Cornfed MBA

Anticlimactic...

2007-01-17T13:17:00.000-05:00

Not even sure what to make of this... waitlisted?

Dear Cornfed,

The MBA Admissions Board has reviewed your application materials. We have not yet made a final decision on your application, and we would like to offer you a place on our wait list. This wait list offer is an indication that you are a strong candidate for our program. We will notify you by email at the end of every month updating you on where we are in the application process. In addition, we will email you as soon as there is a change in your candidate status.

We understand that you are likely considering strong alternatives, so we will make every effort to have a final decision to you as soon as possible. Our decision will be based upon a continued review of the completed application materials you have already submitted. We ask you to refrain from submitting additional materials in support of your candidacy. In order to maintain a fair and consistent review of all applications, unsolicited additional materials will not be considered.

Please indicate whether you would like to accept a place on our wait list by January 24 though the online poll at http://poll.hbs.edu/poll/open/pollTakerOpen.jsp?poll=115608 and provide contact information that will be valid through July 2007. While we will make the majority of our wait list decisions well before then, we will maintain a wait list until July.You may also wish to visit our wait list Web page at http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/waitlist/index.html, which we hope will address most of your questions. Should you have any further questions after reviewing this Web page, please contact Ms. Eileen Chang, Associate Director of MBA Admissions, at eileen_chang@hbs.edu.

We will continue to give your application full and thoughtful consideration and will make a final decision as soon as possible.We appreciate your interest in Harvard Business School and are grateful for your patience.

Sincerely,
Deirdre C. Leopold

Managing Director, MBA Admissions & Financial Aid

My first admit...

2006-12-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

... Wharton. I'm thrilled.
I've been trying not to think about it all week and I've been really busy at work, so it's been easier to forget about it. But I woke up this morning and it hit me during my run. I almost had to stop - so nervous a little short of breath.
I got the call around 10am. I was on another call, but had a wonderful voicemail to listen to. As per usual, the Wharton rep was warm and positive, which has been the overall feeling I've gotten from the school.
I'm really excited. And now I don't need to scrape together any R2 applications and I get to enjoy the holidays.
Congrats to all the other Wharton admits!

My Wharton Interview

2006-11-28T15:42:00.000-05:00

I recently had my Wharton interview and it was fantastic. I've posted this before, but Wharton really has a knack for making applicants feel welcome. At least this has been the impression that I've had from visits, Admissions events, Explore Wharton, etc. The same was true on the day of my interview.

Philadelphia is a beautiful city. Sure, it has rough parts, but there are not many cities that can compare to the historical significance and the architecture. Every time I visit Philadelphia, I love it more.

I got to my interview about 30 minutes early. I checked in by logging into a computer and giving the receptionist my resume. As most people know, Wharton does their interviews 'blind'. The interviewer has not read your application and knows nothing about you, except for what's on your resume. I sat in the waiting area which was kindly staffed with students. Seriously. Students come and sit in the waiting area to answer questions, chat, and alleviate the nervousness of interviewees. I met a few other applicants - three gentlemen and two women. All seemed personable and fantastic candidates. The students that were in the waiting area were very nice. It is such a great idea to have students always in there on-hand to answer questions. It emphasized my impression that Wharton truly wants to make the application process smooth and transparent.

My interview started on-time and began with logistics: thirty minutes, blind, hopefully conversational, etc. My interviewer was a second year 'Graduate Assistant'. One of 50-70 students who apply, interview, and take a position within admissions to read applications and interview candidates. The competition for such a position is pretty stiff and my interviewer definitely seemed like a stellar student and representative of the school. He briefly introduced himself, his background, what he intends to do, and why he chose Wharton. I asked him a few questions about himself and then he started asking me questions about my resume.

I basically started by walking through my resume. I kept it simple and he asked me to embellish where he was interested in more detail. The questions revolved around digging deeper into my resume. He had a few interesting questions like which bullet I would choose to remain on my resume if I had to erase all of my resume except that one bullet. He asked the 'Why MBA/WhyNow/Why Wharton' series of questions. I was asked my strengths and my weaknesses. I gave examples of leadership/management in my current position. I was asked why I made specific choices in my career. I was asked what I would do if I didn't get in to an MBA program (ie would I pursue the same path I indicated in my answers/essays even without the MBA). He asked what I would do differently if I had to go back and change some of my decisions.

At the end, I asked him a few questions about his background and his choices. Hey, he gave me the option, so I wasn't going to let that slide. His decision to go to Wharton was, I would say, a difficult personal one. Still, he is resolute that it was a great choice for him and his future. He represented his decision and, hence, Wharton, really well.

I left, he walked me out, we shook hands and I left. I had drinks with a few old work folks and dinner with a few Wharton friends and other Philly acquaintances. Philly has fantastic restaurants. Seriously.

Any questions, feel free to email/post a comment.

Interviews, waiting, more interviews

2006-11-15T09:35:00.000-05:00

The Harvard campus is gorgeous. All these tightly clustered buildings solely for the business school. The campus is across the river from Harvard Square and the other Harvard schools, across the street from the football stadium, in less desireable Allston. The buildings are primarily red brick with the names engraved above the doorways. The Dillon House - where the Admissions Office is located - looks slightly different. It looks more like a 19th century house.

I got to the HBS campus 45 minutes before my interview and drove into the parking lot. It would be just as easy to park on the street between the stadium and the campus and walk or, better yet, take a taxi. I got to the Dillon House about 30 minutes before my interview. There were two other gentlemen waiting (and one woman, although, she turned out to be the girlfriend/spouse/significant other of a male interviewee). I got a pretty red folder with my name on it, a pass to get lunch at Spangler and to go to the gym, a letter, and the name of my interviewer. I also got a fantastic Harvard Business School pen (clearly the highlight).

After a nice little wait in the waiting area, my interviewer came to get me. The interviewer was a member of the admissions committee and started with logistics: thanks for coming, this will be 30 minutes, you will hear from us January 17th. Then the questions started. They were really specific. It was obvious that my application had been read - even studied - as had my resume. The interviewer wanted to know about my decisions. How I decided to go with my first job, about my job experiences, current position and roles, switching jobs, the job market when I left school (it was crappy), etc. I was asked about my leadership experiences (the ones that were mentioned in my essays) and how that directed my life. My work experience in college and how i ended up getting a relatively high-level role in college. About my athletic experience in college. Why I wanted an MBA, what I wanted to do after, how I could do that if those types of jobs aren't recruited for on campus, etc. It was casual, but the questions were pointed. There was not even reference to my application - it was almost like it had been studied. The details seemed to come easily to the interviewer. While we were talking, the interviewer took copious notes.

I left feeling like I did ok, but not fantastic. I tend to be a bit more passionate/exciteable, but I was more subdued. I blame it on the fact that I was in a car accident the day before (I'm fine, my car is not), but I really think that maybe the interviewer just brought out that side in me. The conversation was clearly directed and not directed by me.

I didn't do any preparing for the interview and I'm not sure that I would have done that differently. If I have any advice for people, it would be to re-read your essays. For me, it's my story, I know it cold. So I didn't feel like I needed to prepare. Maybe a better, more prepared answer to the why MBA and what I want to do after, since for me, that could vary somewhat - my 'dream jobs' all have similarities, though.

Wharton is in about 2 weeks and I'm going to campus again.

Feel free to ask me questions if I wasn't thorough enough. I feel like I couldn't give too many detailed question examples since they were so specific to me and my story.

Finally, my invite from...

