Bee to B-School

The First Few Weeks of My Kellogg Journey..

2008-09-17T08:09:00.006+07:00

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

2008-08-23T23:02:00.002+07:00

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..

2008-08-20T08:55:00.002+07:00

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

2008-07-25T10:52:00.003+07:00

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!

2008-07-15T13:29:00.005+07:00

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

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

2008-07-10T22:00:00.005+07:00

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...

2008-07-08T16:08:00.003+07:00

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...

What Have I Been Up To?

2008-06-02T17:58:00.002+07:00

Sorry, guys, I know I haven't blogged much lately.

But, hey, I've been busy with stuffs like:
1. Planning for KWEST, ah.. the beauty of going to Kellogg is of course KWEST! I have registered for my trips. In the registration site, they summarized the trips by Comfort, Culture, Activity & Nightlife. The way I choose my trips are simple, Comfort must be High (or at least Medium.. I don't wanna sleep in tents!), Nightlife must be High, Culture whatever, Activity preferably low.
2. Reading fiction books that requires no in-depth thinking whatsoever. I have a bunch of books piling up in my room, ever since I got busy with b-school apps, well, I have no time to read.. so, I really enjoy reading at the moment. I read a bunch of teen books like Gossip Girl or the Twilight novels. Also (finally) finished the last Harry Potter book (sob).
3. Reading spiritual books, I'm trying to be a better person :-)
4. Having my TV Series marathon. I've watched Scrubs Season 6 & 7, Gossip Girl Season 1, How I Met Your Mother Season 1, 2, 3.. I know, I should be ashamed of myself..
5. Getting my Visa.. and I'm happy to say that I finally got my F-1 visa ready.. I'm ready to go, baby
6. Looking for housing backup as I've been waitlisted for the on-campus housing.. Seriously, what is up with me & waitlists?? They seemed to happen a lot to me. Seriously..
7. Planning for my trip to the Island of the Gods in July. I'll be spending two weeks of beach, books, beer, and sleeping..
8. Work. Oh, yeah.. I forgot that I haven't quit my job yet..

Well, enough about me. How do you plan to spend your summer?

Less Drama in THE Forum?

2008-05-14T20:32:00.005+07:00

As you can probably tell from my last post, I can't stand working. I have zero attention span that is actually equal to a three year old boy. So, in between trying to make a creative marketing program to boost my product's revenue, I checked out the infamous BW forum yesterday. I'm quite shocked to see that the forum has now employed a "Troll Patrol" policy. Apparently, the forum's officers will delete posts with personal attacks or other troll-like behavior.

Some of you might be happy to hear this, but not me. Well, excuse me, this is like eating popcorn without butter (although I'm a vegan and actually I don't eat butter). Or maybe it's like watching a PG version of "Sex and the City". What's the point, right? It's no fun!

I have to admit that you can find a lot of useful information in the forum. Especially when you can ask the famous consultants about your "chances", etc. Although, please remember to take a everything with a bowl of salt. But, as I have mentioned before, I always read the BW forum for fun. I love the fighting threads, it's very entertaining and très dramatic. I love how people seemed to take things extremely seriously, while others (like me) are the loyal spectators in the sidelines. I love how they come up with "BW's top troll rankings", or how they rank (yes, they love to rank stuffs in the forum) "Best PE firms", "Top 10 Most Beautiful Campus", or "Best Schools to Get Laid".

But if the officers start to delete more and more posts, I'll be missing lots of scenes. It won't be fun to watch just the results part of American Idol, right? You wanna see who sings bad and what Simon says about it.

My message to all of you out there, take it easy, people! Let the trolls live.. after all, they are the ones who kept the forum alive and kicking. Anyway, if you're serious enough to learn more about b-school application stuffs, you'll be smart enough to realize that the BW forum is not the sole information provider for you. Stop being such party poopers.

So, please stop the censorship in BW! And more butter for us!!

Counting Weeks

2008-05-13T11:30:00.003+07:00

Argh, I wish I can really just stay home and not do anything!

I hate the fact that my annoying boss called me early in the morning and tell me stuffs I knew about already. I still have 8 weeks to go. To be precise, I still have to go to the office 38 more times, that's a lot of times!

Why can't I have a nicer boss?

I Bet..

2008-04-29T23:29:00.001+07:00

Within the next couple of hours (and maybe next couple of days), most MBA bloggers will post about Clear Admit's BoB..

Wow, Clear Admit Best of Blogging!!

2008-04-29T22:06:00.013+07:00

Well, dreams do come true!

I feel very honored to be chosen as Clear Admit's Best of Blogging runner up. I would really like to say thank you to Clear Admit, my fellow bloggers, and the celebrity judges.. and of course.. the Academy! ;-) Also, special shoutout to theincarnated as the first one to congratulate me!

Congratulations to JulyDream for being the best MBA applicant blogger! Big congratulations also to m@! I am a big fan of both of your blogs! Congratulations also for all the top 10 bloggers, both applicants & students.

I'm also very excited to hear that one of my posts was chosen as the "Best Single Post by an Applicant", along with Ameya's post. Thank you, guys! Now, I'm supposed to choose between the subscription to BusinessWeek or the Economist as a prize. Yay!

Well, without further ado, I shall post the full line up:

Top 10 Applicant Blogs
1. July Dream
2. Miss Curly Bee
3. VidiViciVeni
4. B-School Bound
5. Tinydancer
5. gltnforpnshmnt
7. mbabound08
8. Achilles
9. Eight Schools
10. MBA Runner Girl

Most Entertaining Applicant Blog: VidiViciVeni

Best GMAT Preparation Advice: vectorSpace

Best School Selection Advice: B-School Bound

Best Essay Advice: Jaguar Paw

Best Interview Advice: mbabound08

Best Single Post by an Applicant (tie):
Miss Curly Bee - “Bee’s Ideal Application Timeline”
Ameya - “the Board”

Top 10 Student Blogs:
1. m@ (Ross)
2. MaybeMBA (Chicago)
3. Hair Twirler (Georgetown)
4. Iday (Chicago)
4. John (Columbia)
6. La Laudiaria (Wharton)
7. MBA Gladiator (Yale)
8. Angel Angie (LBS)
9. Necromonger (INSEAD)
10. Christof Meyer (Darden)

Most Entertaining Student Blog: m@

Best Resource for Applicants: Iday

Best Job/Internship Advice: MaybeMBA

Best Representation of Academics (tie):
MaybeMBA
Shahid (Kellogg)

Best Representation of Student Life (tie):
MBA Gladiator
Mandy (Darden)

Best Single Post by a Student (tie):
m@ - “Prologue: 2008”
MaybeMBA - “The Working vs. Stay at Home Mom Myth”

I Guess It's Inevitable..

2008-04-27T20:39:00.002+07:00

What I really like about the MBA blogosphere community is that almost all applicant bloggers are so supportive of each other, well, mostly because we're all sharing the same thing. We share the pains, the joys and the long process of b-school apps. Not only that, we kinda like each other's writings I guess. I've posted once about how I think I made friends in the blogging world.

But of course, the inevitable must happen.. some people would like your blog, others wouldn't. An anonymous comment was left in my application timeline post. Saying how my advice is predictable & not original. Well, I take that as a compliment, because once I got some comments that tilt towards negativity a bit, it would only mean one thing: my blog is becoming more popular and getting more traffic. :-)

I do take constructive criticism well and please if you know how I can write better, or you want me to post about things I haven't posted before, let me know, kay?

Lock Him Down Now, Before You Intimidate Him Even More

2008-04-25T17:02:00.007+07:00

Women, MBA, family, career, marriage, divorce, work-life balance, having it all. Ah, it won't seem complete, isn't it? If you're a female MBA blogger and you haven't talked about all these things. I have read Tinydancer's post on "Are Women MBAs Doomed to Divorce?" or MaybeMBA's "Women, MBA, Divorce...", those are only some examples of many other posts about this subject.

Well, let's not talk about MBA & divorce rate, since I'm not even married yet. I'm not even thinking of getting married at this moment. But coming from a country where women are expected to be breeding machines, many people have started talking to me about marriage. Here are the most popular questions that people ask me, once they learned something about me:
1. So, any plans on getting married soon?
2. Two years of school? Any plans on getting married during that time?
3. Wow, so, how old are you going to be when you're getting married?
4. So, when are you planning to have kids?
5. Well, if you don't start soon, don't you think you'll be too old when you have your second or third baby?
6. Do you scare guys off?
7. Don't you think you'll have trouble finding boyfriends once you have your MBA? They'll get so intimidated by you..
8. What if you end up making more than your husband makes? How do you think he would feel?

Get the idea? And here's my favorite one, a friend of my family once gave me this advice:
"You know, this is the right time for you, before you get that top MBA degree, you should definitely lock him down now, before you intimidate him even more."

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against married couples, I do plan on getting married someday and have kids. I just don't wanna think about it at the moment, being 25, I think I still have time. Don't you think so?

And as for those people who kept on bugging me with those questions, well, I usually never said anything but gave them my most angelic smile. No use of getting into an argument with them, they won't really understand it anyway.

To Do List After Getting Admitted

2008-04-22T23:22:00.004+07:00

Okay, apparently there are so many things that I need to do after I know for sure that I'm going to school, it's pretty hard to keep track!

