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01 Jan 2014, 14:00
| FROM Domotron's Blog: Happy new year! |
 Happy new year all. Another year has flown by and it is one that I have much to be thankful for. Sure not everything went my way but on the whole more went right than wrong! 2014 brings with it new hope, new challenges, and hopefully lots of fun. I look forward to sharing my highs and lows with you all in 2014.  
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01 Jan 2014, 18:43
01 Jan 2014, 19:00
| FROM Coffee Beans And Tea Leaves: Leaving on a jet plane |
I just wanted to post a quick update before I head to India in the next few minutes for my sister’s wedding. The next 10 days are going to fly pretty quickly with the ceremonies, some last minute shopping, meeting family, and also, not to forget, submitting my apps for Kenan Flagler on 9th Dec. […]
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01 Jan 2014, 19:00
| FROM Coffee Beans And Tea Leaves: A year to be thankful for! |
I have been back since last week from a wonderful, albeit short (yes, 3 weeks with a family you don’t get to see all year feels short!) visit home. We packed in a lot of travel, met a lot of family and friends, including my grandma, who I hadn’t met in 8 years :-/ and […]
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02 Jan 2014, 14:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: |
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+ Add your blog  
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02 Jan 2014, 19:00
| FROM Hamm0's Blog: The Decision |
Before I dig into what you all came in here to read – where I’m going to business school – I have another clerical update. Between my last post, and now, we have crossed the 20,000 view barrier, and are accelerating faster than ever. Thanks to everyone who has been following my journey. Additionally, I want to congratulate several of my co-applicants on landing many impressive offers. You all have been very supportive to me during my application season, and you will certainly be an asset to whichever program you choose. Finally, a special thank you to all of those who helped me with my applications. Be it essay edits, emotional support, or even pretending to listen to my constant whining, these people have been invaluable to my success. Thank You Thank You Ok, enough mushy talk – time to dig in. So last post, I was extremely excited to have been offered a spot in the class of 2016 at Johnson. This past week, however, was chock full of decisions. I was expecting to hear decisions from the remaining schools that I interviewed at: Tuck, Fuqua, and Ross. Before that could happen, though, I had to face the music at Darden. Being as I didn’t interview, I knew what was coming, and received my second ding of application season on Monday.  Tuesday was a different day – Ross announced they would call all admitted US applicants on Wednesday, and it was rumored that Tuck would start calling their admitted applicants on Tuesday. I had a good feeling about Ross. After all, they invited me to interview, and I think the interview went pretty well. I had a good amount of preparation, and even went so far as to use ClearAdmit’s interview guide which I found very helpful – review forthcoming. Tuck, on the other hand, I had no clue about. If you remember from my posts earlier, I had an applicant initiated interview, and stayed the night at Tuck. Over the next few weeks, my attraction to the program only grew. I knew it would be a bit of a reach given its small class size, and my lower GMAT/GPA combo, but I really felt that I put a strong application together. However, Tuesday came and went, and my phone did not ring. I wasn’t too worried though – as expected no calls were reported on gmatclub. I went home and tried to mentally prepare for the climax of my decision season; Wednesday would should bring calls from two of my schools.  By noon on Wednesday, calls had started for Ross. I wasn’t terribly worried at this point, since it was early in the day. By two o’clock, though, I was starting to become flustered. At this point in the day, I had done the bare minimum at work, and really wasn’t doing too much else other than staring at my phone and refreshing GMATclub. By 4, I was a basket case. Ross had seemingly stopped calling, and Tuck had made no calls Wednesday. I left work early that day, not knowing my fate; Ross wouldn’t update my final status until Friday.  Thursday meant I had only Tuck to focus on, due to their changeup of not calling in the day before decision day. I knew that they would call right up to the 5:00 deadline, so when calls started around 9:00, I wasn’t too worried. One of my favorite Tuckies got their call with only a few minutes to spare before the announced deadline. At work, I was even more useless than I was the day prior. After lunch, I really began to worry. With each passing minute, it became less and less likely. With 15 minutes to go before the 5:00 deadline, I resigned myself to praying for a waitlist offer. 5:00 yielded bad news. I was denied admission at Tuck.  