The Consortium Fellowship D-Day

Remember waaay back when... it was actually in January.. when I posted about What the Consortium was? Well in it I mentioned that there's an uber important meeting that goes down where they decide who of the applicants gain membership into the Consortium and ultimately get a fellowship to one of the member schools.  THIS MEETING HAPPENS TODAY 3/1 (really tomorrow as I write this) in St. Louis!  It's important because historically 70% of ADMITTED applicants have received a fellowship.

The people in that room hold the fate of many many many applicants on their legal pages and notebooks!  I received a push notification message earlier today on twitter (my name is Money9111) from Jonathan Fuller who works in Admissions at Michigan rubbing in the fact that he was travelling to St. Louis!  I took a screenshot:

Lol yes I follow a lot of GMAT related people!  But now that I don't have to take that exam anymore I can probably unfollow them!  In any event... yeah... So right now I imagine all of the Admissions representatives from each school are just sitting in the lobby of some posh hotel downtown talking about "Hey... did so and so apply to your school?"  "Hey... what did applicant X write for your essay?  Did it sound anything like this?"  

I'm just joking I don't really think they're comparing applicants just yet!  But what will happen when they all go into that room and get down to business is left to the imagination.  The reality is simple.  There are some Consortium applicants who have found out decisions from different schools and there are other Consortium applicants who have not heard back from any Consortium member schools yet.  I don't think there's anything that one can read into that because it just varies by school.  Some schools notify Consortium applicants before they go meet in St. Louis.  Other schools notify after they meet in St. Louis.  The truth of the matter is... ALL OF THE CONSORTIUM SCHOOLS KNOW WHETHER OR NOT WE'VE BEEN ACCEPTED.  

So for me yes I applied to... Yale, Cornell, Tuck, Haas, Ross, and NYU.  All of those schools know whether or not I've been rejected, accepted or waitlisted.   They HAVE to know in order to be able to make a decision on whether or not to offer me a fellowship.

So while the last couple of days I've been on a high because of the Cornell acceptance... the reality has set in that I need $$$,$$$ so that I can go to school!

When all of the admissions representatives are sitting in that room I wish I could be a fly on the wall and just observe.  It's funny (not really) because none of us Consortium applicants knows exactly how the "Draft" is facilitated.  I will tell you the two ways that I think it could go down!

OPTION 1 - So we have all of the admissions reps in a conference room with their notes on which applicants they want that they've admitted.  So then the Applicants name and Stats and Rankings flash up onto a screen with the list of the schools the applicant has been admitted too by ranking.  (No sorry folks I'm not telling you my ranking even though the schools will know in a couple hours).  So once the applicants information is up on the screen then facilitator says "Hey... School _____  Richard ranked you first.. and you admitted him... you gonna show him the money?"  then School _____ says "DUH OF COURSE!"  And then they move on to the next candidate and any other school who had me on their "Must GET" list would cross me off their list and then give the fellowship they had planned for me to someone else.

OPTION 2 - All of the admissions reps are in the conference room.  Then the facilitator says "Ok we're doing 1st rankings first"  And then they turn to School _____ and say "Ok... persons A,B,C,D,E, and F all ranked you 1st.  Do you want to give any of them whom you've admitted a fellowship?"  Then the school decides and they do that for all schools.  Then they move on to 2nd rankings.  So then the shitty part comes when you're down in the 4/5/6th rankings and the schools don't have any more fellowships to give out.  

I know which one of these options would work best in my favor but then again... that depends on other schools I'm accepted too, AGAIN WHICH I DON'T KNOW.

Then on top of that...  us Consortium applicants don't know when we will find out decisions.  Some people are saying that we'll hear tomorrow about all of our acceptances + fellowships.  Some other people are saying that we'll hear by this Friday.  Some others are just saying that we'll get a letter in the mail shortly after March 15th!  We're all over the place lol... is it too much to ask for a decision just so we can all breathe?!?!

Who knew Tom Cruise had such bad teeth?!?!

Received My Cornell Acceptance Binder

On Friday I received an email from Fedex from Cornell so I have been tracking the location of my binder this whole time.  When I got to work today I had an email saying that the binder had been delivered!  Don't ask me why I'm so excited to receive it, but I just wanted it to feel official.   When I got home from work I opened the package and found:

It made me smile!  I didn't get the coffee and sit and read through it... but I did have my gatorade and skittles!  Sidenote - I'm obsessed with Skittles.  Sometimes I eat them for dinner.  No.. not WITH dinner but FOR dinner.  #BadEatingHabits.

There is so much information in there.  A friend of mine told my other friend "OMG this thing dictates life!"  I found it comical...  but it's true and helpful.  It begins to debrief you on what you need to know now that you've been accepted.  There are different tabs and such about Career management.....Housing....  Orientation etc etc.  I won't go into too much detail because it's unnecessary.  What you think would be in the binder IS in it.

I wonder if I'll be receiving any more of these.  That's where my head is at now...  this week is going to be a stressful one!  I need to find a way to preoccupy myself.  As much as I want to keep thinking about the Johnson School because I love it so much, the reality has set in that I need closure on four more schools.  If you're asking yourself "Wait I thought you applied to 6 schools" then look on the LEFT... and look at the posts right above "Cornell Acceptance: How it Went Down."  I'm not going to say the names of any school(s) that I am rejected from because there's no need to mention it/them.

So on that note I'm going to write another post because there is something uber important occurring tomorrow!

Meeting Potential Fellow Johnson Student

On Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting a potential fellow Johnson student!  So my tutor, whom I'll never have to use again, emailed me saying that another one of his students had received an interview invite to Johnson (Cornell) and asked if he could forward my information on to him.  Of course I said yes... this was before I received my acceptance but after I completed my interview.

So we met at the Starbucks across from Le Cirque on Saturday.  My tutor said that the two of us would hit it off and THAT we did.  At least I think so lol.  It was very weird being on the other side of the table/process so to speak.  He thanked me for meeting with him and I was like "oh please no problem at all... i remember being on the other side of the table where I would be wanting to meet with people who had "beaten" the process!"

I found myself asking questions that had been asked to me just a couple weeks ago from random folks.  So why MBA?  Why Johnson? et. al.  What's funny is that any time you meet with a current student or admissions person... OUTSIDE OF AN INTERVIEW they may ask "So WHY MBA?" and then follow that up with "Oh I don't mean to put you on the spot."  LOL... I said the same thing, but I was genuinely curious.  Then again anyone who gets to the interview stage of things definitely has an answer for Why MBA and Why School X.  His answer showed me why he's not the typical candidate but would fit perfectly at Johnson.  He also spoke with a passion which is key.  I was interested in what he was saying even though I know nothing about the field.  I loooove talking to people who have a passion for something.  It's refreshing.

