Take Two

I started today by making omelets.  3 egg whites, 2 full eggs, turkey sausage, sauteed spinach with diced onions, and a sprinkling of feta cheese.  A hearty yet nutritious breakfast intended to take me from late morning through mid afternoon.  I took care in choosing what to wear for the day, something chic yet casual (lest I look to be trying too hard).  I forewent makeup but styled my hair. At my roommate's request I emerged from my room, dressed and ready to go, in less than 10 minutes.  We walked the three short blocks to the train at a quick pace, hurrying not to miss the soon arriving train.  We hit the platform as the outbound cars pulled into the station.  Stepping onto the train I looked to my right, searching for a seat. Instead, I saw a familiar face.  Walking over to greet my friend I saw another person I know, then another and another.  It suddenly dawned on me that in that train car I was surrounded by classmates.  As one guy offered me his seat he said, "Aww look! You brought a lunch box."  I smiled and replied, "Well it is the first day of school."

Necessary Evils

22 hours.  That's how long it took me to get from downtown Philadelphia to downtown Chicago.  According to the pushy GPS lady who lives in my Blackberry (don't judge me; I'm waiting for the new iPhone), Chicago is a 12+ hour drive from Philadelphia.  I had scheduled a 9a.m. move-in for Sunday so I left Philly before 8 a.m. on Saturday to give myself plenty of time for rest stops, fuel ups, detours, and car naps.  I got to my apartment building nearly three hours early.  Unfortunately, my movers arrived nearly one hour late.  Fast forward 5 hours and my life looks something like this:

On the Road Again

It's early. Very early. Even when I had a job I was never awake at this hour, but today I have to not only be awake I also have to function.  It's moving day and I have "miles to go before I sleep."

Chicago is about a 13 hour drive from Philadelphia.  Yesterday I loaded up my car, left my summer residence (casa de mami y papi), and drove four hours to Philadelphia to unburden myself of the storage locker that has not only taken a $200 bite out of my bank account every month but also held all of my furniture and 95% of my belongings since May.  It took 3 hours for my movers to transfer everything from my 10X10X8 garage and transfer it onto the 26ft moving truck that I am sharing with one of my Booth classmates.  Let the hauling begin.

Funemployment

This blog is growing cobwebs and housing tumbleweeds.  I didn't get the chance (i.e. was too lazy) to write an entry after my birthday and before departing on a 12 day European vacation. I am currently in Vienna, Austria and having a ball.  Somewhere between Rome and the night train to Vienna I learned that I have an uncanny attraction to French men who smell of booze, coffee, and cigarettes. It's an intoxicating scent.

Where FOMO Leads

Today is my birthday.  Although I do have dinner plans with friends this evening to celebrate, thus far I've spent most of the day in Chicago's O'hare airport.  Why am I not on a beach on this gorgeous sunny day that commemorates my entrance to the world?  Because I am returning home after spending three days in Chicago at the MBA Jumpstart Diversity Forum for Financial Services and Consulting.  What is MBA Jumpstart?  JumpStart MBA Diversity Forum is an intensive two and a half day program that educates participants on both the financial services and consulting industries.  "But Cheet, why would you attend Jumpstart when you're not interested in either financial services or consulting?" you ask.  I asked myself the same question several times over the last couple of days, but I did have my reasons.

Ask and You May Receive

 Now that I'm on the other side of the application process my friends (and total strangers too) who are targeting Fall 2012 applications often ask me for advice on all things b-school.  I received a ton of support, encouragement, and words of wisdom when I was applying so I think it's only fair that I take everything that I learned and pay it forward to this year's applicants.  It's July now, so by this time last year I was past the GMAT (yet contemplating a retake), waiting for updated essay questions, and fretting about recommendations.  I knew that asking for recommendations sooner was better than asking later.  I had already asked my former indirect manager, but I held off broaching the subject to my direct manager.  It turns out all of that trepidation was for naught.  She was happy to do it and even encouraged me to go all out in my pursuit of a full-time program.

In Training

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I have a confession.  I am nervous about business school.  It’s been over a decade since I’ve been a student.  Thanks to the GMAT studying isn’t the distant memory it once was.  However, studying for one exam doesn’t compare to managing a full course load, especially when that course load is focused on the subjects that gave me fits in undergrad.  I have a healthy fear of stats and economics, fueled by complete disinterest and my brain’s inability to make sense of concepts like marginal revenue=price and correlation coefficients.  Whether I like it or not the only way to an MBA is through these subjects.  Since I am spending my summer happily unemployed, I figured it would be a good idea to face my fears head on and get reacquainted with stats and econ and introduced to case studies and Excel modeling before school starts in September.  Enter Manhattan GMAT Pre MBA bootcamp.

