50 Ways to Tell You're Getting an MBA!

I got the idea to make this list for the 50 ways you know you're getting an MBA, while I was on the bus this morning commuting to work.  Then I got to work and had some friends help me put this list together!  If you have any more to add just leave a comment! ENJOY!

You know you're going for your MBA when... (1-10)
1. ...BeatTheGMAT shows up as one of your most recently visited websites.
2. ...your friends keep asking you "How is school?" and you have to explain that you're still applying.
3. ...you correct someone who uses improper GMAT idioms in speech and then apologize for doing so.
4. ...you begin argumentative banter with someone with the sentence "Well the assumption here is _________"
5. ...the acronym CPG means something to you.
6. ...you know what the "Trifecta" of B-schools is.
7. ...you cannot wait until Spring.
8. ...you wonder if first year is really as hectic as current students say it is.
9. ...you like to talk about yourself but at this point you're over it!
10. ...the Internet has become so small because you only frequent X amount of sites.

You know you're going for your MBA when... (11-20)

11. ...you know refer to each school by their major donors' name. ie Tuck, Stern, Booth, Ross.
12. ...you still have no idea what Social Entrepreneurship is but you know that a lot of people want to do it!
13. ...you've considered Consulting but were turned off by their interview process.14. ...you've considered Consulting until you found out they can make you retake the GMAT if they want...and can even ask your SAT scores!
15. ...your heart palpitates at the thought of the GMAT.16. ...you can pinpoint the major characteristics of the top 25 schools...and just by talking to someone for 5 minutes, can say to them “Ok so you should look into [Insert School] because they have X,Y, and Z.”
17. ...you've already planned out what activities your life will consist of when the application process is done (or the fact that you will actually HAVE a life again).
18. …you didn’t realize how much it was going to cost you just to CONSIDER applying to business school
19. ...you hate defending yourself to those who say you don't need and MBA and think to yourself "um you're already SVP!" and at the same time the company is hiring MBA's!
20. …you tell everyone how important getting an MBA is and you can’t understand why they’re not going for theirs.

You know you're going for your MBA when... (21-30)
21. ...you read my blog ;-)
22. ...the thought of paying $200k to just be able to add three letters [MBA] to your resume doesn't faze you.  (Yes FAZE is the correct word here as per MS Word grammar check)
23. …when talking to others going through the process you start with “My friend at [Insert Top 10 B-school Here] said…]
24. …October/December or December/March or any other pair of Application/Decision months is the most nerve-wracking months of the year.
25. …you’ve had ENOUGH of being introspective!
26. …when the most strenuous part of your day is listening to others ask you about how the process is going.
27. ...you realize the people who want to go into Non-Profit were people who were Investment Bankers and people who were in Non-Profit want to get into Investment Banking.
28. …you are beginning to work on your alcohol tolerance because from what current students tell you, you’ll need it to be as high or higher than in during undergrad.
29. ...you start to get more excited about all the drinking that you'll be doing in business school than the network you'll build.
30. …when someone tells you that they reached out to a student at [Insert School] you ask who it was to figure out if you know them.

You know you're going for your MBA when... (31-40)
31. …you know where your target schools rank in US News, Business Week, and the Wall St Journal.
32. ...your significant other is more ready for the GMAT to be over than you are.
33. ...you're at dinner and you always insist on calculating the tip without a calculator and get upset when someone talks while you’re doing it!
34. ...you have to dig deep to find the strength to continue working with passion.
35. ...you get annoyed when people ask questions found on the school's website at MBA fairs.
36. ...you are the go to person that anyone that has a question about B-school comes to you.
37. ...things like Clear Admit, Veritas, MGMAT, and Stacy Blackman have direct meaning to you.
38. ...you hear people discussing an essay and you instantly know which school it's for.
40. ...you have your phone off on a Friday or Saturday night and your significant other calls and you say that you were studying for the GMAT and the excuse doesn't get questioned.

You know you're going for your MBA when... (41- 50)
41. …you know that the questions “Why MBA?” and “Why MBA now?” warrant completely different essays.
42. …you are no longer up on the latest episodes of your favorite TV shows.
43. …your email inbox is full of MBA program information that you didn’t request.
44. …a 5 hour road trip to visit a school seems like nothing.

45. ...you know that if you have three jobs in three years (Current job, internship, post-mba job) that's a good thing.

46. ...your LinkedIn connections have double since you began this process.

47. ...instead of asking your friends "How was your weekend?" you ask "How did studying go?"

48. ...you feel guilty when you go out with your friends for dinner and/or drinks, because you know you should be working on your applications.

49. ...you speak about Admissions Officers as if they're your BFF's.

50. ...you cannot wait to graduate in 2013!!!