At this point, I was pretty crushed. Sure, one of my top choices had admitted me last week, but I had now suffered back-to-back-to-back dings…or possibly a waitlist at Ross. The point is, it had been a rough week, and I had definitely come down from the momentous high that came with my Johnson admit. I had one more bullet in the chamber in the form of Fuqua, and still had hope of the waitlist at Ross; Friday would be my last decision day.  By Friday, I was ready for it to be over. I did not want to live another day like this, staring at my phone waiting for it to buzz, and then cursing like a sailor when someone who was not in admissions was foolish enough to call me. Fuqua calls started early – in the Far East. I figured they would work their way west, as they typically do. In the mid-morning, east coast calls started to happen, and by 11, they had gone to the Midwest. If my call was coming, it would have to come soon. Noon came, and I switched gears to Ross: Decisions were up. I scrambled to type my password and navigate the website to where my decision lie, only to find that I had been waitlisted. I guess this is the best possible result after not getting a call on Wednesday. I filed that away, and went back to the task at hand; trying to make my phone ring with a caller in Durham on the other side. After lunch, calls seemed to stop. I began refreshing my applicant decision page like a maniac, hoping that for some reason I wasn’t called, but I was still admitted. 5:00 came, and still no news – I had enough. Work was having a holiday party, so after one last refresh of the webpage, I headed out to the party. At 6, I got a note saying my decision was ready for Fuqua. I scrambled to open the webpage from my phone, only to find that wasn’t possible. When I finally got home, i opened the webpage before doing anything else…and got my final ding of application season.  So to sum things up, I have been dinged by 3 schools this week and waitlisted by Ross. These decisions go along with an admit at Johnson and a ding at Wharton. This has been one of the most emotional 2 week periods in my life. Even though I was fairly warned by those who came before me, I was not prepared for the emotional swings that MBA decisions brought with them. I spent most of last week pretty depressed, and not because I really did not want to go to Johnson or Ross – that isn’t the case at all. After spending countless hours crafting applications for my other schools, it is really painful to receive a 200 word form letter saying “thanks but no thanks” in response. By Friday evening, I was ready to exhale, and I certainly did. After several cocktails at the work party and with dinner, my friends took me out to celebrate. Yesterday morning, I woke up with a serious hangover, but in a much better mood. I had put the dings behind me, and focused on my remaining decision.  Me on Friday night aft er the last bschool decision My immediate reaction told me I’ll decline the waitlist at Ross to attend Johnson. After spending some time making sure that I want to follow that plan of action, I made my decision. I will be attending the S.C. Johnson School of Management in the fall! As I mentioned in my interview debrief, the school really impressed during my visit. I’m thrilled to be accepted, and can’t wait to embark on the next stage of this journey. All roads lead to Ithaca now!  Filed under: About Me, Schools Tagged: Accepted!, Admissions, Darden, Dings  , Fuqua, Johnson, Ross, School Selection, Tuck, Waiting, Wharton        
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02 Jan 2014, 19:58
| FROM Domotron's Blog: Happy new year! |
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Happy new year all. Another year has flown by and it is one that I have much to be thankful for. Sure not everything went my way but on the whole more went right than wrong! 2014 brings with it new hope, new challenges, and hopefully lots of fun. I look forward to sharing my highs and lows with you all in 2014.
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04 Jan 2014, 15:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Essay writing: the british problem |
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I’m in the middle of re-drafting the essays I need to apply for Duke and Harvard in time for Monday’s deadline. But I’m hitting a very British problem. How do I show excitement and enthusiasm, without being corny? My friends have banned me from using cool. I’m only allowed to use amazing once and I’m not going to use awesome, after all I’m British. What adjectives and phrases can I use in an essay for business school? I had a very light chatty essay for Duke. Upon reflection I thought it was too light in terms of content and not serious enough, so I’ve changed the tone and now made it sound, well dull. While my Harvard essay had good content with no zing. I need to add zing. So I have 24 hours to make the essays serious in content, but have an exciting tone. Suggestions?  
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06 Jan 2014, 11:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: One application down another to go |
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Big Cheer. I’ve submitted my application to Harvard with 30 minutes to spare. (I hope my international clock was showing the right time!) I can now tick off the following from my Bucket List: Apply to Harvard business school. (BIG GRIN!!!!) O.K onto Duke; its due in at midnight US time or 5am my time. Wish me luck.  
