The Flip Flop Diary

Let's Rock, Tarheels

2011-08-25T17:56:00.003-10:00

Somewhere along the way between pre-teen New Kids On The Block groupie and full-on indie rock nerd, I landed the best job ever: I do freelance work as a music photographer. This involves going to music events and snapping away for various newspapers, magazines and websites. It's not a full time gig for me, but I do love to take on assignments when I have extra time to take off from my desk job. I have gotten pretty lucky recently and have established relationships with some major publications, one of which is going to pay off in two weeks when they fly me to North Carolina to photograph a music festival.

The bad news for my MBA plans is this means about 5 days when I'm going to be completely distracted from GMAT studying. The good news, however, is it means that I'm actually going to have the opportunity to visit Kenan-Flagler and Fuqua in person! I have no idea how to pronounce either of those names, so if any reader wants to clue me in, I would greatly appreciate it.

I've made preliminary contact with both schools, and looks like it may be to early to sit-in on classes, hopefully I'll be able to attend info sessions and also walk around campus a bit and check things out. I'm also thinking I should try to make contact with a current student at each, but I'm finding that oddly intimidating. But I guess now is as good a time as any to get over my fear of cold calls and networking.

All Hail The Smart Phone

2011-08-24T22:14:00.003-10:00

I'm typing this on my iPhone, which I suppose is appropriate given Steve Jobs' resignation earlier today. I had to drop off my MacBook Pro at the Apple Store this evening because the case is cracking and it needs to be sent back to the factory to have a part replaced. So for the meantime (or until I get desperate and find my 9 year old Dell laptop hidden in the back of my office closet) I'm officially computerless. (NB: My iPhone just autocorrected "computerless" to "computerized," because apparently the concept of being without a computer does not exist in Steve Job's world view.)

After dropping off the MacBook Pro, on my way back to my car, I may have gotten slighly distracted while passing through new foodcourt of our Japanese department store, Shirokiya. The $2 Kirin and edamame were excellent, but I can now confirm with certainty that a beergarden is really not the ideal location to bang out practice problems from Manhattan GMAT Book 1.

It's Prime Time

2011-08-23T16:56:00.002-10:00

Since my meltdown on Saturday afternoon post-GMAT flub, I've been pulling myself back together. I've cracked open Manhattan GMAT's Guide 1 (Numbers Properties) and am slowly making my way through. Although I feel like at this speed I'll never finish, so I probably need to push myself a bit harder to get to the stuff that is actually going to be helpful. The first few chapters on factoring, odd/even numbers, and prime numbers have been less than productive.

I have also been feeling extremely nostalgic for the gorgeous, wood-paneled, collegiate gothic-arched libraries of my undergrad Alma Mater. Somehow, studying in a coffee shop just doesn't compare. So I e-mailed a local contact who also happens to be a professor of Library Studies at a local university, and I'm hoping he will have some suggestions of places I can go and feel appropriately scholarly to get me in the mood. Although I know I'm not going to find climbing ivy on brick walls in Hawaii, maybe I can at least find somewhere relatively quiet so that I can do better at concentrating at my GMAT practice problems.

If At First You Don't Succeed, Go Get Drunk In A Corner

2011-08-22T12:58:00.002-10:00

The problem with us perfectionists is that sometimes the pressure of doing something absolutely exactly right leaves us reticent to start the endeavor in the first place. That was certainly the case for the GMAT, which I had originally planned to take a year ago. I created immense, elaborate study plans. I talked a big game. But I kept putting it off taking the test. And I kept putting off even cracking my study materials. Life stuff got in the way. Family stuff. Work stuff. So I scheduled the test for some arbitrary date in the future. And then I rescheduled it for later. And then rescheduled it again. Long story short, I ended up somehow sitting in my padded cubicle in the very austere, very quiet Pearson-Vue testing center on Saturday morning clicking buttons frantically without having really studied at all.

When my score popped up on the screen, it was 640. What's worse was my split: 89th percentile for verbal and 50th percentile for quantitative. Although the verbal score is just fine, the quantitative leaves a lot to be desired. I'll need study (for real this time) and then retake the test. It's a disappointment, but it's mostly just frustrating because I know it is entirely my fault.

This is Not Good

2011-08-20T12:22:00.002-10:00

I got a 640 on the GMAT. Fuck.

