It's a race... it's a race!

I am back at work on this lovely afternoon after a somewhat relaxing weekend in North Carolina. I decided to fly down to Charlotte and then drive back with my husband, who had been in NC for an entire week on his spring break. In order to get a cheap ticket, I decided to fly out of BWI, which is one of the outlying Washington, DC airports. I love flying. I would so much rather fly than drive that if it is the least bit shorter than the car ride, I will fly (even if the cost is more... although it does get prohibitive at some point). I think this preference stems from my need to be in constant motion. It seems like everywhere I go, I feel the need to get there fast. If I'm in the airport, I get to walk quickly from garage to ticket line, from ticket line through security, from security to shuttle bus, etc. I feel like I'm accomplishing something. Then, I get to sit and rest, read, sleep on the plane. If I'm in the car, I still have the same sense of urgency but no instant gratification! On the contrary, I have to sit and pay attention to driving for hours while feeling like if I could just got 150 mph, life would be better (obviously, I try to at least keep it w/in 20 mph of the speed limit - don't want any reckless driving tickets!).

I have decided I definitely want to visit the schools I am most seriously considering. This will involve a trip to Chicago (for Kellogg), San Fran (for Stanford and may as well visit Berkeley to see what I think of it while I'm there), Durham (Duke), Philadelphia (Wharton), and London (LBS). I've been to HBS already while I was a senior and sat in on a class, so don't really feel the need to go back. I'm going to Philadelphia next week for work, so I may even try to squeeze that one in then, but I have no idea if we'll have any time. We have relatives near Duke, so I am hoping next time we go see them, I can take a little jaunt over that way. The trips to San Fran, Chicago, and LBS will be a bit more difficult, but definitely worth it, I think. I really like both SF and Chicago, so I am excited for those trips. I've never been to London, so we'll see what it holds!

Sorry for the chopping writing! Just in a hurry (what a surprise, right?) ;)

My blog is lonely

I just noticed today that it shows how many profile views I've had. A whopping 4. My blog is so sad. =(

Of course, it might help if I actually told people about it...

I'll work on that!

Buy the by

So, I had a brilliant idea today. I thought I would be productive and go do some research. I tend to have an aversion to libraries after many unfortunate sessions of lugging a HUGE pile of books back to my dorm from the far-flung Harvard libraries. I figured I would head over to Barnes & Noble, which is right down the block, and just read through some of the business school materials they had. They have a cute little coffee shop (with amazing flavors!) where people often sit and read. Usually, I feel like this is cheating the system or something. I always think, man, they are basically getting a free book by doing that. In fact, there was someone in there today with an SAT prep book that was actually doing problems from the book and then put the book back on the shelf!

Anyway, I decided that if B&N was just going to accept this behavior, who was I not to take advantage of the situation? I bought a coffee to assuage my guilt (and three other books...) and sat down to read about writing a winning essay. I figured I had read a lot online, but this book might have a few good tidbits. Well, I got really absorbed in it and decided to buy it. I'm such a sucker. Maybe that's why B&N lets people sit down to read their books there. Once you realize you can't read the whole thing in one sitting and you are emotionally invested in the content, you feel like you have to get it. Anyway, if it's any good, I will post the review on here to lead others in that direction. =)

I also got The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. He came to speak in one of my economics classes. He's amazing - so charismatic and passionate about his ideas. Plus, the guy is just brilliant. I thoroughly enjoyed his lecture and I am very much looking forward to reading his book. He deals mostly with the economics of third-world countries and how environmental factors affect their economics. I find his theories intriguing and would love to be involved in something someday that puts some of his ideas into practice.

The other two books are for my nephew, who is 2. They're much lighter reading. =)

I love lamp

I've been extremely bored all week at work. Why is it that I'm either so ridiculously busy that I can barely breathe or I'm so bored I just want to fall asleep? Is that just the nature of business? I haven't had any other job besides this one so it's hard to know. Anyway, I notice that when I am bored and I actually get a task to do that I am very inefficient at getting it done. You would think I'd be excited to do it and would do it well. Instead, I mosey through it and it takes me twice as long to organize my thoughts.

