ANOTHER FRIEND ACCEPTED TO MICHIGAN!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MY FRIEND WHO WAS JUST ACCEPTED TO MICHIGAN!!!  I mean..  he was also accepted to about 5 other schools, so at that point do you even get excited any more?!?  Just Kidding!!  Of course you do!

CONGRATS AGAIN 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.

Michigan Ross Visit! Days 1,2,3 and 4

So I’m back from MIchigan now and had a wonderful trip!  I’m going to write this debrief on the bus home from work and I have about 30 minutes to do so.  Once I get home I need to finish an essay as well as do some GMAT studying.  So yeah, it’s GO time!

Thursday - I got to A2 around 8pm and hopped in a cab from the airport to my friend’s friend’s apartment.  I stayed there for the night because my friend whose apartment I was supposed to stay at was not feeling well and he had to get up early in the morning for an interview.  It all worked out in the end because I got to meet more people!  You guys know how much I love to do that.  So yeah we hung out at his apartment and walked over to his friends house in the same development.  She too is a 2nd year student at Ross and was working on this very cool project since she’s a member of Tauber.  My host for the night interned at Amazon and I mentioned that I knew someone from Tuck who also interned at Amazon.  Of course it turns out that they know one another.  Small world huh?

Friday - woke up early, showered, shaved, blah blah...Then went to campus for a 9:30 start.  There were about 15 prospectives in the room in the Ross building.  I might as well stop now and explain this building - exquisite.  I beleive they said it was completed in 2009 and it definitely shows.  Look at pictures of it online and then multiply your vision by 3 and that’s what it actually feels like to be in the building.  It’s much different from another school I visited in New England.  I decided to say it like that because yeah, there are three schools I’ve visited in New England so you won’t know which one I’m referring too.  

Anyway so the first thing on the agenda was a Q&A with current students.  I knew both of the students on the panel since I met them at the Reaching Out conference.  I didn’t ask any questions but rather just let others ask their questions.  I did take some notes though.  After that Q&A session we went on a campus tour.  I should say building tour, because I guess the only school I’ve visited that has a “campus” per se is HBS.  Not much to say here about the campus tour except there are multiple floors, multiple class rooms, a gym that looks like an Equinox, and a really nice auditorium.

After the campus tour was an hour long session with the Office of Career Development.  Not much new information here given the fact that I’ve sat through so many of those sessions at each school.  But what did strike me as important is the sheer number of recruiters that recruit at Ross.  Of course it’s a top b-school, so you’ll get many recruiters, but I don’t think many people understand how many.  Ross had the most summer interns at Amazon.com at 20 interns, and in 2nd place was Dartmouth with 7 interns, so Ross is phenomenal for recruiting purposes, at least that’s the sense I was left with.

After the OCD session it was time to have lunch with current students.  Well one of the students was my host the prior night and the other student was someone whom I met at Reaching Out and then kept in touch with up until that point, so it was fine and dandy with me.  I think lunch went for about an hour and then that was it for the day.  So then I went back to my host’s apartment and we watched a movie and I fell asleep on the couch.  He had to go to a dinner and I was still waiting for my origina host/friend to get back from his event for the day, so I told my host that my friend lived in the same apartment building as another guy and he immediately knew who he was and called him up to see if I could hang out there until my friend got back.  Of course the other student said yes, I think he knew I was in town, and my host drove me over to his apartment. We chatted it up a bit and I worked on some essays while he did some school work.  Then my friend came home and I walked across the hall and plopped down on his couch.

At this point for him it wasn’t like “phew... the day is done.. what shall we do?”  It was more like... “Phew... I’m home... now I have to call this person to get some information on this company I’m recruiting for.”  So I didn’t want to impose so I just threw on my headphones and watched an episode of the Office on Hulu.  When 1st years say that they are incredibly busy 24/7....THEY ARE NOT KIDDING!  They are always doing something or emailing someone.

After my friend was done with his phone call we went to grab a bite to eat in town, which was very cute.  It was obviously larger than Hanover, and I imagine it’s smaller than New Haven CT, but I could be mistaken.  At least the downtown area...  But yeah so at dinner I got a different feeling for my surroundings.  I didn’t feel like I was in a young college town with a bunch of undergrads.  It felt like a mature but young... grad school/post grad school feeling.  I don’t know how to describe it, but I could definitely see myself there for two years.  Much different feeling from Ithaca, NY.  MUCH!

