Queen's Scholarship-naa

Received a mail from Queen's admission committee stating...

Dear ..,

......I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you an entrance scholarship to the Queen's MBA program.

....If you do encounter difficulty with your financing, it may be possible to grant you a one-time deferral to the session beginning May, 2008..............

Regards,


I, obviously, didn't accept the deferral option.

Indians still need to prove their English proficiency skills

Be it an application for MBA to a Business School or for Permanent Resident (PR), Indians still need to prove their English proficiency skills. And giving one test is not enough-while the b-school applications might require you to submit your TOEFL scores, a PR application requires IELTS -General Module and TOEFL is not accepted.

Just imagine that you have given IELTS-Academic Module and it is not accepted for the PR application (this needs to be checked, just an assumption)

So whatever be the case, I booked an appointment for IELTS at an expense of INR 7400. The well sought after date got full and hence had to take another one, which is just on the date I intended to clear off from Bangalore!!

Police Clearance Certificate application submitted

Finally submitted an application for the Police Clearance Certificate (PCC), at the Bangalore Police Commissioner's Office (PCO), required for the Canadian Permanent Resident (PR) application. As instructed by one of the fellow MBAites I took a colleague who knew Kannada well!

Documents required for PCC

1. PCC Application form (can be had from PCO)
2. 3 passport size photographs
3. Xerox of passport
4. *Proof of residence-Rental agreement is usually not accepted. Gas connection/phone bill specifying the address is required.
   
5. Remit challan of INR 200
   

*The date on this proof is the date which will be taken as your start date of stay in Bangalore for the PCC. Hence check if you can obtain all the proofs starting from your date of arrival here. Rest depends on the police officer working on your application.

Procedure for applying for a PCC at Bangalore PCO (with inputs from A**x)

1. From the Single Window counter at the Police Commissioner's Office (PCO), obtain the application form for Police Clearance Certificate (PCC). 'Canadian Immigration' can be stated as the reason for PCC if asked.
2. The next step requires a submission of INR 200 at an a/c (a/c details available at both PCO and the bank) at the Treasury Branch of State Bank of Mysore at Lady Curzon Road, Near Bowring Hospital, Shivaji Nagar, Bangalore. A strange procedure here requires you to collect the remit form (challan) from a xerox shop opposite to the Bank. Don't be surprised if you find that the entire form is in Kannada. Here is where your Kannada-versed friend comes into picture. Though the columns are similar to any other bank remit form, but still! Fill the form, get it stamped on the ground floor and then remit the charges on the first floor.
   
3. Submit the application form with the INR 200 receipt/challan at the PCO Single Window submission counter and collect the acknowledgment. Do verify your details on this. This acknowledgment is required to collect your PCC after approximately 15 days from PCO.
4. The officer accepting your form at the PCO will ask you to visit your local police station (also mentioned in your PCC application form) after 2 days of submission of your PCC application at the PCO.

Viza chiza! worry shary!

The lady at the VFS counter told me that my passport will be back in 3-4 working days time and according to that deadline, I should have received the passport by 23rd Feb. But neither did I receive my passport nor the status of my application in the Visa Application Tracker on VFS site changed. It still said that the application has been dispatched to the Embassy on 19th Feb. The VFS SMS tracker atleast mentioned that the Passport has reached the Embassy on 20th Feb.
Can you call this tracking? 2 different status for 1 application!!

The worry is increasing-all sorts of thoughts anticipating the reasons of such a delay are coming in my mind. A call to the counselor soothed me a bit as according to her, the delay can, in no way, be taken as a signal for rejection.

Finally I called the Embassy and they asked me to mail them. Lets see when and what the reply comes.

Assignments in progress

Assignments are an integral part of every program and they come tagged with a deadline!
I finished the first two-which were more or less like a questionnaire which wanted to just check few certain qualities and skill-set.
The accounting work book needs attention too. Will seek help from one of my Charted Accountant friend!

Good luck-you gotta complete lot many things in the days till the college starts!

