How are the apps going guys?? :)

Question

Checking in! How are your applications going? 

Mine are starting to wear me down. I finished Kellogg, HBS and maybe 60% through GSB. I had to crack open HBS and KGSM again because of some edits I wanted to make, but I think they are now complete. Visited HBS this past weekend. Such amazing facilities.

GSB is proving more work than anticipated, and I'm getting more and more concerned I'm behind for R1. I really wanted to get four done for R1, but with each one taking about a month, thats been hard. 

I've added Cornell to my list, so now:

KGSM - done
HBS - done
CHICAGO - 60%
CORNELL - 0%
YALE - 0%
GEORGETOWN - 0%

(in no particular order)

Hoping to pull off KGSM, HBS, CHICAGO by R1 and if I can do it, Cornell (I love their notification schedule - apply by Oct 9, hear back by mid November, thats beautiful.... so much better than HBS apply in October hear back in late January.) It would be really nice to get an accept from Cornell in Nov so I can start breathing again! 

Anyway, I'm extremely late for work, so I'm gonna hop off. 

My biggest three suprises in this whole process:

1. The amount of information I had to gather. Phone numbers, old contacts, dates of attendance at high schools years ago, my parent's graduation dates, etc. It was just a tremendous amount of stuff.

2. How scary the whole process is. Really. When I hit submit on KGSM part I, which doesn't even include essays, I felt like I might pass out. I checked that application three dozen times before hitting that OK button.

3. How much essay questions really CANT be reused across schools, short of introductory paragraphs and maybe closing sentences. I was hoping to leverage more across schools but with HBS asking about ethics and GSB asking about a movie, I'd venture 90% of my essays at each school are completely new text. 

So how are yours going?

tkkoh · Answer

hmm, I'm applying for the phd programs in B-schools - hence I guess I'm not off-topic to post here. :lol:

I have read the mastercopy of my essay at least 60 times over 6 major revision. (My wife will kill me if I ask her to vet my essay again.) Gone through the entire online application form for some of the schools at least 6 times. Read the application instructions at the schools' websites countless times. And I have yet to even submit one application officially (but soon, real soon). The last 3 months have been crazy with all the SOP drafting, getting recommendations, drawing up a spreadsheet to track progress, etc. I'm not sure about applying to the MBA program, but I am really thankful that I started my application preparation very early. I'm not sure whether it is a good or bad thing, but there is not "rounds" or moving deadlines for phd application. Hence I'm now running my last lap for my application.

mrquangha · Answer

Stressed wouldn't described what I'm going through. Sent an e-mail to one of recommenders last night asking for a letter of rec by Oct. 20. Person thought it was Sept. 20 and put it together last minute and sent it out :shock:

On another note, does it matter when during the round you apply? For example, if I am going to apply for R1 does it matter if I send out my application now or if I send it out Nov. 14th? Thanks

rhyme · Answer

Well hopefully it was good.

As far as I know, it makes no difference if you hit submit now or submit later (as long as its before the deadline). They look at the application pool to pick people - not in isolation - its "building" the class of 2009. Not just accepting randomly. That being said, I still want to get mine in at least a week before the deadline.

necromonger · Answer

Man I had no idea it's this painful, and I'll sound like a real complainer here. I mean I've only started with INSEAD (I'll apply to Oxford later - my choices are limited) and I'm having such a hard time with the essays. Need to be precise, and yet convey everything you want to tell them you're a stand-out. I'm not even 50% yet, and it's been 15 days already. My deadline is Oct 18th and I'm glad I started.

Tips? anyone applying to INSEAD?

willget800 · Answer

Waav.. Rhyme you have done some work.

Mine is like this:

Haas R3 for Mar07(MFE) --> 60% done
Chicago GSB R1(MBA) --> 30% done
London (MBA) R1 - 0% done --> Will move this to R2

I dont think I will apply to any other school.. maybe the following backup schools

CMU (quant finance) R2 - 0% done
Purdue (MBA) R2 - 0%

rhyme · Answer

I wish I had the guts to only apply to 3!! 

