What a Year

Wow. So much has happened in the last year that I can't believe how far I've come. Last year at this time, I had just found out I'd been admitted to Wharton. I was trying to figure out what to do with myself for the next 6 months. Today, I'm savoring a much-needed break and trying not to worry about whether I will score an internship offer and how hard the next semester will be academically. Night and day. Let's do a little year in review, shall we?

Wharton: Since I didn't post much about Wharton at all this semester, it's difficult to sum up. But I'll try to summarize the highlights:
I drank a lot. Maybe even more than I did as a Penn State senior. And I dressed in silly outfits more than a person probably should.
I passed MGEC and Accounting! Still waiting on a lot of grades, but I think I managed not to fail anything (fingers crossed).
I dropped 13 resumes and so far have 1 interview (that I won in bidding).
I became hyper-involved. So much so that I probably overdid it, but I wouldn't change a thing.
I challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone.
I blew off way more than I'd typically be comfortable with. Being that busy meant a lot of things just didn't fit in. Like sleep. And laundry.
I discovered Zipfizz
.
I realized that even a somewhat scaled back social life is still pretty expensive.
I finally started to get the hang of this networking thing.
I learned a lot about business, which is what I am here for in the first place!

Sports: This year has been, by far, my best sports year ever. My co-ed softball team won the championship for the 3rd time last summer (although I missed the championship because I was taking the math test!). My cohort won the flag football championship. I won in fantasy football. Penn State finally beat Michigan and won the Big Ten Championship and is playing in the Rose Bowl tomorrow. The Eagles, despite a somewhat wretched season, managed to pull off an unlikely historic win against Dallas to sneak into the playoffs (and send the Cowgirls home). And of course, the Philadelphia Phillies ended a 25-year drought for Philadelphia to become the world champions of baseball. Ah, I loved 2008!

P.S. Hi Arthur!

BLOG ACTION DAY: Poverty In America

It's easy for those of us in the position to attend one of the best business schools in the world to forget sometimes how lucky we are. We all worry about our return on investment of our tuition money, whether we can afford that new interview suit, or how much to budget for party tickets and pitchers of beer. Economic downturns may have us questioning whether to take that ski trip over winter break or if we should really be spending money on those baseball playoff tickets (Go Phillies! Sorry, had to sneak that in).

But the reality is that we are lucky to have these "problems" to worry about. Millions of Americans worry every day about how they will put food on the table, or whether rising gas prices means they have to get a new job because they can't afford to commute to their current one anymore. Politicians may talk about how much they care about "Joe Sixpack" or the suffering middle class families. But they rarely mention the true desperation of our country's poor. Some say that as a country we are only as good as our weakest link. We, as Americans, need to step up and remember our neediest neighbors. The simple things often help the most: volunteer at a soup kitchen or a food bank, donate to charity, anything. At this election time, we need to remember that we are ALL Americans, and we all have a responsibility to help take care of each other.

Thanks for reading!

"Riding Out" Recession is a Myth

It's an age-old concept. The economy goes sour, so thousands of professional go back to business school to "hide" and "ride it out" for two years. If this is what you are thinking of doing, you are in for a rude awakening. The idea that current b-school students had great timing and are unaffected by this downturn is false. Although we are obviously not fearing lay-offs for ourselves, everything that is happening right now in the economy does not paint a pretty picture for us.

Second years are interviewing right now for their full-time positions. As you can imagine, a lot of companies are canceling their recruiting or severely downsizing the number of positions they will offer (not to mention all the companies that suddenly don't exist anymore!). The fact that investment banking is typically a huge source of employment for Wharton grads is a serious concern for everyone. Even if you are not planning to go into banking, we all expect the competition for things like consulting and investment management to increase due to the migration of those folks to other opportunities. And when competition rises there, the trickle-down effect will almost definitely impact other career choices like marketing and general management. In other words, it's a total shake-up, and no one knows what to expect.

For first years, we start meeting recruiters this month. The typical schedule means that we'll be interviewing for summer internship positions in Jan/Feb. Does anyone actually think things will be better by then? Highly doubtful. What about by this time next year? Maybe (we can hope!) but it's looking less and less likely by the day. That makes the idea of getting an internship that will lead to a full-time offer more and more important. But when companies are reducing internship opportunities to try to cut costs, we're looking at a much harder job search that's going to require a lot more work.