After dinner my friend and I walked over to a bar where a couple guys were hanging out drinking and then we took a cab back to his place.  Since he had an early flight in the morning and I didn’t want to wake him up if I stayed out, I told him that I would stay at someone elses apartment that night if I had his keys.  Since it was Friday and I had no set agenda for the rest of the weekend, I definitely wanted to go out to a gay bar to see what that was like in Ann Arbor.  I met back up with those other students and had a dirty martini at Black Pearl.  Then I got a text from my other friend whom I met at Yale back in February that he was around the block.  So since I hadn’t seen him since that visit, although we speak on gchat quite frequently, I met up with him after my friends and I left that other bar and were on our way to Necto.  

It was great to see him again and hear about his b-school experiences thus far.  His friend had just gotten into town so they were shooting the sh_t too.  It was funny because my friend went to Columbia and now goes to Ross and my other friend (1 of the students I had lunch with/same person I was at the bar with) went to Columbia and goes to Ross.  Even though they were at Columbia two different times, I figured I should introduce them, but as I was telling my friend this his friend was like “wait what’s your friends name?”  I told him his name and he said “I know him!  We did a project together... etc etc”  It was just random... how am I in Michigan visiting the b-school and making connections introducing people to one another?  But then I realized... This is how my life usually goes!!

So after I spent some time with them it was time for me to go dance.  I walked to the bar to meet up with the other group of people and a bunch of students who are part of the LGBT club.  Needless to say there was lots of Lady Gaga....Alcohol...and fun times had by all.  I ended up being able to stay at a students apartment who lived in the same complex as my friend  but who I hadn’t met until that night.  Granted everyone was so gracious when I was out there, and I was just making new friends all over the place. 

In the morning I went tailgating!  It was actually my friend collegiate tailgating experience.  Yes yes, I went to Rutgers which is a Division I-A school, but remember, I was a cheerleader in college so there was definitely no drinking before football games!  We were practicing!  So I figured.... why not have my first tailgating experience be a big one... Michigan’s last home game!   While tailgaiting I had a chance to introduce my friends who went to Columbia to one another.  It’s funny because they both have the same first name.  I think they both read this too so they’re either smiling right now or saying to themselves “he’s so random.”  

In any event, yeah... hhmmm..  oh... After tailgating I went over to a 2nd years house.  I actually met her the first night that I was there because she was at my first host’s friend’s house.  I know that’s tough to follow, but think about it slowly and you’ll get it!  So yeah it was great speaking to her because she’s very easy to talk to and was telling me about her experience with recruiting and things like that.  She’s going into brand management, and since that’s something I’m considering it was good to get an insiders perspective.  She gave me a ton of great insight!  a TON!

Ok gotta go.... time to get off the bus!

Ok 12 hours later and I’m back... it’s the morning and I’m back on the bus on my way to work!  Literally 12 hours hahaha.. I got off the bus at 7:37pm and it’s now 7:37am!  In any event let me continue my story.

So yeah the 2nd year student gave me a ton of great insight.  Then she drove me to my friends house, the original persons house I was going to be staying at.  Funny that I went to Michigan with the intention of staying at his place all weekend, but ended up staying there once, which goes to show how accomodating the Ross students I met are!

I took a nap and watched some tv while editing my essays and then called an old childhood friend whom I used to do gymnastics with.  He went to Michigan for undergrad and still lives in Ann Arbor, so since I hadn’t seen him in like 7 years and I was his in town, it would be a good time for us to catch up again.  We went to get dinner at Applebees.  After that I went back home to vegitate.

I spent the whole night on the couch and got some sleep.  Then in the morning I got a text message from one of the students I was hanging out with all weekend, asking if I wanted to get breakfast.  He picked me up and we went to a dinner not to far from my friends apartment.  His friend was with him so we all had a nice conversation.  

I urge everyone to visit schools but more importantly reach out to current students and be their shadow as much as you can without imposing too much.  I learn more about the school from simply listening to the students talk to one another than attending school events.  