He's a very nice guy and I won't go into detail what we spoke about but we did speak for 2 hours.  I will say this though... when he emailed me to see if we could meet up I thought to myself "I should tell him to bring a notebook."  Then I thought, "No...  if he's serious he'll bring a notebook."  So that's the first thing I noticed when I sat down.  He had a notebook so I knew he was serious.  I'm really about putting the onus on the applicant.  I think it's a function of me doing so much research and work that I feel that if one is truly serious about an endeavor they'll take the necessary actions to come out on top.

What was interesting is that this applicant and I have very similar stories and MO's.  So now I wonder if this is the common thread that Johnson students have.  It was very warming to just be able to be bond over similarities in our MO's even though other people don't understand them.  His personality was very warm and as I think about all of my other friends who have been accepted to Johnson I see that we're all very similar in that regard.  Warm...inviting...welcoming... accomodating...  I definitely see a common thread between current students and students who have been accepted.  I think THIS is what the admissions committee is looking for when they interview a prospective.

There may be some things in one's candidacy that they're also looking to dive deeper into but for the most part I think they're looking to make sure you're not a crazy haha.  This prospective student is definitely NOT crazy and I hope he rocks his interview!  I'm actually nervous for him because I want him to be a potential classmate!  I hope all of the information I was able to give him will be useful, although I think it will.

BEST OF LUCK BUD!  remember to text me when you get out of the interview.  I want to know how it went.

PS - My Johnson School Binder Comes Tomorrow!!!  Hey!  it's the little things people lol.. the little things....

Post Acceptance Action

I just got back from Midnight bingo where my friend won $200 and now I'm wide awake so I've decided to write a blog post and update my metatag information.

I've been very busy these last couple of days!  It's weird because people always reach out to me and ask for guidance and I either tell them my honest opinion or forward them on to other people who may be of more assistance.  I enjoy connecting people (one of the things I wrote about in my application) it's fun to me.  My blog has been a great vehicle to facilitate this action.

One thing I never had insight to was the Post Acceptance process...  what goes on behind the scenes is quite exciting (nerve-wracking for me in another sense but again... more to come on that next week).  There are a lot of emails going back and forth... a lot of facebooking people who were also accepted and who may become future classmates, and a lot of texting.  All of this is to just keep in contact with potential classmates as well as find out from your friends their decisions from other schools.  I've made a lot of new friends this way as we bond over Cornell (no other school to bond over yet).  One person in particular is my road dog and was also accepted to Johnson.  We talk all day about hypothetical situations in school.  She had my ROLLING with one comment hahah #We'reAMess!

The reason I've been busy is quite ironic.  After my acceptance I've had at least 7/8 people reach out to me inquiring about the Cornell interview.  I even had my tutor ask me if one of his other students could reach out to me and inquire about my interview and experience with Johnson thus far.  He and I will be having lunch tomorrow when I go into the city.  I'm looking forward to it because I think I can really offer some great advice.

I also had someone reach out to me via one of the blogs.  I couldn't answer his questions because they were tailored more towards current students.  So what did I do?  I contacted one of my contacts at Johnson and asked if her I could put the two of them in touch.  Of course she said yes, I don't think there's a student at Johnson who would be like "umm.. no don't be giving my information out!"  Johnson doesn't accept those types of students...at least not to my knowledge!

Hmmm what else has me busy?  Oh... I've been emailing back and forth with a couple of my friends at Johnson just asking basic random questions.   I asked about finding apartments....about ordering food at 1am... and about the whole laptop situation.  I have a Mac and I know that in B-school it's imperative that you need the Microsoft suite and I wasn't sure if it would suffice for me to simply get the add-on for my Mac or get a new laptop which I would be 100% opposed to doing because PC's suck.

HHmmm... where is that person who said that the quality of my blog posts had been declining back in December?  Wonder what the person thinks now... actually.. I'm not concerned at all.  Sorry that just popped into my head.

I just realized that my last two "bullet points" started with Hhmm.  How original.  Now I'm "talking" to myself and have used quotation marks too frequently just recently.  That's my cue to end this post.  I mean it is 4:30am.  I should probably be going to bed.  But first!  Let me track my package from Cornell.    I wonder if it got caught in the snow storm.

Rejected from Yale SOM

The title says it all!  I've been rejected from Yale but it's quite alright...  trust me.. IT'S QUITE ALRIGHT! I imagine my level of concern for this point now was reflected in my application...hence the reason for the rejection.  Oh well - Everything's Still Swell!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch - I received my official letter of acceptance from the Johnson School at Cornell.

"Congratulations! On behalf of Dean L. Joseph Thomas and the faculty, we are delighted to offer you admission to the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. We value the qualities you displayed during the application process and consider you an outstanding candidate who can actively contribute to our community."


Etcetera etcetera!  


Then I saw that my Johnson binder has been shipped!  I can't wait to get this in the mail... get some coffee and a a muffin and sit down and read every single word!!  How exciting!?!?  And to think my one friend has received many of these books lol.  I also emailed the admissions committee at Cornell thanking them for understanding my application.  I know them relatively well so it wasn't weird or anything.  


I've also been emailing back and forth with a couple of my friends who are students... it's fun now because it's like "HEY... I COULD BE IN YOUR SCHOOL NEXT YEAR!"  hahahah...  don't mind me I'm delirious!


So 6/7 of my friends who applied to Johnson were accepted!  How clutch is that?  We're all still waiting on other schools and my one friend is going to Boston University, but imagine if we all went to the same school?  It's still pretty early though because everyone who applied through Consortium is waiting for Fellowship decisions.  That's a headache in and of itself and a topic that I will tackle next week!  I can't even begin to think about how important next Tuesday is.


Just FYI - That's when the schools sit in the room and decide who they are going to offer fellowships too.

Yale SOM Decisions Today

I'm still on my high from my Cornell acceptance (Johnson School - they're rebranding so I need to start calling it that) and now I have to go through Friday (today) knowing that Yale's decisions are coming out.  From what someone told me calls were being made yesterday, but I think the bulk of them are going to be made today.  Then at 5pm or so they'll probably send out the emails saying "Hey your account is updated!"  and that will be for the rejections.

