The First Few Weeks of My Kellogg Journey..

I haven't been able to blog lately, since I only got my laptop last week! Wow, it was scary to be without a laptop for more than one month, however, I survived!

Okay, now, I want to share with you on what to expect when you arrive at business school for the first time ever, especially if you didn't even go to the admit weekend. So, this is a story of a girl who was stranded in a place called Kellogg..

Arriving at Evanston:
I didn't realize how hard it is to get a ticket to Chicago, apparently most flights for end of August are almost always fully booked. Luckily, I managed to arrive 2 days before KWEST. Since I'm an international student, moving equals to bringing two luggages, each weighs around 50 lbs. So, I'm moving my life thousands miles away with two big suitcases. I was also nervous to meet my new roommates for the first time ever, since I actually never had roommates before. Hence, my first preference was to live in a small studio in one of Kellogg's housing, McManus. But since I got waitlisted (on a side note, how could they waitlisted me??), I was forced to find an off campus apartment. Oh well, you know the whole story here. Anyway, it turned out to be a great decision, as I got a great apartment, yeah.. so much better than McManus.. and.. I got two friends that I can start the year with, since I practically don't know anybody at Evanston. Oh, yeah.. they're really, really, great roomies (they probably could read this blog.. so I'm just gonna put it out there).

Several jet-lagged hours later, I already went to a couple of parties, including a Kellogg-Chicago GSB mixer (but since the party is at Evanston, you can imagine how many GSB-ers showed up... like less than 5). So, this is what life is going to be like in Evanston, pretty close knit and you can walk everywhere (a big deal for me.. where I came from, you drive everywhere, even if it's only a 5 minutes drive).

KWEST
So, I have been talking about KWEST in my earlier posts, but for those of you who are not applying to Kellogg and don't know what KWEST is.. well, KWEST stands for Kellogg Worldwide Experience and Service Trip. There are 37 different KWEST destinations this year, they span from Alaska to Thailand. Some trips have high activities like trekking in Norway, while some trips went to relaxing places like Cabo. The goal is to create instant friendships and strong bonds between you and 20 other Kellogg students. KWEST is fully student run (like most things in Kellogg are), besides 20 other first years, the trip itself will be led by four or five Kellogg second years.

Well, I'm not gonna tell you where did I go to, since it might compromise my identity, but rest assure, KWEST was awesome! You meet great people, you go places you've never been before, almost everyone who went to KWEST enjoyed their trips so much.

Another fun thing about KWEST is that you are not supposed to reveal where you're from, where you did your undergrad, and what you did before Kellogg. This rule will force people to talk about other things and try to find common interests beside locations, colleges and jobs. Then, we would have a "Reveal Night". All in all, I would recommend all future Kellogg students to do KWEST, and I'm seriously considering to lead a KWEST trip next year.

Next.. Labor Day..
Okay, why is Labor Day important? Well, it is important, because it is the only day where I get to run all errands and do stuffs that needed to be done before CIM. Because CIM is going to be intense. As my KWEST leaders have warned me, during CIM, I will not want to spend my free hours doing errands, I would rather spend those hours by sleeping.

So, during Labor Day, I bought a new iPhone.. yay! That's what really mattered..

CIM
Well, for you Kellogg applicants, you should know this by now, that CIM stands for Complete Immersion in Management. It's basically a two-weeks orientation to prepare you for your two-years at Kellogg. But, if you can't imagine what CIM is.. well, CIM is like Kellogg's version of summer camp with high dose of hysteria, drama, and sleep deprivation. I absolutely love my CIM experience. It might not be the case for everybody out there, but hey, I got through it.. and if you take everything lightly and have fun with it, you'll love it as much as I do.

So, you might wanna know, what do we actually do at CIM? Well, we listened to speeches, we did community service, we did cases, and we had a pre-term class. That's the serious part. The fun part is you were placed into a section with 70 other people. Each section has a section name and a long-standing proud tradition. Each section will compete to win the CIM trophy. There will be cheering competions, olympics, skits, etc. Trust me, it was all fun, hilarious, and you'll quickly bond with your sectionmates like never before. It feels like high school all over again.

Of course, the 20-hours days during the first week of CIM will make you easily exhausted, tired.. and sick.. like me. I was sick every weekend, I had a cold, mild fever, sore throat, you name it.. But that doesn't only happen to me.. it happened to almost 80% of the CIM population. But that doesn't stop me from hanging out at the Keg, a not-so-pretty bar in Evanston, but everyone seemed to hang out there all the time. It's the ultimate Kellogg social scene.. sad but true.

