And in Other News…

Well it has been a tough week or so. I heard back from Cornell and Tuck, and they were both no’s. It was pretty disappointing, I won’t lie. I especially had thought that I had a really good shot at getting into Tuck, but unfortunately that path is now closed. They did offer me the chance to have a counseling session in the spring and use the feedback to reapply for next year. I considered it, but for a few seconds only. I am not that desperate to go to an Ivy/top school. It is becoming more and more clear to me that what this whole process is coming down to is the program (BU) vs. the name (everyone else). Obviously for selfish reasons, the name is important. But the BU program is such a perfect fit for me personally and for what I want to do with this degree. So while I’m still hoping I at least have a choice to make at the end of the next month or two, I’m not holding my breath by any stretch of the imagination. And I’m not risking anything, either– I will be depositing down on the PNP MBA at BU by the end of this week. It’s actually pretty exciting; I rarely write out checks that large. I suppose it will be the first in a long line of money streaming out of my bank account. Sigh. But it’s good to have something decided on for sure.

Other than that monumental change, I’m trying to deal with the fact that my roomie will be moving out in two weeks and I might be living with a complete stranger YET AGAIN. At least it’ll only be for five months at the most. Then I get to experience the joys of moving, which will be oh so fun.

Oh, and did I mention I’m loving my new iPod Touch? The little thing is amazing and I am completely head over heels. That’s pretty much it as far as my life right now. Fun fun.

Another One Bites the Dust

It hasn’t really been a good few days for me here. I woke up on Monday and was hit with a bout of nausea/vomiting/diarrhea. Needless to say, I didn’t go to work Monday or Tuesday. Still feeling very weak today, but am hoping to last until at least the afternoon getting caught up with my reports. I really hate being sick.

Today I logged in and saw another rejection. It doesn’t hurt as bad now that I know I have a good option in hand, but still… I spent so long slaving over these applications, and it is tough to see all the hard work distilled into one small, nasty little word.

Tuesday Jan 20th

Back at it. Just watched the speech by (President) Obama this morning at the Inauguration. It was very stirring and I felt incredibly moved while sitting at my desk, glued to my computer screen. Let’s hope this is the start of great things to come.

It’s been hard getting back into the regular routine. I had a very lazy weekend- the only effort of note that I made was digging out my car from the foot of snow that fell on Boston Saturday. Lovely. And I ate a lot. Blah. I need to stop reaching for comfort food.

I freaked myself out by reading all the MBA blogs this weekend. Tuck has already sent out a lot of acceptances for Round 1 and the fact that I haven’t heard anything yet is distressing. Also still no word from Cornell so I think I need to mentally prepare for more rejections. Ugghhhhhhh. I am not that upset over Yale at this point but it will be very hard if I keep hearing ‘Nos.’

Ummm

I think I just signed myself up for even more torture… instead of one application to finish by mid-January, now I have two. Just sent off the notices to my recommenders. I thought about it long and hard, and it was a tough decision. But I just think I would regret it if I didn’t try and shoot for Wharton. I will give it my all and see what happens. You never know how things will work themselves out. !!!

In related news, I watched a CNN special on HBS tonight. It was pretty interesting. I was surprised at the access the cameras had to some aspects of the school. They didn’t touch on the social aspect at all, which is interesting considering that Boston Magazine did a whole “expose” of the hard-partying HBSers earlier this fall. No mention at all of the drinking culture. I thought it was funny when the interviewer asked the married couple about what they wish they’d known before coming. Their answers were so lame! “I wish I’d known how fun it would be.” and “I wish I’d known how hard it would be.” Hello???? It’s business school, PLUS it’s HBS!!! Of COURSE it’s going to be harder than you could even imagine!

I also attended a Cornell event tonight where a first year student hosted people who were interested in Johnson. The space was pretty small, so it got relatively crowded. I wish there had been more than one student present, because I think most people ended up talking to other prospective students rather than the Cornell student. Me, I made sure to get in early and at the end with all my questions. I am showing true business skills and savvy, no? Willing to be pushy to get what I want!

It was really enlightening in terms of meeting the kinds of people who were interested in applying. Honestly, I wasn’t that impressed by anyone I met. There was the one guy who sounded like he was more interested in touting the benefits of UMass Boston’s program than finding out about Johnson. He’d also been unemployed since September, and was applying to b-school because he didn’t want to look for a job. And he also hadn’t applied anywhere yet, nor had he taken the GMATs. After talking to him I felt extremely “with-it” and light-years ahead in terms of planning and preparedness. I also talked to a girl who was working part-time but couldn’t find the time to get her applications together. Again, I kept thinking about my October. October 2008 was spent studying for the GMATs round 2, preparing my first application (including writing 4 essays from scratch), and working full time in a relatively new position, while training my replacement. Can we say time management, anyone? I had no sympathy for the part-time girl.

In any case, I am looking forward to the holidays. I definitely won’t make my goal of getting everything done for my last two apps before Christmas, but I’m OK with that. Things are definitely manageable for both apps, and I am confident that I’ll be able to put two very good packages together. Wish me luck! Here comes the (sort-of) homestretch!

Almost there…

Well I just finished my last essay for Cornell… I will submit two more apps at some point this weekend, which will mean I’ll have finished 4 applications. Wow, I would have never imagined that I’d be at this point just a few months ago. It is crazy to think about how much I have done already. So now the waiting game begins. I haven’t allowed myself to get nervous about the interview invitations yet, but I know that I will start stressing out about that soon enough. Ugh.

BusinessWeek published their 2008 b-school rankings today. Surprisingly, Yale took a tumble… hope this doesn’t mean that the students hate it there! :-0