"How are you managing time between apps and gmat. Let me know when you get a chance and Good luck w/t your prep." - Blog Reader
So I've decided to simply write a blog post about it - also because the topic came up today at the end of my tutoring session. By now I've seen all of the essay topics that I must write for this application season. I began writing my Tuck essays a couple weeks ago. Just recently I started putting more and more time into them, but not at the expense of studying.
Every time I open one of my essay topics (I have each one as a separate word doc in my Tuck folder), the voice in the back of my head says "YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING!" I've come to terms with this voice in my head. We don't always get along and I want to tell it to SHUT UP sometimes, but I know the voice is simply looking out for me. But that voice and I now have an understanding and it seems to be working.
I know that for me, my best ideas do not come when I'm sitting in front of my computer typing. When I write my essays the writing part is the easy part, coming up with the proper anecdotes and ideas are tough. I keep a notepad with me in my bag wherever I go. If I think of something I want to add to one of my essays I simply jot it down. Believe it or not some of my best ideas have come to mind while at work. In that case I simply email the idea to my personal email account. Then when I get home I add it to the rest of my thoughts.
The way I see it is that there are 24 hours in a day. I sleep about 5 hours/day. Don't ask... I've been sleeping that little since high school. I function just fine... So 24-5=19 hours. I'm at work 9 hours a day. Let's say 1 hour a day for commuting to and from work, including showering and walking 3 avenues. So what's that 9 hours left to account for? That makes sense because I get home at 6:30pm and go to sleep around 2:30/3. So even if I had 7 hours/day to myself, I dedicate about 2/3 hours to studying. Some time to myself and some time gathering my thoughts on my essays.
I realize I was all over the place with this post - sorry I'm watching Kathy Griffin's stand up - so basically I study and write essays because I do a lot of my essay idea generation when I'm doing other things. Studying of course I need to find time to focus, but writing essays... while time consuming...can be done over time. For me at least.
I told my tutor today that my September was going to be pretty hectic. Naturally he inquired as to why. I told him that with events, and traveling to visit schools, and writing essays, it was just going to be one hell of a month. He reminded me that it's great to visit schools and write essays but to just make sure that I make time to study. If I didn't have to worry about the GMAT life would naturally be much easier at this juncture, but nooooo.... things rarely go as planned right?
So my advice to others out there in a similar situation. Find time to think about your essays whenever you can. You don't need to be in front of your computer to work on your essays.
I was actually supposed to send my essays over to someone to review tonight, but life got in the way. I had to do something with my roommate. I did work on my essays, but didn't get them all done the way I had hoped. He said that I could have him review them one by one, but I want to send all five to him so that he can get a 360 view of what I'm trying to accomplish in each essay. So my deadline is now Sunday!
Tomorrow - well in 4 hours! I will be going SAILING! That should be interesting... I didn't even pack my bags yet. I'm a hot mess ahaha.. Enjoy your day!
Sidenote - I just Google image(d) - Business School Essays and saw a picture of London Business School. That school is very gubernatorial(esque) look -
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