Celebrating The One-Year Anniversary Of Taking The GMAT

As I sit here in my hotel in New Haven, a few days after Memorial Day weekend, it dawns on me that I just celebrated my one-year GMAT anniversary.  The week after I took my GMAT, I kept wondering if it was really true – was I really done with the test? Was my score real and valid?  I can’t help but find myself asking those same questions of myself: did I really get into business school this year?

My incredulity should have been erased ages ago, but for some reason, I keep wondering to myself – did this really work out?

It’s that superstitious side of me that makes me wonder when the other shoe is going to drop.  I’m so excited about what’s coming ahead; I feel blessed and elated about the prospects of two years at Yale.  And yet, did I misread my admissions letter? Did they actually reject me?

The steps after I got in should have more than solidified my confidence that I wasn’t making this up, but it’s not until I sit here on the verge of signing a lease in New Haven, wondering if I should call Yale SOM admissions to make sure I am truly enrolled, that I have to laugh. I am here, I did this, but really? Is it possible?  It’s somewhat laughable, but I am also touched by my own fear that I have created an alternate reality, a delusion in which I am a business school student. As I mentioned in previous posts, this is really not where I saw myself heading two years ago.

So what’s happened since I’ve gotten here? Here’s a list of items that should have proven my admission:

• Congratulations letter from SOM (which I check and re-check every couple weeks)
• Phone calls from current students
• San Francisco admitted student receptions
• Payment of my deposit
• Assignments to do summer pre-work (accounting and spreadsheet modeling, wohoo!)
• Welcome Weekend on Yale’s campus
• And finally: a trip to New Haven to sign a lease!

And there’s still much left to do: figure out my loans, my travel plans to New Haven, those FUN homework assignments. The great news it that they stand as another reminder that this is truly the path I am on.  Or as the headline of this post proclaims: really, dude, business school is not just a figment of your imagination.

The loan situation is really killing me right now.  I am buried in mountains of work, and I haven’t had time to do my due diligence and start applying for loans. As the clock ticks, the pressure is another helpful reminder that I am a prospective MBA.