So, here's a list of what you need to do when you got accepted to a school:
1. Say grace and celebrate your acceptance with your loved ones
2. Tell your boss that you're leaving
3. Tell your boss's boss that you're leaving
4. Found out that although your boss has swore to secrecy and said that he will let you tell your team mates about the news yourself, somehow the story was already leaked out, and you know for sure who the culprit was
5. Fill out financial aid documents, make sure no blanks in any of the fields of the form
6. Send the documents to the school, which now you know, it had cost me US$ 40 just to send VERY light 3 sheets of paper to the US
7. Found out that you forgot to send the income statement letter from your employer
8. Send 3 more sheets of paper to the US for another 40 bucks
9. Apply for housing
10. Wait for financial aid news
11. Get excited about choosing the destination of a trip that you're going to do before school starts
12. Prepare documents for I-20
13. Send out original school transcripts
14. Pay deposit
15. Answer congratulatory e-mails from friendly students and alums
16. Explain to people that the school that you're going to is not a cereal brand and ignore "Oh, I never know that they have a subsidiary over here, what kind of role are you going to do there? Coco pops brand manager?"
17. Try not to think about waitlists
18. Check out admitted students discussion groups regularly just in case you miss any valuable information out there
19. Look for a laptop and get ready to spend a lot of money for one, try not to cry when your employer took away your current laptop
20. Be nice to your family and friends, you're going to miss them while you're in school

Laptop Survey

2008-04-19T23:55:00.000+07:00

Students and Admits out there, quick survey, what kind of laptop are you using for b-school? Any of you using the laptop that the school sells? Any Mac users out there? Or what about Tablets? Leave comments, please! :-)

Work Before School

2008-04-19T22:55:00.000+07:00

Can you get any lazier than this? I pretty much have informed my boss that I'm going to school. Ever since, all I've been doing at work is basically looking at the many interesting KWEST itineraries. Honestly, I think Kellogg is going to be a lot of fun, they're so smart of taking this KWEST thing seriously. It's one of those things that not every school has, and when they do have a similar program like KWEST, it won't be just as great. Ha. I'm getting into the Kellogg spirit now.

In the other hand, yes, work is not that great. I've been losing focus. I also feel a bit sick in the stomach every time I saw the so-called-superstars in my office kissing the bosses' ass. Seriously, it's just.. ew! They pretty much do this everyday at work. I wished I can take my paid leave starting from now till June, but I can't. Oh well, it's only three more months. If I can get through b-school applications process, surely I can get through this.

Last Night I Dreamed About..

2008-04-16T22:03:00.000+07:00

Winning the ClearAdmit's Best of Blogging Awards. "I would like to thank the Academy..."

But, thank you ClearAdmit for the BoB nomination! I would say that I've always been a fan of the previous BoB winners, never thought I would be nominated this year :-)

I have received my ballot and I saw that there are some fun categories. I wonder if they have the prettiest blogger award, I might won that one... LOL ;-)

Bee's Ideal Application Timeline

2008-04-15T22:17:00.000+07:00

Warning: long post!

Looking back at my frantic application months, I really wished that I wasn't procrastinating too much. So, here are some lessons that you can learn on scheduling your game plan. Assuming that you're planning to the usual suspects (top US schools), here's a rough guideline for your application preparation. Of course, this is not my actual timeline, but this is what I thought would be the ideal timeline. I didn't even manage to submit any applications in Round 1 because I started a new job in June and have to juggle between adapting with my new office & b-school stuffs. So, here goes:

January-March: GMAT preparation
Yes, to give yourself a buffer, use three months to prepare for the GMAT. I'm sure smart people like you might only need one or two months, but remember, usually you would still want to relax after the holidays in January, so it won't be a fully effective month. My most valuable GMAT advice to you: make sure that you actually REGISTER for the GMAT. This is very important. Schedule your test around two or three months in advance. This will pace yourself better and would decrease the chances of procrastination.

April: Take the GMAT
Relax. Here's another golden advice: you can always RETAKE the GMAT (for an extra 250 bucks of course). It's important to remember this, so that you don't have to be too nervous about it. Well, I'm sure you'll do fine. When you see the 7xx score in your screen, that's it! I'm a firm believer that 700 is the threshold. I don't really think it's that big deal to score more than 700. But that's just me. Some people got a 720 and they still want to retake it. For me, it's better that you focus your energy in other things that could help your application. Focus on your passion, your hobbies, your interests. Basically, focus on the things that would make you seem more human & interesting. A bland 760 doesn't look nicer than a 700 BMX rider.
Well, if you haven't got that 7-something score, then it's time for you to study for another month. Remember, REGISTER for the test in May. You don't wanna lose your GMAT touch by postponing the test for another month. Better study for it while you're still in the groove.

May: Re-take the GMAT and/or start your school research
Let's hope that you already score a good GMAT on the second try. Congratulations. It's time for you to do some school research (if you haven't been obsessed with it for the past year). Go buy some books on b-school applications and do your research.

If possible, go visit the school. If visiting is not an option, contact alumni in your area and start building the connection with them. Talk to as many people as possible. The more, the merrier. When you talk to many students/alumni, you'll get the sense of the kind of people you'll meet in school. Of course, most people will only say good things about their own school, but try to dig deeper and ask the things they would like to improve in their respective school. While doing your school research, keep on doing the things that you're passionate about.

June: Again, re-take the GMAT *sigh* and/or start your self-assessment
I'm hoping that in the third try, you finally get the score you wanted. Then it's time to mix your school research with some self-reflection. List down all those achievements. Start with the easiest one, update your resume! Your resume can be a good starting point. Here are the things that you can write on your notepad:
-Your strengths and weaknesses
-Your goals
-Your life story (starting from the day you were born)
-Your personal anecdotes
-What does your friends and family think about you?
-Your hobbies, passions, interests
-The things you're most proud about
-Awards, successes, achievements, promotions & failures
-Basically do a brain dump and write about anything you like
You can also start looking at the previous year's applications. They usually don't change much, and the basic questions will always be there. Start drafting some stories. Start thinking about how do you want to sell yourself.

July: Some applications are out, so prep your recommenders!
Yes, some of the schools have released their application, so the best way to kick off the application season is to contact your recommenders immediately! This is very important and you might wanna give a lot of time for your recommenders. This is the one thing that is beyond your control, so you might wanna do all precautionary things, to prevent the unwanted. Yes, I have experienced the horror of your recommender submitting the recommendation 20 hours before the deadline... and that was considered lucky. Some people experienced their recommenders to submit late after the deadline. So, be very careful. Once the applications are out, you should immediately log in to the online application site & submit your recommenders name, so that they receive the recommendation form & questions in the earliest stage.

Also, don't make them work too hard on your recommendations, so make sure you give some data points to remind them what kind of things that you've done for them. What kinds of project you were in, your achievements, etc. Make sure you coach them well. Especially those recommenders who don't have MBAs. You wanna make sure that they know how to tell stories about you that nobody else can, stories that will not be repeated in your essays. So, make sure that they don't write the recommendation with empty words, make sure they write "real stories".

August-September: Breathe your essays night and day
Yes, pour your heart and soul into your Word document. It's the essays months. People have different style of doing it, but I would compare all the schools' sets of essays (the ones that I'm applying to, of course). I would try to look at which set covers the widest range of topic and I would do that school first. In my case, it was Kellogg. So, I brainstormed like crazy with my first set of essays. The first 10 drafts were basically garbage material. Then after a while I get better and better. After I finished around 80% of the Kellogg essays, I moved on to the next school. After I finished 80% of the next school, I moved on to the next. And so on. Along the way, I found new ideas which then I used to improve my earlier essays. The process goes back and forth and seemed like a neverending one.

I would suggest you have your reviewers ready at this point. Have several types of reviewers. I have those who know me very well and those who don't. As an international applicant, I also have a native friend who reviewed my grammar and style. Ask your most critical friend to be your reviewer, not the one who constantly puts you down, but the one who gives constructive feedback. It would also be great if you have a friend who's an alum/student of the school to review your essays, however if you don't, it's not the end of the world. Another way of doing it is hiring an admissions consultant, this is usually an expensive option. But if you're willing to spend, then go for it. Remember, don't have too many people to review your essays, because their various comments will confuse you. Stick with three at the most.

October: Fill those application details and submit!
If you're ready, then spare some time to fill those application forms. You know, the part where you have to fill your parents name, what they do, etc. These things took some time, so make sure that you don't wait until the last minute to do it.

Take a deep breath, pray (or don't if you don't want to), lose USD 235 from your pocket, and hit that submit button.

November: Relax, go back to work, or work for Round 2
Either you can relax and try not to visit the GMAT Club forum every hour or you can start working on Round 2 applications.

Don't worry too much about that interview invite. Of course, sometimes you can't really help it, so go check the "Wharton R1" or "Columbia ED" thread in BW to see whether other people have received their invites. Check out the adcom's blog too while you're at it.

December: Interviews, schminterviews
Okay, so prep yourself for that coveted interview invite. Re-read your applications and the school's website. The Clear Admit wiki or School Guide is another good starting point. Try to find friends who are willing to help you with mock interviews. But really, the key is to be yourself and know your stories well. Just make sure you get the basics right: why MBA? why X school? why now? goals? strengths & weaknesses?. And you're set.

I realized that my Kellogg interview is my most relaxed one. My Wharton's interview is quite jittery, because it was my first interview. While my HBS interview is the most nervewrecking, probably because I was burdened with the fact that: 1. it's not a blind interview, 2. I have to flew to another country, and 3. it's HBS!

So, with the kind of decisions I got, it's surely important to realize that you have to relax! Stressing will not do you any good.

January: Round 1 results and Round 2 deadlines!
So, you could be dancing and popping champagnes by now if you're one of those lucky group receiving the calls from the adcoms. Or you might get those dreadful dings (I hope not!) and start working on your Round 2 applications like crazy. Lucky folks, you might wanna prepare your pre-MBA trip & draft your resignation letter. For Round 2 folks, after working so hard, you deserve a weekend getaway to celebrate your application submissions.

February: Round 2 Interviews
Remember about my advice on interviews.. just relax!!

For those who already got accepted to the school of your dreams, signed up in your school's Facebook group and socialize with your future classmates.

March: And the final results are in..
I really hope that you got in somewhere. Time to fill those financial aid forms and pay the school's deposit. Celebrate! Celebrate! Celebrate!

If you're in the waitlist, it's a whole new ball game. You can read Accepted's guide on the waitlist.
Different strategies for different schools, chances are slim but it's not impossible. So, stay positive.