Thanks too... B, J, and E for helping me get this put together!

Took "Full" Practice CAT today - lmao

So I just finished taking a MGMAT Cat Exam.  The reason I put "full" in quotes is because I didn't do any RC.  I've seen those passages more times than I would like to admit, so for me to do them would be pointless.  Well maybe not totally pointless because yes I know it would help with stamina and what not, but I knew that I had other things to get to tonight.  But when I say that I literally pressed B for all 12 RC questions... that's exactly what I did!

So what was the outcome you ask?  Well I got a 43 which is not my highest, but I feel good about that 43 for one reason.

3 of the 37 were 500-600 level.  - 0 incorrect
8 of the 37 were 600-700 level. - 3 incorrect
26 of 37 questions were 700-800 level!  - 16 incorrect  :-(

A closure look at the ones I got incorrect tells me the following:
a.)  I need to not be so cocky about Geometry in thinking that I'm a Geometry master and that if I can't immediately see how to solve a geometry question that I can't figure it out.
b.)  need more practice with overlapping sets
c.)  combinations and probability are hopefully topics my tutor and I will go over shortly
d.) Exponents and Roots - not to be so cocky!
e.)  last but not least I need to keep listening to my tutor because he's helping.

Now we're getting to a point where the harder topics (the ones people say you don't need to study) are the topics getting in the way of me scoring 46/47/48.  I also didn't get as much sleep last night as I would have liked to have so I'm 100% sure that played a part in my lower quant score!

This is what I emailed my tutor after I saw my test score:

" need you to kick my butt on Thursday!  Also remind me on Thursday to ask you a question about homework...

November 1st!  I'm starting to feel it in my bones so knock me off my high horse and bring me back to "reality" well your reality...  I'd rather think I don't know how to solve anything and go into the exam over prepared than vice versa."

I don't even think he wanted me to take a full test yet, but I need to do so in order to see where I stood.  I wanted to make sure that my Sentence Correct skills didn't drop to a detrimental level.  I got 4 SC and 4 CR incorrect. and 10 of the RC question incorrect lol.  I guess B was correct for two of the 12 questions.  I was just surprised that I got so little SC incorrect.  Everything seems very promising, but I will NOT let this make my head blow up!  Need to stay humble because otherwise I'll be like "I GOT THIS" and then my Quant section will be full of Number Properties!

Sidenote - As I was writing this post my Tutor responded to my message with:

"will kick your butt on Thursday, don't worry  ;)"

Manhattan GMAT: 45Q score!

I think I've found my threshold...  now the real work begins to try to beat it!  After months and months of studying and having my highest Quant score be a 39 back in March!  I've consistently done better on the Quant side but now I think I've found the threshold I need to surpass.

I've only been taking the Quant sections of the practice CAT exams and here are the results:
45Q - Veritas
39Q - Veritas (I was very tired)
44Q - Veritas
45Q - MGMAT

So the question now becomes - how do I get to that 47/48 level?  I need to start getting more 700-800 level questions correct.  In order to do this, I need to get better at a couple of topics.  Some of the topics my tutor and I have not covered yet, but it's on the upcoming agenda.

So from now until my exam date I'm going to keep my head down... and keep my blinders on!  I feel that I'm so close I can almost taste it!

On the Verbal front - I did another set of 24 RC today and only got 4 wrong.  I'm really focusing on the comparisons made within the passages as well as the modifiers.  That way I don't eliminate answer choices that are out of scope.  It really seems to be helping me!  So again... Blinders!

The Calm b4 the GMAT Storm - 4 DAYS!

So first off... I would like to thank everyone for wishing me good luck on Saturday.  I truly get excited when I check my email and see that I have another post on my blog...keep'em coming!  You guys are definitely helping me through this process!

Kulmiye - your post gave me a slap in the face - much needed i might add.  I need to be confident.  I've realized that I do know what I know.  I know all of the information that will be thrown at me on Saturday regardless of my scores.  Saturday will just come down to me putting it all together.  The ONLY way I'll be able to put the pieces together is by staying calm... I can do this right?  I mean it's just a test with a buncha questions that are worded awkwardly to throw me off?  I just need to see through the matrix.

