{"id":30836,"date":"2015-10-11T13:33:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T20:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=30836"},"modified":"2016-07-27T16:02:33","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T23:02:33","slug":"why-an-hbs-student-left-after-1-year-with-no-regrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/why-an-hbs-student-left-after-1-year-with-no-regrets\/","title":{"rendered":"Why An HBS Student Left After 1 Year \u2013 With No Regrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Read<\/a>This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring\u00a0<\/span><\/i>interviews with MBA students<\/span><\/i><\/a>, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at\u00a0<\/span><\/i>top MBA programs<\/span><\/i><\/a>. And now for a chat with<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>Ellen Chisa<\/strong>,<\/strong><\/span><\/em> a student at <\/span><\/i>Harvard Business School<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Accepted: We'd like to get to know you! Where are you from? Where and what did you study as an undergrad?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> I originally grew up in Rochester Hills, Michigan \u2013 where I went to an International Baccalaureate high school and spent a ton of time doing FIRST Robotics. That prompted me to go to tiny (then-unaccredited) Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, MA, to study Electrical & Computer Engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Can you share three fun facts about yourself?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa: <\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> \u00a0I\u2019m really great at the Twilight Zone Pinball machine.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. <\/strong>\u00a0Early in our relationship, my fianc\u00e9 asked me what the best sandwich I ever had was. I\u2019ve been thinking about it for years, and I still can\u2019t come up with an answer. I love sandwiches.<\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> \u00a0I haven\u2019t dressed up for Halloween since high school, but I\u2019m going to do it this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Where are you currently in business school? What year?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> I\u2019m at Harvard Business School<\/a>. I completed my first year (RC) in the Spring, but I\u2019m taking a leave between that and the second year (EC).<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Why did you decide to go on leave? What are you doing during this break from school?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> I don\u2019t believe that education has to be linear \u2013 it\u2019s about what you\u2019re learning and how you use it. I started the internship at this company, and during my time we switched from doing investments and internal projects to all focusing on a new (stealth) travel company. I was the first person working on the project, and I wanted to stay to see it out. Right now I\u2019m officially the Product Manager, but we\u2019re so early that I wear a lot of different hats. It\u2019s been fun to apply some of the things I learned at HBS!<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Do you think you'll return to HBS to complete your degree?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> I do think I\u2019ll go back eventually. It\u2019s not that I\u2019m worried about having the piece of paper \u2013 I\u2019ve just heard great things about the second year courses. I\u2019ve been relatively open about wanting to found my own company at some point, so when I get to that place, I\u2019d love to be at HBS and around all of those resources.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Can you offer some advice to others who may be considering taking a leave of absence from a top MBA program? Or leaving a program altogether with no plans on returning? What are some things they should consider?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa: <\/strong>Absolutely! I try to evaluate things in terms of opportunity cost. If you were looking at the same things now \u2013 whatever you\u2019re considering leaving for, and starting your MBA, which would you pick? If you\u2019d do the new thing, that\u2019s a good sign you should leave. It\u2019s hard to get the most of an experience when you\u2019re feeling resentful or wish you were doing something else.<\/span><\/p>\n

You should also consider all the practical aspects: will your program allow you to return when you\u2019re ready? How will leaving affect your loans\/loan payments\/other finances? Will your new opportunity give you health care? If you\u2019re seriously considering it, I wrote\u00a0<\/span>a longer guide<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: What was your favorite thing about HBS? Least favorite thing?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa: <\/strong>Everyone says the people, and the people are really diverse and interesting. I don\u2019t want to harp on that again.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found the curriculum extremely rewarding. I came from an Engineering\/Design\/Art background, and it always seemed like finance was just some made up thing. Being able to see how the underpinnings work and do the math to value a company was fascinating for me. A professor told me that Discounted Cash Flow Models don\u2019t click until the 12th time you see them, but the moment when they click is well worth the wait. It\u2019s like solving a puzzle.<\/span><\/p>\n

My least favorite thing was the rate at which things happened. Since you\u2019re around 900 interesting people, everyone spends a little bit of time trying to get to know everyone. I\u2019d rather sit down for long conversations and know a couple people really well. Similarly, you never get to discuss a case more than once. I just like to learn by going deeper into fewer topics.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

HBS seems to be the land of FOMO (fear of missing out) and I\u2019ve always been more JOMO (joy of missing out).<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Looking back at the application process, what would you say was your greatest challenge? How would you advise other applicants who may be experiencing similar challenges?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> The application wasn\u2019t too bad because it felt very noncommittal (I was a 2+2 admit). The problem was when it came to decide if I wanted to go or not. I easily had over 100 conversations to try to decide.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re on the fence, my recommendation is to go. Worst case scenario you\u2019re there for nine months (Aug. - May) and it\u2019s expensive, but you learn a ton of stuff. If it isn\u2019t the right fit, you can leave. I was really worried about what taking two years \u201cout of my career\u201d would be like, but I\u2019m glad I did it. If you don\u2019t go, you might always regret not having tried it out, and you\u2019ll never know what it would have been like.<\/span><\/p>\n

Accepted: Where do you see yourself in\u00a0five years from now? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ellen Chisa:<\/strong> I have no idea. I actually recently found a five year plan from when I was graduating college. It said I should do two years at large company, two years at startup, one year at HBS \u2013 that is what I did, but I hadn\u2019t referred to (or even remembered) the plan.<\/span><\/p>\n

HBS gives you up to five years of leave \u2013 so in five years I\u2019ll either have finished, be finishing, or have decided not to finish HBS. I hope the thing I\u2019m working on now is a successful product - and that I\u2019ll have a good idea of what I want to build next.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can follow Ellen\u2019s story by checking out her blog at <\/span><\/i>blog.ellenchisa.com<\/span><\/i><\/a> or <\/span><\/i>ellenchisa.com<\/span><\/i><\/a> or by following her on Twitter at @ellenchisa<\/a>. Thank you Ellen for sharing your story with us \u2013 we wish you loads of luck!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"5<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0Why Do YOU Need an MBA?<\/a>\u00a0[Free Guide]
\n\u2022\u00a0Harvard Business School 2016 MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines<\/a>
\n\u2022 Get Accepted to Harvard Business School<\/a>\u00a0[on-demand webinar]<\/p>\n

This article\u00a0<\/a>originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This interview is the latest in an Accepted.com blog series featuring\u00a0interviews with MBA students, offering readers a behind-the-scenes look at\u00a0top MBA programs. And now for a chat with\u00a0Ellen Chisa, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,3,939,775,113,243],"tags":[1048,798,119,486,528],"class_list":["post-30836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-b-school-life","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-advice-for-mba-applicants","tag-applying-to-hbs","tag-hbs","tag-hbs-22","tag-mba-student-interview","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30836"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30854,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30836\/revisions\/30854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}