Pulling the Trigger, and interview prep.

Schools Submitted: 1/6 (Schools ready: ~4/5)

The past week has been eventful: I wrote a final essay from scratch, submitted my first application, went blind, traveled for three days for work, and decided to not force Wharton R1.

Last Thursday, I slept perhaps 2 hours working to finalizing HBS and Wharton. The next night, I rewrote a HBS essay from scratch after rereading the question and deciding I hadn't addressed it properly. I wrote final notes on all essays, submitted and saved the PDF file and reviewed it in its entirety*, and the next day I pulled the trigger on the application well ahead of the deadline.

Friday night, I also managed to over-indulge in redbull. After sitting for over 10 hours in the dark, with a bright screen on my right and a dim one on the left (monitor/laptop), I 'went blind' at 4am. One pupil was calibrated to darkness, the other to light, and neither was dilating. This meant that in the light, my left eye couldn't see my hand in front of my face, in the dark, my right eye couldn't. Etc. Scary stuff, although some quick googling revealed the issue. I took much of Saturday just to lie in bed with cold compresses and recover/relax, but I did submit HBS. I might wish I'd tweaked my 4th essay one way or another, but I'd dithered too long on the topic.

I didn't get cranking on Sunday partly due to eyes/exhaustion and partly because my Mon-Thur schedule was brutal and I knew I needed to be rested. Up at 5AM Monday to travel, gave a presentation at 10AM, and spent the next few days at a hotel with plenty of work to do and pretty much 9-5 meetings Mon-Thu on top. All in all, I couldn't get fired up to finish and submit Wharton R1 by Thursday. I admit, Wharton was the last school I considered, and ironically the one least finished albeit with the earliest deadline. My recommenders had submitted on time, so the only excuses I have for not finishing off W R1 is my illness over the weekend and my distaste for Wharton Essay #2. At this point, my story is that to adapt, I changed my company around me. It's true, but not exactly what they are asking for. Although my mother commented when I complained about the topic, "Why would they want people that were forced to adapt? Aren't they looking for leaders?" I don't get W's questions either and as an elite school they can ask whatever they want... but I struggle to think of anything I had to adapt to that requires more than 250 words to convey.

Interview prep: I am applying to Kellogg R1, and therefore I will automatically get at least one interview. Time to tighten up my Kellogg and Stanford apps and pull the trigger on them as well! Have a great weekend, folks.


Interview resources: There are some fantastic resources out there, and I'm sure there are more than I have listed; if you got 'em, post 'em!

1. ClearAdmit Wiki Interviews
   
   ed: h/t Linda Abraham:
2. Accepted.com's MBA Interview Feedback Database
3. Accepted.com's MBA interview prep mini-email course
4. Accepted.com's "MBA IV" : Instantly downloadable ebook containing tips and sample questions organized by school. The first two are free.
   

* - I recommend this as a best-practice. Get all your info up there (even some fake essays) and 'submit' - it gives you the option to review your PDF. SAVE THIS FILE AND REVIEW IT. This is what the adcoms are looking at! (Disclaimer: This works great at the schools I've tried thusfar, but I don't know if it works at all the schools)