April: Spend time with your loved ones
Have fun! Inform your boss that you're leaving (I love this part). Make the best out of your last months in town and this is actually the time to do what you've always been wanting to do. I'm thinking of taking some foreign languages class, start playing the piano again, and spend time with my family and dogs.

So, I guess that's it. Well, your journey will probably not be like this, I know mine isn't. But it's good to have a good plan, isn't it? Although, life is funny somehow. I never regretted that I submitted all my applications in Round 2, even when my chances are supposedly better in Round 1. If I had submitted my application in Round 1, I would have not been able to write a significant story about leading a great initiative in my company in my essays. So, I do believe that everything happens for a reason. A good reason of course.

Well, good luck, future applicants! I hope this post is helpful!

The Truth

2008-04-13T01:26:00.000+07:00

My heart skips a beat when I opened the “HBS R1 Waitlist” thread in BW forums. Yeah, I’m so pathetic that I keep on lurking there. I saw that 2 people posted that they got the ding e-mails. I was relieved that I hadn’t received such e-mails, but in the other hand, also worried because of the uncertainty of the situation.

To be honest, yes, I am still hoping that I’ll receive some good news on my waitlists. I know, I know, maybe you’ll think that I’m so ungrateful with my Kellogg admit. I do know that some would probably even kill for this opportunity. My heart pangs when I read blog posts, stories, or e-mails from those who for some reasons didn’t receive any admits*. How come I don’t sound so pleased with this admit, right? Well, I am happy, ecstatic, super excited, grateful, thankful, you name it. But deep inside my heart, it just made me a tiny (teensy, weensy) bit sad that I didn’t get the kind of results I wanted for HBS & Wharton. If you remember my post back when I submitted both these two applications, it was a sad post. It was one of those moments when life sort of plays you. I was struggling to make it to the deadline (I know it’s my fault for being such a procrastinator) and at the same time having to deal with my uncle’s funeral, my dog’s illness, my own sickness (I had the worst flu of the year). Well, to tell the story short: it was hell.

Yet, I made it on time. Sadly, right after I submitted Columbia, my dog passed away. Still trying to heal the pain, I have to submit Kellogg. It feels like everything paid off when I received my first interview invitation, HBS. Then came the ding from Columbia, which shocked me, because I thought it was one of my best applications. Only to be reminded by you guys also by my family and friends that I got an interview invite in my hands. Not to mention I got Wharton’s invitation too, a week after.

I do think it’s understandable that I feel disappointed with the waitlist decisions. It’s anticlimactic. It’s inevitable to feel this way after going through what I’ve been through. I’ve put my heart and soul in those applications. I’ve always dreamed of going to b-school for many years. Ask my boyfriend, I don’t know how many months he has endured without seeing me in a normal or relaxed state. Ask my family, I know that they are so supportive, although when it means that they would not see me having a normal dinner conversation without the word “GMAT” or “MBA” in it. Ask my friends and probably you’ll wonder why they still want to be friends with the paranoid freak. So, I am still a lucky girl in a way.

Maybe my chances on the waitlists are next to zero. Or maybe 1%, or who knows it could be 10%. But the door is not closed yet. After all, I have survived the application months. Surely, I can survive this. Now, let’s put a real closure to this story. I certainly hope it’s going to be a very good one.

Note:
*) And, by the way, if you are in this situation, feel free to contact me if you need help to give any advice or review, although I might not be the best person to do it.

The B-School Country Club

2008-04-11T23:25:00.000+07:00

Yesterday, I chatted with an alumna of a top b-school. She is a highly accomplished person, very kind and generous in giving advices. She was originally from my home country but has been staying abroad for a long time. So, since I got accepted into Kellogg, she asked me, whether I know This Guy or That Girl or These People. Apparently she knows a lot of people. A lot of them are young and to be honest, quite prominent in my home country. She asked me whether I know this one Kellogg alumnus, who happened to be the heir of a billionaire. Or an HBS grad that started a local PE fund. Or another alum that is also a high level exec in a large conglomerate. And so on.

It strikes me yesterday, where I live, not many people have MBA degrees from top schools. Only a selected few and these people ended up in the same social circle. Regardless where they go to school, Wharton, Sloan, Columbia, or whatever elite schools they came from, they are practically in the same so called “country club”. Maybe in the US, people tend to go to their strong alumni network from their own respective school. But in here, as long as you’re from a top school, doesn’t matter if it’s HBS or Stanford or Chicago you’ll play with the same MBA crowd. Obviously if you only stick to your own school, you’ll end up with so few people. For instance, there are probably only less than 10 people with a Stanford MBA in my country (of course when you count the undergrad crowd, this number will jump much higher).

It also made me think that probably the opportunities at home are quite good if you compared it to post-MBA US jobs. There’s always the case of that recent Wharton grad who has an offer of USD 350,000 at the local PE firm. Of course, when all else fails, there’s always the steady supply of consulting gigs, that pays okay, I guess. And with the low living cost in here, your usual consulting package around USD 90K – USD 110K will already get you a nice house with great furniture (no IKEAs needed), a chauffeur, your own chef, etc.

But of course, this all depends on the individual, and of course an MBA (even from HBS or Stanford) doesn’t really guarantee anything. You can find many top b-school grads stuck in middle management. I’m just saying, if you already have the country club membership card, make sure you use it well. Make friends with the right crowd, dazzle them with your brilliant smile (or your zero handicap swings), and a bit of luck. Make the best out of your opportunities.

The conversation with the alumna ends when I asked her when she will be home for a vacation and she answered that maybe she will soon. Then I told her, how I wished I can have a vacation but I’m stuck at work. She replied and said, “Well, you’ll soon be in a 2 year vacation”. Of course, I replied with “But b-school is not really a vacation”. Then she finished our conversation by saying, “Trust me, Bee, compared to real life… it is”.

Miss Me Yet?

2008-04-09T22:14:00.000+07:00

Aw, who am I kidding? I'm the one who misses you guys.

So, I guess, I'm back now.

The Future of this Blog

2008-03-27T16:36:00.000+07:00

Okay, don't worry, it's not like I'm gonna disappear or delete this blog. But I will take a break from blogging for sometime. Could be couple of days, couple of weeks, or couple of months. Whatever. Depends on how I'm feeling.

I'm happy that I'll be going somewhere this year and I need to take my mind out of b-school apps after being obsessed for years. So, I'm gonna try to enjoy life right now!

See you soon!

And Wharton..

2008-03-27T00:10:00.001+07:00

Also puts me on the waitlist.

What is up with these schools putting me in limbo? Damn. This is not fun at all. I can't believe that every single decision ended up in the same day though. Thank God for Kellogg.

Oh, Well..

2008-03-26T19:25:00.000+07:00

I got waitlisted at HBS. Guess I couldn't be all that happy today. Don't really know how to respond to this? What should I do? Retake GMAT? (no way, right?)

I guess, I'll just wait and see. Maybe a miracle can happen. Anyway, I got Kellogg in my pocket, so I'm just happy that I'm definitely going this year.

Received an E-mail from Kellogg at 4 AM

2008-03-26T08:22:00.001+07:00

Saying that.....................

I'm IN. I'm IN. I'm IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm soooo happy!!!!!!!!! I'm in at Kellogg!! Woohoooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!! :-)

4:34 AM

2008-03-21T04:34:00.000+07:00

Tick. Tock.

Can't sleep.

Will any of the schools I applied to call those who are admitted? Or will you only know by e-mail? What about international folks? Will they call by taking into account the time differences?

If they don't take into account the time difference when they call, that actually means I have to wait much longer.. well, couple of hours longer.

I really have to stop checking my e-mails or going into the forums constantly.

Tip #71 When Traveling Solo

2008-03-16T07:59:00.000+07:00

Do not drink alcohol, then realized that you haven't had dinner and eat a 1/3 lb hamburger with cheese, bacon & mushroom.

My Overanalyzing Self..

2008-03-14T20:50:00.001+07:00

Keeps on thinking about how I did on the interview today. On how I should have say this, say that. And if I did say it, did it sound right? Did it sound wrong? Wow, over & over in my head, I've been playing the interview this morning. I didn't do bad, I just thought I could do better, maybe I was nervous. I have to stop second guessing myself. On a good note, I probably had the nicest & friendliest interviewer ever.

Oh well, no reason to cry over spilled milk. I just have to let it go. There's nothing else I could do about it. I just don't know how to get through the next two weeks till decision day. Nothing to do but pray. How was your day, guys? Hopefully better than mine. :-)

PS: I tried to shop till I drop, but kept on thinking about the stuffs I said. It may sounded silly, but if it's causing me to stop shopping, then it's something HUGE!

PPS: Although, technically, I'm broke, so maybe I couldn't really spend so much anyway.

Wish Me Luck for the HBS Interview

2008-03-12T16:57:00.001+07:00

Tomorrow, I'm flying to a hub interview. Wish me all the best, guys!

After the interview, I'm going to shop till I drop. Regardless of how I did. I think I deserve it after experiencing this waiting game. :-)

Photo courtesy of Destination360.com

Thank You, Clear Admit!

2008-03-11T11:18:00.000+07:00

I won a gift card for submitting my interview report to their wiki! :-) I'm so happy.
I really have to thank them well, because I also use their wiki for my interview preparation and of course their School Guides.

For those of you who have done your interviews, make sure you submit your reports to the ClearAdmit wiki. Here's the announcement from these nice folks:

"Now through March 14th, 2008, we will be awarding a $15 iTunes gift card to every fifth applicant who e-mails content for the Wiki to wiki@clearadmit.com"

Good luck!

Kellogg Interview Report

2008-03-01T14:43:00.000+07:00

Finally, I'm done with Kellogg interview. It's a bit late in the game, I know. However, I think I did alright. Also, my interviewer apologizes a couple of times because he had to re-scheduled several times.