CIM was fun and I believe it's a truly unique experience that you can only get at Kellogg. I'm glad I pick the right school.

Well, there you go.. the first couple of weeks at Kellogg. I just had my KWEST reunion earlier, and it already felt like so long ago. How time flies when you're living under the Kellogg bubble.

I gotta go, I have a Mexican party that I need to go to.. Adios!

I'm Finally Here

Wow, it's pretty overwhelming. Fighting jet-lags, unpacking things, running around town. But all is good in downtown Evanston.

My apartment turned out to be great, great roommates, and I think Evanston is quite underrated, it turned out to be a beautiful town. I never knew this before, it's pretty awesome. Luckily for me, the weather is nice too. Hopefully this will last longer, since I'm very much used to tropical climates.

Tomorrow, I'll be going to my KWEST trip, I hope it's going to be great. But right now, I'm too busy fighting the urge to sleep between 11 AM - 2 PM. See you guys soon!

This Is It..

After a hectic few couple of weeks, here I am on my last day in my beloved hometown, halfway across the world from Evanston. I know I should've been more excited & enthusiastic about Kellogg, but right now all I can think about is leaving family & friends that I left behind. It's a pretty sad feeling.

I just finished 4 hours of packing (this is already with the help of my cousin, imagine if I did it by myself!). My old life is now inside the two huge luggages I'm taking with me. This is me, going on a new chapter, clean slate, I can become whoever I wanna be.. although I think the current me is already awesome enough! ;-)

Along the way, my friends & family are so kind, they're giving me goodies & gifts as farewell gifts. Okay, not only the material things.. but the love and support they've shown me are ginormous. I think I'm one of the luckiest folks on earth. Seriously.

So, I'll see you in Evanston and I'll keep you posted about Kellogg, KWEST, and CIM pre-term.

Last Day at Work and Internship Offer

Phew, finally, no more work and I get to focus on what's left to do while I'm still here. I listed my to-do list and it turns out that I have over 40 things to do! Goodness..

On another note, yesterday I had lunch with a friend who's a Wharton alum, he's working for a local private equity firm and offered me a summer internship spot next year. Sounds like a pretty cool thing.. I would need time to think about it though..

Hello, B-School World!

Just wanna say "Hi!" from one of the prettiest places in the world :-)

Advice from a Not-So-Wise Ex-B-School Applicant

Well, you don't have to agree to everything I say, but I just hope this advice can be useful to somebody out there. What I'm about to say is really nothing new, it's not rocket science, it's not an original.. but who knows it can be a nice (or not) reminder for you.

Thought #1

Looking back at my experience, I found that I'm constantly worrying about everything. You see, I've been obsessed with getting into a top school for the past five years, so this kinda is a big deal for me. I've been planning every step of my career thinking of b-school, I built my resumé that way. Let me tell you something, it's exhausting & tiring. I always ask to myself, "What's next?". It made me jittery. It made everything that I should have enjoyed.. well, less enjoyable.

"So, Bee, what's your point?"

Well, my point is to really stop worrying and stop being so absorbed by the process. I know it's not easy, because b-school applications are hard work. And I'm not telling you to stop working hard on your apps. But really, enjoy it, one step at a time. For instance, you're doing the GMAT everyday, well, do that, one day at a time. Focus on that, without worying about "What if I didn't score 750?" or "What if the breakdown of the percentile is not a minimum 80th and 80th?" or "What if everybody scored above 770 except me?", and so on. In the mean time, I'm sure you have everything else in your life going on, not only GMAT or essays, so enjoy those too.

"What are you doing, Bee? Trying to be a spiritual teacher?"

No, just a girl who spends the past years worrying too much about things and found out that it still does not satisfy her after she got what she had wanted. So, don't be like me :) Trust me, even after you got into your dream school, you'll still have gazillion things that you'll be worried about like, "What if I picked the wrong school?", "Why didn't I do this?", "What am I going to do after school?", or "How am I gonna get this job or that job?". It's really neverending, so take it one step at a time and really enjoy what you have now.

Thought #2

I think the b-school process, like almost everything in life, works both ways. You pick the school and the school picks you. If it's meant to be, then it's meant to be. I actually never really know why I picked the schools that I applied to, well of course there are obvious reasons like "great brand names", "great rankings", "great program", etc. But seriously, beyond all that I always believe that I can't really go wrong with any of the top schools (or you can say the M7). They all have good program/brand name/recruiting placement, etc. Really, if I have the energy, time and money to apply to all of the top schools (or M7), I probably would. But what happened was, I applied late in the game, all Round 2, all near the deadlines, and I don't have the energy to do more than 4 applications. Heck, the sole reason I even apply to Wharton is because the essay questions are very similar to HBS & Kellogg combined, so it's a 90% cut and paste job.