I did not take the Kaplan exam on Sunday because the moderator guy said that it was not a CAT exam.  I didn't feel that I needed to take 3 hours away from studying, to do a non-cat exam.  So I just did a MGMAT CAT exam instead.  This was the beginning of my short lived depression.  I scored the lowest on this CAT than I had EVER.  The only good thing that came from taking this CAT exam was that I got 12 out of 14 SC corrections right.  I was very thrilled about that.  I proved to myself that I could do SC at the caliber that would be needed to score well on the Verbal section.  Now for the downside.... I think I had been drilling SC so much that I completely underestimated CR, which had been my best section out of all GMAT problems.  Actually that's not true... I have about a 95% hit rate in Geometry, but CR was always one of my highest scoring sections.  Here's a picture of my studying on my deck when I went home this weekend:

I think on that last CAT exam I got 4 CR's correct.  I decided not to read to much into that and just call it an anomaly.  I've realized that I do the best on sections that I'm looking forward too and that I'm calm for.  During one of my MGMAT Cat exams... out of the first 18 questions.. I had 1 sentence correction.  I don't think that will happen on the real exam... at least I hope not... or... maybe I hope so... because I like SC now.  OMG I didn't think the day would ever come where I would say that.  I guess I can say that about the test as a whole... I like trying to figure out the pieces to the puzzle.  Now I see why some people score 750 and try to take the exam again to get 800's.  I don't agree with it... but I can see why they would have that drive.

TEST CENTER DRY RUN 

So I've heard horror stories about people going to the wrong testing center...  not being able to find parking.... etc etc blah blah... so I decided to do a dry run to the test center.  I don't have to worry about parking or anything since I live in NYC.  I'm not even going to take the subway for fear of it breaking down with me on it.  I live in Hells Kitchen (Midtown west(ish)) and my test center is right by Bryant Park.  So on Monday - on my day off.. I was "sick"  ::cough cough::  I decided to time myself and take a walk.

Now I'm sure you guys heard about the bomb scare in Times Square on Saturday.  As a result of the bomb scare I decided to try to avoid Times Square.  Getting blown up on my test date would not be an ideal situation.  So I took a different route and encountered another issue... the issue being.. Mario Lopez filming something... so I had to dig through a crowd of people.  Of course I had to take a picture just to show you guys that I'm not lying.

So I took a couple of pictures and kept it moving...  I got to the Pearson building on 5th avenue and thought... ok that's enough... then I wanted to see what would be required for me to get up to the floor.. all I needed to do was show my ID at the security desk and he said 31st floor.  So I go to the elevator...  go up to the floor... saw the office where I would go... and clocked my time at 35 minutes.  I was walking really slow.  I could easily do that walk in 20 minutes, but I'm not going to be rushing on Saturday.

So that's that... last but not least... and this is my favorite part haha... So last week I got an email from the Kaplan center up the street from me...  Apparently Dartmouth is having an admissions event at the Kaplan Center on Saturday from 11 - 1.  I think it's basically an information session.  I WILL be in attendance.  Yes I know you're asking yourselves "Isn't your exam Saturday?"  Yes it is... So I will wake up around 9:30am... eat breakfast which will probably be Dunkin Donuts - I'm addicted... Then I'll go to this info session until 1... come home... probably go over things like what to do for AWA and stuff like that... then 3:15pm I'll start walking over to the testing center.  

After the exam I will come home... update my blog - MAYBE!  and then I have to hop on a train to go back to Jersey to go out with some friends... either way a drink will be in order.  If you don't see a blog post from me on Saturday you know it didn't go well.  If I do post.. it will just be my score!

OH!  I almost forgot... I'm kinda upset that Avatar isn't rentable on itunes!  I was looking forward to watching that Friday night.  Do you guys have any other ideas?  Nothing serious... 

...and I'm Back

Sorry guys for the absence!  I've been really busy with studying.  I was also going to post my debrief on my HBS visit tonight, but it's not done yet.  I'm typing it up in word first because it's THAT long.  I'll be able to post it tomorrow...  I PROMISE!

So I've been doing a lot of studying lately.  I have 3 weeks to go and it's crunch time!  If you remember waaay back in January, I'm not sure if I posted it, but the night I signed up for my MGMAT class, they were giving away a free 2 hour online workshop to those who attended the seminar that was also occurring that night.  I opted for the 750+ Sentence Correction workshop since that's my weakness.

It went very well.  I learned about breaking down a sentence to it's core.  I know this seems very simple and basic but being able to break down the sentence is one thing.  Knowing how to work with it and evaluate it is another.  The class focused on the latter.  I then did the SC question bank provided by MGMAT in the student center.  I don't think it was a good idea to do the question bank right after the workshop because the workshop focused on advanced topics whereas the question bank did not.

My mind was on that 750 level while trying to answer the questions and I forgot about the basics.  I was trying to use the methods I had just learned for advanced questions to analyze the easier ones.  It didn't turn out so well.  So be warned that if you take that workshop, do not study easy SC corrections right after.  Maybe take an hour off or something to clear your head.

