{"id":20030,"date":"2013-08-05T13:57:48","date_gmt":"2013-08-05T20:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=20030"},"modified":"2013-08-05T13:57:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-05T20:57:49","slug":"mba-applicant-blogger-interview-with-bschoolgirl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/mba-applicant-blogger-interview-with-bschoolgirl\/","title":{"rendered":"MBA Applicant Blogger Interview with Bschoolgirl"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bschoolgirl_avatar\"<\/a>We\u2019d like to introduce you to Bschoolgirl, an anonymous blogger at Girl Meets B-School<\/a> who will be starting her first year at USC Marshall<\/a> this fall. A self-proclaimed non-traditional applicant, Bschoolgirl made it into one of her top picks, and shares lots of good advice about her admissions experience. Thank you Bschoolgirl!<\/em><\/p>\n

Accepted: First, some basics: Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad? And what is your favorite book (fiction or non-fiction)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl<\/strong>: I\u2019m born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I majored in Cinema and Dance at San Francisco State University. In other words, I have the sort of background that makes MBA admissions officers scratch their heads in confusion.<\/p>\n

Pride and Prejudice<\/em> never fails to cheer me up. I listened to the audiobook over and over while waiting for Round 2 decisions.<\/p>\n

Accepted: You mention in your blog that you were a reapplicant. What do you think went wrong during your first round of applications? And what did you do the second time around to improve your candidacy?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> By pitting myself against business and finance majors, I knew I would have to work harder to prove that I could keep up. Unfortunately I hadn\u2019t taken a ton of quantitative courses and I was on the younger side<\/a>, with only two and a half years of work experience and less than a year in management. So the first time around, I received three rejections and a waitlist.<\/p>\n

In hindsight I\u2019m glad that I failed, because I learned a ton about the admissions process. Admissions officers aren\u2019t sadists. They truly want you to succeed in the program, and it\u2019s your job to convince them that you will. I simply needed to provide more evidence that I had a plan<\/a> for my career, that I could handle the quantitative coursework, and that I could lead people. I thought I wanted to get into marketing, so I started talking to everyone I knew in that field to learn what skills it would take to make the switch. I took additional courses in Finance and Accounting from a local community college. And I volunteered for a committee at work that involved training others on a new software program. By the time I reapplied<\/a>, I looked like a totally different candidate. I was admitted to three of my four schools, and decided to attend the USC Marshall School of Business.<\/p>\n

Accepted: Why do you think you are a good fit with USC Marshall?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> From the moment I stepped on campus I felt at home. Marshall students are diverse, dynamic, and entrepreneurial, which really appealed to me as a nontraditional candidate<\/a>. The class size is ideal, not so big that I would get lost in the crowd or so small that I would lose out on the network. And with my background, I felt that it was important to be in Los Angeles and to attend a school with a great reputation in the media and entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

Accepted: What are you most looking forward to this coming fall? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> Of course I\u2019m excited for the social stuff. I can\u2019t wait to meet my classmates and get involved with some of the student organizations. And this might sound nerdy, but I\u2019m kind of looking forward to the academics. I think taking Finance<\/a> for the first time has awakened my inner Quant.<\/p>\n

Accepted: Do you have any reservations \u2013 anything that you're worried about?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> I\u2019m a little concerned about managing my time. I have a tendency to want to get involved in everything, and I\u2019ve heard it\u2019s really easy to overbook yourself in the first year.<\/p>\n

Accepted: What have you been doing since graduating college?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> I worked as a video editor for about a year after college, but the hours were long and the gigs inconsistent. My next job was at a media services company working with radio and television commercials. We handled distribution for everything from the infomercials you see on late night TV to Super Bowl commercials.<\/p>\n

Accepted: Do you plan on staying in the same career post-MBA or moving to a new industry\/function?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> I\u2019m taking the hard road by attempting to switch industry and function<\/a> at once: from media to high tech, and from operations to marketing. Marketing<\/a> appeals to me because it\u2019s both creative and analytical, and I\u2019m completely fascinated by the ways technology is changing how people consume video. Did I mention that I\u2019m kind of a geek?<\/p>\n

Accepted: Why did you decide to blog about your MBA experience?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bschoolgirl:<\/strong> I started my blog, Girl Meets B-School<\/a><\/em>, because I literally ran out of people to talk to about the things that were stressing me out. Strangely enough, my friends and family weren\u2019t interested in GMAT percentiles and notification deadlines. I try to keep it funny because the rest of the application process is so gosh darn serious. It\u2019s been awesome to discover other MBA blogs<\/a> and see people stumble across mine, and for a moment we can smile knowingly at each other with that fierce, tired glint in our eyes that says, \u201cSure, I survived application season. What\u2019s next?\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you want to be featured in Accepted.com's blog, Accepted Admissions Blog? If you want to share your MBA\/EMBA journey with the world (or at least with our readers), email us at mbabloggers@accepted.com.<\/strong><\/em>
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