relate the creative use of options and credit swaps, the market perceptions of earning reports and guidance, its reaction to brokerage upgrades and the use of stocks as an acquisition currency. In the world where many fortunes are tied to the companys stock price, this point of view will add an important angle to business discussion. As a historian in technology and financial markets, I have often found that history repeats itself. From my research, I have seen cycles of boom and bust in financial markets and cycles of creative destructions and obsolescence in technology. With this knowledge, my perspective is usually focused on the long term and is based on proven lessons of history. Because many aspects of the Purdue MBA program are team based, my ability to lead and to participate in teams will contribute greatly in the program. As a leader, I have had success in inspiring a staff to conquer challenges at Applebee's. As a team member, my contribution at Guidant exceeded expectation and added value to the project. Born in China, I realize I am culturally different than many other students. I intend to keep an open mind and learn from everyone I meet. At the right moment, however, I will share part of my cultural uniqueness: the tranquility of Tai Chi, the strategy in Art of War and the philosophy in Book of Change. My experience has shown that by helping others and focusing on the team, I turned out to be the one who benefited the most. I intend to do the same at my Purdue MBA.
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In 100 words or less, describe a character-building event or situation in which your involvement made a significant difference.
'Trials, temptations, disappointments: all these are helps instead of hindrances, if one uses them correctly.' I read these words everyday as I re-took the computer compiler class CS352. My failure was due to its immense difficulty and my lack of focus. Putting too much time into the family business during college was a regrettable decision. For months, the fear and guilt lingered. Eventually, I made a resolution to overcome them. I reflected upon my past that proved great rewards come after great challenges. Courage and inspiration appeared. And I scored 85 on my final and declared victory with a B+.
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Discuss your long- and short-term career goals, how these goals developed, and what you hope to gain from graduate study at Krannert.
It is often said that one should keep true to dreams of one's youth because that's when the toughest of things can be conjured by a rebellious mind. Vivid images of a group of three young boys, tentatively called SWaT, come live, whose only dream was being together. Tom - the most entrepreneurial of us, always dreaming of things that never were - when any of us would ask "Why?", he would reply "Why not ?"; Warren - the technically inclined nerd whose favorite leisure activity was disintegrating and reassembling the latest electronic gadget that the market had on offer and, Sam, the one blessed with gift of the gab - he could sell off stone as marble to anyone who would as much as care to listen him talk for a few minutes. So there we were - among us, an entrepreneur who could imagine, an engineer who could design and a consultant who could advise and sell - presumably the three fundamental components needed for any enterprising startup company. As we grew up and parted, we pledged to get back together again in life to start a business venture of our own. Thus was born the dream that grew on with passage of time to become my long term career goal - start my own company. In my six years of consulting, I have focused on aligning my short term objectives with my ubiquitous ambition. Striving to gain domain experience and business knowledge in a wide gamut of fields, my consulting projects have been in trades as diverse as banking, inventory management and manufacturing, information technology, quality /audit and human resource. Apart from the functional knowledge I gained, this has also helped me to understand how these different branches must work together in close collaboration for an organization to succeed. Certifications (Oracle / Six Sigma ), industry affiliations ( IEEE ) and international project exposures have facilitated me to keep abreast of the latest trends and developments and provide global business solutions transcending geographic boundaries and organizations. I first heard of Krannert from a friend in engineering college. It was highly regarded and aspired for, especially so by students of Industrial Engineering department where I belonged. Apart from it being a technology driven institute, it's MBA program is well reputed for the student diversity, highly acclaimed faculty, strong alumni network and leadership qualities. From such a program, I hope to learn and benefit as follows - 1) develop a business acumen and intellect to see beyond technology at the overall picture of how different units gel together and work in successful organizations . 2) learn about leadership and how my knowledge and experience can be shaped into a successful leadership role. 3) importance of teamwork along with synergy of efforts and thoughts in managing global organizations dexterously. 4) establish and maintain a network of friends and peers from line of technology and line of business to be pre informed about raw technologies, which when properly tapped and promoted, may potentially drive our future. 5) learn and imbibe the commandments of business from the real time experiences of visiting visionaries and illustrious industry leaders. 6) further my interests and knowledge in the field of Operational Research and Management, which are supposedly the stronghold of this premier institution.
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Essay Question:
Describe how your skills, knowledge, and life experiences could benefit potential classmates.
When a group of people come together to spend their next two years as a class, they become a family. Every member has a role to perform, influences the life of others, learns from their experiences and contributes himself as an active participant. As an aspiring student of such an eclectic class, I hope to add to the value and strength of this symbiotic relationship. In my consulting career, I have strived to gain technical expertise and basic functional know-how of businesses as diversified as human resource, information technology, quality, banking and inventory management. I have found the challenges and fear of venturing into new territories exciting rather than daunting and my professional tenure is replete with observations, incidents and experiences that may potentially benefit my prospective classmates and make for interesting case studies. Domestic and international project associations have allowed me to build on a global network of friends as well as interact with people from different spheres of life and cultures, thus enrichening my knowledge of human societies and cultivating in me creativity, adaptability and flexibility of thought - I hope to share this knowledge with my companions and contribute towards increasing their awareness of various communities and civilizations. The opportunities I got in various capacities ( team member, module leader, project leader ) have taught me some quintessential aspects of leadership roles and I learned that some of the most admired qualities of a successful leader are conceivably -leading from the front as a role model, -strong beliefs together with good communication skills, -accountability, -under promising and over delivering, and -far sightedness coupled with organizing around a purpose. Few engrossing accounts and first hand experiences that have established these leadership convictions in me may also benefit my fellow mates. Few of my distinguishing extracurricular involvements have been in directing a choreography on terrorism in Kashmir, organizing a tennis tournament and participating in cross country marathons as well as long distance athletic events .These activities have been instrumental in honing my organizational abilities and sharpening my co-ordination skills. The many lessons that athletics can teach: sportsmanship, competitiveness, fair play, self-discipline, teamwork, commitment, and developing self confidence, as well as dealing with success and overcoming adversity, are lessons that will last a lifetime. We are taught that commitment counts, vision matters, team trumps self, to win with grace and lose with dignity, and that all of us are leaders influencing others. These are also perhaps some of the fundamental tenets of successful management. Given the opportunity, I would like to share with my colleagues the importance of sports and cultural programs in providing "wholesome recreation and entertainment" together with "educational learning and motivation to excel". I hail from India - the land of feasts and festivals - and I would consider it a matter of great prestige to share with my cohorts her rich traditional heritage and culture as well as her modern secular policies and doctrines on non violence, non interference and non intervention. The image projected of this country by international media is very often distorted and skewed - therefore I would like to reflect on her real self so that she can be appreciated in true earnest.
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In 100 words or less, describe a character-building event or situation in which your involvement made a significant difference.
It was my 20th birthday. As I was driving through the treacherous turns and curvaceous terrain to a nearby hill resort, a mid-aged man, soaked in blood and waving wildly to draw my attention, appeared from an adjacent ridge. The minibus he was traveling in had fallen off track into the adjoining ravine. Heart rendering cries of casualties pierced the surrounding atmosphere. I drove those most seriously injured to the closest hospital and called up police and medical assistance. Local newspapers next day said the wounded were recovering well and timely help had prevented any fatalities. Lives that got saved were my most satisfying and priceless birthday gifts.