2006-11-10T14:45:00.000-05:00

... Wharton.

For some reason I thought if I was going to get an interview, it would have been a few weeks ago (say, when Rungee got hers). But I got mine today. Now, it's sort of a scramble to get my interview scheduled before the Dec 7th end-date. I'm really keen on doing the interview in Philly on campus, so I'm trying to figure out how to swing that. The last few weeks have been light with work, but of course things are stepping up and getting the time to go for an on-campus interview is much more difficult.
Anyway, I'm really excited. I was getting almost dire with Wharton, but I need to change my tune - stop being frustrated and get back to loving Wharton.

I'll post on my Harvard interview after I have it (on-campus) in a few days. All I know so far is that it's 30 minutes and with a member of Admissions. Should be fun :)

An invite from....

2006-11-03T06:49:00.000-05:00

.... Harvard.
I got it last night. Ironically, it was when my wheels touched down in Boston for a weekend with friends. Now I have to come back next weekend. Life is hard. :)

It came right when I was falling into a deep pit of despair over the fact that I still have heard nothing from Wharton. I definitely felt more confident about Wharton, but they have still sent no love to me.

My HBS interview invite provided a 'requested time and location' - in Boston with admissions. It's definitely early for HBS, which is exciting for me, but I can empathize with those still waiting because of my experience with Wharton.

Back in the saddle

2006-10-23T17:33:00.000-04:00

It's been a while! Sorry I've been MIA. My personal life has been crazy and so business school applications have taken a backseat for a while.
I plan on submitting Stanford tonight and have made the decision to put off MIT and Kellogg to Round 2. Again, those MIT essays. Just can't get excited about them.

The past couple weeks have been ridiculous. I met some awesome people from lots of business schools at a conference. I've started to consider Haas for R2, too.

In my personal life, basically the bottom fell out. My ex and I split and I've decided to relocate and rent out my house. So, there's been plenty going on that has distracted me from business school applications and blogs. I definitely think my Stanford essays were affected by this, but hopefully not too much. I completed most of the essays before this all went down.

Anyway, best of luck to all the other applicants. Now it's just a waiting game. I heard that Wharton started asking people for interviews. Not me, unfortunately.

Stanford's Many Voices: Perspectives in Diversity

2006-10-09T09:40:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I went out to Palo Alto for Stanford's Many Voices: Perspectives in Diversity conference. It was a similar event as Wharton's 'Explore Wharton' event that I went to a few weeks ago.
First, can we talk about how beautiful Northern California is? I've been to San Francisco many times, but that stretch between SF and Palo Alto is ridiculous. I'm afraid if I went to school there I'd spend all my time running, biking, hiking and rock climbing. But getting in is the first step.

I got in early Friday evening, but had to miss the evening activities because of a work event I had to go to. I did, however, get to meet a few students, which was great. Apparently, other attendees went to a happy hour-type event (with a keg...). I had a nice evening and hung out with a few Stanford GSB students and Haas students. All were very cool and actually the Haas students got me very interested in Berkeley. But back to Many Voices.

For me, Many Voices started on Saturday morning at 8am. We started with a nice, hearty breakfast and I met a few other attendees. There were about 150 people who came from all over (although, many that I met were from Northern California). We heard a few people speak, including the Dean, who was ridiculously impressive. His credentials were amazing and he was a passionate, lively speaker. He was really passionate about Stanford.

We then heard about the Career Services at Stanford. Because Stanford is so small (370 per class), they pride themselves on the intimate, community feel. The Career Services department emphasized this - they have a very small student to counselor ratio. Also, because Stanford is sort of known as the non-traditional-type school, they also pride themselves on getting non-traditional opportunities for Stanford students and grads. The Career Services were impressive, which is a big factor for me. After all, this is a professional degree.

Next, we had a 'study group'. Some people got a case before-hand and took this time to answer the questions around the case. For my group, there was a 'glitch' so we didn't have a case (honestly, I'm not sure what the glitch could have been - I mean, it's Microsoft Word). In any case, without a case, we simply got into groups and tried to answer some questions about what's going on in the world (ie. what country has the greatest unemployment, what city has the highest population, etc). My group got like half right. Not a very stellar performance.

Next, we went to a student life panel. There were five students on the panel. They answered questions. Many of them seemed to be moving to a social enterprise/non-profit career, which seemed to line up with my stereotypes about Stanford. They all talked about Stanford's great Public Management program, but only focused on the non-profit aspect. I'm more interested in the public sector, which I've found challenging to get any information about. Regardless, they were an impressive group. One guy even applied 3 years prior (right out of undergrad), got rejected, then applied again. The same theme of passion for Stanford was evident.

We had some lunch (and another ridiculously impressive speaker - a Stanford Alum) and then moved on to the Class Immersion experience. Again, because we didn't get a case, we basically sat in a class. The professor literally looked about my age. He couldn't have been older than 35. Compared to the Wharton professor, it was really no competition - the Wharton prof was much, much more lively and impressive. This guy was great, I just really like having professors that have a lot of real-world experience and this gentleman most likely didn't have much. The class was about Organizational Behavior and persuading others to take your side. It was a very soft-skilled based class, but fun. The class revolved around watching a movie - Twelve Angry Men (the Henry Fonda version).

The final section (not counting the ending reception) was the Admissions Discussion. This was led by Eric Abrams (I may have the last name wrong). First, he should be in movies, motivational speaking, or voice-overs. His voice is ridiculous - like a much younger James Earl Jones. He's funny, engaging, and lively. A really great speaker. He showed us a slide show on Stanford and then answered our questions.
A few tips about the essays: The first one (that vague "what matters to you most, and why?"). He really emphasized thoroughly answering the 'why' part. Make it engaging. They want to know why this matters to you, not just what it is. The rest of the answers were typical Stanford - I still think that the admissions is a black box. Much unlike Wharton, where I actually have an idea of what they're looking for. Basically, they look at two things at Stanford: 1) Can you handle the work? and 2) Will you add to the diversity and quality of the experience/class? Doesn't really give you much to go on... But it explains the diversity of the people that I met. Stanford had a range of 530 to 800 for the GMAT last year. That's a huge range. They accepted something like 9% of the applicants. Again, I don't have a great understanding of what they're looking for.
Still, I don't know who wouldn't want to spend two years at Stanford. With the new curriculum, you can pretty much choose how you want your academic experience to play out. Overall, a great experience. I'm really glad I went and thrilled that I'm applying.

Any questions, just ask.

Submitted

2006-10-08T13:34:00.000-04:00

I just submitted the Wharton and Harvard applications. My recommenders have finished for these two, so I'm all done.

I'm a little nervous, but it wasn't as bad as I had expected.

In other news, I just got back from Stanford's Many Voices: Perspectives in Diversity conference. I'll write on that in a separate post. I feel like submitting my first two applications deserves a separate post.

!!!

Submitting

2006-10-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

No, not me. But two of my recommenders. My third recommender submitted his recommendations this past weekend. My second recommender submitted my Harvard recommendation last night. I gave him an artificial date because I was a bit worried about him making the date. He started AND finished last night. I'm not sure what that means. I'm a little worried, but I promised myself I wouldn't write the recommendations for my recommenders because that somehow didn't feel right. So, it is what it is. I am a little worried because he's the sort of guy who would give me the top 'rating' for all of the ratings and then write very brief explanations for the rest. I know he's a big fan, just not the most thorough person I've ever met. I have a friend who is basically walking his recommenders through the process. He's not letting them submit until he reads them, helping them write them, giving them tips. I'm pretty sure it's all legal, but it just seems a bit contrived. I didn't feel comfortable doing that.