Shipment or a 'payload of future'?

pay·load [pey-lohd] –noun : the part of a cargo producing revenue or income

Finally the well awaited shipment arrived. I got to know from the weight of the shipment, as mentioned in the tracking email from Fedex, that its gonna be one huge bundle and YES it was.
The packet contains the information we have been waiting for since days: you name it, its in there-accommodation, fees schedule etc. But what we had not expected was that there will be study material also in it.
Going through the study material, one can firmly say that it is something which will enable a smooth transition from an engineer to a MBA-something that will help us glide through the MBA course: a "payload" of future.

Login? Where and for what?

Batti lag gayi hai.
Received a mail which details some username and password for logging in to a site for an assignment.
Argh!! Assignments from now on!

The 'in-transit' shipment contains details related to this mail. Lets wait and watch!

With best wishes for the days to come and the year ahead and everything more!!!!!
Jai ram ji ki

Happy days about to end!

I just got a notification of a courier for me on its way from Kingston-thanks to L. As far as speculations go, it might contain some books to read, some optical discs, some assignments and work books and some questionnaire. So its time to get into the Queen’s robe and start feeling the warmth of a North American MBA!

Good luck to myself

A 'railway-track' sprint

It is believed that any country's embassy, when issuing a non-immigrant permit/visa (student permit, work permit etc) satisfy themselves of the fact that the person seeking the permit will return back to his country. And for the same reason, the Canadian Embassy has included a Questionnaire as a part of the Visa application where an answer to what one intends to do once he has completed his education is expected.

While filling my Visa application, I made sure that my answers are able to convince the Visa officials of my return to India. This would enable me a hassle-free Students Visa/permit for my MBA course at Queen's.

Along with this, I am running to collect the documents which will enable me to successfully file a Permanent Resident (PR) application upon reaching Canada. The one of the few documents which I have come to know is a Police Clearance Certificate from all the countries of stay. Luckily or unluckily I have not visited been to any country outside India.

My present state of resident application for Canada is like that of a Railway track where the two rails are parallel and can never meet but run together always. For me, though the tracks are running parallel for the time being, its a different case-a case of an athlete running on two sprint tracks simultaneously with am aim to win each sprint. One of the sprint/track is a Student Visa, where I am trying to assure the Visa officials that I am returning back to India; the other being the Permanent Resident application process, something enabling me stay in Canada like a Canadian citizen sans the right to vote.

A question seldom pops up in my mind nowadays-After getting a PR status-will I be an Indian? or will I be a Canadian? or will I be both? Its not less than an identity crisis!

On a balloon..

The feeling's different-looks like i am flying high-riding on a balloon!
Even though the visa has not been granted and only the application has been submitted, but its a great relief. The hectic job of collecting the documents, arranging them, making sure that they are correct as desired by the Canadian Embassy is finally over.
Let's wait for the passport to return back and then hopefully move towards the medical examination.
That will be even bigger relief!! Can then it be "flying on a jet plane?" (and not a ballon as i have written now)

Do-did-done! 2/3rd of the pie baked!

After the get-set-go-signal, I went ahead to submit the Visa Application.
The process was very smooth.
The application accepting officer asked me to get a xerox of the first page of the passport where the picture is pasted. Then she asked for all the documents one by one and then tagged them and put in one folder/bag. The total amount was INR 5741 including courier charges and service tax, which you pay after reading the terms and conditions of VFS.

Time taken to submit the application form: approx 35 minutes even though I was the only person there.

Got a receipt number which I can use to track where the passport has reached. It can be used on the VFS's website (http://www.vfs-canada.co.in/visatracking.html) to track your passport. One can also track the passport by sending the following as an SMS to 7333: "VISA CD {passport#}". Also got the attested copy of the passport back.

The lady told me that if everything goes ok, the passport should reach me back in 4-5 working days with a request letter for a medical examination. I have to re-submit my passport after 10 working days (approx 2 weeks as sat, sun is holiday) along with the attested xerox copy of passport, the letter from embassy (which comes with the passport and has medical examination instructions on it), payment receipt and INR 170.


Suggestions:

• Try to keep different types of documents separate:IT Returns separate, Statements separate. The other way of tagging by person also works. I tried both-the only thing that is required is one should know which document is where!
• Use Post-Its and binder clips to categorize documents according to person and to create an index. The CA's consolidated report comes handy. A report similar to CA's can be created by the applicant himself.
  