I have a pretty busy day at work tomorrow so I'll be preoccupied.  Plus I'm not as anxious now for obvious reasons!  :-)  I am eerily calm right now...although I guess not so eery.  I'm looking forward to logging into my Cornell account and seeing the official information.  Then I'm going to register for the Admitted students weekend, which is called Destination Johnson.  I'm so happy to just be able to say that last sentence!  AAAAHHHHH Still trying to get over the shock!

What have I been doing since then?  Well I've spent countless hours on the website looking for information about my potential business school that I haven't come across before lol.  It's a tough feat but I've found out some interesting things!!

I had a coworker come up to me today and ask "Oh so.. have you heard anything yet?"  I'm like "YEAH I GOT INTO CORNELL!"  She's like "OMG... CONGRATULATIONS..." and gave me a hug... She knows the feeling because she graduated from McCombs so we were exchanging acceptance stories.  Another good thing about being accepted is that I no longer have to say "Well it depends on if I get into Business School." I can now unpause my life and begin replenishing my savings!  Definitely going to need that since it was depleted last year.  Like DEPLETED!

So just a quick update on other schools I'm waiting for:
Yale - like I said I'll find out today
NYU - still have not received an interview invite.  I know they interview all applicants so keep hope alive!
Haas - I haven't gotten an interview... or even an account login.  Dunno what that's about.  Granted I didn't get an account login for Cornell either and look what happened.  I'm not sure if Haas has a mandatory 2nd interview for Consortium applicants or what.  I'm going to sit tight!  Haven't been rejected so that's a plus.
Michigan - never received an interview invite and they also interview all applicants.  I could still be waitlisted.
Tuck - A little birdie told me that we should hear by next friday!  But I haven't heard that confirmed anywhere so I'm going to say that we'll hear the 3rd week of March.

I think for Consortium applicants a lot of decisions are being released Friday (today).  GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE!  Can't wait to hear the good news!  For those of you who haven't applied through the Consortium I believe the reason a lot of schools are releasing their decisions tomorrow is because on Tuesday they will all decide fellowships.  If you don't know what the Consortium is... read this post about the Consortium.

ACCEPTED TO CORNELL: How it went down

I am still in shock from today's events but I wanted to share it with everyone.  Out of the 200+ posts that I've made over the last year...THIS is the one that I have wanted to make.  I will make another post and thank everyone at a later date, but because this is my first (hopefully not last) acceptance I think it's appropriate that I tell EVERYONE WHO THINKS THEIR STATS ARE SUB-PAR THAT IT IS DOABLE!  Trust me... that holistic approach that schools talk about?  Remember what I said way back when.  "If the admissions committee understands my application then I will have a great outcome."  At least 1 school understood my application!


Yeah.... it's true!  But this post is not about that... here's how the day went for me.

So I had a tough time sleeping last night just because I knew that I would hear about decisions today, tomorrow, or Friday.  I was literally tethered to my phone all day today.  From 9 - 1pm I was jittery every time it buzzed.  No it didn't buzz because someone called me but because of Facebook updates and twitter updates that get pushed to my phone.  So I had to turn them off because it was literally making me sick to my stomach.

Then I told myself "ok it's 2pm... i'm just not going to even try to anticipate any phone calls...I have too much stuff to get done"

Then at 2:15 I sent a text message to my friend...

Then at 2:17 - my phone vibrates and I see BLOCKED on the screen.  I said "OH SHIT" and pushed back in my chair in my cubicle.  I answer the phone "Hello?"  and I hear "Hi Richard this is _____ from the Johnson School."

When I heard that last sentence I started shaking and my heart jumped onto my desk.  I didn't know what to do or say.  To be honest I barely remember what was said...  "Congratulations this.....  deposit that....."  All I could do is keep saying "Thank you... Thank you.... Thank you...."  I do remember saying "I'm sorry I don't even know what to say other than thank you..."

I'm usually not at a loss for words but I was at this point.  What was ironic is that you go through this whole process wanting to go to a school... and then when you get that phone call from them saying that you've been accepted.. the tables are turned.  NOW they want you to literally accept them and matriculate at their school!  MY MY HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED!  ::EVIL LAUGH::  MUAHAHAHAH.. Lol just kidding!  You gotta give me that!!!

So then what happened?  After I got off the phone I couldn't scream...so I did the next best thing lol.. look below.  I was talking to my friend Jessica on GCHAT tell me if you can decipher what I was trying to say lmao:

Lol my favorite part is the "I CAN'T" in the middle of that madness...some how I collected myself just a little bit to be able to say that lmao.

So after I typed that to a couple of people and couldn't breathe... I grabbed my cigarettes (future classmates I'm going to stop before I'm sitting next to you in class...don't worry)...  and I got my building key... and ran outside....hopped in the elevator.... went down 14 floors.... ran outside and screamed YESSS and pumped my fist!  Then I called my mom haha....

After I semi-collected myself I had to go back to work because I had a report to finish up.  I'm thinking to myself "how in the world am I going to focus on this report now?"  But I did after sending a lot of text messages and updating my blog...  Then I told my manager "Yeah I'm sorry I haven't gotten to the report but I'm going to do it now... I just got accepted to Cornell, so that's why it's been delayed."  Then she congratulated me and I thanked her again for writing the recommendation letter.

Then I went back to my desk and did the report.... somewhere in there I told my Director (Kellogg MBA) that I was accepted and she gave me a big hug!  Then she was talking about receiving the big binder/book full of information and stuff.... she was excited for me.  

Then I emailed all of the Students at Cornell that helped me through the process whether it was just by allowing me to stay with them during JMB or telling me about the Marketing Immersion...I knew they were rooting for me.  (They told me they were lol).

At the end of the day I told my VP (my other recommender) that I was accepted and she started clapping and said that I deserved it.  So I thanked her too for the recommendation letter... she said "anytime".  Then she's like "How are you still here?  Go home!!!  Celebrate!!"  Lol....

It was the end of the day anyway, so I went home.  But what's odd about being accepted is that you literally want to tell EVERYONE you see... even if you don't know them.  I wanted everyone on the street and in the subway to know what had just happened to me.  But everyone is going about their lives and couldn't care less.  I did get some ::side eyes:: as to why I was sitting on the subway train with a huge smile on my face.  Shoot I didn't care! 

That's my day... now I'm on Facebook reaching out to other friends to find out how they faired today...  A lot of my friends have been accepted to Cornell!  LOOOOVESS ITTT!!!  

1 Down.... 5 more to go... I'll know about Yale by this Friday!

ACCEPTED TO CORNELL!