As for my applications, I haven't been able to hit submit. I look at all of my essays every day. I nitpick words. I add commas. I split sentences. I split out paragraphs. I really do need to just submit the ones that are, for the most part, complete because I'm obsessing too much. I envy Iday, Juggler, and the other bloggers who have had success hitting submit. Right now, it's me against the Submit button. And I'm losing. I've been MIA for a little while because I'm embarassed that I haven't submitted a damn thing.

In other news, I'm heading to Palo Alto this weekend for the Stanford Many Voices: Perspectives in Diversity conference. I'm excited. I think it's going to be fun. Apparently, there are 150 people coming from all over the US and world. Some are applying this year, some next year, some maybe never. It's just a time for diverse candidates to learn more about Stanford.

I. Just. Can't. Hit. Submit.

2006-09-24T10:22:00.000-04:00

So, the good news is I've finished all the essays for Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton. I revamped my resume. I filled out the self-reported transcript forms. I sent my GMAT scores to all of my schools. I researched all of my past jobs, activities, found phone numbers, addresses, dates, and I filled out the applications.

I uploaded the essays. I uploaded the resume (but not for Wharton, they don't ask for a resume). I uploaded the self-reported transcript form. Everything looks awesome in PDF.

I looked at all of the essays in PDF form and re-read them there. I re-loaded any that had messed up spacing, wrong formatting, etc.

And now I'm doing it all again.

But I can't hit submit. I got close once, but I failed. Is anyone else having this problem?

I guess the good news is that I won't miss the R1 deadline for these schools. The bad news is that now I'm obsessing about submitting. Who knows? Maybe I'll have an epiphany. I seriously doubt it, but you never know.

The next question is MIT. I can't decide whether to apply R1 or R2. I clearly have the time to do the essays for R1 but every time I look at them, I get frustrated and go do something else. I don't know what it is about these essays, but I feel as if they don't speak to me. I would hate not to apply to a school simply because I don't feel passionate about the essay questions, but it's getting to that point.

Maybe it's a sign that MIT and I weren't meant to be together? But we were so good together when I visited. I thought we could make it through this troubling time and still be together.
No, no, MIT, it's me, not you.

A few things

2006-09-20T12:20:00.000-04:00

A couple things.
First, a few posts ago, I mentioned that I didn't hear back from the Stanford Many Voices: Perspectives in Diversity conference. Well, apparently there was a 'glitch' in the system. Technical jargon aside, they basically lost a few applications in the mix. Mine was one. Apology accepted, and I'm now going to the event Oct 6th-7th.
I'm excited. This looks to be a fun event, similar to the Explore Wharton event I attended last Friday. I even scored a flight that was around $300. Coast to coast, that's cheap. I'm excited to hear what Stanford's all about. I feel like out of all the school's, Stanford is one of the least transparent when it comes to what they look for. No one really knows. It's obvious the school is hard to get into and the students have high credentials, but beyond that, I'm not sure. I've heard that certain people are a better fit for Stanford - the more socially-conscious, give-back types of people. I've reached out to an affinity group there, so hopefully I'll be able to meet up with that group, too.

Essays. Essays. Essays. I thought I was done with HBS's essays. I even uploaded them. They look super in PDF format. Nonetheless, I keep finding little tweaks. I really think I'm done now. With at LEAST 4/6. I took so much time on these. Seriously.

Has anyone else noticed how difficult the applications are? I mean, looking up dates, numbers, addresses, etc? I feel like I knew about the essays and I knew about the GMAT, but this is not something that I planned would take so long.

Explore Wharton!

2006-09-16T10:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I spent the day at 'Explore Wharton'. Wharton puts on this event which invites diversity candidates to spend two days at Wharton. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to the first day, but I did go to the event yesterday.
What an awesome event!
There were probably around 200 people there. It started with a reception breakfast and then we moved to a talk about the admissions process. The honorable Thomas Caleel walked through the admissions process. On Thursday, he did a similar session only they looked over 2 'mock' candidates. One had awesome numbers, not much activities, but potential. The other had a pretty low GMAT (630), but solid work and leadership. Basically, at the end of the day, they admitted both. Discussing the applications they claimed that they didn't even get to the GMAT until 31 minutes into the app. Every application gets a thorough read from 3 people. The first is one of 70 second year students hired by admissions to read applications. They mark all over the application and then send it on to a person on the admissions staff. They also mark all over it and then send it to Mr. Thomas Kaleel marked either 'Deny without interview' or 'Invite to interview'. He then reviews them all and moves some to either pile.
That's the first review. Then, if you make it into the 'Invite to interview' pile (42% of applicants) you interview with an alum, a student, or a member of the admissions staff.
Pretty reassuring process. Basically, your application is gonna get a thorough read from at LEAST three people.

Next they talked about finances. I don't even want to write about it because it makes me nervous. It's so much money to go to business school. The first year 'budget' (tuition+living expenses) is 70K. Tuition is up to 46K this year. They encouraged people to 'liquidate their assets', but honestly I am not going to sell my house. Maybe after school, but there's no benefit, so it seems, from selling a property two years early when I can rent it at cost.
Anyway, I digress. There are lots of funding options - loans, fellowships, scholarships, savings. They require that students pay for 10% of the budget each year. 25% of students get fellowships or scholarships.

The next hour there was a student panel and some info from career services. The student panel had very cool and diverse opportunities. One guy went from IT consulting to strategy, one women went from marketing to investment management, another went from non-profit fundraising to philanthropy, and another went from sales/trading to investment in emerging markets. The last one was pretty cool - she basically created her own internship in Johannesburg. They had a lot of good tips. Wharton is such a great name that companies basically come begging for students. Later, I talked to a friend and he got every interview he went for and 5/9 of those made him an internship offer. He now has a job offer from the investment bank he worked with. There are lots of career-switchers and career services makes you take all these tests and self-assessments to figure out where you'll succeed most.

Lunch was very cool. I mean, it was free and it was good. I met new people. Can't beat that.

Then we sat through a class. Professor Mike Useem basically walked us through a case. He was awesome! Seriously, this guy was meant to be a teacher. I have a hard time concentrating for long periods of time, but I was engaged for the hour and fifteen that he taught us. The case was based on a real situation so every time we made decisions about what to do next, there was an actual situation where someone had made decisions. After this, I know I'm going to love the case method.

We broke out into student panels to hear about student life. Everyone loves Wharton, a lot of people drag their partners to Philly, a lot do long-distance relationships, the class at Wharton is diverse and open-minded (so it seems), etc. Really seems like a great bunch of people. Everyone is over-engaged in everything. There are so many clubs and groups to get involved with. I think that's great - it's a greater opportunity to network, meet new people, and hear about possible career paths.

Next, I took advantage of what I thought was probably one of the best offers of the entire 'Explore Wharton' experience. I had a 'trained' student read my essay. There were so many people who didn't take advantage of this. I think they're crazy. But back to me. She loved my essay! Score. We made a few tweaks, but she actually went through and started telling me what parts she thought were really impressive. It was flattering and awesome to get feedback from someone who doesn't know me. She was in healthcare, too, so she actually understood some of my references and the excitement that I expressed over some healthcare-related things. She thought the whole thing was very polished and well-written, which is good. I think I just have to tweak that essay to get everything across. Very cool. She was a great girl, too.

