I got in!
Shortly after I had my epiphany, I met a woman at a Harvard Club event for aspiring MBAs. We talked for a bit and she mentioned that she was in the MLT program. I had heard about it on CNN, but hadn't given it much thought. She offered to give me an informational interview, so I took her up on her offer. I liked what I heard, and I applied back in September
Applicants were not meant to be notified until the first weeks of December, but they sent notification the day before Thanksgiving. I was happy to be able to share some good news with my family. So far, I've only told four of them about my MBA plans (my mom, dad, sister, and uncle). The others will find out in due time, but I didn't want to tell everyone until I was sure. I had tentative plans to apply to law school a few years back and once folks caught wind of that, they started nagging me. I decided that law school wasn't for me, and I still have aunts and uncles asking me why I no longer want a JD.
I'm very excited about the program. It's intensive, but I'm looking forward to the network I'll build and the partnerships I'll make.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Free admissions consultation this morning
Right off the heels of a great weekend of wine tasting and Vietnamese pho, I had a call with an MBA admissions consultant that got me thinking about some things.
1) Should I retake the GMAT? So I'm quite pleased with my 730 and would avoid taking it again at all costs. I'm thinking, though, that perhaps taking it again if I can score 760+ might do even more to help me offset my lower than average 3.0. But taking that test is an energy drain. I don't even want to think about the amount of commitment it would take for me to ensure at least a 30 point increase. There's also a chance that I could score lower than a 730 on my second attempt. I know most will tell you that the difference between a 760 and a 730 is negligible when it comes to admissions, but it might not be the same in my case.
2) Should I look at some more safety schools? There's no doubt about it at this point. I'm going to B-school whether I go to an M7 or not. There's a good chance that I'll get rejected from the top schools due to age and gpa. I had already decided that I was perfectly content with going to USC Marshall and have done a lot of research on it, but perhaps there are other schools that are good fits for me that I have overlooked. To that end, the consultant recommended that I look at Ross.
3) Should I take more additional courses and where should I take them? I'd already planned to take four courses before applying (one is currently in progress), but the consultant says that 3 is actually more than enough and taking them at a community college is fine. This is a relief considering how much the courses at the Cal extension school cost.
That said, I'm thinking I'll apply to 6 schools total (that seems like a lot and is subject to change). I've broken my list down into three groups: Reach, Reasonable, Safety. The lists are long now and I'm hoping to whittle them just by reading about the schools online and talking to alumni...
Here are my reach schools with comments
Kellogg -- One of my good friends from undergrad went here and she loved it. She's two years older than I am and when I grow up I want to be her. lol. But she did give it a glowing review and I would love to move to Chicago. Although they've been trying to get away from the reputation, I'd love to take classes from their marketing profs. They also place a lot of their students in Consulting so I'd have the flexibility of staying in marketing (I will blog about that in a subsequent post) and transitioning into management consulting.
Chicago -- I've got to do research on this school. The same friend who raved about Kellogg did not like Booth. She felt it wasn't enough of a a consulting school for her. The admissions consultant recommended I take a look at it, so I will. Outside of the rankings, I just don't know much about it.
Stanford -- I loved my visit to Stanford. But I have a feeling that even if I were a stellar applicant with no blemishes, applying to Stanford might be a waste of an application fee. The program is so small and they reject so many well qualified and dynamic applicants that it seems almost like a crap shoot (at least from the applicant's perspective. I am sure that the admissions committees have plenty of rhyme and reason behind their decisions).
Wharton -- After scoring a 730, I told myself that I'd take a look at Wharton. I'm liking what I see so far. It would afford me the same flexibility that I'd get from Kellogg and it'd be in a city other than Boston. From my research, it also seems as though they are more apt to take an "older" applicant (I'll be 28 when I apply), but I need to do more research to determine if it's in my top 2 or not.
1) Should I retake the GMAT? So I'm quite pleased with my 730 and would avoid taking it again at all costs. I'm thinking, though, that perhaps taking it again if I can score 760+ might do even more to help me offset my lower than average 3.0. But taking that test is an energy drain. I don't even want to think about the amount of commitment it would take for me to ensure at least a 30 point increase. There's also a chance that I could score lower than a 730 on my second attempt. I know most will tell you that the difference between a 760 and a 730 is negligible when it comes to admissions, but it might not be the same in my case.
2) Should I look at some more safety schools? There's no doubt about it at this point. I'm going to B-school whether I go to an M7 or not. There's a good chance that I'll get rejected from the top schools due to age and gpa. I had already decided that I was perfectly content with going to USC Marshall and have done a lot of research on it, but perhaps there are other schools that are good fits for me that I have overlooked. To that end, the consultant recommended that I look at Ross.
3) Should I take more additional courses and where should I take them? I'd already planned to take four courses before applying (one is currently in progress), but the consultant says that 3 is actually more than enough and taking them at a community college is fine. This is a relief considering how much the courses at the Cal extension school cost.
That said, I'm thinking I'll apply to 6 schools total (that seems like a lot and is subject to change). I've broken my list down into three groups: Reach, Reasonable, Safety. The lists are long now and I'm hoping to whittle them just by reading about the schools online and talking to alumni...
Here are my reach schools with comments
Kellogg -- One of my good friends from undergrad went here and she loved it. She's two years older than I am and when I grow up I want to be her. lol. But she did give it a glowing review and I would love to move to Chicago. Although they've been trying to get away from the reputation, I'd love to take classes from their marketing profs. They also place a lot of their students in Consulting so I'd have the flexibility of staying in marketing (I will blog about that in a subsequent post) and transitioning into management consulting.
