Do you guys ever get a "wth am i doing" feeling?

Trust me, it doesn't end when you actually get accepted to a great school.

I will likely graduate from Tuck with $110-120K in debt. The first house I bought had a mortgage of $130K.

I have a very good job right now. I often think to myself "What am I doing?". Then I realize that if I don't do something, I will be doing this same job until I retire. That scares me more than taking on $110K in debt.

RF

I was so fed up with my job & life that this thought did not cross my mind

When I first started studying for my first GMAT attempt the world seemed like a more optimistic place. I was also pretty uneducated on the availability and competitiveness of some of the top tier jobs that I originally thought I wanted. Business School is a great tool for resetting or enhancing your career, but I think it's important to evaluate what YOU want - not what's popular among other people. It's really easy to just follow the herd to the highest paying job, but that might not make you happy.

My career has opened new doors recently that actually have me wondering if it's even worth doing a full-time MBA anymore. I honestly have no idea what my business school plans will become, but I'm going to finish my second attempt on the GMAT for no other reason than the intellectual challenge

Don't get demotivated and fall off the course from your dreams; but, if those dreams change, don't feel like you're "too committed" to business school to change paths.

We're all here to make our lives better!

I've definitely had moments where I've questioned whether I'm making the right decision - but I don't think that's unique to my bschool application. Every time I've been faced with a significant choice or decision in my life, I've thought a lot about whether I was making the right decision. So I think it's only natural, given the significant time and cost involved in an MBA, to think about this.

I've actually thinking about it lately. I'm still 100% sure it's the right thing to do for me, and am excited to be starting at Kellogg. But as I get closer to actually moving to school, I've realized that I underestimated how hard it would be from a personal perspective to leave my friends and family behind for 2 years.

When I went to my first school visit a few months ago, before everything started, I had the same feeling: "Wait ... I'm going to leave my well-paying job and drop $100k because ... why again?" Then, I went to my first class visit, and it was awesome. The students were engaging, the course material interesting, and the professor was fantastic. The class basically summed up everything that I thought I would like about business school, and validated this whole endeavor.

Now ... I just have to make it through this application process and wait another year [from now] to get started ... it's amazing how long most of us spend on this whole thing from GMAT to school research to applications and interviews and then decisions and then FINALLY the start of the program ... ... ... CRAZINESS

Lately this feeling has become really dominant in my thoughts. And for a moment I start thinking about something else but then this always comes back, especially since the application season has already started it's really hard to get away with this one

I've been feeling that way for the past week or two now. I put so much effort and emotion into getting into school, the enormity of what that meant just never really hit me until things started getting down to the end. I feel like I'm just giving into the fear these days though because I have too much free time on my hands. Things kick off tomorrow at Georgetown though so that ought to take care of that.

Good luck at Georgetown Sleepy!!

I'll be starting at Tuck next Saturday, so I'm starting to feel the fear!

However, just remember, if someone were to quit a good job, go back to school for 2 years and take on a $100K in debt, there would something wrong with them if they didn't feel at least a little apprehensive about the whole thing.

RF

I'm actually pretty psyched, just worried I'm gonna screw up somehow and not get an internship or be totally out of my depth. Tuck will be awesome, you're gonna love it. Learn to play hockey. It's the best sport ever. Right now my girlfriend is in the other room picking out an outfit for me to wear tomorrow because she was amazed I was just gonna put on clothes and head down there.

I just feel like when you play contact sports and at first you hear footsteps. eventually you get over the feeling and remember that A) getting hit isn't so bad, it's actually kinda fun. B) if you don't catch the pass/make the play you're gonna get hit anyway.

I know its cliche, but I keep reminding myself that if one is constantly thinking about the next step, one misses the entire journey and ultimately never gets there.

Fortunately, (or perhaps unfortunately) for me, I don't have a "dream" job, or industry that I hope to pursue when I graduate from Kellogg in '11. Clearly, I didn't structure my career goals essay around this aimlessness, but in many ways it has kept me level grounded through the entire process.

I firmly believe there are many paths to get where you want to go. So when I was applying to schools, I looked at it as just another potential path. If I didn't get into the schools I wanted, then I wasn't going to be heartbroken, I would just have to find another path. Along the way though, I met so many great people just through the application process that the experience would have been worth it even if I hadn't gotten in anywhere.

My going in position as school starts is pretty much the same as it was with the application process. Though I have some idea of jobs and industries that interest me, I am going in with my eyes wide open and am not really shutting myself off to anything. I think one of the HUGE benefits of actually pursuing a program full time is that you will have an opportunity to have direct exposure to all types of different companies/industries that you may not have even considered. You don't know what you don't know, right?

Ultimately, I feel confident that I will end up in a rewarding position after graduation. But more importantly, I feel that the $100k debt is a small price to pay to gain assess/perspective to[from] amazing people, amazing opportunities, and a stellar business education that will prove invaluable no matter where I end up.

While we will all end up leaving friends and family for a couple of years, to me, the chance to expand my experience far outweighs any potential downside.

That's one nice thing about getting older. When I was in my twenties I felt that I had my whole life ahead of me and was solely focused on completing my next goal.

Now that I'm in my thirties I realize just how fast life goes by. I've started to slow down and try to make sure I'm doing what I want to do right now, not just what I should be doing so I can do "X" in five years.

RF

I definitely had a "wth am i doing" moment when I arrived in Evanston on Sunday. I think all the stress of selling my condo, moving, saying goodbye to friends and family combined with some nervousness about school and I just had a feeling of "what have I gotten myself into". It definitely passed pretty quickly and now I am completely excited to be here. I know these next two years are going to be one of the most incredible experiences of my life and will pass by so quickly -so like domtri33 I want to make sure that I'm taking the time to appreciate being here.

ok, today was awesome, just got back from the bar, after happy hour at the school. everyone was great, orientation was fun. Like always, the reality was way less intimidating than what was in my head.

one of the most meaningful posts i have read the last month i couldn't agree more

Man...i can relate. It’s been a year since i started preparing for Gmat...studying on and off..dreaming about going to B school and everything...i have been through every phase...be it feeling i should give up or this will not work or i should keep trying. I have my exam on 30 April and m studying on and off I don’t know what m doing? Can’t focus. Just trying to keep my mind at one place. At the end i just tell myself...all my efforts will payoff one day.

We shall overcome one day


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