Busy Busy Busy

I know I haven't logged in in ages, but I have been busy doing interviews and travelling to different schools. I think its a very important part of the "getting to know your fit" process and it will definitely make my final attendance decisions better.

Oh and on a side note ;) I am DONE with all my applications!!!! I am not sure If I'll be doing any schools in round 2.

I will update with details of school visits and interviews soon!

Chicago Chicago

So I finally arrived in Chicago on Thursday night. The stars seemed to have shone on this trip from the very beginning. JB managed to fly with me finally and the flight was smooth and actually landed earlier than the arrival time, which is almost unheard of. On the way to my sweet friend KJ's home ( BTW BIG shoutout to KJ for making my stay absolutely scrumptious!!), I got hit upon on the streets around 5 times!! That's never happened in one evening in NY and I had "flight clothes" on!

Nehooo, I have been running on 4 hours of sleep a night since. Friday was GSB live. Here goes another shoutout. BIG PROPS to the GSB AdCom and the Dean's student cochairs who organized this event. It was by far the most well organized event I have attended in this whole cycle and it has left me very very deeply impressed with Chicago GSB. It has managed to sway my choice towards the GSB almost 90% as my fav schol. I still haven't visitied Kellogg and this might change on Monday, but I doubt it. And this despite of the fact that Kellogg is the far better brand name for me, considering that I want to go into marketing!

So the GSB live started at 9AM with a breakfast and mingler. As soon as I came in, I was handed a packet by the adcom which detailed my day's schedule, the details of all the activities involved including the lecture I had been assigned and the members of the student panel. The breakfast spead was awesome and the FY students who spoke to us very informative and helpful. The only thing that surprised me and that I was a little put off by through the whole day was that I seemed to know more about the school and its different programs and quirks if you may, than some of the FYs. For example, I knew a lot about the IMBA and the requirements for it, whereas some of the FYs didn't seem to have heard of it almost!

After the obligatory welcome and Q&A with Adcom director, we were herded into a student panel. Once again the discussion was a bit moot for me since I knew most of the answers to the Qs from the crowd. Well YAY me for really knowing the school.

One point worth mentioning from the panel. Someone from the crowd asked "what would you change about CGSB if you could" to the students. Not one of the 5 panelists seemed to have an answer. They all replied to variations of " I would try to time manage my activities more" but really that's not a bad thing in a school, having too many options!! and its not even something 'wrong' with the school. This means either that all the students are remarkably well adjusted to the school and love it, or that they were giving a particularly weak answer to a "weakness" question.

This session was followed by a building tour and by a boxed ( fantabulous) lunch. A point of note through the whole day was, all the applicants ( and there were about 70-80 of us attending), seemed soooooooppppppeerrr friendly. I was surprised. On my previous school visits, you could almost cut the tension in the air and everyone seemed ultra competitive and nasty! The friendliness made for a very relaxing and fun environment thru the day.

Lunch was followed by a lecture and I particularly enjoyed the class I sat for. Without going into too many details, it showed me a very different side of teaching and was by far the most unusual class I have seen.

The final and most IMPORTANT organized session was the application overview. This is the most amazingly brilliant idea thought up the ad com ever...I mean EVER. They handed us applicants, an anonimized application, compete with resume, recommendations etc of a prospective and asked us to judge the candidate ourselves and make notes of his strengths and weaknesses. After giving us half an hour for processing the app, the adcom led us in a discussion of what were the strengths and weaknesses and what could be better. This is such a startlingly informative sessions, since it tells you not only the adcoms very unbiased and strong POV, but it also gives you an honest insight into your own app and gives you a chance to compare yourself to a standard applicant. It basically almost seems to answer that inane questions that you always have.. Am I dong something completely wrong? Short of hiring a very costly admissions consultant, I think this could have been the best method of being able to objectively self analyze your app.

So a Q&A session resumed after this with snacks and once I got bored of hearing the same questions asked and answered again and again, I made my quick exit.

All in all I think it was an amazing experience and I have to say the Chicago GSB proved that they deserve the reputation of being the best adcom and they are very fit to what is arguably the best B school.