HBS = hard long shot
KGSM = hard, but I have a particularly interesting spin on this one
GSB = hard, but both my recommendations are from graduates which cant hurt.
Cornell = Dont think I'm going ot make it for R1. So much work.
Yale = Not sure why this one is on my list other than its a good school with a slightly less competitive profile. I've been thinking about replacing this one with Ross for R2.
Georgetown = should be my safety

lhotseface · Answer

Wharton - 80% Done, wait a minute , let me work on essay 1 again

Duke - 80% Done UCLA - 80% Done

mbadart07 · Answer

GR8 to see people in the thick of the things.. especially guys completing apps.. well mine still in the process.. MIT is working out to be one heck of an app with 4 essays and a cover letter.. all of them making me dig thins out of my past experiences.. Tepper is easy though with 3 essays.. finished 2 of them.. gotta start with ohio and purdue.. infact purdue has not even opened its apps for 2007 :-D

.. so that gives me some breathing space.. well the stats r like tis MIT : 80% complete.. nov 1st Tepper: 60% complete.. nov 6th Ohio: 20% complete..nov 15th.. Things r finally heating up though.. got lucky to schedule an interview with tepper adcom on 27th.. so my scrutiny process starts next week.. anyways.. all the best guys... :musband

..lets keep the party rockin..

pelihu · Answer

I'm still trying to narrow my list down. I have been targeting R2 all along, so I guess my pain will come a little later. I have started attending information sessions

and I hope to start scheduling some visits soon. Incidentally, I went to a Kellogg information session last week and I can understand why the Indian male IT cohort is so tough to crack. Now granted, the info session was held at HP in Cuppertino, so obviously there were a lot of IT people, and there are definitely many Indians in the Bay Area, but out of approximately 100 attendees, I would guess 70%+ were Indian Male IT. The next largest group seemed to be Asian males (not surprising in the Bay Area). There were just a handful of women of any nationality, and few caucasians as well. I wonder if these demographics were just a function of location? I was just thinking; if this is the breakdown here in the Bay Area, I can only imagine how many applications schools are being hit with from India proper. My short list (I hope to reduce this to 5-7): Wharton Stanford Berkeley Michigan UCLA Columbia Chicago Kellogg Virginia My friends and my dad keep telling me I should apply to Harvard, but I just know they are going to reject me again (like they did for undergrad and law school), so I've got to get motivated to add them. Thanks for the great information Rhyme and all.

willget800 · Answer

pehilu..

pretty impressive list of schools..

did you speak with harvard as to why they rejected you.. man you have a 780 on GMAT!
common....

pelihu · Answer

No, no. I have not yet applied to any business schools, I just got 780 on the GMAT last week. I was saying that Harvard rejected me for undergrad and for law school (99th % LSAT), and I'm not sure I want to give them a chance to reject me again by applying for business school

.

rhyme · Answer

Please remove the following from your list, as I'd like to get in:

Kellogg
Chicago

You can have the rest.

jchen1731 · Answer

Rhyme...

finishing writing HBS essays here as well...
wanna swap to see how we are doing?

rhyme · Answer

Appreciate the offer, but I'm not swapping essays with people. I'm too concerned that portions of my language will end up in other essays. It's nothing personal towards you - I'm not swapping with anyone.

If you want to share yours with me, I'm happy to comment (and i wont copy anything since mine are done anyway). But... in general I'd warn you against doing this precisely because the last thing you want is for some sentence from yours to get copied verbatim into someone's elses. Its unlikely an adcom would notice, but it would be the kiss of death.

sm176811 · Answer

I totally agree. It is a good idea to get the essays reviewed. But it should not be reviewed by other applicants!

sm176811

jchen1731 · Answer

yeah... haven't even thought about that...
good idea...

sgrover · Answer

Jumpin in late.
Applying to wharton in R1
Chicago, Stanford, Haas and MIT will follow in R2.
Done with Wharton essays, but still struggling to prune some data to keep within limits.

pelihu · Answer

Maybe there is room for both of us

I'm going to a Chicago information session on Wednesday so I will know better after that. If you are applying R1 you will probably have your result before my applicatoin is in for R2.

willget800 · Answer

maybe i will apply to R3, because I know you all will get into Wharton.. which means Chicago becomes free for me

hahahaha positive thought there!

How are the apps going guys?? :)

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards