Dirty_Martini's Blog

Random Thoughts

2006-04-28T03:31:00.000-04:00

Lately, I have all these random thoughts. Maybe it's becuase its the end of the school year- a time for reflection and planning, a time to "take count", see where you are, where you wanted to be, and where you hope to be. The past year of my life seems like a blur.

From an activity standpoint: I moved from Los Angeles to New York City, travled to China and Peru, finished my first year of Business School- half-way to earning a fancy graduate degree, and accepted an a summer offer in banking-- my B-school goal.

From an emotional standpoint: I left some close friends in LA- friends who have know me for years, who have stood by me through thick and thing- people I adore, I left family far away, I made new friends in NYC- a few became very close friendships, but mostly surface level friendships, and, of course, I fell in love and was later left with a broken heart.

Life is so interesting, dynamic, fun, passionate, painful at times, and yet, so gratifying. I have no complaints and definately no regrets. I am so blessed and thankful to be where I am, doing what I want to do, calling the shots as I see fit and following where my instincts are guiding me. This past year has been nothing short of INCREDIBLE. I wouldn't trade it for anything. However, I am always up for improving myself and enjoying life as much as I can. If I've learned anything this last year, it's that many people take life way too seriously- and are too focused only on themselves and how they can get ahead. While goals and working hard are very important- I think there is a bigger picture out there. Another important thing that I further realized this past year is that this is MY life, and I answer to no one but me. I know that sounds simple and all. But, really I look around me and I see people making decisions to please others all the time. The friend that is in medical school, becuase their dad is a doctor, the girl that married a guy that her parents approved of, and so on. It's so easy to get on a bandwagon of what others are doing and forget where you want to be headed. Lastly, I've learned that things always work out, for better or worse, and that everything will be okay. No reason to over-stress, especially when things are not even in your control. Do what you can, focus on what you have control over, and just sit back.... and let life take it's course.

Wow, am I worthy of a philosophy degree now? I guess I'm getting into all these deep thoughts at 3:46 AM, contemplating the next set of changes in my life as I embark on my summer internship and last half of B-school, and I think all the Jason Mraz songs I downloaed are having an effect on me. (he is such a cutie!) On that note- time for some zzzz's.

CBS Follies in the WSJ!

2006-04-26T18:38:00.000-04:00

So, if you haven't heard by now, CBS follies did a rendition of "Every Breath you take" to with a second year posing as Hubbard singing the song as a tribute to watching Bernanke in office.

Here's the excerpt from the WSJ

"Glenn Hubbard: King of Pain

1:49 p.m.: Today's best four minutes of the day: an uproarious parody of the Police's "Every Breath You Take" by students at Columbia Business School, which purports to show the school's dean, Glenn Hubbard -- and, no, that is not Mr. Hubbard, the school confirms, but a look-alike student -- taking Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke to task for monetary policy mistakes (in a fit of jealousy over not getting the position). It's hard to resist the charm of any attempt to poke at the Fed, especially one that includes the couplet "Hope your models break/bet that beard is fake." Hat tip to Barry Ritholtz, who linked to this in his blog earlier in the day. The real Mr. Hubbard was traveling and could not be reached for comment."

Link to Follies Site to watch video

How awesome is that!! This video rocks- great creativity and talent!

Procrastination is my dearest friend

2006-04-25T19:30:00.000-04:00

Should I be studying for my finals? YES
Do I want to? No
Do I enjoy torturing myself by procrastination? I think so!

I'm really looking forward to starting my summer internship. Yes, I know people think I'm crazy, b/c I'm doing Investment Banking for the summer. But, I'm excited. It will be challenging, I will meet tons of smart, cool people ( as well as some assholes, I'm sure), I will learn A LOT, and I think overall, be a better worker bee at the end of the summer- so, what's not to like? And, as dorky as this sounds, I really loved corp fin, and I got really excited to dig in to my models and get into the nitty gritty details of figuring the shit out. Okay, now I am scaring myself.

Okay, enough procrastination, I will attempt to study.

Sick and the City

2006-04-19T15:24:00.000-04:00

My body is rejecting finals. I have had this horrendous flu, cold, or whatever it is for the past 3 days. My head is aching, my body hurts, I have a fever and my nose is, well, stuffed up. Naturally all of this occurs the week before finals, also the week of which there is a party every night to celebrate the end of the year, graduation, etc. AND, also the week of the BEST weather I have seen yet in nyc. Its sunny, warm, light breeze, pleasantly in the 70s, and where am I? Stuck in Bed! My tongue is raw from sucking on halls, and my nose is raw from blowing it all day. Yes, im bitching, but isn’t that what blogs are for??

So, speaking of finals. I’m not worried, but, slightly concerned. Ive missed A LOT of class this semester, for various reasons, over-sleeping ( 8am!! Come on!!) , vacations, this new cold, etc. So, I’m slightly concerned. Other reasons to be concerned: I haven’t really done a lot of work, haven’t really been paying attention, and well, as you can tell, I’ve been pretty checked out. BUT, the good news is: I just looked at my final exam schedule, made a fool-proof, crazy study schedule and I think I can do it. I think I can overcome a semesters’ worth of laziness in one week. It’s entirely possible. And, whats the worse case scenario??! There is none! I already have a summer internship! :)

Okay, onwards to conquer finals!

Spring....a time for a rebirth!

2006-04-10T20:06:00.000-04:00

Spring is here-- it's really finally here! The weather is improving, its light out later, and overall, I just feel a sense of rejuvination. I've decided that this is goign to be the year of me- the year of Dirty Martini. and, why not? I moved to New York for me, for school,to do what I want to do, in the city I want to do it in. And the same is going for my personal life. In my original plan, I was supposed to move here and be single, just me and the city. Well, that plan got all f*&ked up, I got burned, and well, that chapter is closed. And, I figure the best way to open a new chapter- is to make it the year of the Dirty Martini. Selfish? YES. Neccessary? Abosolutely!!

In accorance with declaring my new personal life anthem. Lately, life has just been fun. TONS of going out, lots of vacations, meeting new people, and really just having a GREAT time. There is no point feeling bad for a second, when I have everythig going for me- GREAT friends, I attend a great school, I have a great job, love new york city, etc.

Second semster is really just a reverse of the first. Pretenses are down, jobs are secured, and classes are chill. That "2-year" vacation is finally kicking in... and I LOVE it.

Bruin Pride!

2006-03-27T18:47:00.000-05:00

Ok, before I post about how amazing the Bruins have been. I have to admit, I've been a horrible UCLA alum. Of course I cheer them on, but I've been a little hit and miss since I left school. However, oddly enough, I've seen more games since I've moved to new york than when I lived in cali. The UCLA alum club in nyc is awesome and very very passionate. And, unless you have been hiding in a cave for the past 2 weeks you would know that UCLA IS IN THE FINAL FOUR. FINAL FOUR BABY. I'm thrilled. Most thought we were about a year away from getting this far in the tourney. So, I'm psyched. Rock on Bruins!

Watching the games and reading stories about the bruins literally gives me the chills. When I was an undergrad at UCLA, we went to the Rosebowl, and I went to the game, and will remember it for the rest of my life (even though we lost). The sports tradition and spirit of UCLA (and other similar schools) made my college experience.

Thank you

2006-03-21T23:58:00.000-05:00

I also want to say THANK YOU to those of you who have been so amazing and supportive the last few weeks, months, etc in regards to the whole break-up. Especially a certain margarita lover! you ROCK.

Open House

2006-03-21T23:56:00.000-05:00

Forgot to add.. open house is coming up for CBS. For those of you out there that have been accepted- you MUST attend open house. It is SO much fun, and really a great intro into the school. And, I will be one of the student hosts :)

State of Peace

2006-03-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

I am now in a state of calm after the storm of the relationship. I spent used up my moping, sad, angry days, and it's time to move on. Forward and onward I go.

In regards to school, there really isn't a whole lot to post about. Currently we are in the midst of club elections for next years' officers. I am running for a few positions, and hope that they work out. Some of the elections are pretty relax, while other clubs are hard-core, handing out stickers, emailing everyone they know, all the time, and campaigning till no end. It's sort of interesting.

I just got word from my summer employer about training, dress-code, and all of the fun HR-type stuff about this summer! I was actually really delighted to see the email, becuase after I acceptd my offer, they sort of fell off of the planet. So, it's good to see some lovin again. I am really really excited about this summer. Although, really really nervous. I've never been a banker before, and aside from corporate finance, I essentially know nothing. But, on the other hand, I am really excited about the opportunity to learn a lot, and really grind the pavement. I can't wait to meet all of the interns from otehr schools and get pumped about different groups at the bank, get into all the modeling, pitches, etc. I'm all over it!! And, it will be nice to be a contributing member of society and back in the quasi working world for a while.

Classes, I have to admit, are just sort of there. It's a combination of being slightly burned out from the grind of last semester, it's almost spring time, not really so into some of my classes this semester, having an 8:00AM class (SUCKS), and my mind of quasi-vacation mode. I've really soaked in that whole "B-school is a 2 year vaction" into this semseter, especially having the summer internship since before the semster started. I guess it's sort of a catch 22.

Just becuase people are curuios ( if anyone actually reads this), almost everyone I know has a summer internship at this point. And, those that do not, are currently interviewing, or, narrowing their outstanding offers down to one. It's pretty impressive all of the companies and positions people are taking this summer. Outside of your typical banker or consultant, I have several friends going into marketing at some top-notch places such as Unilever and AMEX, private equity, venture capital, a variety of hedge funds and mutual funds, some people are starting their own company, other are off to dot coms such as google, amazon and yahoo. Its really exciting!!

Okay, back to my free reading book. Isn't that exciting- a FREE reading book. Life is GOOD.

In Pain

2006-03-15T16:52:00.000-05:00

So, of course, one step forward, leads to about 50 steps backwards. I spoke to the ex today. WOW. WOW. WOW. It’s amazing how people can make you feel so much pain. Apparently whatever was said and done the other day was a farce. Meaningless, fake, completely untrue. I am just a fountain of tears right now. It hurts, it’s so painful. I’ve never felt this way, and can’t belive that I trusted someone only to let them turnaround and say painful things such as “ I don’t care about you anymore, I don’t feel anything, I’m not sad anymore about us, I’m OVER it”. I feel pretty stupid right now. Not to mention sad, devastated and heartbroken. I let someone walk all over me. Take control of me, turn me, twist me, and ring me clear of all happiness and joy.

I think what scares me most, is my future inability to trust someone. Will I ever be able to let someone get close enough to me to hurt me this badly again? I know it takes time, but it seems like I may need an eternity at this point.

Half way done with 2nd semester

2006-03-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

So, I am 6 weeks away from being half way done with my MBA. Holy shit. It went by fast. I have to admit, I'm excited for a change of scenary, as much fun as the happy hours and various events are- I'm excited about being a part of the work force.

Spring Break was AWESOME. Peru was kick ass, did lots of stuff, hiking, white water rafting, drinking, etc. great time!!

Finals and midterms all went a lot better than I thought- all this slacking is surely paying off!

BTW- things are looking better with the ex, we sorted out the money issues, and we are communicating again- which is great. It's so hard to let go of someone that you were so close to- that you shared everything with. I felt like I lost half of myself.

This semester we have a class on leadership, which involved getting feedback from people as to what to improve upon. I have to admit, I thought I knew myself pretty well, but I really got slammed by some people. I'm goign to take it all with a grain of salt and re-visit it later.

And, in reference to someone asking about career changers and banking- don't worry about it, 98% of people are career changers. and, trust me, after a semester of recruiting, if you DONT know what banking is, you shouldn't be interviewing for it anyways. Know what you are getting into!!!

2 midterms done, 2 finals to go

2006-03-01T19:17:00.000-05:00

2 midterms are done- thank goodness and 2 more finals to go for half-semester classes. Thankfully these classes are not that important to me, as one is marketing, which i never really plan on doing, and the other is decision models, which is useful, but not terribly challenging. And, half-semester classes are the easiest to write off. Essentially I am about 65% there till Spring Break! I am going to Peru for spring break! And, I just booked a trip to Puerto Rico later in the month with my girlfriends!! I LOVE B-school this semester. Life is AMAZINGLY AWESOME right now. School is not that bad, going out tons, vacations, summer internship in the bag. I am just grinning from ear to hear.

Midterms/Finals

2006-02-26T17:12:00.000-05:00

So, as I mentioned before, midterms and finals are this week. oddly enough, I am not freaked out, nor am I really caring that much. It's not that I'm apathetic (well, maybe a little). But, I put in so much effort last semester, I'm looking to relax and enjoy school more this semester and not worry about grades. And, thus far, it has been great. I've been goign out a ton, went out of town for a fun weekend, hang out with non B-school friends, I go to the gym. Really, life is really good second semester. i think it's all about what you want out of your experience. For me, securing the summer internship in banking was a huge goal for me. And, the classes second semster are less interesting to me, so I get to relax more! YAY.

Investment Banking Recruiting

2006-02-26T17:09:00.000-05:00

For those of you who plan to sell your soul to investment banking post-MBA, here is a synoposis of IB recruiting at CBS. I went through the summer associate IB recruiting process, and was successful and will be interning this summer at one of the BB firms in NYC. The process was not easy, it is definately not a sprint, but a marathoon, and can make your first semester in school somewhat hellish. But, second semester has tons of fun and really relaxing. Plus, most banks give full-time offers to most of their summer kids, unless you really screw up.

happy reading.

In regards to summer IB internship- this is the approximate outline of the events

1. Firms come on campus about 2-3 weeks after school starts to give "firm-wide" presentations- where they give a big dog and pony show about their firm, all the positions they offer ( IB, sales and trading, investment management, and so on)

2. About one month into school, all the banks will come to campus to give more targeted presentations, such as " day in the life of an associate" " leveraged finance" and so on

3. About 6 weeks into the process most students start having informationals with various banks.

4. At the end of November/beginning of december, resume and cover letters are due to the various banks.
5. A list of all the students who make the "closed lists", or 1st round of interviews comes out around 2nd week of December, about 2 weeks after resume drops.

6. All IB interviews are the week before school starts ( during vacation), which is AWESOME. Becuase, some peole interview with up to 15 banks, and it all happens in one week. So, its great to give you time and room to focus on interviews and not worry about anything else. The first round is Mon, Tues, Wed, second rounds Thurs and Friday. offers go out Friday at 5 pm.

I hope this helps clarify about IB recruiting.

In regards to which firms have the strongest presence on campus- some firms def. did more presentations and reached out more to students directly. However, some of this is becuase each bank has their own style of recruiting, some want you to do 10 informationals, while others cap you at 2. So, I wouldn't necc judge the style of a firms recruitment to represent their relationship with a school. However, I will say we did VERY WELL this year in recruiting. We are sending many individuals to Goldman, Lehman, Morgan Stanley, and so on. ( I don't want to say how many, as not everyone has finalized their decisions). Every person I know that wanted a banking job, was able to land a banking job. (Clearly, I don't know the whole school, so this is just my experience)

In addiiton to IB, there are tons of PE, VC, and other opportunities. I have a lot of friends heading down the consulting track, several who have summer internships in brand managment, several in internal corp fin, VC, and so on. The PE/VC opps tend to happen second semester, about half way through.

Money and Relationships

2006-02-24T15:56:00.000-05:00

So back to my failed relationship. Well, it's over, except for one small thing. The fucking asshole owes me $2400.00, yes folks, thousands of dollars. Yeah, I know, I'm stupid,never mix money and relationships. But, it was supposed to be a short-term thing, till he got his bonus check, and then, well, I never got paid back. Now the jerk won't respond to emails, phone calls, nothing, and refuses to pay me back. What kind of decent human being does this? I have done nothing to this guy, nothing, and this is what i deserve, for being nice?!?! Wow.

if anyone out there has some advice as to how to tackle this problem, please let me know. I'm in a state of shock and anger right now.

Completely un-related sidenote, but I did my laundry last night, and I think it's confirmed that I am a professional at losing socks. I must have at least 6 loner socks now in my sock pile. Is it wrong to pair up two loners and have a make-shift pair?

Also, completely un-related, but I have 2 midterms and 2 finals next week,and I think I am the most unmotivated underachieving student at CBS. i have my job, my summer and basically full-time gig is set ( as the full-time offer is essentially mine to lose at this point, so I have it, unless i ROYALLY screw up). And, well, operations doesnt sound like the most exciting class to study for. Call me crazy, marketing programs isnt that inspiring either, especially since I'm goign into banking.

I'm Back?!?!

2006-02-23T15:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's been a LONG time. So much has happened, I don't know where to begin. But, I do know this- I miss writing, I miss it dearly.

I'm not sure anyone would even bother to check to see if there is a new post, so this may be a trial run.

Life has been interesting lately. CBS is good. I got the job I wanted, pretty much where I wanted, and classes are stimulating for the most part. I absolutely adore being in New York, and can't get enough of that. I have a good core set of friends that are great at CBS. Most people may think I have my life "together", good school, great city, good job, good friends, etc. BUT, one terrible thing happened to me last month.

The boyfriend that I spoke about so fondly in previous posts moved to New York, and we were happy. Fuck that, we were PERFECT. And, well, it all ended in a major crash and burn last month. And, well, my heart is still crashing and burning everyday. Yes, I know this is mushy, girly shit. but, that's life. I Know many of you who read this actually know me personally- and, well, this is how I feel. I feel betrayed and abaondoned, angry, sad, and well- the entire spectrum of emotions.

Okay, feeling better... I'll be back later. ? ( If anyone actually reads this?!? )

hey hey

2005-06-27T03:18:00.000-04:00

quick update ...

currently about 5 hours north of Beijing in Chengde... a small city in the north. I have been out of touch with email/internet as I have to go to internet cafe's and have been limited on time..but I have been writing updates on my laptop and will paste them in later as soon as I can hook up my laptop to internet ( which will be in Beijing in about 3 weeks

stay posted.. having an amazing time and getting fat on all the good food!!

Beijing, China

2005-06-17T20:33:00.000-04:00

As you may already know from reading early, I was planning to spend the summer in Beijing, China. So- here I am!

This is my third day here- and I am LOVING it. I spent the first day running around Beijing with one of my future classmates at CBS who has spent the last year here learning mandarin..which was very necc and great, as I know about 10 words! We had so much fun shopping, hanging out with the locals, eating great food, and so on. After knowing each other for about 5 hours, I even got to see my classmate drop his shorts! We went shopping and he had to try on some jeans, and, well, things in china aren't quite like the gap in america...the two girls in this tiny jeans booth held up a cloth and he got changed behind it and "dropped trou" .. it was pretty funny. We decided that we probably have the most interesting story of meeting a classmate for the first time!

Being in Beijing is so freaking cool. I've been before, but last time, more as a tourist, than as a student living here for the summer; actually living and blending into the crowd---err, as much as I can blend in.. is so different and cool. I spent yesterday exploring the city by myself and had several "lost in translation" moments.

My friends thought I was nuts to come here for the summer..but I abosltuely love travelling and challenging myself to explore and experience a new city. I am doing a formal language program at Beijing Foreign Language University, aka Bei Wei Da, for those who know pinyin. I love being in China, because it is so rich in culture and life. Everyone here is so proud of china, it's history, language, culture, and so on. I'm excited to learn more about all of the aforementioned and immerse myself in this city.

I'm sure you are thinking "why China?!". Well, lots and lots of reasons. First off, I am part Chinese, half to be exact..the other half being of European decent. ( so if you're going to CBS and you can't figure out who I am now... then you must really suck at Clue :) hehe) So, I really wanted to learn more about my heritage, background and learn the language. I actually grew up speaking Cantonese, but that is a very specific dialect that is only used in Hong Kong and southern China. Also, I believe then when one travels, one should truly be in a completely different place. What's the point of traveling when you are in a place that feels like the place you just came from? Also, China has so much to offer in terms of culture, history, sightseeing. Lastly- there is a lot of business potential in China ( see.. I am very pragmatic) and I think it would be great to learn mandarin and possibly incorporate that into my professional life.

