Failure is an option

So my second time taking the GMAT exam, one month after the first time I took it, I did better, but still not what I wanted.  I scored a 690, which was a respectable score within the average range of the schools I wanted to apply to.  I debated whether to take the exam again, but decided to run with it.  I didn't have the time to put aside to take the exam again and I wanted to get into school this year so that I could quit my job.

Before I started writing my essays, I consulted my GMAT teacher.  I gave him a quick summary of my experience, my story and my extra-curricular activities.  After that, he gave me some pointers on how I could position myself in my essays and in my application.  Here's my profile:

• Education:  Undergrad at UCLA, B.A. in Economics, 3.2 GPA
• Professional:  3.5 years in public accounting, CPA License, passed all exams on the first try
• Professional:  Founder of a start-up company that sold consumer packaged goods (check it out, www.bakegreek.com)
• Extra-curricular: Choreographed dance (8 years), fitness (mud runs, sprint triathlons, etc) and tons of leadership positions in clubs in college

I want to get my MBA to transition into the marketing/brand management space, but instead of being straight forward with what I wanted to do, my GMAT teacher recommended I try to go another route in my essays.  I had mentioned my firm specialized in non-profits so he told me to pitch myself as wanting to do social enterprise or non-profit.  I have to admit, my GMAT teacher was a very inspiring guy and he told us he had helped tons of people get into top tier schools.  Blinded by my anxiousness to get out of accounting and into marketing, I listened to everything he said.  This was my first mistake when applying to school my first year.  I don't have to tell you that my strategy failed MISERABLY.  When I submitted my applications, I was damn confident.  My GMAT teacher told me my profile was looking good and that my score and credentials were respectable.  As long as I could nail an interview, I wouldn't have a problem selling myself from there.  My instructor had made me feel overly confident, and although I was nervous after submitting my applications, I felt like this:

Watch out Harvard, here I come...like a boss.

Two terrifyingly long months later, not one school bit on my profile and I was devastated!  After my seven rejections, I talked to a couple friends about my profile and they helped me realize my profile was complete shit.  Because I had written about something I had no interest in actually doing, my personality and passion didn't shine through.  Each of the essays were very boring, lacked depth and were predictable.  I tried to anticipate what I thought schools wanted to hear and the admissions committee spotted it from a mile away.  


I could easily pin this fiasco on my GMAT teacher, but the real fault was with me. I was looking for the easiest way into a school and was willing to buy into anyone that could show me that easy way in.  I don't blame my GMAT teacher for what he told me.  He gave me some recommendations based on a 5 minute conversation I had with him and being the naive child I was, I bought into every word. I should have listened to the advice that you constantly hear from admissions committee members, "Be yourself." After I was rejected and read my profile over with my friends, this phrase finally clicked.  I finally understood what they meant.  After a week of denial and experiencing this realization, I was ready to start improving my profile for the coming application season.

Moral of the story, failure is an option. I failed miserably in my first attempt to get into business school.  I didn't deserve it and although I busted my ass, I directed my efforts in the wrong direction and definitely learned from my mistakes. I learned at a young age that it was okay to fail and to look at each of those failures as a learning experience.  I wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

What's the rush?

Being the hasty person I am, as soon as I decided I wanted to go to business school, I felt I was ready for the ride and wanted to get on immediately.  To get my applications in for R2, I gave myself 1.5 months to study and kill the GMAT and another 1.5 to do my school research and essays.  

The 1.5 months of studying I allotted myself was an ample amount of time to prepare.  Leading up to my test day on 11/20/2010, I had been doing fairly well.  I was consistently scoring between 700-750 on my practice exams and was pumped going into the testing facility.  On test day though, I had a couple of bad runs of questions and ended up with a 660. Damn it! That was way below what I felt I was capable of so I went home and scheduled another test day.

Quick tip #1: Always give yourself two shots to take the exam.  I took the exam in November so that if I needed to, I could take the exam one more time before R2 applications were due.  To give myself more time to study and research schools I wanted to go to, I took a month leave of absence from work.  Going back and forth from researching schools to drilling problems was a lot more work than I anticipated.  Quick tip #2:  Don't overload yourself, push too hard and work too hastily.  As a result of applying to seven schools (wtf was I thinking) and studying for the exams, I barely skimmed the surface when I was doing my research and although my GMAT improved, my application presentation was atrocious. 

I felt like this everyday:

 

and I ended up doing a very poor amount of research when it came to looking at schools.  As a result, I ended up with very superficial essays that lacked depth.  Quick tip #3: Take researching schools seriously.  Look beyond the website and really learn about why schools would be a good fit and if the school can take you to where you want to be.  Applying to school is a soul searching process and you definitely learn a lot more about yourself and what you want to do.

Ultimately, the key lesson I learned was to not rush through this process.  Take the time to look at your profile at every angle and fill in the holes.  Applying to business school is a marathon, not a sprint.  If you push yourself too hard, you burn out and don't end up finishing strong.  Results of my labors to be in the next installment.

 

System Overload

So I knew the GMAT was going to be tough, but I thought " Hey, I passed all my CPA exams on the first try.  I can do this."  As you can see from my previously mentioned study schedule, I was hardcore. I knew I wanted to be at a top ranked school so I was willing to devote any and all time necessary to get me there.  When I first started studying, I was confident:

I was taking a GMAT class and was killing the practice problems in the beginning, but as the class progressed, the problems stopped being polite and started getting real.  I was still doing pretty well, but on some of the sentence correction and some of the more complex math problems, I started to get frustrated:

At times, me and my study buddies would debate over why questions were right or wrong and we would try to defend our wrong answers.  I learned that this was the wrong way to approach the exam.  You are playing their game and learning their language.  The sooner you realize this, the easier it is to progress and increase your score.  You can't argue with the GMAT exam so it's pointless.  You just have to understand their theory and their tricks.  99% of the time, they will be right so just learn their ways.  I hate to be a conformist since I was such a rebellious child, but there is no compromise with the GMAT.

Another lesson I learned, if you have a day where stuff is not clicking, take a break.  There is no point in beating yourself up and pushing yourself to work if you continuously get problems wrong; it just means you've hit system overload, all your RAM is used up and you need to shut down and restart on another day.  I pushed hard, but if I hit this point, it was time to hit the beach or time to start a How I Met Your Mother marathon. During this study period, there are going to be times of great depression because you will be studying and all your friends will be partying.  Just remember:

The Beginning

So this is my road to matriculation. My journey to obtain my MBA.  My quest to land myself in a more fulfilling career where I could get paid to do something I love.  I'm starting this blog a bit late, but my cousin continuously nags me to document my experience as opposed to complaining to her about it.  Finally, I've decided to listen to her.  Also, I've learned through the MBA application process that I am a horrendous writer and therefore, keeping this blog updated might help me with that. 

I'm going to try and remember everything that happened from the beginning and will try to blog once a day or more until I catch up to where I am now. 

After working in public accounting as a CPA for 3.5 years, I realized enough was enough.  I didn't hate my job, but I didn't enjoy it either.  I knew this wasn't a career I could do for the rest of my life, so I needed to get the hell out...pronto.   

After talking to a bunch of friends, I decided the best way for me to career switch without having to start in the mail room was to get my MBA.  So in October 2010, I started studying for the infamous GMAT.  I wished I would have taken this test when I was a Junior/Senior in HS. I would have killed it! Thanks for testing us on concepts we learned 10 years ago GMAC.  So for the next two months, I was studying 2-4 hours every day after work on weekdays and 6-8 hours every weekend day.  For those two months, I was a slave to my GMAT book and I told my social life...