Almost panic state

I'm going to be spending pretty much all the upcoming weekends till the end of October visiting schools and since I am getting freebie stays in each of the school cities with friends, it also means I'll be spending a lot of time having fun...

All fun and no work makes a girl panic before application deadlines.

All my essays look OK but I need to break through from that OK state to perfection.

GRRRRRRRRR

I am also a little confused. I have realized while reading through my essays that they don't have a lot of the "buzzwords" used in MBA applications like "envision" or "expertise". I'm beginning to wonder if it would have been a good idea to pony up the big bucks for a professional to have a look at them.

There is a thin line between sounding polished and sounding fake. As there is one between honesty and being shabby. That's what I am obsessing about currently.

Updates

So I know I dissapeared after that first day of marathon blogging, but I have been very busy finishing up all the essays.

That's right I said finishing up all the essays!!

I can officially say the "first" drafts of each and every essay for each school are now finished. All the esays have been customized to the schools and their particular questions. I have sent out the links on google docs ( what did we ever do before it?!!) to all my reviewers.

Now all that remains is for them to get back to me with feedback and for me to obsess over each essay seperately and refine the language, make it more striking etc.

The only ( yeah right only!!) problem now is that all my reviewers ( who are current students btw), have been terribly busy themselves, and I am not sure they can look through all the essays.

I do have a quick and dirty solution (and this applies to all applicants who are just writing their essays too ). The GOLDEN RULE IS:

Start with Kellogg
( to all who are not applying to this school you'll get my drift and find a similar school amongst your list)

Kellogg has the most number of essays of any school I am apping to and it has a very comprehensive list of essays. Once you are done with K essays, most essays for other schools are derivatives. To complete all other essays takes creative copy pasting and mayyybeee covering an extra topic or two.

So once you are SURE you have strong essays for Kellogg, you are golden!

I am in a little bit of a panic now though, because I still think my essays sound far from polished and starting next week, for three weeks, I will be travelling to different schools, which means I will have less time to sit and obsess on each line of each essay than I would like.

On the upside, it means I'll have soo much to to blog about!!

First up is Chicago on the 10th. That's right i'll be in town for the CGSB LIVE!!!!

Forte forum

Quite similar to the World tour except for the yummy appetizers. I stopped by all schools booths again and signed the sign in sheets and asked inane questions, I knew the answers to already.

However on the upside, they had a really great panel consisting of women MBA alums from various schools and discussing their life/MBA/career experiences. I would like to thank these lovely ladies for taking time out of their busy schedules and reaffirming my faith in business school. I worry about having to live away from JB and spending so much of our savings when we should be starting our lives together. These ladies discussed their lives and their choices and sacrifices for MBA very openly. JB has always been very supportive and I was the one shying away from a long distance relationship. I might end up changing my view on this, but oh i would hate to do so.

Kellogg take me take me!!

World MBA/ QS tour

In one word - Useless.

The adcoms see about 1000 students in one day making it highly unlikely that any one candidate stands out to them. You don't get to know anything you couldn't have found online anyway. In the NY leg, only Wharton had a presentation, while all other schools only had booths.

Plus somehow from registering for it, though I was pretty sure I checked this option off, I ended up getting spam mail from all sorts of school.

GRRRRRRR I hate spam!

Only upside was that I signed up at various booths, so hopefully the schools keep a record and know I have been interested in them long before they get my apps.

On a side note, the lady from McCombs adcom is really not doing her school any favors. She was missing from her booth for the first 15 mins since she forgot the sign in sheet and there was no one at the table!! this in addition with the hoprrible school website is putting me off the school.

Johnson visit

Quick analysis - Great atrium, great class in financial analysis, so so marketing class. Friendly but reserved adcom. Good student presentation, though really all they seem to do in many different words is finance! Very tight knit community, good clubs and great immersion program. good facilities, though Cornell as a univ clearly overshadows it. The town of Ithaca however, is teeeeny. Only 2 places to hang out at - Commons or CollegeTown.
Overall feeling - GREAT school for finance but not so fantastic for everything else.
The adcom will be helpful but don't go to them with stupid questions or be simperingly nice to them.
Most important asset is the immersion program. If i get in I will really have to use this.

