A Halloween Treat: An Invitation To Interview At Chicago Booth

Trick or Treat

Generally, I see it as kind that schools like HBS, Booth and Wharton have published specific dates after which you will know your fate if you did not make it. On the flip side, however, the relative ambiguity of the selection processes of schools like MIT and Stanford make it easier to put those schools out of your mind until you hear something; or don’t.

I use to have a bias toward the former. Now, I’m not so certain. The HBS and Booth interview dates have caused me more than a little bit of stress; however, I did a much better job staying away from the hype with the latter.

Yesterday, October 30th, was a long day at work. I had a new hire get started,  a positive background check come back for a marketing intern candidate that I am excited to work with (she’s an entrepreneurship major) and began proceedings of letting go of  a tech support contractor who hasn’t been up to snuff on his job on top of a full day of meetings and some marketing copy that needed to be written. It was a lot.

I got two good games of ping pong in just before leaving, and walked off the elevator to a text from Cheetarah1980 (Booth ’14 and has a new blog theme BTW; check out its coolness) . She was bragging about how she was at Booth’s new venture challenge kick off and how Booth students had raised over $200M within the last 3 years blah blah blah.

That was the LAST thing I needed the day before status update day: more pressure.

This morning, I got up at 4am; then 5:35am; then 6:30am–all after waking from dreams of getting interview invites, only to realize that none of what I had just experienced had happened.

As I walked out of the shower at 6:59, I followed a wretched little OCD ritual of checking my iPhone’s inbox for updates. I’ve done this at least 1,000 t imes over the past 2 weeks to no avail; but this time, it was different.

“Chicago Booth Status Change”, read the subject line. “So what”, I thought. “My ding from HBS was a ‘status change’ as well”.

Then I read further: “Congratulations! We have evaluated your application and are extending an invitation for you to interview with us in the next phase of our admissions process.”

Now that’s what I”m talkin ’bout.f

Someone is having a cocktail at lunch today.

MBAOver30 offers the perspective of a 30-something, California-based entrepreneur who is applying to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago, Dartmouth, Yale, and Berkeley.. 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

Yale, Tuck and Booth: The Next Leg of My Pre- MBA Research

 My Countdown: Less Than 30 Days To The GMAT

From Suits To Startups: Why MBA Programs Are Changing

Why I’m Not Getting Either A Part-Time MBA or An Executive MBA

Preparing To Sit For The GMAT Exam

Falls Short of GMAT Goal, But The 700 Is A Big Improvement

A 2012-2013 MBA Application Strategy

Celebrating A 35th Birthday & Still Wanting A Full-Time MBA

A Tuck Coffee Chat Leaves Our Guest Blogger A Believer

Heading Into the August Cave: Getting Those Round One Apps Done 

Just One MBA Essay Shy Of Being Doe

Getting That MBA Recommendation From Your Boss

Facetime with MBA Gatekeepers at Wharton

The Differences Between Harvard & Stanford Info Sessions

My MIT Sloan Info Session in California 

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