Very short post tonight guys... it's time for me to go to sleep!  I'm trying to get myself into a regular sleeping schedule.  I'm taking medicine for my allergies so that the anti-histamine can build up in my system.  It's been giving me a lot of trouble lately to the point where it's difficult for me to finish exams comfortably....like to the point where I have to go to the bathroom and get myself together for 10 minutes (yes while time is running).

So I've found that proper sleep and medication helps...

G'night

G-Day Scheduled!

I can't sleep right now @ 4am so I decided to update my blog... yes I have work in 5 hours... but I frequently pull all nighter... I'm weird don't worry I know.

Well well everyone... it’s definitely been a while since my last post. I know that I keep saying that every single time that I start a post. oh well you can get over it right? So a lot has transpired since the last time I posted. I'll update you on my weekend:

On Friday I went home to Old Bridge, NJ for a friends Birthday party.  I was at work today and my friend texted me asking if I was coming home for Easter. I said that I wasn’t and he told me there was a party... so when i hear “party” the alcoholism side of my brain immediately asks “Free Alcohol?” So I hopped on the bus and in about 50 minutes I’ll be partaking in some liquid courage - as if I need it. Anyway... back to the issue at hand

For starters... I SCHEDULED MY GMAT EXAM! I officially feel the pressure now... my exam date is May 8th! Now I can officially say that I have a D-Day, instead of speculating. It’s amazing how much pressure one feels once they’ve paid the $250 and have received the confirmation email. For me it was a sigh of relief as well as a rude awakening. The rude awakening was the realization that I’m really in this thing for the long haul. You would have thought that the rude awakening would have come when I enrolled in my MGMAT class, but nope.. that wasn’t it.

I suggest that everyone looking to take the GMAT... you schedule it immediately, even if it’s some time in the future. It’s incredible what happens when there’s a time when you don’t want to study and you remember that there’s a finite number of days left before D-Day! It has definitely helped me focus. Every free second I have, I’m usually studying. Actually that’s a lie... last night I watched Real Housewives of NYC. (I’m Team Jill...if anyone cares).

Also this past week, I sent out thank you emails to everyone I spoke to and met at Tuck. it took me about 2 hours to do so. I met so many people and I know that they all talk to each other and I didn’t want to send them the same email. Now it might be selfish of me to think that they would really want to talk about me, because I’m sure they get a lot of students like me up there every day. But hey you never know right? Plus I want to keep the line of communication open between us, so I wanted to make the emails personal. The admissions committee member that I spoke too didn’t receive an email. i went across the street from my job to Sam Flax.... bought stationary and cards and hand wrote a short thank you letter to her. It’s definitely early in the process so I doubt she’d remember me, but again... you never know.

On Saturday I hopped back on the bus back to NYC.  I was itching to go out and party but remembered that my exam date is right around the corner.  I ended up doing 20 SC problems and then falling asleep!  I guess I was just that exhausted from the night before.

On Sunday I woke up really late... I dunno what's going on with my body.. maybe I'm getting sick - I'm not sure.  When I woke up I did 34 Critical reasoning questions timed and 20 more SC timed.

Maybe I should explain my schedule for the next 2 weeks.

Sunday - SC and 17 CR questions from the Official Guide
Mondays - 2 questions in every single chapter  in the MGMAT Quant study guides, then review
Tuesdays - 20 SC and 17 CR questions from the Official Guide
Wednesdays - 2 questions in every single chapter  in the MGMAT Quant study guides, then review
Thursdays - 20 SC and 17 CR questions from the Official Guide
Fridays - 2 questions in every single chapter  in the MGMAT Quant study guides, then review
Saturday - Practice Exam & review all practice exams

I haven't figured out what to do before the two weeks that I tackle the GMAT Verbal Review & GMAT Quant review guides.  I'm going to ask my friend Brandon (Osirus) what he thinks I should do.  He took the Veritas verbal course, so I think he'll have some words of wisdom for me.  Right now I'm thinking that I should do the SC 1000, since that's my weakness - CR used to be my weakness, but my hit rate is increasing.  My goal for my next practice exam is to get above 40 in verbal.  My highest score thus far is 35, after three exams, because I had been focusing on Quant.

Getting the hang of studying!

So I think I'm finally getting the hang of this studying thing... I know took my long enough right?  My last MGMAT class is next week!  ahaha... but maybe after my venting session during my last post, just maybe THAT'S the reason why I'm getting the hang of it now.

I am no longer intimidated by different types of questions.  Now every time I finish a topic in one of the study guides.  I redo the couple of questions that I got wrong on whichever topics I covered that night.  It's a big confidence booster being able to immediately answer the questions correctly.  Now yes of course there isn't a time constraint, and I've seen the problem already (not that I remember them) but it's good to know that the questions I saw previously... no longer trick me.

What is concerning though is the fact that I haven't tackled any of the "advanced" chapters in any of the study guides.  But you know what?!?  I'll get there... I'm optimistic.