I will write a longer blog post later because I'm at work and I'm not supposed to be on Blogger.. .but this warrants it.

I GOT INTO CORNELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


::BACK TO PUTTING TOGETHER THIS REPORT FOR WORK::  LMAO!!

6 Things for ACCEPTED Students

For those of you who have been admitted to schools already - READ THIS.  Hopefully it will be more meaningful for me in the coming weeks...I was on GMATClub and came across this post from a member and thought it was very insightful.  The member said I could repost this on my blog.  


So it's almost mid-February. R1 decision dates have come and gone. R2 decision dates are either here or soon approaching....

Many of you lucky intelligent, overachieving, (handsome/pretty?) GClubbers have a destination or two (or more) in the Class of 2013.

Some of you guys may have scholarship and fellowships. Pat yourselves on the back (I do it every 3 hrs on any given day).

But you guys have a SERIOUS problem:

1) It's only February and Fall is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO Far away.
2) Remember senioritis from highschool? Well, you haven't been quite productive since you submitted your applications, and now that you KNOW you will be gone in the near future, your productivity has dropped significantly.
3) If you hated your job before, now you are giddy with the prospect of sending a legendary, explosive goodbye email to all those b*st*rds (at work) who made your life living hell.

Well, guys.... I have less than 4 months of school left before I walk. MBA is my second graduate degree and probably the last one (unless my soon-to-be wife's post-MBA career take off and I choose to call it a career from my post-MBA job, and become a FT stay-at-home doggie walker......and go to law school and waste HER hard earned money because my experience at Yale Law School has been awesome and you can't find better drink-buddies than law school kids...).

While I am counting down the days until graduation, and wasting my time reading through the various threads in this forum, I realize that a lot of you guys are anxious to put your current career behind, and start your bschool journey ASAP.

Here are various Do's and Don't's that some of us have learned the hard way: (And other current/past students, and other members, please feel free to chime in)

1) Should you stop working to your best abilities at work? Should you burn the bridge and fire away that email to the entire company (explaining how much they suck?)
Probably not. Believe it or not, networking does not simply mean meeting new people once you enter bschool. It also means keeping your current relationships intact. No matter how much you might hate your boss, no one can't predict whether you may need his/her help in the future.

I've met a M7 student this past summer during after-work/internship networking event in NYC. He/she struck out during on campus recruiting at his/her school, and had to return to his/her old employer to do a paid summer internship. He/she kept in touch with various people from his/her ex-employer, that he/she was able to at least get a paid gig for the summer.

2) Should you quit your job early and either take a vacation or do something else before school?
If you have a trust fund, significant other (who will finance your early freedom), or rich parents, etc - ABSOLUTELY. It's a good idea to take a mental break now before starting school. You won't have time to relax once the school starts, so enjoy your life while you can. However, if you don't have such arrangement (rich parents, etc), stay as long as you can. Debt sucks. You don't want to know how much interest you end up accruing month after month while in school. Bschool life can get quite expensive. Thanks to generosity of YSOM, I won't have any debt upon graduation but my savings account took a hit during the last 1.5 years...  

3) Should you get an early start by reading various textbooks, etc?
Probably not. I admire your desire to excel in academics but you are ALREADY well prepared for bschool at this point. Most of you will do very well in school. Rather, I would work on your communication skills. If you are not a good public speaker, I would practice NOW and get used to speaking in front of strangers, etc. This is important because without great communication skills (including the ability to sell yourself effectively), you will have a tough time in class and during recruiting.

I remember reading a BW article long time ago about a Haas MBA student who struck out during an interview with a top consulting firm because the interviewer thought he/she was "too introverted" and reserved. He/she wasn't able to speak well during the interview. However, due to professor's recommendation, the same firm ended up interviewing him/her again and he/she ended up with a FT offer.

I've said it before in the Yale thread. Work on your killer closing speech now. It comes in handy during recruiting. Interview is not about going in and answering their questions. Before you go it, KNOW exactly what YOU WANT THEM TO KNOW ABOUT YOU. Make a mental list of those items in your head. Before the interview is over, MAKE SURE EVERYTHING on your list was communicated to the other side. That makes a successful interview.

4.) What about my current boy/girl friend? significant other?
There's no right or wrong answer to this one. Different people do things differently. I've seen people break up before bschool amicably. I've seen married people moving together. I've seen married people living in different states. Whatever option you end up choosing, if you put in the effort to make it work, it will work out in the end.

My soon to be wife and I were already engaged when we decided to get our MBA. She was little more ambitious and ended up doing her MBA in the west coast because she wanted to live where "they have better weather" ~

Me - I only did my MBA because: 1) did not want to move to west coast; 2) did not think I would get into the school that she was going to; 3) she's doing it so I guess I will get one as well

We spent last yr and a half on the opposite side of the country but made every effort to come together during the breaks, holidays, etc. We made it through and we will be getting married in June before both of us begin our post MBA careers.

5) Is MBA worth it? It's too expensive!
Well, nothing in life comes easy and we have to take a risk sometimes. But important thing is that we manage our exposure to that risk.

I think if you invest $X amount for X MBA program (which, traditionally placed its graduates into great jobs, etc + great education that will pay dividends over your career), then you have a good reason to take that risk. But let's say you lost your job or you simply hate your current job. You are simply going to school Y because you just want to get out of your current situation and you expect to get a job out of it after 2 years. That's a risky decision.

6) Finally - Manage your future expectations now
What can MBA do for you? Different people have different expectations. Usually, it's really optimistic. But no matter where you end up matriculating, in the end, it's all up to you.

If you are a bad driver, and you buy a Mercedes, it's not going to make you a better driver. You will simply be a bad driver driving a really nice car.

If you expect that your degree from school X will suddenly change your life completely, you will be making a similar mistake. A top bschool MBA will definitely open you doors. But to make the best out of your opportunity, you have to evolve. You have to make an effort. I don't mean that you should simply: 1) excel in classes and get great grades, 2) attend all the workshops and seminars, 3) go to all the networking events, etc

You should do all that and make small efforts such as: 1) If you are bad with names, make an effort to change that. If you meet someone new, the old "you" would say, "I will learn his/her name eventually." Change that and say, "I don't care what I have to do today. Even if it means I have to spend next 20 minutes and tell her all my embarrassing flaws, I am going to know that person and learn his/her name today."

If you were never in to sports, take this opportunity (over next 2 years) and find new friends who are into sports - learn why they are into sports, and attend sporting events with them and REALLY make an effort to see if there are any sporting events that you may end up liking.

