My Countdown: Less Than 30 Days To The GMAT

I’ve always been a planner–literally addicted to times and dates. It’s the only way for a quasi-forgetful person like me to stay organized and on track.

I’m also a person who loves projects; a tendency that can have me jumping from one to explore the novelty of the next if I’m not careful. Calendaring keeps this trait in check.

Recently, the first few top B-schools began bringing their 2012-13 applications live on the web. Though one side of me can’t wait to get started on my apps–my multi-page pitch fest as to why I feel I deserve a spot at various schools–I can’t afford to focus on that right now.

In fact, I’m choosing to completely block them from my consciousness. I’ve got more prerequisite fish to fry.

I still remember the first time that I (arrogantly) took the GMAT (ACT 1 – we’ll talk about that later) back in January of this year. Each time I hit a dead end on a math problem or was stumped by a data sufficiency question I was haunted by a time that I was playing around, out with friends, on a date, playing God of War III, or doing something else with time that should have been devoted to studying.

Whenever I found myself lost on some nuance of an RC passage or being indecisive about which options could be excluded by POA on a sentence correction question, a sharp pain went up my spine, reminding me that I had never even bothered to crack a book to prepare for the verbal section.

I’m not letting that happen this time.

There’s a lot a stake. The outcome that I produce on June 25th could be the difference between attending “Prestigious U” and “WHO????”. There’s no room for ex-engineering student arrogance about how “easy” everything is supposed to be for business students. LIES. The difficulty in the b-school world is just not as literal as in an engineering program. Like an RC passage that points you in 5 different directions, it’s nuanced; small details that can push you over the top or dash your dreams until sometime in the future.

So, while I will continue to blog (an exercise that has proven to be unbelievably therapeutic), there is little other contact with the outside world that I will indulge in during these last days. If you know me, don’t bother me unless I bother you. If you have my number, forget that you have it until June 26th, 2012. If I neglect to return calls or emails, I’m not being shady with you; I just can’t be bothered until I get this GMAT monkey off my back.

*dramatically shuts off laptop; dims lights; fades into the shadows for 29 days of reclusive GMAT obsession…*

{{ CURTAIN }}

(to be continued on “the other side” of the GMAT on 6/26/2012…)

MBAOver30 offers the perspective of a 30-something, California-based entrepreneur who is applying to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Northwestern, Berkeley, UCLA and the University of Southern California. He hopes to gain acceptance to the Class of 2015 and blogs at MBAOver30.

Previous posts on Poets&Quants:

How I Totally Overestimated The MBA Admissions Process

Musings on MBA Failophobia

Letting Go Of An MBA Safety School

When A Campus Visit Turns Off An MBA Applicant