My 30 day game- plan starts soon.  I think G-Day (GMAT Day) will be May 1st.  If I give myself a deadline I'll be able to work towards it.

That's it for tonight... short and sweet... I have a long day tomorrow...gotta get some sleep.  BTW I KILLED the geometry study guide!  Just need to go through coordinate geometry again, but other than that... yeah I got it...

l8er

Finally...Geometry! *See Disclaimer

Well it's been a while!

Geometry
So today I finally looked at the syllabus for my MGMAT class and saw... GEOMETRY!  This is probably my favorite topic in all of the Quant topics.  Unfortunately, I don't anticipate seeing many geometry problems on the exam.  For some reason these just aren't tested as much as number properties and the like.  Damn GMAT makers... can't make my life easy can they?

So I only did 2 chapters in the Geometry study guide tonight.  The two chapters were Polygons and Triangles.  Out of the 30 or so MGMAT problems, I got 2 wrong.  Now I know these are easy topics but I didn't even struggle or have to go back and look in the chapter to see formulas or anything.  Now I will say that last summer I bought a geometry book and went through half of it so that definitely has something to do with it.  But I don't know... geometry is fun to me.  Which is where the disclaimer comes in and might be my achilles heel.  (sidenote - I've used that achilles heel analogy twice today along with "work me over" - don't ask)

*If by some chance I encounter a Geometry problem that is uber difficult, I may want to spend too much time on it, thinking I can solve it.  After my MGMAT class it won't make too much sense for me to spend TOO much time going over geometry problems because there are more important topics that I will DEFINITELY see.


Studying

After talking to my GMAT junkie friend Brandon - you guys know him as Osirus, I've developed a plan for my post MGMAT studying.  I need/want to take a practice CAT Exam every weekend up until I take my test.  I'm going to start this regimen the Sunday after my visit to Dartmouth Tuck (2 weeks baby!)

I've realized that the way the MGMAT class is taught is the opposite of the way that I would learn the material the best.  For example:

MGMAT way to teach Quant topics is for us to:

Go through the Study Guide material... Go to class and learn the study guide...go home and do Official Guide problems

My ideal way to learn Quant topics is to:

Go to class and learn the study guide material ...go home and go through the study guide... do Official Guide problems

MGMAT way to teach Verbal topics is for us to:

Go to class and learn the study guide material...go home and go through the study guide...do Official Guide problems

My ideal way to learn Verbal topics is to:

Go through the study guide material...go to class and learn the study guide material...go home and do Official Guide problems.

Combinatorics


So for those of you who don't know - which is probably everyone - I play in our corporate volleyball league.  We were undefeated for a while until we had an addition to our team as some other people stopped showing up.  I quickly learned that there are specifically two people on the team who cannot be near each other in the rotation because...well...  "You are the weakest link... Good Bye."  I was sitting at my computer at work the other day and I thought of a combinatorics questions...how nerdy right?  So here's the question:


There are 8 players on a volleyball game.  6 players are allowed on the court at one time.  2 players cannot be by each other in the rotation.  How many different ways are there to start off the game?


Now I will say that we had another game tonight, and low and behold, no one listened to their Co-Captain = Yours Truly, and they allowed the two weakest links to be near each other... and we lost 2 of the three matches.  I will admit that I started overstepping my "coverage area" in the last match because I can't stand losing and when it comes down to it I'm going to get the ball over the net more often than some others.  Just look at the stats.

My friends are still waiting on HBS and Stanford.... BUT i found out that one of my friends was accepted to Michigan Ross.  Phenomenal!

That's all Folks!

Hi Front Desk...Can I Have a Wake Up Call?

So I took my second CAT exam on Saturday and got a worse score than the first time. I'm definitely disappointed in myself but upon further analysis it isn't as bad as it seems. Here is the reason:

QUANT - Spent 8 MINUTES on one question because I KNEW i could get it... really 8 minutes? I should definitely take my own advice. I also spent 4 minutes on another question... stupidest moves ever right?!? yes I know... I did well on the topics that we've covered in my prep class up until this point. Only missed 2 of those topics - it was all of the topics that we haven't covered yet that gave me trouble. But during the exam there were simple things that I knew I would be able to answer because they were not hard at all. Also if I wasn't rushing through the last half of the exam I would have done much better. Even still I increased my Quant score which was hella (for you west coast folks) surprising!

Verbal - Not sure what went wrong here to be honest. I thought I was doing well, but upon looking at the topics that I got wrong, again they were topics not covered before. So I got questions wrong in succession which hurts your score more. I will also admit that I ran out of steam towards the end.