Chicago -- I've got to do research on this school. The same friend who raved about Kellogg did not like Booth. She felt it wasn't enough of a a consulting school for her. The admissions consultant recommended I take a look at it, so I will. Outside of the rankings, I just don't know much about it.
Stanford -- I loved my visit to Stanford. But I have a feeling that even if I were a stellar applicant with no blemishes, applying to Stanford might be a waste of an application fee. The program is so small and they reject so many well qualified and dynamic applicants that it seems almost like a crap shoot (at least from the applicant's perspective. I am sure that the admissions committees have plenty of rhyme and reason behind their decisions).
Wharton -- After scoring a 730, I told myself that I'd take a look at Wharton. I'm liking what I see so far. It would afford me the same flexibility that I'd get from Kellogg and it'd be in a city other than Boston. From my research, it also seems as though they are more apt to take an "older" applicant (I'll be 28 when I apply), but I need to do more research to determine if it's in my top 2 or not.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Stanford Visit
I have loads of time I need to take off before the year ends so I decided to take a Personal Day and visit Stanford! I've been to Stanford more times than I can count (one of my best friends went there for Law School and I visited a few times in HS), so I already knew how gorgeous the campus was. Visiting as a prospective MBA student gave me a new perspective.
In HS, I got into Stanford and ultimately decided to go to Harvard because the students at Stanford were a little too excited to be there for me. Typing that makes me sound like a cold hearted meanie, but at the time, I didn't want a California experience. Reading this you might get the idea that Harvard was cold and impersonal but that's not quite the case. I developed lasting friendships during my years there and being apart of the Harvard culture and traditions is something that I am proud of to this day. I wanted something that was totally different on a totally different coast and I got it at Harvard and to be honest Stanford was just too close to home. I had nightmares of my parents popping by casually on the weekends. (These fears were probably unfounded. My little sister is at UCSB now -- just 2 1 /2 hours north of LA instead of 5 -- and my parents never visit her lol).
Now that I'm much much older my motivations for pursuing education and choosing a specific MBA program are much different. Ideally, I'll live in California post MBA and raise a family there. I'd even love to move back to LA sometime in the future to be even closer to them. With that in mind, Stanford is actually an attractive option, and after visiting again at the age of 27, I'm all about the California experience that Stanford offers. Some take aways...
In HS, I got into Stanford and ultimately decided to go to Harvard because the students at Stanford were a little too excited to be there for me. Typing that makes me sound like a cold hearted meanie, but at the time, I didn't want a California experience. Reading this you might get the idea that Harvard was cold and impersonal but that's not quite the case. I developed lasting friendships during my years there and being apart of the Harvard culture and traditions is something that I am proud of to this day. I wanted something that was totally different on a totally different coast and I got it at Harvard and to be honest Stanford was just too close to home. I had nightmares of my parents popping by casually on the weekends. (These fears were probably unfounded. My little sister is at UCSB now -- just 2 1 /2 hours north of LA instead of 5 -- and my parents never visit her lol).
Now that I'm much much older my motivations for pursuing education and choosing a specific MBA program are much different. Ideally, I'll live in California post MBA and raise a family there. I'd even love to move back to LA sometime in the future to be even closer to them. With that in mind, Stanford is actually an attractive option, and after visiting again at the age of 27, I'm all about the California experience that Stanford offers. Some take aways...
- The campus is still gorgeous. I didn't bother with the campus tour because I've seen everything already.
- Students are friendly and welcoming but not overly-so. I sat in on a class and the professor asked the visitors to introduce ourselves. They all gave us a round of applause after we told them what round we'd apply in. I also ran into two people I'd gone to undergrad with and they were of course very helpful and I'm talking with them to get some more info on the GSB and how they came to choose it.
- I do like the case method. I found myself wanting to participate in the discussion and partake in the various role plays.
- I think I would prefer a small to medium sized program. This is kind of a surprise to me as I tend to prefer larger organizations when it comes to employment. I had a brief stint at an ad agency that had less than 20 people and I was miserable. During my MBA research, I've found myself instantly attracted to smaller programs (Tuck and Stanford for example). I haven't even visited Tuck and was actually prepared not to like it (too small, too cold, too much in the middle of nowhere), but the presentation and alumni testimonials instantly won me over.
GMAT is over and done with
I tried to start blogging during GMAT preparation and just got overwhelmed, so I deleted all of my old posts. I studied really hard for a good four months and managed to pull a 730 (47 Q, 42 V, 6AWA). You can't imagine how relieved I was when I hit "report score" and 730 appeared. Barring the unforeseen, I'll never have to think about that test again, and I feel so relieved now that I've gotten it out of the way....
Now on to the good stuff. I've decided to postpone applying until Round 1 and 2 of next year. Doing so will give me adequate time to address my two weaknesses: lower than average GPA, lack of community involvement. I'm currently taking an Intro to Stats Course at an extension school and scored an A on my mid-term. My goal is to take four courses (Stats, Calc, Microeconomics, Accounting) before applying. I also have time to continue my current community service involvement and earn a Competent Communicator designation in my Toastmasters Club. As you can see, I'm gearing up for a very busy year.
Now on to the good stuff. I've decided to postpone applying until Round 1 and 2 of next year. Doing so will give me adequate time to address my two weaknesses: lower than average GPA, lack of community involvement. I'm currently taking an Intro to Stats Course at an extension school and scored an A on my mid-term. My goal is to take four courses (Stats, Calc, Microeconomics, Accounting) before applying. I also have time to continue my current community service involvement and earn a Competent Communicator designation in my Toastmasters Club. As you can see, I'm gearing up for a very busy year.
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