We are all Project Managers

Meanwhile... back at the ranch, I've noticed something different in the air!  People are getting neurotic - Myself included!  Early Action deadlines have passed.... Round 1 Deadlines are essentially now! and Round 2 Deadlines are around the corner.  I'm noticing that everything is running around very frantically.

So I wanted to write this post with this title because I think it's true.  In order to get out proper applications. Here is the Wiki definition of a Project Manager: Project managers can have the responsibility of the planning, execution, and closing of any project. The project(s) in this case being getting out applications!  Of course I have been thinking about this a lot lately because now I'm going to have to study for the GMAT while writing essays, while getting recommendations straightened out.

I'm already dreading the next 8 weeks, but come January 5th I will be at ease!  I'm making sure that none of my hours awake are wasted, so much so that I write essays on the bus during my commute.  October was a pretty hectic month for me because I was traveling, and Nov/Dec won't be that bad.  I want to get my essays done by the middle of November so I can send them off to be reviewed.  I want to get these reviewed asap so I can move on to the next step with them.

I've re-touched base with my recommenders and I'm good to go on that front.  I just need to have a meeting with them first to debrief them and tell them "Why b-school... blah blah blah etc etc and all that jazz."  Oh and then let's not forget it's HOLIDAY and I work for a RETAILER, so that should be fun!  I'm telling them that the deadlines are December 31st, because I know they're going to be late and may not get them in by Jan 5.  How great would it be to have all of my applications done by December 31st and to be able to start the new year not thinking about anything except for filing taxes?

But yeah... to everything out there - make sure you give yourselves enough time to write essays and get recommendations written!  It's crunch time guys!!!  LET'S DO THIS!

Business School Application Process - Progress

This is my last post of the night!  I had to purge my brain of all that has transpired in the last couple of days and now this is the final post.  I have to give you all an update on how I have been doing!

I'll go in chronological order.

1.  Tomorrow - UC Berkeley Haas is having an information session at the Goldman Sachs building downtown.  It was either I attend that or an HBS event and since I've visited HBS and haven't had that much interaction with Haas, I'll be down there in the Goldman Sachs building.

2.  Wednesday - I'll be meeting with my tutor so he can drill some more information into my thick skull!  It's been a while since I've seen him so I'm anxious to get there so we can pick up where we left off.

3.  Thursday - I'll be flying to Los Angeles for the Reaching Out conference or ROMBA as it's called.  I'm uber excited to get down/out there and network with other LGBT students, professionals, and prospective students.  I haven't been to LA since I was about 12.  Clearly these circumstances are much different but it should be a great time!  I'll be sharing a room with two people thankfully!  That hotel is NOT cheap!  I plan to write essays on the plane - deadline is Nov 15th and that's still the one I am aiming for!

4.  Next Monday - Lots and lots of GMAT material to study

5.  Next Tuesday - I'll be meeting with my tutor again!

6.  Next Wednesday - Lots and Lots of GMAT material to study!  DRILL BABY DRILL!

7.  Next Thursday through Monday - Same

8.  Following Monday - Drive up to Dartmouth.

9.  That Tuesday - Dartmouth Interview and drive back to NYC.

10.  That Wednesday - hop on the bus up to Cornell for the diversity weekend through Saturday

Oh throw in writing essays in there wherever there's free time!  So that's the outlook for the rest of my October.  I don't have any free time but that's ok.  It's great preparation for business school.  First year at least...

I Yearn to be in Business School!

By the time you read this I will be sound a sleep!  I’m writing this at 11pm but I’m going to schedule it for 12:01(ish).  The week has caught up to me and I feel absolutely exhausted.  I can either take a nap now - wake up in a couple hours and study, or just go to sleep now and then do extra studying tomorrow night and saturday morning.  I’m going to opt for the latter plan.

With that being said, I really wanted to just write this post because the idea has been in my head for a while.  

So in continuing with the theme from the last post I would like to talk about the world that I wish to enter.  That is the world of business school.  This may end up being a longer post than anticipated, but oh well who cares right?

