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::

Super Tuesday - Business School Decisions

"In the United States, Super Tuesday, in general, refers to the Tuesday in February or March of a presidential election year when the greatest number of states hold primary elections to select delegates to national conventions at which eachparty's presidential candidates are officially nominated."

Business School Super Tuesday - Clearly it was today because Harvard Business School, Yale SOM, LBS (was supposed to), Chicago, and Stanford gave out a lot of decisions!  I was watching the message boards on GMAT Club (yes the first time I've ever called out this website) and kept refreshing to see what was going on, but then after a while when things slowed down, I x'ed it out.

So I'm online talking to my friend on GCHAT around 11:50... and I ask her "so have we heard anything from J and she said "He just texted me he got into Chicago!!"  I said "got in got in or interview?"  She said "NO HE GOT IN!"  So I said "OMG OMG" and then proceeded to text him.  He said he lost his voice from screaming so much and when I picture that scene in my head I die laughing!  I'm so happy for him!  He, has been going hard through this process for about 16 months so it's great to see his hard work paying off!

So after that 11:50 debacle when I almost teared up for him, my other friend on GCHAT says HBS just released their decisions, so then there was a whole bunch of texting going on to find out which one of my friends knew people who applied.  Surprisingly, no one knew anyone who applied to HBS early.  Or we do know someone but they just aren't telling us, so maybe that's a bad sign.  ::shrugs::  But my friend on BeatTheGMAT.com, Eskimoroll, was accepted to HBS and then got the call from Booth - so congratulations on that front as well!

My whole thing is this - what do you do after you've just been accepted to HBS and Chicago?  The next day at work is it simply business as usual?  How can you possibly focus shortly after receiving such information?  I mean for instance lets say I were to have applied to HBS early decision.  On a normal tuesday night if I didn't have applications to be thinking about, I would be watching Glee.  If I was accepted to Harvard Business School 8 hours prior, is there really anything on Glee that could hold my attention?  I think I would watch The Money Chase: Inside Harvard Business School, on Hulu and keep repeating to myself "that's going to be my school!"

Then after watching The Money Chase, I would probably change the background on my laptop, then I would go shopping online for HBS apparel and buy this t-shirt: http://bit.ly/f4F6Yj and then I would probably start drinking.... but that's just me.

While I am not applying to Harvard, hopefully I'll get a sense for what an acceptance feels like in March!  However, I will not know what it feels like if I don't go study.  So....  adios!  I had to get this off my chest though.

I'm almost positive there will be some new updates tomorrow and definitely on Friday when Tuck's decisions come out.  So again I say... Good Luck to Everyone else who is waiting to hear back within the next couple of days and upcoming weeks!

What is your plan B?

My mom picked me up from the bus stop yesterday and I was talking about this business school process of course, and she said "What if you don't get in to any schools?  What's your plan b?"

I'll be honest, my heart sank and I immediately said "There is no plan b."  She responded,"There should always be a plan b." I said "I don't have time to think about a plan b."  But the short conversation got me thinking...  What if I don't get in to a school?  Am I overestimating the quality of all of the other applicants?    Am I too confident in thinking that what I am doing is actually going to work?  If I have done as much as I have up until now, what in the world could I do differently?  These are all of the questions going through my head now.

I was venting to one of my friends I made at the NYU diversity conference about this and he said "that's why we apply to so many schools."  I told him, "I'm only applying to 5."  He applied to I think 10, so this week is a HUGE week for him.  I think he finds out about LBS and Chicago and he also finds out if he's to be interviewed for a couple other schools.  He reassured me that everything will be fine, but now I can't help but think.... "What's your plan-b Richard?"  What are you going to do should you not be admitted to any school?

He's going through what I dread going through in a couple of months.  Your whole life can change with 1 phone call or with the receipt of a rejection email.  That's gotta be tough to swallow.  He said he's surviving because of Xanax, so I think I'm going to have to find a doctor to prescribe me some for that month.  I also think I'm going to take a vacation that week so that I'm somewhere warm with a lot of alcohol!

But you know what?  I'm not going to dwell on that right now.  The only thing I can do is make my application the best that it can be so that I have the best chances to be admitted!  According to my Horoscope next year is going to be a pivotal one for me!  So that's what I'm going to do and keep pounding the pavement!

The End Is Near!  RBB

Business School Acceptances and Rejections

From looking at my blog analytics, I'm seeing a lot of people googling things like "business school acceptance call" or "accepted to Columbia business school", so I gather that schools are beginning to notify the students who applied for early decisions.

I believe the official deadlines for notifications are next week, but from what I've heard the phone calls to accepted students can start going out a week to two weeks prior.  So... this is the week for some people!  I know that I would be a nervous wreck.  Even more nervous than pressing "Get Score" at the end of the GMAT exam.  As I think about that week in March when I should hear back from all of my schools, my palms start to sweat.  I'm going to be a HOT nervous wreck that week - trust that!