The weather here is REALLY hot..and I've been doing so much walking, that every muscle in my body is aching.

Off to study some mandarin today.. first day of class in on Monday..and I need to get something in my brain before then.

The last 3 months

2005-06-17T20:04:00.000-04:00

Before we officialy enter phase 2- let me give you a brief synopsis of my life the past few months, to catch you up.( As I am sitting in my hotel room in Beijing, China at 8:00 AM typing all this out) Not sure how I got so motiviated so early in the morning!

The last 3 months were a crazy whirlwhind. I had quit my full time gig in Feb., becuase, well, frankly, I was miserable and life it too short to be miserable. I proceeded to land a "pre-mba" internship of sorts at a prestigous, small financial company working for the big, big boss- who is very, very well known in the financial world. It was AMAZING. I managed to forge an excellent relationship with this, big, big boss, and he will be my cheerleader goign forward- which is nothing short of FANTASTIC.

On the personal front, I spent a lot of time hanging out with friends in LA, especially as my date of departure neared, I realized that I may not see these people for quite sometime, maybe, if ever again, as I don't plan on returning to LA after school...and my immediate family literally lives all over the world, so it's possible I may not even be visiting on holidays.

On the Columbia front- Open house was a blast, and I know I promised a synopsis, but all I can say is Droodoggie beat me to it- so check out his synopsis, which pretty much says whatever I would have said. Also, decided to get an apartment near CBS with some cool folks I met at Open House, managed to get all my paperwork in for loans, background check, and so on. Also scored a small scholarship- which was a nice surprise. All in all- looking forward to arriving in NYC on Aug. 15 for school. I'm really excited about starting CBS in the fall, learning lots of new things, meeting new people, and embarking on the next step in my life, both personally and professionally.

On the love front- I probably have not touched on this before. But, now that I decided to get more personal in phase 2 of my blog, I have to add this in. Plus, many of you out there know me personally now...so I feel compelled to add in as much as I can on this page without wearing my life on my sleeve. I don't plan on posting everything about my life on here...but, I will get personal and more in depth than before.

So... I was single for the past 1.5 years or so, after ending a serious relationship that lasted about 15 months. And, of course, knowing that I was moving to New York, I was very against dating, as it would be cruel to date someone and end the date with "by the way, I'm moving 3000 miles in 5 months...so about date 2.." So, needless to say, I was not in the mindset to meet anyone, much less really date in general. But, of course, always open to meetin new people and making new friends.

Well.... I'm sure you see where this is going. I met a very, very special gentelmen recently. We had become friends becuase he knew I was studying in China, and he had studied in China before so we chatted about the do's and don'ts in China. Since we very much so started off as friends, things just natrually progressed....we both knew I was leaving... so we decided to just go with it, and have fun. But, it turned from "fun", to "heyyyyyy... I think I really like you, A LOT".

So, long story short, it turns out that he had plans to move to london, nyc, or tokyo before meeting me... and he will be targetting nyc! :) Sorry, to all those men out there that were hoping they could snag the DM.. I'm taken! And, very, very happiy taken. I guess it's true what they say- it comes when you LEAST expect it! I've never felt so enamored with someone, so fast, and connected with someone on so many different levels, from life philosphy, goals,mentally, emotionally, physically...everything. I hope everyone finds someone as special, and feels the happiness I feel. I think it actually made it easier to know that I was leaving, as it was very stress free and no pressure about "where this dating thing was going"...and we just went with it. I'm really happy about this new part of my life. Having a "partner in crime and life" is very cool and fun. And, we are both finance dorks! YEAH. okay, I'll stop myself from typing more, as you may want to vomit, If I continue on this topic... :)

Note: to those of you who don't know me (although you may have guessed this by reading my blog) I am an extremely pragmatic, logical person that never really believed in "love", or going "absolutely ga-ga " for someone. So this is a shock- to say the least.

And, to all those out there worried I'm going to de-rail my life to become barefoot and pregnant, becuase I met some guy. uhhhhhh...no. He fully supports my career goals and respects my individual choices to do what I want in regards to education, career, life, etc- which is one of the reasons he is so great.

I have caught you up on the last 4 months or so, and now we are at today- where I am in my hotel room in Beijing, China.

I'm Baaaaaaaack- PHASE 2

2005-06-17T19:46:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I know, it's been 3 months since my last post, and I miss it. First- let me apoligize to everyone out there that emailed me and posted comments for me to post- I was just a lazy blogger, no if's, and's or butt's- just plain lazy, and very busy. Also, quite frankly, I was bored of the "phase 1" of my blog, detailing my application process to B-school, I had applied, left what I thought were some good points of advice and gained admission. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this anymore, or will even bother to check for new postings. But, if you're reading this- welcome to phase 2 of my blog.

Phase 2 is going to be more personal. Since I alredy know many of my readers now, I feel it is only fitting to really get more personal, and what fun is reading a blog that isn't?! I've had a lot of time to contemplate this whole blog thing, and well... it's been a very, very interesting and enjoyable part of my life. I've made many new friends wtih other bloggers, made frieds with people who emailed me and enjoyed reading my story, improved my writing, become more introspective, have a diary of an important part of my life, and so on. Even though I stopped blogging, I gave out my blog to a few new people I met and they gave me feedback, and enjoyed my more introspecitve, opinionated posts..and proceede to give me their opinions; I love this. I love expressing my thoughts with others and have decided to contiue blogging, however, but to get more personal. I enjoy writing- and really miss it. I also love sharing my thoughts with others, and, more importantly, hearing what they think about the same topic. Lastly, looking back on old posts and seeing my personal progression is very cool.

So, with that- let's begin phase 2 & year 2. This will be a bit different than the previous year of posting.... can you believe it's been a year!

Open House

2005-04-18T00:02:00.000-04:00

WOW!!!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had this past week. CBS, the admits, the students and New York City were AMAZING.

And, I'm convinced that I feel in love this last week- in love with the city and CBS.

I'll try to post a re-cap of open house later.... off to recover from the madness of last week.

CBS open house coming up....

2005-04-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

yeah, yeah... I've been a lazy blogger.

But, I wanted to send a shout out to everyone out there, I will be in New York, from April 11-17, please email me if you are going to be at CBS open house. Would love to meet up with other bloggers, etc.

cheers

email: dirty_martini24@yahoo.com

Enough Already

2005-03-04T16:46:00.000-05:00

My goodness, this whole HBS Hacker thing is getting out of control- its all over the news, consuming every thread on BW, covered in all the blogs, and is about to reach the Aboriginal folks in Australia through ancient cave drawings that Brit Dewey is personally sending to them. It feels like the day after the superbowl last year, when the only thing people could discuss was "wardrobe malfunction". I've had enough of it.

So one guy found a back-door route to his admissions status, posted the instructions on the internet and other people checked their own status. I personally don't think this was hurting anyone, but just some tech saavy kid who found a loop hole. I'm not going to make a speech on ethics, becuase I really don't even know if what he did was considered hacking or not. But, I will say that when I saw the initial post on BW ( I am west coast time, so I saw the very first post), I thought it was a complete joke and thought this kids was trying to pull the chains of all the uptight kids on BW. I thought it was funny. I knew people would immediately try it to see if it works, probably without even thinking about the consequences of what is really going on now.

I think this whole thing is being blown out of proportion, I mean, it's not like he accessed other people's essays, or credit card numbers, or secret FBI or CIA information, oh, wait a minute, secret FBI and CIA information is already posted all over the news, no need to hack for that stuff, or even Paris Hilton's phone number - oh wait, that is online too! I think HBS went drama-queen on it's reaction to the whole thing with the tone of it's mass email and the various comments made in news articles. You would think HBS showed up to a High School dance and someone else was wearing the same dress or something. ( How dare they!!!) I think HBS is really embarassed about making a mistake and quick to blame it on anyone and anything else but themselves.

I think everyone needs to take 10 deep breaths, count to ten and relax.( This is what my therapist says to do........wait..... I don't really have a therapist. I just, um, hear from friends that I know that go to one. yeah, uh huh, that's it) And, when I mean everyone , I mean applicants, ad coms, apply yourself, everyone- OR, smoke something really good to calm the nerves. :)

Anyways, Martha is out and looking amazing.

Martha is coming out!

2005-03-03T21:21:00.000-05:00

Martha is being released from prison in approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. I personally, just adore Martha. I think she is a business genius. She really knew how to take some simple ideas, mass market, and sell. And, most importantly, she has brought good taste, decorating, style, and etiquette to the massess. Who can possibly see any wrong in that? I wish her the best of luck and hope she has an amazing comeback. Also note that she is starring in " The Apprentice: Martha Stewart". I will be watching.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?!

2005-03-01T18:41:00.000-05:00

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? Well, I find it awfully interesting that there is a new blogger on the scene, named after an alcoholic beverage,like myself, who is also from LA, and is also applying to CBS. HMMMMM.... Am I going to have to lay the smack down on this blogger and let them know who is boss? just kidding. But, really, folks, I decided to name my blog dirty martini, becuase it seemed like all the mba blogs out there had boring names " Class of 2006", " Plummer turned B-School student", " MBA takes a whiz", wait a second, I think that last one should be " MBA Whiz". I really wanted to spice up the mba blogs, and I mean with spiced rum. But, really, now that I have people imitating my style, I'm going to have to proclaim myself the pioneer of cool names on MBA blogs. :) :)

I think sometimes ( myself included occassionaly) we all take ourselves too seroiusly. Point in reference: the BW Boards. I mean, come on- retaking the GMAT after scoring a 720? give me a break, either 1. you just want to brag to everyone on BW how smart you think you are or 2. You didn't really get a 720, but a 690 and you really want those with 720's and below to come out of the forest and admit to their less than 720's, however with admits to top schools in hand, in order to feed your insecurity of not getting into a top school with a 690.

One more example of up-tightness that I love is all the XYZ school versus ABC school, then a student, or applicant from each school comes and bashes the other. Gotta love it. Really, getting defensive on BW, will not move your school up 5 spots in the rankings. One thing I have found, is what a large percent of applicants do not even read the boards. I know, I know, you have to sit down for that one. But, really a huge percent ( my guess is over 60% ) don't read BW Forums.

Additionally, when you are arguing whether or not one school is better than another when they are one, two, three or even 4 spots away from each other in rankings, isn't it sort of pointless? at that point you are truly just splitting hairs. There is no way that there is that big of a difference between # 9 and #12 that will dramatically change your life. Yes, I know, I'm the kid speaking from the admitted perspective. But, in reality, if one has the opinion of "either I go to this school- or, it's nothing", than that is a losing mentality in my book. Most applicants have had success in their pesonal and professional lives already and will continue to succeed independent of an MBA. IF you truly believe that only an MBA from ABC school will get you where you need to go in life- you have bigger issues and larger problems to face. There is no way that only one school or one route can lead you to your life goals or happiness, or career fullfillment. If you are really a successful and determined person, you will be successful and happy no matter what and will continue to work hard to go where you need to go and take whatever alternate path comes your way, or will make an alternate path to reach your end goal.

And, really, we all know that any school in the top 10-15 can get you where you need to go in life- period. I think its complete BS when people say only one school can get you to xyz place. Because if you truly wanted something bad enough, you would do whatever it takes, not let some school take you to that place. And, people- it's school! One thing on your resume. It doens't make who you are, what you have already done, or anything else. Think about how many people would die to be in your shoes with any top 20 admit.

Okay, that was my rant for the day. Hopefully less ranting in the future. I guess I spent too much time on BW today, as work was kinda slow.

MIA

2005-03-01T18:37:00.000-05:00

I know, I have been a delinquent blogger. I really don't have any excuse, other than the fact that the MBA application process feels like it was ages ago, now that I have been accepted and have fully committed to a program and currently in the process of planning my summer and moving process. So, I guess that leaves me wondering where this blog is headed.

I want to continue to write. I love practicing my writing and just getting out my thoughts in a stream of conscious fashion without having to worry about punctuation, syntax and gramme. I think now that the application process is over, I will continue to write, however, I think this blog will begin to explore different areas outside of business school. I think I want to go into other topics, such as politics, life, religion, family, dating, business, and so on. I am not sure how in depth I will go into blogging about my whole business school experience. I am sort of torn on this one. As always, I have been 100% forthright in everything I have experienced thus far, positive, or negative, and I want to continue to to that. However, I don't want to be put in a position where I write something negative and put anyone or school in a bad or overly positive light. And, I don't want to make myself the poster child for CBS. I am just me, living out my life, not the perfect example for any school. Or, on the contrary, I am not out to expose any crazy ongoings either. As always, I plan to write my story, what I think and not post negatively about anyone else, or anyone that would be potentially reading this blog, as that would be in poor taste. Additionaly, I would like to stay as far away from all the B-school blogger drama, as I was in a sorority once, and don't want to repeat it. :)

Okay, so moving on. As far as what I have been up to. Just counting down the days really, till I leave. I have spent over a year thinking, planning and working to get into Business School, that I am ready for it to come already! In 2 months I take off to go to China, then move to new york. It's pretty surreal how fast it is happening.

the weekend is finally here

2005-02-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

ahhhh..the weekend is finally here. Now that I am committed to a school, it has become increasingly difficult to concetrate on various things, primarily work! I find myself sitting in meetings, carrying out my duties, trying to be the best employee ever, but at the same time, there is this sinister voice in the back of my head that is laughign and saying " hehehehe you are sooooo out of here in 3 months!!". Everytime my boss talks about our year long goals, I just know I am fighting off the biggest smile ever.

off to enjoy the weekend.

Lazy Blogger

2005-01-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

Okay, Okay, I am guilty as charged for being a lazy blogger. I'm sorry I can't help it. After working my tail off to get in, I'm enjoying this blissful time of just relaxing and soaking it all in, before I have to hit the ground running again in August.

So, what's new? Well, It's official, I am leaving for China May 16, to return and move directly to New York. In the meantime, I will be attending CBS Open House April 14, and filling out loan docs and hitting up the accounting books.

I wish I had more exciting news to report.

I will say that now that I am leaving, all of my friend keep treating me to drinks, dinner, and going away stuff, I'm beginning to get used to this. :)

CBS To-Do

2005-01-19T10:49:00.000-05:00

So, after reading my blogs, everyone here’s about the tremendous amount of work, time and dedication involved in just applying to schools, especially if you want to do 5 or more applications. BUT, I am here to tell you that the work does not end after getting that admit notice. After you get admitted and put in your deposit at whatever school you so desire to attend, there is more work! ( Does it ever end?) We have a CBS “ To-Do List”, and when I first submitted my deposit it was 6 items long, of stuff that was due in June, and that required 04 tax returns, so I just breezed right past that page. Well, I was bored the other day at work, and cruised back on the “To-Do” list, and it multiplied by about 4!

Lots of stuff is small, and takes only 5 minutes, for example: filling out your info for the Face Book, so I put: Dirty_Martini, Current Occupation: Martini expert, and then, you have to submit a picture. But, of course there are more tedious tasks, such as one labled “ Accounting”, that I haven’t even opened yet, as I am dreading spending hours completing Accounting assignments, when school seems so far away. I need to continue to mentally prepare myself for school work, by having more fun and trying more interesting martini concoctions.

And, speaking of To-Do, I'm trying to sort out my housing situation for the fall and would love to get your feedback. I am planning on applying for Student Housing, because I hear that 90% of Cali people get it, it's cheap, it's close, and it's over come May, which means I can then get an apartment with someone I meet over the course of the year and screen for normalness. However, the downfall is that they put you with another graduate student randomly. But, on the flipside, if I get an apartment, it will be more expensive, probably not as close to school, the lease will last one whole year, which means, I would be committed to this place through the summer, without knowing for sure I will be in nyc for the summer, I am not that familar with the NYC housing situation and not sure I want to go through the hassle of getting a broker and finding an apartment, and, lastly, I would probably only have open house and/or chat boards to find a roomate. So, as of now, I'm leaning towards student housing, as it's only 9 months, and most likely, I should be able to meet a semi-normal individual to room with, and then I can take my time and find a nice apartment for my last year, and hopefully, after I land that amazing internship, I will feel better about spending a little more dough on an apartment for second year. If anyone out there would like to share their thoughts with me on this topic- Please share! I will buy you a martini for your help. :)

China

2005-01-19T10:48:00.000-05:00

The research for my international trip is coming along smoothly. I’ve been in touch with several of my future classmates in China, those who have gone to China, and several of you out there that read my blog and have been kind enough to share your wisdom with me, in addition to my own research and have come up with some answers. I have decided to travel to China from approximately, May-Aug., with the hope of learning some Mandarin, meeting some interesting people and seeing some lovely sights.

After much thought, I have decided to study through a formal study abroad program. I decided to take this route for several reasons, primarily because I’m short on time and think it would be easier to pay a small premium to have all the planning done for me, and all I have to do is show up. Since China is not the most expensive place to travel to, I don’t mind forking over the extra dough, plus, it will be nice to have all the arrangements done, as far as where to stay, study, etc ahead of time, so I can focus on just planning little travel trips once I get there. Also, the programs I am looking into are some-what built towards mid twenty-something’s who are taking time off of work to explore China, and it would be great to bond with others and have some instant friends. Stay tuned to hear my final decision, as I have placed a deadline of Feb. 1 to get this done and sealed.

Updates!

2005-01-05T11:45:00.001-05:00

I’ve been a lazy blogger and have not updated for a while, so here is a brief recap of what the DM has been up to.

-Celebrated Christmas with the family, which consisted of eating, eating, eating, and lots of drinking ( My family is actually quite fun and entertaining to hang out with)

-Met up with lots of friends that came back into town and wanted to treat me to a congratulatory dinner, drink, etc. It’s always nice to see old friends and get a nice treat.

- Celebrated the New Year in Sin City, aka Las Vegas. This one deserves a few sentences. It was a last minute decision that my friend and I made, and with me moving to New York and all, I figured I may not make it back to sin city for a while. I have to say- I love Las Vegas. I’m not sure what it is, the water? The fact that everything is open 24 hours, from the slots, to the tables, to the restaurants is just too convenient. I love that they offer a variety of vices for everyone to enjoy from gambling, drinking, clubs, shopping, eating, etc. I also think that Vegas just sucks you in. They conveniently make the temperature in the casino’s jusssst right, there are no clocks, anywhere, everything is at your fingertips, especially if you are gambling.

So, what did the DM do in Vegas? Blackjack, baby. My friend and I spent about 90% of our time at the tables playing Blackjack. By the end of the trip, I had become the official “ cut the deck” girl at a few casinos. Additionally, after spending countless hours riding the winning/losing streaks of Vegas, I caught myself saying aloud “ DM needs a BJ REALLY BAD”, then I got a few weird looks from the men and my friend at the table. So, I had to clarify and say, “ errrr, umm.. BJ, I mean Black Jack”.

So, that was my holiday season in a snapshot. As for now, I am trying to hit the ground running working on lots of stuff for the upcoming year. These are my primary projects as of now

1. Brush up on Accounting
2. Fill out all Financial Aid, Housing paperwork
3. Plan my international travel trip, which is coming up shortly in 4 months!!
4. Start researching and chatting with current students about the internship interview process and get a handle of what I need to do this fall. ( Isn’t that scary- THIS FALL? B-school sounded so far away before….now it’s here!!)