The picture included illustrates how I feel right now:

Until a year ago I only thought about going to business school once.  That was when I was working on Zeromillion.com and felt a little inadequate that Ryan had all of these great plans to do with his life and I didn’t have any direction.  He now owns iContact.com as I find myself applying to business school.  It’s interesting because I feel it in my bones that MY opportunity is coming very shortly.  

Last year when I made the decision to go to business school I didn’t have anyone to turn to in order to help me navigate the process. I didn’t know ANYONE who had their MBA, so you can imagine how little I knew about the process.  True to Richard Battle-Baxter form though, I knew that this was something that I really wanted to do and immersed myself in the proces.  The best thing I did was started researching very early and attending events.  At this point last year I hadn’t attended any MBA fairs and still didn’t know any MBA students or people even applying and now you guys see the fruits of my labor.

By getting what some would consider a head start, I was able to form relationships at these events with people who were NOT ONLY getting a headstart, BUT ALSO applying that season.  While the people I met who were also getting a headstart are still my friends today, it was the people who were applying last season that have put me in the headspace that I’m in now.  

There are two groups of students who are giving me an insiders look into b-school that I never would have access too.

1. ) Witnessing them go through the trials and tribulations of the application process was very educational.  Now, the four people I am thinking about are in business school.  One friend is at Duke Fuqua - two others whom I met during my visit to Yale are at Michigan Ross - a friend I met at NYU Sterns LGBT event last year is now at NYU Stern.

2.) Having visited so many schools thus far, I have a myriad of then first year students, who are now second year students.  I have followed these students from the end of their first years through their internships and now into their 2nd years.

So everyone is in or back in school now and I feel like I’m the lone soldier left on the outside while they’re all in this business school environment, embarking upon this new chapter in their lives, as I peer through a window yearning to be inside with them.  While the barriers to entry for business school are very high, I am beginning to see the reason for it.  Everyone I has spoken with has echoed one anothers comments that their 2 years at business school was the best time of their lives and they wish they could go back.

It’s interesting to always hear that you have to have a pretty good sense of what you want to accomplish during business school because once you get there you will not have time to think.  I thought this was an overstatement, but I now know that... they are correct!  

I sent my friend at Duke a message on Facebook and we had this discussion:

Me:  i hope you're having fun... although i'm 100% sure you are

Him:  Fun is relative my friend...B-school is hard work.  It's crazy moving in 100 different directions and still not having any idea what the hell you are actually doing. 

Then I decided to email my two friends at Ross just to say Hi and here is the email that I had with one of them.

Me:  Just wanted to say that I miss our conversations online!  Hope you and _______ are enjoying yourselves!  I've been looking at your Football Game pictures on FB and I'll admit that I'm semi-jealous!”

Him:  It is very true that I have been on a serious gchat sabbatical.  We are BUSY!!!  So busy that although I see _______ almost every day, we still haven't been able to coordinate a time to sit down for dinner together.  You would've loved my classes today -- there was some intense employment of the Socratic method by our strategy professor.

The students who are second years who I rarely hear from now and I understand that yeah everyone is just as busy as I am, albeit a different kind of busy.

It’s very odd to witness people doing the very thing I wish to be doing 12 months from now.  It’s a little surreal.

So in order to get there I’ve been taking a look at the similarities among these people and even those who have just graduated from b-school.  I noticed that there is definitely a common language with which they speak.  Had I not immersed myself in the process so much to get a sense for what I needed to know, I would not be able to notice AND attempt to adopt these minor language and thought differences between MBA’s and NON-MBA’s.  Now I’m sure the same could be said for anyone with a Masters degree, but I’m only speaking about my experience with MBAs.