Great Expectations

I’m not one for writing in series.  Save for a few exceptions each entry in this blog is self-contained.  Last week an email from a friend tipped me off that I may have unintentionally created a “Pedigree” series about business school admissions and MBA programs.  I never intended to do this, but I guess the many facets of this topic have been on my mind.   If you count Money Over Everything as Part1, The Real World as Part 2, and False Alarm as Part 3, then I guess this one is Part 4.

The other day I was chatting with a friend who plans to apply to business school in the next two years.  He wants to wait a little longer so he can get a new job and knock out the GMAT.  I suggested that he could apply to school sooner than he thinks because his work experience, while non traditional, is definitely relevant and he’s had some really good achievements at work.  Will a new job at a more recognized firm help his candidacy? Sure, but he’s still in the ballpark for getting into a top 15 school from his current employer.  When I suggested he apply to Johnson he replied, “I work at a no name employer and have a lower GPA from a no name school.  I have to go to a top school to get the job I want.”  I paused for a second, surprised by what he’d said.  “But Johnson is a top school,” I replied.  In that moment it suddenly dawned on me that we had gotten caught in the MBA matrix.

Sunset

From the week before Memorial Day to the week before Labor Day my company operates on summer hours, which means HALF DAY FRIDAYS!!! Today I left work at noon just like I would on any other half day Friday. However, this Friday is different.  Unlike before, I will not be going back to work on Monday.  I won't be  going back on Tuesday or any other day.  This half day Friday was my last one with the company I have been with since I graduated college in 2002. I turned in my company car, handed over my laptop, and left my office keys on the desk.  I am officially done.

False Alarm

"Whew. Longtime reader here. I agree with you, but I definitely have a crazy different background than anyone I've met and Kellog, Tuck and Duke all admitted me this year (headed to Kellogg in the fall). I actually think you're generalizing everyone into one of two camps - blue chip and other - instead of the three camps that really exist. Sure "blue chip" is the largest group, but for aspiring applicants, "other" should be divided as "boring" and "exciting". Seriously! I have a little bit of a blue chip background (2 out of 6 years) but the other 4 years have been crazy exciting with startups that no one's heard of and enough stories to write a tell-all about the tech/entertainment industry. If someone's applying without blue chip experience, I say go for it as long as it's exciting/different/scandalous... and to be honest, it's us different ones who make bschool fun for the rest of ya'll squares."

The Real World

"We're going to start things off with a little ice breaker," the section leader said to us.  I sat in a classroom with 69 other newly admitted MBA applicants and prepared myself for the ritual I now knew by heart.  We would state our name, where we went to school, our current line of work, and one fun fact that could hopefully elicit a chuckle from the crowd.  We started on the opposite side of the room and I listened as one by one my potential classmates gave the condensed version of the last 7-10 years of their lives.

The Ones that Got Away

At 5:00 p.m. yesterday I transferred $1,000 from my savings to my checking and paid the second tuition deposit at Chicago Booth.  If it wasn't already settled before, it definitely is now.  I am attending Booth in the fall.  I have already dived into being a Boothie.  I found a great roommate who also has an aversion to community laundry facilities; started three Booth class of 2014 fantasy football leagues; and worn my complimentary Booth t-shirts all over town (an alum even stopped his car to chat with me for a sec when he saw me sporting the maroon).  Best of all I am Random Walking to Fiji in August with The Keychain (mpg2011 from GMAT Club) and a dozen other Boothies.  However, in the midst of all the excitement and anticipation there are times when I find myself wandering over to Wharton's class of 2014 Facebook page or logging onto the Kellogg admitted students' website.  Sometimes in the quiet moments between all of the Booth hoopla I wonder what if I had chosen differently.

Time on My Hands...

I had it all planned out. Before I was even accepted into an MBA program I knew that I would be taking the summer off prior to starting classes in the fall.  After working for nearly a decade and not really having a summer vacation since 1998 (summer before freshman year of college), I felt that I was due for two months of sleeping til noon, lazing around the house, traveling abroad for weeks on end, and living rent free at my parents' house while depleting the contents of their fridge.  I had been saving for over a year so I figured I could afford to blow my annual bonus on trips and the minimal living expenses of a cell phone bill and Netflix account, thus reserving my cash reserves for the school year.  My plan was foolproof.