Finally, the networking reception. Good food + free wine = great conversation. A classic recipe for success, eloquently delivered. Well done, Wharton.

Follow up thoughts: Wharton is awesome. The fact that they put on this two-day event shows that they're really committed to finding quality candidates and dedicated to improving diversity. The admissions committee is the most transparent BY FAR of all of the schools. It's great to know how they do things. After that finance talk, I feel like I not only want to get in, but I want to get some $. It was so daunting. Those numbers. I really feel for parents now - saving to send kids to college. I would hate to make a decision on money, but I feel like it will definitely come into play. I'm too pragmatic for it not to.

My only disappointment was that I couldn't stay to go out on the town. I really want to check out Philadelphia. I have been to Philly briefly for work, but that basically means that I've seen the inside of a nice hotel room and the train station. I worked for about a month the summer of 2000 in Philly, but I was again working ridiculous hours, so I saw the streets at 4am, when I ran, the inside of a convention hall, and the inside of my hotel room. Not much to go on. If I get in, I'm dragging my significant other and we're really checking out Philly.

As an aside, Wharton is awesome. The historical significance of the school is what drew it to me initially. If anything, I know I'd like Philly because it's such a historic city. And Wharton basically defined business schools. As a history dork, that stuff matters to me. Not sure why. There's something about walking the streets and seeing historical landmarks. Knowing that people have been doing what you're doing for decades and then going out and setting precedents.

If anyone has any questions, shoot away.

Sick, Explore Wharton

2006-09-13T14:19:00.000-04:00

I'm as sick as a dog! I have no idea where I caught this, but I'm very unhappy about it.
I wrote a blog yesterday, but maybe I lost my feed to opencoder. Anyway, I'm trying to get a decent draft of my Wharton essay for Explore Wharton this Friday. I have a pretty solid draft, but I want it to be pretty good. Wharton made a wonderful offer to review any Explore Wharton participant's essays (just one, by a student). What a great offer! It's hard to find people who don't know me who are willing to read my essays (and who I'm willing to let read my essays).

Anyone else going to Explore Wharton? I get to see an old friend in his second year, which should be fun. I just hope I can feel better. When I'm sick, I'm dumb as rocks. Can't make complete sentences. It's horrible.

West Coast, bummer on Stanford

2006-09-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I flew to the west coast last Thursday. I always forget I love it there. Gorgeous weather all the time.
I had an awesome two and a half hour lunch with one of my recommenders on Friday. We had lunch at a restaurant on the water and just talked. It was great. I'm more confident that he'll write a really awesome recommendation. He definitely tried to recruit me to join his firm, which was flattering.
I then drove the coast. I stopped along the way in Big Sur and Carmel, which was gorgeous. I did this amazing sunrise hike up a 2000 ft mountain. It was one of the most amazing hikes I've ever done.
On Sunday, I went to see Stanford. I tried to meet up with a student, but there was really no one around. It was pretty empty there. The campus is gorgeous, the business school is great and has it's own area within the campus. The Knight building was beautiful. I stopped in at the Shops at Stanford - it was a bit ritzy for me. Overall, I loved the campus. I was really upset I didn't get to meet up with a student. I applied to the Many Voices: Perspectives on Diversity conference they have in October and I had hoped I would be selected for that. I thought I would use that weekend to really check out the classes, students, etc. Well, I didn't get picked for that event, so I won't be able to meet students, see classes, etc before the first round date. I'm going to meet a few students at a conference in October where I'm representing my company, but that's right after the R1 date.
I really love the bay area, though. I love San Francisco - the weather, the fog, the character. I could see myself living there.
I'm sad I didn't get to go to the Forte Forum event, too. Rungee wrote about it here:(http://rungee582.blogspot.com/2006/09/forte-forum.html). Sounds like it was a good event.

This friday I'm going to the Explore Wharton event, which I'm excited about. That's all from here... Essays are coming along, work is rough right now, etc.

Wharton available, disclosure

2006-09-08T10:28:00.000-04:00

Wharton's application is now available online!!! I apologize for the excess use of exclamation points - I only think exclamation points should be used when necessary and, well, I'm excited.

Also, I've had some requests to ask me questions off-line. I created a cornfed email! If anyone wants to email me, you can click on the 'email' link on my profile. Or, email me at: cornfedmba@hotmail.com

I'm on the west coast - it's gorgeous here. I'll post more later.

Weekend

2006-09-04T20:34:00.000-04:00

The three day weekend comes to an end. I had a great weekend, but not as much progress on essays as I would have liked. I made some significant moves on the Stanford essay, which took a lot of time and introspection, so I feel good about how it flows, at this point. I manage to say what matters to me most and how I realized that this is what matters most, in comparison to other things (ie. a situation that forced the decision).

This weekend was fun. I went out for Thai, drinks, and hookah on Saturday. I got to drink my favorite drink - mojitos - and just relax with friends. Today, I got to meet up with a few other friends for lunch, which was great. I also ran my dog to exhaustion all days this weekend. She's much better behaved after a good couple hours on the trails.

This week should fly by fast. I have day-long meetings most days this week and then head out to LA for the weekend. I have a meeting in LA on friday then a dinner in San Francisco on Monday. I'm going to drive the coast and stop somewhere along the way (Monterey, San Luis Obispo, etc). Any recommendations from west coast people? I'd like to go a little more than half way the first day of driving. I'm hoping at least to see the Stanford campus on Sunday.

I'm also going to get an opportunity to meet with two of my recommenders in various California cities. I'm excited to update them on my GMAT scores, talk about goals, etc. They're good people so I'm genuinely excited to hang out with both of them.

I've started to think about the MIT essays and I'm still having trouble with them. The 'thinking, feeling, saying, doing' part is hard. It's making me avoid the essays, which I don't like. I don't want to create a dialogue within the essays, but I'm not sure how else to convey the situations. I also heard that MIT puts a high premium on applicants from engineering and IT backgrounds, which is a little discouraging since I have none of those. I find it interesting that a school with such 'creative' essays seems to value those in engineering and IT. The one person I know who went to MIT was an engineering undergrad major and did IT consulting....

Obligatory GMAT post

2006-09-01T14:08:00.000-04:00

I have a confession. I took the GMAT again today. My score before was fine and I was content, but I had scored higher in practice and in the back of my head, I thought I should give it another shot. A friend pushed my final buttons by making a bet with me. I'm competitive, so that was enough. I didn't study except for reviewing some concepts this morning. I had done the bulk of my studying about 2 months ago when I took the GMAT. I did quite a bit better today, so I'm content and it's over. I also won the bet, so I'm doubly happy.

The GMAT is a topic that most people address in detail in their blogs. It's definitely been a process. I truly believe that the GMAT is a learnable test. That if you put some time into studying, you'll get a better score. Five years out of college and a good 8 years past any quantitative-related classes, there was no way I would have known how to do some of the math problems. As if permutations are part of my everyday life. Ofcourse I'm constantly trying to ascertain the probability of picking a green apple out of a basket or the area of a triangle. Right, no, I'm not. This stuff isn't part of everyday life. Thank god.

I'm a proponent of old-fashioned studying. I know that classes and tutors are all the rage, but I really don't think they're necessary. I hate that standardized tests have become classist - those who can afford tutors and classes seem to do better. Those that can't afford the luxury of hand-holding and prepping don't do as well. But I honestly don't think an expensive prep class or tutor is necessary to get a good score. There are plenty of free websites and cheap books out there that do the trick. It's like admissions consultants - the hype around them makes one feel as if it's imperative, but the reality is that they're not. As for recommendations on books, I used one - The Official Guide. I only studied math concepts, so I can't make any recommendations on good books for Verbal study. I have heard that Manhattan GMAT books are very good for Sentence Correction.