Being twice removed from the world of the MBA because I haven’t had the luxury of growing up around these subtle differences, has me in a different place than someone who may have worked in I-banking and began adopting the necessary skills or somenoe who may have grown up in a household with parents who had MBA’s.  Now, I realize that I could simply be giving more credit than should be due, but again... my blog... my thoughts.  :-)

There definitely has to be something there if I can listen to someone think and hear the common attributes of an MBA student - to then only ask them if they have their MBA and they say yes.  It is these skills that separate them from those who have not received their MBAs.  Now does this make it necessary to get an MBA to acquire this toolbox?  Well that's up to the individual, but I can't see that as being a negative effect.

I feel that because I became a student of the process, I have started to adopt some of these characteristics I see consistent among MBA students.  I notice it a lot with my language and the way I interpret things.  It is for this reason that I see what the GMAT is trying to accomplish.  Sure it’s a bunch of numbers... and paragraphs that we all hate, but in studying for the GMAT I find myself at work now - “Well what is the assumption behind what this person is saying about this data?  I’m an analyst, so I deal with a lot of numbers.”  

With this being said, it’s ironic that B-schools want candidates who have a diversity of thought, but what I think they really mean to say is... to an extent!  This commonality of thought is different for each business school, but I do think one exists.  The whole “researching b-school” and “fit” is to find out if you share this commonality.  If you can convey that you do... then you’ll have the best opportunity for admission.  At least that’s what I think.

The more I go through this process and think that I am beginning to see what it really takes for admissions the more I THINK I’m beginning to see that it’s not as much as a black box as people make it out to be.  I hope that I’m correct with this statement but only time will tell....and that time is decision week!  

I am applying to four schools, and honestly... the more I go through the process and learn about each school the more I realize that I fit better with some more than others.  I will not list them out here because there are “EYES” on my blog and I don’t want to shoot myself in the foot.  You also may be thinking - “Well I know which school’s you’re talking about.” but I’ll leave it up to the imagination.  Sometimes I even wonder if I should take one off the list.

In any event, this has become an extraordinary long post that has taken me an hour to write.  So much for attempting to go to sleep at 11pm!

Whew  ::wipes forehead::  I’m glad I got that off of my chest!

Time to sleep!

Guest Blogger (Osirus) - His Story! Pt 2

Short and sweet... Here is Part 2 of Brandon's Guest Blog Post...Read Part One Here

Giving People Advice and Having them not take it...

Once I started MLT, I was basically my cohort’s go to GMAT tutor.  I have spent many hours at the Harold Washington library in Chicago helping members of my cohort with the GMAT.  The biggest thing I would try to impart to people that would take was to develop a systematic approach to each question type.  I think this is probably the most important thing that anyone could do to help improve their score, and I was just surprised by how people just didn’t get that.  The people I would help would put in a lot of time to study but would get frustrated that they weren’t seeing results.  The main thing that you have to do is be intentional with your study.  When you are studying math don’t just do a random set of problems.  If you struggle with divisibility problems, make sure every math day you are doing at least 2 divisibility problems.  You have to be intentional and you have to develop an approach.  On test day, anxiety will play a role in your test day experience, this is why having an approach will be very helpful because anxiety won’t be able to steal your moment.

Another thing that people don’t do that I tell them to do is to have complete faith in themselves. The only way that you can achieve a top score is to have an unwavering faith that you are capable.  Once you allow fear and doubt to take over your thoughts, your chances of a top score decrease dramatically.  Confidence is huge.  Even when I was only scoring 550s on my practice tests, I knew that I was going to get above a 700.  You have to truly believe in yourself.  Richard wrote a post about how introspective essays are, but in many ways, I think preparing for the GMAT is introspective as well.  Everyone hits a wall in which they stop making progress or even regress some.  It is at those times you have to make a choice not to doubt yourself and believe that you are capable of achieving your score.  You have to believe that you belong at HBS, or that you belong at Wharton, or that you belong at Tepper.    

Watching people deal with the pressure of the GMAT and application deadlines...