Don't misunderstand - I am still optimistic. I'd rather be here at Wharton than many other schools. If companies reduce their number of offers, they will probably do so at other schools first. Many companies still see MBA recruiting as an investment, and therefore will make cuts elsewhere. Others may not have interviewed at Wharton before due to lack of interest by students, but they will come this year in anticipation of the shift I described above. Unless the bottom completely falls out of this economy, most of us still expect to have net gains from our time here.

So what am I saying? I guess the current situation just makes the whole ROI of the MBA that much more important. If you were unsure that you needed an MBA before this whole mess unfolded, you should be looking even more carefully at the decision. If you are convinced, as I am, that an MBA from a top school will help you achieve your goals, even if the job prospects are diminished from previous years, then you should continue with your applications. Just be careful not to view this as a 2 year vacation.

Guest Post: Three's a Crowd?

Just call me BadDancer - Tiny Dancer's 'partner'

Nine months ago, when Wifey got into Wharton, I had a bunch of comments thrown my way by friends and family that gave me pause:

From my brother - "Ohhhh, now you'll have a Sugar Momma"
My friends - "You going to be a stay at home Dad?"
My grandmother - "What about grandkids? I'm not going to be around forever"
My parents - "How are you going to pay for this???"

While TinyD's post-Wharton salary would certainly surpass mine, I was totally cool not being the breadwinner. I also liked the thought of stay at home Husband, raising TinyDancer, Jr., with days full of watching SportsCenter, teaching TinyDancer, Jr. the minutia of a curve ball and learning to cook. (Just replace Sports Center with Oprah and I figured that's what stay at home Mom's do).

But as the start of pre-term at Wharton drew near and I learned more about our next 2 years of B-School, I got a little nervous. Move from our 2,000 sq ft house into an 850 sq ft apartment in Center City, full days of classes, hours and hours of group work and studying, tons of extracurricular clubs, interviewing for internships and full-time jobs, guest speakers, learning team retreat, winter break global treks, etc. etc, etc.

Holy crap. When again was I supposed to see my wife? Would she ever be home for dinner? How many frozen burritos could I possibly take? Would I be included in any of this stuff or would I want to be involved? How in the hell would we be able to afford $150G's in just two years??? It was a little scary.

I was beginning to think that three's a crowd. Wifey and I had a great life together and Wharton was going to be the third wheel. Yeah, long term benefits aside...the next two years might really suck and we'd be in major debt to boot. Then after graduation, Wifey would get some crazy cool job and we'd be up and moving again to a far away place and I'd just be along for the ride. Maybe I'd be the third wheel since she'd be spending most of her time with Wharton.

Now don't get me wrong, TinyD and I talked about this quite a bit. She told me it wasn't going to be that bad, she'd try and come home and make dinner, I could be involved in some of the fun stuff and she wanted to stay near Philly after graduation. I also was told about the Wharton Partner's Club and I could make friends with some of the other 'partners' (that word gives me chills, probably the subject of a future guest post if TinyD lets me write again). But going into pre-term, I wasn't convinced.

Well, I can say, Wharton passed the 1st test. I know pre-term is much less of a time commitment than the 1st Semester, but I had an absolute blast. TinyD worked really hard, but we went out and partied with her classmates ALOT, met some great people, did some really fun activities and loved living in the city. Honestly, I haven't drank this much or stayed up this late since College...and overall, it was great. It actually got to the point where I needed Friday or Saturday night to recover from parties from Tuesday through Thursday.

I'm sure my opinion would be different if I was a partner moving to Philly from far away or internationally, but not all that much.

To all potential future Wharton husbands - don't spend too much time feeling bad for yourselves that your wives are smarter, going to be more successful, etc. Enjoy the next two years for all that they are...and try and meet a really smart Wharton grad to hook you up with a sweet job and maybe Philadelphia Eagles club box seats.

Sidenote - I do need to start going to the gym. I'm going to get a major beer gut unless I start working off the extra liquid carbs.