I made some errors when I first started studying. I would look at my mistakes and be like 'ah, right, that's how you do it'. And wouldn't give them a second glance. If I could give any suggestions for how to really improve your scores - study your mistakes. I know it's not fun. I much prefer to get things right than to really concentrate on getting concepts. I think most people like to do things that they're good at. But it's crucial to understand your mistakes.

Finally, take practice tests. There are two free tests that can be downloaded at MBA.com. If you re-download, you can get almost entirely new content. After a few times, Verbal starts repeating, but Quant is still primarily new.

That's my two cents on the GMAT.

I'm ready to move back to essay mode. It's a holiday weekend here in the US. Most people should have Monday (Labor Day) off work. Tragically, I have nothing fun planned. Tropical storm, 'Ernesto', is moving in here and the weather is yucky. I'm hoping to get into my Wharton and Stanford essays. I have a foundation on both (more so on Wharton), but I'm ready to move ahead again.

Writing hiatus, school visits

2006-08-30T11:16:00.000-04:00

It's been a couple of days since I posted. I've been dragged away from my application process by work (they're paying me, after all). I decided to take a week off writing essays to let everything digest. My weeklong writing binge last week has me a bit burnt out.

I've been reaching out to some MBA students and planning a few visits. I spoke with an HBS student this weekend for about an hour on the phone and had a great conversation. She's had a really positive experience so far. She's transitioning from a career in finance to one more focused on the non-profit sector and she's making headway, which is encouraging. It seems like a lot of people go to do an MBA to transition their career. I've heard about a lot of people who want to move from IT to more management roles, people who want to go into non-profit, and others who want to get into finance somehow. Some of the transitions sound challenging, so it's encouraging to hear that she's been successful. She talked about the people and how the case method manifests itself in class - very dynamic discussions. I asked about diversity and got the same response that I've received from many others - it still needs work. I really like to be in an environment where there are lots of people who aren't like me, so I really value diversity. I was pleased to hear that HBS is making a lot of efforts.

I have two visits coming up. In about a week, I'm heading west for some work and planning a visit to Stanford. I've seen the campus before, but I'm hoping to meet up with a student. I've heard my timing isn't stellar (classes won't be in full swing), but I'd still like to at least get an tour - informal or official. In two weeks, I'm going to Explore Wharton, which I'm really excited about. I've seen parts of the UPenn campus (primarily some of the athletic facilities), so I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the campus. I'm also excited to meet students.

I have so many things planned for work in the next few weeks, that I'm not sure I'll be able to get to Boston before R1 applications are due. The trip isn't far and I've seen both the MIT and HBS campuses, but I'd really like to sit in some classes. I am representing my company at two conferences, have two work trips (over the weekends), and a visit I need to make home. That's five weekends, which is about what's left until R1.

I somehow got myself into a discussion about the GMAT with a friend, tensions were high, and before I knew it, bets were placed. Basically, to win, I need to take the GMAT again. I'm competitive, so I'm considering.

Locked out

2006-08-26T11:38:00.000-04:00

This is not about the MBA process, just about my evening - getting locked out of the house.

My first few days in the midwest, my girlfriend came with me. She had to head back home to go to work on Monday, so wasn't there for the majority of my trip. When she left, she realized that she forgot her house keys. I took mine off of my car keychain and gave her those.

Last night, when I got home, we decided to go to the store. As we were leaving the house, I asked, 'you have keys, right'? Yes, she had keys. We left and as we walked out she said 'wait, keys?'. Right, she did not have her keys. We were locked out. She's notoriously flakey, so this was no shock. Actually, it's surprising that this hasn't happened in over a year living toghether.

Since the house was broken into the first week we moved in, we have made the house a virtual fortress. Basically, I found a woman in the closet one saturday morning - she had walked in off the street (we live in a great neighborhood, but it's a city) and was trying to take whatever she could. I saw her without her seeing me, called the cops, and she's now in jail (it was her 5th offense). Anyway, because of this incident, we panicked and sealed every window, put double locks on every door, etc. There's no way to get in without breaking an unreachable window.
We called a locksmith and started waiting.

The lock-out became the entertainment for the street. We got the two smallest kids on the street and tried to see if they could reach through the mail slot and turn the door handle. The 12 year old failed, the 8 year old failed. The neighbors two doors down who are very strict and never let their kids out of the house walked their little girl down the street to give it a shot. The five-year-old couldn't fit her arm in, either.

Finally, one of the neighbors came over with a ladder. There's a window AC in the bedroom window - the only way in. He set up the ladder and positioned it under the window. Then he dragged his nephew over, slapped him on the back, and said 'go to it'.

The 12 year old, relatively large, boy climbed up, and eventually managed to shove in the AC. He climbed through the window (just barely) and let us in.

Anyway, that was the excitement for the night. As payment, I let him play games on my computer at DisneyChannel.com for an hour and promised him I'd teach him long division.

Back East, Love for Wharton

2006-08-25T21:43:00.000-04:00

I came back east today. I spent a good 40-50 hours on my essays the past 7 days and I feel really good. Harvard is done. It took longer than I expected. I just kept refining and refining. I know I spent over 100 hours on those essays and I think they're good. I've sent them to numerous people for a once-over, one being a friend who used to be an admissions consultant, and their responses were all very positive. I'm thrilled. I've spent a lot more time on Wharton and I've solidified how I'm going to respond to Stanford's first question.
The next few weeks are going to be crazy. I have some work on the west coast and during that time I'm hoping to meet with two of my recommenders and visit Stanford. Mid-September, I'm going to the Explore Wharton event, which I'm really excited about. Wharton has impressed me in a number of ways. First, some of their ad comm has been extremely supportive and responsive. I've spoken with students and alumni and both have been incredibly impressive. I love that their website has so many interactive features. While I've never posted, the S2S board seems to have a consistent response from students and student adcomm members. My blog feeds there, which I have to love.
I'm a history major, so I'm always drawn to the history of an institution, organization, or city. Philadelphia is a city with an awesome history. The school is incredibly historical. When I visit, I'm really going to try to get a feel for the city and the school. I worked briefly in Philadelphia in the summer of 2000 and I liked it (although, I was a little confused by the parking in the center of the street thing).

As an aside, I think it's so amazing to see how many people come to read my blogs. Well, I'm not sure if everyone actually READS it, but it's flattering. I get a little list of where people are visiting from and it's been a really fun experience. Some high points:
Visits from all continents (minus Antarctica, of course)
Visits from lots of places in the US, including, Boston, Chicago, Kansas, Washington state, Virginia, and NYC.
Visits from top companies like: Morgan Stanley, BCG, Fidelity, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Ernst and Young, and Deloitte.
Visits from universities: Ohio State, Harvard, MIT, and Duke.

It's really amazing. I encourage people to post comments, if you feel so inspired. I can't see who posts, only the visits. There's no indicator as to which visits post, for those who wish to remain anonymous.

Essays, essays, essays

2006-08-22T22:11:00.000-04:00

I'm still here. Working on my essays. I was supposed to head back east yesterday evening to meet with one of my recommenders, but we postponed the meeting for a few weeks. I felt bad intruding on his vacation and I have a trip to the west coast for business in a few weeks anyway. It all worked out swimmingly.

