Rungee Goes to School

Sunday, October 29, 2006

And then there were none

I submitted Duke and Michigan today, ending my R1 application submissions. I am a little fatigued of writing apps, revising essays, etc., so I hope I reviewed them as thoroughly as necessary. I have promised myself not to look at the applications now that they are submitted unless I get an interview invite (at least in the case of Michigan, since I already interviewed at Duke). Inevitably, I would find something I wanted to change and would agonize over it... and I just don't need that! I plan to take next weekend to just relax. I haven't done that since early August. I'm sure my husband will be happy to know he has his wife back (at least temporarily). Haha. :)

Friday, October 27, 2006

Ahhhhhh!

That "ahhhh" is really a shout of joy b/c I received a Wharton interview invite in my email this morning! :D I know there is still a long way to go, but I am definitely very excited about this. I have decided I am definitely going to campus to interview, but I am waiting to hear some news on my project before I sign up (I may have to go out of the country, which would impact the dates I could interview). I also want to leave myself enough time to adequately prepare, so I can make sure I nail this interview.

Good luck to everyone else waiting for an interview invite... I hope it works out for you all too! :)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Report Out

I had my Fuqua interview recently. I decided to fly down to Duke for the interview, so I could look around the campus. The facilities are nice. They are doing some construction, which was loud, but certainly will help to expand the facilities. I liked the student center - it seems very much alive with energy.

They have the interviewees wait in a lobby outside the office. They also have students sit with you to talk to you and answer your questions. I thought this was great! It put me immediately at ease, and I ended up asking a lot of questions. While they had particular students who were apparently "assigned" to sit there with us, many of their friends saw them there and stopped to chat as well. They were very friendly!

My interviewer came out to get me right on time. We went to a room and she offered me something to drink. She broke the ice with a few questions about my trip and visit thus far and then we got down to business. She noted that I worked in consulting and must travel a lot. I told her I did and she asked where I had gone. She also asked if I had ever had an eye-opening travel experiences when traveling to a place w/ a different culture. She then jumped into some standard questions:

Why do you want an MBA? What are your career goals?
What could you contribute to the Fuqua?
Tell me about a challenge you faced at work - how did you handle it?
What are the qualities you consider critical in a leader?
What classes outside your major did you enjoy in your undergraduate studies?
What would you do at Fuqua to round out your learning experience? Any specific extracurriculars?
How would your friends describe you?
What would you do if money were not an issue?
Any questions for me?

The interview lasted about 45 minutes. I could have done a better job on a few of the questions (I felt I started and ended strong, with just a little dip in the middle). I hate silence in interviews, so I have a tendency to ramble at times. I haven't interviewed in about 3 years, but I did practice the standard questions beforehand to smooth my story. The positive thing was that when I was explaining why I wanted an MBA to help me on my career goals, I was getting a lot of nods and she even said something like "that makes sense." I wanted to be like... "yeah, I thought so too." :) I went about answering the questions honestly, so I think they got a fairly good picture of who I am. I actually kind of enjoyed the conversation. I always have to reign myself in during interviews, as I have a tendency to just keep talking and asking questions because I enjoy meeting new people so much (my undergraduate interview lasted 2.5 hours!)

She also told me about a Weekend for Women, which sounds awesome. You have to apply (probably b/c Fuqua foots part of the bill while you're there). I am definitely going to try to get into that. I think it would be a great experience. Overall, I very much enjoyed my visit to Fuqua. The staff and students were engaging, the interview wasn't at all painful, and I learned a lot about the program and the school.

Friday, October 06, 2006

Here we goooooooo

I submitted Harvard and Wharton. Phew. I gave myself a final deadline of midnight tonight to hit the button. I was making minute changes up until last night, but I figured it was finally time to just let it go and submit (I tend to wordsmith things to death). I've got my LBS application ready to go, but I want one more weekend with those essays to make sure I don't have any other changes.

Ahhh... it feels so good to get those out of the way! Now the waiting game begins...