Welcome New Bloggers! Plus, a Rant.

I have been trying to catch up on reading my blogs now that I have a little downtime. I realized there's a good crop of new applicant blogs popping up and I didn't even know about it! Welcome Happy Bunny (well, you I knew about), MBA Veggie, Soni, V2B-School, Samantha, and Veni Vidi Vici. I'm sure there are more of you out there. I'm gonna try to get better with keeping up. It'll be easier when I'm done working because Hella's page is blocked at work like everything else!

I was reading Samantha's blog and she was discussing women in business. She touched on something that is also my pet peeve and I've been wanting to discuss:

I also want fellow women to get their acts together. Maybe it's me being
too critical, but I do it out of love! I want women to succeed. The 50s-ish
woman with the wardrobe left over from the 80s with bad, unconfident posture,
the women my age who say "like" waaayy too much ... sexy wrap dresses, nails
painted red, skirts with high slits, twirling hair, chewing gum, tucking your
shirt in and not checking your backside at home so I can see your thong through
your pants, being overly demure and quiet in meetings, overusing !!!, the list
goes on and on. Of course I'm not perfect, but women need to realize how much
work we have to put into our professional appearance/demeanor in order to be
taken seriously and sometimes I just want to smack some sense into people.

I couldn't agree more! My company has a business casual dress code that is actually on the rather formal side. But I see so many women, young and old, that act like it doesn't exist. I work with a woman my age who wears sundresses to work that I'd wear to a brunch. Women wear flip flops and open-toed shoes all the time in summer. They wear capri pants and skirts way above the knee. We all want to look good, but I wish women would think like men for five minutes when they get dressed in the morning and realize that dressing sexy or casual creates distraction and takes attention away from the work you are doing. It's the same as that one guy that wears golf shirts when all the other men are wearing dress shirts. People think that guy doesn't get it. My company has a few fundraising events during the year where you can wear jeans to work if you donate $5 to the cause. I did it once or twice until I realized that I never saw a man doing it. I bet the men probably didn't even know there was a reason we were all wearing jeans and who knows what they were thinking of us. Please understand, I'm not saying that women need to emulate men because they are men. I just think men are better at obeying the dress code and making it work for them. (Granted, it is easier. All you need is a closet full of white and blue shirts). We women need to get better at projecting competence and separating how we dress for business from how we dress socially. This goes for communications too. Please stop firing off emails full of !!!! and misspelled words and lack of punctuation. Again, this does not project competence. It doesn't take that long to write out complete, grammatically correct sentences and it makes you look SO much better. And finally, I know this sounds funny coming from a paragraph full of complaining, but women need to stop complaining so much. I know there are men that do this too, but at least where I work, I notice so many more women always complaining about their job, their boss, the company, etc. No one likes a whiner! And when was the last time the whiner was chosen for that high profile position? Women have come a long way in business so far, but we still have a long way to go. We need to help the rest of the business world see us as the professionals we are!

My Rational and Irrational Fears about B-School

A while back I asked you guys what I should blog about. Linda asked

are you having any uncertainties? what will you fear/dread/not like very much
about bschooL?