Reflecting on 2004

2005-01-05T11:45:00.000-05:00

Looking back on 2004 is interesting for me. I have to admit overall, it was not a particularly amazing year for me. Most of it was spent busting my tail to get into B-school, which, turned out well for me. However, I had many struggles at work, for “thinking outside the box” and trying new methods in a system that is old and apparently does not want to change.

Personally, I lost touch with the last of my good friends from college. This in particular was a sad note for me, as most of the friends I lost touch with were my good female friends, as they ran off to get married, engaged, or spend time with their “serious” boyfriends. On the flipside, I have become increasingly close to my male friends and have forged some great bonds with them. And, interestingly enough, some of these women who fell off the planet in 2004, took the time to call or email me to wish me a happy holiday, yet, it felt so empty even though they thought about me. I think I was at a crossroads in my life a year ago, and I chose to apply to B-school, to hopefully take my career to the next level and move to the East Coast. Whereas, most of my female friends chose to get married and abandon their career goals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not some super feminist who doesn’t want to get married and become a spinster. I do want to get married and have kids one day. However, I feel that I need to be financially secure myself, and create my own career foundations before I can get married and bring any kids into the picture. I sincerely hope to meet some likeminded women at Business School who are career oriented, in addition to getting married and starting a family

2005!!

2005-01-05T11:43:00.000-05:00

Jeez, doesn’t 2005 sound scary? I remember in the nineties that 2005 sounded space age or something. I pictured us all flying around, like in the Jetsons. I am incredibly excited for this year, as it seems like a million things are going on in my life. I will be leaving my current position, traveling for several months abroad and learning a new language, moving to New York City, and, finally, starting Business School in August. I can’t imagine a year packed with more new, exciting ventures with so many amazing opportunities ahead of me. As far as New Year’s resolutions go, my resolution is to continue the focus I had last year on getting into school and apply it to being in school. I also want to be as open minded as possible, with so many new experiences coming at me this year, I want to meet a lot of people, experience new things, challenge myself both mentally and physically, and appreciate all of these opportunities I have. I feel incredibly blessed and thankful.

Happy New Year to all!

More Congrats

2004-12-22T19:53:00.000-05:00

Huge congrats to Wakechick for 2 acceptances in one day, Anderson & McCombs!! Way to go! Now you can really celebrate the holidays!

Magic Formula?

2004-12-22T11:51:00.001-05:00

I title this post “Magic Formula”, because I have received numerous emails from you readers out there inquiring about “my magic formula” that I used in my application process. First, I would like to say that I got once acceptance and one denial, and withdrew the rest of my applications (after I got into my first choice), so I don’t exactly think that my experience qualifies me as an expert on MBA applications. However, I will share with you my thoughts of the information I gathered in the process and hope this helps those of you out there looking for a magic formula.

Let me preface this post with a few discloses:

1. There is no magic formula!! I hope I didn’t burst anyone’s bubble, but there just isn’t. Just hard work, be yourself and if the passion and desire is there, it will most likely all work out for you. If there is a magic formula, I don’t know of it yet, BUT if you know it, please email me and we can work together to mass-market this magic to unsuspecting MBA applicants and become multi-millionaires. :)

2. These are just my thoughts, I am not affiliated with any admissions committee, I don’t know them, nor am I representing any school in particular. I will do my best to post general thoughts on the process that can be applied to any school.

The 3 Areas that I think are important in the application process:

1. Academics—

I think this area is more of a pass/ fail section. Either you show that you can come and do the work and pass the courses, or you just don’t. I also believe that is probably the first hurdle at most schools. If they (referring to the ad com) don’t think you can do the work, then you can’t come and play at their school.

Ways to show you can come and do the work:

GMAT: I put this first, as depending on how old you are, this probably will be your most recent academic test that you have taken. I think the further you are from UG, the more important this becomes. Now, what I’m about to say may shock you, so please sit down. You don’t HAVE to get over a 720 to get into a top 10 school. I know, this sounds crazy. I think the most important thing on the GMAT is to be in the 80% range of the schools you are applying to. And, more importantly that you have a solid math score. Just focus on the 80% and be done with it. Unless you have a very very low UG GPA, if you get in the 80% range, you have shown that can come and play with the others.

UG GPA: This area is very subjective to me. I personally think that an Art History major from state university of xyz is probably not as hard as a triple major of computer science, molecular biology and physics from MIT. So, this one is less straightforward than the GMAT. I think if you went to a challenging UG, you earn extra points, took challenging coursework, (not basket-weaving, or knitting for your toy poodle), then you get extra points, and earning A’s in calculus and stats are a bonus as well. Additionally, other factors can come into play, such as did you work while you went to school? Did you conduct some ground-breaking research and cure a disease? Is there an upward trend in your grades?

Other: A way to improve your academic standing is to take a few courses at a local college, preferably a business-related course. This will show that you are motivated, to drag your butt to a night-course and, of course, get nothing less than an A. Also- stats is stats everywhere, so if you can get an A at a local school, you probably can pass elsewhere.

2. Professional Experience & Goals-

I think there are two parts to this section, your work experience and your career goals.
For your work experience, you need to show that you have had some success in your professional life. And, more importantly what did you learn from your professional experience thus far. Working for a big name company helps, but only slightly, in that it is recognizable to people and since there are so many applicants; odds are high that they have received an applicant who has had your exact job function. However, working for smaller companies has its benefits too, you probably got a more hand-on approach to your work, more flexibility in your job function and the ability to take on more leadership responsibilities. Also, one thing I noticed in my essays, is that I was initially a little too general on describing what I learned and accomplished in my work, and made sure to add in some specific examples that made my essay more tangible to the reader.

In regards to your career goals, they need to make sense with the work experience you have had thus far, plus the MBA. If you were a consultant for 3 years and you are looking to get directly into private equity after competing your MBA, I think you would have a hard time selling that story, as it’s pretty difficult to get directly into PE right after your MBA, and even more difficult with no prior experience in finance. It may make more sense to put something like Investment Banking after MBA, then Private Equity. I think this section is straightforward, either your goals make logical sense, or they just don’t. Additionally, I think it’s important that your short term goal is feasible and realistic, while your long- term goal can be more audacious, such as “ CEO of my own consulting firm with more than 100 employees, focusing on helping clients allocate their resources appropriately to buy a minimum of 3 new Mercedes (Brabus, of course) per year”.

This category is covered in your Essays(most important) , Resume, work experience section, recommendations and interview.

3. Personal qualities, extracurricular activities, and other-

Of all the categories, I think this one is truly a blank slate. This is your area to stand-out and make null all those horrible assumptions we have about bankers and consultants.  This is a free forum for you to describe your esoteric hobbies, such as: you are a professional kazoo player, or, you are a 5 time world champion in Kung-Fu fighting. Please refrain from things such as “voted most likely to succeed in high school”. This is really the area to be show how unique you are and how they absolutely need you in the class.

This is also an area where you can discuss any charity/volunteer work. However, if you have only been to the soup kitchen one in the last 3 years to serve to the homeless, I would probably leave out the fact that you are very passionate about “giving back”. Actions speak louder than words, and, if you haven’t done it, then you probably are not passionate about it.

Show what about you is unique. Your hobbies? Your involvement in the community? Your passion to save the world? What really makes you tick? Also, know several schools as about what you value personally. This is an area where you can display a strength in one of your softer skills. Maybe you value loyalty, integrity, trust, relationships, or a nice summer day? These are all intangible, personal characteristics that can set you apart.

This area is usually covered in one of the essays topics, Activities Section of your application, recommendations and interview.

Wow, I just wrote a novel. Well, hope this helps some of you out there. If not, it was fun and it helped pass some time on this really slow day at work. :)

I continue to welcome emails from people with questions; however, as I have said earlier, I don’t know the magic formula, so emails that look like this:

“ Hi DM

What did you do to get in?

Thanks!”

Probably won’t be answered, so please try to ask me specific questions, and I will try my best to answer.

Have a wonderful holiday season, and Happy New Year’s!

Status: Commit

2004-12-22T11:51:00.000-05:00

Status: Commit

It’s official, my deposit is in at CBS and I have received my Columbia Business School email address, that I get to keep for life. It looks something like this: DMartini07@gsb.columbia.edu. It’s all beginning to sink in now, and it’s great!! So far, I’ve had the opportunity to meet with a few admits in the area, and so far, I am completely impressed with everyone, from their professional accomplishments to their down to earth, quiet confidence that they exude. Additionally, I have been phoned and emailed by several current students congratulating me and seeing if there were any questions I can answer- I’m really feeling the love. It’s so interesting, how, as applicants, we all are just dying, wishing, hoping to get that admit, and then once you get one, you get showered by the school with warm fuzzies. All the agony of waiting was well worth it. I couldn’t be a happier clam right now.

Congrats to all recent admits!

2004-12-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

Congrats!

A huge congrats goes out to all Wharton admits it is truly a huge accomplishment, so please pat yourself on the back, go out and treat yourself to something special and enjoy the holidays! And- a special congrats for the double scored by Brit-chick- 2 in one day!!

For those who didn’t hear the news you were dreaming about- it’s not over. As I can personally attest, from not getting good news from Wharton, that it’s not the end of your MBA application process. Please, consider other schools and keep on working on those applications and having faith that it will work out. I know this sounds easy for me to say now, as I have an admit, and even when I didn’t hear the good news from Wharton, I saw it as a blessing in disguise, as CBS has been my first choice from day one ( read the beginning of my blog..), and it would have been a tough choice for me to make had I received an admit from both.

Best of luck to you all, and I hope you will have many admits in your future! :)

More Good News!

2004-12-15T16:13:00.000-05:00

More good news as Aregon23 has been accepted to Cornell ! Congrats to Aregon, it was much deserved!

And here's to well wishes for good news coming soon to Wake Chick and everyone else out there waiting. :)

CONGRATS to CLASSY!!

2004-12-14T17:48:00.000-05:00

A HUGE Congrats to Classy for being accepted to Cornell, Johnson School of Business. It is well deserved!!

Wrapping up with Applications

2004-12-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, I am officially done with all of this application business. So, I took some time to write all my thank-you's, pick out appropriate gifts for my recommenders and those that have significantly helped me in the application process. While I was searching for gifts and such, I decided to look up some etiquette websites to see what they had to say about the type of gift to give. I have to admit- I'm a HUGE fan of proper etiquette, and usually act as a consultant to my male friends who never seem to quite understand what the protocol is for gifts, cards,weddings, birthdays, holidays, thank you's, etc. I truly believe in the rat race that we all live in with technology and gadgets, we all frequently forget how important it is to do little things, like sit down and write a hand-written note to someone for a special ocassion. Upon my search of etiquette sites, I stumbled across this site, with a headline of " Somewhere, Someone is Wearing a Tube Top in Church", I knew I had discovered an excellent etiquette site, one that gets down to business, blunt and throws a little sarcastic humor in. They have a section of their website called "See us in Hell", where they proceed to give their most honest opinion about some particular people- and it's VERY FUNNY. You will notice some references to some groups of individuals that we all know... and I will leave it at that. :) Happy Reading

Also, don't any of you ever wish that you could remove yourself from the MBA mass marketing email/mail list. I get at least 3 pieces of mail per day from various schools, 90% of which I never signed up for, or have shown in interest in, past picking up their free pens at an MBA Fair. There are a few schools that I think are minorly obsessed and on a mission for me to attend. Is it neccessary to send me 4 postcards a week? Well, at least now I know where my $ 200 application fee went. I have to say that the best marketing I recieved from a school was a package of goodies that promoted their marketing program. I got a box one day, with a toothbrush, advil, kleenex, some sample boxes of cereal,cookies, etc. At first I thought maybe someone had sent me an emergency survival kit?!?! But, upon actually reading the letter sent in the box, I learned that they sent me these sample items to show me the types of companies that recruit at this school for marketing, and how fabulous their marketing program. Well, unfortunately, I'm a finance geek, so the letter went to the trash, but now I have a nice travel toothbrush.

THANK YOU

2004-12-01T11:39:00.000-05:00

I want to give a HUGE Thank you to all the bloggers out there who have been so helpful and supportive throughout this process. Indeed it has been the highlight of starting a blog! Especially to Brit Chick for her kind wishes. I have 150% faith she will have 3 amazing schools to choose from. I also want to quickly highlight Classy for lending her ear to me and wish her the best of luck in the coming weeks, I have faith she will be in NY next year!! And to Dave, Aregon, Swooops, and last, but certainly NOT least Wakechick!! I think all of these people are not only phenomenal candidates, but great individuals, and will all be at their school of choice next year. Thanks for all your support and best of luck!

Complete Bliss

2004-12-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

The first hours after my admit have been a complete whirlwind. I've been on the phone with family and friends and emailing everyone else! It's been so great- and I'm excited to tackle my new project of finding housing, getting loans ( I know- excited about loans?!?! What is wrong with me), figuring out how to move 3000 miles, and so on.

Once again- much credit to CBS- I emailed a few students and alums who were immensely helpful to me throughout this process and informed them of the happy news. They immediately responded with well wishes, opening themselves up for any questions and offerring to meet up with me at admitted student's weekend. This is why I LOVE CBS. Everyone is so welcoming, energetic, and open to helping each other, and me- a newbie on the block. I'm just in total bliss right now. I believe this is probably better refered to as the "Honeymoon phase"

I couldn't even sleep last night! I was up late, and no, not partying, but putting my CBS "To Do" list in order. Oddly enough- CBS was the only school I actually sent my official transripts to, I guess I knew then that this would work out for me. I also promptly made a "To Do" list to take care of stuff leading up to CBS, such as items I need to purchase, like a new PDA? and selling/donating/or doing somethign with all my furniture, trying to hit up some after winter sales for winter clothes, etc. I made an excel spreadsheets for my lists with deadlines and all- I am so proud of my work! ( Yes, I know, I'm anal and a huge dork!) Like how I used Excel? I'm already getting into B-school mode. I had a project to work on last night- so I couldn't squeeze in any martini's. But, have no fear, my name is, after all, dirty martini- this weekend will filled with lots of celebrations, and martini's.

Okay- so what's next for me? Besides preparing for B-school, I'm also planning an international trip for a few months. So, as you can imagine, I have lots of planning to do and logistics to take care of before I leave. As far as the blog goes- I haven't fully decided what to do. For now- I will keep on. I would like to post some more fun, philosophical type posts, instead of just B-school stuff. But, I will post some of my closing thoughts on the applicatin process as well. As far as continuing the blog while I'm out of the US- I highly doubt that will happen. I may not be near consisten internet access, but we'll see. As far as continuing while in school, I guess I'll clear tha hurdle when I get there. So far, this has been a wild ride, and I'm glad I did it. Happy Hump day Everyone.

Status: ADMITTED!

2004-11-30T16:59:00.000-05:00

Today, I got an early Christmas present- I have been admitted to the class of 2007 at Columbia Business School. I think I'm still in a state of shock. I haven't been able to sleep for over a week now. And, I had no idea my decision would come this fast, since my interview evaluation was only turned in last night ( my interviewer emailed me to tell me). I am currently in a state of utter bliss, excitement, nervousness, anxiousness, etc. My mom asked me when school starts and I replied " I wish tommorrow, but I move in around August, I think". For the first time in my life- my mom let out a shreek when I told her. I know, to some it may not be a big deal, but neither of my parents went to college, and for their daughter to get into an ivy-league Masters program "is a big deal" to them.

I have to say to everyone out there- CBS was and is my first choice. From the beginning of pursuit to attend Business School, I knew CBS was the perfect fit for me- and clearly it showed. I firmly belive if you are passionate about whatever program you apply to - it can happen. And, if it doesn't happen- then it's not meant to be. I belive in fate ( as I mentioned in a previous post), and fate spoke to me today. I had so many mixed emotions after spending the weekend my family- they kept pestering me- what if I don't get in? what if I don't get in anywhere? Do I have a back up plan? and so on. It was a little nerve wracking, to say the least. I have to admit, that I was already creating a back up plan, in case. But- that's just me- I'm always prepared for a "worse case scenario". I get nervous when I have less than a quarter tank of gas in my car.

In synopsis- the moral of the story- is try your hardest, and if it doesn't work out- don't let it get in the way of your dreams. At many points in this process I was unsure of getting in, and I started a back up plan. I knew with or without an MBA, I was going to reach my goals, becuase I have already been successful and I would continue to be successful. And, for everyone caught up with rankings and I have to go to ABC school, just remember, it's just Business school. I have to say I that life was really put in perspecitve this weekend, when I went to see a close family member who is on her last days. She is only 55 and will be leaving us shortly. Life is about family, love, relationships, and having a positivie impact on the world. I am really looking forward to continuing to try to "make a difference", whether it's small or big in some way shaper or form, especially in the healthcare industry.

If any of you out there are thinking about applying to CBS, or have applied and would like to ask me about my interview, please feel free to drop me an email. dirty_martini24@yahoo.com I could not have made it throughout this process without the help and support of other bloggers, students, alumni, and so on. I am more than happy to help anyone out if I can!

Time to reflect

2004-11-18T16:33:00.000-05:00

First off- I want to start this post off by saying thank you to all those who left kind and supportive comments, emails, phone calls, instant messages, and so on. I know my previous two posts were a little on the "emotional" side. But, I'm happy they were on the emotional side. This is me- this is how I felt, and I'm only human. I'm allowed to have some bad days. I truly believe that if you don't let yourself feel those emotions, of hurt and dissapointment, how can you ever feel the emotions of happiness and glee? Okay, now I'm getting all philosophical and sappy here. But, really, I am a firm believe in fate. I know things will work out in the end, but sometimes, it can be a very bumpy road to get there. And my last two posts reflect that bumpy road. So, when I have an admit in hand sometime soon ( hopefully), I can look back at those posts and see how far I have come. Going through these emotions helps me build up steam to keep working hard, focusing and continue my drive to my lifelong goals. In my heart, I know it doesn't matter what school I attend, what "tier" company I work for, it matters how I feel about myself, my loved ones, and what I have done to give back to the community. And, I'm not going to let one person, job, or school get in the way of my goals in life. Okay, enough philosphy for the day. :)

On to other news- I just set up a counter at the bottom of my blog. WOW! I had no idea that people from Finland, New Zealand, Arkansas, Malaysia, and so on..read my blog. I had no idea that what I had to say could possibly be that interesting to so many people who didn't know me. It's amazing how powerful the internet is, and the types of networks that can be formed (case in point- the MBA Bloggers). To everyone out there reading, thanks for reading my posts, and feel free to send me an email anytime.

Good luck to all of those with interview invites- they are all well deserved, and I hope you kick some butt!!

Official Notice

2004-11-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

So........ as much I would like to say I got my interivew invite on the last day, and everyone could say " I told you so- you need to be more patient". Well, I got the official notice, I am apparently not wharton material, nor do I even warrant a wharton interivew. I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset, or, I wasn't going to let it bother me. As much as I know 5 years from now, I will barely remember this insignificant moment- it stings right now. I'm one of those logical types, that thinks " Hmmm.. I wasn't even in the top 50% to interivew at wharton, how in the world, am I going to actually even get in anywhere??" So, back to my corner to hide.

looks like I'm out of the game

2004-11-17T19:28:00.000-05:00

well, tommorrow is officially the last day to get an invite from Wharton. Part of me really didn't want to make this post, as I would prefer to hide in some corner with my tail in between my legs. but, hey, I signed up for this- I have to go through with it. In looking at my defeat against Wharton, what leaves me most perplexed is what went wrong? was it my stats? my essays? my activities? my rec's? I'm not really sure at this point. I think what is most disturbing is that they interview about 50% of applicants, which means I fall in the lower 50%, which is slightly disturbing. Am I going to be able to get into any schools this year? Considering I used to same "strategy" for all schools? Should I start looking for another job? Should I consider applying to schools that are less than desirable? So many questions, dobuts and concerns are going through my head right now. It probably doesn't help than I'm at home, ill with a fever and stuffed up nose. So, maybe I'm being a little dramatic right now, but hey, isn't everyone allowed a few moments to be dramatic? okay- back to my corner to hide and re-evaluate.

best wishes and good luck to all with interviews!

