Calling All Stanford Fall 2010 applicants!

Provided I am happy with my GMAT at the end of the month, I'll be in Round 1. If it is not "above the bar", then Round 2. Like everyone else, I am having a good time pondering the sound of one hand clapping whilst writing essay #1.

this may sound like a dumb question - but are hyperlinks, images etc ok to be put in the essay? i am trying to (literally) give a colorful picture of who i am and these would be nice to use, if allowed. any thoughts?

also, wondering if anyone knows if jerry porras is active and teaching organizational behavior at stanford gsb or at stanford in general? any insight would be much appreciated.

thanks in advance! also, WAKE UP STANFORD THREAD!

I'm no expert, but I would stay away from anything but text.

ROLL CALL PAGE UPDATED

Thought you guys might get a kick out of this...

About a week ago I was multi-tasking (probably not a good idea) between my application and a few other things. I was switching browser windows....and accidentally hit the "Submit" button instead of the Logout button. I nearly had a heart attack. My app still has loads of gaps so I'm sure it would have just given me an error page but I didn't even wait for the page to load. I pressed the back button and then proceeeded to refresh the home/main page a few thousand times to make sure the status said "Not Submitted"

Whew.

Why do they put those buttons so close together anyways?!

That's funny! I was really paranoid about doing something like that as well... but then I realized that there are multiple steps involved in "Submit," so you can't really mess it up. They won't take your application until you pay up! I've actually been using the submit button pretty regularly because the first page it brings you to is one where you can see your formatted application in PDF, and it's much easier to review the materials this way than in the unformatted html version. You can go to this first submission page, print the PDF, and then head back to the regular application workspace with no damage.

can anyone shed some light on the short questions? i am tempted to think that they are not THAT important because there isnt much room to showcase yourself much. although they are in the same document as the other two, so i presume that the same characteristics, story etc should come through.

any opinions?

also, when i read the 4 questions, it almost seems to me that option A and option C are geared towards entrepreneurially-bent applicants and the other two are for people that want a career in corporations. does anybody agree or disagree?


Essay 3: Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.
Essay 3: Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.
Essay 3: Option C: Tell us about a time when you motivated others to support your vision or initiative.
Essay 3: Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.

I went to a Stanford info session last night which was pretty damn impressive. One interesting thing I took away from it was an alum who said he didn't necessarily think there's a good ROI case for going to b-school... that his peers who stayed in finance industry are still a year or two ahead of him career wise. But he said that the biggest justification was sort of the broadening of your capabilities and opportunities, which had a lot of value by itself. I found that interesting, usually the alums would never admit that it doesn't make tons of financial sense to get an MBA. It's definitely something i've been struggling with since I think the opportunity cost is just too high, I'm trying to find other reasons to return. Anyways, the info session was excellent - easily the best i've seen so far. I'd highly recommend checking it out.

thanks for the response snowhappy. i had not thought of that framework for the essays.

i was putting off working on the resume until later but now makes sense to do that before tackling essay 3.

how is everyone else's app coming? i am planning to take a break from stanford now and focus on other schools. let the essays sit and ripen for a bit

I'm chugging along. I'm probably 90% on my essays. Just feel like they could use a little more refining for me to be completely happy with them. I'm letting them sit for a week or so as well... my brain starts to spin when I keep rereading at this point!

I can't believe the deadline is so quickly approaching. I'm starting to get super nervous - am I going to feel like this for the next 3 months?! Someone needs to start a countdown until December 16th

judging by the lack of activity in this thread, i'm inclined to believe that very few people are applying to stanford this year! more space for those of us that are!

i'm about done with essays and most of the app ... trying to make sense of the whole thing as one package now. 2 out of 3 recos are also in. phew! the process started as painful, then fun, then very painful and now just getting to the point of keeping fingers crossed and hoping that it works out.

hows everybody else doing?

Hi!

Submitted my application to Stanford! Recos also submitted....whoooooff!!

Loved the essays...Especially happy with the dread what matters essay

I'm moving to Round 2 on this one. Good luck Round 1 players.

I submitted my application last night!

Can anyone help with the legacy question...My recommender wants some details..

Applying in R2!!!

From Stanford MBA Admission Blog:

"Round One Interviews Begin

Today we extended our first interview invitation for the 2009-2010 application year. This is just the first invitation of many, but we thought it was worth celebrating.

Just as a reminder, the Round One application deadline is 7 October. We will be extending interview invitations up until the decision notification deadline of 16 December."