Stern visit

I'll keep this one short since it was an unofficial visit and I didn't meet adcom or sit through classes. great access to the city, pretty decent fascilities and good bars abound. What more can I say!

Final List

Again stealth mode is ON so I am putting in a few schools that I am finally not apping to, but did consider once:

Kellogg (Northwestern) – Absolute dream school. Near Chicago, big city cosy burb vibe – pro . Teamwork oriented school – pro. Killer reputation in Marketing – pro. Great acads great profs – pro, near a main fin center which is important for the other half in case of relocation – pro Chicago is colder than a witch’s ***** in the winter’s -only con I can think of.

Chicago GSB – So I attended the NY event for this school and I am sorry, for all the brand name they have built off late, the alums ( technically a few of the alums, but u know about the rotten apple in the barrel ) have no reason to be coming off quite as snooty as they did! I loved the adcom director though, she seemed like a sweety! Doesn’t mean I don’t think this is a reach and that she won’t cut me down to size in an instant in an interview. Chicago city life – pro, IMBA –pro, excellent faculty –pro. No sense of school community (don’t fight me on this one folks! I just say them as I see them) –con, once gaain witch’s t***** -con


Fuqua (Duke) - smaller school very tight community – pro, great profs and courses- pro, strong in marketing –pro, great “feel” for me ( totally intangible I know) – pro, Decent ranking, rising steadily thru years –pro
School in freaking middle of whooseville – Con, specially for JB ( significant other henceforth called JB).

Darden (Virginia) – almost exactly as above with addition of one tiny funny fact. I was first interested in the school and impressed by the number of student bloggers here!

Stern ( NYU) - NY NY NY –pro, great opportunities for JB – pro, I know a lot of the alums, they are great ppl – pro, great fin structure which I’ll need to get a good business education – pro, so-so marketing program – con. Again very popular city so most students apply to this school – con.


Columbia – almost the same as above except one big pro – SNOOTY as all hell!

Haas ( UC Berkley) – West coast is warm – pro, great school, great mktg prog, great acads –pro, loads of opportunities even in finance if JB shifts –pro, did I mention the weather :D
Coast to coast travel or long distance relationship of JB gets jobs here – con, 3 decent school on whole west cost where everyone will apply to –con.

Johnson (Cornell) – great small school community, I know a couple of current students there and they know everyone in their program –pro, great finance classes – pro, again close to NY and JBs possible job – pro, great immersion program which I think is essential for job switchers – pro, Ithaca is beautiful in Summer –pro. Winter sucks –con, Ithaca can get a bit whooville like too – con.

Tepper ( CMU) – great small school again with good community vibe –pro. Very good analytical program, good in finance and marketing –pro, near east coast stuff –pro, great support structure for Women ( my opinion) – pro. Pittsburgh –a wee bit of the con, maybe too analytical –con.


McCombs( Texas ) – No one likes saying this and the adcom HATES hearing this but everyone has a safe school. Texas is mine. Good finance and marketing programs –pro, good community vibe –con Austin is a great city and I have some good friends living there –pro. Again not a possible area for JB to move to - con, not a great brand name – con.

OK all backgrouynd done. FF to present

Sounds like a sitcom.. melt screen to NOW :)

Plan, Plan, Plan

I have met people attending recent MBA events who are planning on apping for Fall of '10. Yes they are planning a two years in advance! That might be a weeee bit of overkill, but apping for the MBA really takes planning. Here’s what the schedule might look like:

Fall – start thinking about MBA, planning what you want to do wether you really want do a MBA. Just decide “I do” first and then forget about this question for a while.

December – Start studying for GMAT

Jan _ Book a date – nothing gets you as focused as actually booking a FINAL date and spending $250 in doing so! Have a somewhat vague list of schools ready to send your scores to. – save some money!

