Facing A Gauntlet of Round Two Deadlines

Remember what I said about not sacrificing my social obligations for b-school anymore? Well…

To be honest, things have been better. I do get out more and don’t always feel like a hermit. But I still find myself in the middle of the library in front of a laptop most nights of the week. I had the wrong impression of what post GMAT life would be. And when I see other students studying beside me, I think to myself, “I’m working this hard so I can do MORE of this during my first semester at b-school.” Yes, we MBA candidates are an interesting bunch.

I finished the first draft of my Haas essays this week and sent it to my review team. It’s great to know other MBAs, especially ones that went to the school you’re applying to. The Haas essays are unique because of the 250 word count limit of the short answer questions. I felt those were the most difficult because I couldn’t allocate words to actual “writing” and was spending more of my time just being concise and making a point. I’m not going to win a literary award for any of my essays, but hopefully my ideas and my candidacy came through.

I’ve switched from Google Docs over to Word. I know, I know, Google Docs is the future and MS Word is evil. But the problem is Google Docs is still pretty clunky, there’s no grammar check, and it takes longer to get a word count. When I pasted my Google Doc back into Word format, I was surprised at the number of grammar errors I missed.

I’m finding it harder and harder to make updates to the blog because I feel like I’m cheating on my essays. I use up all my creative energy to try and inject some personality and creativity into my writing. My blog just gets is whatever’s left in the tank.

I’ve got almost everything done for Haas but I still need to do my resume. I’ve started doing research and drafting essays for a couple of the other ones. This first application was actually not that bad. However, come January, I face a gauntlet of Round 2 deadlines.

This post is adapted from Random Wok, a blog written by Mako from Silicon Valley. You can read all of his posts at Random Wok.

Previous posts by Mako at PoetsandQuants:

Why I Want an MBA

Climbing the GMAT Mountain: 630 to 710 on a Practice Test

Do Consultants Have An Unfair Edge Over Other Applicants?

Falling Behind & Stressed Out

My New Critical Reasoning Strategy

Figuring Out My Odds of Getting Into Harvard, Stanford, Wharton

With My GMAT Classes Over, It’s Now Just Me and the Test

Making a GMAT Test Taker Feel Like A Complete Pansy

With a Month to Go Before His GMAT Test, It’s Time to Focus

Is The GMAT Really Designed To Break You?