It Finally Hit Me

So as I was sending out the Facebook invite for my going away dinner, it FINALLY hit me that I'm going to be leaving my friends in three weeks.  It's very much bitter sweet I tell ya.  I think my friends are more prepared for my departure than I am.  I remember when I went to my friends party last week she started crying.  So when we were talking outside she was going on and on about her friends and how she didn't want to leave them because they meant so much to her and they also didn't want her to leave.  I definitely understood where she was coming from because it's not that she made a bad choice in going away to school vs. staying here in the city, but yes throughout the application process your friends do mean a lot, even if you don't get to see them very often because you're always studying or away visiting schools, etc.

It may seem cheesy but it is what it is.  I said to her "You're feeling this way because these people have allowed you to basically "forget" about them for a year and a half while you went through the application process and met new people, yet they supported you throughout.

So while I was sending out the invites to my "Bye Bye Battle-Baxter Dinner" last night, I got THAT feeling.  No I did not cry but I did get a little sad.  So my going away dinner is in two weeks and I need to find a location.  I'm debating between two places.  One is me and the other is REALLY me but I don't want to do that one that is REALLY me on a weeknight because it will get out of hand.  I'll figure it out.

In addition to my going away party with my friends, I have a whole host of other events to attend before I move up to school.  Tomorrow I have a bday/going away party for a classmate.  Next week I'm probably going out for drinks with my coworkers.  Then next Saturday I'm having my going away BASH!  A couple friends of mine who are also going to b-school decided to throw a big going away party.

Here is the tagline from part of the invite:  "We're sending a few future MBAs off with a bang!! Join Cornell, Kellogg, Stanford, Tuck and Wharton students and few honorary friends for the BBQ/Party of the SUMMER!!!"

We're going to have a DJ and of course food and alcohol so it's going to basically be pandemonium (in a good way of course).


Then one night I have to have dinner with my Mother and Father.  This is very much so a rare occurrence and LONG overdue.  Yes I live with my mother (because I moved back home a couple months ago), but I rarely see her.  And then my Father lives about 45 minutes away and I see him quite infrequently, so this will be an event.  But a much needed one since I'll most likely be MIA for two years.


From July 21st - 24 I'll be visiting one of my very good friends in Michigan.  He goes to Ross and is doing his internship but it'll be good for me to nurture our friendship because I can already tell we'll be lifelong friends!  Hey JSab!  also we've never really been able to drink together so this should be very interesting haha we're very similar in that regard.


On July 26th, I will be moving in to my new apartment in Ithaca, NY!  Woop Woop!  Then I'll have a busy week of helping my classmates move in to their apartments haha.  That's quite alright, I welcome the activity!  We won't have anything to do until August 2nd when Math Camp starts - so there will be a lot of bonding going on.  

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!

MBA process @ a Loss for Words

I must admit that lately I've been at a loss for words regarding this whole business school process.  I don't even know what to write about any more because I feel that I've gotten all of my thoughts out of my head.  I don't read all of the articles that I used to read.  I don't visit all of the websites that I used to visit.  I don't talk about the GMAT as much as I used to... I think I'm just over it.

Not over business school and applying, but just over talking about it.  I think something clicked in my brain where I realized "Um yeah... you can talk about it all you want, but you need to actually get your applications in by January 5th or it's all useless."  I was talking to my friend who just got back from the Kellogg weekend and I started talking about the GMAT to her and she felt the same way.  She said "No offense but the GMAT is the last thing I need to think about right now."  Which I must admit was surprising to hear since her G-Day is soon, but I definitely understand.  It's just like ok... enough is enough.  We both know that we'll bang out the GMAT this time around because there's a necessary calm that has come over us.  So that's all I'm going to say about that.

Meanwhile...Back at the Ranch.... I've been going hard on my Tuck essays.  This past weekend I had planned on getting 11 first drafts completed, but that did not happen.  Life got in thew way!  I was able to work on two of my essays, but I didn't get all 11 done.  The one good thing that has come out of me writing essays back in September when everyone was telling me not to write them is that I got the skeletons of my essays completed.  I know what I'm going to write about for each essay topic for each school, but I just need to refine what I've actually written.  In some documents I have random sentences from random ideas that I had.  So I just need to make it cohesive.  

Since I don't know what else to say at the moment, I'll just tell you very quickly what's been going on:

1 - Last week I sent out Thank You cards to some kind folks at Cornell and at Tuck.  Handwritten of course, because that's how I do!  ;-)

2 - Been emailing/texting/facebook(ing) with folks from Ross in preparation for my trip next weekend.