If you have never went to a broadway show, take this opportunity and change that. Make an effort. Who knows what you really like anyway? I learn new things every day and as a result, I evolve for worse or for better. But what I know is that I am not the same person that I was 2 years ago.

Try to make small efforts like that over the next 2 years. You will be pleasantly surprised...

DECISION WEEK = Do Not Call!

This is the week that I have been waiting for all this time!  DECISIONS START COMING OUT FOR ME.  By THIS Friday I will know decisions from Cornell and from Yale!  Then next week other schools I applied too start coming out with their decisions and then the following week and the following week and so on and so forth!  So needless to say this week I will be nervous!

Everyone says "oh don't worry about it... it'll be fine" and as an applicant you sooooo want to believe them and buy into what they're saying, but think about it.  Unless you've already been accepted to A school... there's no way that you can be calm.  Whoever says that they are calm and that they don't care about the couple of days before decisions are released is lying.  Point Blank.

Earlier today I received a call from someone at Michigan.  I met this person when I was out there visiting and she's hilarious!  The thing is though that I didn't save her number in my phone.  So around 5pm I get a call from a an area code that I'm not familiar with.  Immediately my heart jumped out of my throat.  Then I pick up the phone and the person says "Hey Dos Ricardo it's ______ from University of Michigan"  #Died  At at this point I still hadn't put 2 and 2 together.  (trying to get any gmat math out of my head).  So I'm still trying to play it calm although I stood up out of my bed and was standing in my room frozen!  Then as we spoke I realized who it was.... Initially I thought that the person was just trying to be funny by calling my Dos Ricardo but then I realized that that's the name she gave me while I was there haha...

But I swear that I literally saw the unknown area code... glanced at the clock.... saw that it was 5pm and nearly gagged.  So what I've done is simple!  I've told all my friends that they are not allowed to call me this week!  Only text and then I'll call them.  Don't believe me?  Look:

::crosses fingers::

8 Things for New B-School Applicants

The cadence of the business school application process means that right now in the end of February/almost beginning of March, there are really three groups of people.

The first group is the group that I fall into which is those who have completed the application process and are now just waiting to head back about decisions from schools.

The second group is the group that is applying in the 3rd and 4th rounds for schools this cycle.

The third group is the group that is just embarking upon the process and will be applying either in the Fall of 2011 or even in 2012.  This post is for those who fall in to this group.  This is a list that I wish I could have found back when I was in the research/gmat stage.  These are things that one would hear over and over again but may not completely understand why.  But I will candidly tell you why each one of these things is necessary.  

8 Things for New B-School Applicants

1.  TAKE THE GMAT! - This stupid test is a necessary evil...well you could take the GRE as well.  Honestly just get this out of the way so that you don't have to dwell on it for a year like I did.  If you say to yourself "Oh I won't dwell on it for a year." To that I say... hey you never know until you get the first one other with.  It's not a fun time when all of your spare time doing "fun" things is spent thinking "I should be studying right now."  Or in the middle of the summer your friends ask you to go out and you say "I can't I have to study!"  GET IT OVER WITH!!!  Do whatever you need to do in order to only do it once or twice.  

2.  START THINKING ABOUT YOUR STORY - Your story will become who you are for the next couple of years so you might as well start thinking about it now.  Everyone everywhere you go will ask you "what do you want to do post-bschool?"  "Why do you want to do it?"  "How does what you've been doing fit into what you want to do?"  You better have an answer for this otherwise people will give you the ::side eyes::

3.  Get A 5 RING BINDER - I told my friend to do this the other day...  Get a 5 ring binder and ONLY use it when you talk to current students, past students, other applicants, people at MBA Fairs, people when you visit b-school... basically anything.  Keep this binder until you begin writing essays because it will come in handy!  What happens is that if you go to one event in say April about a school or something, when you're leaving or a week later, you'll think of questions that you meant to ask.  If you write them down you'll be able to follow up on them.  My binder goes back to September of 2009.  I can find notes from the first time I listened to Admissions Officers speak at my first MBA Fair.  It's amazing how little I knew back then, but I did write some amazing questions to follow up on.  In my binder I also have notes from when I spoke to current students on the phone.  YOU NEED TO TAKE NOTES AND FOLLOW UP ON THEM.  THAT'S HOW YOU DIG DEEPER...

4.  MAKE A LIST OF WHAT YOU WANT IN AN MBA PROGRAM - This list will be a work in progress but that's okay.  But you need to have an idea of what YOU like... then you find schools that have those qualities.  You want to end up in the best place otherwise you will be miserable for 2 years and trust me... as a prospective applicant who has visited many schools... YOU CAN TELL WHEN STUDENTS ARE NOT FULLY VESTED IN THEIR SCHOOLS.  It's so obvious, but that's something I'll write about in a later post. 

 Just make sure you know that if you hate cold weather and I mean despise it.. no one really LOVES cold weather...but if you HATE cold weather then Cornell may not be the best place for you.  Some would argue that Dartmouth may not be the best place for you either but what you have to remember is that the 1st years at Dartmouth stay in the residence dorms that are connected to the classrooms and dining hall etc etc, so one doesn't really need to go outside as often as a first year at Tuck as they do Cornell.  Just saying - so those are the types of nuances one must contemplate.  

5. IDENTIFY WEAKNESSES IN YOUR APPLICATION - This is important because whatever you think your weakness is... it WILL be brought to light during this process.  You'll hear over and over again that you should focus on what you do well and don't call out the negatives... but.. what I say to this is... while you may not want to DWELL on the weakness, you WILL need to address it.  It's much easier to address the weakness if you can follow up and say "I know my weakness is ______ but I've done X, Y, and Z to counteract it."  People will tell you that it won't make a difference but trust me... IT DOES.  I want to write a whole blog post on this in a couple weeks so stay tuned.

 6. REACH OUT TO CURRENT STUDENTS - Who do you think knows more about how to get into say.... Harvard?  Someone who is applying to Harvard the same cycle as you or someone who is a 1st year at Harvard?  This is a #NoBrainer, so make sure that you start reaching out to students now!  If you don't think that you have anything to talk to this current student about well.. you better think of something!  More importantly, connect with the student.  Hopefully you're applying to a school where the students don't mind prospective students.  There are some where students are not so friendly!  #IDidn'tApplyToThose.  But in reaching out to current students, do understand that they are busy!  No need to email everyday because that's annoying and a sure fire way to get blacklisted lol.  Students do talk to one another...


