Reconsidering Visiting Schools

I think I talked about my desire to visit most of the schools to which I am applying (especially since most of them are on the East coast... I can't complain they are too far). However, as it is now time to actually start doing that, I find myself hesitating. I have so much to do, both w/ regard to applications and at work, between now and mid-October that I'm not sure I really want to visit each and every school before I submit my application. Plus, there's the whole money aspect. I have a hard time actually pressing that button that charges my credit card when I'm reserving flights. I was talking to a few other applicants about this, and everyone has already managed to visit a few schools. They said it was well worth it... I agree... I am just having a hard time actually committing to the trips. *sigh*

Ciao... a presto.

Talking with Alums

I know I have been reticent in blogging. In my defense, it has been really busy at work (which means I am working very late)! I did get a chance to work on my some more essays this weekend, though not as much as I would have liked. I am just a bit behind schedule, but I am not terribly worried b/c I am going to my Dad's house for the labor day holiday. He lives in the mountains of North Carolina, so there isn't much to do... perfect time for essay writing! Well, essay writing and playing with all my dogs. My dad's two labs (chocolate and black), my aunt's yellow lab (she is out of town so the yellow lab is visiting), my little cocker spaniel, and my sister's boxer will all be there. So many dogs... I love it! We're all going swimming in the river!

Ok... back to the MBA... focus, Rungee!

I have been talking to a lot of alums from the programs I'm interested in. If you have the chance to do this, I would highly encourage it. They provide an honest view of the school's pros and cons and can give you the "inside scoop" on how things work there. I just talked to a Duke grad the other day, who had some interesting insights about the health care and international opportunities. Previous or current students can describe the culture in detail and generally give a richer sense of what to expect from the school.

I have also scheduled some time to talk to a Wharton grad next week. One of my good friends from undergrad is starting at HBS and another is in his 2nd year there, so I told each of them I want to pick their brain for awhile (they're not alumni yet, but current students work too!). I also have some leads on graduates of Michigan, Kellogg, and a current student at Columbia. These are all people that were at my firm before school or who work here now. Having this sort of network is one of the perks of working in a large company, I guess! And everyone is so excited for me and supportive! I wish I could find an LBS student or alumni. I figured it would take me a little longer b/c there is less likely to be one in my group here at work. I haven't looked on their website yet to see if there's an opportunity to speak directly to students... that would be great!

Reinventing the Wheel (but with a good outcome)

I thought I was done with my two required Wharton essays. Well, I at least thought I had a decent rough draft. But, then I read them again. Eww. What was I thinking?! They weren't good at all. I wanted to dig deeper and offer more reflection on my past, present, and future. So, I ended up rewriting a good portion of the first essay (careers goals, why Wharton), and I rewrote the second essay (twice actually). BUT... it was well worth it. I definitely feel they are much more solid and really help show the true me rather than some superficial portrait. Let's just hope I feel the same way when I read them next!

Procrastination

I have found yet another way to procrastinate... updating my blog. :) A little prodding helps too... thanks Juggler.

This week was a tumultuous one, as I reassessed where I was applying (AGAIN). My recommenders are going to kill me. First, MIT keeps sending me stuff. Wooing me with fancy looking things apparently works to some extent. Second, I rediscovered Duke, and subsequently considered swapping Duke for Stanford. I would LOVE to go to Stanford as much as any of my other top choices, b/c I think their curriculum is such a good fit for me, but I feel like my chances are lowest there for some reason. I am usually a fairly decisive person so this constantly waffling among school choices is driving me insane. Argh.

I decided that this recent uncertainty about a few schools should not prevent me from continuing to make progress on the essays for the other schools. So, I put some finishing touches on my LBS essays and got about half way through the Wharton essays (1st essay was 1000 words... so long and yet not enough room... hmmm). Surprisingly, the failure essay has been sort of difficult for me to write. I've had a few missteps here and there, but nothing that I feel would make a truly good topic, especially in the professional realm (I plan to cover some other extracurricular things in other essays, so in the interest of a balanced application, I wanted to do a prof. essay here). If I can get a draft of the rest of the Wharton essays done by tonight I will be totally on top of my schedule (I've created a calendar with my self-imposed deadlines for everything... I love it... it's even got symbols).

I also just rec'd all my feedback from friends and family for my HBS essays and I'm incorporating their comments. I got some really valuable revisions, but I was very happy that they all thought I got my points across. I asked them to name the themes they would take away from the essays. Thankfully, they all identified the themes I was trying to convey! Guess that means the essays are well on their way to being final. :) *little celebratory dance* I finally got up the energy to start researching and outlining that damn ethics essay too. I'm not ready to write it yet, but at least I'm a few steps closer.

There are only about 7 weekends left before due dates start rolling around... that's just plain scary. I think I'll definitely have to put some time in during the week. I can see a few days off in my future (perhaps late September when panic hits).

