Nominated for MLT!!!

Well Folks!  I’m happy to announce that I have been nominated by my school to be an MLT Fellow!!  I know I’ve mentioned MLT a bunch of times throughout the application process but I was always referring to my friends who were in MLT and not myself!  I can now say that I am a part of MLT!  WOOP WOOP!

I got the email yesterday after my first day at my new job and was very excited.  Then I realized that I had a new job and may not be able to take off the time to go to CTLS in June.  Then I called my friend (Osirus for those of you who know him) and asked what I should do.  He reitterated that attending CTLS is a great opportunity and that it would definitely work out.  I kinda knew that it would work out, but I was just 5% worried that it may not.  In the end... it did.  I let my job know today that I got this opportunity and they said it would be fine.

Now of course the next question that will be asked is - “What is MLT? and CTLS?”  Well, I can speak to MLT as I’ve learned about it through my own eyes.  I have a general sense of what it is as a larger entity, but remember - I was just nominated!  

So my friends who are in MLT now have been through the MBA Prep program.  It essentially prepares them for the MBA application process.  It’s not just some simple essay editing and a resume review.  What my friends went through is exactly what I did on my own:  Visiting schools, Essay writing and reviews and editing, Resumes edits, getting to know ADmissions officers... talking to current students and alum at soooo many different events.  Think of what I did and extrapolate that process out to about 220 other minorities.

Many of the people in that list of my friends who are going to b-school are in fact MLT fellows.  I’d say it’s about half and half according to that list.  Anyway... So yeah now that the application season is over and the new batch of MLT fellows have started, there’s a conference called CTLS that is for newly admitted students.  Like, OP where you can only attend if you are going to a Member School and applied through the Consortium, CTLS is only for MLT Fellows, but they can be going to any school.  So CTLS is the MLT equivalent of OP.

It’s from June 7th - June 11th and it’s in NYC!  They’re putting us up in a hotel and there are what they call “boot camps” everyday.  The boot camps sound like industry working sessions.  I chose the Marketing/Brand Management/Media/Entertainment related bootcamps.  We had to choose one for each of the three days.  Oh btw, we’re staying at the Sheraton.  I mean for me it’s in my backyard as I only work a couple of blocks from there haha.  It should be fun though to meet new people who are now a part of my lifelong network!  MLT!

When I found out, I texted some of my friends who are in MLT and told them and they were like “YEAHHHHHHH BUDDY..” , “OMG YAY”, “SWEET”  lol.  They kept telling me to mention to my school that I wanted to be nominated for it.  So thankfully, I made them aware back in March after my acceptance before I even sent in my deposit (i think).  Well that email paid off!

I’m going to get in front of some great recruiters and get some facetime.  I don’t believe there’s any interviewing going on, unlike at OP, where we can walk away with an internship offer, but at least CTLS will be great practice since OP is two weeks later.

CNN: Black in America 2 “Tomorrow’s Leaders” Featuring MLT

So yeah.. that’s that!  I realized that I need to buy a new suit.  ::sigh::  there’s always something!!!!

Signing off - RICHARD ALVIN BATTLE-BAXTER

17 Friend Updates

Many of you have asked for updates on my friends that I’ve spoken about and where they are going to school.  I can report on this information now because I believe there’s just one who is still deciding and I have no idea what the outcome of THAT decision would be! 

Here are the acceptances.  If you want to be in contact with any of my friends who are going to these schools because they’ll be your classmates, just shoot me an email.  The people in quotation marks are more of acquaintances.

Friend 1 - Accepted to UT Austin and Duke Fuqua - attending UT Austin

Friend 2 - Accepted to Columbia - attending Columbia

Friend 3 - Accepted to Indiana and Duke Fuqua - attending Duke

Friend 4 - Accepted to Cornell and Chicago Booth - attending Chicago

Friend 5 - Accepted to Darden and Tuck - attending Tuck

Friend 6 - Accepted to (not sure all of the schools) - attending Tuck

Friend 7 - Accepted to Columbia, Chicago, Tuck, Wharton - still deciding

“Friend” 8 - Accepted to Wharton, Stanford, HBS - attending Stanford

Friend 9 - Accepted to HBS - attending HBS (withdrew apps)

Friend 10 - Accepted to NYU, Chicago, Columbia, Emory, Georgetown - attending NYU

Friend 11 - Accepted to Cornell - attending Cornell

“Friend” 12 - Accepted to Cornell and UNC - attending UNC

Friend 13 - Accepted to Cornell, Darden, Tuck - attending Tuck

Friend 14 - Accepted to Cornell, Indiana, (and I think Kellogg) - attending Cornell

Friend 15 - Accepted to Cornell (not sure of all the schools) - attending Cornell

Friend 16 - Accepted to Duke & Cornell - attending Duke (i’m still bitter)

Friend 17 - Accepted to Duke & Cornell - also attending Duke

Those are the ones that I can think of off the top of my head.  I think we did pretty well if I may say so myself!  GO US!

