First Round Schools

Instead of insanely surfing through BW forums, hoping and praying that I find out if my stats are good enough to actually land me a spot in one of the schools I so desperately want to go to. All I know right now is that I want to high-tail out of New York City as soon as possible and get started on my cosmetics company. Everyone has said to stay away from the BW Forum, supposedly it freaks you out for no reason. Yeah, no kidding!

I had no idea I would even be applying this year. I was on vacation in Atlanta (or HOTlanta as some people call it) with my friend, and was scheduled to take the GMAT the day I got back. It was just a "let me see how I do" sort of thing. I had been studying for 3 weeks and was seriously debating on whether or not to take a Kaplan or Princeton Review GMAT course. Then, instead of dropping a few grand on a course, I figured I should actually see how I do. Well I did well! .. and the next thing I know, I'm applying to b-school... right now!

So of course if I want to leave New York City.... my number one choice is Stanford GSB. I was a little cynical of the place at first (after all, they rejected me from their undergrad program) but then I was so impressed by the composure, poise, and accomplishments of the individuals I met at their informational session, which was in the Good Morning America room in Times Square. The curriculum in general managment is awesome, and their career services center seems really outstanding. The Director of Admissions kept saying that some things are great when taken to scale, but a graduate education isn't one of them... I have to say I agree. After years of excessive crowding and a hard time getting into the classes I wanted... it would be great to be somewhere where the profs actually know my name! I submitted my application in the first round.. my first application ever! And now I'm just driving myself crazy on if I'll get an interview invite or not. I talked to someone who's currently at the school and he told me to just sit tight.. he didn't get his invite until mid-December. MID-DECEMBER! You've got to be kidding me.

I got out my Kellogg and Michigan applications for the first round too... everything is complete and I went out of my way to get all the interviews done early ... so once again... all that is left is the waiting game. I love Kellogg... I went to Northwestern to study Physics when I was in high school, visited the Kellogg school and fell in love with it. I loved living in Evanston, and Chicago is such a great city. I made some of the most awesome friends there, and one of my old high school buddies is doing medical research at the Feinberg School! The next decision from them will be admit, waitlist or deny. So scary. I want to know, but I don't want to know. At least now, there is a chance, but if I know and its deny... there is no chance!

Michigan... I was mostly interested in this school because of the MAPP program... its like a residency for b-school students! And you can do almost anything during it.. from government work to international private equity. I don't know a single person that went to Ross (or UMich for that matter) and didn't love their experience there.

I guess only time will tell... going forward, I'm going to provide a MBA Cutie's thought for the day.... today's is "For girls, the MBA is the easiest way to an MRS." Haha, j/k! Ok I'll give a real one, "When you finish your first set of essays... you'll be shocked to realize just how accomplished you are. When you finish your last set of essays... you'll wonder why you just wrote that many essays and you are not even published!"