Insomniac's Post

Hi All!  I have to apologize for not writing more often but things have been crazy with Thanksgiving and Finals coming up this week!  I can't believe that the 1st half of my 1st year is practically over and done with.  The last day of classes for us is on Wednesday and then I have my Finance final on Saturday, Strategy Final on Sunday, and then my last final, Statistics, on Tuesday!

As I wrap up this portion of my first year there are a lot of things that I write about, but I should really be sleeping. I was up late working on a Finance Assignment, and couldn't force myself to go to sleep.  My GMAT Tutor would not be surprised that this has happened.  So basically right now I'm doing company research and I figured, I would upload some pictures from school.

This picture below was taken in 2010 after the NYU Stern Diversity Weekend, which I attended as a prospective - obviously.  The gorgeous woman in the middle is my friend who just graduated from Stern in 2011.  On the right is my friend who I also met that weekend and became good friends with.  He is now at Columbia.  

This picture below was taken this past October when we were all at an MBA Conference in Dallas!  My how things change!!!

This picture below is from the Winter Formal Masquerade party that we just had this past weekend at Johnson.

My friend and I did not plan to wear similar outfits this day.  We had a Citi Integrative Case competition and when most people were in suits, we were not!

Aw two of my besties are pictured below! 

This is a picture of a handful of us who attended the Cyberposium at Harvard Business School, the Saturday after our Boston Trek!  That was an incredible conference with a lot of heavy hitter speakers.  Keynote speech was the CEO of Sony - Don't get that everyday huh?

On our Boston Trek we visited Microsoft and here is a picture we took.  What you really need to see if the view outside the window we were staring at.  Absolutely incredible!

Here is a picture of me in our library using the Bloomberg Terminal.  See... I did learn something in business school!  My friend from Greece taught me when he saw me sitting there one day trying to send an email to someone!  (Just kidding... but he did help me navigate)

So we have a bowling alley on campus.  Literally ON CAMPUS in the middle of the freshman undergraduate dorms.  This is a silly picture we took after a couple games!  One of my favorite pictures.

Rejected from NYU Stern

I forgot to tell you guys...  On Monday I was rejected from NYU Stern.  It doesn't warrant any further discussion simply because I'm over all of the rejections.  So I finally have closure and all that jazz.. now I'm moving on to another portion of this process.  Financial Aid = #notfun. 

Congratulations to my friend who got into Georgetown today! 

I'll be "back to normal" next week.  I don't feel up to blogging this week. 

Random Post-Decision Thoughts

I was just talking to a friend about her blog and how she stopped writing because she didn't have anything to blog about at times.  I told her to just write about not having anything to write about.  For instance right now I'm not sure what I'm going to write about.  Of course it'll be related to the business school application process that is pretty much coming to a close for me, but in terms of a specific topic.  ::shrugs::  I got nothing!

So now I am only waiting on the decision from one more school.  NYU Stern.  I have not been interviewed yet but I have heard that some people got interview invites on Friday, so all hope is not lost.  People keep asking me, "So if you get into NYU will you go there or to Cornell."  The truth is that I don't know.  I never really put too much thought into the prospect of going to NYU because I never heard from them.  They interview every admit so like Michigan, if I don't get an interview I can either be waitlisted or rejected.

I'm drained... but I figure if I've lasted this long I can last another 15 days max.  NYU's decision deadline is April 1st (I know late right?!?).  But there are some of us who are beginning to celebrate.  So on Wednesday there is a group of us from GMATClub (Consortium Thread) who will be getting together for some drinks.  It'll be cool to meet these folks in person.  I tell you... being a part of the message boards during decision time can be stressful if you get caught up in the counties people have heard from and the times people heard... but our little Consortium group... I dunno they kept me laughing throughout it all.  We were all rooting for one another while making fun of ourself and the process at the same time.  It was great comic relief and I'd like to give a shout out to LAGOMEZ, IAMNOTAPRIMENUMBER, and VICTORYMBA!  #HILARIOUS

I wonder what the dynamic is going to be like when we all get together in person.  It'll probably be exactly the same!  I envision a lot of laughing and drinking although after this past weekend I probably don't need any more to drink.  #lush

Lastly, I would just like to say good luck on your interview today at Johnson ________ .  I wish you well buddy.

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.

It's Official - Decisions Next Month!

"La Di Da Di Be Da" - Saying it like Karen Walker from Will and Grace as she saunters around Grace's office out of boredom.

That's all I can think of right now.  If you've come to read my blog today thinking that I would have had some big epiphany, sorry to disappoint you.  I have no idea what to write about tonight.  I will just babble about random stuff though.