This got me thinking... maybe this is why I've always stayed busy. Maybe every time I slowed down enough to think I actually lost the ability to put together intellectual thoughts. Ok, this probably isn't true, but it's an interesting theory. =P I do feel much more envigorated when I'm bouncing from one thing to another. I always have stopped short of committing to do too much, as I want to make sure everything I do is at 100% effort, but sometimes I get really close to that line. I just feel so useless sitting around.

Since I was bored today, I made plans for tonight, of course, so off I go... just wanted to jot down some quick thoughts to share with the world!

Lexus

I am currently reading The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman. I know this is a very popular book, but for those who aren't familiar with it, the topic is globalization. I find it very interesting. I love books such as these. First, the writing style is straightforward yet thoughtful and presses you to think about your own position on the issue. Second, it amalgamates several theories presented from various fields of study (economics, psychology, ecology, etc.) and puts them all together. It's an opportunity to find the connections between things that would appear otherwise distinct.

My interest in globalization is somewhat recent and stems from my interest in international relations. It probably started in college, which was my first real opportunity to interact with people from other cultures in an academic setting. I really appreciated the different ways people approached problems and how their backgrounds led to their varied contributions to our discussions. I learned so much from my peers during that time, and I think that's one of the things I hope to get out the business school experience. Even if I don't focus strictly on international studies within my MBA, I definitely want to go to a diverse school so that I may have the opportunity to learn from people different from me. That's why the schools abroad are so appealing right now. I was also considering the Wharton/Lauder option today. It all looked great until I got to the language requirement. I speak Spanish and Italian but, in the traditional American fashion, I can't speak either one very well. (I have decided my kids are going to learn a second language from early on and will continue with it... argh... stupid public schools and their lack of resources). Still researching all the options out there...

Slick

I ordered an info packet from a few schools. The one from LBS arrived today. I read through it, and it was quite informative. I probably could have gotten a lot of the same stuff off the website, but there's something nice about having it there in hard copy. And, for some odd reason, I felt like I was special for getting it (even though I obviously ordered it and there's nothing special in that). Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting the few others I ordered and continuing research. I've been talking to some business school alumni to get there thoughts too.

I've been trying to add some cool stuff to my sidebar, but I can't seem to figure out how to do it! I know some HTML and I totally thought I was making the changes correctly (even according to the help tutorial I found), but it just didn't work. Argh. Techology.

Researching schools

My school research continues. I am leaning even more toward an international focus. So much so that I've started looking more carefully outside the US. At first glance, London Business School (LBS), IESE, and ESADE seem to be my top choices. I know INSEAD is great, but I'm just not feeling it when I look through the website. I think it would be so much fun to go abroad for school and would definitely give me a chance to explore my interest in international business. I've talked about it with my husband and he thinks it's a great idea too. We both love Spain (never been to London, though) and I think we'd be happy there. He doesn't speak much Spanish, but I think he'd learn pretty quick. :P

I have decided that if I don't go overseas for school, I definitely want to take part in an exchange program so I at least get the international flavor. Several schools offer that option. I don't believe I've seen much in the way of study abroad opportunities at HBS, so that might knock it out of my target school zone (though it would be hard not to apply b/c I love Boston and the area offers a lot of opportunities for my husband).

So, at the current time, here is my list of top schools. It's rather large, but I definitely plan to cut it down over the next few months to get it to a reasonable size.

The "I'll cut my left arm off to get in" schools:
- Wharton
- Stanford
- LBS
- Duke
- Kellogg

The "I'll still be pretty psyched to get in" schools:
- Harvard
- IESE
- ESADE
- Dartmouth
- Chicago

The "Eh, at least I'm in business school" schools:
- UVA
- Cal
- Michigan

Not to say that any on the bottom of the list aren't great schools, but I'm just not sure they fit what I'm looking for as much. That's why I'm still doing LOTS of research. I hope to only apply to 5 schools, so I seriously need to whittle the list down. I know I said this before, but I just really want to apply already. Enough waiting. Of course, come application time next fall when I'm scrambling to get my apps in, I bet I won't be saying that! :)

BTW - if you happen to be another future MBA student reading this blog, you should definitely check out www.clearadmit.com or http://mbaleague.blogspot.com. Both have some great insight and links to other blogs! I love reading those! Makes me feel like I'm not alone. ;)

That's all for now - I hope that it won't be so long between blogs next time!