Anyway, I got into his office pretty early. I didn't feel nervous at all. He was very relaxed & nice. Immediately, he told me that the purpose of the interview is just to get to know me more and he'll also try to answer my questions about the school.

These are the questions:
1. Walk me through your resume. Then some follow up questions.
2. I'm very interested in your community activity, tell me more about this.
3. So, help me to understand your experience in XX company.
4. What did you do as YY (role) in XX?
5. How did you work in team?
6. What do you think that your peers or teammates will say about your strengths?
7. Weaknesses?
8. What will your manager say about your strengths & areas of development?
9. Tell me about a time when you manage a conflict in a team.
10. Why business school?
11. Why Kellogg?
12. What is your goal?
13. What is your GMAT score?
14. What is your GPA? How were you ranked?
15. Which schools are you applying to?
16. Okay, now I'm open to your questions. Anything you would want to ask me?

Then we probably talked about his experience in Kellogg for 20 minutes or so. I think he's very nice & laid back. No surprises in the interview. He's willing to introduce me to several alums or students who are in the same industry with me.

Overall, it was good. Just hoped that the adcom will see that my overall application is good enough to get an acceptance. Really like the school so far!

Wharton Interview Report

2008-02-28T17:42:00.001+07:00

This is still fresh. Just finished my interview with a Wharton alum an hour ago.

Overall feeling was mixed. Well, I can say that it was okay, as the interviewer is a very nice guy. I can't really read his responses though. Hopefully I did good enough for him.

I wasn't really nervous, however, he asks so many follow up questions after asking me something, and I guess I didn't get to finish a lot of my answers. Here are the questions:
1. So, tell me about yourself? then alot of follow up questions..
2. Why XX company?
3. What is XX graduate program in YY company? What was the highlight of your career in YY company? Don't be modest.
4. Where do you travel? What did you do? Were you alone?
5. Why MBA?
6. Why now?
7. Which schools did you apply to? Why those schools?
8. If you got accepted to all of those schools, which school will you choose? Be honest.
9. What is your goal? What do you want to do post-MBA?
10. So, whom did you talk to about Wharton? (current students & alums)
11. What makes you unique?
12. What's your GMAT score?
13. What's your GPA?
14. How did you rank in your class?
15. Is there anything else you would like to ask me?

So, then after the interview ends, he actually gave me feedback about how I did in my interview. He said, "Good, obviously you speak fluent English", but then he gave me 3 things that he thought I could improve. Wow, I didn't expect this at all. He actually said, this might help you with your other school interviews. I thanked him for the feedback and the interview.

Okay.. I have Kellogg tomorrow. I hope I'll do better.

Work, work, work..

2008-02-19T22:46:00.000+07:00

Well, I've been extremely busy with work lately. This is what you get for not putting your head in the game for a couple of months because of something called b-school apps. Anyway, I think work should be better now as I got some exciting things coming up soon. Wow, I rarely use the word "exciting" and "work" in the same sentence.

So, it's 11 PM, just got back from work and I'm trying hard to prepare for my interviews. Last night, I actually record my own voice and ask myself a couple of questions, and guess what? When I played it back, I actually doze off and fell asleep. Gosh, I went sleepy just to listen to myself.. what will my interviewer do??

Good luck to those of you with interview invites, but of course, as B-school Bound puts it.. "Luck? What's that?" :-) This is coming from a guy who got accepted to all the schools he applied to. So, what the heck guys.. you will nail it!

A Letter from Wharton..

2008-02-15T14:25:00.001+07:00

Arrived this morning in my inbox. Saying I got invited for an interview. After being very quiet, finally a nice surprise came.
Now, I need to choose my alumni interviewer and schedule my interview!

Wish me luck, guys!

Cheering Myself Up..

2008-02-14T22:49:00.000+07:00

With the soothing voice of John Mayer,

You know, it's nothing new
Bad news never had good timing
But, then the circle of your friends
Will defend the silver lining
Pain throws your heart to the ground
Love turns the whole thing around
No it won't all go the way it should
But I know the heart of life is good

-John Mayer, the Heart of Life

To all of you out there, thank you for cheering me up. I'm back on my feet now. Happy Valentine's day to all of you, wishing you a day full of love! Not a fan of the V-Day? Here's an article on it. Speaking of love in the air, ever wonder about the b-school dating scene? Just something to ponder, maybe to get a glimpse on how your love life is going to be in b-school.

Now, to work, prepare and pray even harder.

My First Ding

2008-02-14T08:44:00.000+07:00

Columbia hates me. They don't even like me enough to give me an interview.
Wow, is it that bad? And I used to say, my strongest essays are my HBS & Columbia essays.

Now what's going to happen? I'm panicking.
Is it my GMAT? My essays? My GPA? My resume? What? I can't believe it.

I have to be super focused of my HBS & Kellogg interview now.

The B-School Apps Community

2008-02-11T19:19:00.000+07:00

I really do think that people that read my blog are the best. Really.

I mean, they are very supportive. I know that many of you don't read comments.. but take a look at the excerpt of the comments here:

Paige said...
..... [Take a deep breath and relax for a moment however.] ..... [Stop
worrying about your GMAT ...it's a small portion of the big
picture.]

mbabound said...
..... [I can email you the questions I compiled for Kellogg. Hopefully it
will save you some time.]

Czarina said...
... [you should seriously get over your GMAT woes and focus only on
prepping for the coveted invite for an interview that you have got.]...... [my
point is Congratulations and stop fretting.]

Mayowa said...
[I'm a silent reader of all the MBA blogs.] I had my Kellogg interview last
night [and I will update the wiki :-)] ..... [I'm also in the admission field
(not MBA) but i do know that the GMAT doesn't tell Kellogg who you are. Wow the
interviewer with a story that he/she will be able to take back so that the adcom
can easily fit it into the puzzle that is your application and say "CurlyBee
fits in here pretty well. ADMIT." Demonstrate fit! Sorry this is so long!]

For the full comments check them out here.

Well, not only that, but I received good luck wishes from a lot of people, bokaa, gltnforpnshmnt, MBA Podcaster, wip3out, mbaandbeyond, vivek. Tips from kirrill, pursuit to happiness, and mbarunnergirl. I also got a special shoutout from Vector Space. People like achilles, wannabe, charu, and maxwriter have kindly congratulated me.

There are of course many others that I missed. Not to mention so many other folks at the GC forum.

I think the whole pressure and the "been-there-done-that-I-know-how-frustrating-the-process-is" attitude around the application process have really pushed people to create their own support group in the net. And I sure love the support group.

Of course, there are always people who would act as joykillers in the BW forum, but who cares? The BW forum is part of the drama. Many people hate going to that forum, but I love it too. For all the charades & fightings, there are always the ever helpful consultants' threads, who gave great advices to applicants.

Anyway, I'm out. See you soon.

Interview Resources

2008-02-07T11:55:00.000+07:00

Okay, I finally got it together. After hours of researching and browsing, now I have a huge document on interview tips which I gathered from applicants' blogs, admissions consultants' blogs, the ClearAdmit wiki, Accepted's interview database, ClearAdmit school guides & interview guides, a bunch of other sites like b-schoolers, skoolix, MBA Jungle, etc. Now, all I have to do is read them all 300 pages of them and come up with my version of answers. Gosh, that's going to be hard!

I have done my research on HBS but have not yet started on Kellogg. Well, of course I researched them when I was doing my school selection & essays.. But I need a refresher.

Sacrificing my weekends? Of course, without question. Next week I have a mock interview set up with a friend, he's not an HBS alum nor Kellogg.. he's an Anderson alum who works for McK, but he would be great for my first practice. I'm going to try to have some HBS alums or Kellogg alums to set up interviews with me through Skype. Speaking of which, are there any kind students or alums out there who are willing to help me? Please leave a comment or send me an e-mail.

And you may be sick of hearing my eternal woes about the GMAT, most people would think I'm crazy being obsessed with a number. But it's just that I don't want to regret anything & have to do this whole process again next year (knock on wood, God forbids).

Mock Interviews?

2008-02-03T22:42:00.000+07:00

For those of you who have been through the interview process, did you have any mock interviews to prepare yourself? If yes, did you do it with students? alums? friends? admissions consultants?

Any tips on this?

I just spent my whole Sunday researching about HBS again, reliving my essay writing days. Need to prepare myself well!

Finally.. Kellogg Interview Invite..

2008-02-01T16:49:00.001+07:00

So, finally Kellogg sent me an interview invite this morning. I was worried that there was something wrong with my application. It's been six weeks since I submitted my Part I. To my relief, I got the invite.. and it will be an alum interview. I don't even have to travel anywhere for this interview. Nice! Time to prepare!! :-)

Some Updates on All 4 Schools

2008-01-29T11:37:00.000+07:00

Wharton
Taken from the Wharton MBA Admissions Blog!:
If your online account reads “Complete - Round Two,” your application has all the required materials, has been processed by the Operations Team, and has been forwarded to the Committee for review.

If your online account reads “Received,” then the Operations Team needs to process your online application submission and any materials submitted by hard copy. After your materials have been processed (assuming they arrived by the Round Two deadline), your online account will be changed to “Complete for Round Two” and your file will be forwarded to the Committee for review. Due to the high number of candidates who submitted their application during the past few days (more than 60% of candidates applying for Round Two submitted their application within 24 hours of the deadline), it will take the Operations Team a few weeks to complete the processing of all materials. Therefore, please allow the Operations Team until Thursday, 24 January 08 before inquiring about the completeness of your application.

The Admissions Committee will begin to release interview invitations on Thursday, 17 January 08and will continue to release invitations on a daily basis until 5:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Thursday, 21 February 08. Due to the nature and complexity associated with the admissions process there is no particular order in which invitations are released. Also on 21 February 08, the Committee will release all final admissions decisions to candidates that are not being invited for an interview and therefore no longer being considered for admission.

