Another go!

If I say another go, it probably makes it sound like I have tried it last time. Well I didn't. But this time I will. I am not getting any younger.


Work has been a lot. My first construction project had been really draining me. And also my family problem, which is still being dealt with.

I still think I have a pretty good candidacy. I might want to retake the GMAT tho.

Anyways, here I go again.

Blew up in my face

Hewww....

I have been going through some interesting changes at work place.

Anyways, I had to tell my boss that I am going to M-school, which went fine suprisingly. But when I told him that I wanted to do something different from structures, he flipped and said it was a bad career move. Never seen him opposing my decision ever. Kinda freaked me out.

At work, I have been experiencing interesting twists.

Well, today I have my first GMAT prep class.

Say 'NO' to SAFETY schools

Call me naive call me stupid.

But I am applying for top notch schools and only the ones that I would really like to go.
Sure I thought about applying for a couple of safe schools but I am determined to go to school for full time for two years. I will have to use up all my savings and sell my place and everything else to fund my schooling (unless some financial aid comes through) for MBA.

So to summarize,

2 years of no income
+ say about $150k CND for 2 years
+ 2 year absence in my career
----------------------------------
a whole lot to trade off for my MBA

I am not going to and I refuse to attend some school that I am not completely happy going!

I will stretch my luck but for the mean time, I will try my best for my applications.

I have narrowed(?) down to 6-7 schools (I know. That's still a bit). My career vision is pretty clear. What I want to do short and long term is all clear.

I know it's going to be challenging because after all, I suck at anything with words. If AdComs ask for paintings, oh it would be so much better for me.

Anyways, I really need to get myself together and start plan more and really move on.

But still, 12 hr work days are just too tiring. (wanna cry.)

Game is On!

Dave's post (Journey to my MBA) has info on HBS Deadline for 2007.
Thanks Dave for this information. : )

I guess now it is time for me to elaborate my thoughts on applying to HBS/Stanford. Since I am still at work, I will save that till next posting (again. :p)
-----------------------------------------------

Application submitted online by 5 p.m. EST:
Round 1
Tuesday, October 11, 2006

Round 2
Tuesday, January 3, 2007

Round 3
Tuesday, March 7, 2007

Notification of the Board's decision:
Round 1
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Round 2
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Round 3
Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Requests for decisions earlier than the notification dates listed above cannot be accommodated.

Given past experience, we anticipate that many candidates will submit their online application materials very close to 5 p.m. EST on submission deadline dates. To avoid heavy server traffic and potential delays, we encourage candidates to submit application materials as early as possible.

Applications received after 5 p.m. on October 11, 2006 will be considered in Round 2. Applications received after 5 p.m. EST on January 3, 2007 will be considered in Round 3. Applications received after 5 p.m. EST on March 7, 2007 will not be considered.*last-change*
Source

Essay Questions for the Class entering 2007
Essays should be single-spaced. Limit your response to the length indicated.

Essay questions for the MBA class entering in the fall of 2007 are:

1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience? (400-word limit)

2. What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

3. Discuss a defining experience in your leadership development. How did this experience highlight your strengths and weaknesses as a leader? (400-word limit)

4. In your career, you will have to deal with many ethical issues. What are likely to be the most challenging and what is your plan for developing the competencies you will need to handle these issues effectively? (400-word limit)

5. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you? (400-word limit)

6. What other information do you believe would be helpful to the Board in understanding you better and in considering your application? (400-word limit)

Dual and concurrent degree candidates:

How do you expect the joint or concurrent degree program to benefit you both academically and professionally? (400-word limit)*

12:09 AM

Finally, finished up everything that I was supposed to do for work.

Man, got an 8 o'clock meeting tomorrow morning. Gotta go to sleep. I will be so tired tomorrow. :(

+ I must have been really tired. It was supposed to be 12:09 AM but I wrote PM. Silly me!

9PM and still at work!

Gotta get this meeting min out!! Can't believe I am still at work. :(

Anyways, I made my selection to go with Veritas. It's done deal. Made my payment. I am usually very good at justifying my decisions after making them. There is no point of dwelling on them if they are done deals, right?

Well, hope to get out of here soon. If I am not done in 30 min, I am leaving anyways (but I will have to take work home. :( )

GMAT Review Courses

As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I am thinking about taking a GMAT review course. Not because I have extra hundreds of dollars just sitting in my bank account waiting to be spent on something but because I do think that some extra help might be helpful overall. One of fellow applicant blogger mentioned that maybe I am not doomed to retake the GMAT but I do think that if I go ahead without retaking it and get dinged from all the schools, I will blame my GMAT scores to be one of major reasons. I just want to eliminate that possibility as much as possible. Maybe I just want to get my ass covered from me kicking at the end of the day. I just want to be able to say "Ok, kooljaek, you really have tried to do your best." And that's all good.

So, I have been doing some research on the prep courses. And dang!! They are not cheap.

There are three test prep centres that I can find in the area. I am sure if I search harder, I can find more but this is as many I would look into. The followings are what I have found.

Kaplan - I mean no doubt that Kaplan course would be good. (Or is it?) Apparently most money. They do guarantee you with the higher score (whatever that means). I talked to someone at the prep centre and she gave me the whole deal on everything. Like how many sample tests you can write and blah blah blah and if you are not satisfied then you can use their services for another three months and if you want to take a course again you can do so for a lot less money then first time. So basically 2 month program 20 hrs of class time (I think) for $1,300. For me, the Kaplan location is not as convenient as others but it's Kaplan.

Princeton Review - This one... Hmm the next review course starts in July 11 and goes till Sept 19. That's way too late. Forget it. I have taken Princeton Review GMAT Verbal prep class LONG LONG LONG time ago (4 yrs ago) in Korea when I was visiting for a couple of months. It was a bore. I mean, it was crap. They did not teach anything. Maybe I am just a sucker for believing it might be different in Canada.

Veritas GMAT Prep - Never heard of them. So not sure how good they are. Not that I know how good Kaplan and Princeton Review are. Anyways, their class session hours are double of what Kaplan and Princeton Review offer for the same money. So my reasonable question should be; is the quality of the course getting compromised by the quantity (i.e. number of hours)? That is the question.

Without further knowledge of classes, my first pick is Veritas for the following reasons.

1. Location - easiest for me to get to
2. More hours - the thing is I only need to be prepped for verbal. Kaplan and Princeton courses are all about 20-24 hr long, which means I only get verbal-prepped for 10 hours or so. Veritas program is 40 hour long so I get verbal-prepped for 20 hours or so. But not sure what number of hours really represents.
3. Schedule - Veritas's program starts early July and finishes in late August. All others creep into Sept. I CANNOT let it hanging in till mid Sept.

Anyways, Kaplan says I can sit in their class any time. So I will try that sometime soon.

I was going to talk about "HBS and Stanford; is it worth it stuff" this posting but oh well. That has to move to the next posting.

If you have experienced GMAT review courses (I also understand that there is a possibility of it being completely waste of the money), please share. I would love to hear other thoughts and experiences. : )