Productive Week

2004-11-14T23:59:00.000-05:00

Overall, this last week has been very productive. I just submitted my fourth application, to Cornell. After much thought, I have decided to hold off from applying to NYU until round 2 and after getting some decisions from the 4 applications I already have in place.

I had my CBS interview with an alum in Los Angeles on Friday. I thought it went well. The interview was very relaxed and really more of a conversation that a line of questioning. Of course, the usual topics came up, why mba, describe my work experience to date, why cbs, etc... but it was all in the context of a conversation. I never felt like it was an interrogation. The whole interview lasted about 1.5-2 hours long, and I felt like it went by in 5 minutes. I was very impressed with the alum, very talented, down to earth, great background, and very open to being helpful and telling me about CBS and his career experiences thus far. So, overall, I walked away very happy and content with the interview. Becuase of the conversational nature of the interview, we spent some time just discussing current topics and what not, and becuase we had some similar work experience, we discussed some intricacies of our respective industries.

Okay- now back to the anxious waiting game. These next few weeks are going to be tough with the holidays and decisions.

Weekend at Cornell & Interview Updates

2004-11-09T18:09:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone!

I just got back from 4 days in Ithaca, being a part of their prospective weekend, Johnson Means Business. I had an amazing time, met some great people and I am exhuasted! I want to post lots more about my trip, but I am scrambling to get my app done, as it is due Monday!!

But, for those of you out there thinking about Cornell- I think you should add it to your list. The faculty, staff, students, campus, and so on were all very impressive. The level or participation, organization, and genuine, down-to earth attitude of the students is very appealing. It really is a collegial atmostphere, and collaborative, and as they say " self- competitive". where everyone competes with themselves and not others. The campus is gorgeous- so picturesque, and there were still some fall leaves. The faculty were all so nice and accessible. I mean, I had to pinch myslef, that I was actually having lunch with a prof. of finance, and speaking to the Dean about the futre of the school- how cool is that?? I can imagine that does NOT happen at a lot of top B-school's.

The student body- is amazing. Everyone is friendly, down to earth, helpful, genuine, and truly loves their school and they all have so much pride. Alos- they were very welcoming, and really rolled out the red carpet- treating us like 5 star guests.

Also- if you are applying to Cornell, please apply for the Park Fellowship, as it is two year full scholarhsip with a stipend, and, apparently only 10% of applicants actually apply for it- so don't self select out of free money- apply!!

I also wanted to add: that if you are one of those people who really wants to get involved with school, make a lasting impact and get involved with changing the cirriculum, improving recruiting, or starting a new club- cornell is the place for you. The really welsome student driven intiatitives, and the small class size allows you a lot of flexibility to really drive intiatives and lead new ideas. Which, I thought was very appealing.

I have lots more to discuss, but, due to lack of time, I have to get back to work.

One more update: I have been invited to interview for Columbia. :) It is scheduled for the end of this week with an alum in Los Angeles

Still Alive :)

2004-11-01T18:57:00.000-05:00

Thankfully, things have been picking up this past week and in the coming weeks as well, so I can take my mind off of wanting to check my email and status every 4.5 minutes in hope of an interview invite.

Halloweeen was fun- took my niece and nephew trick or treating- and got lots of great candy.

As for this week- I leave Thursday for Cornell's prospective weekend " Johnson Means Business". I have my agenda of events while I will be there- and boy is it packed! The whole weekend is sponsored by citigroup, including our transportation, so it will be great to mingle with some citigroup people, in addition to learning about Cornell, speaking to current students, meeting more impressive prospectives. I think there are about 45 of us in total coming to JMB, and about 10 from the southern california area. It should be loads of fun!

Besides that, not much new here, just trying to keep busy and keep my mind off of decisions. And continue to work on the apps I need to get in.

Keep the Faith!!!

2004-10-21T13:54:00.000-04:00

Wow- what an amazing Baseball playoff season it has been. Unless you have been living in a cave the past week, you know the Red Sox and the Yankess have been squaring off in the ALCS, fighting for a spot in the World Series. And the Red Sox overcame a 3 game deficit to win the series!! If this isn't a testament of tenacity, passion, pride and just hard work, I don't know what is?!?!? I'm still reeling over how amazing the last 4 games have been. I have to say, this is probably the best playoff series I have seen in my lifetime. Can't wait till Saturday!!

3 apps in the oven.

2004-10-14T13:34:00.000-04:00

Wow. I have 3 applications, Columbia, Wharton and Harvard, all in! I'm not sure how to react. I'm anxiously awaiting CBS, as they have rolling admissions, and I would love to just find out from them, and pull my other apps, and not have to apply anywhere else. How awesome would that be?

I will be taking a week off completely from applications at this point- to relax. Also, I already have my Cornell essays done, and will most likely target the Nov. 15, Round 1 deadline. As, I will be visiting Cornell in 3 weeks. (Anyone else out there going to JMB 2004?? If so, drop me an email- especially if you are from Los Angeles)

cheers, DM

To those who have not applied

2004-10-13T18:21:00.000-04:00

Just a little note out to all of those who have no applied yet, or are considering round 2. Here are some things that may help you out:

-The first app is THE hardest and will take the most amount of time, so plan accordingly. However, this does mean that app 2, 3, 4... will take substantially less time

-If you are burned out of studying for gmat or writing essays, spend some time browsing through the online forms for each school. This will help give you an idea as to how much information and work the online portion is- don't udnerestimate this part! Some schools require the exact date of your employments, while others just want to know the month/year.

- I would advise everyone to sit down and write down each job they had since high school, internship, activity, award, basically anything of significance, in chronological order- this will help greatly with the online portions, as well as brainstorming for essays. I kept a spreadsheet next to me with a list of activities, jobs, awards, etc, so I didn't miss anythign I wanted to include in my essays. Or, I would reference one of those things if I needed a really good "leadership example"- I would just look at my spreadsheet and pick out my best one. ( Yes, I know, I'm anal)

-Keep on your recommenders. Also, make sure that after you send them the online rec that they actually recieved it. I had some technichal problems and had to contact the school directly to get a rec sent, as my recommender had super-duper anti-spam block on their email.

-I provided a summary of deadlines, schools, key points, resume and an essay for each recommender to read, if they so chose to. I got lots of good feedback about that from my recs- so I highly recommend that. It also helps them differentiate between different programs, as your rec may or may not be familiar with the B-school lingo or process.

- Have at least 2 people read your essays, but not more than 4. I tend to think anything over 3 or 4 becomes counter-productive, as you have "too many cooks in the kitchen", and some of their suggestions may be more about style, then content, flow and grammer.

-Also, note that you are not trying to become the next Hemingway or Fitzgerald here. I had to remind myself in the editting process " I'm not looking for the pulitzer- I want to get into business school".

-In regards to essays- I HIGHLY recommend you contact an alum from each school you are applying to, if possible, make friends with them, and have them read your essays. I say alum, as usually current studetns are so busy, also, they haven't finished the program,and I tend to think that alums have a better vision of the whole package, having graduated, and all. This is really really important! And, even better if you can find an alum who was on the ad com or helped with admissions.

Also- they are free, and ready and willing to help you. All the alums I met were so eager to help and boast about their school, it got me even more excited. Also, note that it is even better that they DO NOT know you. So, when they read your essays, and they don't understand the point you are making, they will point it out to you, unlike your friends, who may mistakingly infer what you are trying to say. This is important, at the ad com doesn't know you, and with thousands of applications, I doubt they have time to infer anything.

-Save all employment and activity descriptions in word, so you can copy and paste them into the onlie parts for each school- this was a lifesaver and saved me LOTS of time.

-Make sure all of your timing makes sense in your story. For example, if you discuss how volunteering at XYZ made you do ABC, well, make sure XYZ happened before ABC. I know, this sounds elementry,but sometimes when you are writing about somthing 5 plus years ago, it becomes easy to get confused and make a mistake.

-I made a post it of my top 5 "themes" that I wanted to cover for each school next to my laptop and that helped me to stay focused.

-Okay, so I literally wrote a mini- mba app. handbook. I didn't intend it to be quite this long, but, well, once I got started, I couldn't stop.

*** Please note, I am just an applicant- I have not been admitted or even interviewed anyhwere....I'm just sharing my thoughts about my app experience thus far, so don't hold me accountable and come back and say " But DM said to do XYZ and I would get in". Some of the above points helped me in my applications, but everyone is different, as they say "different strokes for different folks"

Okay, that's all I can think of right now. I hope that helps. I'm sure I have more to come!

Expect more posting, as now, I won't know what to do with my free time, with nearly 3 apps in! Feel free to send me an email if you wish. Okay- back to my list of "fun things to do, now that over half of my applications are done!! "

cheers, DM

Everyone take a moment to breathe.

2004-10-13T17:16:00.000-04:00

For many of you out there, and including me, take a moment to breathe and pat yourself on the back! Especially those of you who turned in one or more applications this week! One more to submit tonight. It's sort of wierd knowing that I have 2 applications in the oven, and about to send a third one in, in a few hours. It was sort of anti-climatic, since i have been prepping/stressing/worrying/whining/thinking/obsessing, etc for over a year now about that moment, that when it finally came- I just happily pressed submit, smiled and knew I put in 110% and that is all that matters, right? ( this is what I'm going to keep telling myself for now :)

good luck everyone. :)

Thank you & Best of luck to the Bloggers

2004-10-07T17:51:00.000-04:00

As Round one deadlines approach, I really wanted to write a quick Thank you and Good Luck to all the bloggers out there. Yes, that means you, Dave, Aregon, Swoop, DaRaver, Reflection, Wakechick, Classy, Britchick, Riter, iwhoelse..if I missed you- sorry!. You guys have been a great group of supporters, cheerleaders, friends to lend an ear, and also give advice. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's blogs, and I feel as if I have a new group of friends who know me and the ongoings of my life on an intimate level (or at least about my applications) :) Keep up the good work everyone! The end is near. And, I know in my heart we will all be at some school next year.

Putting the pedal to the metal

2004-10-04T19:13:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone! Yes, I'm still here,just been busy, like you guys! And, unfortunately, yesterday I wrote this huge post, only to have my computer freeze and blogger did not save it ( even though I had hit save before the freeze). So, I will give this another go.

I wanted to first, take some time to talk about a less mentioned area of the application- the activities and employment section. I've been in the "B-school" game now for about a year, and have heard very little and quite next to nothing about these sections. So, as you can imagine, when I sat down to acutally look at these sections and complete them- I was quite shocked at the amount of time and work that is involved.

To everyone out there: please don't underestimate the amount of time and effort needed for these two sections. These two areas are great to show your accomlishments, actual duties at work, and your personal activities that make you unique. Also, not that just locating the dates, salary, phone numbers, etc. of every activity and employer you have had since college can be quite a task, and I'm one of those super anal people who save EVERYTHING. But, I still had to go through old boxes of paperwork to find pay-stubs from years ago. Also, I copied and pasted an outline of what was needed for each section and wrote it all out in word, so that I could copy and past the same description of "repsonbilities" to each app, so as to not duplicate my efforts. I would HIGHLY recommed this, as I finished the online portions of 2 apps in one weekend, and now have all the info I need to just copy and paste to my third app.

Okay, so..what else is going on.. I went to the forte forum ( for female applicants only) the other week with wakechick. Again, most of it was spent on convincing people that an MBA is great, but I've alredy been convinced. But, it was nice to see so many women applicants, some successful alums from various schools. Also, note, it was interesting how topics such as dating, having a significant other, and kids came up. Funny, becuase I could never imagine those topics coming up in a normal info session with men and women.

okay, what else... as far as my applications go.. I have submitted one application, and gearing up to submit the second this weekend and third early next week. I have about 1.5 more essays to write and some online sections to fill in, but for the most part nearing the end. I have spoken with all my recommenders and all seems to be going quite well on their front, and they have already submitted for one school. I just have to put the pedal to the metal for the homestretch. It's sort of strange that I already have one applicatino completely in and "Under Review", or something like that.

I am planning on taking a week off from all b-school stuff after submitting my third app next week. I want to spend some time reading stuff that is not about me! I'm a little burned out reading about "my life", such as activities, employment, and essays. I was actually thinking, how it would be fun to help someone else in the process once this whole thing is over ( and, hopefully ) I get in somewhere. I think I will join the student amabassadors, and help prospective students get acqainted with the school and learn about the app. process. I know, it's dorky, but, what can I say- I did that for incoming UCLA students and new girls in my sorority.

Okay, enough of my ramblings.... I wish everyone the BEST OF LUCK on their applications. I have so much faith and confidence in all the bloggers out there! good luck everyone and keep me posted! :)

Beyond Busy

2004-09-22T17:12:00.000-04:00

Hi Everyone!!

First off, big apoligies to all for slacking on my posting. Just like everyone else out there, I have been swamped, and my trip to NYC did not spare me anytime to sit and blog. First off, my trip to NYC was AMAZING. Everything and everyone far exceeded any expectations I had about the city, NYU, CBS, and so on. I have to say I really was resisting the urge to get back on that plane and return home. While on campus, especially at CBS, I really felt "at home". I know this may sound super cheesy, but when I was rushing for a sorority during undergrad, many people would say you would find the right house when everything just felt "right". Well, everything really fell into place on my visit. Unforunately, I am a little pressed for time right now, as I am catching up on work I missed and lots of charity work for 2 events next week. So, a detailed description of my visit will have to be postponed. ( I haven't even unpacked my bags, yet!) But, rest assured, it will come.

Also, I will be meeting up with WakeChick tonight at the Forte Forum, excited to hear about how her apps are coming along! I'm really excited about the forum tonight, as it is just about us gals and B-school, it will be refreshing to be around so many successful women in business.

These next few weeks are serious crunch time, as I am still shooting for 3 apps by round 1 deadline, although, I'm considering doing only 2- we'll see... But, for now, I have to get at least 2 apps in and plan 2 chairty events- so.......back to work!!! I can't wait till this roller coaster ride comes to an end. This process is so emotionally and phsycially draining, that I am beginning to get ancy for a decision. Also, I'm wondering what it would be like to actually have a free Satruday afternoon- to do nothing but read for fun or go for a hike- I guess all of that "playing" will come after packing in a few more weeks of hard work into these apps. Hopefully, all of this stress and intense work will be paying off shortly...... good luck on apps everyone!

MBA Fair

2004-09-14T11:31:00.000-04:00

Greetings all!

I apoligize for being a little bit of a slacker these days when it comes to updating the ole blog, but it's been quite busy lately. Today is the final exam for my business course, as well as the day I leave for NYC. So, I've spent the past few days studying for my exam, making plans for nyc activities, and working on essays. I will not accept anything less than an A+ in my class. :) I decided that if I was goign to make the trek to NYC to visit NYU and CBS, and spend the time and money to go, I was going to maximize every minute of it. So, I have an itenerary planned down to the minute practically. My first day in town will be spent chatting with a current nyu student and attending an info session, followed my a magazine party with a friend from college. Thursday will be spent attending a class at cbs, meeting with several club presidents of the clubs I am interested in, attending one club meeting, happy hour, and another club event. Friday will be spent meeting with a few more students for coffee/lunch. The weekend will be spent with my sister and her family, who live about 20 minutes outside of nyc.

On the essay front- I have managed to edit/finish 85% of my CBS essays. Also, I just touched base wtih my rec's and they are on target to finish next week. I am going to shoot for submitting my CBS app in about 1.5 weeks! (wow!) My W essays are basically done, however, I have 3 more essays to write for H. Basically, upon my return is going to be super-crunch time to get these 3 apps out for round 1, but, I have faith that I can get it done! I pretty much have my topics set for the remaining essays to write, which, for me, means I have most of the work done. I am beginning to realize that if I spend lots of time thinking, planning and being introspective, then when I actually get to sit down and write the essay- it comes out quite easily. It will be nice to have 3 apps in within the next month!

I am debating with the idea of taking another class for the fall term. It would be nice to have a small break from " studying", as I spent the summer taking my current class, and before that, studying for the GMAT. In one sense, it would be great not to have a class, then I could focus 110% on applications and essays. But, on the other hand, if all goes well, I should have 3 apps in within the next month, which would only be 3 weeks into the fall quarter, anyways. But, then, I may want to apply to 3 instead of 2 schools for round 2, which would require a lot more work for round 2 apps than I originally anticipated- which could potentially take time away from this course. Then, I'm thinking, I want to show that I am seriously committed to an MBA, and taking another class would signal that. But, I won't even get the grade till after I submit over half of my apps. What to do? Anyone have any thoughts on this? I am definitely planning on taking a class in spring ( Jan term), as apps will all be done, and I love taking a class and learning the material, especially, becuase these business courses are all new to me, and I LOVE learning more. Also, it will further prep me for the core coursework in B-school, which intimidates me now, as I have never had any formal business education outside of the current class I am taking. Sorry for the long stream of conciousness... just really trying to figure out what to do... ?!?!

Okay, lastly, a quick update from the MBA fair I attended on Sunday in Los Angeles. Basically, if you didn't go- you didn't miss much. I think at this point in the game for me, these fairs are pointless. I have already attended individual school information sessions last year, and have clearly already decided which schools I would like to apply to, so it was sort of a waste of time. However, I did speak to an ad com member of one schools, whom I previously met, and she remembered me and we had a nice quick chat about my application and what not, and it was nice to know that she remembered who I was. I guess sometimes, as applicants, we think there are so many of use that there is no way an ad com would know who we are. So, it's refreshing to see the ad coms making great strides to get to know candidates and remember us to the best of their ability. The other not so great thing about this fair, was, that there were so many people, that I felt bad and guilty talking to the ad coms at particular booths as there was this huge line of wolves behind me, ready to pounce on the ad com once I was done with my question. So, the entire time, I felt pressure to just ask one question and leave. I would not reccommend these types of fairs to those who have already done their research and established their list of schools and attended individual school info sessions. These MBA fairs are best suited for those new to the game, who are even still unsure of an MBA and just looking to get surface information. Also, it was nice to see lots of familar applicant faces, http://www.daveformba.blogspot.com">DaveforMBA being one of them. :)

Okay, off to tidy up all of my last minute errands before taking my final and leaving for nyc. I will definitely try to provide as detialed a description of my trip upon my return. :) Have a good week everyone.

Excited for NYC Visit !

2004-09-08T17:43:00.000-04:00

In exactly one week I will be in NYC ! I am incredibly excited!! Today I sat down and planned out my itinerary for my stay. Wednesday will be spent checking out NYU, hopefully meeting with a student or two (still waiting for email responses), and attending an info. session. Thursday will be spent attending a CBS class or two, meeting up with two of my friends who are current first years, who have offered to escort me around, and take me to classes and CBS happy hour and other such events. Then, I will get to hang out with my sister and her family.

On the application front, I am working on completing the online portion of apps, as I realized once I complete one, I will just copy and paste into the other, becuaes they all ask for the exact same information, so in reality, my work for apps 2,3,4 and 5 will be a lot easier. Also, I'm wrapping up all of my CBS essays, and should have the entire app about 85% done before I leave to visit, with the intention of tightening up loose ends and adding in some thoughts about my visit and submitting upon my return.

