B-School Wannabe

Round 2 Applications Done!

2006-12-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

Phew! That's it. I am finally done with all of my business school applications. I decided to just apply to Haas and UCLA in round 2. After doing more research I realized that I just am not as passionate about Duke, and so it doesn't make sense for me to apply to that program.

I feel good about the programs that I've applied to. If I don't get in anywhere, I am okay with that. Better that than to apply to a safety school that I don't really want to attend. Now, it is out of my hands.

Round 1 decisions should start coming soon...

Done!

2006-11-04T17:07:00.000-08:00

Well, not totally done. But I finished my round 1 applications last week. As I said in my last post, I applid to Stanford, Michigan, and Kellogg. It actually went pretty smoothly overall, and so I am targeting three more schools in round 2: Haas, UCLA, and Fuqua.

My biggest piece of advice is to give your recommenders enough time! Fortunately, the recommendation thing will be easier for me in round 2 since these people already wrote recos for me (except for one person, probably). But two different people ended up needing more time past when they said they would be done, and in both cases that was the last thing I was waiting on before finishing my application. I will thank the admissions experts at Your MBA Game Plan again because this is exactly what they said would happen. Even with a head start I almost ran out of time with the recommendations. This time I will get them started in November, so that they should be done by early January at the very latest.

Oh, and I am finding that recycling essays is not as easy as I expected. Or, I should say recycling essays WELL isn't that easy. Don't assume that you will achieve massive economies of scale by applying to many schools!

Sorry for Being MIA

2006-09-23T14:33:00.000-07:00

Sorry that I have not posted in a while. The business school application process is actually going pretty well. This is what I have accomplished since my last post:

Told me boss that I am applying - This actually went fine. She was very supportive (she has an MBA), and told me that she is available to help in any way that I need. I immediately told her that I will need a few letters of recommendation from her, and she said she would be glad to do it. We agreed to not really tell everyone else in our wokrgroup for a little while.
Updated my resume -- I had not built a proper resume in a ocuple of years, and this actually took some time. But I think I have it in pretty good shape right now. A friend of mine who is in b-school right now helped me highlight my accomplishments, get rid of the passive voice, etc.
Organized all of my accomplishments and hobbies -- Doing this before I wrote my resume may have helped. But I took a lot of time to organize everything I have done over the past few years, to help identify my strengths and weaknesses. The methodology outlined in Your MBA Game Plan really helped me here.
Began my essays -- I got off to a monster start a couple of weeks ago, banging out nearly all of my Michigan essays in one weekend. But then I went back and looked at them a few days later (I highly recommend doing this), and realized that I was all over the place. I decided to go back and outline my essays a little more methodically before I write any more.
Contacted people about recommendation letters -- This does not seem like a big deal, but a lot of people keep warning me to stay on top of this, so I am now using my list of accomplishments to create a mini dossier on myself, which I will send to my reco writers by the end of this weekend.

I think I will apply to Stanford, Kellogg, and Michigan in round 1, and then save UCLA and Haas for round 2. I may also add Duke (Fuqua) to the mix, depending on how I feel after my round 1 applications are in.

My Target Business Schools

2006-08-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

I think I have narrowed down "The List" to the following schools:

Stanford
Haas
Kellogg
UCLA
Michigan

I am interested in these MBA programs for their ability to turn out strong general managers, their culture, and their reputation in my fields of interest. My west coast bias is probably pretty obvious, too. If I had to rank them in order of preference (not in order of my chances of sucess), I would probably put them in that order. I have only visited Stanford and Haas so far, but plan on visiting the others before the end of September.

I have not decided if I will apply to all of them in the first round, or if I will apply to UCLA and Michigan in the second round. My preference is to get it all over with, but I don't want to spread myself too thin.

Next up, I need to get my recommenders geared up, which means telling my boss...

Steady Eddie

2006-07-25T18:55:00.000-07:00

Ha ha... Okay, so I took the GMAT last Friday, and I got... 690... again. So I guess that test really is an accurate predictor of one's ability.

I am not really disappointed, especially since a 690 is a "good enough" score to get me into a top school. But I did expect to do a bit better after so many practice exams.

No matter... I am done with the GMAT!

Two More Days...

2006-07-19T18:11:00.000-07:00

Two more days until I take the GMAT again. My studying is DONE. If I don't know it by now, I won't know it on Friday. And if I don't boost my score this time, I think I'm done with the GMAT, anyway. 690 is good enough, right?...

