"Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself."

Friday, August 31, 2007

Updates

I know..I know.. I know..Its been a long time since my last post. The running turtle got a little lazy when he is supposed to be busy with essays. Here are the updates on various aspects of my application.

GMAT
After a lot of thinking and rethinking, i still couldn't come to any plausible conclusion regarding my GMAT. Yeah!!! i already took once and scored in 600's (read: less than 650). I am in a dilemma whether to apply with the same score or take gmat again and improve my lacklustre score. I spent some time in the BW b-school forums reading all the low gmat success stories to find some motivation. Moreover, it becomes really difficult to zero in on the schools when you have a low score. When i look at some of my favourite schools average gmat scores (in the ranges of 680-710), i feel that it's a total waste to apply to those schools with my non-stellar, good for nothing score.
All in all, I came to the conclusion that its better to take gmat again. I still have time and energy to do it again and there is no point in believing that i can become yet another success story with low gmat score. It might happen, but it looks like i am at the heights of optimism. All these days, due to some unavoidable circumstances (read: work and personal problems) i couldn't take gmat again. But now i figured that i might get time in October to take gmat once again to kill that beast forever. So part of september will be dedicated to gmat prep apart from writing essays.

TOEFL
Initially, i decided to write TOEFL once i am done with GMAT. But i changed my plans and wrote gmat few weeks back. I even got my score which cleared the minimum requirement of 100+ for many schools. But i failed to score 25+ in one section (read: Speaking) which is a requirement for very few schools. I didnt know this before the test. Anyhow it's not that serious to worry about.

Essays
The only progress i did in this most important aspect of application process is to read sample essays. I didn't even write a single draft, but i am aiming to apply for 3-4 schools in R1. I am not even sure of which schools to apply for. Now after reading all this, I am sure many will think that i have gone insane. This guy don't even have a good gmat score, planning his next attempt in oct, don't even write a single essay (not even rough drafts) and moreover don't have a definite list of those 3-4 schools. But aspiring to send application to atleast three schools in first round. I think this evidence is enough to come to that conclusion. Ok.. jokes apart, i want to get serious about this whole process. No more slacking!!! I am planning to start my essays with Darden. Lets see how much progress i will make this weekend.

Run TURTLE Run...Gotta finish the race!!!