1.  I'm not sure how long this feeling of potentially being rejected from everywhere lasts, but yes I still feel that it's a possibility.  Thank you to those of you who emailed me informing me that you too feel the same way.  That uncertainty is cruel and unusual granted it's very usual since it occurs every year.  I'm not sure if it will ever go away until March when I begin to find out from schools.  I'm trying to just get my mind off of it but it's difficult actually I'm going to say it's impossible.  It's partly my own fault though.  I've built up such a network of folks who are pre-mbas, current mba's, and alum that those are the people I talk to every day more so than my "normal" friends.  That definitely makes it tough since 2/3 groups of people I talk to are in or have been in the very position I hope to be in come August.

2.  So this week is a big week for A LOT of prospective Tuckies.  I am not in this batch of folks, but I do know someone who is.  On Friday the 4th the decisions will be released for November R1 for Tuck.  I'm going to be nervous because I want my friend's friend to get in soooo bad.  After this round there probably won't be THAT many spots left.  Not from what people have told me which is the reason why I was urged to apply earlier than I did for Tuck.  But ::shrugs::  I submitted my best application so I'm happy about that.

I don't think I applied to any other school that has an Early Decision/Action round, so this should be the only one that gets released this week.  I believe Haas, Cornell, Yale, Ross, and NYU all just have R1, R2, and R3 meaning those decisions will be released in March.  Although, I do believe that I received something from Yale that said that we should hear by February 25th - or maybe it was the 24th.  I'm not sure... It's too far away for me to think about it.  Either way I don't know if it matters because I haven't been invited to interview.  I'm not even sure if many Consortium applicants are invited to interview.  ::shrugs::

3.  I was going through my Google reader just to get an update on what was going on in the MBA world and it's all GMAT stuff!  ::sigh::  I remember those days.  I'm beginning to get emails from folks who are applying this fall to matriculate in 2012.  It's a tad bit surreal and while I'm writing my email responses I say to myself "What gives you the credibility to respond to this person?"  Then I think back to what I've been through.  While I may not have the highest stats...I think I know how to work the system.  If I get into a b-school then I'll really let out all of my secrets.  That will give me the confidence to say "Yes, Richard you know exactly what you're talking about."  But I don't think I've ever told anyone that they need to listen to what I say or do and replicate it.

If I get into business school it will be the happiest day of my life.  If not...then I'll just start making plans on how to bolster my candidacy for the next go around.  All that stuff I wrote about in my essays about Why MBA won't be null and void simply because I may not be accepted.  No...it all still hold true because the topics that I wrote about were, in themselves, true.  So yeah... if I don't get in.. I re-apply.  No big deal!

I just hate this part of the process.  It's like my life is at a standstill.  I just want to know what's going on with school so that I can continue on with my life but right now I feel like time is just standing still.   I often day dream by thinking about how life would be at any one of the 6 schools I've applied too.  I think about walking to class.... talking to classmates and professors.... happy hours..... studying for finals....being so busy during the first semester that I don't even time breathe.  I want to be there, somewhere, so bad and there's nothing I can do about it now. Lol How did I ever get through this process for college?  Was it this nerve-wracking?  Probably not... although my top 2 schools were Dartmouth and Stanford.  Maybe one day I'll tell you why I don't think I got into either of those schools. It's HILARIOUS!

The Waiting Game

This whole waiting thing is brutal.  Well actually since I'm still coming down from last week the waiting game hasn't been that bad.  I've been catching up on a lot of drinking and even planned a vacation to Fort Lauderdale next weekend with two of my best friends.  We're staying here at the Westin Diplomat hotel:

This vacation will help me get my mind off this waiting game.  Even though I'm waiting now... I have friends who are not.  The people who applied Early and I believe R1 are beginning to find out their decisions.

I have decided to stop trying to figure out how someone gets accepted.  It's too much of a crap shoot.  My friend whom I first met at the HBS event last April just told me that he was rejected from NYU.  I thought his profile was incredible.  I mean...730+ GMAT and a liberal arts background you would think B-schools would eat him up right?  Hopefully NYU was an anomaly and he'll be admitted to all of the schools he's applied too.

He told me "If I put as much effort into this process as you did the outcome may have been different."  he's not thinking about what he's going to do if he's not admitted to any schools.  It's funny FROM MY PERSPECTIVE because I'm like... "If I only had a 730+ GMAT my outcome may be different!"  The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose.

This is not all that goes on post-submission.  Now I'm beginning to walk myself through my essays in my head asking myself "Did I include this... did I include that?" etc.  This is the worst feeling in the world because you know that you can't do anything about what you've submitted.  So what I do is just tell myself that yes I included everything that has been coming to mind.  BUT there is one essay that I wish I could rewrite because I remembered something post-submission that would have made that essay sooooooooo much better.  But there's nothing that I can do about it now - or is there?