Feb/ March – Start taking mock tests. In case of Kaplan tests, if your verbal is low, add ~50 points to your total and take hope. Whatever scores you are getting on the mba.com tests however, are usually pretty accurate in the range of +- 20/

April/ may – Take the GMAT

June/ July – Retake if necessary

July/ August – research the schools, what you want to do, which specialization, generalization, which city etc. this is VERY important. Though most schools won’t emphasize this, brand name and ranking do matter, whether they will accept you is almost as big a decision as whether you want to go there and the “fit” works both ways.
Think a LOT during this time of what you want to do, why, and where you want to be. Look at previous applicants essays. Buy a couple of books or hire a consultant to get an idea of what the essays should sound like and which schools would fit you the best.

September – Start applying. Finalize schools, start writing essays. Visit a lot of fairs, these are generally useless but they get your name and if you are lucky your face familiar to the adcoms. Visit the schools – this might not be possible for everyone, but it is the surest way to express your deep interest in the schools. Ladies –you have an added advantage here –most schools offer comped Women’s Weekends/ tours etc and Forte forum and the consortium are very strong tools you have to leverage.

(These parts I am guessing at since I haven’t been though them myself yet. I will perhaps update this post again later)

October/ November – put those apps in, interview.. busy busy busy!!

December _ chew nails, wait for results

Jan – Yipeeeeeee!! (I hope!)

GMAT

So quick history, I have always been in an analytically and academically heavy field through undergrad and grad (Yes I already have one grad degree!) and I have been an avid bookworm ( of the fiction type) since I have been a kid, so the math and verbal were not toooo much of an issue for me.

I am not saying I breezed through, but I didn’t struggle beyond having to work hard. I know that this might be an issue for some of you who have never had analytical backgrounds, and people get really worked up about the whole GMAT thing. I have a couple of friends who actually almost lost it during the whole Scoretop scandal since they might have been VIP members. I really think that GMAT is important, but not important enough to change you entire life over. Seconds I think most schools take this one as the least important part of your application.

Having said that I got a 700+ score on my GMAT and damn does it feel good to have that under my belt while apping!

So quick advice from my experience:

Get the Manhattan SC and RC guides, they are very detailed and helpful. Get these in the very beginning since they are also very hard to get through in the last minute (I discovered them very late and I had issues).

Get the Official Guide. It’s Imperative!

Once you are confident about these 2, get the Kaplan 800 books. These are extra practice in Verbal sections and almost as good in Math.

Try finding the 1000 SCs and RCs online. Someone has gone through a lot of effort to put these together and they are an invaluable resource. Some answers are incorrect or incomplete but stick with doing these, find other people discussing the answers on forums and you will get a LOT of extra practice.

Do all online tests / CDs/ practice tests as MANY times as possible. Do these in the time prescribed. As you practice more and more, the timing for each section will improve. I started off completely horrible in Math and even in my final test I guesstimated the last 2 questions or so. Only drilling at it and practicing again and again brought me even somewhat close to finishing in time.

Last but not least, KEEP A NOTE OF YOUR MISTAKES. I cannot tell you how important this is. I went over the same stuff again and again making the same mistakes till someone gave me this advice and I finally wised up. I wasted almost 1 month relearning or redoing my mistakes. Keep a notebook, note your mistakes, periodically review it and apply this info to other questions you see. Always know the broad areas you are weak in, spend more time on them.

And I guess Best of luck, don’t lose your cool, be confident and you KNOW you can do it!

Here I go

I really wanted to avoid the cliché MBA applicant blog and was thus far chronicling my MBA journey as part of my regular blog, which I have been somewhat faithfully updating for the past two years.

But now that I have started visiting schools and meeting adcoms, I realize the power of Google and the repercussions of all I think and reveal about the schools. I am not vain enough to think that each adcom has time enough to Google me, but after having spent a good year obsessing about the admissions, I would hardly want to leave small things to chance. And I am too wired up to be able to sit back and not write about this experience. I also need to look back the whole experience once I do graduate with an MBA and laugh a little at myself :) So here goes!