In spite of all that is going on, I have been able to cross off a few essential items off my pre-MBA checklist. I purchased my laptop for school. I decided to go with the MacBook Air. For those that are considering a Mac, Apple is offering a $100 gift card to those that purchase one now. Although this wasn’t on my checklist of things to do, I decided to buy and iPad Mini with the gift card I got from Clear Admit for winning the Best of Blogging. Thanks Clear Admit!
In the past month we have been able to get our house under contract too! As long as things go as planned, we should close just a couple days before we are able to move into our place in LA. Which brings me to my next checklist item, finding a place to live. We were lucky enough to get into graduate student family housing in LA. I am very glad, because we needed a 3-bedroom, and anything near campus that wasn’t university owned was about twice the price. Also, the elementary school my oldest son will be going to has great ratings, so that is a huge plus.
There are several other things on my list that I am currently working. Unfortunately, a lot is getting pushed back because we have been busy packing and cleaning up our house. I am currently reading a couple great books. Quiet, by Susan Cain, and The Start-up of You, by LinkedIn co-founder, Reid Hoffman. I have also been working on learning some coding. I started taking the HarvardX CS50x: Intro to Computer Science. I have also been playing around quite a bit on Code Academy. If anyone has any other good learning sources, please share. Although things have been busy this past month, we will be heading down to LA almost a month and a half before I start classes. So, that should give me plenty of time to finish things up, and be ready to hit the ground running!
Congrats on the baby boy and good luck with school starting super soon!! Lots to look forward to.
ReplyDeleteI know you applied to Anderson in Round 2.. Around what time were you invited to interview/notified of your acceptance?
I'm pretty sure I want to apply in R2 as well given that my promotion won't be effective until November 1st and also considering that I'm taking the GMAT so late (the end of August) and want to have time to take it once more if necessary. I feel like I'll be a nervous wreck waiting so long to know my fate as well as the opportunity of receiving fellowship isn't as high, but October is sneaking up on me a bit too quickly. Would you say R2 is not as taboo as many make it seem?
Hey texaswannabecali! Thanks for your kind words J
DeleteI was invited to interview about a weeks or so after I submitted my application and was notified about my acceptance about a month and a half later, give or take.
As far as rounds go, and this is just my opinion, it’s not gospel or anything, but I think at Anderson, Round 1 and 2 are fairly similar in terms of competiveness. Round 2 may be slightly more competitive, but if it is, it’s not by much. I would just recommend applying when you are ready. If waiting till January will give you the time you need to get the GMAT score you are happy with and put together a solid application, I would say wait till Round 2. As far as fellowships go, I am not too sure on this one. I know plenty of people who applied round 2 and received fellowships, me being one. So I know it’s possible. I think over the round you apply in, the more important thing for fellowships is having a solid application.
Let me know if you have any other questions. I am happy to help you out where ever I can. Feel free to email me at mbareapplicant84[at]gmail.com.
Thanks!
Okay thanks so much!! That makes me feel alot better.
DeleteAlso another question for you if you dont mind and you might have already addressed this, but do you think there was a reason you were dinged at all the schools you applied to in R1 but then were accepted to 3/4 of the ones in R2? I just find it super interesting because for the most part, I think all the schools you applied to are very competitive and it's not like your applicant profile changed in the span of a few months. Do you think you faced stiffer competition in R1 or were the apps you submitted in R2 just better? I'd love to know what you think.
No problem! I think there were a few reasons why I was dinged by the schools I applied to R1 and accepted to 3/4 R2 schools I applied to. I believe one of the main reasons was the majority of the R1 schools I applied to were just a bit tougher schools to get into. Sloan and Haas are pretty close to HBS in terms of acceptance rate. Yale SOM, Tuck, and Kellogg are also extremely competitive. I do think I would have had a much better shot at Tuck if I would have travelled out to Hanover for an Applicant Initiated Interview. However, all that being said, I know my R2 applications were much stronger. I was promoted in January, so that helped a bit. Also, my essays and applications overall were a lot more refined. I also felt like I was better prepared for the interview. I think just having a few interviews under my belt helped a ton. By the time I got to my Darden interview (my last one), I felt like I didn’t even have to think about my responses, they were just automatic. Let me know if you have any other questions. When you get closer to putting together your application for Anderson, feel free to reach out, I am happy to help.
DeleteYou have helped me out so much already!! Greatly appreciated.
ReplyDeleteEverything you've said thus far has made alot of sense. The more times you have to do something, the better you're going to get at it. Especially with the interviews. Here's to hoping Anderson isn't the first interview I'm invited for then!! Haha just kidding.
I will definitely be reaching out to pick your brain once I get closer to deadlines so hopefully you'll have some time during the busy Fall semester. So so exciting. Please keep us updated either way :)
No problem! Good luck with everything, you'll do great. Keep me posted :)
DeleteI thought that only I do the same. Thanks for sharing your experience and I am glad to have found your blog.
ReplyDelete