Hello From the Abyss

2011-06-01T20:47:00.003-10:00

Sometimes, life just happens. A family member gets sick, a coworker leaves the team, or maybe even a fantastic opportunity presents itself that's just too good to pass up, and you have to go drop everything and do it. Unfortunately, far too much of that life seems to happen to me, and seems to get in the way of my business school goals. Or rather, I let it get in the way.

Which is a long way of explanation and apology, to say, I'M BACK.

Newsflash: Business School Applicants Do Not Own Macs, According To The GMAC

2011-03-07T08:00:00.000-10:00

This weekend, I received my official enrollment materials in the mail for the GMAT, including their Information Bulletin and the GMATPrep CD. It feels... official! Unfortunately, the CD is not compatible with my MacBook Pro, and likewise for the online software download, so I'm going to have to have to either dig my old Dell laptop out of the back of my closet, or bring home my work laptop.

I've also been doing a bit of reading on GMAT prep, which is having me re-think my preliminary study ideas. On Stacy Blackman Consulting, two hours of studying is recommended for each desired score point increase. Beat The GMAT has a 60-day study plan which entails two to four hours per day for two months straight. Over at GMAT Club, the basic study plan for novices includes two to five hours per day, for three months!

So, how much is really enough?

Blogging: Shaken Not Stirred

2011-03-05T08:00:00.002-10:00

Graduates of the top MBA programs are poor writers. Or so suggests the Wall Street Journal in its March 3rd article titled "Students Struggle for Words."After having just written yesterday's post mentioning the grammatical errors in a published MBA admissions guide, I can't say that I'm entirely surprised by the article. The news also doesn't worry me, as a potential business school applicant, in the least. If I wanted to learn how to be a better writer, I would be applying to MFA programs in writing, not MBA programs. However, it does suggest some justification for spending time blogging: the more we write, the more we improve.

If writing is a cocktail, I see my blog as being one part motivating therapist, one part archival documentation, and one part brainstorming session: shake until combined, pour the mixture into a highball glass, and garnish with a heavy sprinkling of introspection. It may not make me tipsy, but hopefully I'll improve my skills and be rewarded with a few generous tips in the process.

Strunk & White R Us

2011-03-04T08:00:00.002-10:00

It's a dirty little secret that my former roommates are all too familiar with: I have a bit of a book hoarding tendency. Even in the age of the Kindle, the Nook, and a hundred other e-readers, there's something specifically appealing to me about the experience of pulling a fresh book off the shelf, cracking open the spine and smelling the pages. So, it should come as no surprise that I have amassed quite the collection of GMAT and MBA-related reading materials in the past year or so. Unfortunately, buying is much easier than actually reading, so it's about time that I finally put all these books to good use.

With that in mind, I finally took Paul Bodine's Great Applications for Business School (2nd edition) off my bookshelf last week and started to read my way through. I'm still on the second chapter, but I have some early impressions. Although the majority of the first two chapters provide the sort of standard advice that I've encountered before, there is one area where the book deviates quite significantly: Instead of advocating that applicants work on creating a "brand ME" message and pull together a cohesive story representing the components of that brand, Bodine emphasizes the need for authenticity above all else in the admissions process.

My other big impression from the first two chapters is the large number of grammatical errors. Although being a stickler for grammar isn't my favorite role, in this case I'll play it. It strikes me as highly ironic that a book dedicated to teaching applicants how to write good essays would itself be so riddled with writing errors, especially given that this is a second edition and therefore the writer and his editors had multiple chances to get it right.

I'll hold off on final judgment until I've finished the remaining chapters, but I have to say that the grammar issue has at least slightly deflated Bodine's credibility for me.

Facing the Rhinoceros

2011-03-03T08:00:00.010-10:00

In 1515, the celebrated German printmaker Albrecht Dürer created a woodcut to document one of the most sensationally talked about news stories of the year: the arrival of an Indian rhinoceros in Lisbon. The animal had been shipped to the King of Portugal as a strategic gift in celebration of Portugal's colonial presence in the Indian subcontinent. This was the event that was on everybody's lips, and word quickly made its way across Europe to Dürer in Nuremburg that there was now a rhinoceros in Europe, for the first time in at least 1000 years. However, Dürer was not able to travel to Lisbon to see the animal itself, so instead he created his print based on written descriptions and the sketches of fellow artists. Like a game of telephone, by the time the descriptions arrived in Nuremburg, the rhinoceros' features had been greatly distorted, and Dürer depicts it with a strange combination of reptilian characteristics and a set of armored plates across its back.
Much like Dürer depicting the rhinoceros, The first time I tried to do this post, I failed miserably. I had a whole long six-paragraph post all written ready to submit about about how curating a good art exhibition is like successfully applying to business school, and that the same components of preparation, relationship management, follow-through and sheer luck apply to both scenarios.