When I watch people struggle with the pressure of the GMAT and watch people freak out I think that they are playing things wrong.  I think the people that are doing essays and studying at the same are doing themselves a disservice.  I think the biggest thing that people don’t realize is that it is better to apply round 2 with your highest GMAT score, than to rush the GMAT to apply round 1 and leave 20-30 points on the table.  From what I have observed, the biggest reason most people are rushing and stressing out is a result of them having too many schools that they are applying to.  This is not undergrad.  You should not be targeting 7 plus schools.  There are probably not 7 schools that you would actually attend.  I think if people had a more manageable list of schools they would have a better perspective that they can get the GMAT done by mid-November, and still have more than enough time to do a great job on their essays for round 2.

In Closing...

I want to add something that most readers will never have heard before that I think would be useful.  Well here it is.  After setting your time table for studying and taking the test, add two weeks.  You want to add two weeks to focus on your STRENGTHS.  The one thing I learned about the CAT is that what’s difficult for you may not be difficult for others and vice versa.  What does this mean for you?  A CAT can make a topic that is normally a strength for you a weakness.  I remember on my second attempt, I got a a ratios problem.  I always considered ratios a strength, and as a result, I didn’t focus too much on them in the last few weeks of my prep.  I got a problem on the test that dealt with surface areas and areas and the ratios.  It was so awkward that I know I got it wrong.  

I think you should spend at least 2 weeks seeking out overly difficult problems in areas that you consider to be an area of strength for you.  Getting you to miss problems that you are normally strong at is the strength of the GMAC and CATs in general.  That is the one thing I wish I had done before my last attempt, because I feel that it would have gotten me into the 99th percentile.  Seek out problems that will be difficult in areas that you think are strengths.  This will help to ensure that you bank all of the points that you should bank on the exam.

When most people think about getting really difficult 700-800 level problems, they envision really difficult probability or combinatorics problems.  The reality is that if those two areas are still weaknesses after you have studied for 3 months, odds are they will remain weaknesses.  During my prep, I thought I was strong at rate problems.  I could answer almost all of the rate problems I encountered.  I got thrown off though, when I encountered a rate problem that incorporated geometry.  It was a problem involving a circular track and that made the problem a lot more difficult than most other rate problems.  

With a CAT you can't choose your 700-800 level problems, and there is a good chance that you will encounter problems that you previously considered to be strengths packaged in such a way that you will miss them.  I truly believe that the reason for the 30 point standard deviation is that people miss problems that they thought were strengths because the GMAC gives them the problem in a package that they aren't used to seeing.

Use an MBA Admissions Consultant?

Hi Everyone.. this post is long overdue.  I received and email from blog reader earlier this week about MBA Consultants.  Essentially, this person wanted to know my take on them.  I responded back asking if it would be alright if I wrote a post about it instead of responding in the email because I'm getting this question more and more as we get into the throws of the application season.

The person asked "I am looking for a good admission consultant. I read about veritas prep consultants in your blog...how are they? How much should one have prepared to start using consultants? Any suggestions will help...."

So let me inform you guys on my story first.  Back in February Beat The GMAT ran a contest giving away some incredible prizes.  The contest was easy... over the course of a month the top 5 users whom posted the most would get to choose from an array of prizes.  These were not little rinky dink prizes either.  You can read more about the beginning of the contest here: http://bit.ly/BTGContest.  

The contest started out nice but was grueling.  I believe I ended up with 999 posts over the 30 day period.  Yes that's a lot I know!  The prize package I chose was the Veritas Prep MBA Consulting package.  I think most other people chose one of the GMAT courses.  I was already enrolled in Manhattan GMAT, so the consulting package was the prize that appealed to me the most.  Not to mention a 1 school consulting package from Veritas prep is worth something like $2800! 

So that's the background on that...  so let's get into the meat of the topic...I can only speak from personal experience with Veritas.  I have not even considered or researched any other MBA Consultants.

1.  Hey consultant!  are you qualified?

(EDITED)

Tip 1 - They are going to be objective in your candidacy and tear your application apart, which is good, so you have a right to know about them and why they're qualified.