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06 Jan 2014, 15:00
| FROM The adventures of a (provisional) MBA student: Dear MBA Applicants… |
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Dear MBA Applicants… I was asked by the nice people at topmba.com if I’d write an article for them a little while ago, and after a little pondering on what to write I thought it was somehow appropriate (having received my GMAT at the start of last year) to make my own list of the points I’d wish I knew 12 months ago. Most of these were accompanied by slapping my own forehead (with a ‘doh!’) or the clarity that comes after hours of anxiety over what seems quite a trivial detail. Hopefully you may save yourself some time!  
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09 Jan 2014, 15:00
| FROM Hamm0's Blog: Time to Catch Up |
So, I pretty much disappeared for a few weeks post-decision. For that, I apologize. Turns out, the last thing you want to do after obsessing over MBA things for a year is…well do anything about admissions for a few weeks. As I mentioned in my last post, I paid my Johnson deposit, and will be off to Ithaca this Summer/Fall. I have been spending my free time trying to learn everything I can about the place. I have contacted a number of current students soliciting advice on all fronts – housing, course exemptions, career thoughts, etc., and have been quite pleased. As expected, the Johnson network is very strong, and from what I have seen so far, people are willing to go way out of their way to help you. I will not bore you with the details of everything, because it is likely that very few of you will be attending Johnson in the future. That is not to say you will not have the ability to… but rather given its small class size, there numerical odds of you attending are quite slim. If, however, you are thinking of shooting an application there, let me know if I can help you in any way! I cannot claim to be a master of anything about the school or admissions, but the least I could do is offer.  Aside from Johnson, I have been planning my exit strategy. If you remember from waaaaay back when, I noted that I did not have the luxury of applying to only highly selective programs *cough “I’m only applying to HSW” cough*, with the backup plan of applying the following year if I was dinged. I am on a contract with my employer, which terminates sometime this summer. I have contacted HR, to which I found out that was largely false, and was told to “work it out with my manager” on when I wanted to leave. Oh well – not an issue, I just need to actually sit down and work it out with my manager. I was thinking sometime in June, but it is a difficult balance between funemployment time and saving money. I am looking forward to having a minion under me – they plan to hire someone to replace me, who I will have to train. All I know is I will not be leaving on Friday the 13th (yes, that day happens in June).  Finally, I have been thinking a lot about costs. I have tried to model out just about everything I could for the next 2 years, and came up with a really big number at the bottom of my sheet. Fortunately, the next sheet detailing my assets was substantial as well, but I still have a gap of about 40 or 50 thousand dollars. I cannot think of any legal way to earn that kind of money in the next 6 months, so I have been trying to cut back on many of my expenses. Packing lunches, parking in the farther cheaper lot, going out less – or at least not buying as many drinks when I do go out. I have put myself of a good cash-diet for the next few months. At the same time, I have been trying to get the most out of my time here. I have a really strong group of friends who I am sure I will miss come August, so I want to maximize my time with them in a cost-efficient manner. And that is really hard.  Filed under: Uncategorized        
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10 Jan 2014, 17:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Business school application post project review |
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Well, I sat the GMAT and submitted two business schools essays in time, so here are my thoughts on what went well, what could have better and what I would do differently next time. What went well?
