Let's see what can happen in 2.5 weeks...

Question

Hello everybody.

I've been thinking about B-school lately and decided today I'm going to go for it. During my GMAT research I came across this great site and thought I'd post my experience as I go through it, just in case anyone else is ever in the same boat.

So I have 1 school I really want to go to; its quite competitive so I definitely need 700+ to get my foot in the door. The round one deadline has passed; I'm going to go for Round 2 which is here in 3 weeks. So, I'm going to take the GMAT in 2.5 weeks (28th-ish) and see what happens. First thing I better do is get my recommendation requests right?

I went out and bought Kaplan800 and Kaplan Prep book today, ordered all 3 books from MBA.com and hopefully that will be enough.

I know this may be an exercise in futility, but maybe someone else can learn from this. If anyone has any other advice for last minute prep, I'd be glad to hear it. I'll keep updating this thread as I take practice exams and so forth.

Thanks again everyone

consultinghokie · Answer

good luck. and please post your progress - i'm very interested to see the results of your 'experiment'

Impulse · Answer

Thanks for the well wishes Hokie, its funny you called it an 'experiment' because thats kinda how I'm looking at it.

so far not so good. I took my first PP full length...660. I suppose its a good thing because if I would have done better I know I would slack on the studying.

Definitely take a trial exam right away so you get a feel of the test! The 'style' of the questions seemed much different than the examples in Kaplan.

I am going to wait until I take the second PP before I start reading the OG books - just Kaplan for now. It also becoming clear that the more time you have the better in order to do more practice problems.
2.5 weeks isn't enough, feels like a cram session.

I'm going to keep hacking away...lets see what happens.

Impulse · Answer

UGGGHHHHH! I feel sick to my stomach.

So I've been on the fence about my little experiment, whether I should bite the bullet and really take the exam with relatively little prep time or not. I've been checking the availability in my area for Dec 29-30th regularly and there has been no shortage of openings so I wasn't worried about that. Last night I took PP2 and got a 710, so I figured I would go for it. 1 more week of studying should put me comfortably in the 700 zone, I haven't even started OG material yet.

The registration deadline passed.

Even typing that makes me want to throw up. I have been super diligent and thought I was totally informed. I know if I cancelled in less than a week, I'd lose the $, but that was fine. I do not remember seeing a registration deadline anywhere! I have been studying really hard for this...

This will put me into Round 3 - I am fu*ked.

I guess now I will have more adequate prep time, and will have time to get better acquainted with you all.

I feel like such a loser; how did this happen? Call me Costanza.

Now I need to destroy this test and claim vengeance. :twisted:

No I'm not insane, just very emotional right now...2 weeks of sobriety down the toilet.

consultinghokie · Answer

have you even started your essays? recommendations? ordering transcripts from your undergrad? 

If you don't have the above at 95% complete by now, you're screwed no matter what your score.

I'm amazed that you've been able to score in the 700s on practice tests with little studying - most people take 3 to 6 mths averaging 3hrs/day. And we're talking about Harvard, Standford, Wharton types. So... you must be a friggin rock star! congrats. you're a unique kind.

i do hope that others reading this board understand the time commitment required to apply to business school. you should begin the process (usually by taking the GMAT) 1-year before you plan to apply. And apply round one if you actually want to attend a specific institution. 

good luck, impluse.

consultinghokie · Answer

btw: have you taken a Kaplan Practice CAT or the GMATPrep Practice CATs?

Impulse · Answer

yep, I had my essays well under way, my app stuff was all on track for the Jan 6th deadline. I just blew it. I still don't understand how that happened.

Thanks so much for the kind/encouraging words! I'm not a religious person but my mom says things happen for a reason (thank goodness for moms), so we'll see, maybe things will still work out.

I ABSOLUTELY agree, and it became abundantly clear, that you need ideally 3-4 months prep *minimum* to do your best, not to mention all the time to research schools and do your application properly. My decision was last minute and I thought I'd go for it instead of waiting another year and document the journey here (incase anyone ever found themselves in the same boat).

i was going to take my Kaplan CATs this week but now I'm taking a week break from my cram session. My 2 practice tests were PowerPrep since I was going to take it in 2005, but my understanding is that the practice test for 2006 are called GMATPrep Practice right? I will now take those also.

I really shot myself in the foot and made a difficult situation nearly impossible now, but the saga continues and I guess I'll go for round 3 admission.

Anyone have any advice on going for Round 3? Top 15 Elite school

Hjort · Answer

When is the soonest you can take the GMAT?

consultinghokie · Answer

you best approach to this is to apply to a couple schools that you really want R3. worse case, they ding you and you come back next year full force - that'll show them that you really want this...

Impulse · Answer

The deadline for R3 is March 31st; I suppose I can take it whenever.

GMAC just stopped taking appts for 2005 tests on Dec 17th, even though they had openings.

Impulse · Answer

thats the plan, I don't really have a choice. I'll keep updating regardless-

BTW hokie - did you take the test already and where are you applying/going? Just wondering since you're also SoCal

Hjort · Answer

You still have a few weeks before several Elite Cluster Round 2 deadlines- Duke is not until Jan 10th, Yale Jan 11th, and NYU Jan 15th.

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Let's see what can happen in 2.5 weeks...

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