• Photo clicking facility is also available at VFS.
• Verify your name and Passport number on the receipt that you get after payment.
  

Keeping my fingers crossed for the passport and hoping for the best!

2nd appointment with Visa counselor

February 19, 2007 @ 1030 hrs the work started....
All the documents were thoroughly verified
SoP checked
Bank statments verified-proof attached for some unusual credit.

Counselor again in mood for some debate over-jewelery to be added to the liquid assets and immovable assets to be added to the final value of assets! But I had my say and put both thing things. No harm in putting something over and above the required amount!

Question answered: Issue of a study permit of a lesser duration?
Unsatisfactory-answer received: Happens sometimes! Get it renewed.

Everything is set now...to roar!!!!

The night was indeed long...

The pending activity of sorting the Visa documents was started on Saturday night @ 01.30 AM.
Too many documents to be arranged
Too many binder clips
Too many 'Post-its'

But thanks to the CA's extensive report that the documents could be well arranged and prepared for the Visa application.
The first draft of SoP (Statement of Purpose) written and visa-questionnaire answers prepared.

But..here comes the axe: @5.00 am on a Sunday morning!
Never had imagined such a bad impact of missing a decimal ".".
Never had imagined how one extra digit as a result of missing decimal will mess up things!
INR 40k became INR 4,00k, thanks to the missing of decimal point in one of the liquid assets value.
Also, the letter of support from parents had some numerical error.
Now point is: Sunday-everything closed-Target of application submission on Monday very close.
Somehow got the report again prepared-thanks to mom and the CA! Got the scanned copies of the documents-thanks to dad! Got a colour print of all the document-no thanks-did it myself!

And again the papers are all ready-after all xerox and final re-check!

NOW PR queries! ah!

IELTS=Yes
Police Clearance Certificate=Yes (more on this later)
Ref Link: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/pr-card/index.html

An enlightening chat session

Had a chat session with one of the immediate seniors-of the Class of 2007!

• Exchanged information on the current hot topic-Queen's ranking in FT2007 and +/- of Queen's
• Placements as of now
• Issue of class diversity (lot many Indians admitted!)
• Personal tête-à-tête!
• Pre-MBA prep info!

Final packet of document received-verified contents!

Received the final packet of documents containing the complete set of documents required for visa application! A big packet indeed!
Everything is in 2 copies-original and xerox and that too categorically tagged!
Hats off to my people who have collected all these documents and then arranged and sent to me.

Contents verified!
Everything is in order!
All set to submit Visa application!!

What I wish I’d known then - Looking back at the MBA experience

The MBA or Masters in Business Administration degree is now probably the world’s most popular and widely recognised post-graduate qualification. Every year, more than 100,000 students will invest large amounts of time, effort and money to gain one. But, with the benefit of hindsight, do graduates really believe that it’s been worth all the effort involved?
According to a recent poll by the careers and education group, QS, the company behind the World MBA Tour, there are almost no MBAs who regret having taken the qualification, but a significant proportion do wish that they had approached their studies in a different way. One of the most common regrets centres on a lack of planning for the programme and for the wider business school experience.

Complete article at link
Courtesy: PagalGuy

Surviving an International MBA – 2

Welcome to Term 2 and you are back to losing sleep in the night and catching a few winks during the class. By now, you know who the class stars are and pretty much who are the people who just talk in class for air-time. You try to do everything around you, assignments and quizzes and club activities. But you will be warmed up enough and resigned to the fact that you might after all say adieu to your sleep and social life! But I feel that many of us get too carried away at this point.

Complete article at link
Courtesy: PagalGuy

Surviving an International MBA - 1

It’s been a long time since I put up an article and thought it was about time I told you all, how it has been at a US business school and what the experience amounts to, at the end of the day. I am sure that my blog has been doing a decent job about updating on the fortnightly or so activities, so here’s my attempt to run you all through the “Surviving an International MBA”. My take is that from the Fuqua stand-point. I am sure the experience will be similar elsewhere if not the same.
all started when I got accepted at a ‘good’ business school in India. The thought of actually stepping out of the shores for my MBA crept into my mind and after a year of failing to fund my International MBA, I came back with much vigor and applied to some pretty well known schools abroad.....