Ooooh yes. I have many fears and uncertainties about B-School. Some rational, some not.
First, while I am definitely certain that my matriculation at Wharton is the right decision for me, at times I realize the enormity of the decision to leave my job and spend lots of money for this degree and it hits me like a ton of bricks. Not only that, it's just going to be such a huge lifestyle change for me. I haven't been in school since 2001. I think I forgot how to do it. It feels a little like standing on the edge of a cliff getting ready to jump.
Speaking of money, I'm definitely worrying about my budget. With the additional temptations of living in the city - endless restaurants, drinking establishments, awesome shops, etc - downgrading from the professional lifestyle to a student lifestyle is going to be really hard. I'm worried about finding a balance between putting myself in massive debt and missing out on the social life of school and living in Philadelphia.
Another subject I have been discussing a lot with my husband is the pressure I feel to make the most of this opportunity. I am so excited about everything I'm going to learn and the networks I'm going to build. But two years feels terribly short. And actually, considering the recruiting schedule in the second year, I have far less than 2 years to figure out what my post graduation job will be. I have an idea of what I want to do, but I want to keep my options open as much as I can. But how to fit open options into the recruiting schedule?
Welcome Weekend was great, and I met so many great people that I can't wait to call my classmates. But one thing I've been thinking about is the size of Wharton's class. At 800 people, it's just too big to be able to know everyone. I know that I will make plenty of friends, but I wonder if the size of the class will make close friendships difficult to find? Also, as silly as it is, I am really hoping that the friends I've already made will be in my cohort. But I'm sure most of them won't be - the chances are too small. This makes me sad.
Finally, probably my biggest concern is how I'm going to fit in all the activities I want to do and still get decent grades. There are so many clubs and activities that I want to be involved in that I am overextending myself before I even start! Prioritization will be key, but I've never really been very good at that ...
I think those are the biggies. There's definitely not anything I'm dreading (well, maybe exams?)or thinking I won't like. I'm sure some dislikes will come up once I start, but for the most part I'm really looking forward to getting started. Pretty much can't wait, actually!

Is the Weekend Over Already?

It's getting tougher to blog these days. Since I'm now blocked from doing so at work, I need to find the time to do it at home. And I just haven't been there all that much lately! Plus I think of so many more topics at work (since I'm so painfully bored, but that's a blog topic for another day). I should write some posts in a Word doc or something and upload when I get home.

This week I was busy with something every night. Charity meeting Monday, had my brother over for dinner and later met a friend from my old consulting job on Tuesday, did volunteer work on Wednesday, and traveled into the city for a Philly admit happy hour on Thursday. Friday I crashed. The weekend was filled with projects to prepare for the move and cleaning the house in an attempt to impress potential renters. Exhausting!

Speaking of meeting the friend from my old job ...
One of the perks of a consulting career, especially with a big firm, is that you will meet people from all over the country and potentially the world. You will probably make more friends than you would at any other job because you will be working closely with people for longer hours. And since you are all on the road, probably socializing with them after work too. The unfortunate drawback of this is that all your friends are from all over, and they will go back to those places when the project is done. I got to meet one of my best friends from my consulting days for drinks on Tuesday since he happens to be in town for a project. It was so great to see him and catch up. It makes me sad that I so rarely get to see him or any of my old buddies anymore. I have a feeling that business school is going to be similar. We'll all make a lot of great friends from all over the world, and then everyone is going to spread out again after the two years are over. I know it's naive to hope that many of my new friends will stay in Philly after graduation, but I do hope many head for NYC since it's just a little train ride away. And I guess having far-flung friends can be nice when you want to travel to visit them!

Are Women MBAs Doomed to Divorce?

I am a fan of the Naked MBA blog, which bills itself as "the bare truth about what to expect from business school." Today I saw a post title that made my stomach drop: "For women, MBA = Divorce." I quickly clicked on the feed link to see what the heck this was about. The first sentence reads "The numbers are in and they don’t look good. " "Oh crap," I think. Then comes the obligatory next thought, "Well my marriage is strong. Business school and a good career aren't going to change that." I continued to read, cautiously. Ok, here's the main fact driving the title of the post: "Women MBAs are twice as likely to get divorced than the men with whom they graduate." Yikes. That is not good.

Hold on, here's the actual statistic: "12% of women MBAs reported having divorced or separated as compared to 5% of male MBAs." Um - 12%? Yeah it's a lot bigger than the male number, but still, 12%?? Maybe I'm crazy but that's still a small number to me. I'm not fearing for my marriage over 12%. The article goes to discuss that women think they can have it all but it's just a myth, etc etc. To an extent I agree with that, but don't you think we're jumping a bit to far to say that MBA = Divorce?

I clicked through to the WSJ article the post is referencing. More similar discussion.
"For women, a professional degree is often hazardous to marital health."
&
"'Unlike men,' she says, 'women can't have it all because there is a social stigma to having or being a stay-at-home spouse.'"
And then this statistic: "Women with M.B.A.s described themselves as divorced or separated more often than women with only bachelor's degrees (12% of female M.B.A.s compared with 11% of women with only bachelor's degrees) "

I stopped there. A 1% increase with an MBA is hardly anything to fret over. Sure, the difference between the statistics for women vs. men should be explored, but why do we have to jump to panic mode and imply that women are sabotaging their personal lives by pursuing advanced degrees?

