First, I’d just like to congratulate my admissions consulting clients from this season who have accepted offers to their target schools. Thus far, 2 of you are headed to Wharton, 2 to INSEAD, one to Duke, and 4 waiting to hear back from one of Wharton (2 more), MIT (1) or Darden (2). I only […]
Tag Archives: The Road to an MBA
My First Quarter at Wharton, Rugby and a WSJ Response
October 6, 2013
My first quarter at Wharton has been an unbelievable experience. When I last posted, I was just getting my druthers after a fun but exhausting Pre-Term experience. I had also deluded myself into thinking that I’d do a couple posts last month. Negative. Out of nowhere, I was blind-sighted by a flurry of quant problem […]
Philly Bound at Last
July 22, 2013
This time tomorrow, I will officially be a resident of Philadelphia. Since I was admitted during round one (December), much of this transition has been anticlimactic for me since my excitement hit its zenith during admit weekend way back in February. It’s not that I haven’t been excited about going to Wharton, but the drudgery […]
GMAT Mode–Again (Well, Sort of)
May 4, 2013
I experienced deja vu today. I was in the middle of reviewing some statistics info when I thought to myself, “really tho”?. Allow me to explain… I’m currently in the throes of prepping for my transition from brain dead, autopilot but employed 9-to-5 life in sunny Los Angeles to rigorous, stimulating but broke student life […]
CONGRATS to All Round 2 Wharton Admits
March 26, 2013
So…you’re “in” at Wharton. Congratulations on your achievement. I’ve felt kinda bad for all of you during these past couple of weeks, as the period between mid-November and late December (my waiting period) was the roughest time for me during this whole MBA application ride–definitely the upside-down-to-downward-spiral part of the coaster. While the GMAT had […]
A World of Opportunity at Wharton
March 12, 2013
It is incredibly gratifying to finally be busy in a way that is fun and enriching (prepping for school, prepping for Philly, networking, planning etc.) rather than oppressive and numbing (GMAT, essays, interviews, waiting for results, et. al) as it relates to this whole MBA deal. Lately, I’ve been cyber stalking events such as the […]
Why I’ve Chosen The Wharton School of Business
March 1, 2013
I’ve chosen to invest my next two years into building a company and earning an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management at The Wharton School of Business at UPenn. First World Problems From the moment that I first got “the call” from Director of Admissions Ankur Kumar welcoming me to Wharton’s class of 2015, I […]
A Windy City Welcome Weekend at Chicago Booth
February 11, 2013
Earlier today (Sunday) I flew back into Los Angeles from R1 Welcome Weekend at Chicago Booth. Over the past two weekends, I’ve gotten little sleep, increased my alcohol tolerance by a third and met several hundred of the most interesting and exceptional people that I’ve met all in one place in quite some time. If […]
High Times at Wharton’s Winter Welcome Weekend
February 6, 2013
So last weekend I flew to Philadelphia to rendezvous with over 300 of my fellow R1 admits at Wharton’s Winter Welcome Weekend. To say that I had a blast and was impressed would be an understatement. The Whartonites definitely know how to sell their brand and showcase their culture to a horde of admits. The […]
3 for 3: A Scholarship Offer from MIT Sloan
January 31, 2013
Touched Before Take-off [Location, JFK Airport, NYC en route to Philadelphia] – So I’m sitting on the runway awaiting take-off at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) almost exactly 6 hours ago. I’m having a good day. I’ve taken today (Thursday) and tomorrow off to attend Wharton’s Winter Welcome Weekend in Philadelphia. I’m also smiling about […]
ACCEPTED at The MIT Sloan School of Management!
January 29, 2013
Post Mortem Just an hour ago, I thought that I’d be writing a very different post than this. About two weeks ago, I interviewed for a spot in the class of 2015 for The MIT Sloan School of Management. While I left the actual interview feeling pretty good, I began to wonder about whether my […]
Networking, Reading and My MIT Interview
January 19, 2013
At about 3 weeks into the new year, a few things are certain: 1. I’ll be moving to either the east coast OR Midwest sometime this summer. 2. I’ve just jumped down a rabbit hole of massive spending and relentless saving and budgeting that is likely to not end until at least 2015. 3. While the stress […]
The People Make the Place
January 10, 2013
I really envisioned a carefree winter and spring after being admitting into Wharton and Booth a few weeks ago. Pipe dreams. Though, I must say that the kind of intensity that I experience now feels much better than it did when I was waiting to find out whether I “got in” to any of my […]
MBAOver30.com – The Year 2012 in Review
December 30, 2012
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: 19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 62,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 3 sold-out performances for that […]
NO MORE Business School Applications!
December 24, 2012
Woooo-saaaaahhhh (And Happy Holidays)! So about a year ago, I plunked down $250 and took my first swing at the GMAT. I had made a 650 on a practice test without studying, and felt that I should be able to do about as well without too much trouble, then pump out a few essays to […]
ACCEPTED at The Wharton School of Business!