I’m sure I forgot some folks in there too because I know there is another HBSer in there... some Kellogg folks... maybe 1 more Wharton.

To those people on the waitlists!  Just remember that while these people have decided that they are going to these schools, it does not mean that they have withdrawn their applications at other schools.  I’m not sure what makes someone withdraw  an app on say a Tuesday vs. a Thursday or something, but yeah... just keep holding out on that waitlist if you can!  I mentioned it before but at the end of this month there are going to be a lot of application withdraws so maybe your application will be one that they ultimately chose!  I have a friend who got off the waitlist at Cornell and another one who got off the waitlist at Wharton!  It’s possible!  

CHEERS!

Countdown to Johnson Pt 2

First things first - 27 GMAT Books are for sale.  I need to get rid of these ASAP so if you’re interested let me know.  I’ll even offer them up for the best offer on them!

I have some things that I need to update everyone on.

Last week I had a call with my career managment coach who was assigned to me because of my marketing career interests.  We worked on my resume and then had a call.  I feel much better and more relaxed about OP - Consortium Orientation Program occurring at the end of June where we can walk away with our internships for next year!  I know the company I’m going to target and will have an incredibly more relaxed first semester if I get an internship offer at OP.

I definitely see and understand why they say that you need to enter school with a clear vision of what you want to do.  Whether it be true or not, if you’ve been accepted through Consortium it’s kind of a must.  Otherwise you’ll miss out on the great opportunities throughout the summer.  OP is just the beginning of it, and actually it’s not but I’ll get to that later.

There are pre-mba internship program emails flying around behind the scenes.  There are also multiple “camps” and one day programs that companies have throughout the summer.  There’s no way anyone would be able to attend all of them because A.) it wouldn’t make sense because they’re industry specific and B.) there’s just not enough time.  Like it was very tempting for me to want to attend the LGBT event at one of the banks but it just didn’t make sense.  I don’t want to go in to banking in any way, shape, or form so that would have just been a waste for me.  Sure I would have been able to networking with people who will be attending b-school, but yeah not my cup of tea.  Also, there’s the P&G Brand camp - which I did not apply too.  I can’t take off from work that many days but also, CPG is not REALLY the direction that I want to go in.  Remember, I want to do Product Marketing so while they’re in the same job function classification, I want to do High-Tech.

Given that all of these events are occuring now in the summer, can you imagine how many different ways one can be pulled in once school begins?  I imagine it would be incredibly frustrating and exhausting.  Thankfully I won’t have to go through that.  Now that’s not to say that I won’t sit in on other industry specific discussions and learn about the things that I’m missing.  By no means would I let that happen, because I want to be able to have a conversation with folks who are in those industries.  As it stands right now, when I hear someone say that they do (Insert Really Financ(y) related word here) my brain shuts down and I try to pick up on what they’re saying but it doesn’t work.  I don’t know any of the terminology.  

What I like about the classmates that I’ve met so far - one in particular - everytime I get the glazed over look on my face I stop him and say “wait... I don’t know what you’re talking about, can you explain it to me?”  and he laughs and says yes and dumbs it down for me.  It’s really not all that complicated (to understand) the implementation may be.  But I digress...

The sheer logistics of moving to a new town is another reason why it’s good to enter business school with an idea of what you want to do.  I have a friend who is moving to NYC and as someone who has been through that process before here in NYC IT IS NOT FUN!   I did it when I didn’t really have a hard cut off by when I needed to be moved in.  I moved in 2009 in January but it could have been February or March or whenever.  Imagine having the deadline of school ahead of you?  Yeah, I can’t deal with all that.  Too stressful and time consuming.  But the upside to that is that he’ll be here this weekend so we can HANG!  BTW He’s going to NYU - Woop Woop!

