Back in the swing of things

It's amazing how much smoother the second year is. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have taken the stress of the first year again. The great thing about this year is that we take electives and not core classes. I am actually enjoying all of my classes so far. Plus the amount of work is like halved in comparison to last year which is always a good thing.

My summer was fantastic. It was so nice to be in the same city as my boyfriend and family and my beautiful new niece! And I was pretty lucky that my job, albeit stressful, was truly a 40 hour a week job. I received the full time offer on my last day of work which is always a good thing. I'm deciding now whether or not I want to return, I have a little more time before I have to decide. There are a lot of pros but I think for me the cons are outweighing the pros right now, that may change. I'm going to attend some of the upcoming MBA career fairs to see if I get any bites on my resume and if I feel that there is significant interest in me then I'll be a little more confident and be able to turn down the offer. But the internship was great and I learned a lot...I'm just not so sure the culture is for me. Ya veremos!

This year I have several goals...all very selfish. I plan on having a life. I just bought a fantastic new road bike and I wnat to start racing! I'm broadening my horizons...not just marathons anymore, I want to start racing and actually winning on the bike! And if I take to it...maybe my boyfriend and I will head to France next July to ride parts of the tour and watch Lance take number 8? Who knows?

My other goal is to write at least once a month on this blog. We'll see how that goes...

Cheers-
Salsera

Half Way Through...

I'm half way through my internship and roughly 15% through my internship project that I am supposed to present at the end of my summer here. That doesn't add up correctly now does it? So my internship....the jury is still out on how I feel about it.

The Pros-
-I am actually doing venture capital inside a large corporation. I had expected to take a more operations type finance role but got lucky and was placed in the the venture capital arm of said large corporation.
-I'm learning so much about VC that I didn't know I had an interest in it. I clumped VC with those types of jobs that don't allow for a reasonable work/life balance, but it turns out, there are possibilities.
-Working for a large corporation has its perks. There are a lot of employee programs in place that help the work/life balance. There are a lot of resources available as well.
-There is a rotation program when you become a full time employee. Every couple of years you can rotate into a new position, allowing for quite a breadth of knowledge in finance.
-The location rocks...home sweet home.
-Telecommuting is pretty common place here. Very easy to work from home at minimum one day per week.
-A lot of really bright, very driven people work here. You can learn a lot from any of the tens of thousands of employees here.
-You have pretty easy access to some pretty big players in management no matter what your level is.

The Cons-
-There are tens of thousands of employees working here, it's hard not to just feel like a number.
-The rotation program is more or less a requirement, you must change jobs every 2 years...is breadth better than depth?
-The very bright/driven people here tend to give off an air of competition? Not sure that's an environment I want to work in.
-There is something about the culture here that I can't seem to put my finger on that turns me off...but I really can't figure out what it is just yet.
-Pay is competitive but not on the high end of the scale for the area.
-There are a few other cons but I don't want to out the company so I'll keep them to myself an not list them on a public forum.

Random thoughts about my career...
I don't think I ever considered that the culture of finance in general is so very different than the culture of engineering. I think that's been a huge transition for me (as well as working for the first time for an ENORMOUS corporation). As an engineer you are concerned about the end product, and less concerned about cost. For obvious reasons, finance is all about the almighty $. There is something about that that makes me feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's something I should have considered a lot more before choosing finance as my career path? But I think if I can find a job where I am passionate about the end product, I can deal with the fact that my particular job description is just about the $$. Sadly I think that end product is going to be in the non-profit world....and because of the almighty $$ that Georgetown has taken from me, the non-profit world is going to have to wait for me for a few years!

Now it's off to happy hour with my fellow interns. Networking Networking Networking...I so despise that word...

Cheers-

No More Midday Naps

I'm in the midst of week three of the internship. I'm still forming my opinion. It's such a large firm and everyone has nothing but great things to say about it...it's sort of strange. I feel like it's a bit cultish. I like my supervisor, I like my project, I like my commute, I like the perks of working in my department, and I LOVE being back home! However, being home sort of puts me at a disadvantage in the networking department. I can't make it to all of the intern events because I have so many obligations here. The other interns are out here on their own so they depend on the intern events for social activities and I just don't have time for all of them.

There are lots of things I could say about the internship but I'm reserving my judgements until the end of the summer.