3 - Still waiting to hear if I've been accepted off the Tuck Diversity Conference waitlist.  I think at this point I may be better served by staying home and writing essays than by taking another "vacation." But lord knows that if I get off the waitlist I will be excited to go back up there!

4 - I emailed Brett Nowak to see if he could write another guest post for me for a special milestone

5 - Working with my tutor on Monday!

6 - Need to start planning a date to get out to visit Haas in December.  If anyone knows if they have classes in December please let me know.  I would love to visit a class, but if I can't then at least visiting before applications will be good.  

So to that end, I'm going back to writing my essay.  Until next time... sorry for the boring content!  ;-)  Anyone want to write a guest post?  PLLLEEEAASSSEEEE?  ;-)

Dartmouth Tuck Interview

Hello Hello...

So after my hellish day yesterday of a sub-par yet improved GMAT score, I drove 4 hours up to Hanover, NH to my hotel for my Tuck interview today.

I woke up in the morning and got ready and had to figure out how to get from White River Junction, VT to Hanover, NH which turned out to be only a 15 minute ride.  The weather was gloomy, but that was ok because it wasn't going to put a damper on me being at Tuck.

I arrived at Tuck about 30 minutes before my the class visit/campus tour began and couldn't find parking right near campus but luckily I had given myself enough time to figure out where to park.  So I drove to the parking lot and waited for the campus shuttle to arrive.

I went into the admissions reception area and waited.  I wanted to sit in the same seat that I sat in the last time I visited, but had no such luck.  That spot was taken!  The atmosphere was much different FROM the last time I visited.  When I visited in March there were not as many applicants doing their interviews, which makes sense since it was R4 when I visited last.  I would say there was about 12 of us in the reception area.  Some people in the group already had their interviews for the day but most of us had later interviews.

Ok so the format was identical to my last visit.  The first item on the agenda was a class visit.  I sat in a Leading Organizations class which was very insightful.  It was a T'12 (first year) class.  This class session went over organizational heirarchy and when one would know that it's not functioning properly and how to remedy the issue...essentially.  Of course there's more to it but I was too busy observing the students.  Different from the last class visit, these students didn't have their laptops open.  I guess you don't really need a laptop open when discussing organizational heirarchy, whereas the last time I sat in on an accounting class and I guess students kind of need their spreadsheets on hand.

In any event, after the class visit it was lunch with a student time.  We didn't sit in the main section of Bryne hall but we sat in the Executive section which is an offshoot from Bryne hall.  Sandwiches, brownies, cookies, chips, and soda are things we ate.  While sitting here with the student I only asked one question and let the other folks get their questions in.  The question I had pertained to something that I heard from an admissions officer at the Tuck Reception back in September.  The element I speak of is becoming a larger part of my "Why Tuck" answers, and I wanted to get some clarification from the student about it.

After lunch with a student it was time for the Campus tour.  Nothing new for me here... it's still the same campus!  Our student guide who is a T'11 (meaning he will graduate in 2011) was more than willing to offer any information about Tuck that he could.  He exuded campus pride and it was obvious that he loved being there....Classroom.... Classroom.... Student Residences (which are still amazing)...gym.....dining hall... etc etc like I said... Same buildings that I've seen before.  (I can give that campus tour!  ;-)

So then after that was the Admissions Q&A... I could only stay for this section for about 10 minutes because I wanted to go back to the reception area to look over my resume again before my interview.  I knew going into it that the interviewer would have only seen my resume, so I made sure that I know it back and forth.  I recommend that everyone do this because you may have forgotten things you did back in 2005 or so and you will definitely be asked to 'Walk me through your resume,' which was the first question I was asked by the T'11 student interviewer.

The interview itself was very conversational and I didn't feel nervous at all.  I got tripped up on one thing because I had never been asked it before so I didn't have an example readily available, but that's alright because he wasn't trying stump me or trick me he was just curious, but I got through it.  All in All I give my interview an A, but then again from what I heard all of the prospectives students who interviewed today would probably give themselves the same grade!

After my interview I met up with a Tuckie whom I've been conversing with since March of last year during my visit.  I needed his help with one of my essays and he was glad to do so.  I will explain more in the coming months, what I needed his help with, but for now just know that he helped me.

