So as I sit here and try really hard to focus on what matters most to me (thank you Stanford Adcom) I procrastinate. I read blogs. I read and read and read more blogs and blogs and blogs. And as I read these well written blogs about incredibly successful and bright people I realize I have some major blog crushes! There's something about well written introspection that is so attractive! I have great respect and admiration for the women bloggers out there as well...it's just not as fun daydreaming about them (such is life). Am I the only one that falls for these writers? Is it a little sad and possibly slightly pathetic? Good thing no one out there will know who I am :-)
Back to the essays I go. Tomorrow morning I am asserting myself as the official Regional Campaign Coordinator and trying to forge a coalition between our camp and another local progressive camp. I hope it goes well! I'm kind of liking this public speaking part of the job. I never knew it could be so fun with so much improvisation...engineering presentations weren't nearly as exciting. Good night all!
Friday, August 25, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
14 Miles from Civilization
I'm home from Yosemite and all I can think about is when I can go back. There's something to be said for being completely and totally inaccessible to anyone or anything and surrounded by nature...redwoods, mountains, fresh water streams, glaciers, lakes, wildflowers, and just plain old silence. It definitely helps to keep things in perspective. What's strange about being 14 miles away form civilization into the mountains and over 10,000ft above sea level is the people that you run into. We met a human rights activist on his way to Harvard law school to be a Human rights attorney, a guy that was building houses for habitat for humanity, a lady that was a social worker, another lady that worked on health care policy for MediCal recipients, a bunch of guys that work for the U.S. Forestry Service with the desire to keep these forests pristine and untouched by bulldozers. It was odd meeting so many "do-gooders" there. I think I've been a bit jaded being in the Silicon Valley surrounded by so many people who are here just to make money for themselves. It was nice to see so many people that were concerned about others or the environment or whatever cause they happened to be proponents of. I did however learn how to answer the question of "what do you do?". I m officially in transition! That's my answer and I'm sticking with it until I'm going to classes at Stanford or Columbia or wherever my essays may take me.
As of tomorrow, I am officially employed and working as a campaign assistant for Planned Parenthood. It's temporary, only until November. It's a pretty big undertaking for me. The hours promise to be long, the nights late and the weekends full of activity. I'm not sure I could keep that up any longer than November. I'm a little nervous considering all of this is happening alongside of me turning in at least three of my 5 applications for b-school. But I think it's worth it for the experience and for me to determine if this is really the route I want to go.
I have decided that I will apply to Stanford, Yale, and Columbia in the first round and second round I will apply to two more schools that I haven't quite decided on yet.
I've officially started on Stanford's essay A. I have about one sentence down and I'm guessing another 200 to go???? This is tough. What matters most to me and why? I know the answer but how do I relate that to career, life decisions and how do I write 3-4 pages on it? This promises to be a very good writing exercise for me as I absolutely suck at communicating my ideas verbally much less on paper! It is sort of weird though after coming back from my trip...there's part of me that's looking forward to this essay.
As of tomorrow, I am officially employed and working as a campaign assistant for Planned Parenthood. It's temporary, only until November. It's a pretty big undertaking for me. The hours promise to be long, the nights late and the weekends full of activity. I'm not sure I could keep that up any longer than November. I'm a little nervous considering all of this is happening alongside of me turning in at least three of my 5 applications for b-school. But I think it's worth it for the experience and for me to determine if this is really the route I want to go.
I have decided that I will apply to Stanford, Yale, and Columbia in the first round and second round I will apply to two more schools that I haven't quite decided on yet.
I've officially started on Stanford's essay A. I have about one sentence down and I'm guessing another 200 to go???? This is tough. What matters most to me and why? I know the answer but how do I relate that to career, life decisions and how do I write 3-4 pages on it? This promises to be a very good writing exercise for me as I absolutely suck at communicating my ideas verbally much less on paper! It is sort of weird though after coming back from my trip...there's part of me that's looking forward to this essay.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Wharton Info Session, etc...
