Having Trouble Hitting the Submit Button

fter speaking with so many people who are embarking upon this GMAT journey this season I’ve realized something.  As much as we all want to be done with applications and what not, we just can’t seem to hit that submit button.

As you guys know I’ve been working on my Tuck diversity essay for about 6.3 years now, or so it seems, in addition to my Cornell essay.  My Tuck essay is ready to submit along with my resume, but every time I go to submit it, I chicken out.  I want to keep checking it over and over and over again until it’s perfect.  The thing is…I’m not changing anything.  I read it and I’m like, ‘Yup that’s good to go. There isn’t a deadline for the Tuck diversity conference, although I’m sure they’re receiving an influx of applications now seeing as though the email went out Monday to people who may be interested.

I also was having difficulty, because my resume was on my computer at work (ironic right?) but my essay was here at home on my Mac.  Then I would email myself the essay, but emailed the wrong version to work.  So then I opened it up and then had to resave it… but I have a Mac at home, so the document was getting lost in translation.

Hey google docs, I might use you for this, so I don’t have to keep emailing myself wrong versions of documents.

So then I was all set to submit the application tonight so I sent myself one final email from work.  I get home and open up the documents and my resume is de-formatted.  I’m not sure why this happened.  Needless to say tomorrow morning I’m submitting my application.

The Cornell application is due tomorrow, so I MUST get that one in.  I just have to tweak the essay.  Oh and I can’t forget to bring my GMAT score to work because I have to fax it in too.  ::sigh::

On the GMAT Prep front – tonight I did 23 RC questions and 37 Quant questions.  There was a RC passage that kicked my butt even though I thought I understood it perfectly.  That tells me that there’s something about the question stems that didn’t click.  So I have to work on that.

On the Quant side, I made 4 stupid mistakes out of the 10 I got incorrect.  I need to make sure that I am extra diligent in DS with not trying to solve things in my head.  I realize that I add in the assumptions when I do that.  Furthermore, I have noticed some progress with Number Properties.  I still have a long way to go BUT it’s a shorter path now.  I’m beginning to see the underlying concepts.  Yeah yeah I know Number Properties are easy for some, but it’s my “Combinations & Permutations” if you know what I mean.

Also, my Tutor took the GMAT today.  I told him not to tell me his score because I would get discouraged if it was too low.  He did take it while being sick, so I’m sure that played a part in his score.  But like I said I’m not going to ask him.  He did say that the verbal is getting harder, which is not so good for me!

English/Verbal has ALWAYS been weakness.  If I think back to all of the grades I received from K-12th grade, I got an A in English once.  The rest of the times were B’s and B pluses.  There’s something about interpreting someone’s thoughts that doesn’t click.  Probably the reason I take to ellipses so much.  I think they say a lot without saying anything…and yes I know I overuse them and use them incorrectly most of the time.  But, think of it this way.  When I use ellipses it’s usually when I’m pausing in my in brain.  I guess periods would suffice too.

This report is adapted from Richard Battle-Baxter’s blog posts at “Ellipsing My Way…To Business School.”

Previous posts by Richard at Poets&Quants:

Should You Hire an MBA Consultant?

Study for the GMAT or Polish Off an Essay?

Am I Really Cut Out For This?

My First Round Applications Are Looking Elusive

A Frustrating Day and Night on GMAT Prep

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