Today, one year to the week of my beginning to study for the GMAT, my b-school admissions journey has finally come to an end. I've spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours to get to this point. Many of those hours were spent here, refreshing threads as time ran out on decision deadlines. I applied to too many schools. I was firmly rejected from more than I'd care to admit. I wrote crappy round one essays. I blew at least one interview. Rock bottom came when I received two outright rejections in one afternoon, one of which from a school I considered a "safety" when this all began (and I still do!). Yet, in the end, I am lucky enough to be enrolling in a top 10 program and I am fortunate enough to be turning down a school that I know I would absolutely love to attend. I did not wind up at my "dream school," but I came pretty damn close. This has been an exceptionally difficult experience. Far tougher than I ever imagined it would be. Thank you to everyone on this forum for providing a community that I could count on for 365 days (and thank you to my liver for holding out). Wherever you end up, you're all good people in my book.
I thought I was awesome. Then I applied to b-school.
Cheers,
ian
p.s. now, to figure out how the hell I'm going to pay for this...