As for Wharton and Harvard, I pretty much have all my topics done. Also, many topics between W and CBS overlap, so I will begin to graft pieces that I want to use in those apps from CBS and expand upon that. I am really beginning to feel like I have my "story" down incredibly well. And, there are just certain examples and traits that I want to touch upon for every school, so although some of my material is redundant for each school, I am tailoring my answers to each question for each application and school. Now that I know myself incredibly well and have clear short/long term goals, leadership examples, team examples, ethical dilemna, what I am passionate, value, and so on figured out.. the rest is easy. I just tailor for each school...and really, there should be lots of repitition for each school, such as short and long term goals. If those are changing from school to school, one should not be applying to those schools.

Also, I have begun to realize more and more how similar all the schools I am applying to, and how they really make sense for me and fit with my goals. I understand why schools ask where else you are applying, to get a sense of how focused you are on your goals and what the program has to offer. For instance, if you were applying to: Chicago, Wharton and Columbia, and you wanted to study finance, then it makes sense for both your goals and the program of each school. But, if you were applying to Haas, Stanford, Chicago and Tuck for finance- one might wonder what is going on?

On the non-B-school front, had a nice weekend with my family. Also, I have a fun chairty event coming up in 3 weeks, and I am excited to report that I was able to recruit two of my friends into volunteering to work the event with me! How awesome is that?? I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer. :)

Getting down to the wire

2004-08-30T14:37:00.000-04:00

Part of me is elated that it is August 30th, and the other part is freaking out. The elated part is excited about my trip to NYC in two weeks, finishing my business class and getting closer to finding out decisions from schools. The part of me that is freaking out is worried about finising applications on time, making perfect essays for my applications, and making sure I get an A+ in my class. And so the application process continues with it's many ups and downs- almost worse than the Nasdaq this year. :)

I am happy to say that I am done with 3/4 CBS essays, with only a short 250 word essay left to write and edit. Also, both rec's are currently being written, and I've been slowly filling out parts of the online app. At this point, I would say I'm about 65% done with CBS. Although it seems daunting that I still have 2 more applications to work on for Round 1 deadlines, I am taking solace in the fact that much of the work I did for Columbia will be practically duplicated for both H & W. For instance, filling out all of the online info of previous employment and activities will clearly be a carbon copy ( which, thankfuly, I just sat down and wrote out a long chronological list of all my employers and activities along with dates), and uploading my resume- which is 100% done and updated. So, even though I will have write a few new essays for both schools, a lot of my work is done! Actually, I checked my "status" on my CBS app, and all of my transcripts have been recieved, so the process is really in full swing.

It's odd, but about a year ago when I formally decided to pursue B-school, I felt like I had all the time in the world to complete stellar applications. And, at the same time, it seemed so incredibly far away, that actually submitting an applicaiton and getting a decision seemd surreal. Well, reality is settling in folks. Apps are due in SIX weeks!! Yikes!!! I am planning on submitting my CBS app in THREE WEEKS!! Which, means, hypothetically ( according to the CBS website), I could get a decision between 8-10 weeks after submitting..... meaning, I could have a decision by mid-November- which seems very very near.

Thankfully, progress is being made, slowly and steadily. Also, I would like to note that I have spent much of this writing process not neccesarily writing, but thinking about how I want to express different parts of my life, my personality and accomplishments. Now, that I have sorted out my "story" and different key examples of leadership, teamwork, and so on, actualy writing my story has been refreshingly easy. It's interesting how much introspection I have put into this process and how much I have learned about myself and my goals in life. The great thing is, all of this introspection has made me realize how much an MBA is really a good decision for me at this point in my life.

One last thing to note- I think app # 1 is the most difficult so far, and the next apps are looking a lot less difficult. I am planning to use parts of my essays for different schools, to keep my apps consistent with my general themes/story. There are just some things that I want to tell in every application in one way, shape or form. However, I am planning to tailor my stories and essays for each school. And, of course every school is requring an essay that I did not write for another. Alright kids, back to work and keep on trucking. This process will be over sooner than we know it!! cheers.

CBS/NYU Visit

2004-08-25T19:35:00.000-04:00

I will be visiting both Columbia & NYU September 15, 16, & 17. If anyone else is visitng at that time, or you already go to school there and would like to volunteer to show me around- drop me an email, please! :)

cheers.

Olympic Stuff

2004-08-24T11:11:00.000-04:00

Has everyone out there been watching the Olympics?

I have to admit, I have been cheating on watching the Olympics, but reading the news to see what will be aired, and then trying to watch particular sports that I know had exciting matches/competitions. First off, boy do I feel bad for Paul Hamm. The poor guy didn't do anything wrong- it was the fault of the judge's, and now people are questioning his ability. From what I can tell, basically the tapes do show that the S. Korean did in fact have a lower start value than he was supposed to have. However, the tape also noted an additional mistake, that if that were taken into account with the initial point increase, Paul would still win gold. I firmly belive that if they are going to review the tapes and make changes, they should note all changes, positive and negative!

Independent of all the scoring madness with gymnastics and the not-so nice woman from Russian gymnastics- Khorikina (sp?). The Olympics have been amazing. I am in awe of the focus, dedication, passion and talent displayed at the Olympics. My friends think I'm dedicated to attending Business school, becuase I'm putting my life on hold for a few months, but these Olympians have put their sport ahead for many, many years. If I could have just half the focus and drive they have for their sport in my career, I will be set for life.

Also, becuase I have ran a few marathons, as well as cross country and track in high school, I am a huge fan of Track & Field, and the Marathon. Did anyone else catch the women's marathon on Sunday? I was folding my laundry, and glued to the tv. Seeing Deena Kastor win the bronze was amazing, and a huge feat for the USA, who has only won one other medal in women's marathon. Just watching them made me tired, they were running at an average pace of 5:30 minutes/mile- for 26 miles!!! Needless to say, I easily double that in my marathons!

And, speaking of marathons... I have made a mini- deal with myself that if I get into a school before Jan., I will commit myself to run at least a half-marathon or full marathon before school starts as a present to myself. After dedicating so much of my free time to the application process, it will be great to spend some time doing some things that I love, like running!!

On another note, I signed up for the Columiba Host Program for my CBS visit in September! Also, I've contacted some of my friends in NYC, and it looks like I will be one busy camper will I'm there. I will be visiting, NYU, CBS, hanging out with some current CBS students I am friends with, and some friends from UCLA, not to mention my sister lives there! I'm very, very excited about my trip. Okay, back to work. :)

MBA Weekend

2004-08-23T19:43:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!

First off, I apoligize I have not been very consistent with my posting lately. But, life has just been plain crazy and busy! So, let's get down to business.

First, a few updates: I got back my midterm for my bus. class, and recieved a 66/67, BUT, I should have had a 67/67, as the one question I missed was based on a graph that was NOT clear. So, I politely took my case to my prof, who bascially gave me this look of "okay, miss over-achiever, you are complaining about a 98%?". So, anyways, I am happy with my score, and even happier to report it in my applications!

Work has been crazy these last few weeks, and luckily the dealines have now passed and things will be calming down for the next few weeks.

So, on to my weekend- which was entirely spent on MBA-related activities! Friday night I attended a "get to know" Cornell dinner. It was at this fabulous restuarant in Beverly Hills and there was one person from admissions, about 10-12 alums, and 10-12 prospective applicants. The dinner was absboultely incredible, and, no, I'm not just talking about the food ( althought that was splendid as well). It was great to be in such an intimate setting with many alums from various year, from '04 to '95 and an admissions person in a more, relaxed, initmate setting. Also, I was very excited to learn about Cornell, as it was my first opportunity to interact with some actual students, as I probably will not be able to visit. I thought all of the students were of course, smart, driven, extremely down to earth, very candid, and open to helping us out, whether or not it was for Cornell, or just B-school in general-which I thought was great. I really got a sense of the Cornell community, which seems to be very close-knit. I really liked the idea of a smaller class size. Also, the location of Cornell somewhat forces people to really get to know each other, network and become each others friends and supporters- which I also really liked.

Saturday morning, 7:30- 1:30, I attended a MBA conference at UCLA Anderson for about 75 prospective applicants, where 15 top schools ( Columbia, MIT, Yale, UCLA, USC, Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, etc) were represented with one person from ad com, plus some alums. This was an awesome event! Since this event was smaller, we were able to have "round table" discussions with the admissions rep, and 7 other applicants for 40 minutes. It was great to meet the admissions reps and put a face to name for both me as an applicant and them as the all-empowering admissions committee. The biggest thing I realized at this event, is that admission reps are human, too (yes, I know- shocking!!). This conference really humanized the app process to me and how important it is to just present yourself to the best of your ability and embrace your uniqueness. Also, the conference re-confirmed my choice in schools I selected to apply to. I could really see myself at any of the 5 I have chosen, and I feel confident in my candicacy at them as well. Also, as important it is to get into the "best school", I think long- term success will come whether or not your school was ranked 10 or 14. Success will come, becuase you work hard and focus. ( a little luck doesn't hurt, either!!)

I didn't really learn anything new about applicants, but it was great to speak with alums and learn about classes, clusters, cohorts, and everything else. Also, one funny story that was mentioned- apparently people have sent in other people to interview for them at various schools. So........if anyone out there is planning this- I think the admissions comm. is one step ahead of you!!

Saturday night was spent having dinner with Wake_chick and Dave- which was great! I feel very confident in their candidacies for B-school and confident in their future success.

Sunday was spent writing/working on essays and catching up on chores. What a weekend! I'm so exhuasted.

I hope everyone is doing well and working hard on those apps. For me.. I have drafts for all my Columbia essays, next up: writing drafts for HBS, Wharton. I met with both of my Rec's, and they are in the process of writing. Sent out all my transcripts, and figuring out my GMAT re-take date.

busy, busy, busy

2004-08-17T16:36:00.000-04:00

busy, busy, busy!!

Just like Aregon23- I woke up in the middle of the night with a panic- realizing that I have less than 2 months to get 3 applications in, visit 2 schools, complete my summer business course with nothing less than an A, plan 2 more charity events, and re-take the GMAT. Is this going to be possible? I think so!!

-So far, I have finished drafts of all my Columbia essays, and need to write 3 more essays for Wharton and Harvard ( I can reuse a lot of my material from Columbia essays for Harvard and Wharton- such as for the "short-term/long-term goals essay).

-I'm also done with my resume and made a formal list of my activities/awards to put in all of my applications. Also, I sent off my transcripts and GMAT scores ( from the GMAT I already took).

-GMAT stuff- I want to take one more prac test and finish the OG, and take it already- I think I'm at the heigh of my learning curve.

-My business class is going really well and don't expect it to take too much of my time.

- One Rec. is already being done, and my Rec # 2 meeting is Thursday and I anticipate that one to be done soon, as well.

I think the key to getting through these Round 1 deadlines is to FOCUS! I am going to continue to try and maximize all of my time and re-use as much of my material as possible. Okay, back to work.. I am sorry I can't write more! I have a major deadline for work this Friday!!

I hope everyone is doing well and moving along nicely on their applications...

Fun Friday Night

2004-08-14T02:21:00.000-04:00

It's Friday night, and yes, I am actually home to make a post to my blog. :)

These days I am in such a time crunch that I have to maximize every minute of everyday, otherwise, I won't have time to get everything done. So, here I am Friday night, at home, in front of the computer. I have been working on my scholarship app. all night, and only have 2 more essays to write. Thankfully, one of the essays is the exactly the CBS question # 2, and the other is one of Wharton's questions. And, I wholeheartedly plan on "recycling" essays for each app as much as I can. Let's just say that cut and paste will be two of my best friends in the upcoming months.

Well, thankfully things are looking on track for me to complete my scholarship app by the end of this weekend, and finish drafts for all CBS essays. Also, I will have my resume completely done.

Even though I didn't get to go out and have fun tonight, I had such a productive day. Got into work early, had a few productive meetings, ran 5 miles at the gym, did some small errands, and came home and got cranking on my computer! I bet you guys are so jealous of my "exciting" Friday night!! :)

Tommorrow is my best friends birthday, and I'm looking forward to relaxing. But, I do plan on writing one more essay tommorrow afternoon before the festivities. Yes, I know I am a workaholic, overachiever, type-A person ( I'm also really really really anal) . But, you know what? That is my favorite part about myself. :) Hey, you only get one life to live- may as well love it!! I do!! :)

Also- I want to thank everyone for emailing and posting comments about my blog. I absolutely love the feedback and you guys inspire me to continue to post and share my journey. So, please keep the emails and comments coming....

okay, a few more tweaks on my essays, then off to bed and up to go for a run at the beach.

Quick update

2004-08-12T19:13:00.000-04:00

I have been incredibly swamped lately. So here's the quick and dirty update:

-Working on CBS essays; should have first draft of all essays done this weekend
-Working on a scholarship app due monday; will finish this weekend ( I am using my CBS essays for this)
-Met with rec. # 1
-Meeting with rec. # 2 next week.
-I will get my results from my midterm next week, which I think I kicked butt on! :)
-Resume = 90% done.
- Re-taking the GMAT the week of Aug. 23-27; will be studying all next week and weekend.
- Booked airline tickets to visit CBS, NYU the week of Sept. 14-19. ( I leave literally 3 hours after I take my final exam for my business class!!)
- Planning on submitting CBS app around Sept. 22, as I will have everything done before I visit and plan on adding a vew sentences about my visit for a last minute touch on my essay # 1 and then submit!!
-After the GMAT I plan to work on Wharton and HBS essays, and I have determined that I will only need to write 4 new essays for both schools, as I can reuse a lot of what I already wrote for CBS and my scholarship app. ( thankfully!!!)
- working on 2 fall charity events, however not as much as my last event, thankfully... as I have no time!!
-attending a speical MBA conference in two weeks and get to hang out with ad coms from the top 15 schools. this is a special conference that is invite only, limited to 75 applicants and memebers of top 15 school ad coms will be there. The reason this event is "restricted" as it is catering to a local program in LA that mentors "minority" applicants.

- and, I'm also trying to squeeze in time for those normal things of life, such as sleeping and going to the gym. :) Of course, the fact that I worked 60 hours this week, doesn't really help my cause :)

so...as you all can tell, I have lots of stuff on plate right now! Between work, class, gmat, application essays, and charity stuff, I have no time to watch any tv or just relax.. I can't wait till at least my first app is in! Which is looking like 6 weeks from now! yikes. okay, back to work.

good luck to everyone with apps, essays, gmat, and especially to those who are starting school.

Privacy Issues

2004-08-04T13:11:00.000-04:00

I've noticed a lot of bloggers discussing the issue of privacy in respect to their blogs and it got me thinking about my own public blog and anonymity. I started this blog, because when I started to B-school app process I didn't know anyone else going through my struggles, so I got out there and met folks who were and in the process found the BW boards and started reading blogs of applicants. After reading my blogs and becoming a little educated on B-School and the app process and realizing I had all of these thoughts and feelings I wanted to express, but friends and family who could not relate and were tired of hearing about B-school, I decided to start my own blog.

I view my blog as an extension of my brain, a place where I can exposue my inner thoughts about life, philosphy, and people. And, of course provide any insight I have into the B-school app process and share my woes of my own applictions. I think if at least one person finds something useful in my blog, that is cool, and if someone identifies with some of my pain or happiness, then that is even cooler. It's awesome how all of the bloggers support in each other, even though none of us knew each other before we started blogging, we have all made a conncection in our posts and quest for B-school.

The only people I do not want reading my blog- is anyone I work with ( as they don't know I am applying to B-school). Besides that, most of my friends read my blog frequently. I do like to remain anonymous, in that I will probably never post my exact GMAT score, age, what company I work for, or anything that would directly give my identity away. I have no problem with people reading about my rants on women, or the east coast vs. west coast, as I think they are just genralizations about opinions I have formed, and will probably never cite invididual people by their real name. Even though I like my anonmymity, I am open to emailing people offline, chattinga about essay ideas and catching up at an info. session. I used to have my name on my email address, but I changed that, as I didn't want people doing google searches on me.. since I know several articles/links come up with my name related to things I have particpated in. The internet can be a scary place and I just don't want some crazy person showing up at my doorstep anyday soon. :) But, I think all of us MBA bloggers are pretty safe.

I hope everyone continues to read my blog and takes something away from it, whether its something pragmatic about how to write an essay, or identifying with an emotion or opinion that I am expressing on here. Everything I discuss on here is a true reflection of my thoughts and feelings and would say everything on here in person that I say in my blog. I know some people feel that it may be an invasion on one's privcacy, but I made the concious decsion to make an internet diary, versus one on my computer at home, and I am willing to accept that responsibility and the consequences that come with it.

Who knows, I may even meet some of you fellow bloggers one day ( we may be at the same school !!!) , and I can say without a doubt that who I am on here is a reflection of how I am in real life- which is why I really don't care if this is public. At this point in my life, I am very confident in who I am, my opinions, proud of my accomplishments and extremely comfortable in my own skin. On that note, I will continue to express my thoughts about the applicatoin process, life, and anything else that is on my mind. And, becuaes this is an online journal, I think I know when to draw the line to not expose something too personal, or something that I don't feel is appropriate to post on the internet.

Moving on.... I think my midterm went very well on Tuesday. I was a little nervous right before the test, becuase I had found the material fairly easy and grasped the concepts so well, I feared I may have been over confident. However, the test was fairly basic, no surprises, out of 50 questions, there were only 3 that I only felt 90% sure of, versus feeling 100% confident in my answers for the other 47. Unforutnatley, I won't know my results for two weeks, as I will be missing class for a work-related function this tuesday (although I would much rather be in class).

I am back on the GMAT track and anxious to get the stupid test over and put it behind me, so I can focus 110% on essays. Especially, since deadlines are starting to creep in, and I've finalized all of my essay topics, I'm very anxious to get down and finish writing all of my drafts. I'm planning on retaking the GMAT next week, maybe Thursday or Friday. I feel as prepared as I did the first time around, just more relaxed and really have nothing to lose, but will gain the peace of mind of giving the test a second shot. I know when I walked out of the test GMAT round 1, I felt I could've walked in the next day and score better..but, who knows. Once you get in the 90% percentile, it's tough to go up 4 %. But, I'm going to do some studying/reviewing this weekend, finish out my study plan, which was comopleteing the OG again. I think I will take one or two more prac. tests, and just go in relaxed.

My friend is moving to NYC this weekend to attend CBS this fall........ I am so jealous!! I wish him the best of luck and as he says " it's not farewell, but see you later". It's awesome how supportive my friends are!! Thanks T !!

Somehow I managed to volunteer to help out on two more fundraisers. I was asked to join another board, and I have such a hard time saying no when it's for a cause I love!! Of course, you know what people say, when you love something, you make time for it.

I had am amazing work out Wednesday at the beach and Thursday at the gym and I am sore today. Tommorrow is back at the beach again. I had gone a week without working out, and boy did I feel it on my Wednesday work out. I've learned my lesson not to skip a week of working out.. plus, it's amazing how energized and great I feel after a few work outs.

Okay, I think that's all the excitement here- gmat, essays, and meeting with my reccommenders next week and the week after..... thankfully they are both very cool and supportive of me! Have a good weekend everyone.

PS- as a person slightly on the busy side..... I will apoligize ahead of time for any grammatical/spelling errors, but I just don't have the energy, patience or time for that stuff and be able to update my blog regularly..sorry guys! You'll have to be slightly accomodating.

PPS- disclaimer to discussing my personal life on the 'net.... these are just my thoughts/opinions, by no means I am right or wrong, or anything on here gospel. Just me making some observations on life, people, b-school stuff, and so on. This is my space to get some thoughts out on "paper" and practice writing and formulting well thought out opinions and arguments.

cheers.