Then I had about 3 hours to kill before meeting with another Tuckie whom I met last year and have also kept in contact with.  I drove around Hanover and the surrounding towns, looking for a Burger King.  I was craving Chicken Fries, but much to no avail, I did not find one!  I also bought a $15 sweater in the Gap.  Funny story about this... So I have a Tuck T-shirt from an information session I attended the day of my first GMAT Exam on May 8th.  I was wearing it after I left campus and was driving around and walking around Hanover.  (Wearing the T-shirt had something to do with my essay... don't ask..)  Anyway I was in the Gap looking for a maroon/red sweater for my trip up to Cornell.  When I got to the register the woman said "Do you want to save 30% today by opening up a card?"  I said "Yes to the first question of saving 30% but no to opening up a card because in the long run it will end up costing me more than 30%."  She laughed and said "...You Tuck students are always calculating money."  I just smiled and didn't correct her haha....

So then I went back to campus to meet up with my friend in the dining hall.  We met at 6 in Stell hall and then walked over for coffee.  We talked about everything under the sun.  His internship... my application process... his living situation.... etc etc blah blah... Then about 45 minutes into it another Tuckie whom I've only spoken to on the phone about digital marketing showed up and sat with us.  It was nice to meet her in person and her and my friend are good friends on campus.  We talked for another 30 minutes and then he had to go to class and I had to hit the road to come back to good ol'e Manhattan.

I just got home not to long ago... and now I'm laying in bed...  My rental car has to be back by 2pm tomorrow but since I parked on the street across from my building I have to move it by 8am.  I think I'm going to pack up some of my belongings and drive them home - since I'm moving back home to Jersey next week.  In order to get that done and stay on that schedule I have to be up in 5 hours.  No worries though... the only things I have to do tomorrow are unpack my things from my Dartmouth trip... iron... steam... repack... and then be at the Cornell Club by 6 so I can catch the bus up to Cornell for Johnson Means Business.

I'm a busy busy bee this week!

Cornell Diversity Conference update

So in analyzing the analytics on my site it there have been a couple people searching on Google the following things:

"rejected cornell mba diversity weekend" and "cornell johnson ding"

So I wonder if Cornell has begun to send out acceptances/rejections to their diversity conference "Johnson Means Business".  I checked my email and haven't received anything yet, but I think we're supposed to hear before the 30th!

Here's a video I found on the Cornell website about the event:  http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/odi/jmb/quesone.html

I'm keeping this post short today because I have to get ready to go to Hoboken.  I'm still kind of hung over from my friends birthday party last night, so I think I'll just stick to soda tonight!  Plus if I drink a lot tonight, I won't get any studying done tomorrow.  

MBA Tour in NYC was a success by my standards!

So yesterday I attended the MBA Tour here in NYC at the Grand Hyatt.  I was planning on waking up early and going to all of the events, but I realized that I've heard the school pitches time and time again, and it's not necessary for me to put myself through that anymore.  So I texted my friend Jessica to see what time she would be there and she said later in the day, so we planned to arrive at the same time.

I was really on a mission.  I only wanted to speak to Randall from Cornell.  When I got into the conference hall I didn't see him so I was kinda bummed, so I went over with Jessica to the NYU table to get our badges scanned.  NYU always has a large crowd and I didn't need to ask any questions so I just stood there and listened to the responses that Jessica was getting from someone from admissions.  I wasn't going to try to throw in a question here or there because it would be fruitless.  I personally just don't want to hear the stock answers anymore.  I'll let other people as those questions.

Randall did show up at the Cornell table and I went over to speak with him.  I had a couple questions for him regarding Johnson Means Business.  I think I've mentioned this before, but if you have never met Randall from Cornell you're missing out on a fun conversation!  Unlike some other admissions directors with whom I've spoken with, he's very approachable!  Hopefully, I'll get the chance to visit Cornell the end of next month.  I already took the days off of work!  It would be a good ego booster after the NYU Diversity waitlist!

After visiting the Cornell table I was walking around looking for Michigan, but soon realized that it was Michigan State that was in attendance and not University of Michigan.  So that was a bust... Then I got trapped at the Rutgers table.  Yeah I know what you're saying "Where did Rutgers come from?"  Well.. it IS my alma mater, so I wanted to see what they had going on.  All I will say about that is that the campus is in Newark.  'nuff said!

So basically I got up... showered... put on a suit, shirt, and tie... to go have a 10 minute conversation with Randall...lol..  ::sigh::  the things I do!  It will pay off though!

Enjoy the rest of your days!!!!