In the meantime I have to say that Moab is AWESOME! The BF and I went on a little road trip before I started work. We went to Zion to hike the Narrows. Sadly, the Narrows were closed but we managed to do another hike. Then we went to Bryce Canyon. Then Escalante for some slot canyons. Then off to Moab to mountain bike. And finally to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to live so close to such beauty!

Anyway, Moab mountain biking is unbelievably fun! I almost killed myself about a dozen times but it was worth it! I was feeling pretty studly after finishing the Slickrock trail. Although, I can't wear any skirts anytime soon. I did some serious damage to my legs on some of my crashes. I look like a 10 year old boy. But I'll say it again...it was AWESOME!

And last weekend I ran marathon number 4 in San Diego. I haven't been to San Diego in so long, I forgot how beautiful it was. Perfect weather for running too. I didn't run anywhere near my goal but I did improve my time by almost 10 minutes. I was in the top 5% of my division and top 11% overall. I would have done so much better if I hadn't started flaking on my training 5 weeks ago. C'est La Vie. I'm thinking about Honolulu in December? Or maybe Nashville with a friend? But for now, I'm taking a week off of running and recovering...feels good!

More on the internship later. Until then I hope everyone is taking advantage of the summer!

So close to margaritas on the roof...

In about 6 hours I'll be completely done with my first year of business school. Hallelujah! Praise whomever you feel the need to! Well, I suppose that is only technically true if I actually pass all of my finals? But I will assume that is the case...at least I hope it is.

I have lots to say about my first year of business school but I'll reflect on that a little later while I'm not thinking about margaritas on the roof of the car barn (the not so cozy building that Georgetown currently houses it's MBA program in). Today it's margaritas on the roof and then some party out at a club tonight. I'm not so sure I'll be going out tonight. I'm not a night club kind of girl, plus I have to run at some point today (my marathon is just a little over a month away!!). Tomorrow it will be the last time my cohort (my 70 or so classmates that I've take almost all my classes with this past year)will be together. The social rep has planned a BBQ. I'll stop by for a bit. It should be a nice day. Right now it's beautiful. Makes it difficult to study for my last final.

Speaking of finals, I have come to the conclusion that finals are lame. Thank you thank you, but really there is no need to thank me for such astute insight ;-) This is my problem with finals, first of all we're on the module system so we're taking 5 finals 4 times a year, and just in case you didn't do so well on the quant section of the GMAT, that would be 20, yes TWENTY, finals to take over an 8 month period. And really, that's just lame. Plus, it's not as if we have to take final exams in the "real world" that they claim to be preparing us for, as if we have never been there before, but I digress. I think they should require final projects. That's my two cents. But since no one seems to care about what I think, probably rightfully so, I must get back to pretending to study for my last final exam of Year 1 in business school! Woohoo!

New Internship...Time Off? To Float or Not to Float?

As I was just trying to organize my calendar for the summer it occurred to me that less than two weeks into my internship I need to ask for a day off! How do I go about doing that? I'm running a marathon out of town and will be traveling the Friday before the marathon. I could probably get away with working a half day that Friday? Do I contact the intern manager now or do I wait until I start? Hmmm??

In other news it seems its getting more and more difficult to focus on school knowing that I have less than two weeks of classes left, then exams, then I get to go back to California! Woohoo! Give me sun and fun! I have a little less than 3 weeks to enjoy of no responsibility before I start the internship. I am sooo looking forward to that! I'm trying to figure out what kind of vacation I can talk the BF into during that time? I was thinking the Grand Canyon, a hiking/camping trip. Or maybe Alaska?! Or road trip north through Oregon and Washington for some cycling, hiking, camping?? So many choices ;-)

Do you see how difficult it is to concentrate on To Float or Not to Float the Chinese Renminbi? Which by the way was supposed to be read for yesterday's lecture...oops! And off to class I go...

Long Time No Blog!

