So I just finished the first (albeit complete rubbish) draft of my Kellogg 'career progress' essay and thought I'd check to see how the rest of you are doing...have you started the essays? Are you finding ways to procrastinate as yet? My favorite so far is cleaning - I really have the cleanest apt I've had in the last 6-8 months! cheers, ac.

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essays - how're they going?

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refurb

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04 Aug 2008, 18:48

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2000 words?? That is going to be a lot of trimming!

I didn't say it would be a good, concise 2000 words...
just pack in all the details and trim down as I see fit.
Should be easy to trim, and hopefully will work...

That's actually not a bad idea. I find it easier to trim stuff out than fill stuff in.

RF

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04 Aug 2008, 19:02

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I've been brain dumping for the past few days in my first serious effort to start getting all my brainstorming down. At this point, I'm focusing entirely on Kellogg, and hope to get it done for round 1, but not if it's not ready.

After that, Chicago R2 and that might be it for me.

I am having a really hard time with this all so far. Even though I've been thinking about this for about a year, I didn't do much leg work ahead of time to put words down, and I am just starting to get my themes and sales pitch together. Hopefully I'll get to 100 posts soon and get my profile up on GMATclub :-p

R1 is feeling more and more like a rush, especially as I realize I will need more time to visit Kellogg and Chicago. I haven't prepped my recommendation writers yet, because I don't have enough of my goals and motivations down in concrete yet.

What did you all find the most productive for getting started? I have the montauk and bodine books.

fooFighter

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05 Aug 2008, 00:14

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I'm aiming to do all essays for a university in 2 weeks. Which would mean 4 universities roughly by round 1.

Anyone applying to 4 universities or more in round 1? Get a decision (whether good or bad) before xmas is always a relief.

sam77sam7

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05 Aug 2008, 08:15

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fooFighter -

I will be in for 4 in Round 1.

Kellogg, Michigan, Duke and an undecided... perhaps Tuck, Darden, or UNC.

Have Kellogg and Duke done, working on Michigan now.

~Sam

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05 Aug 2008, 08:20

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How many of the schools will give R1 decisions in December? I've some that don't let you know until January, which also happens to be right after R2 for many other schools.

riverripper

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05 Aug 2008, 08:58

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jallenmorris

How many of the schools will give R1 decisions in December? I've some that don't let you know until January, which also happens to be right after R2 for many other schools.

Kellogg lets many of the applicants know before christmas break. Chicago GSB has let everyone know in December for the last few years (this may or may not happen depending on volume). Wharton lets people know ahead of time. Columbia ED, some normal round folks may find out. Tuck ED. I think Cornell R1(EA?)...there are quiet a few.

I think other than Colubmia ED, Kellogg starts giving decisions out the soonest...I knew in the end of November. Wharton and GSB were the week before christmas last year. Honestly, I had not done much in the way of R2 essays though after writing a bunch for R1, they will take much time. Knowing very early is great and lets you stop stressing or forces you to focus.

Also remember some schools have deadlines for interview invites and if you dont get an invite by that date you are dinged. Its not a positive decision but at least you know and can move on without more waiting.

kryzak

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05 Aug 2008, 13:23

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UCLA will try to get a batch of people out before Xmas (I found out a few days before Xmas), so that's a good one to apply R1 if you want to know whether you'll get into a good B-school before R2.

Stanford and Haas will NOT release anything before January, unfortunately. They do start calling people 24-36 hours before the stated deadline though.

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05 Aug 2008, 13:50

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Manbehindthecurtain

What did you all find the most productive for getting started? I have the montauk and bodine books.

hi man,

i'm having a hard time getting started on the essays as well (i've never been one of those "rough draft" kinda guys). a couple tips though that have worked for me:

- definitely read through the two books you mentioned. i have both and have found them helpful for getting the ideas flowing and crafting your story.

- just start by writing down a bulleted list of all of your accomplishments, experiences etc. - you can sort this list out later (i.e. chronological, by topic or strength, etc.) it will be great for reference

- outlines help although to provide a framework although to be honest for my first essay or two i've just started "free writing" i.e. just write down whatever comes to mind and don't worry if it doesn't sound perfect. i have a really hard time doing this but you just gotta press on...

- one last tip and that is to consider using google docs or another similar online tool. i have all of the essays i need to write uploaded to my google docs so i can access and update them at work, at home...essentially anywhere i am (even from my phone if i was that desperate). this is great for taking advantage of a few minutes of downtime throughout the day to work on your essays.

best of luck!!

jallenmorris

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05 Aug 2008, 13:54

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Get the Montauk book and also Paul Bodine's book. Both are great and have brainstorm techniques for writing these essays.

Manbehindthecurtain

What did you all find the most productive for getting started? I have the montauk and bodine books.

kryzak

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05 Aug 2008, 14:02

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if you need more than Montauk and Bodine (generally you don't, but I did), the "MBA Game Plan" and "65 Successful HBS Essays" are both useful books as reference.

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05 Aug 2008, 14:04

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How come the essays in the books are soooooooooooo long? Were the world limits totally shortened recently?

kryzak

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05 Aug 2008, 14:17

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yes, most schools shortened their essay word limits starting in 2006-7 application season. Stanford had NO word limits for their essays before then. Then they went to 7-11 pages for 2006-7, 7 pages total for our 2007-8 season, and now 5 or 6 pages I think.

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05 Aug 2008, 19:25

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thank goodness they've been shortened! Sure it's harder initially to write a shorter essay but can you imagine having to churn out 7-11 pages of quality content? It would be a lot more time consuming not to mention more challenging!

kryzak

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05 Aug 2008, 19:26

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yay! i have finished one essay so far. just three more to go for HBS. I have 60 days and approximately 20 essays to write, so 1 essay every 3 days. Doesn't sound TOO bad

kryzak

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05 Aug 2008, 20:03

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trust me, in the end, it was TOUGH to get it under 7 pages. I can't imagine what this year will be like with only 5 pages to play with.

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05 Aug 2008, 20:10

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msday86

yay! i have finished one essay so far. just three more to go for HBS. I have 60 days and approximately 20 essays to write, so 1 essay every 3 days. Doesn't sound TOO bad

Wow. You're a machine. The thought of that makes my brain hurt.

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06 Aug 2008, 00:17

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msday86

yay! i have finished one essay so far. just three more to go for HBS. I have 60 days and approximately 20 essays to write, so 1 essay every 3 days. Doesn't sound TOO bad

Wow, that's a lot of essays. I'm only planning 2-3 R1 applications and I'm already starting to feel the burn!

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06 Aug 2008, 00:26

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jallenmorris

How many of the schools will give R1 decisions in December? I've some that don't let you know until January, which also happens to be right after R2 for many other schools.

JM

I made an excel sheet of all the university deadline and decision dates. Will post in a new thread.