MBA Networking

2004-08-03T15:19:00.000-04:00

Just a quick note, as I am getting emails about how I met all of these CBS folks. When I started the MBA application process, I did not know anyone pursuing B-school. Most of my friends went to law or medical school or got married, or they work, but are not particularly motivated to advance significantly in their career. The only MBA's I knew are a few I work with ( of whom I could not discuss that I was applying with- so they were useless) and my brother in law who went to a small regional program that is tier 2/3.

So....... I got my butt out there and was very agressive about meeting people and leveraging current contacts who knew folks that could help me out. And, as you can tell it has paid off. I met a great guy who is an incoming student and he has introduced me to all of my CBS contacts. I met another amazing guy who graduated from Wharton, who is helping me out immensely, another one from Harvard, okay, well you get the point. And, I really put the word out to my friends, family, contacts and professional contacts ( who knew I was applying) that I was open to feedback and help and many folks have been awesome and stepped up to the plate and offered their advice. So, all I can say is, if you are serious about going back to school, you will just have to be somewhat agressive about it and go out there and make it happen ( that's what I'm trying to do).

At least if I don't get in, I will know I tried absotluely everything possible to increase my chances. It's even gotten to the point that people I work with, or some of my work-related contacts have been suggesting B-school to me ( and they don't even know I'm applying), becuase for some reason, they really think going to a top B-school would be great for me and that I have a lot to offer... funny, huh? Actually someone even offered me a meeting with a Dean of a business school in so. cal, and this was completely unsolicited, this person has no clue (or, at least I hope not) that I am even thinking about B-school. So, a long story short, I guess I am exuding B-schoolness... so everyone out there get out and make your contacts ! :)

Lunch with CBS Alum, '04 & Essay Critique

2004-08-02T19:13:00.000-04:00

The charity event Thursday went very very well. We had over 200 guests and I think we raised at least 10,000 dollars!! As much fun as it was, I’m glad I don’t have any major events that I am co-chairing coming up, as it took a lot of time and effort to plan this one and I need the extra time to work on applications.

I have my first midterm Tuesday in my business course and I feel about 90% prepared, but a little nervous that I may be going into the test over confident. I did all of the reading, went to class, reviewed all of my notes and chapters meticulously, and understand all of the concepts, but it almost seems too easy. I will do some basic review tonight and hope for the best tomorrow. I guess I don’t remember ever feeling this confident about a midterm during undergrad, especially with the amount of time I have put into this class, which has basically been about 2-3 hours a week of studying/reading and 3 hours of lecture once a week. Most likely I am doubting myself, but I will find out soon enough. All of the problems, concepts and terms just came to me so easily, I hope I don’t blow the test by being over confident. This is my first ever business course I have ever taken in my life, so, I’m hoping that all of my business knowledge that I have gained through working is proving to apply in the classroom, which is why I am learning this new material so quickly. I feel like I have been applying these economic theories my whole life, just never learning the textbook version.

So, besides spending all weekend studying for my midterm tomorrow, I also had lunch with another CBS alum, a very recent one, actually! This alum, let’s call her “Susie”, just to protect her privacy, just graduated in June 2004 and actually was a student on the ad com, and helped reading essays and interviewing students for admission. She was incredibly helpful, not only because she is female and also went to a large public undergrad ( which meant we had a lot in common, so it was great to hear about her CBS experience), but she had A LOT OF EXCELLENT advice. I emailed her a copy of my resume and essay # 1 so we could have a “working lunch”.

Alright, here goes...first we reviewed my resume, which to my surprise she thought looked great. I have some minor spacing changes and need to change a few minor words, but it’s about 90% complete. The important thing about the resume is remember to NOT describe your job, but focus on your accomplishments at your job. Also, use active verbs. And, do include additional information at the bottom about your hobbies and charity work, as it makes for good small talk while interviewing and also helps to make you unique. Thankfully!

Then, we moved on to essay 1. She thought I was definitely on track, but there was also room for improvement. She felt my long term goals only described what I wanted to do about 10 –15 years from now, and I needed to think more long term. Interestingly enough, I had started out with a very lofty personal long term goal that I knew would be at about 20-25 years from now and scrapped it, as I thought it seemed too lofty and too unrealistic to be believable. Susie described it best when she said I needed to be “grounded, yet egotistical”. Bascially put in your ultimate dreams, desires and goals into your essays, but be as realistic as possible. Here is an example- if your dream is start a major non-profit, then write about it, but also write about how you understand that you will have to navigate between the politics and problems of finding private funding in order to achieve your goal.

Susie and I outlined what I was going to discuss for essays 2-5. We went over the general story and themes that I want to address in the subsequent essays and traits I want each essay to display about me. Susie recommends that everyone should write down all of the traits they want to get across to the ad com and put different traits in different essays. For example, maybe use number one to show teamwork, # 2 for leadership, # 3 initiative, # 4 passion for helping others, and so on. Susie helped me shape my ideas/topics for all of the essays. I think I will have an excellent combination between some work-related stories, extracurricular, family, and most importantly every topic I chose will display a unique trait about my personality and who I am. Also be sure not to double up and use two essays to describe the same trait.

Susie really stressed how important it is to who the ad com what really “makes you tick”. For instance, in essay # 1 I was describing something I did at work, and to her it sounded like I was describing a task I do at work, which no one really cares about. BUT, when I explained to her that this particular thing I did was actually not a part of my job, but an opportunity I recognized to further a relationship and seize an opportunity, then it became something of value in my essay. So, now when I discuss this event I work, I will discuss it in the context of an opportunity I identified at work, developed and captured that was above and beyond my normal duties. Also, she noted to not use any jargon related to a specific industry.

The essays really need to focus on WHY, WHY, WHY. One really needs to make a strong case for that particular school. For instance, I plan to mention that I have met with several alum of CBS and what I got out of it and why that makes me want to go to CBS. Susie also gave me great insight about the culture of the school, especially from a female perspective, which was awesome! We talked about CWIB ( Col. Women in Bus.) and how the female students at CBS are very confident, independent, driven women- which I LOVE!! Another thing to note was to make your essays as specific as possible, don’t be vague. If you want to mention how you want to get active at CBS. Be specific, say you want to join the “Investments Club and help plan the annual fall conference”, NOT “I plan to be involved at CBS”.

Another issue that we discussed is that I would like to visit CBS before my app is due. As much as I would love to do this, there are many issues that may prevent me from doing this, 1. time off of work, 2. money (applying to b-school is not a cheap process, as I have already spent over $ 2,000 !! yikes! And 3. my business course is every Tuesday night, and the time I want to visit is right before the final, so I can’t miss that class, and Tuesday is the Info. Session day for prospective students at CBS. Soooo…basically I’m not sure what I am going to do…. And I really really want to put in my app as early as possible, and definitely for Early Decision.

Overall, Susie and I met for over 2 hours. She already came prepared and read my essays and resume beforehand, so it was extremely productive. I highly recommend everyone to have their essays read by recent alumni. I also thought it was helpful that she is in a different industry than me, so she could tell me when I was using too much financial jargon, or being too specific about things related to my job. We also had a fun time talking about NY and CA and adjusting to the weather. I am incredibly thankful for her help and will be emailing her my second drafts as well. Susie feels I am a strong candidate, ready for b-school and that I have some great fodder for essays and have a clear vision of why MBA, why now, why CBS and what I plan to do in the future. We also briefly discussed stats, and she felt all of my stats were on the positive side, including, applying ED, female, GMAT (yes, folks she said my GMAT was more than fine and I really didn’t even need to retake, but of course, I will anyways), GPA, location, work experience, and so on.

I’m excited about everything we discussed, even more excited to take my midterm and get back to my essays, grateful that I find this amazing person who wants to help me, and most importantly psyched that all of these CBS alums have been nothing but AMAZING. It also makes me feel a tad more confident that they feel I am a great candidate for B-school and would be happy to have me as a potential future alum of their alma mater.. I think that says a lot. Gosh, I can think of people who I definitely wouldn’t want associated with my alma mater and may not help them get into UCLA, so I take the efforts and concerns of these Alums as huge compliments. Furthermore, their willingness to give back to CBS, speak about their experiences, careers, and so on, once again speaks volumes about CBS!! Not to mention, all of these alums are smart, genuine, down to earth, driven,….okay, I can go on for ages about how cool they are.

Okay, I know I have written a saga here, but I hope it is helpful, and if I think of anything else from our meeting I will post it. I apologize ahead of time for any grammatical or writing errors, but I don’t have time to fix them and I wanted to get this info. posted before I forgot all of the cool info Susie gave me. Stay tuned, next time we meet or she reviews my essays, I will post more comments.

Cheers!! Have a good week everyone.

Lunch with CBS alum.

2004-07-29T02:19:00.000-04:00

It's been a busy week.. some quick updates...

I had lunch today (Wed) with a CBS alum I met at the CBS happy hour, and it was fantastic!! Once again, very smart, down to earth, very helpful, genuine, worldly , etc. He offered to help with essays and offered his advice and said I was well on the right track to success and gaining admission. And one really cool thing- he felt that the schools I had chosen fit well with my goals and abilities and that I have a realistic shot at admittance from any one of them, as he thinks I am very ready for b-school and have a good career focus to discuss in my essays, etc. And, he felt confident about my chances at CBS, which of course, put a huge smile on my face. Even though I feel confident about my application and possible admittance somwhere, it doesn't hurt to hear it from an alum who interviews applicants that he thinks that you would be a great candidate for CBS. This alum actually interviewed a friend of mine for CBS who was admitted and now they are still in touch, which is how I met him. He was telling me about various applicants he has interviewed and mistakes they made, or things that made them not qualified for b-school. The other great thing about him was that he was brutally honest to me about his career, bus. school, everything, which I liked. Becuae I don't like it when things are sugar-coated, and I'm one of those types of individuals who is more or a realist then a dreamer. Even though I still have big hopes and dreams, I try to keep my day to day tasks realistic, with the dream out in the future as something I am working towards. He told me a lot about his career path, B-school, and we also talked about the world economy, hobbies, outsourcing, starting a new business, the medical field, etc... Basically everything.

I just finished my first draft on my resume and continued to work on CBS essay # 1. I hadn't worked on my resume since college, as I haven't had the need to and boy was my resume from college a piece of ____. I can't believe I even got hired with it. Although, the one cool thing is it really makes me realize how much growth and maturity I have had in the last few years in my job, life,and as a person in general. Also, my goal is to have ideas and topics done for the rest of the essays. I know what I'm going to write about for # 2 and # 5, I just need to do some thought about # 3 and # 4, but I have a general idea on the two. I am meeting Saturday with another CBS alum to go over essay # 1 and my resume and topics for the rest of the essays and general app strategy.

I have also managed to set up a lunch with one of my recommending, and she is actually excited about writing the recs and is very open to my input and things I want to focus on. Which is GREAT!!

I have been studying all week as well, as I have a midterm this Tuesday in my business class, and I have decided I will accept nothing less than an A, not even an A-. I'm feeling pretty confident, as I have been doing well on all of the practice problems the prof. puts up in class. So, this weekend will be mainly focused on studying for this midterm Tuesday.

Tomm. ( Thursday) is the day of my big charity fundraiser!! We are expecting about 200-300 people and to raise about $ 20,000 !! So, it's a big deal for me, as I have been the co-chair on this event and have put tons of effort and time into it.. I hope it goes well!!

Ok, off to bed. I have a feeling these next 4 months will be crunch time. After the midterm, next week my focus will be gmat retake, then after that essays, essays, essays!! Also, I have a scholarship app due in 2 weeks. It's weird, but the apps are starting to come together... it's exciting, yet tiring and stressful. I feel like I come home from work only to start on my second job- applying to B-school.

by the way.. I just downloaded spyware!! and now the internet runs 1000% faster. I'm so happy I got around to doing that. sometimes the internet is so great, and at other times, it can be so annoying.

THE best Birthday!

2004-07-26T18:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Monday everyone! I just had the best Birthday weekend ever!!

So, as you may have known from my last post, my Birthday was Saturday, and I had an absolute blast. I started the celebration on Friday night at a friend’s Birthday party at a bar in Venice ( we actually have the same birthday). People were buying me drinks left and right, and boy was I paying for it the next day!!

I got up Saturday morning ( my actually Birthday) and went to my usual group training session at the beach, which brought me back to life after a night of drinking. A collegue of mine joined me for the work out and then she took me out to lunch in Santa Monica and we enjoyed a lovely lunch outside in the beautiful sunny weather. Then, I treated myself by getting my hair cut and styled at a very expensive, upscale Beverly Hills Salon ( you don’t even want to know how much it was!! Let’s just say that the tip was probably double what most guys pay to get their hair cut! Yikes) Following the salon, I was taken out to dinner at a popular seafood restaurant on the Santa Monica pier and had an extremely yummy and tasty meal. After dinner a group of my friends met up with me at the Viceroy, which is a super trendy, upscale hotel/bar in Santa Monica, lot’s of Hollywood types, you must be on the list to get in type of place. And….after many drinks later and catching up with old friends…….I met Jaime Foxx!! I’m normally not star struck, or really care about meeting/seeing celebs, since I live in LA, I see them pretty often, but I wanted to have a celeb say “Happy Birthday” to me, because that would be out of the norm and cool. So, I saw Jamie in a cabana outside with his entourage and I thought, what the hell, it’s my bday, lets see if I can say hi. Sure enough, he was really cool, I introduced myself he said happy b-day and even complemented my dress! I want to give a quick shout out to my Viceroy crew: to my sorority sisters! C & C, Mr. LA, the doctor, S & E- you guys ARE the best!! Thanks for making my bday awesome!!

Sunday was spent with my family, and we celebrated two other family b-days as well. I was so exhausted from all of the celebrating that I came home Sunday night and fell asleep at 6 pm while watching TV. So, now with all of the celebrating done…. It’s back to work!! I have a midterm in one week in my business class, meeting with 2 CBS alums who are going to help me with essays/resume, retake of gmat in 2 weeks, and a scholarship app due in 4 weeks. So, it’s back to business as usual and work, work, work!!! This week will be spent primarily studying for my midterm and working on essays/resume stuff to go over with the CBS alums. The following week will be gmat time, and then back to essays/apps. I’m very thankful that I have a lot of Essay 1 done for CBS, and that I can use it for other schools and my scholarship app…kills three birds with one stone!!

Wharton Info Session

2004-07-23T13:47:00.000-04:00

As promised, I will post a recap of the Summer Wharton Info. Session in Los Angeles. I arrived just on time and entered the room to find a room full of suits, with everyone buzzing about Wharton this and Wharton that. I started talking to the first “alumni” I saw and he was asking me about my career goals and instantly hooked me up with the a person in the field I am looking to get into, which is healthcare finance. Although my general focus in B-School is finance/management, I would like to eventually focus on the healthcare/biotech industry. Even though I decided not to go to medical school, I am still fascinated with it, love science and work actively with major health-care non-profit, so, instead of practicing medicine, I want to be on the business side of medicine. So, Wharton is one of the few schools that has a health-care focused program, which is very enticing to me. I met this amazing alum from 2002 who went through the health care program, by the end of our conversation my tongue was wagging, I was so eager to apply! After spending a few minutes with this alum, I ran into Wake_Chick, and we chatted for a while.

The formal presentation began with each alumnus giving a little bio about themselves and their experience with Wharton. There was a plethora of Whartonites present, from alums of 1973, to a Fall 2004 Admit, and from healthcare, to bond management, to media and real estate. This part of the presentation was by far the best. I really got a feel for the diversity of the student body and the charter that Wharton exudes. The Whartonies exuded confidence, but not egotism, they were friendly, but not fake, they were smart, but not nerdy. I was thoroughly impressed with the Wharton presence. They were all likeable, down to earth, and conscious of the world, society, and open to new ideas and people. Yes, we all know the Wharton brand name, yes we know it is ranked top 5, yes I know the finance ciriculum is world-renowned, but it was the people there that really sucked me in. They were all so eager to help, showing obtuse passion and enthusiasum for their school and more importantly, their classmates. I really feel a huge part of B-school is learning from your classmates, as they will teach you everything not in the books and broaden your horizons, introduce you to new cultures, and so on. The Whartonites in that room encompassed all of the qualities I am hoping to get out of b-school. They were fun, exposed to international experiences, open to new ideas, smart, driven, passionate about the world and their career, striving to make a difference, if possible.

After the formal session about Wharton, we broke out in groups according to industry. I was in the healthcare group and really got to know the alum I met previously. By the end of the conversation with her, I was ready to zoom home and start on my Wharton application. She was very cool and really honest about the program, finding a job and the application process. One big positive is that she was actually on the ad com as a student and offered to meet with me and help me with my essays, and trust me, I will definitely take her up on that one!!

I really learned how important it is to be yourself in your essays, to express your passion, drive and motivations for WHY you want to go to B-school, and WHY you want to further your career in whatever area. It is also important to acknowledge your weak areas, take responsibility for them and work on them as much as you can. Also, the application is taking what you currently have and making it all fit together succinctly and smoothly. I also took note that I am going to write down about 8-10 adjectives or things I want to get across in my essays, like “leadership”, and give tangible examples. Another thing to note, was that your story needs to “gel”. In that, if you say you are really into quant, you want to be an analyst, but then you studied English undergrad, you worked in PR, and have never taken a calculus class, then something doesn’t add up- your application doesn’t really “gel”. So, it’s important to be consistent in your themes and what you are writing about, and show tangible examples to substantiate your claims and desires.

I will be attending the offical Ad com info session this fall as well as a day in the fall where alums will read essays… stay tuned.

This will be a busy weekend for me, as tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY!!

CBS Lunches/Volunteering...

2004-07-22T18:34:00.000-04:00

The After-effects of the CBS happy hour are now materializing, and it is very exciting. I am having lunch with an alumnus that interviewed my friend who is an incoming first year, and the alumnus works in Private Equity, which is a possible career path for me. Also, I am having lunch with another alumna who works in the Entertainment industry and she has offered to go over my essays and resume with me and help prep me for the application process. I am thrilled at meeting both of them to get input about not only CBS, but a female perspective of B-school, possibly getting into PE, etc. I am incredibly impressed at how generous and helpful everyone from CBS has been. In addition to these folks, many of the incoming first years have been really supportive and helpful, as well as a 2004 alumni who I contacted through my UCLA alumni network. Oh, and I can’t forget one of the second year’s who is here interning in LA may attend my charity event next week. Up to this point, CBS has done nothing but really impress me, everyone is intelligent, driven, competitive, but not cuthroat, they all seem very likable, down to earth, outgoing, community oriented people... I could really see myself fitting in very easily!! When I was at happy hour they did not make me feel left out for being the non- CBS'er, but instead were trying to help me in anyway possible. I felt like they have been my friends for years.... Let’s just say that I’m really feeling a lot of CBS love.

And, speaking of my charity event… next week is my the biggest fundraising event for my chapter. A little background info… the Charity I volunteer with is a nationally renowned medical research and treatment facility in the areas of cancer, diabetes and HIV/AIDS. They have local fundraising chapters all over the nation that put on their own types of events/efforts to raise funds for the charity. My chapter is in West Los Angeles and consists of a group of young professionals, of which I am Treasurer of the Board of my Chapter. All of the chapters nationally raise about one fourth of the annual budget, which, if you are familiar with how non-profits work, is A LOT of donations. My chapter has managed to raise an average of 35 K per year and most of it comes from the annual event we are having next week. So, as you can imagine, I’m feeling a little stressed about tying up loose ends, sending out thank-you’s, letters, invites and confirming food and drink donations. But, so far things are looking really good. I’m very excited and anxious to see how the event goes!!