So with that being said.. I did better in Quant and worse in Verbal... this was definitely the wake up call that I needed... I will be rededicating myself to this exam!

Bad News Bears...

Greetings Fellow whoever reads this...

So the other day I said that I would have a good post for (yesterday).  I forgot why I said that.  I wonder if I had some epiphany to update you guys on.  Maybe it will come back to me as I write tonight.

So first the Good News Bears... then the Bad News Bears...

Good News:  I'm putting the pieces together for my trip up to visit Dartmouth Tuck (which may not even be a reality anyway...will get to this later).  So initially I was planning on taking the bus up to Hanover on Thursday 3/25.  I would get up to campus around 8pm... check into my hotel... study in the hotel and get ready for the next day.  The next day I planned on attending a class, having lunch with Tuckies, touring the campus, and attending an Admissions q&a.  I would then hopefully talk with some students who weren't busy and then head back to my hotel, to be up early the next morning to catch the bus back to the city at 6:30am.

I wanted to reach out to some current students first to meet them for coffee while I was up there and pick their brains.  I emailed a member of the Gay/Straight alliance and a Fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies.  Both responded within 24 hours, which is more than I can say for other schools.  I spoke with the member of GSA last night and although she won't be around when I'm visiting, she said she would definitely make sure that I met some members and got to speak with them.  So that right in and of itself is amazing!

Like I said, I also reached out to a Fellow at the Center for Digital Strategies... he told me that on the 25th there is going to be a speaker.  He said that if I was sure to reach out to him again that it would be great if I could sit in on the event..  So of course at this point I'm jumping up and down inside.  There was one problem though... I wouldn't get up to Hanover until the 25th @ 8pm.  So what do I do?  well... easy...  extended my stay an extra day.  So now I will get up to Hanover on the 24th at 8pm... study in the hotel... go to the event on the 25th.. hopefully set up a line of meet and greets and coffee drinking.  I don't even like coffee anymore...so maybe I'll drink tea.  Then on the 26th I'll do all of the visitor(y) things and end my weekend the same as planned.

So that's the Good News Bears... the reason why all this may not even matter is below:

Today I studied modifiers... definitely not a fan.  A lot of them I can get but then they throw in Which and That and I say "Oh crap" and can't remember the rules for using them.  I think that is used when the modifier is necessary and which is used when it's non-essential.  I could just pick up my book and figure it out, but it's on the floor and I'm in my bed.

My list of things to review is growing longer than the list of things that I know.  This is very concerning and disheartening to be honest.  I'm hitting a wall and I'm not a fan.  I won't say that I thought this would be an easy process, but I thought I would be able to retain more information than I have.  I'm on information overload and none of it is straightening out in my head.  Frustrating = YES!

You see I'm the type of person that needs to do problems over and over again.  Sure I'll get frustrated when I don't get the answer right the first or second time, but I'm pretty solid at recalling processes after that.  The way the information is provided in my MGMAT class may not be the most conducive way for me to retain information.  I'm also beginning to think that the class isn't meant for material to be retained immediately.  I believe it's to present the information you will need to know to do well on the exam, and then when you do your month of self study post-class you'll know all of the tricks.  I've recently come to terms with this set up but it's beginning to frighten me.

I'm starting to doubt myself.  Will I be able to score a 710+ on this exam?  If so... what will it take?  If someone can tell me this information I'll be eternally grateful!  I think what I need is for this class to be over asap... and then I need to be able to make my one month calendar/study plan and stick to that.  It's going to have to be a realistic study plan WITH breaks dispersed throughout.

I will be taking my second MGMAT CAT exam on Saturday.  As much trouble as I've been having lately, I think I need this test to validate my studying, with an increased score.  You know how sometimes you've been in a bubble that you need a dose of reality to show you have you've been doing? Well yeah... that's where I am now...

My goal for this next CAT is 630.  That will be a 40 point increase since the first exam.  Tomorrow I need to skim through everything I've done up until this point and go through my notecards again.  Just to refresh my memory.

I don't have any more updates from my friends... but once I hear something I will let you all know!  ::sigh::  this is taking the energy out of me like it's nobody's business!  I need to get break 700 or I think my chances will be very very slim for any of these top schools.

sidnote - it looks like HBS is creeping up on Tuck in my poll!

5 Star notebooks are how much?!?!

::sigh::  HELLO EVERYONE!!!  and i'm back in full effect!  I wanted to get back on here and give everyone an update... just gonna hop right into it as this may be long...

Ok so... I've had my third MGMAT class.  One thing I want to say about the class is that there is a TTTOONNN of readings and homework.  For the last class I actually did the wrong Quant Guide.  Each class we have to have an entire Quant guide completed.  This week it was supposed to be Equations, Inequalities, and VIC's.  I accidentally did Fractions, Decimals, and Percents which isn't due for another 3 weeks!!  Oh well... luckily I understand equations and VICs, so I didn't have a problem understanding during class.  I did tell myself that I would go through the guide I missed this weekend... and I did!