But in the end, the school picks you, or as I would like to say it, the universe put you in that particular school that you're supposed to go to. As strange as it may sound, I really believe that I'm meant to go to Kellogg this year, not last year to HBS, or maybe next year to Wharton.. no.. I'm meant to go to Kellogg this year. I don't think I would ever fit into Wharton or maybe Columbia and HBS to some extent, although I know that I probably would survive and adapt just fine if I go to any of those schools.. but what I have is already the best option I got and I'm thankful for it.

"Again, Bee.. what are you talking about?"

My point is to really accept what life had offered you. If you're meant to go to school, you will go to school. Of course, you would still have to work your ass off for it, you won't get into Stanford by doing nothing (unless your last name is Gates). And if you're one of those people who didn't get in anywhere, you have to know that there's a better something out there for you, could be a better school/job/relationship just around waiting to happen for you.

Epilogue

Okay, enough preaching and I'm going to let you do your own thing. I'm on vacation in a beautiful island, so that's probably why I have enough time to think about all these (unimportant) things. Have a nice weekend!

What To Expect When You're...

Decided on a school, and getting ready to leave..

Okay, it's not like I've abandoned this blog at all. But trust me, when you think that you'd have the time to blog.. you actually don't. Yeah, it's pretty surprising, because I thought that the last months of work will be like 5% productivity, but not me... I have too much ego to screw up my last month and missed my target. So, yeah, work took a lot of my time (I don't even know why I bother.. *sigh*).

Not only work though, expect a lot of things to came at once, especially when you're an international like me, planning to move your life 24 hours away by plane.

So, what to expect before you leave for school:

1. Finding an apartment
Well, as you know, unfortunately for me, I didn't get the on-campus housing. I figured this would be the most practical option for me, so I applied immediately when I got into Kellogg. But weeks later, they e-mailed me saying that I'm waitlisted. So, I actually begged the school to get me a room in the on campus housing with sob stories on how I don't have relatives and credit history in the US. I also told them how long it will take me to actually arrive in Evanston, I pray they would take pity on me. Well, they said no. So, off I go to the Kellogg discussion board looking for a roommate. It turns out that I got a much better apartment than the on-campus one (of course..) for the same rent. So, it turned out okay. BUT, for you guys out there, prepare at least 2 weeks of your time to look for the right place... It's not that easy! I had my heart broken (at least twice) to almost getting the perfect apartment and ended up not getting it.. So, prepare yourself for that. Also, I think I spent everyday chatting & writing e-mails to my future roommate discussing about amenities, distance to school, bla bla bla.

In conclusion: I know it's important but don't worry about it too much, just get a proper one within your budget (hopefully good distance to school), but I heard that you'll be spending 90% of your time outside your room during school, so it doesn't really matter that much :)

2. Getting shots
I know this is not a big deal, but I hate this part. The Health Services wants a set of vaccinations before you enter school, well no biggie, but I hate needles, and it's making my a** sore. Ew.. just make sure you do it on time, otherwise they'll make you pay a late fee, and you'd rather use that dollars to buy you some clothes or drinks.

3. Visa stuffs
The US visa interview is okay, but the problem is collecting all the documents needed to get you the visa. They need all sorts of documents, bank reference, school letters, etc.. If you live in a bureaucratic country (like mine), it would take at least a week to get all your documents ready. Of course, besides the US visa I need to apply for another visa for my KWEST destination. Double the hassle, but hopefully double the fun.

4. Buying a new laptop
Kellogg has a laptop program so it's probably easy for K students to just buy that laptop & be hassle free. But I prefer a smaller laptop than the T-series ThinkPad, so I am still searching for the perfect one, and so far, my top choices are all ThinkPads: X61, X61 Tablet, or the X300. All depends on my pocket.. So, we'll see..

5. Making the most out of your time
Well, this one is hard. So many things to do at such little time. You really want to spend time with your loved ones, while you're still working, and do school preparation at the same time. You'll manage though.. I think I need a separate post about my family and friends.

I'm sure there are so many other things than just those points above, hopefully I can write more about them. But this should cover a small part of the basics.

I'll see you soon! I promise...