When I applied for my MBA, my monthly government salary was comparable to one day’s cost of my MBA.
But thankfully, that year, Wharton constituted a $40,000 Emerging Economy Fellowship. So, on an online discussion forum, I asked one of the admissions officers and she said she would let me know when the application opens.
But one day, I saw a message suggesting that the Fellowship deadline was already over! Horrified, I messaged the admissions officer and she confirmed it.
But because she had forgotten to message me about it, as a special case, she allowed me 24 hours to apply. Very few institutions in the world would extend a deadline just because someone casually promised something on a public discussion forum — but that was Wharton!
So I hurriedly wrote a one page application, and faxed it from Trivandrum late at night. And that got me $40,000 — the highest ROI I have ever had for writing one page. 😊 To be fair, I had to give up $20k I already had from another scholarship, but it was still a fantastic outcome.
Sometimes, you have to take your chance, no matter how slim it is. In fact, everything worthwhile that has happened to me has been low probability.
But if you take your chances and keep putting in your best shot, over time, it all adds up. That is how you build your career — by taking a lot of chances, one at a time.
– Rajan