Ok so I have a notebook that I started waaaaaay back in September 2009 when I attended my first MBA fair.  Since then this is the notebook that I've brought to every MBA event so I have all of my notes in it.  Even if I forgot the notebook at home I would transpose my notes from said event into that notebook.  There is still one more part of the process that I may have to go through.  Even though I had my Consortium interview back in October, some of the schools may request an additional interview.  I'm not upset or anything by that because I know that I can rock interviews - more so than essays, or so I think! ;-) So all of the things that I'm thinking about post-submission, I'm simply writing in my notebook.  If an opportunity arises in my interviews for me to speak to these things then that would be phenomenal.

Always plottin!!  So while the process is pretty much over... it's really just beginning!!!  Couple weeks folks until R1 Decisions come out (Beginning of February I believe)....  mine won't come out until the beginning of March so I'm still breathing but I make no promises how I'm going to feel mid-February!  March is just going to be a mess for me... I'll probably lose so much weight from stress and not eating.  I wonder if I should weigh myself on the 1st and then weigh myself again on the 31st!  hhhmmmm hahaa

Business Week Top 25 Business School Ranking

Just recently, Business week came out with their Business School Rankings and I thought I would share, although I don't agree with it.  Here are the top 25 schools:

1.  Chicago Booth - remained same
2.  HBS - remained same
3.  Wharton - moved up 1 spot
4.  Kellogg - dropped 1 spot
5.  Stanford - moved up 1 spot
6.  Fuqua - moved up 2 spots
7.  Ross - dropped 2 spots
8.  Haas - moved up 2 spots
9.  Columbia - dropped 2 spots
10.  MIT - dropped 1 spot
11. Darden - moved up 5 spots
12. Southern Methodist University - moved up 6 spots
13. Cornell Johnson - dropped 2 spots
14. Tuck - dropped 2 spots
15. Tepper - moved up 4 spots
16. Kenan-Flagler - moved up 1 spot
17. Anderson - dropped 3 spots
18. Stern - dropped 5 spots
19. Kelley - dropped 4 spots
20. Michigan State - was 2nd tier
21. Yale SOM - moved up 3 spots
22. Goizueta - moved up 1 spot
23. Georgia Institute of Technology - moved up 6 spots
24. Mendoza - dropped 4 spots
25. McCombs - dropped 4 spots


Largest Gainer(s) = SMU (#12) and GIT (#23)
Largest Loser(s) = NYU Stern (#18)
Surprises = NYU Stern (#18), Fuqua (#6), and SMU (#12)

It's amazing that when we think of the "Trifeca" of schools we think of HBS, Wharton, Stanford - well at least I do... but Chicago has been #1 for two cycles.  Business week publishes this every two years.

Here's a link to see the rest of the list:  Business Week Business School Rankings - 2010  and here is the criteria they use

Writing Essays is DRAINING!!!

Goood Morning Goood Morning I'll Love Ya... Good Morning!  wait... hhmmm I think it's "Toooomorrow.. tomorrow.. I'll love ya... Tomorrow..." ok anyway choose your favorite it's unimportant!

So today I had many conversations, but I'll get to those in a second.  I want to address my studying.  So during the hour or so that I get for lunch I try to go do one of my MGMAT guides.  I just re-finished, for the umteenth time, the MGMAT Equations, Variables in Choices, and Inequalities book.  This time around I'm not allowing myself to skip any hard questions.  I'll admit that previously, I would just skip it and say that I'd come back to it and never do that.  So now, I force myself to sit there for 10/15 minutes and solve the problem.  It's a good confidence booster actually.

In addition to that lunch homework... I've been making sure that I do Quant sets every day.  My tutor had me do some problem sets last week, which were for him to get a sense of what we need to work on.

On Monday I did the first 37 problem solving out of the OG.  I got 5 incorrect... upon further inspection 3/5 were because of miscalculation errors on my part.  Now I am not taking these stupid errors lightly this time around.  I need to understand WHY I'm making these errors.  For example, one was about LxWxH but then all three were doubled making it 2Lx2Wx2H... for some reason my brain said ok 2x2x2=6 and not 8 like it should.  Those are the things that CANNOT happen on G-day!

On Tuesday I did the next 37 problem solving out of the OG and got 4 wrong.  My weakness is beginning to peak it's little head.  I know which questions I have issues with.  2 of those 4 were incorrect due to a stupid error on my part, but I did not include that in the debrief to my tutor because there must be a reason for me to make those mistakes and THAT'S what we need to figure out.