I almost forgot that I had a blog until I was reminded by two classmates that asked me if I was mbasalsera! My first year as an MBA student is about 3 weeks from ending. All I can say is Thank God! It's been a tumultuous year. I'm not sure I was cut out for b-school? Or maybe I just wasn't cut out, at this stage in my life, for being so far from the one's I love back home? The work, albeit huge quantities, is not all that difficult. It's not like we're learning rocket science here. Sadly I have enjoyed very few of my classes. Fortunately, the few classes I have enjoyed are all happening right now, so it's making the year end on a positive note. Professors are alright, some fantastic, some horrible, most just average. The administration has a general attitude of superiority to the students. Have they forgotten that, prior to coming to b-school, all of us had already been successful in this "real world" they always refer to condescendingly as if we have no idea what that is. I wonder if I should have waited a year and reapplied to some of the other schools I was interested in? I also wonder if any of those schools would have been much different? (As I re-read this I realize how negative I'm being, please note, I'm tired and grumpy at the moment, I promise to be more positive about my experience in my next blog ;-)

On the flip side, DC is a fantastic city. I really wish I had more time to enjoy it though. I think next year will be a lot better. I'll be taking classes I have an interest in instead of being forced to take core courses. By the way, the core courses are something I actually wanted in a B-school, because I felt like I had no idea about anything after having only been an engineer for so long. However, after having been there done that, I completely regret that decision. I wish I NEVER had to take a marketing class ever. It's not what I like, not what I'm good at, and if I have no interest in it why would I want to be forced to take it? So if you're reading this and deciding between schools or deciding what schools to apply to, definitely consider what classes you are required to take and really think about whether or not you want to go through that! That was bad planning on my part. C'est la vie.

Anyway, as I was saying, next year will be much better. I've obviously learned how to balance my work load a little better. I'll be taking classes of my choosing so the work load will seem less overwhelming and I can try to enjoy life in DC a little more and maybe even get a life outside of school...find some running team or cycling team or maybe even a salsa team to get out with.

As every first year MBA student stressed about an internship....I got lucky. I had my internship lined up back in early October. It seemed absurd to me that I had been in school for less than two months and I was already interviewing and had an offer!! There were definitely a million pluses and a few minuses to having a summer internship lined up so early in the year. The very large tech firm found my resume posted for one of the career fairs I attended. The recruiter called me for an interview. I went through one phone interview and one in person interview at the career fair and had an offer soon after. I took it. It was the right location, the right position in corporate finance and the right $$. I'm not sure it was the right firm but it's a big name and it will look good on my resume. Plus the two people I interviewed with were really fantastic and I contacted two other people in the finance department there just to chat with them about the place and they were wonderful as well, so I took the offer. Of course that was great in terms of me not having to worry about applying and interviewing in the midst of finals, papers, projects etc. However, I sort of wish I had interviewed elsewhere just for the practice. I heard about classmates interviewing in front of panels of management, having 5 interviews, etc and I have no practice with that now. If next year I don't get an offer for full time at my internship or if I don't want to return I won't have the experience of interviewing. Plus when other firms of interest contacted me I had to say I couldn't interview with them because of the commitment I had already made for the summer. But what can you do? Besides I think the benefits of getting a good internship early on definitely outweight the cons by a landslide!

I will try to maintain this blog throughout my internship experience and throughout next year a little better. But no promises! I hope that all those bloggers out there that went through the application process with me are enjoying their first year and have fantastic internships lined up for the summer!

Cheers-
mba-salsera! (I should give myself a new name, I haven't been salsa dancing all year long :-( I hope to make up for that this summer!)

Overwhelmed

They don't tell you in the interview that your assignments start the minute you send in your deposit check! I attended the Career search Jump Start program that Georgetown career development office so graciously designed to get a head start on the resume building and career search for incoming 1st years. The program is required and if you cannot attend in person (they travel to several cities in the U.S.) then you must complete it on line. I am glad I was able to attend in person. I found that I am not the only one completely confused about everything that needs to be completed prior to stepping foot on campus. Not to mention totally overwhelmed. The two ladies from the career office were very nice an extremely helpful. But when one of them said "it's great to get this all started now, this summer, since you have the time" I cried a little inside.

Time? What time? I still have an entire house to pack up and move out of by June 30th. I have to dig myself out of this pile of crap on my desk at work and wrap up everything before my last day on July 6th. I have yet to plan a single moment of my trip to Costa Rica which I leave for on July 12th. And as of June 30th I am pretty much homeless in my hometown not to mention what the hell I'm doing about housing in D.C.??? Time??? Seriously? I have time? Where is it because I can't seem to find it?

I return from Costa Rica on July 22nd and have a week to get myself together before spending another week driving cross country to arrive homeless in D.C. by August 5th. But no worries because I'll have plenty of time to do statistics and accounting on line courses then read and prepare the first 4 chapters of my accounting text book. NO worries!!!! Plenty of TIME!

Why exactly did I want to go back to school????