Abundance vs. Scarcity Mindset

If you have ever read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you may remember the discussion of the abundance vs. the scarcity mindset. I haven't read it in a while so I am paraphrasing here. But the gist of it is, if you have a scarcity mindset, your view of the world tells you that opportunity is limited and that you need to compete with others in order to achieve success. If you have an abundance mindset, your view tells you that there are plenty of opportunities available to you, so it will not hurt you to help others along the way.

One of the sessions I attended at the Penn State Powerful Women Paving the Way Conference this weekend was a panel session called "Discovering your Leadership Style." In it, a woman in the audience discussed her fears that today's women are entering the workforce with a competitive attitude and are stepping on each other to achieve success. Her fear is that this creating an environment for women in business that is worse than the male-dominated environment it is replacing. Some women disagreed, but I was one who can see her point. I have been lucky enough to work in an environment where the women supported and helped each other, to the benefit of all. I have also worked in an environment where the women were cliquey and where I felt that I had to "watch my back."

I am not sure if this phenomenon is truly unique to women (think Mean Girls), or if we just notice it more or take it more personally because we don't expect women to be competitive with each other. Either way, I believe a competitive environment can create a toxic situation. Let me be clear though, I think "competitive" can carry both a positive and negative connotation. The positive meaning suggests that someone is capable and driven to succeed. I'm referring to the negative meaning, which suggests that someone views their coworkers as adversaries to be beaten in order to achieve personal success. I can tell you from my experience that it is not fun to work in such an environment, and it can hamper productivity.

Where does this scarcity mindset come from? Many people probably have a tendency to approach the world from one mindset or another to begin with. But I also believe that much of it comes from leadership. The team I worked on where the women supported each other? The leader of that team fostered an environment where the team's goals were all of our goals, and our individual accomplishments needed to support that goal. A failure of any one member would have meant failure for the team, and we were encouraged to help each other. The job where I felt the other women were competing with me? The leader of that group did not work to foster the team spirit. As cheesy as corporate team-building can sometimes feel, people notice when it is absent and make assumptions about leadership's priorities. Our goals were structured based on our leader's goals, and as a result people realized that individual accomplishments were what got you ahead. I assume many of these people felt that helping others achieve their goals would be to the detriment of their success.

So readers, I believe it is up to us, the future business leaders of the world, to make sure that we are fostering an abundance mindset at school and at work. Don't let Mean Girls happen to your team!

Girl Stuff

Sorry guys, this post pertains mostly to the ladies.

Being a woman in business is hard. We are surrounded by men in most cases (I am the only woman on my team, and I am the lowest pay grade too). And usually when we actually see a woman promoted to a position of considerable power, I don't know about all of you but I catch myself thinking "well I'm not as confident/powerful/smart/capable/whatever as her so I can't do what she did." Meanwhile, I have always been confident in my intelligence and ability to lead, so why do I always have these thoughts? My only explanation is that maybe women are so outnumbered in my field that I struggle to find people that I can relate to that have succeeded so that I can picture myself in that position. I think that's where I need to make the internal connection: by being able to confidently picture myself achieving success, I will set myself up to take the actions I need to take to reach it.

Lately I have found two things that are helping me make those connections. The first is a magazine called Pink. Its tag line is "A Beautiful Career, a Beautiful Life." I think anything directed at women these days discusses the work/life balance that we all try to achieve, and this magazine certainly addresses it. But it also focuses a lot on career issues, particularly issues that affect executives, like how to avoid the "glass cliff" (i.e. being set up for failure by becoming CEO during a rough time for a company), how to entertain clients, how to manage employees, etc. Every issue has profiles of women that own or run companies. It really doesn't focus much on women just starting out in their careers, but women that are already in management or higher, which is what I really like. It helps me create that vision for my future. They also have a lot of articles that focus on entrepreneurs, something I hope to be some day. It sounds silly, but just seeing examples of other women that have been able to do it helps me change my mindset and say, "yes, I can do that too." I highly recommend this magazine to all female MBA hopefuls.