7. NETWORK WITH OTHER PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS - This group of students is another one that will become your lifeline throughout this process!  I cannot tell you how important my other applicant friends have become!  At 1am when you're studying for the GMAT or writing essays and you need to vent about how fed up with the process is... these folks will be there to listen to you!  Trust me.. while your friends and family do care what you're going through... they don't want to hear about it as often as you're thinking about it.  Nor... will they understand!  I've met all of my prospective student friends just from random mba fairs and information sessions!  You WILL see the same people over and over again, so might as well get to know them!  They will even become your classmates and then part of your professional network! Plus when you start to visit schools and need people to split a hotel room with... you'll be able to tap into this pool of people to find out whoelse is going to said event.

8.  SAVE YOUR MONEY - All I'm going to say about this one is...  Application fees!  Campus visits! Plane tickets!  Train tickets!  Bus tickets!  Hotel rooms!  GMAT Prep!  Drinks in for doing either well OR poorly on the GMAT.  (Either way you'll drink to that!)  Needless to say there is a huge cost in applying to business school... Then should things go in your favor, once you apply you have about 2 months to get a deposit together!!!!!

BONUS -  READ MY BLOG FROM THE BEGINNING:  ELLIPSING MY WAY TO BUSINESS SCHOOL


BLOG READER ADDITIONS -

1. - Along with #8 should be: save all your vacation time, you might need it to visit schools, that last week of studying for the GMAT, and essay-writing. And by the time it's all over (one way or the other), you'll probably need an actual vacation too.

The Waiting Game Amplified

I'm sitting on my bed waiting for Jersey Shore to come on and figured I would write another blog post.

Coming down from my high of my interview yesterday I realize that I have now entered a new phase of the waiting game and it's worse to an extent.  I'm not sure how that's possible but it definitely is.  So when I made my previous post about the waiting game it was "bad" because I was hearing about other people being accepted and dinged from schools.  Hearing about my friends getting into schools and being dinged from schools was nerve wracking and I would think about how in a few short weeks I would be in the same boat.

NOW it's my turn!  The next round of acceptances and rejections that will occur in the coming weeks will determine my fate and it's an odd feeling.  I'm glad that I had what I thought was a good interview at Cornell yesterday, but all that means is that I've crossed one more bridge.  There are two schools that I applied too who have mandatory interviews in addition to the Consortium interview.  I didn't hear from one of them on the day that I should have heard so I've lost hope for that.  I also haven't received an interview invite for the other school either.  I'm not even sure if they're still sending out invites.  But enough about those schools... I don't want to dwell on potential negatives.

Knowing that I'm one step closer is heart wrenching.  There's absolutely nothing that I can do now besides wait and THIS is the worst part.  My feeling is also compounded by some personal issues but it's tough.

Last night after my interview I went to work and worked on a couple of things until 6.  I hadn't planned on going in but I figured it would make my day easier today.  Then after work I met some friends for drinks.  My friends are all in MLT and had applied this past year.  It was great to see where everyone was in the process and who had received interview invites and acceptances to where.  We are all "doing the damn thing" so to speak.  I would really love to go to scool with these people and it's funny when you can speak about certain schools to different people and you echo the same sentiments about the school.  I realized that through massive amounts of research one can really get a sense for the school community and I think that's the difference between those people whose stats are impeccable and yet they may be rejected.

I've said it once and I'll say it again.  Whether I am accepted to a school or not I firmly believe that all interaction one may have with a school gives he/she a little more insight that he/she can then use as ammunition to get into said school.

Anyway I digress... I'm supposed to be talking about waiting post interview.  But yeah... it's rough!  You don't know what the school is looking for once they've interviewed you especially if they do mandatory interviews.  I've always told my friends that once you get an interview it's about you yourself personally. They've evaluated the rest of your application so now it's just whether or not you fit with the class profile that they're trying to put together.

I think the main reason I'm so nervous now is because I know that I left everything on the table.  It's funny because I was talking to one of my friends about that last night.  He said "I know that I did everything in my power to get into b-school!"  I'm glad that I have surrounded myself with a bunch of people who are like me in that they put their heart and soul into this process.  It's nice to see that it's finally paying off for them and hopefully in the near future we can all be celebrating as new admits and future classmates!

FINGERS CROSSED!

Cornell Johnson Interview - Yay!

So you know how sometimes you just feel when something goes well?  That's the case with my Cornell interview.  I'm back on the bus now but I felt that my interview was smooth and perfect.  I was cool calm and collected and was at ease the whole time.

Did I research questions that I thought I would be asked?  Yup sure did, I mean they're out there so why not right?  I didn't type up answers or anything like that though.  I just read through them and thought of stories or anecdotes that I would use.  I didn't even do too much of this because I didn't want to sound too rehearsed because then if I was thrown off my game it would not have a good outcome.  People were asking me if I was nervous at all and I made sure that I was prepared to the point where I would experience a little nerves.  I know how I operate and a little bit of nerves keeps me on my toes, so that's what happened.

My interviewer did not throw any curveballs at me.  Sure there were some questions that I had to pause for, but that's fine because I was simply collecting my thoughts.  What's my definition of Leadership?  Sure didn't think I would be asked that but I mean I have my own definition and here it is.  I didn't say that exact phrase but that's what went through my head.  No biggie.

What surprised myself is that I was making connections to things that I didn't even know I had in me... it's hard to explain but I guess it's a function of being in a different mindset 4 months ago versus now even though I've had the same story ya know?  I think my interview showed how genuine I was which is what I wanted to convey and why I'm glad I took the trip up to Ithaca.  I always said that if I just got an interview I know I can do well.  Which brings me to my next point...

If you can interview on Campus DO SO!!!!  I heard a story about someone from Peru who flew in to visit campus, from Japan, and from India.  I know the guy form India was visiting because he was waitlisted from R1 - we were sitting in the admissions office together.  So there are people who are traveling from every corner (there are no corners) of the Earth, so my little measly 5 hour trip back to NYC was nothing compared to these folks.  Just keep that in mind that you may not want to take a 5 hour trip up to Ithaca or Hanover, or a 2 hour flight to Michigan etc etc... but there are people gunning for that same spot that you want and they/we are taking those trips and interacting with folks at the schools.

You may think "oh... I just need to visit"  well no... interact... I mean think about it... Me...someone who just left Ithaca and was int he admissions office for all of 10 minutes has heard about that prospective student who flew from Peru to visit, last week I think.  So people are still talking about that prospective from Peru and the one from Japan weeks after their departure.  Do you think that person will be memorable?