Exhaustion

Is it just me or is this process exhausting? I have been tired for the past 6 months! Seriously! Work has been so hectic and I have spent every waking moment researching scholarships and housing in D.C. The good news is that I think I found a place to live. A girl who has a 2 bed 1 bath apartment in Georgetown/Glover park area, according to Google maps, it is 1.9 miles from the Car Barn which is where classes for Georgetown's MBA are held. Grocery stores are within walking distance and the most important part, she's a dog lover! She has a dog as well and there's a dog park in the apartment complex too. I was pretty relieved to talk to her and she sounded like a normal laid back professional. I just hope it works out. I'm still waiting on pictures of the apartment. I have a good feeling about it though so I'm staying positive.

Georgetown has already sent the first mandatory assignment. I have to attend a career planning event in San Francisco mid June. I'm excited to meet some of my G-Town classmates at the event! It should be interesting. Also they have all the info for those Pre-MBA camps. I can't decide if I am even gong to bother applying. I just have so little time between now and the start of classes I can't imagine having to apply to anything again, then fly out and spend a couple days and $$ I am trying to save for tuition. I just don't think I have it in me. We'll see if I get motivated...right now it's not looking like it.

In other news, I'm still in the process of selling my house. Contingencies are being removed tomorrow and then I have to give my tenants their 30 day notice to vacate the property. Things can still go wrong between now and the close of escrow but at least once they remove contingencies if something goes wrong I get to keep their deposit $$. As sad as I am to sell my triplex, I do hope everything goes as planned.

I had a BBQ on Monday and had a bunch of friends over. I'm having all my family over this coming Sunday for a BBQ. Then it's time to pack up. I'm exhausted just thinking about that...Maybe I'm getting old? Maybe I need to get some sleep. It's 8:45pm and I think I'm going to go to bed...Good night bloggers!

Sold!

There was an offer made and an offer accepted. Lots can go wrong between now and the close of escrow though so I'm not counting on anything until I have the money in my bank account! It's an exciting and sad time. Excited that my house sold so quickly, sad that my house sold so quickly. Excited to move to D.C., sad to leave California. Excited to meet all my new classmates, sad to leave all my friends and family. It's a lot of up and down these days.

Georgetown has done a fantastic job since I've been admitted and has had several current and graduating students contact me to answer questions and congratulate me. It's been very nice. Searching for housing hasn't been as nice. It's so hard to look on craigslist without being familiar with neighborhoods. I'm going to give myself until June just browsing rental listings and then I'll start the serious search.

Meanwhile my calendar is filling up quickly. I have every weekend booked between now and August 1st! It's insane. I have to learn to be more productive during the week since my weekends are taken up with social events. I still have to pack my house up, decide if I'm going to store or sell my furniture...or ship it all out to my apartment in D.C.? But will I be sharing an already furnished home or will I be furnishing my own studio apartment? Decisions decisions...I have to focus on one thing at a time. Right now I'm focusing on packing up my house and spending time with the BF, friends and familia...

Moving on...

The celebrating has ended and it's time to move on to the preparing. I spent half the day on Sunday making my house sparkle because it was being shown to prospective buyers. It makes me sad that it took me almost 4 years to get my house to the point it is now...every piece of furniture the perfect piece found randomly at a store or handed down from my grandparents, every painting from one of my travels, every picture placed purposely in my hallway to highlight friendships, family and accomplishments....everything has it's place and purpose. And if I do say so myself...my house is so damn nice! (I love interior design, and would have totally gone in to it if I didn't have this whole civic mindedness crap stuck in my head ;-) The people who viewed my home loved it and want to make an offer...now I wait...again. No anxiety this time though. Just a little excitement and a little sadness. I don't think anyone can understand how much, literal, blood sweat and tears went into my house. And I don't think any new owner will appreciate it like I do.

But it's time to move on. The last time I had a roommate was 5 years ago. I am incredibly nervous about living with someone again in D.C. But 2 years...not even, more like 18 months, will come and go so quickly and my life will be a whirlwind of activities and studies. I'm sure it will be fine. I'm hoping anyway.