Diversity Conference Essay Updates

So after re-re-re-re-re-revamping my Tuck diversity conference essay I have finally hit the nail on the head!  What a sigh of relief!  No really... it's a huge sigh of relief.  I also sent my resume to my consultant for a quick glance.  She sent back some brief comments which I plan to fix tomorrow morning at work.  Then I will fill out the other information needed for the conference and finally hit SUBMIT!

I'm not thinking to myself, maybe I should have had her read my essay before submitting it to NYU.  Hhmm maybe THAT'S the reason I still have not heard back from them.  That's completely my oversight and mistake.  ::sigh::  someone dropped the ball.

Hopefully it won't come to bite me in the ass.  I'm still waiting on my acceptance or rejection email. 

Congratulations to my friend Jessica though!  She was accepted to the Kellogg preview weekend!  It's her top choice so I know she's hella (for you west coast folks) excited.  She almost gave me a heart attack when she said that she applied to the Tuck conference.  Hey at least it would have been a free ride up there!

After I finished the Tuck essay this evening I did some more Critical Reasoning but this time it was from the Official Guide.  It took some time to get used to the question types again, but it did seem a tad bit easier.  I got 6 incorrect out of 24, which is only OK.  I need to get that 6 down to a 3 consistently.  Tomorrow is Reading Comp and a set of 37 DS out of the Quant review guide.  One day at a time...

::sigh::  what else?  Oh right... I got the first draft of my Cornell essay completed tonight.  This essay was much easier than the Tuck essay in that it was more generic.  The Tuck Essay asked "Why do you want to learn more about Tuck and why are you a good fit?"  The Cornell essay is "What are your post-mba plans and why?  How will Cornell help you achieve them?"  The Cornell essay is to be 400 words, which for me is sooooooo much easier to write, because as you guys can see I like to ramble.  Now that isn't to say that I will ramble in my essay, but I won't have to cut off my ideas.

I think I realized why the Tuck essay was to only be 250 words.  250 words double spaced, with a header, is 1 page.  So it's more efficient!  At least that's what I'll tell myself the reason is.

After this Cornell essay I think that's all that I have in me to write.  Then it's back to strictly GMAT.  

I must be going to sleep now because I have to wake up early to go to a breakfast hosted by Yahoo.  Carol Bartz (Yahoo's CEO) is speaking tomorrow.  Should be interesting because she has no filter to say the least.  Hhmm what to wear what to wear?  Gotta find my suit too... 

My tutor is going to be upset with me if I don't get 49 hours of sleep this week!  Scheduling SLEEP is tough for me especially with wanting to get all of the homework done that he's assigned.  That's ok though... if I stop typing right now  :-)

B-School Journey Progress

Te Amo Google Images!  :-)

Hello Hello - Right now I'm just laying on my couch...watching George Foreman Bizography on CNBC.  I thought I would give you guys an update on my b-school journey.  It's been long overdue so this post will be filled with I guess bullet points...

Recommender - So if you guys remember, I Bagged a Recommender back in May.  The reason I broke the news to her so early was because she was pregnant and would be going on maternity leave.  So I could have posted this update last week but on August 6th she had an 8 lb baby girl named Emily!  She sent us pictures and of course the baby is adorable.  I'll be emailing her next week to check in on her and give her a progress report.

Letter of Recommendation letters - So I stumbled upon this website: Recommender Questions earlier with the questions that our recommenders will be asked.  I emailed Bryan to see if he had the Tuck questions, but he did not...not yet at least, so if anyone knows what the questions are feel free to share them!

Tuck Student - Do you guys remember the Tuckie I reached out too back in March who was a member of the CDS?  Well he graduated so in my most recent email to him, he told me to have him put me in contact with a current CDS member.  So I did just that and had a phone call with her at 9 tonight.  She provided a lot of insight into the CDS and ironically some other things about Tuck that I didn't know.  I walked away from the conversation with a renewed sense of me really wanting me to be there.

Kaplan: Personal Statement Workshop - Tomorrow is a Kaplan Personal Statement workshop down in Union Square.  The thing is... I don't think they sent out the information for the event.  I'm not sure what time it starts - the building it's in - or anything of that nature.  I think someone may have dropped the ball.  Granted maybe I'm simply overlooking it, but I keep checking my email and there's nothing there.  So again, if anyone has some insight about this event please let me know.