If I wanted to stay busy for 5 hours a day for three months, I definitely could.  I still put in about 2-3 hours/night.  Today I actually woke up at 10:30 and was studying by 12.  Fell asleep studying from 4-5:30 then studied from about 6-8.  Had to watch the olympics because Apolo Ohno was racing... so I did some CR (Critical Reasoning) chapters while watching the olympics....  Now that I think about it.. maybe THAT'S why I don't fully understand CR Diagramming!  Actually no, I just don't like it... but I will give it a chance.

Anyway, after some speed skating and skiing, I decided to read some chapters in the SC (Sentence correction guide).  I'm beginning to like sentence correction - FINALLY...  but my Quant skills are slipping I think.  That'll come back to me with repetition.

I went to the John Jay bookstore (i live down the street from it) to buy some notebooks.  I want to do the OG problems tomorrow but I want to keep them separate.  I bought two notebooks... a 5 subject notebook and 1 subject notebook... $17.98!!!!  WTF?!?!  Now I remember trapper keepers being about $6 when I was in kindergarten... but when I was in HS notebooks were like $3.99 or something like that...  I gagged when i saw the price, but I had no other option!

Tomorrow I plan on doing all of the OG questions that we are supposed to have completed up until this point.  I was thinking about saving the OG problems until after the class, because that's what a lot of people are doing, but I figured... if this is what's recommended... who am I to tell people who have scored in the 99th % - no I don't think your strategy works for me!  Pssshhh..

Ok lemme see what else is going on?  Oh so on Friday I had a half day at work.  Anytime we have a day off we get the former previous day as a half day.  Since I don't have work on Presidents Day I had off on Friday.  I met up with someone I met at an NYU marketing event/conference back in October.  Most of the people I met that day were applying for 2010 and I'm applying for 2011, so I guess I was more laid back in that I wasn't trying to suck up to the admissions committee.

In any event... So I met up with him at Redemption on 52nd & 2nd avenue at 4:15... it was good to catch up with him... we had been emailing back and forth ever since we met, but he had to be left alone because he was applying R2 (round 2) to Wharton, Harvard, Columbia, NYU, and UVA Darden.  Since he's done with the applications we decided it was a good time to meet up.  I'll be MIA to my friends come March because that's gonna be crunch time for me.

He too is in digital marketing for a national retailer so aside from talking about B-school stuff and GMAT stuff we were also able to compare notes on our jobs.  He has an interview at Wharton & Darden next week!  I wish him the best of luck!!!   So yeah... I got there at 4:15 and we left at 7 and only had 4 beers each - I had Stella (yum)...  but I was definitely feeling the alcohol after 3 hours.

I also got an update from a kid that I went to High School with who also applied to schools this year.  He applied to Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, MIT Sloan, and Dartmouth.  He got rejected from the big three (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton), but was accepted to Sloan and is waiting to hear back from Dartmouth.  I'm sure he'll get into Dartmouth because his profile is really good and he went to Dartmouth for undergrad.  I do think that he'll choose MIT over Dartmouth though...

So the big news this week is that I'M GOING TO YALE!!!  I have no idea what I'm going to wear though...  suit with a shirt?  do i wear a tie?  cufflinks?  how about jsut a sweater underneath?  i'm going on a Campus Tour... Sit in on 2 classes... and then there's an Admissions q&a... i gotta remember to bring my notebook. and ask the question - if you had to describe 3 things adjectives that describe Yale, what would they be?

I will upload all my pictures to the blog when I get back home... actually right now I should be researching train schedules and what not!  yeah lemme go do that ahaha!

Here are the standings from the contest...  there are 9 days left... let's see where I end up!

Until tomorrow!  xoxo

Humbling first Prep Class

First Order of Business that I'd like to address is this GMAT Giveaway contest.  I've consistently been in 3rd, but yesterday I made it to 2nd... only to be pushed back down to 3rd today.

I'M MONEY9111 BTW

So I had my first MGMAT class today...and it was a very humbling experience to say the least. I was very excited to officially get this process started. I consider today the official day of my GMAT prep - even though it's been months and months, preparing for the class.

My class was from 6:30 -> 9:30. It didn't feel long or drawn out either, which was never a fear... but was a concern. There were were about 16-18 students in the class = very diverse bunch. I cant remember how many sets of 2 tables are on the other side of the room.

Tonight we went over the basic GMAT review... and tackled DS...I thought I had prepared well enough hat I would be able to tackle basic DS questions, but that was false. I definitely underestimated DS.