If you are invited for an interview, you will need to complete your interview by Thursday, 6 March 08.
Well, my status has been changed to Complete-Round Two last week. No interview invites so far. I have around 3 weeks or so to wait for the invite. I like the Wharton's adcom blog, it's very clear and doesn't really left us wondering things. I also love the fact that they have the s2s forum!

Kellogg
As stated in their website, I should have received an interview invitation 6 weeks after I submitted my Part I. Well, I think it's almost 6 weeks now. Nothing from Kellogg yet. What happened to my interview invite?

Columbia
Well, this one always gave me heart attacks. One time they would send me an e-mail, which I thought would say something about my apps.. then it only announced their new blog! Then they sent me something a week ago, which said that the status of my apps has changed. And this is the message I got in my apps:

Your application is currently under review by the Admissions Committee.
You can expect to hear either a final decision or an invitation to interview
from us within 12 weeks from receiving this message. Please keep in mind that an
invitation to interview can come at any point in the evaluation process.

HBS
Well, I love HBS. This is taken from Dee's latest post in her blog:

Round 2 Interviews:
Round 1 decisions have been released, and though it's hard to believe, it's almost time for us to begin interviewing for Round 2. We expect to send out our first interview invitations on Friday, January 25th. While we will continue to invite applicants to interview until the Round 2 deadline, the majority of invitations will be out by mid-February.
Note: Just for the record we did indeed send more than one interview invitation out on Round 1 notification date, January 16! Our first day of interviews is Tuesday, February 5, and we expect the bulk of our interviews will be completed by mid-March.

I got my invite from the first batch of invites. Of course, this doesn't mean anything. The process is very random. It just happened that my application gets reviewed quite early, somehow it fell into the lap of an adcom. Anyway, nervous, nervous, nervous. I also have to thank people for leaving comments about retaking the GMAT before the interview. I haven't decided, but I'm leaning towards focusing myself on the interview. If you have any comments about this, leave me a note!

A Dillemma

2008-01-29T00:50:00.000+07:00

So, I'm very happy and excited to get the HBS interview invite.

But, I have to ask this question in my dear blog (I have asked alot of people in you-know-what forums). Am I crazy to think about that I should retake the GMAT again? My submitted GMAT score is low in the 84th percentile. So, I'm willing to prep myself again before HBS interview, hoping to get the 80th percentile on both Q & V. (since, I can achieve those scores, but on 2 separate tests!!)

Or should I just focus on interview prep?

Another question, what happened to Kellogg, Wharton or Columbia? How come they are very quiet? No love so far.

HBS Interview Invite!!

2008-01-26T00:23:00.000+07:00

Just got my HBS interview invite around 2 hours ago!! :-)

Okay... need to calm myself down!! It suddenly feels very real right now! ;-)

Any tips, guys?

To Stanford R1 Applicants..

2008-01-23T15:26:00.000+07:00

All the very best with your decisions! I hope "the Derrick" will give you a call today :-)

Of course, to you my blogosphere friends, good luck.. To B-School Bound, I hope you have a clean sweep 4 out of 4! ;-)

The Evolution of My B-School Pursuit

2008-01-19T13:53:00.000+07:00

So, this post was taken from a post I posted in one of the friendliest forums on b-school applications.

It was a long post, so I thought I should put this in my blog too..

Hi All,
Okay it's time for me to post here too. I've been a lurker for quite awhile here. I believe more than a year already. I really like the tightknit community here, and, well.. it's very different than "the-forum-that-should-not-be-named". LOL

When: I've known that I wanna do an MBA ever since I graduated out of college (4 years ago). Right after graduation, I don't really know what I wanted to do and begin to start looking for going back to grad school. So I was looking for the right school, the right program, etc. Then on my quest, a cousin of mine whose husband is a Chicago GSBer told me about the MBA degree. She told me to do more research on it, etc. And, I did. I bumped into an MBA community mailing list in my country, which really opened my eyes about the degree, etc. They also pointed me to the infamous BW forum. Then my quest for an MBA begun..

What Part I: I studied on the GMAT and took it the first time 4 years ago.. it was not a good score (low 600s), but since I was running out of time (yeah.. I thought so).. I just go with that score and decided to apply to a school that I think would be quite a reach, because I don't have any work experience, except for a couple of internships & part time work..

Where Part I: I applied to Yale SOM Round 2.. and of course, with no experience, limited prep, and the fastest essay writing ever (1 day), I get a straight ding! No surprise there. So, after months of traveling and soul searching, I embarked my career to the corporate world..

What Part II: Over the next 4 years, I kept my b-school pursuit alive. I tried to tackle the GMAT as early as possible, started a GMAT study group.. but I procrastinated alot.. so, I only managed to took the GMAT in June 2007. I know, this is so dumb, considering I have known for years that I wanted to apply for Class of 2010. But oh well, I guess panicking near deadlines work better for me. Also, for years I have been meeting, chatting, networking with almost every MBA student/alum from my country (we don't really have that many MBAs). I bet people in the mailing list was so confused at me, I've been in the group for so long, they thought I was an alum. Lol.In 2007, after retaking the GMAT twice (and still didn't get the score I wanted), I tried to let it go and focus on the apps. However, in July 07, I started a new job and I guess I really undermined this factor. I thought I would still have time to do my apps, but I didn't. 3 months in the job required adaptation, acquiring new skills, traveling, etc.. I'm lagging behind my apps.. so.. bye-bye Round I. With round 2 coming up, I think I almost killed myself by doing my essays until 4AM, everyday, and woke up at 8AM to go to work. LOL. Luckily, I managed to submit all my apps in Round 2.

Where Part II: Originally planning to apply to HBS (always my dream school), Stanford, Wharton, Kellogg & Columbia. Then in the middle decided to drop Stanford, because I honestly don't know what to write on their essays. This is sad, considering that Stanford is the only school I actually visited.

The decision: Well, still waiting.. praying every single day to get in :-D

I know what I want..

2008-01-16T14:34:00.000+07:00

I'm talking about if I go to school this year, this will be my notebook..
Apple's MacBook Air.

Probably the performance will not be as strong as my Thinkpad X60. But it sure is sexier.. alot sexier!!!

Okay, I gotta start working and stop posting.

To HBS R1 Applicants..

2008-01-16T10:40:00.000+07:00

Dear fellow bloggers who applied to HBS in R1, I wish you all the best! The decision date is today and I hope to hear the good news from you soon!

Good luck to B-School Bound! :-)

Few things about Columbia

2008-01-16T10:35:00.000+07:00

In my post about decision dates, I think I put the wrong date for Columbia. I think it supposed to be April 9.

Also, I found the funniest comment from Rory in my blog, it clearly depicts how I feel when I submitted the Columbia apps. They really really should consider to use ApplyYourself like HBS or Wharton.

TV Junkie

2008-01-16T10:19:00.000+07:00

Okay, I think I know why I became a TV junkie right now. I've been TV deprived for the last eight months. Everytime I tried to watch TV/movie (or just have fun..) I always feel guilty. There's a monkey on my back that kept reminding me about "you haven't touch your GMAT books/applications/essays today".. Now, that monkey is really gone. No wonder the past 3 days I've been addicted with all those shows that I missed. And boy, I missed a lot of things..

So far the past days I've been watching:
1. Chuck, I really find it funny, and I soo want to see Chuck & Sarah be together, they're such a cute couple!
2. Grey's Anatomy, ahh.. the old time favorite, yes, I'm really guilty of being so good at the Grey's Anatomy trivia in Facebook. If I can apply to b-school with GAT (Grey's Anatomy Trivia) instead of the GMAT, I would score 800. Pathetic, I know.
3. Gossip Girl, yes, I am a fan of the books. I somehow really like teenager series. I don't know why. They're just the guiltiest pleasures.
4. Private Practice, my favorite character from Grey's Anatomy has her own show now. Yes, I love Addison. Not as suspenseful as Grey's, but I love this character, so I don't really care.
5. Heroes, not as good as the first season, but I guess it's okay to watch.

Yep. I'm a TV pothead. And guess what, American Idol starts today. Haha. It's scaring me, that I can be so happy over this.

Catching Up With Life..

2008-01-12T21:37:00.000+07:00

Wow. I do feel a certain emptiness after all those applications. LOL. However, I am trying to fill my days with things I haven't done in more than 8 months.. I'm watching DVDs and going to the movies.

Right after I submitted Kellogg, I tried not to think about it and took my little brother to watch a movie. Guess what I saw? It's Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. Haha. I love Natalie Portman, although the ending kinda sucks. That night was my other brother's birthday, so we went on to have a nice family dinner.

The next day was fortunately a national holiday in my country and I went to an informal HBS coffee chat that day. I knew the student who hosted the coffee chat and there are a bunch of people there who are thinking of applying. I think I'm only one out of the 3 people who's applying for class 2010. The other 12 people are planning to apply for class of 2011 or 2012. It was nice catching up with some of my friends. I have my friends from my GMAT study group to join the session. After the session, I sat down in the nearest Kinokuniya (which is the largest in town) to catch up with my reading. I'm so broke and can't even afford new magazines. So, I spent 1.5 hours reading the Economist, Newsweek, Fortune, BusinessWeek there. I went home and stopped by at a DVD store, and my brothers bought some movies. After, I got home, I watched Ben Stiller's The Heartbreak Kid. Which turns out to be funny!

Yesterday, was another family day. I sure spend alot of time with my family lately. It was my aunt's 50th birthday (and everybody in my family seems to have their birthdays on January). Before that, my boss told me to go to the office, even though it's the holidays!! Sucks.. but nothing I can do about it.

Today, guess what? Yep, another movie day. In the morning I saw the romantic No Reservations on DVD. Gosh, I really melt inside. Really, I'm such a cheesy and sappy girl when it comes to romantic comedies. I love love love that movie. Made me wanna drop this whole b-school thing and actually try to become a chef. Haha. Afterwards I went out to the movies, and saw the Golden Compass.. some people could hate that movie, but I love it. It's quite fun. I know, I know.. I'm soo easy to please.