GMAT Progress - so tonight I did some more logical reasoning.  I ended up getting 8/26 incorrect, which is not good.  I'm kinda pissed about it but I didn't go through why I got each answer wrong.  I'll do that before I go through the next set of 26.  Charles told me that I need to be very conscious about doing CR prep every other day.  So that's the schedule I'm trying to stick too.

No Cell Phone - Still don't have a cell phone and I'm borrowing my friends ipod touch because I need music in my life.  It's not bad at all not having a cell phone.  It's quite easy!

Tuck self initiated interview - I will be back up there on September 24th!  I'm looking forward to it already.  This time I'm going to be heading up there with a friend whom I met through my friend Jess last year at the NYU Stern marketing event.  The next day - the 25th is my 10 year high school reunion!  So hopefully I make it back from Hanover in time haha.  

Cornell Student - So I was told to reach out to a Cornell Student two weeks ago...and I did.  This student is a member of Out For Business, which is the LGBT club on campus.  One day I'll write a whole post about this topic but I'd like to say that he said that here were 5 students in Out for Business at Cornell.  Just to give you some perspective - HBS has about 40 members in their LGBT club.  Now I know their class size is almost 4 times that of Cornell's but yeah... hhmm... definitely something for me to to think about.  I have to find some time to get up to Cornell and visit.  I actually think their diversity weekend is doable as it's the last weekend in October.

Ross Student - I was also able to find a contact a Ross who could answer my questions.  He's finishing up his internship right now, so conversations have been relatively slow.  It seems like all of these soon to be 2nd year students have their presentations this week.  I really really want to get out to Ross and visit.  Like Hanover, I think I would really like Ann Arbor.  Also, imagine how Game Day would be at Michigan.  Probably unreal!  Not that I would ever make a decision based on that opportunity but definitely something to look forward too if I were to end up there!

Just three more things to bring up... stay awake guys!!!  This is my brain dump of the last couple of weeks.... 

Reaching Out Conference - So after some more research and after speaking with a Tuckie, I have decided to attend the Reaching Out Conference in LA as a pre-mba student.  I have not registered yet... maybe I should get on that... But I'm already looking forward to it!  What is the Reaching Out Conference?  

"...mission is to promote the networking, visibility, and education capabilities of LGBT business leaders around the globe. This annual event draws over 1,000 of the brightest current and future LGBT students and executives from the world's leading business schools and companies."

Go here to find out more:  Reaching Out Conference

MBA's at my job - So when I started at Bloomingdales.com in January of 09 there were no MBA graduates on the marketing team.  My how things have changed.  We now have MBA graduates from the following programs - Kellogg, McCombs, Michigan Ross (she just started today).  I'm beginning to see a trend.  What's ironic is that none of them were in digital marketing prior to their MBA.  So now I'm wondering if that will give me a headstart when I start recruiting and am competing for internships at places such as Google and dare I say it.......APPLE?  I think it will serve me phenomenally.  Just saying...

Yale SOM class profile - So the Yale SOM class of 2012 has been released.  A couple months back I heard a rumor that Yale was very adamant about moving up in the rankings and that the mean GMAT score for this class would be about 730.  Well.. they didn't quite get 730 but it's damn high at 722!  Now... here is the link to the Yale SOM Profile - Tell me if you see anything alarming between this year and last year!  I see something that sticks out like a sore thumb!

Thanks for reading please come again!  

Sidenote - Yesterday I had my highest Visitor day ever with 252 visits! Story behind this to come at a later juncture.

Kaplan: Destination Business School

Hello All,

So last night I said that I would be writing today about the Kaplan Event that's occurring this weekend here in NYC.  Thanks to Eric at BeatTheGMAT, I'm able to proudly represent BTG.  See - I even got this sweet BTG T-Shirt!

I see a BTG retailing opportunity ahead of us!  But... I will say that you can expect me to wear this T-Shirt when I take the GMAT the next time!  People are going to think I'm crazy, but that's alright because they already do!

So this weekend is the Kaplan Event.  Here is a rundown of the schedule:

Saturday August 7th

10:00 - 10:30 = Kick-Off

10:30 - 12:00 = Your B-School Blueprint - A complete overview of the admissions process

12:00 - 1:00   = Working Lunch

1:00   -  4:30  = MBA Fair

Evening -       = Happy Hour  ( must contain myself haha) 

Sunday August 8th

9:00  - 10:00 = Elevator Pitch Breakfast - Practice your pitch for your interviews, essays, and networking

10:30 - 12:00 = Mastering the GMAT: Scoring 700+ (I could probably give this presentation... do as I say not as I do, since I haven't scored 700+ YET)

12:30 - 1:30  = Lunch and Mock Business School Class

1:30 - 2:30 = Career Round Robin - Speak with MBA's in Consulting, Banking, Government, etc.