2.  How hard will you work for me?

If you're vetting consultants, you should definitely look into this and compare packages.  The first questions I would want to ask is how many other applicants they'll be working with in the season you'll be applying.  I mean someone can be an incredible consultant but if they're working with 15 candidates, how dedicated will they be to your candidacy?

Even though I have a consultant, for some reason I don't feel that I'm in a position to complain at all since the package was a prize haha...

Tip 2 - Ask the potential consultant how many other candidates they're working with.  If you speak with the owner of the company ask them, how they decide who to pass your application too.

3.  How much should you prepare before hiring a consultant?

Well I'm not sure with other MBA consultants, but with Veritas... you better have a laid out plan as to where you want to go and what you want to do hahaah... at least that's how I feel.  So back in March I was sent a 3 paged questionnaire to fill out for my consultant.  You may be thinking ok that doesn't seem that difficult.  You have the normal questions right...like... Name, address, gpa, undergrad institution... ok that's fine...  but then.. BAM:  Why an MBA?  Why now?  Professional History?  Career aspirations? Potential Recommenders?

WTF where did that come from?  In total that questionnaire took me about 4/5 hours to fill out and ended up being I want to say like 9 pages - NOT DOUBLE SPACED!  Some of you may be thinking - well that seems like a lot to do!  Well yeah it is... but in all honesty, if you're thinking about going to business school and you're to the point where you think you may need a consultant to help you out... you should have all of those questions answered already.  The formality is simply putting it down on paper.

Mine was 9 pages and took 4/5 hours for two reasons.  The first is that I felt that I finally needed to do a brain dump (I really hate this corporate buzz word, but it's fitting in this sense) of everything swirling around in my head and the questionnaire gave me the outlet to do so.  The second reason I wanted to do a good job is because I thought that by giving my consultant the most information possible, she would be in a better position to steer me in the right way.  

I don't think I've been bound to what I said back in March, because my plans have changed slightly since then, but it provides an incredible baseline for the both of us.  Also, you realize how much work you really need to do.  When I get some extra time, I'm going to go back through the document and see how naive I was back then haha... that'll be a real confidence booster!

Tip 3 - Do you and your consultant a favor.  Do your research and come with a list of schools you wish to apply to.

4.  What a consultant is not.

A consultant should not be used for the purpose of deciding which schools you should apply to.  I mean they should manage expectations if you go to them and say I want to go to Insead and that's the only school I want to go to.  Then they should come back with... do you speak 2 languages fluently and are you ready to learn a 3rd one while in school?  If the answer is no, then they should advise against applying to Insead since that's a REQUIREMENT.  No, I'm not joking... it's a requirement at Insead haha... talk about a high barrier to entry huh?  hahaha

Tip 4 - Do not expect your consultant to pick your schools for you.

5.  Do not take things personally and don't get defensive.

This one is a biggie.  Remember their goal is to get you to a point where you can say.  If I spend any more time on my application it won't get better.  This is the best application that I can submit.  I will tell you now that the consultant will and SHOULD expose the holes in your candidacy.  It's definitely counterintuitive.  We all want to go with our ideas that we think are great whether it be topics for essays or what we think we should highlight in our application.  A good consultant will say whether he/she (not "They" because "consultant" is singular therefore it needs a singular pronoun  ;-) )  thinks that your ideas are good.  Don't get me wrong, the consultant won't simply say that it's a good idea or bad idea, but a GOOD one will work with you and help you formulate the correct plan.  It may not be that your ideas are bad, but it just needs to be done in a different manner.

Tip 5 - If you have or find a consultant that agrees with you on everything you present to them... ask yourself "Why am I paying you?"

6.  No relevant question is inappropriate?

Ask these questions -  

How many times do we speak?  

Is there a time limit during our calls or meetings?  

Do you reformat and/or help me with my resume?  

How many times will we go over my essays?

Will you help me pick recommenders and tell me how to approach them?

Have you worked with other candidates applying to school X?

Tip 6 - Remember that you're paying THEM thousands of dollars... in the end they work for you so you should be able to get any question answered.