I estimate that I've now worked around 75 hours on HBS's essays (a conservative estimate). I started with them first because they were the first to release their essays. I've been hooked ever since. I've spent another 20 or so on Wharton, 5 on Stanford, and 2-3 on MIT.

Today I felt really solid. At the start of the day, all of my essays were about 15-25 words over. I spent a good 4 hours bringing them down. They are now ALL 399 or 400 words (the 600 word essay is 599). I've heard mixed feedback on the importance of the word count. Some say don't worry about it, others say you can be over on a few. I figured I didn't want to give them any reason to reject me - even if it was for not following the rules. Maybe I'm just being anal.

I sent my HBS essays to a friend 12 days ago and he said he had lots of comments for me. We haven't been able to connect, so I sent him my updated versions today. His response was 'holy shit. These are amazing.' Ofcourse, I immediately called him for more ego-stroking. A good twenty minutes later, I feel good about the essays. Friends are amazing.

The more I read, the more I truly believe that it's really about the uniqueness that you bring to a school. The focus in many of my essays was not to necessarily just find a good example or an answer to the question, but to do so while pointing out something pretty unique about me. I think I've done a good job doing this and I honestly can't imagine that they'll get a profile exactly like mine. Granted, I've never taken the path that everyone else does, but it wasn't always easy or comfortable. I'm hoping that it finally pays off.

The Midwest

2006-08-19T12:59:00.000-04:00

I'm home in the midwest this weekend taking a break from work, chores, bills, mortgage and soda. I'm hanging out with my family and working on my essays. It's a good place to be away from distractions, to relax, and to drink pop.

My essays are coming along, constantly reshaping themselves. A good friend looked over a bunch and offered suggestions, which was wonderful of her to do. I've taken next week off to work on these and expected to stay in the midwest, but have to head back east on Tuesday to meet with one of my recommenders in town from the west coast. I'm a huge proponent of the in-face meeting and we haven't seen each other in over a year.

I love the midwest. I get into long, mundane conversations with strangers. Everyone smiles and waves. Gas is cheaper. Everything is cheaper. The corn is delicious, land is abundant. I love coming home because it reminds me of my roots. I remember when I headed east to college I was shocked at the lack of friendliness. People are just more shut-off. Eye contact is a rarity. No one says hello just to say hello. The cultural difference seemed stark.

I'm probably more like an east coast person now in some ways, but I slide into midwestern tendencies. I will talk to anyone. I love people. I smile at everyone. I let people merge. I feel blessed that I grew up in the midwest and have the slightly different cultural understanding.

Back to writing.

HBS Info Session Review

2006-08-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

So, last night I went to an HBS Admissions Info session. It was somewhat generic, but the information was valuable. The first portion was presented by Eileen Chang of the admissions board. She was wonderfully articulate and coincided seamlessly with what Pam Ralston said at the other event that I went to. Again, I was impressed by the holistic approach to admissions. She spoke of the program - the case method, sections, and study groups. She spoke of the amazing speakers and opportunities that being at a large program at a world-renowned University can offer. She stressed the importance of leadership in both the admissions process and in what the program hopes to build in its students. In terms of admissions, they look at three main components:
1. Academic ability - test scores, GPA, writing, etc.
2. Leadership experiences - this can be in school, life, career, etc. Since HBS is encouraging early career applicants this year, they emphasized that leadership experiences don't necessarily have to be in the work environment.
3. Personal Characteristics - who you are! they want diversity.

In terms of the essays, she (and later, one of the panel speakers) encourage you to be yourself, get personal, and know that you're going to invest a lot of time in the process. I hear that.

Some of their diversity numbers were impressive. For the class of 2008, out of a class of 915, 315 are women. I kind of thought that was low, though, because a friend of mine in the class of 2007 said that there are 39% women.

They also played a short video. The music on the video was hilarious. It was pretty good, for an educational video. It was copyrighted in 2003. That's all I'm going to say about the video.

The last hour was dedicated to answering questions. Eileen didn't answer the questions, rather, a forum of 6 alumni answered all of the questions. They were an interesting and impressive bunch. They mainly answered questions about the experience as opposed to the admissions process. I definitely prefer that line of questioning. I hate hearing the same questions over and over about the admissions process. They actually got very descriptive about the transformational nature of the experience, the amazing people, the case method approach, etc.

All in all, a good event.

China, short-sightedness, and MBA essays

2006-08-14T13:13:00.000-04:00

I like animals. I volunteer at the shelter, foster dogs, and have a pup. I haven't eaten an animal in 15 years. I was pretty distraught when I saw China's reaction to an outbreak of rabies that killed several people. They've gone on a rampage killing over 50,000 dogs. For the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/10/world/Asia/10china.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

This story reminded me of the trip I took to China a few years ago. I flew into Beijing, but went on a 30 hour bus ride to the Gansu Provence in NW China. I stayed in a Tibetan monastery village called Xiahe. The journey was fascinating. As I went outside the city, the skin of the people became darker (a sign of lower class). On barns, there were slogans reminding people to uphold the one-child policy. It seems as if China has made some decisions in its history that seem short-sighted. When Mao was in power, a disdain for elitism sent intellectuals to the farms and farmers to the city. There was no premium paid for intellectual prowess - the very basis of communism. Mao's policy was eventually rebuked when growth stagnated. When populations began to rise, China instilled the one-child policy. With this, China has been struggling to maintain a culture where grandchildren support their grandparents, where boys are valued higher than girls, and where birth control is frowned upon. When the one-child policy was instated, they didn't seem to think about the long-term consequences of the population and culture. It was a quick fix. With the latest response to rabies, there's the same short-sightedness as the one-child policy and Mao's communist regime.

To bring it back to me (and I apologize again for getting off-track), I've been trying not to be short-sighted in completing my business school essays. I want to finish my essays, but I realize that finishing them doesn't necessarily mean that they're good. I've been working on my essays more than I imagined I would. I thought I knew my stories, my positioning, my uniqueness. But verbalizing all this in a compelling way has proved more difficult. A few weeks ago, I whipped out what I thought would be the main topics for my essays and wrote a bunch of essays. I literally thought that I was done or at a place where I felt confident in what I had written. After more introspection, I've revamped essays, trashed others, and dug deeper than I thought I would. My essays are starting to be more personal, passionate, and, I think, interesting. Most of my essays focus on personal stories as opposed to examples from work. Sure, some are work examples, but I just feel like the admissions committees can get a pretty good idea about what I've accomplished from my resume. The last thing I wanted to do is to re-hash my resume in essay format.

The essay process has actually been really good for me. My essays are pretty raw and emotional and it's been good to put some of that stuff on paper. Who knew my essays would be cathartic? So, I'm making good headway, but I imagine I'll be working on these for a long while. When I first started this, someone told me that people can spend 100 hours in applications and essays. I thought that was ridiculous. Now it seems conservative. I hope that this is a good sign - that my essays are improving. I don't want to be short-sighted - I don't want to have to do this again.

In other news, I think I'm adding Kellogg to my list. I was going back and forth between Kellogg and Columbia or neither. Columbia is awesome, but I am not really a HUGE city person. Plus, the thought of living in NYC with no money is hardly appealing. As a wholesome midwestern girl, Chicago has always been where the successful kids go to that get out of my midwestern town. I can dig that.