While we were sitting at the diner, I noticed someone else who looked familiar to me but not from this MBA process but rather from my senior year in college in 2003/2004!  There was a guy sitting at a table not too far from me who looked very familiar and then I realized that he lived in my dorm at Rutgers my senior year!!  I couldn’t remember his name, so I called my college roommate to ask him and he told me what the guys name was.  So after we finished eating I went over to him and asking him probing questions to see if it was indeed him and low and behold...it was!  Now THAT was random!

So really quick... the end to my trip is that my childhood friend was kind enough to drive me to the airport so I didn’t have to spend $50 on a cab and then I got home!  That’s it hahaha.

Not Repeating in Essays is an Art

I'm going to call out the most appropriate title of an MBA Consultant out there.  No she is not the one I am using nor did she ask me to say this, but the title of her company is ON POINT!  Kaneisha Grayson hit the nail on the head by using the title "The Art of Applying."  I could not agree more and there is definitely an art to applying to business school, and yes I'm sure law school as well and every other masters program.

In any event, what I'm struggling with right now is figuring out what I want to include in my essays that I did not include in my interview, or even if what I included in my interview will make it to the admissions committee table.  I wish someone would shed some light on how much information from the interview actually makes it into ones file, because yes you go through your resume, but if you interview correctly you add so much more context.  Then all of the schools say "We want a holistic view of the applicant, so you don't want to just regurgitate your resume or something you said in your interview."  But how do I know that something I said "in passing" while getting to another point will actually make it into my file?  So should I include that in my essay but in more depth?

I know in my interview I touched on a lot of things because it was a very conversational interview.  Now while writing my essays (I've done 3 first drafts tonight) I'm finding it hard to "tip toe" around topics that are very important.  This is the hardest with my video essay for Tuck, because there are so many things I want to say, but just don't have the time.  I literally do not have the time... I have 90 seconds!

In any event, I'll figure it out and will see what my reviewer say.

On that note, I have to begin packing!  I'm off to visit Michigan tomorrow!  My flight is at 6pm from LaGuardia, so I'll probably leave work at 3:45 and then by 8pm I'll be in Detroit headed to A2 (Ann Arbor).  I've been emailing back and forth with my friends there and they are patiently waiting my arrival!  Excuse me.. that's a lie.. they are recruiting and interviewing and symposium(ing), but with it being Thursday and all, I know that they don't have classes and some are up for showing me the town.

It won't be a late night because I have to be up and at'em early in the AM for the start of the LGBT preview events.  But... Friday night... I make no promises!

Until next time!  Peace playa!

MBA process @ a Loss for Words

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5 - Working with my tutor on Monday!

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

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

MBA Tour in NYC was a success by my standards!

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

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

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

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

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

Enjoy the rest of your days!!!!

Michigan Ross to be considered

Hello everyone... so tonight I had my whole night planned out.  I was going to get home from work... work on Critical Reasoning... then work on an essay... then do some Quant problems.  Well true to form, whenever I plan out my night it doesn't go as planned - in a good way though!

So before I left work and was pinged by a friend who will be attending Ross this year.  Monday he will officially be considered a 1st year...at least by me.  I've spoken about him before... he's one of the people I met during my Yale visit in the train station.  No not Jonathan... Jonathan is in Spain right now on a Ross trek.  But anyway... I met this person back in what February?  We kept in touch since then and even though he too is in NYC, we were never able to coordinate a time to meet up.

He's back from vacation now and is packing up his life here in NYC to ship it to Ann Arbor.  Right before I left work we made plans to meet up for dinner.  If you've never been to Blue Ginger on 16th st, I suggest you go.  It was quite tasty.  He doesn't know that I'm writing this post about him but I'll alert him to it tomorrow.  I won't write anything incriminating though!

So we talked about everything about business school.  What really struck me was his excitement about Ross.  For me, one of the things that attracts me to a school is how the current students feel about it.  To see his excitement was contagious and makes me want to get out there sooner than later to visit Ross.  It just says a lot about a program when someone who hasn't even started classes yet, is beaming with love for the program already.  I told him that Ross was definitely on my list of schools to consider.  I don't know when I'll be able to get out there to visit though.

From what I hear their new building is very very technologically advanced.  I'd love to see/experience it!  I'm going to pick the brain of my new coworker who is a Ross MBA grad and see what she has to say about her experience.

