Former occupation: rodeo clown

One thing I have learned from my classmates is that they've practically done it all. Sometimes, people will rhetorically say things like, "I was a [occupation], so I know" to end a conversation by claiming expertise. E.g., "When I was a South American dictator, I learned..."

In my experience, I have found that people do this jokingly, and claim ridiculous jobs. In school, I have found that when people say these things, they turn out to be true. Some of the random occupations I've heard bandied about include:

- Cinematographer
- Scuba diving instructor
- Health inspector
- Children's book authoer
- Yoga teacher
- Beverage spokesperson
- Professional basketball player
- Marksmanship instructor at sniper school

You get my drift.

learning how to behave

This week, we had case day. This was meant to teach us how to behave in class. In order to encourage us to vary our comments, we were told to use one of three items to speak in class:

- raise hand - introduce a new point
- yellow card - clarifying question
- red card - challenging or disagreeing with previous point

There seems to be some soccer (or football, as my non-NorthAm class mates keep telling me) inspiration in the cards. Not that they correspond to soccer penalties, but the terminology.

Anyway, the cards were illustrative and used for only one class. We turned them back in before the end of the class. I suppose the one-time use was designed to inspire good habits. Interesting experience to have to signal that you're going to disagree with someone before you go ahead and disagree with them. It did make me more aware of the kinds of points I make in class, and that I should challenge classmates more often.

I'm now 37% more disagreeable.

Shortlisted: How I decided on where to apply

I decided last fall that I wanted to get an MBA. I didn't have much time to decide where I was going to apply.

At that time, I was in serious *like* with my job. We were going steady for a while, but I wanted to wear someone else's letter jacket to school on game days. I thought there were other fish in the greener sea, or whatever tortured analogy you'd like to use. While I liked my job, I'd classify myself as a career switcher.

Now, I was already working in a post-MBA position at a consulting firm. I figured, if I get into school, great. If not, I'll stay at my company at a job I like. I had nothing to lose. So, I decided to gamble and maximize my ROI by applying only to top programs. I trimmed the list based on where I would and would not live. I ruled out the Midwest (U.S.), kept the East Coast (U.S.), West Coast (U.S.) and Europe. For now, but probably not for long, the top MBA programs are still in the U.S.

I didn't apply to any safeties. If I'm going to spend $150k in tuition and living expenses, plus a few hundred $K in opportunity cost, I should go somewhere which will open doors for me. Besides, a half-assed application is pretty transparently half-assed.

Ultimately, I'm happy about where I applied. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably sub out INSEAD for Columbia. It was time for me to leave NYC, and this would have guaranteed it.

elections: like kindergarten, minus the naptime and graham crackers

We had cohort elections this week. The election process was simple. First, candidates nominated themselves or were nominated by others. Second, candidates speechified one at a time. The currently non-speaking candidates huddled in the hallway, so speeches were independent and not influenced by each other. Finally, we voted.

We put our heads down and raised our hands to vote. Our Leadership Fellows counted our votes and announced the winners as the candidates were herded from the hallway.

I did win the representative position I wanted, but it was nerve-wracking. Seeing a few rounds of elections beforehand, there was a high level of variance in the quality of the candidates. I didn't want to be the one who was obviously out of place. Also, while we were waiting in the hallway, it was like being in a hospital waiting room, waiting for the doctor to call us in. Lobsters in a pot.

Some people were so clearly fit for the job, they were elected by acclamation. Even other nominees deferred, saying "X will do a wonderful job; I respectfully decline". There were some classy demurrals. And some close elections. We had a few ties and run-offs.

I'm just glad it's over. And I'm glad it didn't devolve into a pure popularity contest, which it could have. Overall, people with the best speeches, platforms and ideas won across the board. Maybe democracy works after all*.

Note*: I recognize that winning the election is just part of the evaluation process. We'll have to wait and see who does a good job. But, based on what I saw today, the right people were elected.

test pattern

Apologies for the long layoff. I've had a whirlwind past few months. I quit my job, moved to school, and most importantly, went on vacation. I'm back now, and starting school in earnest.

All that pre-term stuff was "playing for funsies", as one of my professors put it. Now, I have to play for "realsies".

ease up

If you score > 700, stop. Buy your mom flowers, go for a long walk, eat an ice cream sundae.

700+ is good enough.

There is more to life than test scores. If you re-take the test, the hours you spend cramming could be put to better use. Every year, people with 800s get rejected from top programs. A great test score means you’re great at taking tests.

If you have an undistinguished academic record (low GPA, obscure school), it may be worth spending the time to ace the GMAT. If your academic record is passable, then a high GMAT does indicate academic promise. Coupled with a low GPA, it indicates a smart slacker.