Fueling doubt and Admissions Consultants

2006-08-10T16:17:00.000-04:00

Anyone who has discovered the Business Week forums knows that there's a little cottage industry out there of Admissions Consultants. Anyone who has discovered the Business Week forums probably has a much lower self-esteem since discovering them. All of my friends in Business School and completed with Business School have advised me to stay clear of the forum. Quite emphatically, in fact. Still, I can't help browsing every couple of days. And I admit that I've maybe once or twice asked for a 'profile review'.

These 'profile reviews' done by self-proclaimed experts are a fascinating thing. Clearly these people are out there to win business. So, are they actually accurate in their assessments? Or are they just trying to fuel a sense of panic to drive more business?

Once upon a time, I thought I was a stellar candidate. Now, my insecurities have been lit by the doubt set in by admissions consultants. The funny thing is, the assessments by the admissions consultants vary widely. I've seen the same people post profiles for a half dozen admissions consultants and get a range of responses.

So, who uses these guys? My friends from business school laugh it off and say I don't need them. I like the stroking of my ego, so I typically engage them further. No one uses them, they proclaim. Well, one of my friends has just forked over $6,000 for the grooming, tutoring and advice of an admissions consultant. He is getting lots of advice, which I think is great (and passing it on to me, free of charge). What I start having a problem with is the gray area that comes with the essays. So much effort goes into making sure that no one cheats on the GMAT - there's the finger prints, ID, removal of jewelry, horrific markers and erase boards. But when it comes to the essays, there's no policing.

To be perfectly honest, I briefly considered admissions consultants but something just didn't feel quite right. I know they claim to be perfectly ethical, but if that's true, then why do they have to defend themselves so much? Why does it make me feel, hmm, not so ethical? I can understand a final look-through of the application. Editing, pointers, etc. But the grooming through the entire process seems unfair. Not to mention that it hits one of my big issues with academia in America - the testing process and admissions consultants are in their very nature classist. If you can't afford a GMAT prep course, you probably won't do as well as someone who can. It's not an IQ test (although, the SAT used to be - the history of the test is fascinating read 'The Big Test'). Admissions consultants are even more classist - they're expensive, after all.

Anyone have a take on admissions consultants? Anyone used them?

So, I won't be using one. Yes, I could afford one at this point in my life, but it makes me feel like I'm cheating in some way. (Note: I am not in any way judging anyone who is using Admissions Consultants - honest.) I want to feel good and honest about this whole process. Maybe it's the midwesterner in me - this seems to come up a lot.

The Death of the Moderate?

2006-08-09T10:30:00.000-04:00

For those who know me, a rant on politics is protocol. For those who prefer to read about my MBA pursuits, I apologize for the interruption to your scheduled programming. An MBA posting will be soon to follow.

Anyone reading the NY Times this morning knows that Lieberman just lost the Democratic Senate primary in Connecticut. His loss is another in a string of losses for moderate candidates this primary season. All across the US, more 'extreme' candidates are winning against moderate candidates who have traditionally been successful in general elections. In Michigan, Joe Schwartz, a moderate Republican who supports abortion rights, lost the congressional primary to the right wing Republican, Tim Walberg. This trend in politics has me worried for a number of reasons.

I would venture to say that the majority of people and states tend to lean toward one party or the other, but are more in the middle. To vote in a primary, in most states, one has to register with one party. Party identification has decreased in the past few years making primaries a voting opportunity only for the most extreme within the parties. The states that don't have the requirement that you register with a party to participate in the primarly election have starkly different results. For example, Presidential Primaries in New Hampshire hold particular importance in determining presidential candidates. New Hampshire doesn't require that you register with a specific party in order to vote in a primary. Undeclared voters can vote in whichever primary they choose. In 2004, Kerry beat Dean in the New Hampshire primary and went on to victory. Kerry was decidedly the more moderate of the two candidates.

As moderates are being shut out of elections via the primary process, the shape of politics may change dramatically. Could more extreme candidates, when voted into office, make Congress and the Senate more divisive and red states and blue states more starkly different? Will moderate voters - who I suspect are the majority - feel that their views aren't being represented? Will bipartisan compromise be a thing of the past?

Personally, I think that this is a trend that will eventually die. In the meantime, the validity of a candidate depends on his or her ability to win the 'base' - the more extreme primary voters. People think McCain has a shot in 2008, but not with this trend. He's far too moderate. And as he's been trying to appeal to the conservative right in the past year, he's lost his appeal as a maverick - the appeal that would ultimately win him the general.

Recommendations and puppies

2006-08-07T19:32:00.000-04:00

I just came home from work to find my dog, looking guilty, had dragged a Ghiradelli chocolate bar and Luna bar off the dining room table. She ate them, of course. The gold ghiradelli wrapper is torn into shreds, the only evidence of what's left. I immediately called the vet knowing all of the horror stories I've heard about how bad chocolate is for dogs. Actually, as I was just told by my friendly vet tech, chocolate is not as bad for dogs as most people think. Sure, my pup will be throwing up and may have other stomach pains tonight, but she'll be fine. I thought this would be her demise. Still, our trip to the dog park has been cancelled because of her bad behavior, although, she probably doesn't even know we were going in the first place.

So, I got my second recommender rounded up today. He's from the other coast, so I'm trying to arrange a meeting. Like my dog, he will probably need a lot of direction. He's a great guy and very successful, but busy enough to let this fall off his radar. Still, I think he'll do a good job once he gets down to it. Luckily, I know he thinks I'm fabulous, despite the fact that I didn't end up going with his consulting firm.

I find asking recommenders to be the hardest part of this entire process. Maybe it's my midwestern-ness, but I hate puting people out in any way. I hate asking for favors knowing that I don't have much to give in return but my appreciation. I hate making the assumption that someone thinks I'm fabulous. The whole process makes me uncomfortable. Two out of three of my recommenders live 3000 miles from me and I rarely see them. They're busy, important, and successful. Is it kosher to ask by email? By phone? The etiquette is blurry.

Anyway, one more to go. Another person from the other coast. I think this one will be my best recommender, but asking is making me nervous. We don't have very good phone synergy - there always seems to be a delay and we always seem to interrupt each other. I just want to make this as easy as possible for my recommenders, but the questions are pretty challenging at least from HBS and Stanford. Sigh. But it must be done.

Ethical essays

2006-08-06T15:54:00.000-04:00

I'm feeling really good about the direction of my essays. Some of my experiences I KNOW no one has had before and they point to my unique perspectives and diversity. Now I'm struggling with HBS's 'Ethics' essay. It's not like the Wharton ethics essay which asks for a specific example of when you had an ethical dilemma. That one was hard, and ended up being very VERY personal, but I ended up feeling solid about it. The HBS one takes it in a different direction. It doesn't ask about your experience with ethical dilemmas, but rather, how you know you'll be able to handle them. Specifically, the question is:

In your career, you will have to deal with many ethical issues. What are likely to be the most challenging and what is your plan for developing the competencies you will need to handle these issues effectively?

So, the challenge I'm having is making this more specific, less general. The question doesn't elicit specifics and it asks you, theoretically, to predict what will be those experiences or education that will enable you to handle ethical challenges.

So, I have a few ideas about this one, but it's proving to be one of the more difficult. Although, nothing can compare to Stanford's 'What matters to you most and why". I hope someone just answers that one 'money'. Not at Stanford.

The AWA

2006-08-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

I just got my AWA score (I totally forgot to look it up) and I got a 6.0. I find this absolutely hilarious. Not because I think I'm a horrible writer - I don't think I'm half bad - but because I literally spent no more than 12 minutes on either essay. I knew I didn't care what I got on the AWA and I'm ADHD, so the amount of time I can keep my concentration up is pretty minimal. I knew I wanted to blaze through the AWA and get to the real stuff.