Anyway, it's been a fun couple of days. I haven't been doing fun stuffs for such a long time. But of course, I love to torture myself. I've been thinking to retake my GMAT so that I can hit 700. Really, should I do it? Or should I try to enjoy my life more? I know that retaking would probably help my chances with Columbia & Kellogg. As for Wharton & HBS, I don't think so, they're not allowing any updates..

Any thoughts?

Decision Dates By..

2008-01-10T01:20:00.001+07:00

So, these are all the decision dates for the four schools. If there's any discrepancy, please check it yourself on the school's website. :-)

Columbia: March 9, 2008
HBS: Wed, March 26, 2008
Wharton: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Kellogg: March 31, 2008

Waiting, waiting, waiting.. and waiting..

Another Question..

2008-01-09T12:09:00.000+07:00

Now that I have submitted to four schools, should I try to apply to one more school?
What do you think?

I was thinking Stern, but when I saw the apps, it mentioned that I have to send the transcripts, now I haven't prepared transcripts at all. Also, I was thinking about Sloan.. but the essays are quite tough..

What do you guys think?

That's it.. All Submitted!

2008-01-09T12:01:00.000+07:00

Thank you, God. Thank you. Thank you.

Despite everything I have been through, I was still able to submit to all four schools before the Round 2 deadline.

I can't believe that it's all done. Wait a minute... I'm done???

I embarked this b-school journey since years ago, and yes it is not over yet, but at least all apps are done. The waiting game has just begun.

Just Submitted Columbia..

2008-01-08T12:24:00.001+07:00

Thank you, God. I just submitted Columbia today.

In the middle of illness, sadness, I am still able to submit the apps today. So, I really have to be thankful for that.

I'm quite happy with my essays. However, is it just me or any of Columbia applicants feel this way too.. I really hate the application structure, the boxes where you have to copied and pasted your essays there.. somehow I need to check it one by one, because the essays got cut in the end.

Anyway, I'm just happy that I have submitted it. Now, only Kellogg left.

It's Been a Very Hard Month..

2008-01-07T17:47:00.000+07:00

I'm taking a break out of filling the Columbia application form. Just wanna share what I have been through the past couple of weeks.

After I lost my iPod, a day before Christmas, my uncle got admitted to a hospital's ER. It turned out to be critical, it's a terminal state of his cancer. Sadly, he passed away that week. I was devastated. And somehow (my family is very traditional), due to some other circumstances, the funeral was held at my parents' house. It was a long funeral (4 days). So, imagine how hectic I was helping out at the service, etc, while at the same time doing Wharton & HBS apps. It's really very tough. But somehow, I got through it (thank you, God).

I decided to take a break a couple of days after submitting HBS & Wharton. Then, two nights ago, one of my dogs passed away. I have been taking her to the vet for the past 10 days, everyday, including the time when my uncle's funeral was held here, so imagine how crazy it was for me! It's either me or my brother that took her. And suddenly she died for a whole different reason (lung failure), not the illness that I've been taking her to the vet to (spinal cord trauma). I don't know how to deal with these events, I am now utterly sad. She's very young, only six years old. Definitely too young for a dog to die. I have been crying for the past two days.

Gosh, it's a very hard time for me. It really is.

On top of that, I still have Columbia and Kellogg to deal with.

Just wish me luck, guys.

Done with Wharton

2008-01-04T02:50:00.000+07:00

Wow! Two schools in one day. Half of my apps are gone. Two more to go!..

I can't help feeling very relieved. Well, Paige told me to chill and have a wine before the short break ends, but I'm too much of a grandma for that. I am already thinking about my Columbia and Kellogg essays. Well, maybe I shouldn't yet.

Yes, I definitely need a drink. Especially after all the commotion I've been through these past 2 weeks. I haven't had a good sleep for a while.

Okay, gotta go to bed now. Nitey-nite, blogosphere. Now let's dream about those acceptances..... zzzzzz.............

HBS.. Submitted!

2008-01-03T17:24:00.000+07:00

Okay, there goes my first choice apps. Gosh, my first choice and it's my first apps to go.
I was also panicking because I think there's a minor mistake in my application, but decided to let it go. It's done already, nothing I can do about it. I have to pray alot!

Next is Wharton!

How to Gain the Courage to Press Submit..

2008-01-02T23:38:00.000+07:00

I have been wandering in and out of HBS's online application form.
How can I be brave enough and just submit all of my essays? I have to do this soon.. yet I don't have the courage to do it. I always want to polish it over and over.

Wish me luck.

2008 Resolutions

2008-01-01T22:59:00.001+07:00

Happy new year everyone! Finally, 2008 is here.

Four years ago, I made the decision to go to school in 2008. That felt a long time. Although, silly me, already knowing what I wanted to do since ages ago doesn't make me all prepared and applied early this year. I was procrastinating and now rushing my way into the R2 deadlines.

Well, enough about the past. Now, looking forward to a new year, I don't really have time to make any resolutions. But I think I can have a couple of things right now:
1. Submit all applications by January 10, 2008, hope for the best and try not to pester my friends with my worries
2. Being optimistic with going to school this year, I will try to make the most out of my time with my family and friends before I left for b-school

Okay, I gotta go now. Tomorrow I have my GMAT appointment at 9AM. I didn't do much preparation as I was focusing on my essays more. Hopefully I can really beat the test this time. For one last time.

Happy new year one more time, dear readers. To fellow applicants, hopefully this is the year that you all will receive admits and go to your dream school! :-)

Holidays with Essays

2007-12-27T00:12:00.000+07:00

Well, I was sick on Christmas Day. I got a really bad cold and fever. :-(
That's not really good, cos I'm stuck in my bed all day long, with nothing to do besides typing on my laptop. Crazy. I'm stuck with essays.

I got really bad headaches too, *sigh*, it's quite sad actually. If I'm not doing my essays, I'm just procrastinating by posting stuffs in my blog, checking my Facebook, checking the Hella's list or.. the worst of them all... going to the BW forum. The latter is addictive. I secretly enjoy threads with drama. I don't know why people bother to fight on internet forums. But, to me it's like watching Grey's Anatomy or Gossip Girl on b-schools. Most people who are sick of the fights would jump in and post something like.. "stop it you guys, we're mature b-school applicants.. blabla", I would secretly think "oh, shut up and let them fight!". The fighting posters would not give a damn at all anyway, and would just adding more insults to the thread. Which I think should not stop (yes, I'm mean). It's a fun way to procrastinate. Hahaha. It's an internet forum people, don't take it too seriously.

However, some threads in BW are also helpful although most of them are too focused on stats, while we all know that b-school applications are not only about the numbers. Oh, well. The BW forum is just a phase that every b-school applicant will have to go through (well, only those with internet connection that is..).

Anyway, I'm almost.. almost.. done with HBS. I should fill up the online apps soon and wait for the final touches on the essays. The problem is I need to cut most of the words, keeping them under the word limits. That's pretty hard. I should also work fast on Wharton. They have the same deadline with HBS. :-(

Well, for those who are still enjoying the holidays. Happy holidays from me (who is stuck in my own little corner in my bed).

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T09:40:00.000+07:00

Dear all readers & applicants,

Have a wonderful Christmas! Be nice to your family and friends, as next year, you might not be able to go home at Christmas, if you're in school :-)

Wishing you joy, happiness & acceptances! :-)

Best,

CB

Btw, on Christmas Eve, I can see my Dad gave me the evil eye for touching my laptop. So, yeah, I put it down and let myself relaxed for one day. It felt great.

Bee's GMAT Experience

2007-12-23T18:56:00.000+07:00

Well, so many people asked about how did I do on the GMAT in the end.

So, here goes:
After retaking the GMAT for the second time, actually third.. but the first one didn't count because the score was canceled by GMAC, read my earlier posts about the frozen computer, I managed to raise some points. However, it was not great. I never actually managed to crack the test. But many people have told me that it was already good enough.

I decided to go on with my essays. I focused my apps efforts on essays & nagging my recommenders. But, me being crazy ol' Bee, is still curious. So, get this.. I'm retaking again on Jan 2nd. A day before HBS & Wharton's deadline. If I scored better, I'll use it. If not, I'll stick with my old one. Provided that I am going to do this test again, I'll see whether I have the energy to do it or not.

One thing that keeps me going is my friend. She has the same GMAT score with me and just got accepted in Kellogg & Columbia. Hopefully that's a good sign.

Sleep Deprived!

2007-12-22T00:46:00.000+07:00

Well, what's new? I knew every single Round 2 applicant out there will be as sleep deprived as I am.

Anyway, I've been pondering on what I should answer for Columbia's essay #2 for the past 3 days. I still have no clue. I also spent about the same time reading the speech. I'm not good at reading speeches, I kept on falling asleep! Gosh, this is no good...

In the meantime, I feel that my HBS essays are the most solid of them all. I still don't like my Kellogg & Columbia. Will need to work on those essays more!

Also, when you see my school list on the sidebar you will see that I'm dropping Stanford off my list. I don't think I will have enough time to prepare a decent "what matters to you why? etc". On the other hand, Wharton is in. I like the questions.. quite similar to HBS. I also know 4 Wharton alums and they are all nice, contrary to popular opinions. So, I am hoping I can submit a good Wharton application on time for round 2.

Okay, enough procrastinating.

I Hope It's Worth The Price Of An Admit..

2007-12-21T09:23:00.000+07:00

Yesterday, I was doing my essays in the nearest Starbucks for 8 hours. After around 8 PM, I went for dinner.. it turned out that I left my iPod there!

I only realized it when I'm about to head home, so at 10PM I went back to Starbucks and didn't find it. I was told by the security guy that somebody must have taken it. The customer after me. Who sat in the very same couch.

I am utterly sad! That iPod is my essay friend.. :'-( I have 10 thousand songs there! Practically every single song that I like!! Goodbye my 80GB white friend. I hope you didn't sacrifice yourself for nothing!