Tonight I did 37 of the DS questions.  I didn't do so hot here...so that too is very concerning.  Hopefully I'll have better luck tomorrow night when I do the next 37!  For DS I need to force myself to write more down.  I have a bad habit of doing things in my head which does not work 100% of the time for DS because you assume things that you don't have.

Now... on to the conversations I had today with a couple folks.  It's interesting when you start talking to current applicants and the same theme comes up.  Today it was all about Essays.  I spoke to 4 different people today and we were discussing essays and essay timelines.  One of my friends sent me his essay for NYU's PT program to look over.  I marked it up with comments and sent it back over to him and told him that I loved him and to not hate me.  I think he understands I'm only trying to help.

I started my Tuck essays tonight!  I decided to go sit on the pier by my house for inspiration.  I live on the west side so I went to the pier by the Intrepid.  Here are a couple of pictures!

The first thing I did upon sitting down was re-read my Dartmouth Tuck Visit debrief.  For me, the reason I was soooo detailed in that debrief was for this exact purpose.  I wanted to relive my trip up there while I was writing essays.  So... to that I say... mission 1 accomplished.  

I started writing the first essay - Why an MBA and Why Tuck?  I've had this essay in my head for months now, so to get it on paper was not difficult.  I wrote about 800 words and will of course need to trim it down but I feel better knowing that there is a hard copy of my thoughts saved on my hard drive.  

I skipped the 2nd essay about leadership because I'm waiting to hear back from someone about something.

I started writing the 3rd essay which is about a challenge I've overcome and what not... the topic I chose was a no brainer... however I did not think that writing about it would be so draining and time consuming.  I know I've had to overcome but I've never ever had to write about it so thoroughly.  What I thought would be one of the easier essays for me to write about has become the more difficult.

The 4th essay is when I packed up and walked home.  It was dark and my eyes were hurting.  I wrote down my ideas for this essay, but I needed to come back and connect to the internet so I could research something.

I was definitely exhausted from all of that thinking! 

Cheers mate!

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!

Caught in a Bad Romance...

So you ask why I chose this Title for the post?

Well..."I wrote a song about it.. like to hear it?  here it goes" (sidenote - if anyone can tell me what famous TV show that quote is from you'll get a prize!)  Anyway... as I sat on my bed, by my window studying with my window open... a car drove by blasting Lady Gaga - Bad Romance... at first I thought to myself "it's 1 a.m. turn that down!" then I just started bopping my head and singing the paragraph that I was reading... of course that wasn't enough so I had to  take a hiatus and throw on the song for some inspiration.

So I'll get into my studies tonight, because this should go fairly quick.  So tonight... I Studied for 2 hours!      I practically got yelled at when I signed onto Facebook because my other friend interrupted me.  Ms. Harris...I am calling you out!  Why are you all up in my business?  Am I not allowed a break every once in a while - I MEAN DAMN!

B-School Inspiration - Tonight I was watching CNBC since it's Tech Week, and tonight's episode was about the AOL Time Warner break up.  I watched this and it reaffirmed my reasoning for wanting to go to B-School.  The downfall of this whole merger was that the CEO of Time Warner didn't understand the internet fully.  To his defense, no one really did at that point, although this was his thinking.  Time Warner relied heavily on a subscription based business model (HBO, Magazines, Cable), so he saw potential in AOL since it was all subscription based.

Now this would seem like a great idea, but what happened is that as the companies merged the AOL execs got the higher executive job functions.  So now what we had was a major company Time Warner, with it's many properties, being heavily influenced and run by these "Internet Folks."

The real issue came when those "Internet Folks" started telling the Time Warner folks how to sell advertising to make money.  Remember, at first AOL was making all of it's money from the subscriptions, but then the advertising dollars kicked in.  So once these "Internet Folks" started dictating to the traditional media folks how to sell advertising... things got messed up.

The whole reason for the merger was for AOL Time Warner to simply do business with itself, but this did not occur.  So as a result, stock prices fell....  then as people started migrating over to faster internet speeds that eliminated the need for AOL, well the rest is history.

So how does this fit in with my B-School aspirations?  Companies are getting excited and antsy about the internet again, thanks to Google/Apple/Microsoft.  In the future I would like to be in the boardroom when major decisions are being made.  Coming from a digital background, I feel that I have a phenomenal grasp on the history...and more importantly... the future trajectory.

It's time for these old heads in the C-Suites to peace out and make room for those who truly understand what they would be getting themselves into.

Tomorrow I have an MBA information session to attend and I'm paying for my MGMAT course... Update to follow....

Notecard Count = 66 (yesterday's was 53... so I added 13 from tonight which is a 25% notecard increase)