I also can't decide if I should drive cross country to have my car in D.C. or if I should fly and try life without a car for a while? Which, by the way I would LOVE to do. As much as I love California...public transportation here SUCKS! But then I also have to deal with transporting Rico, my dog. Originally my BF and I thought we'd take 2-1/2 weeks to drive cross country and do a lot of backpacking and hiking in all the national parks we'd pass but we can't go into parks with Rico. So we decided on Costa Rica instead. Leave Rico at home with his dog sitter (my mom or my ex-bf, long story, don't ask). Then I'd drive cross country with my mom in 3 or 4 days. I don't know what to do? I'll figure it out though.

Not much news from GTown these days. I just sent in my deposit check on Saturday so it's official. Started filling out my financial aid papers yesterday. Should finish with those tonight. Then I need to start looking for scholarships. Loans suck...I know this because I am still paying them off from my undergrad. Blech.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today reminds me of the birthday I had right before I left for Chile. I think it's going to be one of those good birthdays :-). I have a plan for the future, I'm excited to be leaving and I have probably the cutest bf ever. He was outside my door this morning with flowers, breakfast (including my coffee which he hates!) and chocolate cake with birthday candles lit. It was quite cute. Tonight a bunch of friends are taking me to a cute little Thai restaurant and then we'll go for drinks afterwards. I said I didn't want to do anything for my birthday but one of my girlfriends refused to let it go since I won't be here for my next couple of birthdays. So dinner and drinks it is!

I have joined the Georgetown MBA admit Google group. There seems to be some pretty interesting people in my class. I'm so excited to meet all of them. And, there seems to be a few people with dogs so hopefully we can trade off with dog sitting when out of town, etc. OK, I realize I sound obsessed with my dog, but look at him in that picture, isn't he the cutest thing ever!? And sadly, I am a bad owner and he is totally dependent on me and has anxiety when I'm not around and in a new place. He still doesn't even like to stay over at my boyfriend's house yet. So I'm pretty worried. But I'm sure it'll be fine.

Speaking of the bf, he finally asked the inevitable question that I so wanted to avoid until August. I am not all that great at communicating especially when it comes to relationship talk or any kind of emotion. And he, well...let's just say the boy can talk! Anyway, he asked me what is going to happen with us when I leave. I sugarcoated my response and he was a little more blunt about it. I said I didn't think we were at a point in our relationship where I felt comfortable with him coming to D.C. with me and that I don't know how I feel about long distance relationships. But I also said that we have 2 or 3 months to go before I leave so why did we have to decide right now? Who knows what 2 or 3 months will bring? When I asked what he thought he basically said the same thing but not so nice a way...I think maybe he was a little offended at what I had said? Who knows? But I am just going to enjoy the next few months with him and then deal with it when the time comes. That may not be the healthiest way to deal but it's my way.

So many questions!???

My weekend was full of margaritas and celebrating! I was bombarded with questions from family and friends after telling them all the good news. I couldn't answer a single question. So now I anxiously wait for the admittance packet that should be coming in the mail any day now. (Funny how I thought the anxiety would be gone once I got an admit, silly me!) I don't even know when I start classes!? When should I move out there? How will I find housing with my 85 pound dog!? Will I have to buy my dog sweaters and booties?! He is a very spoiled dog! He does not do well in the cold! Do I move with furniture, dishes, my bed, etc? Or do I put it all in storage until I come back to California? Will I really come back to California? What if I like it out there? So many unknowns still! But at least these unknowns are fun to talk about! I'm still so excited...and I have the awkward limp and bruised knee to show it ;-)

Thank you everyone for all those comments on my last post. I felt very special :-P

I'm in! I'm in!!

Accepted to Georgetown today with a scholarship, and a significant one! I was so excited when I checked my email this morning I started jumping up and down in my socks on my hardwood floor and I slipped and cracked my knee on my floor! I'm so happy I don't feel the pain but tomorrow it's gonna be black and blue!!! I'm moving to DC baby!! And tonight I'm having some margaritas! Woohoo!

Is it too little too late?

I know I shouldn't do it, but I've been reading the B-week forum. The thread on G-town worries me. Some people have already been accepted from the waitlist weeks ago and recently someone was denied from the waitlist with a letter saying the upcoming class was full?! I haven't received anything yet. I don't know what to read in to that, if anything. The anxiety is starting to creep up on me again...