You be the judge... I've said my piece.... go visit!  I'm going to take a nap because this baby is crying on the bus!  Peace Peace

Oh sidenote - my friend got a Full Ride to Cornell!!!!!!!!!!!

Bus to Ithaca + Photobooth... lol

What happens when you are on your way up to Ithaca to go on your Cornell Johnson interview and you discover Photobooth on your Mac and you can't concentrate on the bus because someone is talking?

All Packed for Cornell Interview

So as you can see I am all packed for my interview at Cornell!  I'm just joking that is NOT my luggage.  If I could afford that much Louis Vuitton luggage I probably wouldn't need to go to business school.  There's about $15,000 of luggage right there.

In any event, I did just pack all of my clothes.  I have my suit, suit, socks, belt, shirts... etc etc blah blah.  I want to thank everyone for sending me their best wishes.  It's nice to know I have all of that support.  This is the final stretch right?  Interview(s) and then hope that the schools understand the applications I submitted to them.  If they "get it" then I think I will have a happy spring.  If not, then my blog will become one of many stories of a re-applicant.  But positive thoughts...positive thoughts.  

Tomorrow (today) I am going to work for about three hours.  I have some things that I need to take care of.  If I had a bit more notice I would have been able to take this time off without it feeling too rushed, but such is life right?  The bus leaves tomorrow from the Cornell Club in Mid-town Manhattan at 12:30 so I'll probably leave work right at 12.  I'll probably get there at 12:15 since it's only 1 stop on the 6 train from where I work, but it's better to be early than late.  

When I arrive at Statler (the Hotel on campus which is across from Sage Hall (business school)) I'll call up my host and get a ride to his apartment and then do whatever and prepare for my interview.  I'm very excited for it!  I like interviews..they make me smile lol.  Actually let me rephrase that...I like interviews where the interviewer is not trying to stump you.  I've heard of some schools interviews and yeah that's not for me - and probably also the reason I'm not going into consulting.  I've done a case based interview before for a start-up and well....I do not work at a start-up so you can imagine how that went.

My interview is Wednesday @ 10:15am and then my bus leaves for NYC at 11:40.  From what I hear the interview will be about 35 minutes so that'll give me enough time to change before taking the 4.5 hour trip back.

From what my friends tell me there is a happy hour going down with a lot of MLT folks on Wednesday @ I think 6 or 7.  Now while I am not in MLT, I know many of MLTers just from attending events with them, so maybe if I feel up to it I'll make the happy hour.  I know a lot of them have been receiving good news lately.  I hope that one day in the near future I'll be able to add to it!

and on that note I'm going to do some more research!  ;-)

...it depends on Business School

At this point in time I don't want to complain about "The Waiting Game" per se because I understand that I have to wait.  I'm not anxious about decisions YET.  I'm more concerned with the fact that my life is on pause right now.

In the new year everyone begins to plan for the Spring and Summer whether it be long vacations or short trips.  All of the birthday invites and wedding invites come out etc etc.  This is even the time when people start looking for new jobs and furthering their careers....but nope.. not for a business school applicant.  Every sentence ends with "...well it depends on if I get into business school."

For me this is very frustrating because I am someone who constantly looks for what my next move will be in life!  At this juncture I cannot do such things.  I have to focus on my Cornell interview next week.  Not to say that I don't want to think about it because obviously I do!  But I mean when I think to my life in May right now it's a black box.  I could either preparing to go to business school or something else.  It's just frustrating for me not knowing what path I'm going to be taking in a couple months.  I will find out next month though.

I'm not even anxious about finding out decisions any more.  I'm not being cocky and saying "oh im going to get in everywhere" because we already know that that is not the case.  But there's no need for me to be nervous or anxious.  The chips will fall in the right manner that's supposed to be right for me and that's that.  I'm at peace with that now.

I'm fortunate enough to have a Director who has her MBA degree from Kellogg so we were talking today about where I was in the process and what not.  I was telling her about how it's tough to just have one's life on Pause.  She said that after she submitted her applications she got a second job just to kill time.  I do not have a second job, but I am heavily involved in the BeatTheGMAT community and am working on a couple of projects right now.  So I guess my activity to "get my mind off this process" is heavily indebted to this process lol.  Counterintuitive don't you think?  Oh well... the projects are great ones...so don't judge.

Sorry I was in the middle of this post and then had a 2 hour long phone call with an old friend.  I don't remember what I was really talking about so that's that....

So on that note - I'm going to watch Hulu!

Cornell Johnson Interview Scheduled

CORNELL INTERVIEW - I realize that it's been a hot minute since I've posted.  I've just been incredibly busy with a lot of things.  My interview is scheduled on campus for Wednesday the 16th at 10:15!  I emailed my friend (one of the guys I met at the Reaching Out Leadership Conference) who is a 2nd year at Cornell to see if I could crash at his place.

I will be taking the Cornell Campus-2-Campus shuttle on Tuesday and will arrive infront of Sage Hall a little after 5:00.  Then I'll be going to my friends apartment.  I gotta remember to not forget to print out updated copies of my resume.  Note To Self

There is a lot going on behind the scenes now that I've been invited to interview.  I have a lot of research to do.  There's a lot of emailing going on... What are the emails for?  Well instead of talking to my Cornell friends on FB, I need a more formal venue.  I just want to make sure that the things that I have in my head make sense.  I've also dug out the information that I received at Johnson Means Business.  I told myself to keep all of that information JUST IN CASE I needed them for an interview or as a re-applicant.  Thankfully it's because of the former.

VIDEO ESSAYS - Tonight I sent my Tuck video essay to my friend because he wanted to see it.  Any time I send the video to people via YouTube, I upload it and then take it down immediately.  I do this even if the video is private just in case ya know?  Well I remember my friend from Saturday Night telling me that there were a lot of NYU ESSAY 3's on YouTube.  So after I sent my video to my friend I started watching NYU Essays on YouTube.  I watched about 5 of them and the main difference between their videos and mine was the time allowed.

My video could be a maximum of 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Some of the NYU Essays were 10 minutes+!  A.) I can't imagine editing and putting together a 10 minute video essay.  I know how long my video essay took so if I had to add another 8 minutes and 30 seconds to it, I would die.  I don't think they had a time limit but I wonder at what point does one tell themselves "Ok this is a long video"   Then on the flipside - how do X amount of application reviewers watch that many videos that are that long?  It boggles my mind!  ::shrugs:: Oh well I didn't have to do one for NYU thankfully, because that would have thrown a wrench in my plans.