Bee is Blogging Again

2007-12-20T11:04:00.000+07:00

So, it's been months since I came here. The reason is I was so caught up with work and missed the whole Round 1 applications. My original plan was submitting all in Round 1! Oh well, now I'm furiously doing Round 2.

I'm now focusing on 3 schools: HBS, Kellogg & Columbia. Maybe I'll do another one, but we'll see whether I still have the energy to do it or not. Well, my HBS essays are complete, my reviewer is checking them out. While my Kellogg is almost done, but I've been polishing it for the past 72 hours. I'm sleep deprived.

But on the happier note, the holidays have started, so finally I can have some peace & quiet doing my apps and not having to worry about work for the next 2 weeks.

Lately, I've been checking out the blogosphere and it seems that my "old" blogworld buddies have mainly disappeared too.. I saw a lot of 2010 bloggers out there that I didn't see many months back. Anyway, it's good to be back.

Season's greetings everyone...

Another Day, Another Bad GMAT Day..

2007-08-11T01:18:00.000+07:00

So, I took the GMAT yesterday.

Well, not good. Not good at all.

For both section, I only have 10 minutes left to do the last 10 questions. So you can imagine how I tried to answer those last 10 questions with a (trying-to-be-smart) guessing method. Oh well, it doesn't work.

I was depressed for the whole day. My friends tried to cheer me up. They kinda succeeded. They told me that I shouldn't feel disheartened because it's not gonna do anything. I guess they're right.

I guess nobody says the road to b-school is going to be easy and for me.. GMAT is not easy!

Gosh, one more shot next month. I should give it my best one more time. I guess I have to go back to those thick books again.

New Job & Visit to Schools

2007-08-01T17:42:00.000+07:00

So, I've been missing blogging for some time, here's a recap on what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks:

I started a new job in July, I am now a Product Marketing Manager for a tech company (to keep myself invisible, let's just leave it at that.. and.. okay, it's an American company), previously I also work for a US tech company, only I was doing Sales, not Marketing.

The new job took most of my time, only a couple of days in the job, I've been traveling for more than 2 weeks. I have to attend a company conference in the US.

So, last week, I was in San Francisco and made sure that I got the time to visit some b-schools nearby. Of course, that would be Stanford & Berkeley. I only got the chance to have a look around the schools building, since it's in the middle of summer and the admissions office is closed.

Both schools are very beautiful, although different types of architectures. I really like Stanford's campus! Anyway, I bought some souvenirs (such a tourist!) and maybe these could be my good luck charms :-)

Oh well, now that I'm back home, I'm juggling this new role of mine, GMAT, & applications. I got the letter from Pearson VUE that says my score is revoked and will be retaking on August 9th. So, wish me luck, guys! Btw, thanks to all blogosphere friends who have been really nice to me! :-)

The GMAT Thing Resolved!

2007-07-09T19:14:00.001+07:00

Good news! Pearson VUE has replied my complaint, they e-mailed me this morning, saying I can retake the GMAT again free of charge.

Thank God for that! Hopefully, this time no more issues!

Life Goes On.. Bee Moves On

2007-07-02T23:19:00.000+07:00

So, yeah.. you guys have known how I got unlucky with the GMAT. I tried to file a complaint to Pearson VUE, yet no replies whatsoever from them so far. Oh well, I'll just try and do my best. Gotta hit the books again.. I have to be ready next month! Thank you very much for my fellow bloggers, you are so great. I love how the MBA applicant blogging community is very supportive. :-)

Anyway, another sad thing last weekend, last Friday was my last day in my old office. As expected, it's really sad for me to leave everyone. I move on. My friends will move on one day. With the bad GMAT score and leaving the old gig, it doesn't get any harder than this. Life goes on. I'm just hoping for the best.

Today is my first day in the new office. I got overwhelmed with the fast paced environment, my big boss from the regional HQ is in town and he's coaching me for the whole day. It's a great honor, he's a really enthusiastic & impressive guy. I realized that the way he lectured me feels like a Marketing 101 class. It's great so far, yet I'm worried about this: how in the hell will I be able to juggle this new, exciting, challenging yet time consuming job with the MBA application process?

Great, I'm in deep trouble.

Wish me luck, people.

Photo: GettyImages

Good Times, Bad Times..

2007-06-28T15:48:00.000+07:00

Well, today is one of those bad times.

Most of you can probably guess it already. I got the worse score in the history of mankind. Okay, maybe not the worse, but it's really ugly.

Well, maybe I can blame it on:
1. The PC in the test center went dead. I raised my hands (waving them furiously) to the camera, and when the administrator entered the room, she tried to fix the PC but it doesn't bulge. So, she took me to the administrator room, only to find that it was only 20 seconds left on the clock. Things like this can only happen in this particular country I think. 250 bucks down the drain.
2. Late night out. I went home around midnight last night for a team dinner & my boss' farewell party. I can't miss it and.. well I won't miss it either. It's my last dinner with my current friends (tomorrow is my last day). My boss is also moving to another position, so it's our last time with him too.
3. Myself.

Oh well, shit happens. Today, it happened to me. I managed to drop my score 100 points lower than my expected score. Oh well.

I'm gonna retake it next month. Hopefully, I'll do better.

Gosh, I need a drink.

Photo: GettyImages

In The Midst Of Noises, Phone Calls & GMATPrep

2007-06-25T08:24:00.000+07:00

I stayed home the whole Sunday.

I woke up early because out there somebody's having a party & talking with a microphone very loudly. Grumbling, I decided to eat some cereals & read some GMAT materials that I downloaded from the GMAT Club forum.

2 hours later, the noise is getting louder, so I moved to my brother's room which is much quieter. I tried to do my first GMATPrep test. Skipping the AWA part (I can't be bothered to write with so much noise), I go straight to the Quant section. After taking the break I did the Verbal bit. Halfway through the Verbal, a friend called she just got back from Vegas and I haven't seen her in almost a month. The thing is she keeps on talking (I also wanna know what has she been up to), yet I can't pause the GMATPrep thing. After 7 minutes or so, I stopped her and said that I'll call back after I finished.

So, after all the commotion I managed to answer all of the questions. The result is a 690. I think it's not too bad for me (with all the noises & phone calls).

Should I get my friends to call me during the real test? LOL.

Reminder to Self:
Buy a Bose QuietComfort 3 Noise-Canceling Headphones when I have more money.

GMAT Stress

2007-06-23T16:07:00.000+07:00

5 days to go for my GMAT test.

I actually freaked out yesterday because I did a lot of stupid (clumsy) mistakes for the quant section. I tried to calm myself down. A friend who's also taking the test soon called me and tried to give a pep talk. She did a helluva pep talk, I'm more relaxed now. I'm trying not to put high pressure on my self as I know I can always retake the GMAT next month with more prep & everything (not that I wanna spend another $250!!)

Congratulations to Preet Pillai who scores a 710! You did a great job, man! :-) I'm gonna try his advice about taking the Red Bull!

The GMAT Appointment

2007-06-15T16:54:00.000+07:00

Just now I logged in mba.com and schedule my GMAT test. I'm gonna take the plunge in June 28, 2007.

Que sera sera.

To Do: Stanford's Essays

2007-06-12T23:50:00.000+07:00

Edited (June 13, 2007): The essays posted below are last year's essays. Only the deadlines are out for 2008. I assume there won't be much differences, but just don't get it wrong! Sorry, guys. Thanks to Linda Abraham for pointing this out! :-)

Stanford's essays are out.

I've been trying to think about all of them tonight, no inspiration so far. I don't know what to write. Gosh, these are hard, especially number 1. Should think about this one for at least half an hour per day. For those of you who haven't seen it, here it is:

Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
(Recommended length is 3-4 pages, double-spaced)
Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?
(Recommended length is 2-3 pages, double-spaced)
Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
Please answer two of the questions below. In answering each question, please tell us not only what you did, but also how you did it. Describe what you felt, said, and thought during these experiences. Tell us the outcome, and describe how people responded. Your responses should describe experiences that have occurred within the last three years.

Option 1: Tell us about a time when you did something that was not established, expected, or popular.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt effective or successful.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 3: Tell us about a time when you had a significant effect on a group or individual.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

Option 4: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
(Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)

I'm planning to apply in Round 1, that means:
Application Deadline: October 22, 2007
Notification: January 24, 2008

I'm a bit excited to know that by January, I would've known whether I got into Stanford or not. Okay people, good luck to us all!

PS: It turns out that Alex Chu has created his own blog. Yayy, Alex! Check it out guys..

Good Read on "MBA Hopefuls Who Are Hoping To Be In The Hot Sector"

2007-06-09T21:45:00.000+07:00

If you're a lurker in the BusinessWeek forum, then you must know Alex Chu. He's an admission consultant who is also contributing in a thread to help applicants to know what's their chances of getting in H/S/W when they haven't take the GMAT yet, but they're thinking it's around 720 (seriously, they're like that).

Anyway, I'm a fan of Alex's insights. He's always His inputs are valuable, for instance he wrote this article about the herd mentality. I think this is a must read. I really hope he could start his own blog soon (pretty please, Alex!!). Enjoy!

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THE NEXT BIG THING?

Every decade or so, one "hot" sector captures the imagination of MBAs looking to be the Masters of the Universe - that big payday or that job that would be the envy of their classmates and peers. It's this glory seeking, trophy hunting and status-seeking mentality that drives the herd mentality within the MBA jet-set.

In the 60s, it was advertising. In the 70s, it was conglomerates. In the 80s, it was bond trading. In the 90s, it was dot-coms and venture capital. And in this decade, it's private equity/hedge funds.