I think I'm going to slow down my research activity so that I can focus on this exam.  Tonight I did some more CR and found myself over thinking things and talking myself out of the correct answers.  I would have had a higher hit rate had I not done that.  So tomorrow I will be cautious about it.  The reassuring thing - if you want to call it that - is that out of the answers I got incorrect 75% of them I had gotten down to 2 answers.  So I know how to eliminate answers it's just that lassst hump that I need to get better at identifying but I'm confident that if I stick to what Charles (my tutor) says then I believe I'll be good to go.  At this point it's about remaining consistent with my studying.

I'm still not taking any phone calls and let me tell you.... IT'S INCREDIBLY HELPFUL.  My facebook page is filled with "Hey... what's up with your phone?"  or when I sign onto AIM people say "Where have you been?" They're starting to realize how much this means to me.  I will probably go out one day this weekend because I need it.  Or maybe I'll tell myself that if I get 21/25 CR questions correct I can go out this weekend.  That'll be my reward.

I have a guest blogger lined up for my 10,000th visitor.  Right now I'm at 9,402 so it should be soon.  It's going to be a really good post I'm looking forward to it.

Two last things:
1.)  Did anyone see anything odd about the Yale SOM class profile?  ::tapping foot:: I'm waiting....
2.)  Since I'm going to be updating frequently, I'm going to always include links from my Google reader that I find interesting and helpful.  I didn't see anything that caught my eye today though.

I'm going to go re do some quant problems that I swear are incorrect :-)

T T T T Thats all folks!!!

B-School Journey Progress

Te Amo Google Images!  :-)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Go here to find out more:  Reaching Out Conference

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

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

Thanks for reading please come again!  

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

Kaplan: Destination Business School

Hello All,

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

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

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

Saturday August 7th

10:00 - 10:30 = Kick-Off

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

12:00 - 1:00   = Working Lunch

1:00   -  4:30  = MBA Fair

Evening -       = Happy Hour  ( must contain myself haha) 

Sunday August 8th

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

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

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

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

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

3:30 - 4:00 = Closing

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

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

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

2.) Practice our Pitch

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

3.) Make a list of target schools.

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

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

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

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

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

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

BATTLE-BAXTER = OUT!!

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!

510 GMAT Admitted to HBS!

Hola!  So I was reading an article that came through my Google reader the other day.  What caught my eye was that the:

Preliminary Class of 2012 at HBS: GMAT range was 510-790!

Full Profile:  http://bit.ly/HBS2012Profile

Granted the mean GMAT was a 724 but I just thought it was great to see that yes GMAT isn't everything.  I'm sure this person had a very compelling application or has been to space! J/K I'm sure it's very very well deserved!

Anyway - I found that to be very interesting and I thought I would share with you folks!  Back to what's going on in my GMAT world...

So today I finally cracked open the Veritas CR book again.  I'll be honest in that I was apprehensive about tackling CR again.  When I took the class last month we were doing more advanced CR problems and they were throwing me for a loop.  I guess I got discouraged with it, but I know that with this test... if you have a weakness you cannot let it get the best of you otherwise the test will!

So tonight I went through the end of the Geometry guide.  I must admit that some of them stumped me.  There was one question asking about something shaped like a Toblerone box... you know... not quite a cylinder or a rectangular box... yeah they threw in a triangular shaped figure and wanted me to find out the area of the triangle or something like that... I didn't know the formula so I gave up on that one.  When I looked at the explanation it looked pretty standard!

Michigan Ross?

Let's see.. let's see.. what else is going on in my world?  Oh.. I signed up to attend a Michigan Ross information session at the Kaplan center here in NY on 7/19.  I'm kind of excited to go... but I get excited about going to any information session.  I'm interested in Ross for a couple reasons.  My two new friends 

(Remember back to when I started talking to the kids in the train station after our Yale SOM visit - Here's the link to that Blogpost: http://bit.ly/YaleSOMVisit) 

In any event... they're both going to Ross and they keep telling me that I would love it and that I should visit.  I did some research into the curriculum and what not and the main takeaway is that my favorite color is Blue, so I can see myself there for two years.  Of course you guys will get an update on how it goes...  

That's all she wrote tonight!