First days in Leuven

I could manage to get almost all the stuff I wanted from India courtesy Jet Airways.Coming to Leuven was pretty comfortable from Brussels Airport through the Metro.When I reached Leuven it was raining and the weather was chilly, I thought welcome to Belgium in its best form ;)

On the first day,started with pre-registering at KU Registration and taking a cell phone connection.Visited the school and met few batchmates. Started with studio hunting on the second day.Rajesh(another batchmate from India) and me had decided to stay together and we could finalize a studio by third day.Pre-MBA reading is pending on my side, have to push for those courses now.BTW Leuven is a nice small city with nice people, I think I am going to love it here :))

An immigrant goes to become immigrant in another continent

I was recently at my parents' place in Jamshedpur,one moment, I am calling it 'parents place' and not home,I asked the same question to myself. I realised I felt like an immigrant at what used to be home for me.I have lived outside home for so long and at many different places that there is no one place that I could call home.

I am shifting to Europe in couple of days. Having lived in and around Bangalore for almost eight years that too in my most formative years I definitely have a very heavy heart in leaving Bangalore. I am sure I would come back to Bangalore soon.

Eventually it is the color of my passport that says where I belong to, but at my heart I think I would always be an immigrant or may be a world citizen :))

Impact of social networking on pre-classes phase

The impact of social networking websites on the pre-classes phase has been no less than phemomenal.Facebook and LinkedIn has been two social n/w sites where the class got together months before we would actually meet. There was exchange of info starting from loan processing(Prodigy),details of visa application, flight, insurance and what not. It eased life for everybody.Folks are so hooked to Facebook group that the official discussion forum provided by Vlerick didn't really click.

Almost everyone in the class already knows each other and folks who are already in Leuven are having a good time together courtesy FB.

Looking to meet the class soon.

Visa Process

The visa process for Belgium(Schengen Visa) is an elaborate one. I started my visa process one and half months in advance to the date by when I intended to submit the application. The required documents were:-

- Police verification certificate
- Medical certificate
- Financial support document
- Letter of registration from the institute

Out of these docs the ones I expected to be most painful were Police Verification and Financial support document. I obtained the medical certificate from the designated doctor of St John's Hospital,Bangalore. It took a good 3 days time.The classical confusion was in obtaining the Police Verification Cerficate, I am even tempted to write a separate post about it. After my research I applied for the PVC in the Regional Passport Office,Bangalore,since my passport was issued from Bangalore so it took me just two days to get the PVC. Then I went to the Branch Secretariat MEA,Govt of India,in Chennai for Apostille of PVC.Meanwhile I was arranging my final fin docs and once my loan papers were in place I was ready to submit my visa application.I could manage to submit my application as planned.I was told by few alumni that visa could take a good 2-2.5 months and that prompted me to finish the process asap.

My only advice is to research well and apply for visa in advance(2 months should be good enough).My to be batchmates on Facebook were pretty helpful in this process.I got my visa in 2 weeks time. I arrive in Leuven on 25th of Aug.

Admission -II

In early Feb I received a mailer from Vlerick about increasing the class intake to 65 for class of 2010 and Vlerick coming to Bangalore again in TheMBA fair.I wrote to Vlerick admission dept with my CV and score details and sought an appointment to meet Vlerick's representative. Peter Rafferty,the MBA program director was visiting Bangalore.

The interview was pretty free wheeling. It ranged from my work-experience to political situation in South Asia to Obama's foreign policy to India's rise as new world power. I was pretty satisfied with the interview. Peter offered me an admit on the condition that the number of Indians has to be within a fixed no. I submitted my application in next 48 hours as suggested by Peter.

I got a mail about me being waitlisted in 3 weeks time. Also I got a communication from Peter stating that I have a pretty good chance of being confirmed.Almost after 4weeks my admit was confirmed. I had admits from other schools in the UK & Netherlands but I decided to go with VLERICK finally!!!

Admission - I

With a 670/4.5 on GMAT and 109 on TOEFL IBT I started my MBA applications. Vlerick was always one of my top choices,however I was more inclined to finish my ISB,Hyderabad's application first because the deadline was for it approaching fastly. I learnt that Vlerick's representative would be attending the TopMBA fair in Bangalore and decided to meet him or rather have a quasi-formal interview arranged.

I wrote to the admission dept of Vlerick with my CV and score details. I was sent an invite for the interview.I was pretty enthusiatic and met the Vlerick representative for my interview. The interview was pretty free wheeling and encouraging but at the end of it I was told that for an Indian candidate 700 on GMAT is a must for a confirmed admit.I would be at the most waitlisted with my profile. I was disapponted but thought c'est la vie.

A new journey...

I am joining Vlerick Leuven Gent School of Management this Sep for MBA course.The journey until now has been of great self discovery and I looking forward to a very stimulating experience in Vlerick.

I would be writing about my experiences of Vlerick on this blog. I would start with admissions and continue with further activities.

-Sandeep