Fulbright Post Project Review  
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10 Jan 2014, 17:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: Harvard and Duke business schools applications |
I’ve tried to write my traditional debrief on the applications I’ve submitted. But every time I started I wanted to discuss a couple of elements. That when it hit me, one post just wouldn’t do it justice. So below are my three posts on reviewing those business school applications I submitted to Harvard and Duke:
 
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15 Jan 2014, 19:00
| FROM Coffee Beans And Tea Leaves: On and beyond Super Tuesday |
Hope everyone stayed warm during the polar vortex here in the US! Quite fittingly, once my apps for Ross, Kelley, and Kellogg were submitted on “Super Tuesday” of MBA Apps, work exploded, leaving very little spare time to come back here often. In a way, that has been a small mercy. In my not-so-infrequent visit to the […]
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16 Jan 2014, 15:00
| FROM Domotron's Blog: Great Scott! It’s mid Jan… |
 It’s been over two week since I posted here (where did the time go) and there is a whole bunch of stuff to update on. Time is flying by this January for sure. Without further ado, the first thing is to thank all you readers. This blog has exceed the 10,000 views mark and well on the way to 11k. I find it truly humbling that you all continue to visit and read this blog. OK so getting back to my updates for Jan. December was a rough month and I found it pretty tough to swallow the bad news from both Booth and Wharton. However, the time off over Christmas and New Year also gave me an opportunity to reflect and look ahead to 2014. I am definitely still in the game for two schools, Tuck and Kellogg. I submitted my Kellogg application just before the R2 deadline and recently received an off-campus interview. While unlike other schools, Kellogg tries to interview all applicants if possible so I can’t read too much into it. However it sure beats having my interview waived. It gives me an opportunity to present another data point and hopefully demonstrate what I consider to be one of my strengths, my interpersonal skills. As for Tuck, I can’t believe it’s only 3 weeks (+1 day) until decision day. It’s absolutely flown by and I am looking forward to getting my decision, whether it is positive or not. Over Christmas, I did a lot of thinking with regards to my contingency plan. Effectively, Tuck is the litmus test. It is the school I did the most research on and tried to go above and beyond for. If it’s a straight ding then it’s back to the drawing board. It’s a clear sign that maybe I didn’t execute as I had hoped this application season. At which point, I will start looking ahead to R1 2014. An MBA is still very much part of my plan and I don’t see that changing in the short term. Don’t worry, I haven’t given up hope of an admit this season but it’s good to have contingencies in place. Hopefully I will receive the good news in 3 weeks time and can scrap all the other plans!  
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17 Jan 2014, 05:00
| FROM Hamm0's Blog: Time to Catch Up |
So, I pretty much disappeared for a few weeks post-decision. For that, I apologize. Turns out, the last thing you want to do after obsessing over MBA things for a year is…well do anything about admissions for a few weeks. As I mentioned in my last post, I paid my Johnson deposit, and will be off to Ithaca this Summer/Fall. I have been spending my free time trying to learn everything I can about the place. I have contacted a number of current students soliciting advice on all fronts – housing, course exemptions, career thoughts, etc., and have been quite pleased. As expected, the Johnson network is very strong, and from what I have seen so far, people are willing to go way out of their way to help you. I will not bore you with the details of everything, because it is likely that very few of you will be attending Johnson in the future. That is not to say you will not have the ability to… but rather given its small class size, there numerical odds of you attending are quite slim. If, however, you are thinking of shooting an application there, let me know if I can help you in any way! I cannot claim to be a master of anything about the school or admissions, but the least I could do is offer.  Aside from Johnson, I have been planning my exit strategy. If you remember from waaaaay back when, I noted that I did not have the luxury of applying to only highly selective programs *cough “I’m only applying to HSW” cough*, with the backup plan of applying the following year if I was dinged. I am on a contract with my employer, which terminates sometime this summer. I have contacted HR, to which I found out that was largely false, and was told to “work it out with my manager” on when I wanted to leave. Oh well – not an issue, I just need to actually sit down and work it out with my manager. I was thinking sometime in June, but it is a difficult balance between funemployment time and saving money. I am looking forward to having a minion under me – they plan to hire someone to replace me, who I will have to train. All I know is I will not be leaving on Friday the 13th (yes, that day happens in June).  Finally, I have been thinking a lot about costs. I have tried to model out just about everything I could for the next 2 years, and came up with a really big number at the bottom of my sheet. Fortunately, the next sheet detailing my assets was substantial as well, but I still have a gap of about 40 or 50 thousand dollars. I cannot think of any legal way to earn that kind of money in the next 6 months, so I have been trying to cut back on many of my expenses. Packing lunches, parking in the farther cheaper lot, going out less – or at least not buying as many drinks when I do go out. I have put myself of a good cash-diet for the next few months. At the same time, I have been trying to get the most out of my time here. I have a really strong group of friends who I am sure I will miss come August, so I want to maximize my time with them in a cost-efficient manner. And that is really hard.  Filed under: Uncategorized
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18 Jan 2014, 11:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: GMAT time number 4? |
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I’ve had a great week of freedom. I’ve been out every night, got up later in the morning as I don’t need to study and even had free time to catch up on TV and house admin. However it’s time to move on to the next stage: European business schools. I ended up only applying to two US business schools. But I need to maximise my chances of getting into business school, I need to apply to more. This is where the EU schools come in. As I don’t have visa worries I can apply later. I’ve got a short list of three: They are all great for different reasons; IESE I can learn by the Harvard case study (they got advice from HBS when they starting the school); HEC I can live in France and learn the language. This is big plus as most international public sector organisations have two languages-English and French. While IE dislikes the GMAT so much they have their own entrance exam. Here is the crux of my dilemma; should I resit the GMAT? I got a very nice email from HEC in Paris basically saying; close but no cigar as they require a minimum of 600 score; but don’t worry you can resit. HEC is one of my favourites business schools; so if I want a chance, I have to resit. IESE has an average score of 670; which means there is potential to get in on the score I have. However I think the recognised minimum is 600 for most European business schools. But I’m going to check to find out before I make any decision. Or do I just focus on IE with their more practical entrance exam? Deadlines for the European Business Schools are the middle of March. However as I’m off on holiday from the 10th March;it means I really have apply by the beginning of that month. So while I have a few days to decide I need to get to gripes with following questions.
