Thank you guys and sorry that I wasn't able to answer some of your questions earlier. It has been quite a day. Got the call from a W Adcom @ 6.25, attended a K event (which I had great trouble paying attention to), two more calls from another Adcom that I missed (couldn't take it, I was talking with the K dean!), three emails and then of course went out for drinks to end the night! Just got back home now and bit tipsy so please don't mind me if I ramble a bit.
I am obviously estatic. river and nervous - I honestly don't know which school I will attend at this point. Both K and W are great schools and I know some people would die to have both admits in their hands (figure of speech of course). As for me, there are strong points in both schools - W has stronger brand, great network, and I have three friends that are attending W this coming fall. K also has great alumni network in my country, probably even better than W, friendlier and collaborative environment, and I also already know some current students and alumni. To choose one will be a very hard decision, but one that I surely don't mind making.
Ideally, I want to visit both schools first before I make my decision but living half-way across the globe really make it kinda difficult to do that
However, I am considering to do exactly that - visiting both schools. I am sure I will be happy at both schools so it really comes down to where I feel I will 'fit' most and visiting the schools will help me determine that.
So here is the rambling...
When I was in college I never thought that I would be able to attend any of these schools. Whenever I heard that 'oh, that guy goes to W or K', I would be like 'Wow, that guy is smart, and good school!'. I am sure people will look at me that way now, but on the inside, I don't feel a thing has changed. I will always be who I am.
What really set me apart in my application is my work experience. A lot of international students (or the students that I am competing with I shall say), after finishing their undergraduate, go back to work for their parents' business. Some of these students are also very well connected and so they get great jobs after graduation. I, on the other hand, did not have such connections so I thought the best thing for me to do was to find a job in the U.S. and found one despite being an international student.
After a couple of years, I moved back to my country and continued working. I am with a great team now and have a pretty interesting job. So when I was doing my MBA application, I thought to myself 'So, how do I compete with these applicants that work for their parents' business (nothing against them please) or have such great connections?' We all know that we can brush up truths in our essays but if you work for your parents' business, you can work the brush up to a whole new level.
But you have to remember,
that Adcoms read thousands of essays each year and they know exactly what to look for. For example, if you work for your parents' business, Adcoms will look for evidence whether or not you are BSing on what you actually do. This is so true since the Adcoms know that you can basically make up all the stuffs if you want when your parents own the business.
So I really made the effort in my essays to set myself apart from the applicants that I was competing with – I really showed that I am different, smart, that I am a hard worker with strong integrity (I even discussed integrity during my W interview), and most of all that I have great things to offer. This resulted in a very unique set of essays and that is something I believe has helped me gain admits to both schools.
It might sound like I am bashing the applicants who work for family business or have great connections but I am really not. Nobody can choose where he or she will be born and so we just have to make the best out of what we have. Just remember to always keep your chin up and don’t ever lose sight of your hopes and dreams.
Okay… this has been a really long post and it’s 3.30am now so I should really go to bed. I have work tomorrow!
Thanks shmegs, aceman, timesquare, hsampath, jpjazz, dabots, collegesenior, river, uphill, mba2010, djm, sperinko, kwam, and helg for the congrats.
Congrats to shmegs, djm, and terry. Maybe we will be classmates
I apologize if I have missed anyone here… just so many names and I am pretty confused (or drunk I should say)
And sorry guys for the dings. You guys are such great people here so I am sure you guys will get into some other great schools.
20 Dec 2007, 10:27