2:30 - 3:30 = Application Essay Clinic featuring mBaMission.

3:30 - 4:00 = Closing

So I'm excited for every single one of those sessions.  Of the schools that will be there, I'm interested in... well Tuck of course but you guys are tired of hearing about that one lol...  But I do need to add some more schools to the list.  I'm going to stake out UCLA Anderson, Cornell since I still have more questions, Michigan Ross, Darden, and Yale.  I have never spoken to anyone from Darden, so that will be interesting.  

Anyway I digress...  It's going to be a jam packed weekend.  Now for the good stuff.. In order to prepare for this event, an email went out to I'm assuming all attendees... We have homework folks!  

1.) We have to update our resumes and bring 10 copies.

2.) Practice our Pitch

• Practice explaining in a minute or less, where you'd like to be in your career in five years and how you will get there.
• Practice your pictch on 8-10 friends and note their reactions and questions.

3.) Make a list of target schools.

• List 5-15 target b-schools (easy enough for me...)
• Identify your top 4 factors that you value in a school. (again easy enough for me)

4.) Pack your business cards - 50 should be more than enough

And then there are two optional assignments, which I won't have time to get too before the event, but definitely after the event before I finalize my essays and have completed the GMAT... soo... September for that assignment.

So yeah... there is some preparation that needs to go into this event.  The title of the event kind of fits into  the summary of my blog... funny how things come full circle huh?  

Full circle will be great when I hopefully get into the school of my choice and it's the first night and I write my final official b-school journey blog post!  I've been imagining that day a lot lately... That will be a great story!  ::fingers crossed::  

Ok I must be going now so I can review the Quant problems that I got incorrect tonight.  Data Sufficiency is NOT fun by any means!  Well the Geometry DS problems are fun... but the number properties = death.

BATTLE-BAXTER = OUT!!

GMAT & B-School Journey Update!

Hello All...  at the end of my last post I said that there were a lot of things that I needed to update you guys on.  So this post will do just that.  I don't want to fall behind because there are a couple things going on later this week...

I was interviewed for MBAPodcaster:
So last week a representative over at MBA podcaster reached out to me.  She said that she was putting together a podcast related to the MBA Timeline and what candidates should do prior to applying and when.  She was tipped off to my blog by one of her colleagues.  I was excited to participate because MBA Podcaster has been very useful for me.  I found out about it last summer and have listened to all 100+ podcasts... if you don't believe me check my very post because I called it out http://bit.ly/MyFirstPost.  I will say that I was very nervous when we were talking on the phone.  I wasn't nervous because of the conversation topic, but I was nervous because I knew I was being recorded.  You guys all know that I love to talk, but something changes when you know that you're being recorded I guess.  I also think it was because I didn't want to say any school names.  When I talk freely I "name drop" all the time, but since I was making a conscious effort to not name any schools, I would trip myself up.  She reassured me that I was doing fine, aside from the couple of "speak ups", and that the podcast would turn out just fine.  I don't think it will be out until the fall.

Update on conversation with VP:
I know people are anxious to hear about this update.  Well...hhmm... it did not go as planned. :-(  The conversation I had with her was not bad by any means.  She liked the position I created and asked what I was looking for.  She also noted that I added a title change and I explained why.  I think she was surprised by that but I explained to her that since we got rid of our agency and were engaging in new initiatives that I felt that new responsibilities warranted a new title.  She didn't quite understand that, which was mind boggling to me.  Maybe I'm missing something, and you guys can correct me, but... if you're Title says that you are a Lawn Mower...and now in addition you trim hedges, plant flowers, and water the grass... wouldn't your title change to Landscaper or something like that?  At least that's how I feel.

She reassured me that her and the team have noticed the progress that I've been making.  There are still some areas with which I need to work on, but that she and my director and my manager are dedicated to helping me improve those areas.  She said "that's kind of our job... to make sure that you progress..."  Funny she says that because she leaves this week on a 3 month maternity leave.  Which brings me to my next point of discussion with her.