7.  Expose yourself because you'll cut through the bullsh*t.

This is a big one for me.  I know where my weakness is.  It's my GPA.  It's not that I'm dumb or stupid, but I wasn't focused in undergrad.  I went to school on a full academic scholarship but had no desire to go to business school post-undergrad.  So with that came some complacency.  I know that my weakness is my GPA and I'm ok with that because I think the rest of my application will outshine my sub-par performance.  I was upfront about this with my consultant back in March.  

I didn't see a point in hiding this information from her because A.) It would be exposed anyway and B.) By being upfront with her, she could start to formulate ideas for how we can remedy the situation.  It's tough to be upfront about holes in your candidacy because we all want to focus on the positives, but hey guess what people... the Admissions Committee will focus on the negatives if you don't explain them!

In my case, my consultant keeps reiterating the importance of the GMAT...hahaha...how cyclical right?

Tip 7 - Expose your weakness so you can take steps to mitigate it.

8.  Are you my shrink?

I don't know how most MBA Consultants feel about this but when I have a lot swirling around in my head about the process itself or something that has happened with work, I may email my consultant to get her thoughts.  Sometimes I'm just looking for either validation or some objective thoughts.  I've typed some really long emails to her before and she always responds.  She doesn't type paragraphs back to me, but I wouldn't expect her too.  At the end of my rants I always ask questions and she ALWAYS answers those.  

I think this goes back to their qualifications... if they've been through the process of applying before, they'll understand why you're feeling the way you are.  

Tip 8 - It's OK to rant and rave, but ultimately what are YOU doing about it?

9.  A La Carte services?

If you can't afford a full comprehensive consulting package, definitely look into a la carte options.  In my opinion at the very least, the essay editing is the most important for crafting your story.  In all other areas numbers will speak for themselves.  Our GPA's and GMAT scores will inevitably be compared to those of other applicants.  Our essays are where we can separate ourselves from the masses.  The $200-$300 you may spend to have someone review your essays is worth it, and I've heard this from multiple sources.

Tip 9 - Remember...you'll be competing against people who have used these services and have very refined applications!  not mentioning any names  ;-)  hahahaahha...  but yeah I had no idea the market for MBA Consultants was as large as it is.  At first I thought, "Who can afford this?"  For instance an 8 school package from Veritas is $8,100!!!  I mean I know there are people out there in certain industries ::cough cough banking cough:: who can write a check like that without even batting an eye.  To them that's just a great weekend of partying!

My experience with my consultant thus far has been great!  The more I interact with her and hear her thoughts, the more I wonder how people can go through this application process without a consultant.  We have not gotten into speaking on the regular simply because my top application is not out yet, but I know that if I email her... she'll respond.  

If you're thinking about getting a consultant here are some links:

MBA Admissions Consultants Podcast: http://bit.ly/MBAConsultant

Veritas Prep Consulting:  http://bit.ly/VeritasConsulting

Ugh I knew this would happen!

This is going to be short and sweet...

I'm finding it incredibly hard to start studying again.  I've been doing random things here and there but I need to get back into the groove of things again.  Deadlines, Essays, and Applications are being released and I'm surprised that hasn't given me the kick in the butt that I need.

Summer is getting in the way.  I'm sure others out there have experienced the same thing.  I should have never stopped studying right after I took the GMAT.  I'm also feeling very guilty.  I've been fortunate enough to have every resource available come my way.  Am I taking them for granted?  I think so...

So I've made a decision that tomorrow is the day when I turn things around.  Once I start I know I'll be fine... also in all honesty I'm tired of:

thinking about the gmat,
blogging about the gmat,
talking about the gmat,
worrying about the gmat,
paying for the gmat,
looking at my gmat books,
having people (not you guys) ask me about the gmat,
hearing friends "fail" the gmat,
practicing for the gmat,

you get the idea...

Thank you everyone for the support.  It's officially crunch time because I'll be damned if I have to study for this exam concurrently as I'm completing applications.