Thursday, September 28, 2006

I knew this would be hard but...

Wow, writing is hard. After hours of research, outlining, speaking to MBA's and English PHD's at work, I find myself resorting to 8th grade essay prep--brainstorming with bubbles.



Ha...gotta love google images.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I have a "story" ...finally

After much self-assessment, I think I've got the foundation for my "story" that will be told through my application essays. My progress was initially stagnant, and felt futile, but now it's snowballed into something that feels more solid. I am done panicking--I feel confident and excited about applying. Although I'm a little stressed and nervous about it all still, of course.

I think it definitely helped me to make note of all the post-collegiate things I've done, professional and non-professional. While I did do some sit-down brainstorming, I've also been making little notes to myself since I began considering business school. Whenever I remembered an accomplishment, no matter how small, that would contribute to my bschool story, I would jot it down. Reading other essays, looking through photographs, revisiting journal/blog entries from college all helped me gather a giant list of experiences that I feel will help bolster my candidacy.

As I'm somewhat of a career switcher, I also have been reading and researching as much as I can about the career I'm most interested in--just to get a better idea of how I can present my achievements so that they'll be the most consistent to what my career goals entail.

Though I'm still at the beginning of this process, I do feel like my own understanding of "why" I want an MBA has been relatively fleshed out. I don't feel like I had to force things to fit when they didn't--for the most part, the different pieces seem to have fallen into place.

We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.

-Frank Tibolt

Monday, September 04, 2006

"Wait until next year"

This was part of the advice given to me by a Harvard MBA whom I really respect and admire. He advised me to postpone applying for a year in order to make a greater case for myself for a top 5 school. He seemed very assured that if I applied to school in 07 (and spend the next year making my apps stronger) I could probably get into any school I wanted. Of course, this is just one person's opinion--but it did make me think.

Personally I feel that I'm ready to apply and that I'm ready for school, though I do see how much better I could potentially prepare in a year if I were to apply in 07. Right now, I've only planned to apply to one top 5 school. I suppose I'll assess how I feel when I'm nearing the end of the application process this fall...and when I see what schools I'm admitted to.