If I say the last two months have been a Roller Coaster ride, it is an UNERSTATEMENT! Frankly, I don't have words to describe all that that's changed in my life in the last 60 days. According to my last post, here, I had been admitted to Yonsei University (South Korea's) Global MBA program and was supposed to join it from mid-August. That was the plan and everything was set. The Visa had been obtained (that part is a story in itself and deserves a separate post), the tickets were almost booked and I was ready.
Very happily, I went for my vacation to Singapore and Indonesia. It was an AWESOME trip and I had a blast!! I came back all relaxed and refreshed after 6-7 days. That was 25th June (Monday). On Wednesday (27th June) night, as I was returning from work I thought to myself, " Aaahhh...I feel so happy. My last day at work is 18th July and that gives me almost a month to spend with my family and friends before I go to South Korea. All the expenses have been taken care of my the university, I have on-campus housing, and my parents will be accompanying me to Seoul to help me settle down. Life's Good!" Alas, my relaxation was short-lived. On Thursday (28th June) night, at 11 PM, my cell phone beeped, indicating a new e-mail. I was in bed, reading a book and I just glanced at the screen. It said the mail was from a certain university in the US that I had been trying to get in desperately.
At first I thought it's just an advertisement either asking me to apply again this year, or giving out some general information. But something made me sit up and open my laptop to check the email. Very casually I opened the mail and started reading it. The content of the mail was mind boggling to me. I could not believe my eyes and so I read it again to look for some catch. But there was no catch. It clearly said that I had been admitted to the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University for their Full-time MBA program for Fall 2012!! I went numb for a few minutes, I just did not know how to react. Here I was, all set for going to South Korea and doing my MBA for free, and I suddenly get the admit to one of my dream universities, which is probably one of the most expensive ones too. When I regained my senses, I just barged into my parents room and shouted, " I don't why God can't let me live in peace for a few hours. Why does he have to jumble and complicate my life at every step!!" My parents got worried that probably the Korea people cancelled the admission or there was some other problem. But when I told them what had happened, they were as shocked as me. My dad immediately called all the people he knew in the US and asked what to do. Everyone advised the same thing, send her to the US!!
We discussed with people and amongst ourselves for 2-3 days, as to what next. On Sunday (1 July), it was decided that I will join Tepper. Thus began the Herculean task of collecting all the documents, showing funding (since there is no scholarship, I was to show funds of around $150,000), sending the various documents to the university, getting the Visa etc.
The whole process that I described above generally takes 2-3 months, but I had only 20-25 days to do everything since my classes started from 1 August. So, after running from pillar to post for 5-6 days, my family managed to collect the stipulated funds (mind you, just to show the university, not to use!) and I sent my funding information to the university. I received my I-20 (the most important document for getting the Visa) in another 5-6 days. Finally, I had my Visa interview on 20 July (Friday) and had the US Visa in my hand on 23 July (Monday). My flight was booked for 27 July (Friday) night, and I had another mammoth task in front of me - shopping and packing!! Somehow I did that in 4 days, caught the flight for the US and reached here on Saturday night (the journey was a nightmare and will be described in detail in a new post).
So, today I have officially completed one week in the US and have started with the orientation program. How do I find the country, the city, the school, the classmates, the program?? - Well, hard to tell right now. I am giving myself a few days to adjust and stop feeling homesick. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully, I will try to update the blog more regularly from now!
Signing Off,
Aastha Sobti
Full-time MBA Student, Class of 2014
Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
USA
Very happily, I went for my vacation to Singapore and Indonesia. It was an AWESOME trip and I had a blast!! I came back all relaxed and refreshed after 6-7 days. That was 25th June (Monday). On Wednesday (27th June) night, as I was returning from work I thought to myself, " Aaahhh...I feel so happy. My last day at work is 18th July and that gives me almost a month to spend with my family and friends before I go to South Korea. All the expenses have been taken care of my the university, I have on-campus housing, and my parents will be accompanying me to Seoul to help me settle down. Life's Good!" Alas, my relaxation was short-lived. On Thursday (28th June) night, at 11 PM, my cell phone beeped, indicating a new e-mail. I was in bed, reading a book and I just glanced at the screen. It said the mail was from a certain university in the US that I had been trying to get in desperately.
At first I thought it's just an advertisement either asking me to apply again this year, or giving out some general information. But something made me sit up and open my laptop to check the email. Very casually I opened the mail and started reading it. The content of the mail was mind boggling to me. I could not believe my eyes and so I read it again to look for some catch. But there was no catch. It clearly said that I had been admitted to the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University for their Full-time MBA program for Fall 2012!! I went numb for a few minutes, I just did not know how to react. Here I was, all set for going to South Korea and doing my MBA for free, and I suddenly get the admit to one of my dream universities, which is probably one of the most expensive ones too. When I regained my senses, I just barged into my parents room and shouted, " I don't why God can't let me live in peace for a few hours. Why does he have to jumble and complicate my life at every step!!" My parents got worried that probably the Korea people cancelled the admission or there was some other problem. But when I told them what had happened, they were as shocked as me. My dad immediately called all the people he knew in the US and asked what to do. Everyone advised the same thing, send her to the US!!
We discussed with people and amongst ourselves for 2-3 days, as to what next. On Sunday (1 July), it was decided that I will join Tepper. Thus began the Herculean task of collecting all the documents, showing funding (since there is no scholarship, I was to show funds of around $150,000), sending the various documents to the university, getting the Visa etc.
The whole process that I described above generally takes 2-3 months, but I had only 20-25 days to do everything since my classes started from 1 August. So, after running from pillar to post for 5-6 days, my family managed to collect the stipulated funds (mind you, just to show the university, not to use!) and I sent my funding information to the university. I received my I-20 (the most important document for getting the Visa) in another 5-6 days. Finally, I had my Visa interview on 20 July (Friday) and had the US Visa in my hand on 23 July (Monday). My flight was booked for 27 July (Friday) night, and I had another mammoth task in front of me - shopping and packing!! Somehow I did that in 4 days, caught the flight for the US and reached here on Saturday night (the journey was a nightmare and will be described in detail in a new post).
So, today I have officially completed one week in the US and have started with the orientation program. How do I find the country, the city, the school, the classmates, the program?? - Well, hard to tell right now. I am giving myself a few days to adjust and stop feeling homesick. Let's see how it goes. Hopefully, I will try to update the blog more regularly from now!
Signing Off,
Aastha Sobti
Full-time MBA Student, Class of 2014
Tepper School of Business
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
USA
indeed, a roller coaster ride! Ab kuch amreeka ki fotos lagao, taki hum bhi dekhen kaisa dikhta hai wo desh
ReplyDeleteYup I agree with Furobiker...photos please :)
ReplyDelete