For anyone who wants some tips, though, I did read something prior to the AWA that I think made me quickly whip up two 6.0 essays. The AWA is graded not by a human being, but by a machine, coyly named the 'e-rater'. As the name would suggest, the e-grader can't assess your humor nor does it even check your spelling. Once the e-rater has made its decision, a human being does glance through your essay. If they disagree, a third party comes in. Honestly, I think that rarely happens. And I have a feeling the 'human grader' doesn't spend much time on the essays. So what does the e-rater look at? Here is a sample of what I read from 800score.com

It analyzes structure through using transitional phrases, paragraph changes, etc. It evaluates content through comparing your score to that of other students. If you have a brilliant argument that uses an unusual argument style, the E-rater will not detect it.
The E-rater does, however, detect spelling and grammar indirectly. If your transition phrases and logical identifiers (e.g.- "therefore", "for example") are not properly spelled the E-rater will not detect them. Since the E-rater uses the presence of such transitional phrases as an indicator of effective writing, you are indirectly penalized if they are not spelled correctly. That is why it is so important to proofread your essay after you finish writing.

I also read somewhere that paragraph lengths were detected by the e-rater. So, what did I do? I got some good transitional phrases, some nice argumentative and analysis phrases, and made my paragraphs relatively equal in length (4-5 of them). I didn't put much emphasis on which side of the argument I supported. In fact, I think I purposefully played the devil's advocate.

Anyway, for anyone who wants to whip out a nice, quick, e-rater-friendly essay, I suggest you do a little research on the grading method, or just take my tips above.

MIT: Thinking, feeling, saying, doing

2006-08-04T14:52:00.000-04:00

I just got a look at the MIT essays. The essays ask for when you made an impact on a group, when your team made a compromise, when you advocated your position and when you put an idea into action. And they all end with 'tell us what you thought, felt, said and did.

Definitely not what I expected from a school known for their quantitative prowess and technical expertise. These essays feel distinctly crunchy to me. It's interesting because they don't seem to have any interest in what you want to do with your MBA. There's nothing like the classic 'Why MBA? Why now?' sort of essays. Not to mention that they really only want you to talk about the past 1-2 years.

I'm pretty convinced that they just want to see if you can articulate the essence of who you are. If you can talk about normal situations and make them sound extraordinary. If you've done cool things. It's interesting, though.

I'm sad because I don't get any opportunity to talk about my passions, my goals, my hopes, my dreams, blah blah blah. Yet, these essays seem like they could prove to be successful for any candidate - young or old, professionally successful or not.

MBA Panel

2006-08-03T15:29:00.000-04:00

So, I went to this fabulous MBA panel this week in my city (I'm vague on purpose here). There were admissions representatives and students from five top schools - basically the ones that I'm applying to: HBS, Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Kellogg.
The format was informative and interactive. The first hour, the reps from each school described one aspect of the admissions process: GMAT/GPA, Work Experience, Activities, Essays, and Interviews.
The Kellogg rep covered GMAT/GPA. What she stressed is that while these matter and you should start early, none of the schools present have a 'minimum' nor do they spend too much time on these. There are not piles based on GMAT/GPA.

The MIT rep covered Work Experience and stressed the importance. This rang pretty true for me. I've been working for 5+ years and honestly can't fathom what I would have had to offer a business school at the ripe age of 22. And take note that I worked in high school and in college. Also, from my friends who went to business school they indicated that the 'right from undergrad' crowd was pretty much useless. Regardless, some schools, particularly Stanford and Harvard, encourage those who believe that they're ready to apply - even without work experience.

The Stanford rep talked about activities. These basically differentiate people. Do you love to travel? Do you have a passion for politics? Do you play sports? Do you love kids? Any of these things qualify as a good 'activity'. Contrary to popular belief, community service is not a necessity - some people just aren't into community service. Activities is a good area for me, so I was excited to hear what she had to say.

The HBS rep covered essays. She was truly passionate and holistic about the entire process. It was incredibly refreshing. For her, the essays are the heart of the application. Her main advice was just to tell your story. Talk about your passions. Talk about your experiences. I think this will be a strength for me, too. I'm an extrovert, so I love talking - and, yes, I like talking about myself. :)

The Wharton rep talked about interviews. What she stressed is that the interview process isn't meant to be a situation where you're grilled by the interviewer - it's just supposed to be a conversation. I can't WAIT for interviews. I've always loved interviews, I love meeting new people, and at this point, I'm really confident in the reasons why I want to go to business school. I've always loved interviewing for jobs. If it weren't for the cost, I might just apply to a ton more schools just to do the interviews. Yeah, I'm like that.

After the information bit, there was a question and answer section. This wasn't bad, but for the most part people were just asking the same old questions: what are you looking for, how do you want me to answer that, will I get in, etc. Some of the questions were good, many were sort of ridiculous. One question in particular was interesting - that MBA programs are making a special effort to accept younger women in the hopes that they will start their careers early, before they have babies. I found the question offensive. Particularly because it maintains the assumption that women must/will stay home as opposed to a male counterpart. Obviously, for me, this is a moot point, but still. The entire notion is offensive.

After the questions, the reps went out to their tables and answered questions. Basically, it was a great time for people to swarm the reps and try to make an impression. I've already reached out to some students, but I did want to ask a few pointed questions. Since the event, I've been most impressed with Wharton. They're definitely moving up my list. I've actually gotten into some nice correspondence with admissions and students. They are courteous, informative and warm.

So that's that. I encourage people to actually go to one of these events. It's really a wonderful experience.

Naivety is a blessing

2006-07-29T20:25:00.000-04:00

Naivety. A great way to describe my undergraduate application process. I grew up in a small town in Ohio. In my high school, athletics were vastly more important than academics. Lucky for me, I was a top ranked athlete. But academics were hardly what my high school was known for.

I took the SAT once - my junior year. My scores weren't bad, but I never even considered that people 'studied' for them. I knew I had higher hopes than most of my friends, but the guidance counselors at my school highly cautioned me from expecting admits from some of my school choices - Yale, Harvard, Princeton. So, I accepted their words of caution and applied to a slew of schools hoping for a few admits. My scores were pretty good, my grades were pretty much perfect (but my high school was a joke), I had a few interesting talents and I was a good athlete. I applied to something like 13 schools. I think I got one rejection and ended up at Yale.

I had no idea how competitive things were until I got there. I was shocked that my roommates had SAT 'tutors'. That they'd built houses in Africa. That they were world renowned musicians. Their parents were *rich*. In retrospect, I am so glad that I didn't have that pressure - naivety was a blessing.

I don't have the luxury of naivety as I apply to business school. I'm acutely aware of the competitiveness. The interesting thing about business school is that schools aren't necessarily looking for brilliance - just a high level of intelligence. So you pretty much know that you should try to get a GMAT score in a certain range and your experiences will determine the rest. I've now hit the point of nervousness - information saturation.

Wharton has this forum where anyone can post comments. Reading the forum is torture. There are lists of people who got rejected but have stellar 'numbers'. Scores of people who appear shoe-ins, but got 'dinged' (ie. rejected).

So, I'm trying to ban myself from reading the forum. It's just making me feel inadequate. Has anyone else read this? And what about the 'Indian IT' pool? Thank God I'm not amongst them - their pool is immense and their scores off the charts. Which brings me to other questions - what are they learning/doing right that we in America aren't?

Sigh. I'm going drinking.