Complete article at link
Courtesy: PagalGuy

Financing your international MBA

Resigning from a secure job, moving country, even leaving family and friends behind - potential MBAs seem to take such obstacles in their stride. But with programmes at top-flight schools now costing as much as US $75,000, one question seems to occupy business school applicants more than any other – just how can I find the money to pay for my education?

Every year, as part of its ongoing research project, TopMBA surveys nearly 4,000 aspiring MBAs to establish whether the issue of finance was likely to prove a barrier to study. The latest poll found that practically all had already looked seriously into how they would fund their time at business school and a wide variety of methods were cited from scholarships to personal loans. Scholarships, perhaps not surprisingly, were the most popular option around the world, favoured by 74 pc of respondents. Next came the student’s own savings at 68 pc and then some form of external loan at 61 pc. Only 28 pc realistically expected to get financial help from their employer.

The emphasis that students place on funding methods seems to vary considerably from area to area. Help from family and friends appears to be most common in the Asia-Pacific region where it was cited by 48 pc of those questioned, in contrast to only 43 pc in the USA and Western Europe. Personal loans were the preferred source for over 81 pc of US students, but less than 57 pc of those from Latin America. Company sponsorship was expected from 36 pc of respondents in the Middle East and Africa, but only 21 pc of those in Latin America and a student’s own savings were the favoured method of 80 pc of Western European candidates, but only 62 pc of those from the Middle East and Africa.

Whatever a student’s initial preference, the most common source of finance in practice is now the education or career loan. We look at some of the sources of such loans across the globe:

Finance sources around the world
India
Indian nationals have access to a wide range of education loans geared to fund MBA study. Key suppliers include State Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, State Bank of Mysore, Bank of Baroda and the Industrial Development Bank of India. Loans can be used to cover the cost of fees, travel to an overseas school, the cost of books, computers, etc and living expenses. In most cases candidates will already need to have secured a place at a recognised institution and may need to supply a guarantor, such as a parent or close relative, with sufficient funds to cover the loan. Repayment periods range up to four years after graduation and interest rates are currently around 8.5 to 8.75 pc.

Complete Article at link
Courtesy: PagalGuy/TopMBA.com

Security Deposit Receipt Received

Received the official hard copy of the receipt for the CAN$2000!

Edu Loan sanctioned!!

Finally got my Education Loan sanctioned!!

Thanks Dad and Mr.Banga.

Document collection in progress..but 2nd appointment with counselor postponned

My parents are running from door to door to get all the documents required for the visa. Visits to the CA, notary public (for certain legal issues), banks (statements etc)!!
My dad's making the max of his efforts to get the loan sanctioned at the earliest. Even taking a loan from UCO Bank at .25% more than SBI as the loan can be sanctioned faster there.

In midst of this, when the next(2nd) appointment with the CEC Visa counselor was set for February 14, 2007, due to some personal work, the counselor has gone home and delayed my appointment and submission by 5 days!
Next appointment (and hopefully visa submission too) on Monday, February 19, 2007!

Getting ECNR Clearance @ Bangalore

The Passport office is on the Brunton Road, off MG Road (Just next to ING Vyasa Bank)
(Passport Office, 1A, Brunton Road, Bangalore -560025; Tel: 080 - 25584901, 25584543, 25584536)

Documents Required:

1. Passport (Original and xerox)
2. Proof of ECNR Eligibility (B. Tech mark-sheet –Original and Xerox) (Do not know about 10^th or 12^th certificates being accepted)
3. Completed Form#2 with 1 passport size photograph (https://passport.gov.in/cpv/miscell.pdf)
4. In case the Passport is not issued in Bangalore, then proof of stay for the last 1 year is required in the form of any 1 of telephone bill, mobile bill, gas connection, Letter from employer. The address on these should be your home address and office addresses are not accepted. (Original and Xerox).
5. Rs. 300 fees

The Xerox will be submitted along with the application whereas the original will just be seen and returned back at the same moment. I don’t know if the attested copies can be used to verify the Xerox in place of originals.