However, the more I typed, the more I realized that although I know quite a bit about curating a good exhibit, I know next to nothing about successfully applying to business school. Sure, I could write about what I think probably, maybe, theoretically makes a successful applicant, but who am I to say? And who on earth would want to read a blog post where someone who has no idea writes about a subject matter that she is ignorant about?

So, I'm putting the post on hold. Maybe I'll come back to it in June or July of 2012, when hopefully I'll be getting ready to move to some new town and start my first year of an MBA program. Maybe my hunches will be true, and I'll be able to say, "Aha! I knew all along!" But, more likely, I'll realize that my preliminary impressions on applying to business school were no more than a sixteenth-century rhinoceros print: all lizard scales and metal armor. One day I will have faced the beast in person and will be able to give a first-hand account. Until then, I'll just have to muddle my way through.

No White Lilies Please, Just Send Cash

2011-03-02T08:00:00.003-10:00

I can now tell you the exact date, time, location and cause of my death:

June 25, 2011, 8am, at a Pearson Testing Center,
due to cardiac arrest stemming from GMAT test day anxieties

In lieu of sending floral arrangements to the funeral home, Courtney asks that you write out monetary contributions to the Graduate-Management-Admissions-Council-Is-Taking-All-My-Money Fund.

That's right, I bit the bullet and signed up for my GMAT testing appointment. Although the last time I tried this, my strategy was not to sign up until I was getting satisfactory practice scores, we all know how well that worked out (I ended up flaking out and not studying at all). So now I'm locked into a date, and I better start preparing. If nothing else, the $250 testing fee is a pretty excellent incentive to take this seriously!

Reprioritizing; Or, The First World Problems of Being a Professional Party Girl

2011-03-01T08:00:00.005-10:00

Ok, after yesterday's moment of panic, I've had some time to think about things. I need to prioritize. Some of the things that are currently taking up a large chunk of my time (for example, doing nightlife photography and party blogging for a few select publications) are not relevant to my bigger goals. Moreover, the small additional income boost they provide is not enough to offset the opportunity cost of not spending that time studying for the GMAT or working on business school applications. Sure, it's fun to be recognized by bouncers and bartenders at clubs and never have to wait in line or pay a cover charge. And it's really, really fun to see photos of my friends splashed all over the social pages. But that is just not what I should be focusing my time on right now. I have bigger fish to fry.

I've devised a preliminary rough schedule. I'll have to tweak it, but here is what I'm thinking:

Not so bad, right? I mean, I'm practically swimming in free time. Maybe I should take on some new hobbies!

Is My Boyfriend Going to Dump Me for Being an MBA Applicant?

2011-02-28T08:00:00.004-10:00

After the initial rush of deciding that I'm really doing this, the reality has set in: I'm really doing this. How on earth am I going to find the time on top of having an insane job that requires me to work most weekends, and a second freelancer career that requires me to work many evenings? And moreover, can I do it without completely alienating my friends, boyfriend, and family? And where in all this am I going to be able to find time to go to the gym and cook meals and stay healthy? I have big concerns.

I think priority number one for me is going to be to devise a complete schedule so that at least somewhere in the realm of all-conditions-being-ideal, I know that it's possible to get everything done. I know there are thousands upon thousands of people who successfully do this every year, and many of them probably have even more commitments than me. Some of them may even have children to worry about. And from everything I have read, business school itself is certainly not a cakewalk. So if I can't handle this level of time management, I probably shouldn't be applying anyway.

Can someone remind me that the hard part hasn't even started yet?

Why The Oscars Are Not An Effective MBA Study Strategy

2011-02-27T08:00:00.005-10:00

Is Natalie Portman a role model for young women who want to climb the corporate ladder? That's what Sylvia Ann Hewlett will have you believe in her newest blog for Harvard Business Review. In "Does Female Ambition Require Sacrifice?," Hewlett argues that aspiring female business execs can have their cake and eat it too. Hewlett cites Portman's Harvard degree, Oscar nomination, and baby bump as evidence that "there's no penalty for those who aim for the lead, seize the stage, and strut their stuff — their femininity as well as their professional fervor."