Another thing I've gotten into lately is the new pair of TV shows highlighting women in business. Alex Fleming recently recommended Cashmere Mafia on his Wharton diary*, so I decided to check it out. I also started recording Lipstick Jungle, which is a similar premise (I think I like Lipstick better-it's better written and executed, but both shows are good). Both shows surround a group of girlfriends that also happen to be successful and powerful in business. They are billed as next generation Sex in the City shows, but I think they provide something more, because the plot points go into issues that any woman that has aspirations to be an executive knows she may face: men that try to undermine her, managers that seem to overlook her achievements, struggles with balancing family life, husbands that experience jealousy or resentment for her success and the time she commits to work, feelings of guilt over the same, etc. Of course it's all super-dramatic and unrealistic in the way it plays out. It is TV after all! But it's good to have a pop culture reference point for the issues which have never really been focused on before. Lipstick Jungle just had their season finale and Cashmere Mafia hasn't come back from the writer's strike and appears to have been canceled (BOO!). But you can watch all the episodes of both shows on their websites - click on the links at the top of the paragraph.

Not to worry, I will now return to gender-neutral posts ;)

*Which I was going to link to but now I can't even find the diaries. Are they discontinued??

Sometimes Statistics Can Be Cool

Check out this post on Freakonomics by Justin Wolfers, a Wharton professor. Really interesting. I'm still planning to waive Statistics though :)

If At First You Don't Succeed ... Go Back to the Easy Trails.

Just got back from a mini-vacation. Went skiing in Colorado. It was very fun, but I got a little too confident and ended up at the top of a trail looking down, terrified, and knowing I had no other way to get down than to just do it. Which I did, and crashed pretty bad. Wish I could say that it was worth it to try and fail, but I know I was feeling a lot better when I was rockin the easier slopes. So I went back to the flatter part of the mountain to end my day on a positive note. I think there is a life lesson in there somewhere ...

For Fun - Movies You'll Make Your Kids Watch

I thought I'd take a break from the MBA-related topics and talk about something random I've been thinking about. Did anyone else's parents make them watch movies that they loved as a kid? My dad made me watch Ben Hur and Spartacus. All the buzz for the new Indiana Jones movie has got me thinking about the movies I loved as a kid and what I'd want my kids to watch (and really hope that they actually like, unlike me with my dad's movies). Here's my list:

Indiana Jones Trilogy +1
Star Wars (the original trilogy)
Goonies
Back to the Future Trilogy
Ghostbusters
Karate Kid (1 & 2)
The Princess Bride

Can you tell I grew up in the 80's? What's your list?

America in Six Words

I'm a big fan of the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times website. It's definitely worth the time of anyone interested in business and economics. The book is also a must-read.

This week they have a contest for the best 6 word motto for the USA. I think they are all awesome, but I'm partial to #5 myself. We Americans are certainly a sarcastic bunch!

Planning Ahead Becoming Murky

I remember when I was a consultant, if friends wanted to plan a trip or get-together and it was beyond the roll-off date of my project, I had to completely bow out of the process since I had no idea where I was going to be physically and if the workload of the project would allow for a social life.
It feels a little like that now. I went to the dentist this morning (one of my least favorite activities to begin with, plus I found out I have two cavities ... but I digress). I'm due for my next cleaning in August. Usually I just schedule the next appointment on my way out the door, but this time I was stumped. In August I'll be smack in the middle of pre-term. I have no idea if I'm going to be busy non-stop during the normal hours of most businesses and health care professionals, or if perhaps I'll have an odd afternoon free. Plus, I'll be selling my car, so I have to figure out if I'll have enough time to take the train out there or if I'll need to do Philly Car Share. Maybe I should get a new dentist in the city to avoid the hassle? It's not really a big deal, but I guess my point is I haven't felt this kind of uncertainty about my availability in a long time. Thankfully it is for a good reason!

Excuses, Excuses ....