Now I heard that there would be a lot of work... but I didn't realize how much work. The syllabus is available online but it does not give you a sense of how much work there is. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining at all... I'm actually thrilled because I'm willing to put in the time.

Also, I didn't realize how much additional material was available online... ie. hour long topical Lab videos (at least I think they're videos)... They're definitely going to be a great resource. I also get 30 minutes a week of online office hours w/ phone. You just have to sign up online... I'm definitely going to use this as well, because an hour of "tutoring" is quite pricey post-exam. 


The teacher is very good. Very energetic... i don't know if I could personally be 'ON' for three hours teaching this stuff.. but I suppose that's why they get paid the big bucks. If the initial explanations are tough to understand, they're broken down from another angle.

Like I said, we went over DS today, which as we all know is tricky. Everyone has their own mental process in approaching these problems. There was a situation where one person was thinking of an answer from one angle, and someone else the complete opposite from another angle. The teacher was able to get everyone on the same page, by realizing how each person arrived at their answers (one right and one wrong, but neither understood why they were right or wrong). Just this skill alone.. compared to another prep company I checked out would have sealed the deal for me. I think another teacher would not have been able to recognize the students' though processes and would have simply said "no... this is how you're supposed to do it."

Another thing about the class that I like is that, it's not all just a PPT. Sure the basic material and problems are in the PPT, but when working them out they're done on the board. I'm not sure how other prep classes do this but it's very effective.

If anyone would like to know who I am taking a class with.. send me a PM.. just don't want to post the name up here. It was the first class, so I'm sure people need to warm up and feel comfortable enough to ask more questions. Not I though, I don't care haha if I'm not getting something... might as well ask = get my monies worth! 


Hot to Trot!

5'9 isn't short... or is it?

Hello Again Everyone!

I'm just going to jump right into it tonight....  here is the leaderboard:

I don't believe I updated you on my Friday and Saturday evenings...  well I stayed in.  I only left my apartment to get food...  I wanted to study all weekend, knowing that I had to take my first Manhattan GMAT (MGMAT) practice exam today.

My goal was a 600... now to refresh your memories, my ultimate GMAT score is a 710.  Yes I bumped it up from a 700, because with my luck if I aim for a 700 I'll get a 690 and start cursing in the testing center..

I'll get to how I did in a second...  the book that I was going through this weekend was the PowerScore Critical reasoning Bible.  My goal was to get through this book before Tuesday, because that's when my Class starts, but in order to do so, I would have to get through 150 pages tomorrow night.  I can tell you right now that that's not going to happen.  I underestimated the time it takes to get through Critical reasoning.  I find myself having to take more breaks while going through this book.  It's mentally draining.

For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about... Critical Reasoning gives you a paragraph.. and you have to answer a question based on the information given... so a question could look like the one below with 5 answer choices that follow:

Each of the following, if true, would help to resolve the apparent discrepancy above EXCEPT:

So you can see how after reading a couple chapters of language like this... you can develop a severe headache.  But yeah so that was my weekend...

So like I said previously... I took my first practice exam today...  my goal was a 600 and I got a 590.  This is where the title comes from get it?  haha  5'9 = 590...  so this goes back to why I increased my target to 710.. this seems to be the case with me.. always ending up SHORT on exams.  Even the SAT's... my goal was a 1300 and I got a 1280.

I was pleasantly surprised with the 590 because during the exam, I felt like I was getting every single question wrong.  As you know from this blog, the last month or so has been dedicated to the Verbal section.  I know that I'll be able to increase my Quant score once I begin seeing the questions again.  I was nervous for Verbal and wanted to focus on that.  Turns out I surprised myself, because my split was the same 37/37.  If I get this split in April I'll be devastated... but it's only January and it was my first CAT (computer adaptive test) ever.

At first I was thinking about not taking it... because I didn't think I was prepared, but then I remember that people say to get the first one over with, so you know how much work you have ahead of you.  Well this was good advice.  I now know that this road is going to be long and arduous.  That's alright though... I can do it!  The kind people over at MGMAT recommend that you come into the first class having completed one of the CAT exams, to establish your baseline.  So to that I say... CHECK

My MGMAT class begins on Tuesday - I've done all of the preparation that I can do for now... I'll see how much homework I get from the class before deciding whether or not I'll continue through the PowerScore CR Bible in conjunction with the class.  I may hold off until afterwards...

It's 9 weeks, so this is when my life becomes non-existant.  I have a lot of work to do before this exam.

I thought I had more to say... but I guess not!  Until next time...  love, peace, and happiness
Notecard Count = 129 (notecard count was 117... so I added 12 from tonight which is a 10% notecard increase)