Procedure: There are two ways of going about it-long and short way. Fill the form#2 in all respects and be ready with the documents (original and Xerox)

Long way: There is one common queue for all work related to passport. You have to stand in the queue and then submit your application. The office opens at 9.30 AM but by 9.00 AM there were around 150 persons in the queue, so I didn’t try this way. Even the method of spending 300-400 bucks to an agent will look a waste of money if you try the short way.

Short way(Suggested!!)

1. Go to http://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/process.htm, Fill in the details and take the appointment.
2. Take a printout of the appointment page and attach it with the application packet. The person at the counter checks specifically asks for this to be attached.
3. Go at the stipulated time. Don’t be late than 5.30 PM as the office closes by that time.
4. On the first floor, reach counter #7. The person there will verify your Xerox. Once done, he will move your application to counter #6. The person at counter #6 verifies your Xerox with the originals. He then moves the application to the counter #5. There he will ask for the fees of Rs. 300. He will give you a receipt and ask you to come next day after 3.30 PM
5. Go the next day and then see if your name has been called for. When called, go with the receipt of Rs. 300. The person at the counter will take your sign against ‘ Passport Received’ and then verify this signatures with the ones in Passport. Once done, you are given your passport with ECNR Clearance. Its better to check the passport for the same.

• Total Time taken for submission after you reached the counter (queue is usually small as very few people know about this procedure): 5 minutes
• Total Time taken for receipt of passport on Day2: 5-20 minutes

The good points here being

1. You don’t have to spend a lot of time if you documents are all present as required.
2. The fees is taken only when your form is fully checked for accuracy and verified against originals.

Details on ECNR available at the following links:

1. http://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/index.htm
2. http://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/ecnr_ecr.htm
3. http://kar.nic.in/passport/contact.htm

Note: Persons above 50 years of age are automatically eligible for ECNR

1st appointment with Visa counselor

I decided to take the services of the counselor at the Canadian Education Centre (CEC) in Bangalore. The charges are INR 2500 for 2-3 sessions.
I had taken some documents for the first appointment which were as according to the VFS's checklist and also what CEC's desk-lady had sent me. I got them verified and noted the instructions that the counselor mentioned. I also got some of my questions answered. I had filled the Personal Information Form, Questionnaire and the main application form roughly. She verified the same and suggested modifications/improvements.

Important Note: No original documents are to be submitted as whatever is submitted is not returned back in case of a visa reject.


Questions answered:

• On a student's visa, can I go to some other country like USA, or if required India and then go back to Canada to resume my studies? Student Visa/Permit are usually Multiple Entry Visas. This means that during the time frame of the validity of the visa, the visa-holder can go in and out of the country any number of times.
• Is a Temporary Resident Visa required for me? No

Important points noted during the session: (xerox of document wherever applicable)

• On applying for a 1 yr Student Permit, usually 3 months extra student visa is granted, making it a total of 12+3=15 months Students Permit.
• If Mutual Funds and Stocks are being added to the Liquid Funds, then their value with the Net Asset Value (NAV) /price-per-stock as on a specific date should be mentioned along with.
• For LIC Insurance Policy, the original policy (whose size is usually > than A4) has to be xeroxed
• For Mutual Funds, get the profile page of the person in case the mutual funds statement doesn't show the name on whom the funds are. {Case of online share trading accounts}
• For immovable property, sale deed and valuation report by Charted Accountant to be attached.
• #If possible, get the xerox of the security deposit draft. In case the draft was paid from a bank account, a printout of the debit is a plus.
• Its beneficial to make a 2 page Statement of Purpose(SoP) by the Applicant mentioning the background, the reasons for choosing the stream/specialization and college, future plans. This has to be in sync with the CV and the Visa Questionnaire.
• #If a complete profile of the applicant can be created, it shows that the applicant is strong. It can include all academic certificates, extra curricular certificates, score cards, mark-sheets (GMAT, TOEFL etc), appointment letter of company, salary revision letters, promotion letters, performance letters.
• (Very Imp Point) Immigrant status of applicant(s) in country where applying (point 6a of form IMM1294B of Student's application): Since I am in India and am submitting my application in India, so this has to be "Citizen" since I am an Indian
  

Following documents are required for the applicant, parents (if supporting) and sponsorer (if any)

1. #Pay slip for last 6 months
2. IT returns for last 3 years
3. Letter of employment from employer stating the date of joining
4. Bank-statments for last 2 years: In case some huge credits are there, it has to be explained with proofs. The term "huge" is a relative term w.r.t. the normal quantum of transactions and balance.
5. Letter from Bank manager stating bank account number, name of account-operator, date since holding the account and balance as on a specific date.
6. A statement showing clearly the different types of liquid separately for each person. The fixed assets can be clubbed together. (This statement works like an index and is very useful)
7. Statement of support mentioning the school's name and the program being attended.