It wasn't long ago when people were arguing that dot-coms were going to be hot for a long time. Even b-schools introduced ecommerce majors, as if business fundamentals were somehow different in a virtual world (well, they are when you are in a stock market bubble). Before that, quite a few assumed that bond trading would continue to be the darling of MBAs, and Silicon Valley was scoffed at as just a bunch of geeks in a garage. If history is a decent guide, you can probably fill in the blanks. Things change, but human nature never changes.

While some of the interest certainly is genuine, most of it is, like any market bubble, driven by greed and fear. Like any asset market, greed makes you buy when you should be selling, and fear makes you sell when you should be buying. The smart money got in before the sector got hot.

You probably know that the private equity market is overheated right now. Same with hedge funds. Too much cheap money chasing too few deals. Bad times never last forever, but good times never do either.

If you're looking for a career in the "hot" sector, by all means go for it. But if you're looking for glory, you're too late to the game. By the time you have a shot at glory, the party's over. All that talk of billion dollar bonuses at hedge funds and private equity shops are about 10 - 30 years removed from where most MBAs (and aspiring MBAs alike) are at today. Working as an underling *for* a big swinging d*ck isn't the same as *being* the big swinging d*ck. The former is like being a chambermaid for royalty - just because you help make someone's bed, doesn't make you part of the family, nor does it mean you have anywhere near the same benefits and perks either.

Like celebrities in People Magazine (and MBA herd mentality is like People Magazine), all hot sectors "jump the shark" before it's replaced by something new.

And private equity has jumped the shark. What used to be the playground for burnt-out investment bankers in the past has now become the dreams of IT engineers - just as the market has peaked. It's like schoolteachers talking about the latest penny stock.

Like advertising, conglomerates, bond trading and dot-coms -- private equity won't disappear. But it sure won't garner the attention or glory in the future that it does now. And it may even institutionalize even further, making the "big swinging d*ck" in private equity as obsolete as it is in investment banking. The nature of the job is gatekeeping. You are a gatekeeper of money. The folks who made it big didn't make it big because they were good gatekeepers. They made it big because they got in early before others caught wind.

Again, if you're banking on glory, status or even just a huge financial windfall, don't count on it if you're this late in the game. By the time you make partner, People Magazine would've moved onto something else much sexier, trendier and more lucrative - you'll be yesterday's news by the time you've made it. All the press, accolades, and money that showered the partners today will be on some other industry by the time you've climbed the ladder.

The folks who generate the enormous windfall have one thing in common -- they get in early. Whether it's real estate, stocks, art collections, or even careers - they managed to stay ahead of the uninformed masses.

It's not about being smart, educated, pedigreed, or rich - it's about being early. Most of the personal wealth amassed by Google staff isn't concentrated in the Stanford MBA alums - most of it goes to those who were there in Google's early stages - from the CEO all the way down to the customer service rep. In most cases, the early birds have the largest piece of the pie in any venture.

Buy low, sell high. MBAs who are part of the herd mentality unfortunately tend to buy high and sell low.

So what is The Next Big Thing? It could be healthcare. International porn. Or it could be all about Eastern Europe, China and India (note to international students, and particularly the Indians who seem to be the most adverse to repatriating compared to other internationals -- if you believed this, is there any reason why you need to be an H1B indentured servant post-MBA, rather than being the early bird entrepreneur back home -- as an aside, the few folks who are going back now will likely reap greater rewards long-term than any H1B employee ever will who believes "someday I'll go back"; mark my word on this).

Personally, I have no idea what the Next Big Thing is nor do I really care. And you probably don't. That's the point. You're chasing your own tail if you do. It's not about trying to time the market or to play market contrarian with your career. It's simply about being brutally honest with yourself about what it is you enjoy doing, and sticking to it. Because everything will have it's day in the sun if you enjoy the job enough to stick through the tough times. Who knows, maybe even insurance or accounting may be The Next Big Thing... stranger things have happened. And if you're too risk averse that you have to stick with what appears to be safe, then don't expect much - greater returns come with greater risk.

Alex Chu
www.mbaapply.com
alex@mbaapply.com
The MBA Field Guide (sample essays and more)

Why I Procrastinate the GMAT

2007-06-05T15:19:00.000+07:00

1. Work
Yes, I know that I don't have 110 hours/week, so it's not a good reason for me to procrastinate, but my work takes 70% of my time weekly (that's enough to make me feel exhausted at the end of the day).

2. World Wide Web
Oh, there are so many wonderful things out there in the virtual world. There's LinkedIn, Friendster, MySpace, Google, Amazon.com, eBay and the whole blogosphere. Oh, and let's not forget the evil forum. They are so distracting!

3. My huge collection of DVDs
Let's see, Grey's Anatomy, House, M.D., Family Guy, I don't really watch TV or cable, but I watched the shows on DVDs, no ads & you can repeat your favorite episodes. How wonderful is that?

4. Nintendo DS Lite
One word: addicting gadget (okay, two words). This is the most important gadget in my bag. Seriously they have the coolest games. I can't really stop playing once I turned this thing on.
I have a lot of game titles, including Brain Age (by the way, my brain age is 20) & Mario Kart DS. I got mine in Polar White (they have other colors including a very cute pink). If you don't have it yet, you should get it immediately, unless you're a Class of 2010 applicant.

5. My babies
I have 4 dogs at home and when those puppy eyes are looking at me, I just have to stop doing those Sentence Correction and throw a tennis ball around. They'll look like this if I don't start throwing.

6. Getaways
For a couple of months back, check out the places I've been to for relieving the GMAT tension (or stress in general).

This one is in Bali, a very nice beach

A lil' bit of sightseeing in Australia

Went sailing in down under too

7. Mid year sale
Books, clothes, makeup & shoes. Gosh, I love summer. My credit card bill is huge, but it's worth it. Really worth it.

School Visits in the Summer?

2007-06-04T22:00:00.000+07:00

So, I'm going to Florida on July! I know that it's for work, but I think I can manage to score some fun times over there.

Since Florida is halfway across the world from where I live, I figured it might be a good idea to use the time to visit some schools up north. I could just fly to NY or Boston to visit Columbia, NYU, HBS, and Sloan. I could save up a bundle on the plane ticket. Sounds like a good idea right? Yeah, I was pretty excited about it, till I realized that it's July, and probably the only people I'm going to meet over there are the schools' administration team. Doesn't sound that fun now, huh?

It's too bad that I can't leave later than July! :-(

One Month From Now..

2007-06-03T22:43:00.000+07:00

..I will start a new job.

Yet, I'm applying for Round 1 this year, so I don't think I'm gonna get a great recommendation from my future boss. So, better be leaving a good impression on my current boss.

I've been in a state of confusion for a whole month just to decide whether I should move to a new company or not. I like my current job as it gives me great flexibility, yet I know that I won't learn anything much if I stay another year before b-school.

In the other hand, moving to a new job would mean extra effort for my applications, as I still have to learn a lot of things & would need time to adjust myself into the role. I think I can say goodbye to my social life.

I hope this is worth it.

Keeping Myself Energized

2007-06-02T12:21:00.000+07:00

Just when I thought about how hopeless my progression on my application & GMAT prep is, it's actually the time of year where current MBA students are going back home. What’s that got to do with me?
Well, for once, I actually have something good about my MBA prep. In terms of school research & networking, I’ve done a lot (yes, quite a lot). So, when those students are returning home for a couple of weeks just before their graduation or internships, they would normally spend some time in meeting me. Now, everytime I meet these people, they’re very good at motivating me to work harder. So, I really have to thank them for making me feel better about my chances & everything. If you’re a student on holiday, you might wanna meet a hopeful applicant out there just to boost his/her spirit.

Now back to the GMAT book.. Ciao!

GMAT Galore

2007-05-18T16:00:00.000+07:00

Raise your hands if you're also dealing with the GMAT at the moment.
I've been studying the GMAT (on and off) for more than 1 year. Trust me, it's not a good strategy. It's better if you do it intensively for 3 months. I found myself keep on forgetting on some formulas when I was practicing.

Well, I don't actually need an 800 score. 700 would be enough, I'm sure it's not worth to retake your GMAT when you've passed the 700 mark.

Fingers crossed!

Obsession

2007-05-16T18:19:00.000+07:00

Being obsessed with the b-school application process has been the norm in my life for the past 4 years. Even with the most obsessive compulsive behavior, I still procrastinate with a lot of things. The GMAT is one of the obvious examples.

I wish I can just fast forward my life to Fall 2008, where at least I know where I'm going.

I think all applicants are obsessed. They're definitely obsessed with stats, facts & numbers.
For instance, the first thing they want to know about another person is:
age, sex, location, nationality, occupation, GMAT score, undergrad GPA, work experience, extracurricular.

Well, I have to admit, I've turned into one of those people (yuck). This is a disease, people! The people who spread the virus hang out most at the BusinessWeek forum, and I have to admit, it's really addictive.

I found it very funny when they say things like:
"I score 750 on my GMAT *gasp*, I'm so disappointed"
"Should I choose H or S?"
or the very classic "Your ranking sucks! It should be H/S/W/Chi/Col/T/MIT/K.. etc."

I should definitely focus more on my GMAT & essays instead of browsing through this! Gaah!

Gaah!

2007-05-12T10:40:00.000+07:00

It's May and I've been pending to take the GMAT test for more than 3 months now. I know I should've taken it as soon as possible, but what can I do?

The Curly Bee

2007-05-12T10:15:00.000+07:00

Hey everyone,

finally after abandoning my blog for more than half a year I decided to plunge myself back in the world of MBA applicants blogging.

The reason why I'm here is just to vent out some ramblings. I realized that although my family & friends are very supportive, they're probably will eventually get tired if they heard the word MBA one more time.

And of course, the applicant blogging community also looked friendlier than THE forum.

As an applicant to the Class of 2010, I have a mere 5 months to prepare everything, I hope you can cope with me.

Cheers,

Curly Bee

Brace Myself..

2006-08-11T15:44:00.000+07:00

I finally gathered the courage to join thousands of b-school applicants blogs out there. Gosh, it's pretty scary out here.