As someone who is in the process of applying to the Boys-Club-Known-As-Business-School (current admissions statistics from BusinessWeek’s top 30 business schools show that women account for only 30 percent of admissions), and possibly later entering into the bigger Boys-Club-Known-As-The-Corporate-World, Hewlett's article seems both misleading and harmful.

The article is misleading because it uses an A-list actress as an example of a woman able to balance life/work without sacrifice, when having a fiance and pregnant belly is hardly evidence of anything other than a lack of successful contraception. The hard part isn't getting inseminated: it's everything that comes after that. We hadly know anything about Portman's private life, so it is impossible to judge her relationships and happiness in aspects other than her career. However, even if we were able, how useful would it really be to compare a Hollywood starlet to a female executive gunning for a C-suite position?

Hewlett's article is harmful because it obscures the real issues that women face in a corporate environment. There is a real penalty that these women (and men too) face: logging long hours on the job inevitably means that you're going to miss out on extracurricular, family and social engagements. At some point, there is necessarily going to be a trade-off where workers have to evaluate their priorities and recalibrate their ambitions as necessary. You can't have it all.

As Hewlett points out, companies including Time Warner, Deutsche Bank, Novartis and Intel should be lauded for the steps they have taken to implement programs that address gender imbalances and help to provide a hand up to women with high potential for senior-level leadership. Studies have shown that senior-level male executives already provide this type of mentorship in an informal way for their male underlings, so these formalized programs are a good way to level the playing field.

However, to deny the very real and tangible penalties that women face due to their career ambitions is in effect to belittle the sacrifices and trade-offs that are fundamental to many leadership-level positions.

Confessions of a Quarter-Life Crisis

2011-02-26T11:39:00.003-10:00

I have a bit of a confession to make:

Approximately a year and half has past since the last time I updated this blog, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. I haven't taken the GMAT. I haven't applied to business school. To be honest, I haven't even studied for the GMAT yet. So, what have I been doing? I've been embracing the opportunities which seem to keep on falling in my lap. It's quite extraordinary, really.

At my day job, our Executive Director stepped down, which opened up some opportunities for me to take on significantly increased levels of responsibility in several areas. In my preliminary business school application research, I had identified leadership as one of the key areas in which my applicant profile demonstrated weakness. So, I'm delighted that these new work opportunities have allowed me to step up to the plate and take a leadership role on new projects.

Moreover, on top of the day job stuff, my freelance side career has taken off like wildfire. I have been doing freelance writing and photography for various newspapers and magazines for a while, and at first it was mostly art exhibit reviews. But, I've more recently been tasked to cover music in addition to visual arts, I've somehow managed to snag a major freelancer spot in steady rotation for some pretty significant publications with circulation numbers in excess of one million. (To put it in perspective, that's a higher circulation figure than Forbes Magazine and Harvard Business Review, combined.) This means that I've been taking a lot of vacation days from my day job so that I can fly around the country, photographing and writing about rock music festivals and band tours. But it also means that I have hardly had time to make my bed in the past year, let alone apply to business school.

It has been exhilarating to have my career(s) take off like this. However, I also know that this is not sustainable in the long run. So here I am, back again, at the beginning.

Campus On A Hill

2009-09-21T17:38:00.000-10:00

Although progress has been slow on the GMAT front, I have been busy with other things. Not the least of which is that last week, I went on my first school visit! I spent Monday in Ithaca, New York at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, sitting in on classes, attending an info session and taking a tour.

I am still very early in the admissions process, so for me this visit was more about confirming that business school in general is the right direction for me to be taking, rather than confirming that the Johnson School in particular is the right choice for me. Because I know so few people that have gone through the MBA process, it was hugely helpful for me to actually see what the process is like, in person. I was already in the upstate New York area for a small music festival, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to visit, considering it's an area that I rarely (if ever) manage to visit.

I drove up to Ithaca late on Sunday night, leaving the music festival after the last band I wanted to see. By the time I exited the highway in the town of Whitney Point and made my way along the hilly two-lane back road towards Ithaca, dense fog had already descended upon the area, making for some slow-going. About an hour, two or three small towns, and many farm houses later, I arrived in Ithaca where I quickly checked into my motel and passed out on the bed, remnants of concert glitter and confetti still lodged in my hair.