So the other day I attended an info session for Wharton held at the Wharton West campus in San Francisco. It was specifically targeted for Women and minorities. It was a pretty good turn out. The presentation by the staff was pretty standard. They had an alumni panel as well. I though the alumni were pretty down to earth people I would enjoy working with.
I'm not sure how I feel about Wharton. Based on the info session I have a pretty good feeling about it. But it has its drawbacks. First of which is the class size. I feel like having a class size of 800 at the top b-school would probably foster a pretty competitive environment. The other drawback is that they don't really have a good program in terms of what I want to do. But really, I think any b-school program will apply to whatever you want? I'm not so convinced any top school's program is better than the next? But I could be wrong...
Anyway, I'll consider Wharton. I want to go there to visit and see what I think about it in person. But if I apply it won't be until the second round. I've already decided on my first round schools, 1) Columbia, 2) Stanford, and 3)Yale. I am pretty sure the second round will be only 4) Georgetown and 5) Sloan or Wharton or UCLA. But I make no promises!
In other news...to all those Californian's reading this Vote No on Prop 85! I just spent my entire afternoon signing up new volunteers and handing out literature about Prop 85, a repeat of last year's Prop 73, the parental notification proposition. The title alone irks me. The supporters of this prop could care less about parental notification...they just want to chip away slowly at a woman's right to choose and they know that coming right out and yelling anti-choice propaganda will get them shot down in California so this is there way at limiting access to woman's health care. Read up on it and make sure you vote and if you want to get involved send me an email and I can put you in touch with the right people! Now I'll get down from my soap box.
I'm not sure how I feel about Wharton. Based on the info session I have a pretty good feeling about it. But it has its drawbacks. First of which is the class size. I feel like having a class size of 800 at the top b-school would probably foster a pretty competitive environment. The other drawback is that they don't really have a good program in terms of what I want to do. But really, I think any b-school program will apply to whatever you want? I'm not so convinced any top school's program is better than the next? But I could be wrong...
Anyway, I'll consider Wharton. I want to go there to visit and see what I think about it in person. But if I apply it won't be until the second round. I've already decided on my first round schools, 1) Columbia, 2) Stanford, and 3)Yale. I am pretty sure the second round will be only 4) Georgetown and 5) Sloan or Wharton or UCLA. But I make no promises!
In other news...to all those Californian's reading this Vote No on Prop 85! I just spent my entire afternoon signing up new volunteers and handing out literature about Prop 85, a repeat of last year's Prop 73, the parental notification proposition. The title alone irks me. The supporters of this prop could care less about parental notification...they just want to chip away slowly at a woman's right to choose and they know that coming right out and yelling anti-choice propaganda will get them shot down in California so this is there way at limiting access to woman's health care. Read up on it and make sure you vote and if you want to get involved send me an email and I can put you in touch with the right people! Now I'll get down from my soap box.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Tomorrow is always a better day
Today is my tomorrow of yesterday and it is definitely looking better! I just wanted to thank everyone for the support regarding my miserable GMAT experience! I really do appreciate it!
Yesterday I enjoyed my own little pity party for a few hours then got back on track. I mapped out my goals over the next few months. Goal and priority number one is to get a job! That being said, when I walked into my unpaid internship this morning they offerred me a full time paid, albeit temporary, job on a campaign! I haven't decided yet if I'll be taking it but I'm leaning toward yes. There are a few cons and many pros to the job.
The cons:
1) It pays next to nothing (but I knew that money was not my goal when I decided to switch into the non-profit sector).
2) No health insurance or vacation time, it's contract work.
3) The hours will be insane thru September and October up until the election in November when I need to be focusing on essays.
The pros are numerous:
1) It'll be GREAT leadership experience for me! Something I can definitely use on my apps.
2) Satisfies goal #1 that I outlined for myself yesterday.
3) The experience will be invaluable.
4) I'll be doing something I can finally be excited and passionate about.
5) It may lead to a full time real position with health benefits and vacation time here in public affairs that just opened up that they won't be filling until after the election.
