Celebrating The One-Year Anniversary Of Taking The GMAT

rainbow-slinkyAs 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.

Sassafras is a 30-year-old MBA applicant who works for a San Francisco-based non-profit organization with a primary focus on youth development and education. With a 730 GMAT and a 3.4 grade point average from a highly ranked liberal arts college, he currently blogs at MBA: My Break Away? His previous posts for Poets&Quants:

A Non-Traditional Candidate Reflects On Why He Wants An MBA

The Round One Days Dwindle Down To A Precious Few

Common Questions From The Helpless, Hapless & Hopeless

The Business School Waiting Game

Cultivating Great Leaders or Great Changers: The Mission of Business Schools

Undoing My Scarcity Paradigm

A Partner’s Perspective On The MBA Application Journey

My Round Two Strategy

Rejection From Stanford–An Acceptance From Yale

An Acceptance From Kellogg Leads To Some Soul Searching

Weighing Kellogg vs. Yale: Which School Would You Choose?

Now Into The Next Stage Of His B-School Path: The Network

Why I’ve Decided To Pass On A Higher Ranked School & Go To Yale

 The Words Behind Those Admission Essay Questions

An Honest Letter To Anxious Round Two Candidates

What Things Can Give An Admissions Committee Doubts About Your Application?

 

How I Came To Believe I Needed An MBA Degree

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