The next morning, after a good scrubbing to make myself presentable, I made my way up the hill to Cornell for a full day of business school voyeurism. The school's friendly admissions representative Michael had informed me that classes are held at 8:30 and 10:00am, followed by an information session and tour at 11:40am. During the day of my particular visit, I had the choice of sitting in on three core courses with first-year students: Microeconomics for Management, Marketing Management, and Financial Accounting. These are the courses that all first year students take during the first half of their fall semester (unless they place out the requirement, as for example all CPAs do with Financial Accounting). During the second half of the fall semester, all first-years complete Statistics for Management, Managerial Finance, and Strategy. Both courses I opted to sit-in on, Microeconomics and Marketing, were lecture-based classes.

In Microeconomics, I was a little bit star-struck by Professor Robert Frank, a New York Times columnist and co-author of Principles of Economics (with none other than Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke). I'm guessing that Frank was at one point a radical or at least left-leaning hippie, judging from his numerous environmental issue-driven examples of economic concepts, from the problems with subsidies to small family farms (complete with a non sequitor about fertilizers poisoning the land) to airfoils atop cross-country commercial trucks and their relationship to changes in the cost of gas. However, it may also be that Frank simply knows his audience, and is playing to the fact that The Johnson School attracts many students who share this interest in environmental issues with its Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. The Johnson School will also be hosting the 2009 Net Impact Conference, further playing to this strength.

I was grateful for the 20-minute break between classes, during which time what seemed like the entire school congregated in the central atrium for a hectic (but still courteous) cattle call of free coffee, tea and hot chocolate, sponsored by the Dean's Office. Macho men these Johnson students are not: hot chocolate with copious amounts of whipped cream seemed to be winning out over coffee two-to-one. I would imagine that as the seasons get darker and colder, and the work-load gets heavier, this coffee break would become even more appreciated.

Marketing had less star-power with Visiting Professor Manoj Agarwal, who focused on issues of product line growth and brand extension drawing examples of consumer goods from shampoo to Starbucks. Although Agarwal's lecture was informative, some students seemed less than interested and I noticed several students in the back rows checking things on their Blackberrys or completing unrelated Accounting homework instead of paying attention to the lecture. The lecture halls of The Johnson School are all located in the basement of Sage Hall, which means no sunlight, no view of the outside world, and theoretically no distractions; although these MBA students have seemed to successfully find a way around that last bit.

Marketing was followed by an informal information session-tour-lunch with two bubbly first-year students. Both were female, probably no coincidence considering the current Director of Admission's goal to increase gender diversity. "Next year he wants the incoming class to be 50% female!" extolled one of the student guides enthusiastically. Our group of seven prospective students, including myself, and one prospective spouse were lead to Sage Hall's cafeteria, where we were treated to salads and sandwiches courtesy of the Office of Admissions. One prospective student, a sharply-dressed hotel owner from Mexico, looked down at his oversized edible tortilla bowl filled with chicken ceasar salad in a combination of shock and embarrassment as it made its way across the counter from cook to customer.

We made our way to a vacant classroom and while munching on our lunches, the two students went over a PowerPoint presentation of facts about The Johnson School. Prospective students interjected with questions as specific points of issues arose: How many Johnson students actually pair with students from other Cornell schools to develop new business ventures? Maybe one or two per year. Is it difficult to get into the classes you want? Only the popular ones. Does every student get his or her first choice of Immersion? Yes, unless he or she tries to change Immersion after the decisions are finalized. Does everybody have a Blackberry? No, iPhones are actually the only smartphones officially supported by the Cornell IT system. How has recruiting been this year considering the economic climate? Not as bad as they were expecting.

After the information session and lunch, our group was lead on a tour of the school. I thought that I had been wise to not book my visit in the dead of winter to avoid trudging through mud and snow, but in fact it turned out to be a moot point, as the entirely of The Johnson School is all contained within Sage Hall. Lecture halls, a small campus store (which stocks all textbooks), student lockers and locker rooms (with showers!), and a small kitchen/lounge area are in the basement. The first floor contains the library, a central atrium, smaller classrooms, the cafeteria and assorted offices. The second floor has more offices, library study spaces, and a computer lab that was almost entirely vacant. At the end of the tour, our student guides encouraged us all to apply for school's Park Leadership Fellows Program ("Why not!") and to utilize friends and colleagues to help look over and edit our application essays.

