MBA on the Horizon

I spent the entire day today - except for attending a yoga class and doing a few loads of laundry - on the Wharton essays.

Those essays are a special animal. The other schools practically beg you to tell them wonderful things about yourself. They have open ended questions, they are positively slanted, and since I happen to have a relatively good mistake/failure story, the few that include that one don't even faze me.

But alas, Wharton does no such thing. Figuring out how to answer those prompts, particularly the first and second, felt like some kind of self-therapy session. For starters, 750-1,000 words is a LOT. And as I wrote, I kept having to delete and reconsider - how did I really feel/react? Why am I really doing this or that, or what is truly my motivation here or there?

Don't get me wrong, it's a good process. I now have a much deeper grasp on my career goals, why I have them and what it will take to achieve them, but I am also mentally exhausted.

I know I've said it before, but honestly, it warrants another mention. Essay #2 is killing me. I suppose it's all relative - I have a good failure/mistake story, but I'm sure some of you are struggling with that but have a fantastic adapting perspectives story. I did manage to put a full essay down for #2 today, although I'm not entirely convinced that it's truly a good example of adapting. The problem is, I don't have anything better. This concerns me since it's clearly such an important point for them and that's my first choice school, but it is what it is, I suppose...not much to do about it now. I plan to ask everyone I know for ideas over the next couple of days to make sure there isn't some wonderful story out there that I'm not thinking of, and if not, I will go full speed ahead with what I have. Maybe multiple rounds of edits later, I'll even be happy with it. A girl can dream, can't she?

Posted in: essays on Sunday, September 13, 2009 at at 11:30 PM 8 comments Links to this post    

I started (and finished the first drafts) of Cornell's essays tonight. Other than the bane-of-my-existence Wharton essays #2 & 4, those were the only ones I had yet to write a first draft of, primarily because the topics came out later than most.

Based on my cursory review of the questions, I wasn't expecting it to be too difficult or different than the previous four schools. Wrong I was. For starters, cramming my "story" into three 400 word essays was a challenge (that I didn't yet meet, actually, being that my first drafts left out some things). Also, the Table of Contents for your Life Story was an interesting exercise. I have to admit, I did some staring at the blinking cursor on the page before starting that one. I'm still not sure that I'm pleased with what I put together - their "note" about being creative and authentic is somewhat daunting to me - I suppose I know that I'm being authentic, but creative? Other than a small ironic joke I made towards the end, not sure I have any color in this one yet. I suppose that's what editing is for.

That means it's time to come back around to Wharton tomorrow. A wonderful co-worker gave me a nugget of an idea for Wharton's #4 (complex problem), so I'm going to try to put it on paper tomorrow and see what happens.

I've also recently realized that I need to do some resume tweaking, being that almost all (all?) of the schools want one. Clearly, this isn't a place to slack - nowhere on the application is a place to slack - so I'll be spending the rest of the night researching and rewriting that.

Anyone else look at the calendar this weekend and realize we're t-minus three weekends away from the big H and W deadlines?? Whew...time to go underground a bit, I'm afraid. I'll still be blogging, as it seems to help organize my thoughts and saves my family and friends from endless chatter on my part about MBA admissions. It will be a flashback to GMAT time, though...not so much with the plans outside of work unless it's 1) mandatory or 2) time sensitive.

Happy end of Labor Day weekend, everyone...enjoy the short work week!

Posted in: essays, resume on Monday, September 07, 2009 at at 9:43 PM 5 comments Links to this post    

It's interesting how throughout this process, there are many small victories and goals achieved that ultimately culminate in pressing that "submit" button...and hopefully ending in an acceptance letter/call/email/status change.

Today, for example, I asked my other two recommenders. I was dreading it as you might imagine, because I never like having to explain that yes, I'm going full time and will be leaving, and also because it's one more person who sees my vulnerability in applying to these tough schools with the distinct possibility of not getting in anywhere.

In my logical brain, I realize that it doesn't matter. The point is that I don't intend to remain in my current industry, so if I don't get in, I will be making a change of some kind (overseas possibly, increase my international experience?).

Anyway, their responses to my request for recommendations confirmed why I asked them in the first place. They were both classy, honored to be asked, and eager to help. Both understood my request for confidentiality and were happy to oblige, and both were excited for me, despite the disappointment once they figured out I was going full-time and not coming back.

It really was a weight lifted. The other, related, accomplishment of the day was handing over my final recommendation packet to my boss. She is the only one writing all five for me (the other two are writing three each), and she requested that I put together bullet points for her for each set of questions to make the process easier.

I ended up (as I am wont to do) putting together an entire packet for her with possibly more information than necessary. I put together bullets for each question as requested, of course. I spelled out my short-term and long-term career goals for her, and put together a summary of facts about each school (size, location, teaching style, general reputation information, social/club info) as well as how my particular profile, desires, and skills fit into each. For example, I pointed out that Wharton is a large school, and since I went to a small undergrad, I am looking for this variety in my MBA program. I also listed each essay question with a short summary of how I answered. I know some people say to provide a copy of all of your essays to your recommenders, but being that the total of 20-25 essays would certainly be too much to be helpful, I selected a representative four of them to include as well (your basic career goals, mistake/failure, self analyzing profile, etc). I felt good about it and I think I gave her as much as I could to write me a successful set of recommendations.

On a personal note, after that day of accomplishment, the boyfriend was sweet and took me to see the new Harry Potter (!!) movie tonight, even though he had already seen it. It was the perfect end to a busy/stressful day, and a great way to let it all go and relax briefly. Despite the upcoming time frame, it's amazing what a simple night out can do for my stress level!

Posted in: essays, recommendations on Thursday, September 03, 2009 at at 10:38 PM 3 comments Links to this post