Anyone have any thoughts?  
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23 Jan 2014, 02:00
| FROM The adventures of a (provisional) MBA student: Dear MBA Applicants… |
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Dear MBA Applicants… I was asked by the nice people at topmba.com if I’d write an article for them a little while ago, and after a little pondering on what to write I thought it was somehow appropriate (having received my GMAT at the start of last year) to make my own list of the points I’d wish I knew 12 months ago. Most of these were accompanied by slapping my own forehead (with a ‘doh!’) or the clarity that comes after hours of anxiety over what seems quite a trivial detail. Hopefully you may save yourself some time!
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23 Jan 2014, 02:00
| FROM The adventures of a (provisional) MBA student: The Calm Before the Storm: the Sequel (and for real this time) |
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The last few weeks since Christmas have been considerably quieter than the nervous waiting just before. In fact, most of it has been preparing for what is looking like a busy February. After dinner a few weeks ago with a smaller group who gathered over Facebook, last weekend I was fortunate to meet some future fellow Boston residents, at least the portion of the class heading over to Boston who are currently based in London (and around). It was a great group, with some really interesting backgrounds, and plenty of words where I didn’t even understand what they meant at first – I am definitely going to learn a lot over the next two years. There was a real mix of Europeans and American’s heading home after a few years in London – in a room of 14 admits there were only 3 UK nationals, so I certainly feel at a disadvantage with regards to an international move. Almost everyone had more experience of that than me! This turns to the more practical part of the last few weeks. I’ve standard gathering income and other financial statements, preparing some scholarship applications and preparing for the start of February when most of the administration needs to begin. Money and Visa worries are top of my list, and as a home-owner I’m already scrambling to finish off the renovation of my home I’ve been completing over the last two years so it’s in a condition to either rent or sell. To be honest, at times already I’m not sure which direction to turn next!  A common site in my life at the moment Finally, from the 4th February I’m going to be in Boston for Admitted Students Welcome at HBS. It’ll be my first visit on campus, a chance to look at the facilities and get a feel for the city I’ll be in for the next two years. I’m also hoping to visit MIT too – I’m taking my camera so I’ll be attempting to keep a visual diary while I’m there. On Friday I told my team my good news and that I’d be leaving in the summer – with recommenders in the loop at work the news was already starting to sneak out. In my case, this meant a 12 hour odyssey to cover the three shifts I manage and was quite draining. It has inevitably led to a huge number of questions, most of which I don’t yet know the answer to. Writing the title for the post gave me a slight sense of deja-vu. I was right – I’d used something similar in a much earlier post (here). I was struck reading it how far I’ve come in my confidence with the process. I’m much more comfortable with my decision now to head across the pond. Here’s hoping I feel the same in two years time!  
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23 Jan 2014, 09:00
| FROM Sarah's MBA Journey: 1st result in: Fulbright |
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I done my standard lunch time check on my emails and guess what, I got an email from Fulbright. Feeling a bit nervous I opened the email and BAM! My first no of application season. Fulbright will not be taking me forward to interview. I’m quite disappointed as I thought I put a good case forwards. But it looks like not having brilliant academics, but only very good ones was enough to put me out the running. Good luck to everyone else who applied to Fulbright. How did you get on?  
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Tuck at Dartmouth
AGSM at UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
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