Our student guides lead us back to the Admissions Office, and we were given the option to attend the third and final core course of the day. However, I knew not to push it considering my late night the prior evening, so I instead headed for my rental car and the long 5-hour drive down into New York City.

Math Bootcamp

2009-08-21T09:23:00.004-10:00

For the past couple days, I've been working my way through The Ultimate Math Refresher for the GRE, GMAT and SAT. It's tedious, but I figure hopefully it's also a good way of easing me back into quantitative thinking before I tackle any of my straight GMAT prep books. I'm feeling a little shocked and embarrassed by how much I've actually forgotten since grade school. Like factoring to the find least common multiple, for example. I haven't used that skill since 7th grade!

I'd like to get into a groove for studying, including finding a dedicated workspace and blocking out some time in my schedule for force me to commit to a routine. Early morning before work is my gym time (or at least it's supposed to be -- with varying levels of success), so I think immediately after work is going to be my GMAT study time. I also went a little bit crazy at our local office supply store yesterday and bought myself a nice notebook and pens and highlighters in every color of the rainbow, to use for my studying. I'm a complete office supply geek, so the idea of cracking open the cover of a shiny new notebook and filling it up with practice problems is actually quite good incentive for me to get working. I'm of the do-whatever-works school of thought when it comes to getting things done, so if bribing myself with office supplies is effective, I'll take it!

Plan of Attack

2009-08-18T22:17:00.031-10:00

In my last post, I outlined that I plan to spend this fall studying for the GMAT, the spring looking at schools, and the summer writing applications. I realize that I should try to break down my fall GMAT studying further, into more tangible blocks. So the following is a makeshift schedule I have organized for the purposes of my preliminary planning. Blame the fact that I used to teach for its uncanny resemblance to a class syllabus.

RESOURCES

Books Currently On-Hand:

The Ultimate Math Refresher for the GRE, GMAT, and SAT
Kaplan GMAT: 2004 Edition (freebie, missing CD, probably will not use)
Kaplan GMAT Comprehensive Program: 2008 Edition (freebie, probably will not use)
Kaplan GMAT Premier Program: 2009 Edition, with CD
Barron's GMAT: 15th Edition
Princeton Review Cracking the GMAT: 2009 Edition
The Official Guide for GMAT Review: 11th Edition
The Official Guide for GMAT Quantitative Review

Potential Supplemental Materials:

The Official Guide for GMAT Review: 12th Edition
Manhattan GMAT Preparation Guides
Kaplan GMAT Advanced: 2009-2010 Edition

Computer Adaptive Tests (CATs) for Practice:

Official GMATPrep Software (2 tests, PC only)
Kaplan practice test online (1 test)
Kaplan CD-ROM (4 tests, CD from Premier Program: 2009 Edition)
Princeton Review practice test online (1 test)
Manhattan GMAT practice exam (1 test)
Veritas Prep GMAT Simulator (1 test)

PRELIMINARY STUDY SCHEDULE

Week of August 17, 2009
MON: Off
TUE: Put together schedule
WED: The Ultimate Math Refresher, Arithmetic, p. 5-95
THU: The Ultimate Math Refresher, Algebra & Word Problems, p. 97-196
FRI: The Ultimate Math Refresher, Geometry, 197-255
SAT: CAT 1
SUN: Off

Week of August 24, 2009
MON: Princeton Review, Orientation, p. 1-48
TUE: Princeton Review, GMAT Math Basic Principles through Arithmetic, p. 49-117
WED: Princeton Review, Algebra & Applied Arithmetic, p. 120-158
THU: Princeton Review, Geometry & Advanced Data Sufficiency, p. 159-219
FRI: Princeton Review, Sentence Correction & Reading Comprehension, p. 221-282
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of August 31, 2009
MON: Princeton Review, Analytical Writing Assessment, p. 283-347
TUE: Princeton Review Warm Up Test
WED: Princeton Review Paper Practice Test, verbal section
THU: Princeton Review Paper Practice Test, quantitative section
FRI: Princeton Review Paper Practice Test, review answers
SAT: CAT 2
SUN: Off