I chose to work with this charity, because I was a Biology major in college and have always been fascinated by the many advances doctors make in medicine, but most importantly, I have several family members afflicted with diabetes and cancer and absolutely promote the cure for both. As an undergrad, I did several quarters of research in a lab focusing on the effects of nicotine, PCP and LSD on the brain and it was fascinating. Our goal was to see how these drugs affected specific neurons in the brai that have been linked to other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s. As interesting as this research was, there were a lot of politics involved in securing funding from the government to further our research in an attempt to help people. This is what makes research so difficult. It costs an exorbitant amount of money to conduct clinical trials and carry out years of research to create any breakthroughs in medicine- but these breakthroughs are vital and necessary to help save lives and help people live longer and happier. As a person who studied science and have loved ones afflicted with life threatening diseases, I have a good understanding of the importance of this facility and how important it is to fundraise and raise awareness to the public about these efforts.

The other charity I volunteer for is a local orphanage, where I help in fundraising, but more importantly, hang out with the kids and act as a “mentor”. I chose this charity, because when I grew up, my parents were always busy and not around a lot, and I had always wished my parents were around more at home instead of at work. So, I can’t even imagine what it would be like to be in an orphanage without any stable adults in your life. I really feel for this kid, because it’s not their fault that their parents have problems (drug, law, work, etc.), and I it makes me incredibly thankful for my family, even though there were not perfect. The cool thing about this charity is I get to be more hands-on and interact with the kids and have dinner with them, and hopefully act as a friend, confidant, mentor, or whatever they need me to be. I also work on a fundraising board for this charity and have recruited the efforts of my firm to support them as well.

So, there you have it- dirty martini’s charity endeavours. I really wanted to write about my non-profit work, because I LOVE them. I would like to potentially work for a non-profit full time after I pursue my for-profit career goals. But, no matter where my career leads me, I am planning to always stay involved in a least one cause. It hard to imagine sometimes, but having the opportunity to go to a top school, not to mention grad school should not be taken for granted. Many people do not have the standard of living that most of us probably know, or the opportunities that come across our way, and I try to remember that and be thankful for what I have by helping others and giving back to the community. It is also a personal goal of mine to further the mutualistic benefit between for-profits and non-profits and increase awareness amoung employees and responsible citizenship.

As you can imagine, my efforts with these charities will be discussed in at least one, if not several of my b-school application essays. Which brings me to one thing I do want to say to applicants about extra cirriculars. Time and time again you will see people ask “ Do I HAVE to do extras? I don’t have time”. Okay, granted some people really don’t have time, like those who are in IB, but I think the time thing is sometimes an excuse, and more importantly, volunteer work is just that- volunteer work! If you don’t like it- don’t do it, and don’t force yourself to do it, because it looks good on your resume/application. If you are not truly passionate, or care about the cause and what you are doing, your heart will not be in it and it will come through when it comes down to the interview, or in your essays. So, for those of you who look at volunteering as a chore- then don’t do it. Do something else, maybe join a professional organization, or something that is more suited to your personality. It really bothers me when people feel like they are forced to “feed the poor” , or do something just to spruce up their applicatioin and they really don’t care about the cause or really helping. Your time and energy would probably be best spent doing something you enjoy and that will most likely help your resume/application many more times than a discussion about something you really felt forced to do. Okay, I will get off of my soap box now.

Tonight is Wharton info session…..and I will be meeting the infamous “Wake_Chick”. Report will come tomorrow…….

Out with CBS'ers

2004-07-19T19:03:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! I hope everyone had a good weekend. I’ve been up to lots of fun stuff since my last post- so, let’s get down to business.

Last Thursday I went out to Happy Hour with the incoming class at CBS, and we were joined by some alumni and current students who are interning in LA for the summer. And, now you are thinking, how did I a "CBS wannabe" crash this gig? Well, I made friends with a CBS admit at an info session last year, and he knows how much I am dying to go to CBS, so he invites me out to all of the events. And, luckily, CBS'ers are way cool and have welcomed me with open arms and having been nothing but helpful and encouraging. I had an absolute blast!! Everyone I met was incredibly talented, smart, fun, articulate, well rounded, and very willing to help me out in any way possible, which was icing on the cake. I really just click with the CBS folks, which is why it is my top choice. I really connected with them on a variety of levels, from discussions about work, community service and, even politics. And, the fact that they were so incredibly supportive of me being the “wannabe” at their happy hour was so refreshing. They were more than willing to help in anyway possible, and since Thursday I have emailed a few of them. And, the other cool thing was they all felt I had a pretty good shot at acceptance and really boosted my confidence about my applications. I think sometimes we doubt ourselves, and it helps to hear from a stranger who is just hearing about your qualifications and accomplishments, that, in fact you do belong in a top MBA program.

I spent the rest of the weekend studying for my gmat retake and reading for my business class. Gmat studies are going okay, for the most part, I’m just reinforcing what I learned when I studied for the test the first time around, and picking up a few things here and there, but not much. I think I have reached my capacity for learning, and it might make me think that I will be unable to improve this time around. However, when I took the test the first time, I knew that I could have gone in the next day and performed better at that point, and that I just needed a second crack at the exam. So, in summary, I’m basically giving this stupid test a second shot with the knowledge that I am as prepared as I ever will be.

This weekend was also the national convention for one of the charities I work closely with, where I am the treasurer of the Board of a fundraising chapter in Los Angeles. A little background info- this charity is a renowned medical research and treatment facility. National convention is only once every three years, where all of the top volunteers and fundraisers from around the nation get together and celebrate our amazing accomplishments. So, I headed on over to the hotel on Sunday not knowing what to expect, as this is my first convention, since I have been involved exactly one year. I am actually the Treasurer of my chapter in Los Angeles, so the President of my chapter and me were sent as the sole delegates of our chapter. Wow, is all I can say. It was me, our chapter president, and about 500 senior citizens; we are talking average age of 75, all women cheering in this huge ballroom at a hotel in Beverly Hills. It was a lot of fun, and to my surprise, my chapter won one of six prestigious fundraising awards at the banquet, which was really cool. And, it was neat to interact with the Board of Directors, CEO, and meet a little boy whose life was saved in part because of our fundraising efforts. It’s so cool to see so many genuine people in one room who are really passionate about this cause. Some, have been volunteering for this organization for over 30 years!!! It gave me a warm fuzzy feeling inside about something I am doing for someone else. I know this sounds cheesy, but it really made me stop and think about the bigger picture in life and how lucky I am that I am able to help someone else, and knowing that I can help someone is the best reward I get out of my volunteer work.

Ok, that’s it for now, folks. Busy week ahead of me, as I am planning on taking the gmat, as soon as I finish about 200 more problems from the OG ( I committed to finishing these before I take the exam), Wharton info session Thursday, some catching up to do in my business class ( the midterm in in 3 weeks!), and my birthday is Saturday. And, once the gmat is over- back to the essays. Also, I think I might start hitting up people for recommendations. Ok, I didn’t get to my discussion about community service, but I promise I will soon enough.

Networking

2004-07-14T17:55:00.000-04:00

Wow. I can't believe today is July 14, I feel like the first two weeks of this month just flew by. And, I don't remember having any fun while all of this time was "flying" by.

I was on the BW boards today and I actually read something of value :
"This world is all about licences, certifications, and degrees. If you're smart, only your family and friends will know it, which is fine if you want to take over the family business. However, if you're a graduate from a top-caliber MBA program, the entire world will know it, and make assumptions about you based on it. Unfortunately, in this world, if you can't hook your name onto something recognizable and respected, you will spend far too much time trying to prove your value, and not enough time capitalizing on it.
It isn't a fair system, but it can be used to your advantage. A top-caliber MBA program is one of the most effective ways to do so."
Was posted by The_Good_Guy, and I think it hits the nail right on the head. Early on in my career I faced a lot of struggles while I was trying to "prove myself" to my colleagues and managers, proving that even thought I was young, lacked experience, and had no formal finance education that I was smart, capable, a fast learner and able to produce quality, stellar results and interact with the "big boys" on their level. Now, I feel as though I have somewhat proven myself to them, but everything I meet a new client, or prospective client, it's the process all over again, but of course I do come with the credibility of my firm and colleagues.
Also, I realize that even though a MBA from a top-notch school will give me some credibility, it is not a guaranteed ticket to success.. I know there will be a lot of hard work ahead of me to get where I want to be, and that after school I will not be coming out as CXO or at the top of a company, but, rather a more educated, polished individual with some experience to apply to my next job. It bugs me sometimes on the boards who individuals position or perceive an MBA to a ticket to knighthood. It is anything but. An MBA is like anything else in life, its what you make of it that truly counts. Again, this goes right along the same lines as my discussion of ivy league undergrad, versus everyone else. I know that when I get to school I need to leverage my classmates, go to info sessions for companies, learn everything I need to know about my potential new job, leverage the alumni network, establish relationships and be persistent!! And, speaking of relationships, this article is a MUST READ by everyone, even if you are not- MBA bound, NETWORKING ARTICLE ON KEITH FERAZZI Please read this article, it is called The 10 Secrets of a Master Networker. It is dead on accurate when it comes to networking and building relationships- which is essential to the B-school process and an integral part of the Business world, no matter what you are doing, you will need suppliers, contacts, clients, and so on. I have implemented many of the things discussed in the article in my personal, professional, and non-profit work I do, and it really works!!

By the way, I had my business class last night and made friends with a guy that is going to USC this fall, and we were discussing the whole B-school thing. It's nice to chat with others about it and realize that everyone goes through the same Hell. :) By the way, did I forget to mention that I am absolutely loving my business class!!!!!! The time truly does go by fast, because I am having so much fun in class, using my brain and learning new theories and knowledge. I also love it, because I really get all of the concepts. It's almost like I knew all of these theories in real life, and have been thinking like an economist or business person since I can remember, but never learned business/econ from a theoretical perspective with graphs and such. And, of course I am a total nerd in class, sitting in the front, always raising my hand. :) I can't wait for B-school, I honestly can't wait to take all of the finance and business classes and learn all of this new material, of which some I have been implementing in my daily life and current job.

Ok, so with the move and all, I have been off the gmat track and planning to get back on track for the next week- super hardcore! I want to take the damn test before next weekend, as my bday is next weekend, and I want to be able to relax on my bday and enjoy the day. so, my mission for the next 7 days is: gmat, gmat, gmat- finish up some remaining problems from the OG, take one or two prac tests, and go in and just get this darn thing over with already. And, like I said before, I will have peace of mind I gave it a second shot, and I already have a great score, so no loss, but time and the money I spent on this stupid test. okay, back to the grind. I think next time I want to discuss Extra curricular, since people on the boards always ask about them, and as a person who is extremely involved with two organizations, I really want to add in my 2 cents on that topic, so stay tuned for comm. Service stuff coming in the near future...

New apartment!

2004-07-12T20:34:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone!! It’s seems like weeks since I’ve made a post. Well, I’ve been busy moving, moving, and moving. This last weekend was spent moving all of my stuff into my new apartment- and thankfully it is over. Now, I can officially deem myself a nomad. I have moved about 10 times since leaving my parents house for college! My family is always about 2 addresses behind when it comes to sending me cards in the mail. I guess that is how life is when you are twenty-something with no husband or kids, and not enough money to put a down payment on the oh-so cheap condos in Los Angeles that run for a cool 500 K and up. And, of course I am preparing to contribute more to my nomad stature as I intend to move clear across the country next year if I get into B-school.
Now that my move is over, I am going back to focus on studying for the gmat part two. I am about 90% sure I will take it sometime next week, as I am basically over it. I have a pretty good score now and could probably get away without taking it again, and I am at a plateau in my studies. I don’t think I have the energy, time, or capacity to continue studying and actually improve at this point. Plus, I would rather spend the time working on my essays, meeting with my recc’s, or studying for my business class, since I am planning on applying round 1- my first app is due in: 8 weeks (CBS)! I figure: what’s the worst that can happen? If I do worse, I already have a great score I can use. If I do better- great! If I do the same- no biggie. I can’t wait to just put this stupid test behind me once and for all. Even if I do worse, I will have the peace of mind that I gave it a second shot, and put in all of the effort I could. Sometimes I wish I could tell the overachiever in me to stop overachieving and be happy with the sucess and accomplishments I already have, ie - the great GMAT score I have. But, no, the overachiever, type- A side of me is always louder and is saying: you can do it! You can improve 30 points!! You thought the test was cake the first time around- you know you can improve. Oh well, I guess in the long run I should be thankful for my overachieving nature, but sometime as an overachiever it's difficult to be happy with what you have when you are always striving to improve it. When, in reality, what you currently have is probably really damn good.
Essay time! I started working on my essays about 3 weeks ago and have completed my second overhaul of the short-term/long-term goals/Why CBS essay aka the big essay! I actually really like working on the essays. Unlike the GMAT, I actually get to express myself and discuss issues that are important to me. I just saw the topics for the CBS app and I actually got excited about the questions. Because I am extremely motivated and passionate about my career and where I am going in life and proud of my accomplishments thus far, writing the essays is quite painless. Actually, many times when I reach road blocks at work, or get frustrated, I always think: hey, this would be a great B-school essay topic!! I also enjoy writing the essays as I feel my true passions and desires for business and community involvement will come through. Because I have been thinking about b-school for such a long time, I feel like I can clearly express my short and long term goals and how they connect to my work experience and personality. Additionally, unlike writing essays for undergrad where I really didn’t know who I was, what I was good at, what I liked, and so on… Now, I actually have a better understanding of what I can excel at, or have excelled at, what I am capable of, what my personality fits well with, etc. I think digging deep and really assessing yourself is a huge part of the application process. You really have to know your weakness, strengths, how you excel, and what fits best with your personality. And, knowing all of those things will probably make one come across as confident and mature in one’s essays.
Even though I spent most of the weekend moving, I actually did get a chance to squeeze in one fun thing and saw Fahrenheit 9/11. I absolutely loved it and recommend it to everyone. I am a registered Republican, and yes, I too loved it! I recommended it to a colleague of mind and she proclaimed that she was too conservative to watch it-, which I think, is ridiculous. It’s one thing to not agree with another person, it’s a whole other thing when you can’t even hear or consider another person’s opinion. I know I certainly don’t always agree with others, but I am definitely open to listen and hear someone else’s viewpoint, and as a human being, I think everyone deserves to be heard, at the minimum. But, no one is saying you have to agree with what everyone else is saying, then you wouldn’t have an opinion at all and you would basically be a liar, siding with everyone. Ok, but back to the movie- I think it’s important to realize that there are two distinct components to this movie 1. Entertainment value - at the end of the day- it is a movie, documentary, or not, it’s a movie, and it’s for entertainment 2. Story-telling component- Michael is telling HIS version of the events that led to 9/11 and what followed after. If one were to look at the movie as a history book that is relaying the story of 9/11, then, yes of course it is extremely biased and opinioned, and if one were to look at it as simply a fictional movie, then you would be selling yourself short of the valuable information and story that unfolds on the screen. I truly believe the movie is a combination of both entertainment and story telling. What’s great about the movie is Michael Moore. Whether or not you agree with him, he is absolutely hilarious. He is great at telling stories, and I love his humor. I love his sarcastic, witty, not over the top, almost believable tone he uses to poke fun of the obvious in a satirical manner. Moor is excellent at turning factoids into hilarious one-liners or rhetorical questions that are great at pointing out the obvious, but not overly obnoxious. Moore is always great at getting the view to actually use their brain!! This is one of the first movies in years that I was actually force to use my brain to connect all of the various plots, sub-plots and interweaving stories throughout the movie. Lastly, Moore is a genius when it comes to evoking emotion. One minute I was laughing, the next crying, and then smiling, and then in deep thought the next minute. He truly carries the audience through a plethora of emotions in a pleasant way. His ability to transition the audience from one scene to the next, all the while shifting tones and emotional topics is flawless. The movie really flowed effortlessly from crying to laughing and back again, which to me signals a great movie when it can take you from top to bottom instantly, then back again. One of my favorite parts of the movie is when he drives an ice cream truck around the Capitol and reads the Patriot Act; since members of congress admitted that they voted on the Act without even reading it.
Moore truly showcases his ability to entertain the audience, but also deliver awareness. What I love about the movie most is that it forces you to think about politics, our country, the world, people, emotions, fear, greed, money, power, and so on. Whether or not Moor is right or wrong, it makes you think about it- is he right? Or, is he wrong? I want to know! And, it truly made me aware how little I do know about politics and what is going on in our nation and around the world. I really hope everyone sees this movie, especially younger people who are nearing adulthood. I think this movie would really make people realize how important it is to vote, voice your opinion, and take responsibility for your actions when you are an adult. I know a lot of people have said that this movie sucks because it is so biased, blah blah. But, what they fail to recognize is that Moore is not asking for audiences to agree with him, he is asking for them to listen and hopefully figure out for themselves what to believe, and ultimately become more aware of what is going on in our nation. I think this movie is a great tool to inspire our nation to vote, and educate ourselves on our country and the decisions that are being made by our leaders. I think Moore is hoping to inspire people to taking voting seriously, not to take what happens at face value and dig deeper and find out what the truth is, and why our leaders are making the decisions they are, NOT to necessarily agree with his opinions. Ok, I’ve said my peace- so go see the movie and drop me a line about what you think.

Back to Work

2004-07-03T00:21:00.001-04:00

Ok, Just got back from being super productive. I left work a tad early to check out my new pad, which is pretty cute. Then, I went to the gym, then grocery shopping, and now I'm doing some practice gmat questions. I am feeling so proud of myself :)

Unlike most people who opted to go out of town, or have some exciting weekend, I have opted to work on my B-school stuff, which is almost equally as exciting. :) I figure I will have plenty of time to play after apps are over. For the next 6 months it's all about FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!! I mean focusing on B-school apps, which encompasses writing, taking the gmat, asking for recc's, etc., taking my business class, making sure no one at work knows of my secret plans to leave and performing my best at work and in my community service endeavors!

I plan to do my last brush up on gmat stuff, continue working on my essays and do some reading for my business class. One thing I am thankful about is the fact that I think my business class is going to be pretty easy. It's two exams, non-cumulative, and the material seems pretty basic. Plus, I can always cram the night before and the prof said usually everyone in the class gets A's or B's, so it shouldn't take too much work to get an A. :) And, then I can add that to my apps!!

Ok, back to some practice problems, then I have to watch 20/20. Sadly this show used to be about newsworthy stuff, but now its succumbed to the mass media of overplayed stories, but I love Barbara and it's Friday night ritual I've had since I was 7 years old. Yes, I know, I sound like such a dork. :) Alas, I am going to try to hit the sack early tonight as I have training tomm. morning at the beach! One must always keep the body in good shape, in addition to the mind. I absolutely love working out. It tames me and gives me a much needed stress relief. I'm sure I will add more about exercise and diet later on, especially because I live in the diet and exercise capital of the US, maybe even the world!! :)

Anti-women Day

2004-07-02T17:33:00.000-04:00

I always seem to read posts on the Business Week Forums about it being “easier” for women to get into a Top MBA program, or, on the contrary there are always women posting about why it is so difficult for them to succeed because they are women. I find both of these very interesting topics, especially because I am a woman and I work in finance, and, in my office is 85% male, not counting the support staff ( assistants, secretaries, etc).

I think far too often women complain about it difficult because they want to take the easy route, which is to complain, complain, complain and hope for a change. Unfortunately, hope is not a strategy. I think more women need to approach whatever problems or difficulties they are having in the workplace head on and dig down to the root of the problem. I also feel that many women simply need to step it up and just plain work harder and earn the credit and respect they believe they deserve. For me, personally I struggled to get the credit and respect I now have, because I am a woman and I am young, but I worked my ass off and have proved to my peers and bosses that I deserve and earn their respect.