Other documents required:

1. Letter of acceptance by college
2. #Receipt of security deposit
3. #^Loan sanction letter (if using loan)

Some contradictory/debatable points during the discussion

• Gold is not counted as a liquid asset: My CA who makes reports for Immigration told me that gold is counted but the counselor has opposite views
• Assured Value is taken for LIC Insurance Policy rather than Surrender Value

#Optional documents
^Case of loan: It is not necessary to include loan in the liquid assets. In case your assets' value is matching the figure of tuition+living expenses+to and fro travel expenses. Only the xerox of loan sanction letter is to be submitted.

A question asked to me by someone w.r.t. loans: "During the submission of Visa Documents , Can i mention that I have applied for Loan and the processing is underway or is it mandatory ( for a successful visa stamping ) that I should show them the Approval or Pre Approval?". The question is tricky!
Answer: Visa officials need to have a proof of your financial stability -proof of tuition fees and living expenses. If you have enough funds over and above the loan to satisfy the 90k$ i dont think it should have a problem. That time you dont even need to show that you are applying for loan. But consider this situation. you apply for loan.god forbid-the loan gets rejected, but you have a valid visa.then? So its not good to do that.I will say , in fact the application can be rejected! Its hard truth, though a speculated one.

Earlier discussion with Visa counselor available here

ECNR @ last!

Finally got the ECNR Clearance!

Moral of the ordeal: The online appointment system works in Bangalore!!

One thing off the list of To Do activities!!

ECNR issue: Online appointment

Tried the online way. Let's see if the things really work in government offices, even though they are in Bangalore.
On the link http://nitpu2.kar.nic.in/passport/process.htm, one can get an online appointment for most of the work related to passport.
You need to take a print out of this appointment and take it along with you at the appointment.

I got an appointment for Tuesday, February 6, 2007 @ 16.24 hrs.

Lets see if some work is done!

FT rankings raise eyebrows-questions galore

The FT rankings for 2007 are out and to everyone's surprise, Queen's doesn't list anywhere in the top 100 Business Schools in the world! This has raised many eyebrows and numerous questions.

1. Reputation
2. High acceptance ratio (number of people selected:number of people applied)
3. Jobs for foreign students

.....

ECNR: Docs required

I checked the Passport Office for documents required for getting your ECNR done.
Following is the small list. (Xerox/Original was not mentioned, hence no number of copies of xerox also!)

1. Original Passport
2. Filled Form#2
3. Proof for ECNR Clearance (12th pass certificate or beyond)
4. In case passport is not issued by the office where you want to get the ECNR done, proof of stay for 1 year (can be Residential agreement, Letter from employer)

Rest, once my ECNR is done, I will confirm the correct documents required.

ECNR issue: 1st Visit to Passport office

Should i call the 1st visit of the 2nd? Does the first one on Saturday last week when the passport office was closed can be called a first visit?

Just coming back after a unfruitful attempt at getting my ECNR done. Even after reaching at 9 AM though the office opens at 9.30 AM, the queue was 150-200 persons long. And there is only one queue for all Passport related work.

I went alone since others had some work.

Tried with the agents also. (Yeah! I had to, didn't want a re-trip to the place again and that too at a time -around 7 AM on Monday, Feb 5th, as planned with others.) The agents wanted atleast 700 bucks for getting your thing done. The others who had agreed for less (read 600) had raised their hands since the queue was long. I was just not in mood to shell out more than double what it will take officially. So had to come back!

One of my friends just told me that one can take an appointment online and then visit the Passport office. Let's see, how this works out, thought the current plan to visit the Passport office at around 7 AM on Monday, February 5th, is still in place!