Calling all Stanford Fall 2009 applicants!

I have to agree -- terry12 is extremely helpful. Kudos, terry! It's great to have someone on the inside at Stanford.

Still trying to figure out what my plan is this year, but I am probably in. I was close last year, so hopefully an extra year of experience will be enough. It's a double whammy for the finance folks -- hard to find a better job (or even just any job) because the market is really bad, but it's also going to be exceptionally difficult to get into school.

This is certainly going to be a tough nut to crack.

But I guess if you don't try (and give it your best shot) you'll never know.

I'm in !

Good luck to everyone

I'm still debating... but likely in

I too might donate 250 dollars for the cause of "changing the world"

I wish I had the guts to put in an app. But I don't

Essay A scares me. I'm trying to gain a little bit of courage but having a hard time

essay A is one that you will spend the next 2 months slowly "brewing" in your head. You'll know when the right time is to start writing it. Work on your other apps first, the road will be clearer in a month or two.

I'm in - good luck everyone!

Count me in. I look at this $250 and the essay writing exercise as an opportunity to introspect my own values and explore what I really want in life. Hope I can learn a bit about myself, other than fact that I am dull-headed to think about B-school as the only way to transition my career at this stage in life. Terry and Kryzak, thanks to you for all the contributions you guys have made to this community. I've been following you guys since the last years admissions cycle and can't tell you how much I have learned about Stanford from your posts. Now, good luck to everyone that will be applying this year.

That's how I am looking at. Stanford and HBS will be my most difficult applications by far - and everything else will be a walk in the park if I choose to take on both of these.

that's a good way to think of the stanford apps. Thinking about "What matters most" for months before I actually wrote the essay helped me with all my other applications. It gave me a "theme" in which my MBA applications wrapped around.

In the end, I think my best set of essays in terms of coherence and "telling a story" was Stanford's. But alas...

Yeah, essay A's definitely a toughie. I agree with kry, it took me a long time to figure out exactly what I wanted to write. Once I did come up with a plan, though, the essays flowed pretty easily... I think I wrote essays A and B over a weekend.

Unfortunately I don't think there's much general advice I can offer. Maybe the best advice is to be yourself and be honest. I know it's trite, but it's true. Derrick and the others have read a ridiculous number of these essays over the years. I think they can detect when someone's trying to tell them what they want to hear.

I'm in (provided that I figure out what matters most to me and why).

Palm trees, year round golf, and a VC job?

Exactly! But don't tell anyone

I'm planning on applying this year and Stanford is by far my top pick. I believe Stanford will be the best fit for me given the program's curriculum. Studying for the GMAT right now. Got a late start due to my change in career and change of city.

I have been reading some of the posts and I am certainly glad I stumbled upon the forum. I think my hardest time will be obtaining a great GMAT score to offset the fact that I went to a third tier college, but I appreciated the fact that Stanford weighs heavily other life experiences during their application process. I was born in Argentina and came to the US when I was 15, learned the language and adapted to the social changes (it was a hard transition). I became a citizen by the time I was 21, completed a degree in accounting and became a CPA. I worked for one of the top 4 accounting firms in the nation for 3 years and was able to network and interview for a PE job, which required a change of scenery. During my job transition I had a lot of time to think of the goals inherent in my career, which I believe will make the essays flow a little quicker (hopefully); however, I'm still a little anxious about the whole experience. I don't know any Stanford GSB alumni, but I have an acquaintance who entered the program and I will probably pick his brain in the near future.

I am still researching all the specifics on Stanford and the other top MBA programs. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you have any questions or you think I can do anything for you.

Leo

Still deciding whether to get an application in. But, given that I haven't visited the school or met with any student, I'm doubtful I could get a quality application in by the Round 1 deadline. Given the sub 8% admissions statistics we're likely to see from Stanford, I'd probably be mad to apply Round 2. Still debating whether to apply here, or put in an application at Sloan.