Week of September 7, 2009
MON: Barron's, Introduction, p. 1-48
TUE: Barron's, Diagnostic Test, p. 49-90
WED: Off (away on travel)
THU: Off
FRI: Off
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of September 14, 2009
MON: Off
TUE: Off
WED: Barron's, Essay Writing & Reading Comprehension, p. 91-136
THU: Barron's, Sentence Correction & Critical Reasoning, p.137-172
FRI: Barron's, Arithmetic & Algebra, p. 173-237
SAT: CAT 3
SUN: Off

Week of September 21, 2009
MON: Barron's, Geometry & Tables and Graphs, 238-281
TUE: Barron's, Mathematics Exercises A & B, p. 282-295
WED: Barron's, Mathematics Exercises C & D, p. 296-322
THU: Barron's, Quantitative and Verbal Practice Sections, p. 323-362
FRI: Off
SAT: Barron's, Sample Test 1, p. 363-402
SUN: Off

Week of September 28, 2009
MON: Barron's, Sample Test 1, review answers
TUE: Kaplan Premier 2009, Introduction through Critical Reasoning, p. 1-46
WED: Kaplan, Critical Reasoning Practice Quiz, p. 47-94
THU:Kaplan, Sentence Correction, p. 95-114
FRI: Kaplan, Sentence Correction Practice Quiz, p. 115-154
SAT: Barron's, Sample Test 2, p. 403-444
SUN: Off

Week of October 5, 2009
MON: Barron's, Sample Test 2, review answers
TUE: Kaplan, Reading Comprehension, p. 155-218
WED: Kaplan, Arithmetic & Algebra, p. 219-275
THU: Off (away on work trip)
FRI: Off
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of October 12, 2009
MON: Kaplan, Geometry, p. 276-350
TUE: Kaplan, Problem Solving, p. 351-402
WED: Kaplan, Data Sufficiency, p. 403-468
THU: Kaplan, Word Problems, p. 469-486
FRI: Kaplan, Analytical Writing Assessment & Take Control Of The Test, p. 487-520
SAT: Kaplan Full-Length Paper Practice Test
SUN: Kaplan Full-Length Paper Practice Test, review answers

Week of October 19, 2009
MON: Official Guide 11th Edition, What Is The GMAT & How To Prepare, p. 6-17
TUE: Official Guide, Diagnostic Test (Verbal Only), p. 18-105
WED: Official Guide, Diagnostic Test (Quantitative Only), p. 18-105
THU: Official Guide, Diagnostic Test, review answers
FRI: Official Guide, Math Review, p. 106-147
SAT: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 1-31 only), p. 148-156
SUN: Off

Week of October 26, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 32-63 only), p. 156-160
TUE: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 64-95 only), p. 160-164
WED: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 96-127 only), p. 164-169
THU: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 128-159 only), p. 169-173
FRI: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 160-191 only), p. 173-178
SAT: CAT 4
SUN: Off

Week of November 2, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 192-223 only), p. 178-182
TUE: Official Guide, Problem Solving (Sample Questions 224-249 only), p. 182-186
WED: Official Guide, Data Sufficiency (Sample Questions 1-31 only), p. 272-280
THU: Official Guide, Data Sufficiency (Sample Questions 32-63 only), p. 280-282
FRI: Official Guide, Data Sufficiency (Sample Questions 64-95 only), p. 282-286
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of November 9, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Data Sufficiency (Sample Questions 96-127 only), p. 286-288
TUE: Official Guide, Data Sufficiency (Sample Questions 128-155 only), p. 288-290
WED: Official Guide, Reading Comprehension (Sample Questions 1-34 only), p. 340-358
THU: Official Guide, Reading Comprehension (Sample Questions 35-69 only), p. 359-371
FRI: Official Guide, Reading Comprehension (Sample Questions 70-104 only), p. 372-383
SAT: CAT 5
SUN: Off

Week of November 16, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Reading Comprehension (Sample Questions 105-141 only), p. 383-393
TUE: Official Guide, Critical Reasoning (Sample Questions 1-31 only), p. 464-476
WED: Off (away on travel)
THU: Off
FRI: Off
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of November 23, 2009
MON: Off
TUE: Off
WED: Off
THU: Off
FRI: Off
SAT: Off
SUN: Off