So needless to say - HAVE A PLAN like they tell you to when you prepare to enter business school.  Is this to say that everyone has a plan?  Nope they don’t.  I have some classmates who are already undecided BUT... they conveyed 1 single plan throughout the application process.  So if there’s any takeaway in this whole post that would be it for new applicants - if you’re unsure about what you want to do in b-school, at least have a plan laid out in the application process.

So yesterday I started my new job!  I’m very excited to be able to relax when going in to work.  As I stated before, I am now back on the agency side of things whereas before I was on the client side at Bloomingdale’s.  To me it’s a breath of fresh air and I’m excited to be able to work on the client that I’ve been assigned.  Should be a fun ride!

27 GMAT Books for Sale!

So... I definitely do not need my GMAT books anymore and boy do I have a ton!  Yeah, obsessive much?  So I'm offering them to anyone who wants them lol.  I looked on amazon at the prices of the used books, but have decided against it simply because of shipping costs and so I'm going to try something different.

Like I said I have 27 GMAT books.  The most important ones that I think people will be curious about (hopefully) are the MGMAT and Veritas series.

TERMS:  You will pay for shipping.  I will give you my address and you will let me know how you want to pay.  I do have a PayPal account but can obviously accept checks or money orders too (but must clear first).

$15 for 1 book
$20 for 2 books
$30 for 3 books
$35 for 4 books
Veritas Prep Set - $80 (missing Sentence Correction 2)

IF INTERESTED EMAIL ME: RICHARDBATTLEBAXTER@GMAIL.COM

Algebra Demystified
Random Geometry Book
Veritas Prep Critical Reasoning 1
Veritas Prep Critical Reasoning 2
Veritas Prep Geometry
Veritas Prep Sentence Correction 1
Veritas Prep Reading Comprehension
Veritas Prep Algebra
Veritas Prep Math Essentials
Veritas prep Advanced Word Problems & Quantitative Review
Veritas Prep Data Sufficiency
Veritas Prep Statistics & Problem Solving
Veritas Prep Arithmetic
Veritas Prep Arguments
Veritas Prep Analytical Writing Assessment
Veritas Prep Cominatorics & Probability
GMAT 800 Advanced rep for Advanced Students
MGMAT Sentence Correciton
MGMAT Reaching Comprehension
MGMAT Foundations of GMAT Math
MGMAT Critical Reasoning
MGMAT Geometry
MGMAT Equations, Inequalities, & VICs
MGMAT Fractions, Decimals, & Percents
MGMAT Number Properties
PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible
PowerScore Sentence Correction

SENTENCE CORRECTION BUNDLE - $30:  PowerScore SC Bible, Veritas Prep SC, MGMAT SC

CRITICAL REASONING BUNDLE - $35: PowerScore Critical Reasoning Bible, Veritas Prep Critical Reasoning 1, Veritas Prep Critical Reasoning 2, MGMAT Critical Reasoning.

READING COMPREHENSION BUNDLE- $20: MGMAT Reading Comprehension, Veritas Prep Reading Comprehension.

RANDOM BOOKS:

FRIEND ADMITTED TO WHARTON FROM WAITLIST

CONGRATULATIONS FRIEND!  ;-).  

My friend was just admitted to Wharton off the waitlist!  I know that this person has been struggling over the prospect of potentially having to decide between two incredibly great schools.  It's definitely a tough call but this person cannot go wrong with either in my opinion!

So with that I say congratulations AGAIN - seems like that's all I've been saying to you throughout this process lol....  

...and to those still on the waitlists at places.  KEEP HOPE ALIVE!  POSITIONS ARE STILL CONTINUING TO OPEN UP!  DON'T WITHDRAW THOSE APPLICATIONS JUST YET!

HBS Essays for Class of 2014

AND THEY'RE OFF....

I'm not sure if anyone pays attention to the Kentucky Derby (I don't) but Harvard Business School has just released the new essays for this year's application season - Class of 2014! This signifies the beginning of the Class of 2014 application season.  (analogy taken from Poets & Quants)

 I'm not sure when they released their essay questions last year, but this seems pretty early!  I'm sure some people are still contemplating whether or not they are going to attend HBS this year (yes people do have to contemplate it!) and yet HBS is like "well... you think about what you think you need to think about... we're going to go ahead and get on with our lives and publish these essay questions.  You do what you want too..."