I know I promised a continuation of my "Why Wharton" post, and I still intend to do one! But the universe was conspiring against me, or at least against my blog ;)
First I got a horrible cold that knocked me out for several days. Even though I was home from work, I just didn't have it in me to put together a thoughtful post. Then, the wireless card on one of our computers went kaput. Hubby has been working very hard on his GMAT studying, which means he needed to use the one computer that did have wireless and that I was out of luck for internet access. Finally, we have procured a new wireless card and I am back online! But, it is getting late so "Why Wharton Part II" will have to wait for another day or two ... sorry!

The reason I have to get to bed early is I have a meeting with The Bob's in the morning. Yep, my company has hired a Top Management Consulting Firm to "find" some money for us, which means we have to go in and convince them not to put our names on any lists. I'm not too worried, but I should get some sleep and actually get to work on time (which I admit has been a challenge lately with the winter duldroms in full force). I wonder, should I ask them if any of them went to Wharton? Haha.

On Plagiarism, and Other Tidbits

I just caught up on my blogs after the weekend, and found this. I can't for the life of me fathom why someone would plagiarize a blog post. What could be gained?? It's just so odd to me, and yes, concerning to see proof that people like that may be in the same applicant or student pool as me. Creepy actually.

Hubby has decided to take the Manhattan GMAT class and take a stab at the GMAT in the Spring. I am very excited for him. His plans have yet to play out, but he's going to take advantage of this little lull in our lives to give it a shot. Good luck hubby!!

I just pulled out my Montauk book again to check out the chapters "What to Do Once You are Accepted" and "How to Get the Most Out of Business School." Two things jumped out at me:
1) He mentions a strategy of asking for a deferment from your second choice school, even if you get into your first choice, just in case something goes wrong with the first choice. That seems like a strange and rather unethical plan. I have heard of people doing this when they don't get into their first choice so that they can reapply to their first choice the following year, which I think makes a little more sense (but still isn't really ethical, but I'm not judging). I guess what struck me more is ... what does he mean by something going wrong? Should I be concerned??
2) Montauk recommends several books on each of the typical core MBA classes so that those from non-business undergrad background can read up before school starts. Wharton students on S2S have repeatedly said this is not necessary, unless you have no calculus background (I have plenty). I am confused about this. Should I use the time I have to prepare myself to hit the ground running academically? Or should I instead focus on completing some other priorities in my personal life (like downsizing all my stuff so I can squeeze into a student budget-friendly apartment, reading the novels and other fun books I have been eyeing since I won't have time come Fall, immerse myself in my hobbies, etc). Anyone out there able to speak from first-hand experience? Anyone receive good advice on this subject?

Reflection

It's January 1st, an appropriate day to reflect on the year past and the year ahead. It's also a good time to catch up on some neglected items, such as the RSS feeds in my Google Reader!

One blog I subscribe to is lifehack.org. It's a cool site that focuses on productivity. One post I read today I think speaks to both the theme of New Year reflection and links well to my personal experience with the MBA application process, 20 Questions to Help You Reflect the Past Year. The post discusses 4 facets of prosperity (material, spiritual, physical, and social) that you can evaluate for yourself by asking some key questions.

I can honestly either answer yes to many of the questions or at least say that I made some concerted efforts to make progress in those areas last year. I believe one big reason for this is the MBA application process. Simply acknowledging to myself that I want this, and I'm willing to go for it, and following through gave me a great feeling of satisfaction that I believe I still would have maintained even if I didn't get accepted to the programs I wanted. That is because I believe I've learned that the process of taking action toward a goal is much of the battle in terms of remaining in control of my happiness. In other words, success lies in the journey, not the destination (as they say).

Another unexpected benefit from the process is the huge amount of self-reflection that is necessary to craft a good application. I realized I hadn't thought back on my college accomplishments in a long time. I actually had to pull out old resumes to find activities that I had been involved in because I'd forgotten about them! I also realized that there are many accomplishments and worthy pursuits that I've accumulated since college that have truely impacted me and my happiness that I've never really reflected on. The end result, in addition to the essays, resumes, and completed application packages, is the confirmation for myself that I really do have a great life. Even before I heard back from schools, I felt lucky for what I have, proud of what I've done, and excited about the future. It's a really great feeling.