Back to waiting

The euphoria of my 7xx GMAT score has now come and gone. I'm back to the waiting. And of course doubting myself. Thinking I could have done even better on the GMAT. I received a higher score in the quantitative than I did in the verbal, as expected, but strangely my percentile in the Quant was a lot lower than my percentile in the verbal! I'm an engineer for goodness sake! How could that happen? I feel like my career change is kind of turning the analytical side of my brain to mush. I cant wait to take some quantitative courses. I love math. Anyway, the waiting now isn't as painful as it was pre-7xx GMAT but still...it'd be nice to know. I already received my official score report so I am sure G-Town has received it as well. Hopefully I hear back from them soon.

In the meantime I'll be concentrating on getting back to marathon running shape and selling my house. I picked a bad time to sell my house. The market is not doing so great. Lucky for me I bought it in 2002 when the market was doing so great either. I'd really like to just keep my triplex and kick out my problem tenant but it gets complicated and it's so hard to know who will be a good tenant and who is going to be a pain in the a$$. Anyway, I'm in no rush so if I don't get an offer for a while, I'm alright with that.

Congrats to all of you BoB winners and runners up! Enjoy the subscriptions and the iPods if you were so fortunate!

Welcome me to the 700 club!

I left the GMAT test center after seeing my well above 700 test score and called my boyfriend to tell him that his girlfriend wasn't a moron after all and in fact she was indeed a genius ;-) He then responded with the exact same comment my mother said to me just moments before, "well since you did so well maybe you should just wait until next year to reapply to Stanford." (We haven't really discussed what's going to happen if I move to Washington D.C. for G-Town...My priority right now is my education...I think his priorities involve us a little more, this could get difficult :-( But I digress...I am set on G-Town!! So here is my theory...

G-Town put me on the waitlist with a really really crappy GMAT score (We're talking low 600s) so that means they must have liked me otherwise they wouldn't have even considered me. So now with my mid 700 test score they are for sure going to take me off their waitlist, don't you think? Rumor has it that they are trying to make their way up the rankings and they need their averages to increase so with my new score they totally get that! Either way, if I have to reapply next year (keep your fingers crossed that I won't have to please!) at least I won't have the stress of the GMAT. I have the top 10 b-school score!

I cannot tell you (although I'm positive most of you know already) how fantastic it felt to walk out of that room knowing the GMAT was behind me forever! It is amazing what relaxing and not stressing can do for your score. Serioulsy I think my horrible previous scrore was 100% due to anxiety and stress. This time I went in very calm thinking that there was not much else I could do at this point and it totally worked (that and I think the Peanut M&M's I snacked on during my breaks may have helped as well ;-) I am considering holding a bonfire to burn all of my GMAT materials...unfortunately, I am too environmentally minded and will have to recycle my old notebooks and study guides.

I had a great weekend after my exam Friday afternoon. I made my BF take me out to a very nice celebratory dinner, then we spent the day Saturday in Napa doing a little wine tasting before going to a friend's B-day party. And today we took the dog's to the park to tire them out with some fetch and then tired ourselves out with a little tennis. And I just made dinner and baked brownies. It is an amazing feeling not having any applications or bad GMAT scores hanging over my had. It is a FANTASTIC feeling!

So now all I do is wait. But now I wait with an optimistic mind and sunny days ahead. Cheers to all!

Decisions Decisions Decisions

And I'm not talking about B-school. Yesterday the Supreme Court upheld the first EVER abortion ban. They have taken the decision making away from doctors and pregnant woman and given it to politicians. Although the procedure they banned is used in relatively few abortions, it is sometimes the safest way to terminate a pregnancy for a women having severe complications. The health and autonomy of women has been endangered. This ruling will have far reaching implications that I don't think many people fully understand. Yesterday my office was abuzz with media interviews, press releases, phone conferences, etc. I was at the office at 7am and didn't leave until 8pm.

But maybe this is what I needed for motivation? When I got home I deleted the essay that I have been working on for the past two and a half weeks to submit to Georgetown's waitlist administrator and started all over. The single page essay was impassioned and solid and I hope that G-town will seriously consider allowing me to enroll. The SCOTUS decision reinvigorated my desire to go to G-Town, I want to be in the center of it all. I want their core general management education and their public policy expertise and their well connected D.C. network. I need to get off this waitlist and start at G-Town in the fall.

On the same note, my co-worker/manager wrote a second letter of rec for me and just submitted it to the waitlist administrator. And tomorrow I retake the GMAT. After tomorrow, there is nothing more I can do to try to convince adcom to let me in. Hopefully that will all be enough.

It's an Honor Just to be Nominated!