I also do not approve of women who use their feminine wiles to get ahead in the workplace. I’m sure many of you saw “The Apprentice” and how time and time again these women used sex to get ahead and bet the boys. Well, if you noticed in the end, there was only 1 female among the final four, and coincidentally enough, it was the female who probably used the least amount of sex appeal compared to the others. I find it annoying when women claim that men don’t give them credit or respect them in the workplace and don’t treat them as equals, yet they come into work wearing short skirts and flirt with everyone in the office. Well, I hate to say it- but those actions do not deserve respect or credit. Women need to use their intelligence, confidence and superior interpersonal skills to display their strengths in the workplace.

So, Do I think it is harder for women to succeed? Yes, I do, to a degree. Do I think it’s impossible for women to succeed? Heck no. I think it takes a does of confidence, intelligence, charisma, drive, and sheer will power to work hard. Do I think we should whine and complain about being treated unfairly? Uh, no!! Get out there and work and prove them wrong!!!

Ok, one small sidenote about women in the workplace- why do they dress like sluts to the office? Time and time again I see women wearing very tight and reavling clothing to the office, WHY? I dress extremely conservatively, yet I think I still manage to look sleek, professional, fashionable, classy and still show some type of figure. I just don’t have my breasts hanging out and some pants glued to my butt. I don’t understand why women dress like so low class and expect to garner some respect and credibility in the workplace. The first thing a boss, peer or a client will notice about you- is how you dress and present yourself. Ladies, please if you want to complain about equal rights and treatment, then come to the office in the appropriate attire. This means no: open toed strappy sandals, no cleavage bearing shirts, no belly bearing, no extremely tight I can’t breathe get-ups, nothing that you could buy from Forever 21, nothing you would wear out to a bar, etc. Also, please wear your make up and hair appropriately as well. J
Since, we are on the topic of women, one other thing that is bugging me lately: Why are women so dependent on their boyfriends/fiancé/husband? I can’t stand it when my girlfriends who are not single only call once every six months, coincidentally when Bob, their boyfriend is out of town. I’ve noticed over the years that all of my female friends who have gotten married/engaged/involved with serious boyfriends have literally fallen off of the planet. What’s up with that? Was I just a crutch to help them get by until they met “the one”? What happened to our loyalty and friendship? I find it sad and annoying that women become so dependent that so many women find significant others only to turn their backs on their significant friends. Has this happened to anyone else out there? Are women incapable of being independent, self relying individuals?

While I’m on this whole rant about women, ( boy do I sound anti-women today), why is it that so many define themselves by their significant other or their family? My personal philosophy in life is that you must love yourself to love someone else. To expand on this, I also firmly believe that everyone needs to love themselves, be confident in who they are, understand who they are, and create their own identity before they can get married and put someone else’s life in front of theirs. Bascially I think everyone needs to “find themselves” and define their needs and desires before they start believing in someone else’s needs and desires, and this other person’s needs and desires becomes their own and then the original person is left with no identity, but the identity that they took on of their significant other. And it saddens me that time and time again I see women out there defining their lives by their husband and/or family.

I’m really not anti-women or anything, but I have just found that my relationships with my female friends have dwindled and seemed to dissapear, while I am finding a substantially increased comraderie with my male friends since I have graduated college. I just find that guys are so easy to hang out with, their tend to boast confidence, independence, and concerns about their career and overall life accomplishments, which all fit well with my persona.

Burned out...

2004-07-01T21:26:00.000-04:00

Another Day, Another Dollar, right?

So, today is July 1, meaning that half of this year is over! Part of me is thinking it going by really fast, yet the other part of me thinks it is going by really slow! Today I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything I have going on in my life right now. I'm studying to re-take the GMAT and bascially have no motivation. I think the fact that my current score is pretty good and well within range for all of the schools I am applying to is a nice cushion to have. But, the overacheiver in me is seeking that coveted 700 + range, as I scored a high 600 on my first try. In addition to studying for the gmat,my new business class, writing essays for apps, I am moving to a new apartment in one week and I am planning a huge fundraiser for the end of July, and since I am a board member, I have a lot of tasks to complete! I actually took a personal day off of work today, as I needed to just catch up on sleep and actually sit and relax. I sat down today to evaluate everything I am doing, and I concluded that I am definately overextending myself. I decided I need to take the gmat asap, as I've already studied tons, when I took it the first time around, and I really feel like I'm hitting a plateau, and not really learning anything new, but just practicing the same old tricks over and over. So, I'm going to take some practice tests this weekend and complete some problems and schedule the test for asap. I can't wait to put this stupid test behind me and focus on my essays, where I feel I am going to win over the adcom. :)

It's so nice to vent on here about everything and not feel like a whining brat to my friends. I know everyone claims they are busy, but I believe those who are applying to school really have to juggle the equivalent of two jobs, as applying is a job in itself.

I think this will suffice as my venting for today. I think I will take some time to relax before I get back into my laundry list of things to do. As Ferris says, " sometimes you have to stop and take a look around," or something like that. Bascially, sometimes you have to stop and relax and reasses your life and what is going on and take time for yourself to freshen up and revive yourself. :)

Los Angeles vs. The East Coast

2004-06-30T19:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, this whole blogging this is REALLY addictive. I think I enjoy it, because I’m on of those people who are always thinking about something or someone. Usually I let my friends and colleagues hear all about my various trials and tribulations, but now I can just blog it.

I thought I would take this time to discuss my desire to relocate to the East Coast. Everyone in so. Cal thinks I’m nuts for actually wanting to move East. But, I feel my desires and personality are much more suited to the East coast lifestyle and I don’t think I will be moving back to so. Cal anytime soon, contrary to the thoughts of others. Most people think I won’t be able to handle the weather, and yes, it will be an adjustment, but I can adapt, it’s not like I’m allergic to the cold or anything. And, yes, the lifestyle and people are different, but they are the type of people and lifestyle I want and crave and that I feel is missing from my life in Los Angeles. I figure, I hang out with many NYC transplants here, because they just seem to “get me” more. The things I value in life are not of value in Los Angeles. Here are a few examples of things I love: intelligent people, goal oriented people, type-A individuals, fast-pace of life, culture, the arts, interesting conversations, a change of seasons, most importantly: a career in finance…and I could go on. None of those things really exist to the degree I desire in Los Angeles.

Don’t get me wrong; Los Angeles is a fabulous town, but just not for me. There are tons to offer in terms of the beach and Hollywood. Even though most of my friends think I’m crazy, I feel confident in my desire to leave Los Angeles and, at the end of the day, I only need to justify my actions to me. I think people in Los Angeles have a hard time realizing there is a world outside of Los Angeles, a world teaming with different types of people and opportunities. As much as I hate to admit it, many people in Los Angeles are extremely shallow, and not just when it comes to looks, but shallow on my different levels. What I mean by being shallow on different levels is that many individuals here just want the easy route in life, not concerned about a fulfilling, successful career, but about getting by and paying the bills. They are not motivated for higher levels of education and giving back to the community, but only about being self-severing to a degree that they can get by. I know these are generalizations, but I was born, raised and lived in Los Angeles my entire life and know the town quite well. To sum it up: people in Los angles tend to prefer a simple lifestyle, while I perceive those on the East prefer a more complex lifestyle. Who knows, I may be completely off base here. But, I’m ready to dive in and experience a new city, especially a city that offers a bevy of career opportunities to suit my needs, whereas they are much more limited in Los Angeles.

Business Class

2004-06-30T13:31:00.000-04:00

I decided to take a business course at a local university in an effort to gain some classroom business knowledge and supplement my application to B-school. Oddly enough, this is my first business-oriented class, ever. I know, shocking, but in High School when most people take econ their senior year, I took AP government. And, during UG, I came in with most of my GE credits from AP classes, and spent my extra units on other science-related coursework. So, I bet people think its pretty weird that I want to go to business school, yet I have never taken an econ, accounting, or business class ever in my life! I guess I just learned business the old fashioned way- with a hand-on approach. My parents were entrepreneurs and I initially learned my business skills from them and I currently work in finance and have learned an immense amount while working. Basically this is the edited version of the “why I need an MBA” essay question- to get a formal business education.

It’s interesting how different school is the second time around. So, I’ve been out of school for a while and when I left school I couldn’t wait to get out. I was completely burned out and tired of studying and basically had no motivation to ever take notes or study for an exam again in my life, or, so I thought. Because the decision to apply for B-school was not exactly essential in my career path, and I have a stable job and could live without it, the importance of my decision to go back to school means that much more to me. It’s funny how excited I am to go to class, learn, take notes, and expand my horizon of business knowledge. For me, my undergrad academic experience was not fun for me, especially when I began to realize that med school was not for me. My last year of upper division science classes was really annoying. I knew I had no passion or desire to pursue a technical medical career and it was difficult to attend lab and pretend to be excited about dissecting a sheep brain. It is such a relief that I am pursuing my passion in life and enjoy my career progression. If I could advise anyone out there before UG, it would be: be brutally honest with yourself. I think part of my pursuit for med school was to fulfill someone else’s dreams and not my own. And, I think that applies to anyone going to B-school as well. It is a huge time, as well as monetary investment so make sure it is the right path for you to take, both personally and professionally.

Ok, back to my econ class. I have to admit, I was the nerd of the class. I sat in the front row, asked a lot of questions (not annoying ones), participated a lot, and had a smile on my face the whole time. The first lecture was really interesting to me, because it proved to me that although I have never learned any business basics in the classroom, I know a lot more than I think. I guess my experiences in my job and growing up have proven to teach me a lot! And, I’ve realized that many of my critiques on management at my firm, the way in which my company/office is ran, and how other companies operate have been pretty accurate.

I have a feeling that I may be the nerd of my class at B-school. Oddly enough, I think being a nerd is a good thing. J

Double Life

2004-06-29T18:00:00.000-04:00

Does anyone besides me feel like they are leading a double life throughout the B-school app process? I certainly do.

On one hand, I have to go to work for my 50-60 hours per week, act like I care and perform the best that I possibly can. But, on the flip side, I have this deep dark secret that I am applying to B-school and have absolutely no intention of staying at my job past one more year if I get accepted. Sometimes, I feel a little like 007 when I run to the printer to make sure that the "Wharton Resume Guide" I just printed out doesn't accidentally land in the hands of my boss. Or, lying about feeling "sick" the day I took the Gmat, etc. But, at the same time, it's kind of fun listening to my boss and coworkers complain about stuff at work, when, all the while I know I am working my ass off to get into B-school and transition into a (hopefully) more satisfying position. About two weeks ago we had this nasty office meeting for 5 hours, and while everyone else was feverishly taking notes and acting really concerned, I just sat and smiled, while dreaming acceptance letters. But, in all honesty, I am trying to work my ass off at work on some new deals, especially because I can't disclose to my boss that I am applying to B-school, I have to be extra careful to not start slacking or give any indications or clues that I am thinking of leaving. And, I don't' want to leave on a bad note.

The other really annoying thing about my double life, besides feeling guilty and lying to everyone I work with, but how busy I seem to be, but unable to describe what I am actually doing with my time. Do any of you guys out there feel a little overwhelmed? I do!! In between working 60 hours a week, studying to re-take the gmat, starting applications, starting a business class, planning two huge fundraising events for 400 individuals each, and trying to fit in a few work outs a week, I'm REALLY drained!! I just keep telling myself that if I can get through my double life of b-school stuff and work, I can enjoy my free time once apps are over. It's tough to put in a long 10-12 hour day at work and come home to have 40 Data Sufficiency questions looking at me, and a list of introspective questions, such as Why MBA? Why Now? WHY XYZ School? I think B-school applicants who apply to more than 2 institutions deserve at least one admittance on the grounds that they have been working their fanny off for at least 6 months in basically two full time jobs 1.) your regular day job that pays the bills and 2.) applying to b-school, which includes: gmat, reccs, essays, etc.

I guess to end this whole rant about my double life, I hope that all of this hard work will pay off, and I believe it will. I have been working on B-school stuff for about 7 months now ( gmat, essays, etc) in addition to my 60 hours at work and heavy involvement with two non-profits and I share everyone's pain who is going through this process. It is extremely draining and requires a lot of work, time and dedication.

Ok, so that is my rant for the day. I think I got started on this whole thing today, as my boss was nit-picking on some stuff today and it just set me off thinking " I can't wait to get an acceptance letter so I can toilet Paper his front lawn with it. I wonder how nit-picky he will be then". Haha. Ok, that last part was a joke. But, I think we have all had days like that at work. Because, in reality, if we all loved our jobs, why would we be so eager to run out and pay 100K + for an education in hopes to get a different/better job?

Making my Short list

2004-06-28T18:31:00.000-04:00

"Mondays are a Bitch".

I thought I would start off my post today with a thought about how I feel about Mondays. :) Since, I've made two fun "get to know me" type pots, I thought I would start to get down to business, and start discussing the various aspects of my B-school application process, as that is my main topic here.

My first B-school related topic is "how to make your short-list". I always knew in the back of my mind I wanted to go to business school, and work in some area of business as a "grown-up". Even when I was going through my pre-med phase, I would ponder thoughts about going to work for a big pharmaceutical company, or biotech as a project manager, just so I could incorporate some type of business/management role into my career. But, even though I had always had visions of b-school in my head, they never came to fruition until Mid November 2003. I must confess that a significant change in my personal life served as the catalyst for me to decide to pursue B-school. I realized the time was right in my life, I was reaching a glass-ceiling at work, feeling as if I had learned everything I wanted to get out of my current position with little growth ahead of me. Also, I was beginning to reach the highest levels of success possible in my current position and knew I would soon get bored and frustrated, ( which sums up how I feel right now!). Also, after working for a few years, I knew my passion and desire to pursue a career in the area of finance/management would tickle my feathers- so B-school it is.

How I chose my schools. First, like most people I went directly to the rankings, but as I dove deeper in the trenches, I started reading about schools and attending info sessions, contacting alumni from my undergrad who attended various B-schools I was interested in attending and came up with: CBS, NYU, Wharton, HBS, Cornell and Georgetown. I decided that these schools could help me meet my short and long term career/life goals. The following is a list of things I looked for in choosing where to apply: Finance concentration, general management focus, community-service oriented school, location ( I want to permanently reside on the East-Coast and in a big city), quality of education (including: teachers, lecture vs. case, etc.), and I spoke to various students and alumni to get a feel for the culture of the school.

I thought it was important to look at schools where I thought I would "fit-in", and at the same time, I wanted to be challenged by my peers and the coursework. I actually hope that I will be at the "bottom" of my class, with the idea that much of my learning will come from my peers, and If I am at the bottom, then I will learn a lot from my successful peer group.

I know some may think location should not be important in selecting a school, but I disagree with that notion. Even though many may argue that schools like Wharton, HBS, and Stanford have national reputations and that one could get a job in NYC just as easily out of HBS, as Stanford, but I don't buy that opinion. My brother in law earned his MBA from a program in the 20-30 range and felt that 90% of recruiting was regional, and that every school is hampered by regional recruiting to some degree, even HBS. Because I knew I wanted to permanently relocate to the East Coast, I wanted to select schools near to where I wanted to permanently live, which would enable me to build my network for my impending career search.

so, now that I have written a small novel, it's time to get back to work. I plan on addressing GMAT, admission consultants, the BW boards, and tons more topics soon.... And I'm really enjoying the posting, it's quite therapeutic to get out all of these thoughts and save my friends from hearing my "B-School talk" ( they are so tired of hearing about it!!).

Please feel free to email me any thoughts, questions, etc.
dirty_martini24@yahoo.com

Drink Discussion

2004-06-25T10:33:00.000-04:00

Because the name of my blog is "Dirty_Martini", I thought it would be appropriate that my next post would discuss my views on various alcoholic beverages. Not only is having a really good drink very important, but as I continue along the B-school process a drink is very necessary at certain points, such as, after the GMAT, after submitting my first app, after waiting 245.6 hours to hear back from School 1, etc.

Ok, first discussion: martinis.

My favorite is a Dirty Martini. It's a classy drink, no fu-fu sugary thing, just down to business, Kettle One Vodka, Vermouth, some olive juice, and 3 large tasty olives. Runner up Martini: chocolate Martini. However, this martini can only be rarely consumed, as it is very sweet, and one should only have one maximum a night, otherwise one is bringing shame to the world of martinis.

Beer:

I have to say I like beer almost as much as I like martinis. There are so many different types available, that it really depends on the place and mood you are in. For instance, if one was looking to go out for a night on the town, I would not suggest Guinness, because you will feel like you had a 10 course meal by the time you are on Beer 3. For a night out, one may want to go with a lighter beer option, Corona, or a personal Fave of mine: Hefenweizen. Also, has anyone out there tried Belgium beers? They sell them at Trader Joe's and are quite tasty, especially a Peach Belgium Beer.

Mixed Drinks:

Again, with a bevy of options available, I think it depends on one's mood to select the correct mixed drink. For instance: if one were in college and looking to get "snaggerred", then a Long Island is obviously the way to go. However, if one is looking for a more refreshing drink, maybe a mojito. And, if one wants to feel like the girls from sex and the city, then a cosmo it is. Interestingly enough, I had a "cosmojito" the other day at a local trendy bar- it was a mix of the cosmo and the mojito, and quite tasty!

Ok, kids so that my version of the drink run-down. :) I hope this will help prepare you for the weekend ahead. And, yes I will actually be posting some useful B-school stuff soon, so stay tuned.

Who is Dirty_Martini ?

2004-06-22T18:52:00.000-04:00

So, who is Dirty_Martini ?

I am a female in my mid-twenties in the process of applying to Business School and thought it would be fun to share my trials and triumphs on a blog. :) Please feel free to read, comment, make suggestions and, hopefully learn a little.

A little about me:

Sex? Female

Age? You can't ask a woman what her age is, so let's say "mid-twenties", or "old enough to drink, but not old enough to slide by the 'we don't card anyone who looks under 35 rule'.

From? I was born and raised in Sunny Los Angeles. Yes, folks I am an actual native to Los Angeles, they really do exist, as I am living proof!

Undergrad? To add on to the previous question, I even did my undergrad in Los Angeles, at the prestigious ( haha) UCLA! Go Bruins!! I graduated with a REALLY useful degree in the area of Biological Sciences.

Current Job? This, of course ties in with my previous question, I used my extra practical and useful degree in Biological Science to start a career in Finance. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, I endured 4 painful years of biochemistry, physics, molecular biology, neuroscience, etc. only to decide that medical school was not for me. And, boy were my parents happy about that decision, when their youngest daughter, their last hope for the family doctor decided her passion was in the business world. Ok, back to the question at hand, I work for a very, very, very large wall street firm, did I say large? yes, very large firm, specifically in the area of institutional investment management.

Hobbies? I absolutely love running and going to spin class. My favorite types of movies are: gangster, comedy, and drama. A few of my fav movies are: Ferris Bueler's Day Off, Jerry Maguire, Top Gun, and Training Day. I love all types of music, except country! yuck! I also enjoy haning out with friends and grabbing a drink or two on the weekends. :)

Democrat or Republican? Ok, so I probably should not add this one in, but sometimes I like to instigate debates. :) I am a registered Republican, but before you go all crazy on me about wacko George Bush, let's remember that I am a California Republican, which is essentially equal to a Democrat from the South.

Favorite Drink? Why, of course the Dirty Martini!!

Why B-School? Ok, so this is a lengthy one. And I will address it later, but in short, I am ready to move on from my current job and would like to transition into a new career and especially into general management. I will be coming back to this one later.... As I have started this whole B-School process in November '03, I have tons and tons of info on schools, essays, gmat, etc....so please come back to read more.

I think this may be enough for now. And, have no fear- there will be more to come! And, Yes, there will be tons of B-school related stuff!!