Selecting My Target Schools

2006-07-08T14:36:00.000-07:00

This is actually a little harder than I expected. I say that because I caught myself just going down the US News rankings list and thinking "Okay, those top five schools look good." But everything I've read on Business Week, Clear Admit, Your MBA Game Plan, etc., warns against doing that. I need to have real, personal reasons for why I want to attend each of my target schools. Sure, I want to get into a top school, but what do I tell the HBS interviewer (should I be so lucky) when he asks me why I want to go to HBS?

One problem is that I know the top business schools are different from one another, but it seems like the things that really appeal to me about one also appeal to me about the others. So, my reasons for wanting to attend Wharton are almost the same as my reasons for wanting to attend Stanford, HBS, Kellogg, Chicago, Michigan, MIT, Columbia, etc. Great faculty, top-notch student body, access to great jobs, and on and on.

I need to keep digging. I need some more introspection. Yeah, that's it.

GMAT prep continues. It's really slowed to a trickle. I plan on doing one more burst of studying next weekend, and then locking it in for the 21st.

Taking the GMAT Again

2006-06-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I will retake the GMAT on July 21. I wanted a weekend, but this was the best I could do next month. That only gives me a few weeks, but I feel like that is all I will need.

I just picked up a Princeton Review book (is that Hugh Grant on the cover??). It looks like it is okay as far as these books go. I mainly just wanted access to a new set of sample problems. I am not going to use it to cram. I mainly want to stay fesh and go in and take the test one more time with a clear head.

This throws off my plans slightly since I wanted to really start research schools by now. I have already done some of that, and will continue to do so when I'm not pickng at a few GMAT problems here and there...

And the Score Is...

2006-06-20T19:04:00.000-07:00

690. I have to say that I am slightly disappointed since 700 was my bogey, but I still consider it a modest success. 82% verbal, 87% quant, which is pretty much in line with my practice tests.

It all went pretty well, no horrible glitches or questions that totally wrecked me. I managed to finish each section. And the AWA questions were pretty straightforward. But, I do think that I screwed up a REALLY easy quant question early on (one of the first five or six), which everyone knows is a no-no. If I had gotten that one right, maybe I would have broken the 700 barrier. Who knows.

So, I guess I am somewhat relieved, because I feel like I know I can do this (get a decent score). And the "experts" say that anyone can get in with a 690 if the rest of their app is good.

But, I feel like I can't quite let it go. This is killing me... Should I take it again??

The Final Countdown...

2006-06-14T19:02:00.000-07:00

Five days until I take the GMAT! As I type this, Europe's "Final Countdown" is playing over and over in my head. Can you hear the power chords?

I have completed all of my Kaplan and POWERPREP exams. I've been getting scores between 670 and 740 on the exams (most within 20 points of 700). Pretty consistent, which is a good sign.

My plan is to flip through a few other materials that I have over the next few days, and then RELAX this weekend...

AWA Advice?

2006-05-27T12:09:00.000-07:00

Hey, does anyone have any good advice for preparing for the AWA on the GMAT? I have looked at a bunch of sample "analysis of an issue" and "analysis of an argument" questions, and have typed out some sample responses (timing myself in the process). But what else are you supposed to do to prepare for the AWA? Are there sample AWA questions beyond what is on the Official Guide for GMAT Review?

Thanks to Everyone for Your Support!

2006-05-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

My GMAT studying has actually slowed down. I feel like I have used up most of the materials that I will use. I am mostly done with the key parts of the Kaplan book, and now I don't want to burn through my sample tests too quickly. My plan is to take on of the sample tests today (Kaplan), one next week, and then take one POWERPREP test each weekend until the week before my test. I just want to stay sharp and get in a rhythm, but not get worn out.

I probably could have scheduled the test a little sooner, but I am going to stick with this schedule. Hopefully, five weeks from now, I will be done with this, and then I can focus on the rest of my business school application!

Another GMAT Update

2006-04-30T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone who posted their well wishes and advice. I am about a month and a half away from my date with the GMAT, and I feel pretty good about where I am at. I finished the Official Guide last week, and am going to go through one other book (Kaplan) to especially focus on the areas that are still troubling me. I hope to take a full practice test next weekend... Still gunning for 700.

June 19

2006-04-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

It's on! I'm scheduled to take the GMAT on June 19. I figured that a Monday would be good... Less crowded than a Saturday, and early enough in the work week that I won't be pooped by the time the test comes. Now I really have something to shot for.

GMAT Studying Update

2006-04-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

I am almost done with the Official Guide for GMAT Review. I probably have less than 100 questions left, and my goal is to finish it by next Saturday.