Let me just say that she's hardcore!  She's due this Thursday!  I asked her when she would be leaving and she said that as of right now... Wednesday will be her last day!  I said... "I think your last day should be Tuesday so that you can get a full days rest on Wednesday before your life changes for ever."  She laughed but didn't seem to agree haha.  So when people ask me if I think she'll be able to write my recommendation letter, I say that she definitely will.  She's going to give me her email address and phone number and said that I should keep in touch with her constantly to give her updates and so she can update me.  It's great having people in your corner... she's definitely on Team Richard!

InsideTheMBA.org event on Tuesday:
So last Tuesday I attended an MBA fair at the Westin Times Square... which by the way is NOT in Times Square...it's on 43rd and 8th avenue....I know why hotels do that... but it's not good for people who live in the city and hear Times Square and then walk through that horrendous crowd only to find that it's not in Times Square.  Anyway... the event was PACKED to say the least.  There were more people standing up than sitting down because there were not enough tables.  When I got there I looked for my friends Jess and Ben (called out in a prior post).  We were standing... I was eating and drinking white wine (you guys know how I feel about free alcohol).  There was a "panel" discussion for about 15 minutes and then they let us mix and mingle with the school representatives.  The reason I put "panel" in quotes is because they were standing and passing the mic between a couple of them.  It was very informal.

They allowed people to ask questions of course... and all of the questions were pretty standard.  I honestly don't know how the school representatives stomach answering the same questions over and over and over and over again.  Doesn't it get draining?  I mean how many times can you answer "What GMAT score do I need?" before wanting to pull all of your hair out?

There was one question that was asked that made everyone go "Did he/she just say that?"  I was debating whether (not whether or not because that would be redundant) to post what the question was, but I've decided that this is MY blog and I'll do as I please haha...  So the topic of discussion was about application essays.  This person asked "So you guys said what people should not do, but what can we do to make sure that the admissions committee isn't thinking, "Wow this essay blows!""  I don't know if you guys think that's inappropriate but I sure do.  That question should have been phrased differently.

I was only at the event to talk to three schools.  NYU, Cornell, and UNC Kenan-Flagler.  The crowd for Baruch and NYU were huge, so I wasn't going to take the time to speak to the NYU reps.  I'll be attending 100 other NYU events, so that wasn't a concern of mine.  At first the crowd for Cornell and UNC was huge too, so I just got some more free food and free wine and sat down at a table and waited for the crowds to die down.

I heard from a friend that UNC was making strides in the digital marketing realm, so I wanted to see if that was true.  Turns out... it's not.  So that's an excluded school.

I then spoke to Randall from Cornell.  If you guys have never met him, he's full of energy and I think is one of the most approachable people in the industry!  I remember last year I heard him give a presentation about Cornell and I was incredibly impressed with the school.  So I asked him about the curriculum pertaining to my interests and about the Johnson Means Business diversity conference.  I'm actually going to email him when I finish writing this post.  I have some questions for him.  :-)


GMAT studying:
Studying is going well.  Right now I'm going back through my MGMAT books.  Today I was going through Equations, Variables, and VIC's.  Initially when I went through these books I circled the problems I got wrong or didn't know.  I did not write in the books other than that and I advise anyone else studying does the same.  That way when you go back through the books you aren't persuaded by the answers you came up with before.  I was feeling more confident because the questions I got wrong months ago, I was now getting right for the most part.  I'm going to start studying a heck of a lot more now.  I've got to!!!  I do not want to have to take this exam again.

Kaplan event on August 8th and the sacrifice I will have to make to attend:
So on August 8th there is a Kaplan event at the Grand Hyatt.  It's called Destination Business School. It's an all encompassing 2 Day business school event.  It covers everything from Essay writing to Elevator pitches etc.  I'm looking forward to it.  I initially heard about the event last week when I went to the Ross event at the Kaplan Center.  I saw the date and quickly wrote it off because that's the weekend I was going to be in Fire Island with friends.  When I got the opportunity to go to the event I jumped at it with no question.  I'll have to cancel my one day trip even though I already paid for it, but that's not a concern for me.  I mean gotta make sacrifices right?  Who knows what I'll learn or whom I'll meet.  The opportunity cost is just too great too not attend.

ESSAYS:
So as I'm sure you all know, essays have begun rolling out.  I know that for me I've seen all of the essay questions for the schools I wish to apply too.  So in reality I could start my essays.  All that I've done thus far is add a folder to my desktop titled B-School Essays.  Within that folder there are X amount of subfolders for each school.  Right now I just have 1 document with all of that schools essay questions.  As I think about things throughout the days and weeks I just go in and jot notes under which question it would apply too for each school.  I'll go back through at a later date and then begin writing.  I haven't begun to write the essays, because well... again I've be better served by studying for the GMAT otherwise my essays won't matter.  But at least I'll have all of the information available.

