Blogs?? : The B-School Applications

We also got our math test scores back Thursday. I passed, but my score was also more depressed than I thought it would be. The score was about 15 points below what I expected. When I told my mother my score, she became VERY alarmed and started throwing around the idea that I might need a tutor, and that maybe I wasn't well equipped for Wharton. Well on Monday I got my test back, and low and behold, the TAs didn't give me credit for a major part the last question - they took 15 points off! So I talked to the professor, and he said I got the questions right. So in my head I know my score should be about 15 points higher, much to the relief of me AND my mother. The professor looked at me like I was lunatic when I went to his office to contest a passing score. His (sarcastic) response when I told him why I was contesting it was, "Well, I can write 100 on there if you want." So I'm a little bit anal... what can you do?

I have given up the pursuit of waiving out of stats and have decided to focus on placing into the quarter long (versus the semester long) accounting class. With a little bit of effort, I think I could waive out of stats, but I value sleep too much. Hopefully this somewhat lazy decision will not bite me in the ass later this year.

Today, I went to my first official preterm class. This morning I attended a three hour long session of Math Boot Camp. The point of the math class is to help get everyone on a level playing field for the very quant intensive coursework at Wharton. The class started with the professor going over what a function was. I didn't expect the class to go to THAT basic of a level, so I was feeling all smart and superior. And then after the break the prof went started talking about logarithmic functions. And that's where he lost me. He was trying to make sure we understood the WHY not just the what of logs. I didn't get it. One thing I did learn though - never feel like your too smart or too superior at Wharton!

Preterm has been truckin' along for almost a week, and yesterday was the first night I actually studied. Before then, I hadn't quite made the connection that I need to study during the down times. Just because you have 3 hours off between classes does not mean you should go shopping or just hang out.

I've been studying in study groups to prepare for the big Math test coming up next week. Wharton tests incoming MBAs to check that we have a basic proficiency in math. You take the test until you pass it, and apparently everyone eventually passes. BUT, if you fail the test twice, you have to take a semester long math class with the undergraduates. Not that there's anything wrong with taking classes with undergraduates - but taking calculus with a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds may be a bit much for old heads like me. So I'm working quite diligently to make sure I pass the test the first time.

Before I started at Wharton, a (now) second year described her first year experience as trying to drink water from a fire hose. At the time I thought she was being a little dramatic. I thought it couldn't be that bad. After all I'd been warned about situations before and survived (like the proverbial, "look to your left, look to your right - one of these people won't be here at graduation.") No matter how bad a situatuation was I always perservered. Surely Wharton wouldn't be any different, I thought. Surely it couldn't be that bad.

Well. It can be that bad.

I was FINE until this week. And then they layered on all this school work and getting job and extracurricular stuff. And now I'm running around like an unorganized chicken with her head cut off. This truly is hell week.

Black Tuesday approacheth... For some reason every core professor has an affinity for October 5. Because they all have something due on that day. That fact, coupled with the ramping up of the recruiting season has taken my stress level up a couple of notches. I had a small panic attack on Wednesday when I realized I didn't know about 95 of the recruiting events going on next week. And it seemed everyone else was on the ball. AND I still have to draft my resume for review. And do my homework and reading. And the marketing case. And the accounting case. And try out for Follies (thanks for the joke Naveen; if I'm feeling racy I'll use that one!).

All this while trying not to fail out of Wharton. It will be an interesting week!

A second year suggested recently that a first year MBA student should let extremely needy people know that he or she will not be talking to them for the next two years. This should happen AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I would agree with that advice. Needy people can be annoying when all you are trying to do is get your work done so you don't fail out of Wharton. But I digress...

I feel like I'm on the cusp of the state of overwhelmness (is that a word?) - like if I deviate at all from my to do list I will descend into the world of "Oh, Sh!t." I'm not scared yet - but I could be there by the end of the week!

It is AMAZING how quickly your calendar fills up here. I'm booked SOLID until this evening. Between 4 and 6 today I scheduled to be in 3 different places. It's crazy.

Given the hectic extracurricular schedule, I'm extremely glad I pushed Corporate Finance to the spring. Wharton has two standard schedules, the Red Schedule and the Blue Schedule. The schedules are identical, except in the Red Schedule, you take 6 classes your first two quarters. The Blue Schedule allows you to defer Corporate Finance until the spring. The administration suggests anyone with a "quantitative concerns" take the Blue Schedule. Although I don't consider myself a quant weakling, I did select the blue schedule. I just think it's better to take 5 classes instead of 6. Maybe it's just me. I think a lot of people let their ego make their schedule decisions - it's like they think they'll be less of a Whartonite if they take the Blue Schedule. All I know is I'm glad I go to bed before midnight every night. I don't know if I could do that if I had an extra class.

OMG.

Finals start in one friggin' week. I can't believe how quickly the first quarter flew by.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I sort of rested on my laurels in accounting, and my current grade reflects my effort. The only good thing is that 42% of my grade will be decided in the next week so I can still pull it out.

Despite assurances from second years, I think the second quarter is more hectic than the first. Maybe it's because all of the activities I volunteered for last quarter are picking up, or maybe its because recruiting has gotten more intense. All I know is I barely have time to do anything. My apartment looks like a hurricane went through it. I have piles of laundry to do. My refrigerator is getting bare.

So basically I'm a little overwhelmed. I feel like I'm trying to do everything, and in doing that, everything isn't done completely. It's like I'm juggling a dozen eggs - and I keep dropping them.

What I need is an assistant - someone to clean up my apartment, cook for me, do my laundry, and write my thank you notes. Or a Xerox copy of myself. Ya that would work, too.