B-school Essays + Insomnia = Productivity

So because my sleep schedule is all screwed up right now, I am awake at 4am again.  The thing is... I AM getting the proper amounts of sleep.  I'm just getting the sleep at not so common times.  But this has been my MO since high school.  I feel that I should go to sleep when I am tired and not when it's "time to go to sleep."  If I'm laying in bed trying to go to sleep my brain starts racing thinking about the things that I could be getting done.  I see no reason to lay in bed for an hour and a half with my eyes closed trying to go to sleep.  Not right now when I could be getting so much done.

So needless to say over the past 2 days I have gotten about 14 hours of sleep.  So that's great 7 hours/day!  So leave me alone and let me do me!  I'm used to my sleep craziness and I've learned to work with it.  With that being said... I've been awake for a couple hours now and I did the last 20 or so Reading Comp passages in the Blue Book Verbal Guide.  I only got 4 incorrect Woop Woop!

Then I did 42 quant problems.  The last problem solving questions in the Official Guide!  Those are HARD.... I definitely need to go through those again because my hit rate was not as high as I would like it.  What's good is that when I show my tutor my error sheet he'll just be able to scan the numbers of the problems I got wrong and know which topics I need more work on.

I'm starting to get nervous about this test, but it's a good nervous.  In the past it was a nervous like "oh well... this isn't going to go so well...wonder how bad it's going to be?"  This time its a nervous like "oh you're sooo close... make sure you remember to always check your work and answer the question they are asking."

Now I'm going to work on an essay.  Gotta get it done...

Hhhmm Study for GMAT or Write Essays?

You're all smart - you know what this post is going to be about...  on my last blog post a comment was left asking this very question.

"How are you managing time between apps and gmat. Let me know when you get a chance and Good luck w/t your prep." - Blog Reader

So I've decided to simply write a blog post about it - also because the topic came up today at the end of my tutoring session.  By now I've seen all of the essay topics that I must write for this application season.  I began writing my Tuck essays a couple weeks ago.  Just recently I started putting more and more time into them, but not at the expense of studying.

Every time I open one of my essay topics (I have each one as a separate word doc in my Tuck folder), the voice in the back of my head says "YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING!"  I've come to terms with this  voice in my head.  We don't always get along and I want to tell it to SHUT UP sometimes, but I know the voice is simply looking out for me.  But that voice and I now have an understanding and it seems to be working.

I know that for me, my best ideas do not come when I'm sitting in front of my computer typing.  When I write my essays the writing part is the easy part, coming up with the proper anecdotes and ideas are tough.  I keep a notepad with me in my bag wherever I go.  If I think of something I want to add to one of my essays I simply jot it down.  Believe it or not some of my best ideas have come to mind while at work.  In that case I simply email the idea to my personal email account.  Then when I get home I add it to the rest of my thoughts.

The way I see it is that there are 24 hours in a day.  I sleep about 5 hours/day.  Don't ask... I've been sleeping that little since high school.  I function just fine...  So 24-5=19 hours.  I'm at work 9 hours a day. Let's say 1 hour a day for commuting to and from work, including showering and walking 3 avenues.  So what's that 9 hours left to account for?  That makes sense because I get home at 6:30pm and go to sleep around 2:30/3.  So even if I had 7 hours/day to myself, I dedicate about 2/3 hours to studying.  Some time to myself and some time gathering my thoughts on my essays.  

I realize I was all over the place with this post - sorry I'm watching Kathy Griffin's stand up - so basically I study and write essays because I do a lot of my essay idea generation when I'm doing other things.  Studying of course I need to find time to focus, but writing essays... while time consuming...can be done over time.  For me at least.  

I told my tutor today that my September was going to be pretty hectic.  Naturally he inquired as to why.  I told him that with events, and traveling to visit schools, and writing essays, it was just going to be one hell of a month.  He reminded me that it's great to visit schools and write essays but to just make sure that I make time to study.  If I didn't have to worry about the GMAT life would naturally be much easier at this juncture, but nooooo....  things rarely go as planned right?

So my advice to others out there in a similar situation.  Find time to think about your essays whenever you can.  You don't need to be in front of your computer to work on your essays.

I was actually supposed to send my essays over to someone to review tonight, but life got in the way.  I had to do something with my roommate.  I did work on my essays, but didn't get them all done the way I had hoped.  He said that I could have him review them one by one, but I want to send all five to him so that he can get a 360 view of what I'm trying to accomplish in each essay.  So my deadline is now Sunday!

Tomorrow - well in 4 hours!  I will be going SAILING!  That should be interesting... I didn't even pack my bags yet.  I'm a hot mess ahaha..  Enjoy your day!

Sidenote - I just Google image(d) - Business School Essays and saw a picture of London Business School.  That school is very gubernatorial(esque) look - 

Addressing Weakness in Essays!

Hello everyone... I have returned!  As I continue studying for the GMAT, my friend Brett Nowak has so kindly provided me with some more content for my blog.  If you don't remember Brett, he was the guest blogger on my 5000th Visitor post.  He owns Ivy App Success and has some great advice as to how one should address weakness in essays.

How to Address Weakness 

The Art of Bridging 

- Brett Nowak, www.IvyAppSuccess.com

There are two effective ways to address weaknesses in the MBA application.

1.) Don’t Include the Weakness

An often overlooked option for weaknesses is to not include them at all. This is highly recommended if the weakness was not addressed with positive actions.

For example, one of my clients had a lackluster academic performance throughout college. Although this was a weakness, she had taken little steps to improve her GPA. She had, however, excellent examples of leadership at work. Instead of explaining her poor GPA, we wrote the optional essay about additional leadership examples at work. By focusing on her strengths, she got accepted into her top choice.

2.) State the Weakness and Bridge to Strengths

If you overcame a weakness, fixed a wrong, or proved that it won’t happen again, weaknesses can actually becomes strengths. To do this effectively, you must make the reader focus on the positives. This is done by stating the weakness as an unapologetic fact then moving on to the positives.

For example, one of my clients had plagiarized a paragraph in his last college paper. He had, however, admitted to his error and learned from his mistake. Instead of writing the essay about why he plagiarized, we addressed the issue in a way that stressed his strengths. Here is an example of what he wrote:

“In the last semester of college, I plagiarized a paragraph in a paper that resulted in a one semester off punish before graduating [unapologetic statement of the weakness]. The school’s response was forgiving because I admitted to the mistake and had such a strong academic record to this point [bridged to positive]. From this experience, I have learned that the best way to overcome a problem is to be honest and forthright [transition to positives]”. (The rest of the essay included the stories of how he addressed the issue properly.)

With this bridging technique, the essay, which was supposed to be about plagiarizing, was filled with stories of honesty, integrity and growth.

Remember that the application process is about selling and marketing. It is not a confession, diary, or journal. Weaknesses should be address with the end goal in mind: to win the application game.

Ivy App Success