Yale SOM - I received an email yesterday from Yale SOM saying that their decisions for my round would be released on February 25th.  Soooo......  I don't even have to say "Next month I'll find out official decisions."  It'll be THIS month!  Can't believe the time has arrived.

It Doesn't Stop - For all of those who are starting this process... just know this - once you hit submit.... "It" slows down but "It" doesn't stop.  After March I will tell you what "It" is.  There's too much competition now and the cost/benefit analysis doesn't warrant me filling in the blanks at this juncture.

This was a boring/forced post.  Sorry guys lmao - but such is the life of someone in my position right now.  Like I said... there's a lot going on behind the scenes.

Cornell Johnson Interview Invite!!!

Let's talk about how three words totally made my day!!!

I woke up today feeling pretty happy.  I got my happy back! as per my facebook status this morning!  I'm not sure what it was that put me in a good mood but I was happy all day!  There was just something in the air!   I knew that Michigan's R2 Batch 2 decisions were coming out today, but I told myself that I wasn't going to think about that.  I thought that gauging from Friday's results that invites would not go out until around 2pm so I was calm until about 1:30.  Then... I logged out of my gmail account around 2pm because I didn't want a lack of an invite to take my Happy away from me.  I was on a natural high.

Then around 4:30 I had to check my email for something that I sent myself.  I scanned the 6 new emails that I had and saw that one said Johnson Interview Invite.  Initially I said to myself "Johnson is the school at Cornell.... wait... Interview to Invite?!?  OMG OMG OMG OMG"  Then I opened it... and read it and said "YES!!!"  I told my coworker who sits next to me and she gave me a hug.  Lol.. I know over dramatic yes... but she has her MBA so she knew what I was going through.  It was nice to be able to share the happiness with my coworkers.

I then told my recommenders and they congratulated me and what not.  So now I'm in a different stage of the game.  Interviewing!!!  So yes I did interview for the Consortium back in October and that went well, but now I have to interview for Cornell by February 18th.  I have the option of doing a phone interview or going up to campus and doing a campus interview.  HHmm let me see here... what to do what to do?  DUH!  I'm sure by now it's obvious to know what my decision will be.  I plan to go back up to Ithaca.  It's only about a 4.5 hour bus ride - completely doable in a day.  Or maybe I'll go up and stay over that day and come back on Saturday.  Who knows?!?  I have some friends up there we can hang out... take a chill pill... ok not really because I'm positive they're uber busy.

Regarding the Michigan interview, or rather lackthereof... I'm not discussing that until after I see my account updated.  NOT GOING TO TAKE MY HAPPY AWAY!!!

I GOT MY HAPPY BACK FOLKS!!

No Michigan Interview Thus Far :-(

Let's take this hour by hour:

Friday between 9-6 - the real first wave of Michigan Ross R2 interview invites went out.  Initially I wasn't aware that the invites were going out on Friday, so I was just going about my day like a normal person.  Then my friend sent me a copy of Jonathan Fuller's tweet saying that interview invites would be going out Friday and Monday.  So naturally my heart jumped into my throat and I thought... "ok keep hope alive and your fingers crossed... maybe you'll get one today."  Must have refreshed me email 25 times at first and then calmed down.  Then my friend sent me a message saying "I GOT AN INVITE" so of course my heart sank yet again and then the doubt started setting in.  I tried to keep hope alive throughout the day but then my friend told me that Ross interviews everyone that gets accepted even if the person applied through the Consortium.  So what I think that means is that if I don't get an interview invite on Monday, then I know my fate when it comes to Michigan.

Friday between 6-8:30pm - I had drinks with my tutor and a bunch of his other ex and current students on the upper east side.  This was a fun time and I met some very interesting folks who were in the same boat as me.  Some had applied already and were just waiting for decisions to come out, while others had not.  It was interesting to see the light in people's eyes as they were about to embark on the process.  Boy I remember those days.  Now I'm just Bitter Bethanny and am over the whole thing lol.

It was interesting to see the types of applicants that there were.  Two of the folks I met were surprised when they received their interview invites on Friday.  One got an invite from HBS the other got one from Tuck.  It's not like they were surprised that they were invited to interview but they were not watching their emails like hawks and just happened to check their email and see an invite.  I wish I could be that nonchalant about the whole thing myself!  But nooooo I have to be a Crazy Cathy and obsess over everything.  ::shaking my head::

Then I was talking to a guy who got the HBS invite and he was telling me about his "low" gmat score and I'm like... Dude I bet you I have a lower one than you do.  He insisted that he had a lower one.. so I said ok let's make a bet!  Whoever has the highest has the buy the other one a drink.  In my head I was thinking "there's no way he has a lower one than me and got an interview at HBS."  So we asked our tutor who had the lowest one and low and behold mine was lower.  So at the very least I got a free drink out of my GMAT score!

Friday between 8:45 - 10pm - I went across the street to meet my friend who was at Turtle Bay celebrating her Ross interview invite while I sulked over not getting one lol.  It served a dual purpose.  We danced a bit... drank some beers.. she knocked mine out of my hand... and I gave her the side eyes... but it was all good.

Friday between 10:45 - 3am - I was down on the East Village at some bar that I don't remember the name of.  I was hanging out with some of my best friends and also my friend who I met at the HBS LGBT open house last April.  He hasn't been having as much this season with NYU or Tuck.  Now he's just waiting on HBS and Yale.  I wanted to hang out with him cuz A.) he's hilarious and B.) we need to drink because this process leads one to drink heavily in either celebration or frustration.  Then he and I went to a diner by his house and I had french onion soup!

 - Let me vent here for a quick second.  So one time I was at another diner and was drunk and ordered French onion soup to then have them put CROUTONS in it!  Croutons?  Who wants croutons in their French Onion soup?  I want soggy bread.... I was so upset...  So cut to Saturday night when I asked for French Onion soup.. then remembered my dilemma the last time so I asked "wait.. does it have croutons or bread?"  he said "croutons... do you want bread?"  I said "i definitely want bread"... In My Opinion bread should be the default choice.  In any event.. I got it with bread and it was phenomenal. -


Saturday - I got home around 4pm and then just lounged around in my bed and worked on some projects for Beat The GMAT.  


Sunday - Worked on BTG projects and am about to start getting ready to go to the City to watch the SuperBowl.


But congrats to all those who got interviews and acceptances this past Friday.  I'm hoping to be in your position very shortly!   ::Fingers Crossed::