A Year Ago Today

I took the GMAT. I had been studying diligently for three months and spent top dollar on a ManhattanGMAT Preparation course. The highest I had scored on a practice test was 710, but I could never duplicate that score again, so I resolved to score in the mid 600s on the real test and just take it again.

Looking back, I have never been so ready for game time than I had been on that day. The evening before, I decided to take it easy and go get a manicure, so my hands were looking quite pretty. When I got to the testing center, I was so ready to rock. I had played my game song for the GMAT on the way to the building so I was in the zone.

Halfway into the quant section, I knew I bombed the test. I got stuck on a particularly hard question and lost crucial time. I had to basically hack away at some of the questions so I could have a bank of time at the end to finish strong.

Convinced I bombed quant, I figured that verbal would be my saving grace as it's always been. But I felt like I was bombing that too at one point. I got to a particularly technical passage for RC, read through it twice, and still couldn't retain anything. I tried to use process of elimination, and wound up eliminating all the answer choices. I sped through the next few sentence correction and critical reasoning questions to make up ground so I wouldn't be penalized for not finishing.

When I got to the end of the exam, I was relieved to have finally taken the test and had braced myself for the 600 I thought I'd see. Imagine my surprise when I hit show me the score and saw a freaking 730. I had scored that high in quant before and that high in verbal but on separate tests! The moral of the story is don't cancel your score. Because the test is adaptive, the better you're doing, the more you'll feel like you're flailing because the test will give you harder and harder questions. The other moral of the story is to make the most of your GMAT prep course. I know folks who took them and didn't really do all the homework and take advantage of all the resources the company provides. I lived, breathed, ate, slept the GMAT for three months and I went from a 590 (practice exam) to a 730. It can be done, but it's not easy.

And finally, my GMAT theme song, Cosmic Slop by Parliament Funkadellic. It has absolutely nothing to do with overcoming obstacles or winning. It's actually just a really funky song with a nice bass line and guitar riff that always got me amped up to go through a 3 hour practice test.

Good Idea/Bad Idea

My boyfriend has gone home to Los Angeles to attend the CAL vs. UCLA football game. Initially I thought it was a good idea for me to opt to stay at home this weekend and work on MBA applications, but now that I've been sitting in this coffee shop for two hours, working on an essay for USC Marshall, I am starting to think about all the fun going down at the game. Tailgating. Touch downs. On-side kicks. Cheerleaders. Hot dogs. Beer. Man, I'm missing out.

I've tried to refrain from looking at the MBA message boards while Wharton is releasing decisions and focus my attention elsewhere, but I just can't. At least over the weekend, I won't have to worry about anything coming in. I'm afraid that I'll get a rejection notice while I'm at work and be in a sour mood for the rest of the day. I honestly don't know how I'd respond. Will I cry? It's very likely. I am a big crier and am known to cry at sappy engagement commercials and have cried everytime I've watched that cheesy movie The Notebook. Or will I be relieved to finally have an indication as to where I stand and be able to use that indication to formalize a round 2 strategy. One thing's for sure, although there is a weakness in my profile, I'm feeling very optimistic. Not just about Wharton, but about my future in general.

I've had two shots of espresso, and am contemplating a third in another hour or so. My energy is insane right now, so it's time for a dance party!





Beyonce Get Me Bodied

So, tell me about yourself?

Today I had my Kellogg interview, and I do think that it went well. There were two questions that I probably could have answered better but I'm happy with how it went. After having written so many essays, I actually had quite a few stories at the ready for some of the behavioral questions. I also think that I made a great case for Why Kellogg and I loved seeing how my alumni interviewer had very strong ties to her alma mater. Hearing her talk about her experience at Kellogg and her experience as a Kellogg alum reinforced my desire to attend. Now I cross my fingers and hope for good news come December.

Party's over

On Tuesday, I celebrated being done with R1 with a few two dollar Martinis, and now that I've got the fun out of my system, it's time to turn my attention back to my apps. Focusing on R2 apps will also take off some of the anxiety of waiting to see if the R1 schools want to interview me.

I need to get a version of my HBS R2 essays to my reviewer by Monday. Since HBS is a last minute addition, I still need to do some research on the school, so it's taking me longer than I thought to complete the career goals essay. Outlines for Setbacks and Achievements are chugging right along, and I have a few ideas for the question I wished they had asked me.

I am also going to try to make the 11/15 R1 deadline for consortium schools. This gives me about a month to make things happen, and if it doesn't happen, then I'll at least be halfway done for January submission.

The other day I had an ingenious idea for Booth's power point pages, and I made a sketch of it so that I won't forget it.

Full steam ahead!

Kellogg is in!

YES YES YES! As of today, all of my R1 apps are in and submitted. More champagne for everyone!!!!

Stanford is in!

Congrats to everyone who submitted a Stanford app. I might have to pop a bottle of cheap champagne when I get home. This one took a lot out of me!

The Stanford Data Form

is not a game. I was on it for 3 hours today and am still not finished.

Congratulations

Congratulations to everyone who submitted Wharton or HBS applications today!

Wharton due Monday

Come hell or high water, this Wharton application is getting submitted. I considered putting the app off until round 2, but I've been on this b-school journey for over a year now and I'm really ready to get this party started already.

I spent last night clarifying my career goals in my professional objective essay. I like it. It sings. I've just got to cut out some extraneous words, and that's a done deal.

I spent most of today redoing the interpersonal essay. In my earlier versions, I felt like I didn't own up to my mistakes in navigating this experience so I gave it a minor face lift to reflect these mistakes.

I spent the last few hours overhauling the innovation essay, and am still at it.

Through this essay writing process, I've learned two things -- 1) you have to choose who you're going to take your feedback from and how you're going to use it and 2) you can get feedback until the end of time so at one point you have to create a plan and roll with it.

As far as my other applications....

Tuck -- I visited campus and loved it. My interview with the student ambassador went well. No hard ball questions and I am happy with it.

Kellogg -- got some encouraging feedback so now I'm going to rewrite two of the essays. One is completely done and I'm not changing a thing. The career goals essay needs a bit of clarification. This app is on hold for the moment in light of the two deadlines that are more pressing.

Stanford -- I have been neglecting this baby. Actually that's not entirely true. I've done some good work on the last two behavioral questions and my career objectives were all but set in stone until I had a stroke of genius on the plane ride to Cambridge. I started the career objectives over from scratch and sheer brilliance was flowing through these fingers here. Of course that computer crashed, and along with it, the brilliance. I think I can get into that zone again. It was truly the realest thing I ever wrote (cookie to anyone who got that Tupac reference). I have a draft of What Matters to Me Most, but I'm not confident with it and don't think it's an accurate reflection of what matters to me most.

My boyfriend is out of town this weekend so I have no distractions outside of the 4th season of Mad Men on netflix. I'm on episode five and it's getting quite good so I have to resist. I've been listening to a lot of Prince to power through this....