Week of November 30, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Critical Reasoning (Sample Questions 32-63 only), p. 476-486
TUE: Official Guide, Critical Reasoning (Sample Questions 64-95 only), p. 486-495
WED: Official Guide, Critical Reasoning (Sample Questions 96-124 only), p. 495-504
THU: Official Guide, Sentence Correction (Sample Questions 1-35 only), p. 630-642
FRI: Official Guide, Sentence Correction (Sample Questions 36-71 only), p. 642-649
SAT: CAT 6
SUN: Off

Week of December 7, 2009
MON: Official Guide, Sentence Correction (Sample Questions 72-106 only), p. 649-654
TUE: Official Guide, Sentence Correction (Sample Questions 107-138 only), p. 655-660
WED: Official Guide, Analytical Writing Assessment, p. 728-797
THU: Review incorrectly answered questions
FRI: Review incorrectly answered questions
SAT: CAT 7
SUN: Off

Hello, My Name Is

2009-08-17T15:05:00.000-10:00

It strikes me as somewhat odd that for the first time in my life, an admissions committee might consider me a diversity candidate. First of all, I'm female. From what I gather about business school, being female ranges from somewhat odd (NYU Stern is 39% women) to quite odd (Tepper at Carnegie Mellon is an astoundingly low 21% women). Pair my gender with the fact that I'm a non-profit arts worker with a M.A. in Art History and a secret life as a freelance art critic for a handful newspapers and magazines, living on an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and my guess is that I won't be commiserating about GMAT prep or Kellogg application essays with any of my current friends and colleagues.

In fact, applying to business school is virtually unheard of in both my social and work circles. Considering it as a possibility is exciting, but it's also more than a little isolating. I'm hoping that's where this blog and the internet will come in, to give me a much-needed sounding board and community.

I should clarify that there are some more ordinary things about me too. I'm Caucasian. I'm currently 27 years old with two years of full-time work experience. I have a B.A. in Art History and Economics from a top-10 liberal arts college, from which I graduated with a 3.5 GPA. I haven't yet taken the GMAT, but I scored a 640 on my first practice test.

My plan is a lengthy one, but I have always been one for planning. My current goal is to matriculate in the fall of 2011. I recognize that I could consolidate this time line significantly by sending in my applications this winter and planning to start school in the fall of 2010, but I worry that my lack of work and leadership experience, and possibly weak letters of recommendation, would be my downfall.

So instead, I plan to spend the extra year bolstering my application. I'll take on additional projects and responsibilities at work to give me some meaty material to drawn upon in my application, and I'll also work on strengthening my relationships with two or three key supervisors and colleagues to develop as possible recommendation-writers.

This fall, I will prepare for the GMAT and take the test, in addition to doing some preliminary reading and research about schools and the application process. By the spring, I'll hopefully have a solid GMAT score, and I'll be able to start honing in on a final list of schools and do some more in-depth research including talking to current students and visiting campuses. That will give me the summer to work on applications, and I should be ready to submit applications by the fall of 2010.

A Bit of Background

2009-08-16T16:25:00.001-10:00

It all started last October, when 52% of the employees at my small, Honolulu-based non-profit arts organization were laid off. I would like to say I was one of the lucky minority, but I was not. I would like to say that the powers-that-be had made a huge mistake, but they did not.

The simple fact is, the layoffs had been a long time coming. Large-scale inefficiencies had dominated the operations of the organization for years. Although the factors that contributed to the layoffs were devastating (namely the drastic drop in the stock market and the subsequent devaluation of the organization's already small endowment, as well as the drying up of donations and grants), the layoffs themselves were one of the smarter things the organization could have done.

The layoffs were also one of the better things that could have happened to me. Through the networking tenacity of former supervisors coupled with sheer luck, I had dotted the i's and crossed the t's on a new offer of employment from another local non-profit arts organization within two weeks of leaving my former position.

The culture of my new workplace is astounding different. Transparency and innovation are core values that trickle down from the upper echelons of the organization into every aspect of its operations. Seeing these components of a successful, efficient organization in action has taught me the fundamental importance of strong leadership. In business, and especially in non-profit arts organizations, pure passion and good intentions alone are sadly inadequate. However, it is often just these sorts of passion-driven arts advocates, lacking in quantitative backgrounds and hard business experience, who end up at the helm of arts organizations.

I don't want to be one of those people. So it is with that driving motivation, to be the kind of leader who can support the arts with both passion and business savvy, that I embark upon this MBA journey.