How much have you GROWN during the application process?

dang redjam, when I was reading yours I was like -- Maybe I haven't reflected enough?... I know i didnt take it back to childhood and analyze how those experiences shaped my values. (no near death experiences either) I pretty much have just done it from high school forward.

I think the more everyone posts on here, the more we can all see how much reflection everyone else has done and the specific angles they took. I know I am the type of person who has to see an EXAMPLE to compare myself to (just like I had to read sample essays before I started getting the right idea)

My friends asked me how this app season was going and this is the thing I tell my non bschool friends. These apps make you take an inventory of your life, where you are currently and where you want to be in 5 years and after.
I suggested to my friends that they do the same, just write the essays for one school. No takers lol

But i think the main point here is that people rarely take a moment to assess where they are compared to where they want to be. I feel sorry for those people, just hamsters on the wheel of life....

Nice post. I have been growing for 3 years since this is my third consecutive year of applications...so I must say growing has been personified . Have fun guys.

The process itself was a lot of fun.

Reflecting on what you've achieved in life gives you more motivation to go out and reach your goals.

The other part of it is that these applications force you to become a better writer and story teller, which always helps in the work place (especially with end of the year performance reviews).

About two inches

For what it's worth, I'm still struggling to make my GSB what matters most essay flow!! Still have more reflecting to do in the next 2 days...

I have definitely a become a much more mature person having gone through this process.

I for one realised, that i care less about money than I thought I did. I realised what i really want in life is an experience and that MBA was just another step in my life. Earlier, i got caught up in my mental hype that an MBA would be transformative and I would get a shot at doing great things. The more I talked with alumni and saw them living normal lives, it hit me that MBA wouldn't really alter my life potential.

what determines the path our life takes in most cases seems to be just circumstantial opportunities. An MBA at best can increase those odds by putting you in a network. Thats when the whole "network" concept hit me.

Then when I rethought what I wanted from an MBA. I felt I wanted a memorable experience.Thats when the whole "fit" concept hit me.

Ironically, I only understood all these much later into my application cycle

Even if I dont make it into any B-school this year, which seems to be the most likely situation. I feel the process has given me a lot more than i anticipated.

It's been said several times but I'm pretty much the same. I learned how to connect the dots of my life's experiences from being crippled as a child to the murder of a friend I volunteered with in the projects to the murder of my uncle and incarceration of my cousin (who didn't murder his dad). I learned how to connect all of the dots through deep soul searching to understand exactly what I want to do and why I want to do it. And it reminded me of how short and generally trivial life is so I might as well make all the steps I need to make the impact I want as soon as I can. I also helped others dig deeper in their essays so that no one else could tell the stories they told. It was really rewarding.

I have become result oriented

I am just starting to do my applications and i am targeting 2012. I am slowly getting used to the fact that i must reflect to grow as a person not just for my apps as i think that MBA is just a step..its not THE step. I usually try to sit alone and think of my past, right from grade 1, but many times i just get lost in thoughts and wave off in tangents...can you guys share how you reflect on your past, i have heard some people travel and some people just take a diary and start writing down and try to link things up...can we share what we do to reflect?

I did a variety of things. I've sat and just thought and thought, reliving moments of my life. I've written things down on paper and brainstormed. I've asked myself the 5 WHY's - e.g. if you love to play the piano, ask yourself WHY. Maybe it's because it relaxes you. Ask your self WHY. Perhaps it's because when you were a child, your Mom played the piano for you, etc...

Not all of them will result in something profound but it will get your juices flowing. And then finally, just taking to my family and friends triggered a lot of things too. Just reminiscing about the good old days and then someone will bring up something you completely forgot.

I really think jordanhendrix's advice up top is EXCELLENT advice (KUDOS)

I've always been a Do-first, think-second type of person. I couldnt take an inventory of my life and then figure out my goal. I had to put the finger on my exact, perfect-for-me goal and then work backwards from there. Why is it perfect? when did i realize these traits.

For ex - it was actually stumbleupon that helped me find this. I thought i wanted to do IM, until I realized I would click past alot of financial pages, but always get hung up on the change management, social behavior, game theory type pages. That's why my career path will most likely take me into HR consulting/change management. Looking back from there I was able to really focus in on the exact things that made me who I was.

While the process REALLY does change you, I'm not sure the adcom wants to hear you reflect for just reflection's sake... they want to hear how it specifically changed you life as relevant to the mba-- aka your goals. As that goal changes, you start to remember how much an impact different things had on your life.

I think the biggest gift the whole process has had is how it has kind of stopped me from just kinda emotionally drifting through life. I know exactly where my frontier of leadership/business knowledge growth is, and exactly where an mba/specific school will help me extend that frontier.

I have a different story altogether. I have had a criminal conviction in a foreign country for an unfortunate reason. I am a fairly successful entrepreneur. I am working on a new project as well. Just want to go to a school where I can simultaneously start this new business and gain a global perspective. I was concerned if I should just disclose my criminal case, discuss it or ignore it. Finally I chose to explain it. In a way I have shared my mental burden with some strangers and paid them for taking it I feel much better now. And for all those worried and concerned about lack of EC in applications, jus know that there are some people with graver concerns; enjoy the admission process!. Year is new and so is the world. Here is to a great 2011 ahead guys! All the best to everyone! Hurrrraaay!