I'm going to give props to my friends over at Poets & Quants because that site is the one I was reading when I saw an article about the essay questions.  Then I figured I would just post a quick article about it on my own.

From what I gather, these questions are different from the ones from last year., So without Further Ado -

These questions are mandatory:

* Tell us about three of your accomplishments. (600 words)
* Tell us three setbacks you have faced. (600 words)
* Why do you want an MBA? (400 words)
* Answer a question you wish we’d asked. (400 words)

Personally, I like the last question because it allows for some creativity.  Although, now that I read it... and think about my candidacy... this is basically the optional essay where I would have had to speak to my undergraduate performance.  So maybe I don't like it that much!  I wish they asked that question twice lol... then it would have been great!

But... I do not have to submit any applications this season.. or ever again for that matter, so enough about which essays I like and which ones I do not.  

If you are thinking about applying to HBS this year and would like some direction with your essays you must read this article:  

How To Answer Harvard’s New Essays

LAST DAY OF WORK - Friday

I have to be honest with everyone.  For the last week or so i've been keeping a big secret.  Actually, it's not that big... I simply forgot to write about it lol.  So this Friday is my last day of work - at my current company.  I didn't want to say anything before because "random" people read this blog and that's the last thing I needed to deal with at work.

I know I've been talking about how my classmates are quitting their jobs and traveling and what not.  I'm still not in that boat because I will still be working but now I'm going back to the agency side and then my last day there will be July 21st.  I'm excited to get back on the agency side of things because the atmosphere is much different - more collegial I'd say too.  For those of you who are asking "what do you even do?"  Well I'll tell you... I do digital marketing - a guru of sorts ;-).  Although I guess if I had to pick a specialization within that field, it would be Search Engine Marketing.  Of course I know all of the other stuff, but that's what I know the most about, which is good because most people don't.

But without getting into Why MBA - Why Now - because I see the topic going that route, I'll tell you more about what's been going on and why I decided to leave the job I've held for about 2.5 years.

It was a tough decision actually.  Mainly because I spoke with my manager and we discussed me giving as much notice as possible.  She knew I was applying to school... was one of my recommenders....everything was fine and dandy.  Then through a friend of mine I sent my resume to this agency telling them that I was looking for a 3 month position.  My background meshed with what their needs were and it worked out that I'd be making 40% more than I do now.  Not that I make any large sum of money - not by any means - but given the hit that my bank account has taken over the year, I can now breathe a little easier knowing that I can enter school with some money in my savings account.

So with that... My last day is Friday and then I start my new job on Monday.  I already know some of the comments that may come, but I'll let them come in first before addressing them.

Adcoms Do Understand!

I just read a very calming interview on Poets & Quants with the Admissions Director from Stanford, Derrick Bolton.  We all know how obsessive business school applicants get during the application season, and a lot of the times we don't really get insight into how an admissions director or committee views our obsessiveness, but there was a quote in this article that made me smile.

The comment was made: I understand how obsessive people can be in trying to get into a Stanford or any top MBA program.

The response was:  You won’t believe it. Robin Mamlet, who was dean of undergraduate admissions, told me a great story one time about how she was talking to a group of parents and said something like, ‘Stanford is looking for the kid who stays up all night reading a book because he can’t put the book down.’ And the next year, there were all these essays from kids who stayed up all night reading books. That kind of thing happens all the time and I really worry about it. Maybe I take this too seriously but there is so much potential for everything I say to be taken out of context by the people who read it and these poor kids are so stressed out. You simply can’t imagine how much pressure they have on them.

They have a full-time job, which most of them are excelling at and which makes an incredible demand on their time. They are trying to maintain some form of family or community involvement. And then we add this process on top of that, which adds hours and hours. And if we believe estimates, they are spending additional time with consultants going through the process. If I believed that (that half of Stanford’s applicants are using admissions consultants), I would just start charging $2,000 per application fee and give them consulting services myself. Why would I let all that margin slip away? If I had $2,000 per application, we could staff up and provide lots of detailed guidance throughout the process.

So then I thought back to how true this statement was.  I know I have spent countless hours trying to decipher a comment that an admissions officer has said to me... a friend... at an information session... and even in an online chat transcript.  It's very draining as I've said many times before.  I even altered my profile in some ways by taking classes simply from a comment that was made at some point.  

When I was reading this interview I was like "phew... I think they understand."  I guess all along I figured they knew, but to hear it confirmed was calming.  Granted I don't know if knowing this information now would make me change anything if I had to do it all over again, which thankfully I do not, but I do think I may have thought into comments a little less.

Calling All Waitlisters

I can't imagine how people feel right now who have been on the waitlists at different schools right now.  I guess I don't really have to imagine it because I have many friends who are on the waitlists at different schools.  So I'm going to write this post for all of you guys still on the waitlist.

I want to tell you that there is hope!  After speaking with many people who had been admitted to multiple schools and even gave deposits to multiple schools... I now realize that now is the time when they start turning down the spots, which means that spots will be opening up shortly!  I actually want to write another post (maybe tonight because I'm bored) about a common characteristic that I see among those who are turning down offers from schools.

I'm not quite sure what the protocol is for those who are on the waitlist.  I've spoken to my friends and they say that they're sending updated GMAT scores, updated recommendation letters, updated resumes if they've gotten a promotion etc etc.  Sounds very ANNOYING in all honesty, but then again this whole process if very annoying!  My suggestion is that if you are one of those people on the waitlist - find out what the school's recommendations are.  

For example - from what I know a school like Wharton does not want any additional information! Some people say that this is when legacy candidates come in to play and people start pulling strings and making calls behind the scenes.  Now while I do not doubt that this occurs, I'm sure that the policy is Wharton's way of trying to keep things very objective.  ::shrugs::  I didn't apply to Wharton so I haven't done any research...

If the school that you're on the waitlist for does want updates from you I would probably research out to current students to find out how often one should update.  I mean you should never be emailing once a week...you must respect the admissions officers time.  They can't read an update from every waitlisted applicant every week.  They're honestly very busy trying to get the candidates that they've accepted to enroll at their school to protect those yield numbers.  The conversations my friends have said they've had with admissions folks are funny to me now whereas five months ago I would have thought differently.

So to you waitlisted applicants I say... just hang in there.  May is essentially the last month that students have to turn down options.  Deposits are due very soon.  Although in some cases some people have deposits waived, so if they do decide to turn down a school it's not much of a loss from their bank account.  You'll always have those one off instances though.  But yes... May will be the last hoorah I think.

Don't get discouraged just yet... but also...don't quit your job just yet!  ;-)

Still Counting Down the Days

I'm not sure if voting is still going on but: The first order of business is that if you have not gone to vote for the Clear Admit Best of Blogger Awards then you must go do so first before proceeding to read this post:  Here is the link (and yes I track it with a bitly!) My handle is Ellipser if you didn't know!

So friday night a bunch of my new classmates and I went to Bryant Park cafe for some drinky drinks.  This is the second time we've met up for drinks.  The first time it was on a Thursday and people had work the following day so it was mainly a nice meet and greet.  This time we went out and could relax.  

What's refreshing to me is that no one is stressed any more!  98% of us know where we are going in the fall.  There are still some others who are deciding, but for the most part we know that in the beginning of August we will be going to Ithaca.  So what are the conversations like now?  Well... it's about housing... when classes will start...tuition... and when we will be moving into our apartments.  It's very nice being in this position versus where I was this time last year as evidenced by this post about how I was about to take the GMAT but knew that I would have to take it again.  7 Days Until GMAT - Retake inevitable

So that was my Friday night... I got home really late after parting ways with my classmates.  I did meet up with a couple of them after I met up with my friends at another bar and then we went to another bar.. and then to the diner.

Today - Sunday - I'm lounging around the house.  Actually, I have to submit an application for ROMBA (Reaching Out MBA conference) in Dallas next year.  I'm actually going to do that right after I finish this post.  That way I won't have it on my mind any more. 

Today I'm also going to make a checklist of all of the things that I need to do with dates as well as things I need to buy.  Because I moved back home in November, everything is pretty much taken care of.  Now that I'm planning on moving out, I realize all of the misc. things I need to buy.  I might as well start stocking up on these things now so that I don't have to do it all at once.  What types of things you ask?  Well you know... iPad... Keurig Machine... Towels... Bed linens...Area Rugs...Desk... blah blah the usual stuff...Lamps.. blah blah the outpouring of money never ends.  ::shrugs:: it's all for a good cause haha.

Ok I'm done writing this post... it's boring me ... I'm going back outside!