I think I'm going to do it. I really need to learn to sacrifice my fun time if I'm serious about this career change and b-school. I've never chosen the easy routes in my life, I can't start now! So my days will be consumed with the campaign and nights consumed with my application essays (after I get back from my 5 day backpacking trip in Yosemite..damn this sacrifice thing is going to be difficult!).
Thanks again, all those that commented! It's nice to know there are others out there that feel my pain! Good luck to all of you!!
Yesterday I enjoyed my own little pity party for a few hours then got back on track. I mapped out my goals over the next few months. Goal and priority number one is to get a job! That being said, when I walked into my unpaid internship this morning they offerred me a full time paid, albeit temporary, job on a campaign! I haven't decided yet if I'll be taking it but I'm leaning toward yes. There are a few cons and many pros to the job.
The cons:
1) It pays next to nothing (but I knew that money was not my goal when I decided to switch into the non-profit sector).
2) No health insurance or vacation time, it's contract work.
3) The hours will be insane thru September and October up until the election in November when I need to be focusing on essays.
The pros are numerous:
1) It'll be GREAT leadership experience for me! Something I can definitely use on my apps.
2) Satisfies goal #1 that I outlined for myself yesterday.
3) The experience will be invaluable.
4) I'll be doing something I can finally be excited and passionate about.
5) It may lead to a full time real position with health benefits and vacation time here in public affairs that just opened up that they won't be filling until after the election.
I think I'm going to do it. I really need to learn to sacrifice my fun time if I'm serious about this career change and b-school. I've never chosen the easy routes in my life, I can't start now! So my days will be consumed with the campaign and nights consumed with my application essays (after I get back from my 5 day backpacking trip in Yosemite..damn this sacrifice thing is going to be difficult!).
Thanks again, all those that commented! It's nice to know there are others out there that feel my pain! Good luck to all of you!!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
CANCELLED!
I just took the GMAT. I panicked and basically just threw $250 in the garbage. I am at a loss right now.
The other day I took my final official GMAT practice exam and scored horribly on it. I messed up my time management and I just couldn't keep my head focused, which seems to be a recurring theme in my life right now. I tried to muster up my confidence the two days prior to my exam and apparently I wasn't successful. I had the same time management problem on my official exam. The last 10 questions on the quant I basically just rushed thru and guessed blindly. Then on the verbal I was so distracted by my performance on the quant that I couldn't even try to focus on the verbal. So I panicked. I stared at my options REPORT SCORES, CANCEL SCORES. It took me about 5 minutes and then I finally decided to cancel.
So now what do I do? I need to start working again. I need to work full time. My time management has sucked since I haven't been working. And now I'm thinking maybe I should just forget about these top schools and use my first offical GMAT score to apply to lesser schools? Or maybe I wasn't cut out for this MBA in the first place? OK so I'm just throwing myself a little pity party right now. Once I recover from this blow maybe I'll be able to rationally figure all of this out and determine what my next step will be. Until then, I'm going running with my dog...Happy trails...
The other day I took my final official GMAT practice exam and scored horribly on it. I messed up my time management and I just couldn't keep my head focused, which seems to be a recurring theme in my life right now. I tried to muster up my confidence the two days prior to my exam and apparently I wasn't successful. I had the same time management problem on my official exam. The last 10 questions on the quant I basically just rushed thru and guessed blindly. Then on the verbal I was so distracted by my performance on the quant that I couldn't even try to focus on the verbal. So I panicked. I stared at my options REPORT SCORES, CANCEL SCORES. It took me about 5 minutes and then I finally decided to cancel.
So now what do I do? I need to start working again. I need to work full time. My time management has sucked since I haven't been working. And now I'm thinking maybe I should just forget about these top schools and use my first offical GMAT score to apply to lesser schools? Or maybe I wasn't cut out for this MBA in the first place? OK so I'm just throwing myself a little pity party right now. Once I recover from this blow maybe I'll be able to rationally figure all of this out and determine what my next step will be. Until then, I'm going running with my dog...Happy trails...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)