Regression Models

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I was struggling.  As everyone around me carried on non-stop conversation I fought to keep my eyes open and my head from falling into the plate of eggs and French toast in front of me.  I tried to engage with the woman sitting next to me, asking questions in the hopes of invigorating my mind for a few more minutes.  The effort was painful.  My body physically ached for sleep.  Alas, my love of free food had led me to abandon the rest I desperately needed and now politeness anchored me to my seat for at least another ten minutes.  I doubted I would make it that long.

Money Over Everything?

In the last few weeks at least half a dozen threads have popped up on the MBA forums with different variations of the same theme.  School X vs School Y.  Having been in this predicament myself I find myself drawn to these threads.  They are particularly interesting when School X is ranked higher than School Y, but School Y is offering money while School X is offering less or none. These threads inevitably come down to the "age old" question of rank vs. money.

Just Do It...Again

I am psyching myself up.  I am finding my motivation.  I am getting my mind right.  Friends, I am going back into essay writing mode.  Too soon? Yeah, that's what I thought too.  Then I looked at Booth's (under)estimated student budget and realized that scholarship money does not make the cost of a full-time MBA affordable, it simply makes it less unaffordable.  Even though my tuition is taken care of I still need to pay for books ($2,100), random fees (~$2,400), health insurance (~$2,400), transportation (~$1,300), a place to live (~13,500), food to eat (~$5400), and personal expenses ($3,000).  That is roughly $30,000 of expenses and I haven't even factored in the cost of moving to Chicago or a security deposit.  Add in a Random Walk, the ski trip, and a trek or two and the price tag can rise to nearly $50,000.  While I do have a good amount of money saved it's not enough to cover everything and I am not too keen on blowing away my savings anyways.  The back of the envelope budgetary calculations have left me with the sobering reality that in spite of Booth's generous award I could end up with nearly $100,000 of debt.  No bueno.

Final Answer

For the last month I have been going back and forth with myself about where to attend school. I've talked a ton of people to death about why I wanted to go to Wharton, Kellogg, and Booth.  I attended admitted students weekends and admit get togethers.  I weighed every pro and con I could think of.  I leaned toward Wharton only to lean toward Kellogg or Booth the very next day.  Finally, last night I did the one thing I haven't done since getting admitted.  I prayed.  I will be the first to admit that I've been quite lax about practicing my faith recently.  But when push came to shove, I went back to the one constant that has yet to fail me. I prayed for clarity. I prayed that I would have peace about whatever decision I made.

What Matters Most

I'm struggling.  I have spent my entire day talking about where I will go to school in the fall.  I got a call from two Booth admits I met at ASW last weekend (one of whom is none other than Dee123 from GMAT Club).  Their mission: to convince me to single handedly increase Booth's black female population by 30% by agreeing to attend.  Up next was a marathon texting session with my homie Motown, who is also choosing between Kellogg and Wharton.  That conversation segued into an hour long phone call with her friend from MLT who had already chosen to enroll at Booth this fall.  After talking to him I called Motown and after speaking with her I chatted with the GMATClub crew.  I G-chatted with the Senator and got some advice from Chesty LaRue.  I spoke with Eddie in Booth's admissions office and some lady in career services whose name I can't remember.  To cap off all of this communication I'm currently texting back and forth with my girl, mbalady.  Everyone has an opinion on what I should do; everyone, that is, except for me.  I'm just as lost as I ever was.

If The School Fits

I keep getting the same two questions over and over again.  "Have you chosen a school yet?"and it's close cousin, "What's your first choice?"  My answers are always the same. "Nope, I haven't chosen yet," and "I don't have a first choice." I'm starting to think that the latter answer explains the former.

Months ago I blogged about throwing my hat in the ring for Round 2 after being admitted to Kellogg Round 1.  I reasoned that it wasn't because I wanted to go to other schools more than Kellogg, I simply wanted to go to these schools as much as I wanted to go to Kellogg.  Well, the dust from Round 2 has cleared and like I hoped I have options.  Feelings of happy happy joy joy happy happy joy joy have quickly transitioned to an overwhelming sense of dread at actually having to make a choice.  I have three great schools in front of me so as everyone tells me I "can't go wrong." But what if I do choose the wrong school for me.

Catching Up

The last time I updated this blog I was smack in the middle of Round 2.  I had completed my Booth interview, had just received an interview invite from Wharton, and was patiently waiting for the Stanny goat to eat my application (I shall explain shortly). The end of March and the admissions decisions it would bring seemed like a distant future that would never arrive.  Alas, the world did not come to an end.  Late March did arrive (and has since passed) and I've posted nary a word about how everything has panned out thus far.