December 20, 2012
After getting an early morning acceptance call from the Chicago Booth School of Business two days ago, one would think I’d be more calm and zen than I was when I got up this morning. I was actually–its a huge relief that you have somewhere (really good) to go to for b-school after all of […]
ACCEPTED at Chicago Booth School of Business!
December 18, 2012
By the time I had woken up this morning, I had read more than enough admit blog posts and BeatTheGMAT/ GMATClub status updates and posts to generally know what to expect on admit announcement day if you’re being offered admission. So when the area code (773) popped up on my iPhone as I was having […]
Invited to Interview at MIT Sloan
December 14, 2012
The Plague So I’m sitting in my Friday product strategy meeting, and I’m wiping my sore and swollen nose for the 100th time this morning.. It’s flu season, so all the folks with school age kids have brought their kids’ nasty cooties to work and kindly shared them with the rest of us. Bums. Since […]
Final Judgement Cometh for R1
December 10, 2012
During the next 10 days, I’ll know the final decisions for 4 out of the 5 programs that I applied to during R1. HBS graciously gave me my walking papers back in October; and Stanford’s silence has spoken volumes. I expect a ding notice from there this Wednesday. That completes the list of schools where […]
Waiting for MBA Admissions Results
November 27, 2012
Ok, so the Thanksgiving Turkey and fixings have all been eaten; and even if that were not the case, I wouldn’t have access to them anyway because all that stuff is back down south with my parents, but I digress. Around 3 weeks from now, the curtain will close on Round 1 of MBA admissions […]
Writing MBA Essays During Thanksgiving Week
November 21, 2012
The Pilgrims Had it Easy Earlier today, my mind wandered as I smelled the sweet aroma of German chocolate cake baking in my mom’s oven. “I wonder what gave the Pilgrims and the indigenous Americans the time to indulge in a feast so elaborate that it started a holiday (before the former murdered 90% of […]
Booth and Wharton Interviews Complete
November 16, 2012
I can finally see some light at the end of this very long tunnel of pre-MBA exam prep, test-taking, app and essay writing, interviewing, waiting, worrying, and just plain ‘ole stress. So here’s the status of my round 1 applications going into the weekend before Thanksgiving (alphabetically): Chicago – invited to interview; interview complete HBS […]
The MBA Gods Smiled Twice in 2 Days: Invited to Interview at Wharton
November 1, 2012
So the short version of the story is that the MBA Gods have smiled once again. I’ve just been invited to interview for a spot at The Wharton Business School, just 28 hours after receiving an invite to interview at The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business (for which I’ve already been matched with […]
A Halloween Treat: Invited to Interview at Chicago Booth
October 31, 2012
Since I felt the “sting of the ding” from Harvard a week ago (I chose not to blog about it), I’ve done a fairly good job of keeping my sanity while in this wasteland of waiting for interview invites results. Blocking Out the Noise I’ve read half of Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, advanced 9 ranking […]
Researching Kellogg, Tuck, Berkeley and Yale While Waiting for Interview Invites
October 21, 2012
I’ve never been the type to spend too much time worrying about things that I cannot change. And so, I’m not allowing myself to worry too much about the 5 MBA applications that I’ve turned in over the past 3.5 weeks for (in order of submission) HBS, Wharton, Booth, Stanford and MIT. I know that […]
MIT App Submitted, No News from HBS
October 19, 2012
I’ve just submitted my last and final app for Round 1: MIT Sloan. After weeks of an on again, off again relationship with this particular app, I was pleased to see how it came together in the end. Ultimately, it became one of my favorite apps to complete. Now let’s just hope that the Sloan […]
MIT Deadline Approaches as Round 1 MBA Judgement Day Draws Nigh
October 16, 2012
So today was boss’ day. Who knew? I sure didn’t–at least not until I arrived at work this morning to the sight of a whole grain and berry mini cake from Whole Foods on my desk decorated “Happy Boss’ Day”. I’d love to be able to tell you that I ate some and brought the […]
On Age Discrimination in MBA Admissions and Rookie Hype
October 7, 2012
I’ve been hard pressed to achieve an insomnia-free night as of late; and to be fair to my fellow pre-MBA applicants, I must concede that I am probably not unique in that respect. At first glance, I’m just another one of thousands of applicants who has recently turned in a set of Round 1 applications […]
HBS App and Rec’s Submitted + An Invite from Tuck
September 21, 2012
Well, its official. I’ve jumped down the MBA admissions rabbit hole. Just a few hours ago, I successfully submitted my first app to HBS; and my last of 3 recommenders submitted his recommendation about an hour and a half later without my having to be a pest about it. I also received an invite today […]
Deadlines Approaching, Booth in the Nick of Time
September 13, 2012
Earlier this week, I checked my iPhone to see my 5th and final info session for Round 1, Chicago Booth, on my schedule. Great Timing I remember feeling relieved to see the 9/11 date when I first registered. My relief came from the fact that 9/5 was on my calendar as the date of the […]
February 25, 2014
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