All right, back to writing!

Happy Saturday for Rungee - more essays done

I managed to finish all but one of the LBS essays today. Yeah! I want to wrap up some loose ends and revise the ones I have already completed tomorrow. The only one I have left is the one about leading a group. I know what I want to write, but I think I need to do a little more research about the particular group and how I might be able get involved in it.

I signed up for two more information sessions in the past week. There is an HBS info session scheduled for mid-August. I'm not sure if I'll actually go to this or not. I feel like out of all the schools, I know HBS the best. I wish they had a brochure (I just like having something to hold in my hands for some reason). The excuse for why they don't have one is that they went to a completely paperless system. Most people think it's just b/c they consider themselves "special." No comment from me on which explanation is more plausible. :) The second info session is sponsored by the Forte foundation... several schools will be in attendance. I think the actual presentation is not explicitly by the schools' adcoms, but they will be on hand to answer questions before and after the session.

OK, now to celebrate my progress, I'm going to continue my never-ending Friends marathon. :) I love that show!!!

Review of AdCom panel

So, as I mentioned in my last post, I went to a UPenn Alumni Club event with members of the admissions committees at Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg, and MIT. Most of the answers were pretty standard, but I did find a few interesting tidbits.

There were surprisingly a lot of people there... I would estimate about 200 - 250. This made me nervous b/c I was thinking if there are this many people here, consider how many will be applying to these top schools in just the entire DC area. They polled the audience in the beginning to get an idea of work experience (most people were applying with 3 - 5 years of experience), whether or not people had significant others that would join them at school (only about 10 -15 people!!!), and how many had already taken the GMAT (just under half).

Each member of the panel spoke about a different part of the admission process.
General comments - they really do read the entire package. They all agreed that they never look at stats and then just put you in the reject pile. At least two people will read your package (including all essays).

Kellogg Rep - GMAT and Transcripts

• Want to demonstrate you can handle rigor of program. Will understand a lower quant score if you were an English lit major. Everything taken in context of the overall package.
• AdCom is looking for improvement and trends.

MIT Rep - Work experience and recommendations

• Average is 4 - 5 years of work experience, more or less years is fine but make sure you goals are clear and the "why now" comes out in your essays
• Being sincere will help you to differentiate yourself if you are in a common group (e.g., consultants). Be sure to show the impact you've had and let your passion come through.
• Write about your accomplishments, not your tasks
• Recommendations should highlight your strengths; best way to make sure that happens - get someone who knows you well to write the recommendation

Stanford Rep - Extracurriculars

• Cover extracurriculars in college through current time; try to focus on leadership, scope of responsibility, size of organization and what kinds of activities that organization does, impact you've had
• Non-leadership positions can be valuable too - sometimes you made an impact as a team (sports) or perhaps you tutor kids (individual accomplishment). Attaining a certain level of achievement (e.g., All-American) also shows your dedication and self-sacrifice
• They look at context. Understand that if you are working crazy banking hours and flying every week for work as a consultant that it would be hard to get involved. However, it is therefore even more impressive if you have managed to do that.

HBS Rep - Essays

• Essays are the heart of the application. Will help if you see it as an opportunity rather than a chore.
• Chance to distinguish yourself. Make the AdCom excited to get to know you (they'll want to see you for an interview!)
• AdCom should feel like they've gotten to know you well after reading your essays
• Ask your reviewers to think about whether this is you when they read your essays

Wharton Rep - Interviews

• Gain insight into passions, career path, why you want/need an MBA
• Rehearse your story and do your homework on the school - just don't get to the point where it's just recitation and not a conversation
• Every school does its interview process differently - make sure you understand it for each

After this general discussion, there were prepared and open Q&A. Here are some things I found interesting:

• All schools except Kellogg were very open to younger applications, particularly women (this stems from realizing that women often want to go to school earlier because they do include family planning in their career). Kellogg didn't say they were against younger applicants, but I guess they really value work experience.
• All schools are really trying to get more women. They pointed out that law and med school has reached a 50/50 representation while b-schools still hover around 30%. (as a side note, MIT has clearly been proactive about this. I got a letter in the mail from the school highlighting their focus on recruiting and training women in business).
• Optional essays are truly optional.
• If you come from a non-traditional background, that's great b/c it represents diversity. But, you may have to do a bit more explaining about what you do so AdCom can understand.
• Types of classes: Kellogg - variety, MIT - variety, Stanford - case, experiential (a few lecture), HBS - 80% case, rest are experiential (50% of their students do field studies in 2nd year), Wharton - mix of case and lecture
• Most schools have a global business component (some more so than others). Stanford talked a little bit about their new curriculum, but I found it echoed the information available on the website.

That's it! :) I hope that was helpful to some fellow applicants.