They Like Me! They Really Really Like me! (Just in case you didn't get it, that was a Sally Fields reference to the Academy Awards ;-)

I am still trying to figure out why I have the good fortune to be a clearadmit BoB nominee. Nonetheless, I appreciate the nod!

I have come down from my over the top stressed out week and am now being quite zen about the whole pain in the booty tenant and the waitlist status. I am pretty confident that whatever happens I will make it work. In the meantime I have made my house devoid of all personality to help sell it quickly (removed all my personal pictures, etc) and I have spent some time doing some practice GMAT questions. As I said before, remaining calm is key. If I don't make this GMAT out to be life and death for my b-school dreams, I tend to remain calm and do much better on the practice questions. Hopefully my new zen attitude will help me to do as well as I know I can do on the GMAT.

I also need to nudge my other supervisor on that letter of rec again. I think she sort of forgot with big holiday weekend and all (she just had 350 people at her house for Easter! Can you imagine!??!!). And then my little one page essay will be done by the end of this coming weekend. I will submit the essay and the letter of rec by Monday and then I'll have my GMAT done by April 20th. I still think I will end up at G-Town, let's just hope G-Town agrees ;-)

Remaining calm is key

Timing is everything. Why would my stupid tenant who has lived nicely in one of my rental units for nearly 4 years all of the sudden now, decide to turn into the wicked witch of the west?? Now, when I am so busy at work and every spare moment I have, I am trying to prepare to retake my GMAT and/or write a new one page goals essay to get off the damn G-Town waitlist? Why now?? Does she want to make me have a nervous breakdown? I have done nothing but be the ideal landlord. The second she tells me there is a problem, I fix it. I have NEVER, seriously, NEVER raised the rent on her in nearly 4 years! And now this stupid witch is giving me an ultimatum? I want to poke her eyes out. I am selling. The hassle isn't worth it anymore. I am just praying that it sells quickly and thanking my lucky stars that my very best friend is the greatest realtor ever and will take care of every last detail for me so I can focus on my waitlist status. Plus he's doing it for free ;-)

But I digress, this is a blog about an MBA. Let's discuss how I am preparing to retake the GMAT. Last night I took the official practice exam and scored over a 700. This is without studying or doing anything regarding the GMAT since November. So I think as long as I remain calm and confident and spend a little more time practicing I should do just fine. What I find slightly annoying about all of this is that if I would have just dealt with the GMAT earlier I probably wouldn't be dealing with a waitlist right. I'd most likely be choosing between a few schools instead of trying to get off the waitlist of one. C'est la vie. It' s my own fault, I have no one to blame but myself.

Thank you everyone who has commented on my blog and been so supportive of my journey to B-school. It's so great knowing there are so many others out there going through the same thing I am! Congrats to all of those who were accepted already and luck to those who are still waiting!

Cheers!

well m@, since you asked...

Yes I did hear back from Georgetown. They waitlisted me. The email came on March 30th in the late afternoon despite their promise of a March 29th decision. I stared at the email for about 15 minutes before deciding how to react. I am going to take it as a positive thing. I am pretty confident that the weakest link in my application is my GMAT score and I know that I can easily increase the score by 50 points, minimum (it was a score from my first time, the second time I panicked and had the worst allergy attack ever so I canceled my scores...therefore this third time really shouldn't be a problem. I know I should have taken it earlier but I just hate the fact that my future was going to be decided by a $250 test that does nothing but test my ability to remain calm under extreme anxiety, I was trying to prove a point...apparently they didn't like my point).

Anyway, G-Town gives very specific suggestions on what to do to get off the waitlist so I will do every single one of them. I report to two supervisors and in my original application I just had one write me a letter of rec, I will have the other one write me a letter of rec now too. I will also write a one page essay making clearer my goals. And then the GMAT. I am not so sure about enrolling in an entry level business course...my undergraduate GPA wasn't super high but all of my engineering and math courses were pretty much A's so I don't think taking another course is going to get me anything.

So that is my plan. Maybe I am being a little cocky but I am pretty confident that if everything goes as planned I'll be able to get myself off the waitlist.

However, there is one little hiccup in my plan. I have some serious stressful situations going on that have to be dealt with immediately...that sort of cuts in on my study/writing time. All I can say is that owning rental property is not all that it's cracked up to be! Nightmare tenants can be SERIOUS nightmares! My next investment is going to be in the stock market...real estate is a pain in the a$$!!!!