The adcom sees each applicant as a sum of his or her parts. The GMAT is just one part of a complete portrait of you as an applicant. Re-take the test if you want to communicate that you are the kind of person who obsesses over a few points. In other words, you’re the kind of person who focuses on the wrong things.

For the record, I did ask an admissions director about this when I began my application process. I had a >700 score, though a lousy analytical writing score. (I really should have practiced that). I asked if I should retake the test or not. She told me: "Congratulations, that's a great score. Don't bother taking the test again."

It was a load off my shoulders and removed a potential distraction from the process. It gave me more time to focus on my essays, resume, work experience, recommendations, etc.

“I had that dream again, the one where I forgot to wear clothes to school…”

I have had a few moments where I panicked because I convinced myself that I used the wrong school name in an application. I didn’t have the heart to check every application, but I did check the one I was most worried about. The essay was clean, much to my relief.

This is a relic of the copy and paste method I used to write my essays. Writing essays was a daunting task and the hardest part of the application process. My process for writing my essays was something like this:

- begin 3 months before applications are due

- agonize over the first idea, but tell yourself you’re gestating ideas

- realize you’ve actually been gestating ideas and begin to write

- finish a few

- get lots of feedback from a range of people (ideally in business and outside)

- make sure the reader remembers one thing about me

- copy and paste to finish the rest

I defy you to find anyone who wrote every essay from scratch. In addition to being time-consuming, I don’t think it’s a good idea. As I looked back on the past several years, a few achievements and touchstones stood out. It was important that I paint a true-to-life likeness of myself, and I wanted to do that by talking about the few events which defined my adult life.

An unusual achievement was also an opportunity to showcase leadership skills, as well as the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. All of my major touchstones were multi-dimensional, so I was able to wring several essays out of each with the same high points.

On the plus side, this streamlined my essay writing process through economies of scale. On the minus side, I’m almost certain I wrote ‘Columbia’ when I meant ‘Wharton’.

My advice: give yourself an extra half hour to check all of your essays. Better yet, get someone who hasn’t been staring at them for hours to check for you. Also, don’t trust the ‘Find and Replace’ function in Word. You could have had a typo the first time around.

I'll be blogging on essay writing tips. Stay tuned.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch

In the words of Robert Heinlein, and later, more often, the words of Milton Friedman: TANSTAAFL.

I'll cop to being lazy. I wanted to know what the acronym was and didn't want to make it myself with the long version, so I googled it. This link to a show cat website is the oddest one I found.

Yes, I do mean show cat. As in the Westminster Kennel Club show, except for cats. My favorite page at this website was the blast from the past 80s styling on display in an archival photo.

I also love that business-y acronyms are everywhere, from HBS to a Maine Coon breeder's website.

“You know I love you, but…”

So, my sister and I were discussing how beginning sentences with "You know I love you..." fills the listener with an ambiguous sense of dread. We agreed to use that sentence construction more often. Her example: "You know I love you, but you can't keep wearing that skort in public".

Getting waitlisted is definitely one of those “you know I love you, but…” moments. “You know we love you, but your GMAT is too low”. “You know we love you, but we have 10 other applicants just like you, and you’re the least qualified.” Ouch.

Seeing as an admit in the hand is worth 2 admits in the bush (or whatever other analogy I can torture on short notice), I had decided before the application process not to accept a spot on any waitlist. I’d cast myself back into the pool and apply again.

I didn’t want to twist in the wind for a few months before having to tell my employer that I was or wasn’t going to stay. I had planned to focus my energy on revamping my application, acquiring feedback, preparing to apply earlier (R1 instead of R2), and tweaking my schools list. It’s a personality preference—I’d rather have the ball in my court, so that I could do something, rather than waiting for someone else to decide.

Luckily, I did get in, and didn’t have to worry about being on a waitlist. That said, I’m glad I thought it through before it was even an option.

looking back

I tend not to write many things down. This is usually a plus since it reduces the paper clutter in my life. The minus is that I tend to forget. Result: Good for trees, bad for learning from my experiences.

I've decided to try something new: writing things down. The past six months have been a whirlwind of work (both applications and the kind I get paid to do) and agonizing, but I am finally in at an MBA program. Two, actually. I had the rare luxury of picking after all those months of hoping one of the schools I applied to would pick me.

It was looking pretty grim there, but it all turned out fine. I sent the enrollment check a few weeks ago and everything. Looks like I'll be getting an MBA.

It's been an interesting process so far. I won't tell you where I've decided to go yet. That's the destination and I'm still talking about the journey. But it is part of the story and I'll get there.

I'm starting this blog to share my experiences as an MBA applicant for 2008. I would definitely change some of the things I did, and I would gamble on some of my decisions, too. I want to share since I empathize with MBA applicants. It's scary, difficult and agonizing. But it will probably turn out fine. After all, you just need one admit.

If anything I've written here resonates with you, send me an e-mail. I'd love to hear your stories, too.