I also had a call today with that HBS alum.  We spoke for 15 minutes and he gave me some incredible advice that I would not have thought of.  I'm telling you guys... if you're going through this process with me... having people at the schools you wish to apply too.. is invaluable.  They know the culture of the school and can tell you what to focus on.  Sometimes just hearing it from someone else is enough.

Fall calendar:
OMG this is filling up sooooo quickly and I'm not even done.  I've been going to the school's websites to find out when they're having events in the city or on their campuses.  I'm in a position where I'm looking for two types of events, on campus and here in my neck of the woods.  I'm looking for of course general info sessions, but more importantly events geared towards Minorities and the LGBT community.  With that being said I have a full September/October/November.  I'll give you a preview into what I have on my calendar as of right now.  Some of the events overlap and I'll have to decide which ones to attend.

September 2nd - Tuck Reception @ Yale Club
September 3rd - NYU Diversity Conference application deadline
September 6th - Ross Diversity Conference application deadline
September 19th - MBA Tour event
October 7th - 9th - NYU Diversity Conference
October 8th - 9th - Ross Diversity Conference @ Ross
October 13th - Tuck Early Action Deadline
October 14th - 17th - Reaching OUT Conference in Los Angeles
October 16th - UC Berkeley Diversity Workshop @ Berkeley
October 28th - 30th - Cornell Diversity Conference @ Cornell
November 6th - Consortium interview Deadline
November 6th - UC Berkeley LGBT event @ Berkeley
November 11th - 14th - Tuck Diversity Conference
November 15th - Consortium Application Deadline.

So yeah needless to say this fall is shaping up to be a very busy and expensive one... not sure where the funds are going to come from...if anyone wants to donate a couple thousand dollars to my bank account, I'm all for it!

This week I'll be hitting the quant side of my gmat prep HARD!

As always... take care...  beware... don't stare... who cares?  Now I'm just delirious because it's late...

Thinking about an MBA Everyday!

Hello All... 

I've been on a posting rampage as of lately!  So many things have come up and I feel the need to get it all out and on "paper" immediately.  If not, I'm going to forget stuff and blah blah who cares haha...  I'm actually studying right now... doing RC but I needed to take a break.  1.5 hours of RC straight makes my head spin!  I feel like I'm seeing double right now... I should really go have a cigarette downstairs...actually I'm going to do just that...

So today I attended an JD/MBA information session at the midtown Kaplan center for the Stephen Ross School of Business.  I took away a couple little nuggets ::grabs notes:: 

1.  The GMAT is a good gauge to tell you if you are admissible RELATIVE TO THE LAST ADMITTED CLASS... I thought that was very poignant!

2.  1 Page Resume (which I think may be hard for me.. I've had 3 jobs thus far)...In the resume ask yourself 

- "What does this tell the admissions committee about me?" 

- "What value did you add to your company?" 

- "What impact did you have on your organization?"

Just some things to think about... 

On another note.. while I was in class I got a text message from one of my friends asking me if I was attending the InsideTheMBA.org event tomorrow.  I didn't even know about it to be honest...so I went to the website on my phone and registered.  I'm interested in learning about three schools...Cornell Johnson...NYU...and UNC Kenan-Flagler.  Brandon (Osirus) keeps telling me that I need to look into UNC... so that's what I'll be doing.

I thought I was going to have a day off tomorrow because I have a HELLA packed week!

Monday - Work then Ross event

Tuesday - Work then MBA Fair

Wednesday - Work then my last Statistics class

Thursday - Work then a work Networking Event at the Roger Smith Hotel (Aka the Social Media hotel)

Friday - Digital Marketing Class

Saturday - Digital Marketing Class (LAST ONE TO COMPLETE MY CERTIFICATE!!!)

Most importantly I need to fit in study time!  Otherwise all of this research and preparation will be fruitless!  Speaking of studying... I'm going to go do that right now...  after my cigarette of course!  

Oh also... I have to post an update on the 22nd.  I'm having a meeting with my VP.  She's going on maternity leave next week and we're supposed to talk about the recommendation letter.  She doesn't even know which schools I'm interested in...  If you don't know what I'm talking about... read the post:  http://bit.ly/Recommender

Until we meet again!