I can tell that I am getting better. Data sufficiency questions, which were the bane of my existence just three weeks ago, are much clearer to me now (although I have more work to do there). Believe it or not, reading comprehension is probably the question type that has given me the most trouble after data sufficiency. It sounds silly to me because these questions seem like something from an eighth grade standardized test. But at first I think I was reading the passages a little differently than I needed to. I have definitely gotten better at recognizing what they are communicating in a passage.

I need to schedule the test this week. Aiming for mid June now...

New U.S. News Rankings

2006-04-01T08:31:00.000-08:00

Oooh... The new U.S. News business school rankings are out for 2007:

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

Here are the top ten:

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Wharton
4. Sloan
4. Kellogg
6. Chicago
7. Columbia
7. Haas
9. Tuck
10. Anderson

This doesn't mean that much at the end of the day, but it is still fun to watch the rankings.

Another Plug

2006-03-19T19:01:00.000-08:00

I will throw out another plug. I recently bought Your MBA Game Plan, and so far I am impressed. It's a great overview of the MBA admissions process. You can get it on Amazon.com. I discovered the authors on the GMAT Club message board.

Also, I haven't used it yet, but they offer their own MBA essay editing service at www.mbagameplan.com. Their prices look really reasonable compared to some others that I have looked at. I don't know if I will use a service like this, but I would consider theirs. I know I sound like a cheerleader for them (I don't know them personally), but I just like them because they are relatively recent alumni and don't act like they are God's gift to business school applicants.

First things first... Back to studying! I've got about 700 problems to go in the OG...

Studying for the GMAT

2006-03-11T13:51:00.000-08:00

So I have the Official Guide for GMAT Review and a Kaplan book. This is a REALLY boring way to spend a Saturday. But I took a practice test when I first started and realized that I have a lot of work to do. I can already tell that I am getting better in some areas (like Data Sufficiency), so it's paying off, I guess. Based on my practice score and how I'm feeling now, I think a 700 is a good target for me to aim for...

Way to Feed the Addiction

2006-02-25T14:16:00.000-08:00

These guys contacted me and asked me to link to their site. What the hell:

http://www.mbabuzz.com/

The site's main thing is to plot applicants' results vs. their GMAT scores and GPAs. I'm still learning about this process, but I already know that there is WAY more to this than just your GMAT score and GPA! So, I'm not sure how useful it is, but it's funny that someone thought to do this.

Part-Time Programs?

2006-02-04T18:32:00.000-08:00

I'm now looking at some part-time programs. I was thinking that I would apply to just full-time programs, but it's kind of tempting to keep working (and maybe even get sponsored, although I don't think my company has an official program) while getting my MBA. Plus, if I sort of stay within my current field, I don't necessarily need a summer internship to help me get a foothold in a new caree/industry.

I guess I need to decide before I apply, though. I doesn't make much sense to apply to both part-time and full-time programs. It makes it look like you don't know what you want to do.

No Round 3 for Me

2006-01-22T08:46:00.000-08:00

I've read some blogs by people who say they're targeting round three of this current admissions season. They are cramming for the GMAT right now, and are going to tackle their essays at the 11th hour. How can they do that?? That doesn't sound to me like a formula for success. I have a feeling that those people who are rushing for round three this year are just going to be re-applicants in nine months...

Intern Recruiting

2006-01-12T20:01:00.000-08:00

I have a couple of friends in their first year of business school right now (Darden and UCLA). They're telling me about all of the rigors and stresses of internship recruiting. I'm not looking forward to going through the job search ritual again, but at least it sounds like the job market is very healthy right now. Hopefully it will last at least a couple more years.

Looking at the GMAT books

2006-01-07T08:10:00.000-08:00

Wow, it looks like I have a lot of work ahead of me. I just randomly flipped to some pages in the Official Guide, and some of these questions don't look familiar at all. I think that data sufficiency questions will be my big bugaboo.

I wasn't planning on taking a GMAT prep course, but I'm feeling slight more humble now. I may take a look at some classes if I'm still feeling clueless after going through the Kaplan book.

GMAT, G-Schmat

2006-01-03T18:10:00.000-08:00

So I just ordered some GMAT books today. I ordered the Official Guide for GMAT Review and Kaplan GMAT 800. I've spent some money now, so I guess it's now official that I'm applying to business school this coming year.

I plan on taking the GMAT in the spring, depending on how it goes with these books. I figure that will give me enough time to retake it, if needed...

Welcome to my blog

2006-01-01T12:52:00.000-08:00

I've created this blog as I embark on applying to business school in late '06 to enter the Class of '09. Stay tuned as I pursue my MBA dreams! -- Kent,