Race against time

I'm trying to figureout how the forthcoming months will be for me with gmat, essays, recos and finally office work and travel over my head. It seems a little daunting and feel the situation is something like 'Too many things to do and too little time'. Apparently, the mantra is to prioritize and just move on.

Few of the bschools have posted their deadlines and the few have their essay questions out. Some of the fellow bloggers have started identifing recommenders and few started to work on their essays and the rest are busy researching schools. But my path is not a bed of roses. Unlike others who first get rid of gmat from their way and start focusing on other aspects of application, i on the othehand have to do gmat prep, school research, recommendations and essays simultaneously. A real test to my multi-tasking skills.

Here is the plan of action for the next few months.

June - Quite eventful month, i must say. Intensified my prep in the last days and gave gmat, though i didnt get the desired score. May be i underestimated gmat or..ok whatever.

July - Enjoyed vacation. Now i'm back to den, but yet to start gmat prep for retake.

To do: Schools research and my inevitable office work.

August - To do: Retake gmat and finish it forever. Finalize the list of schools for R1. Inform recommenders about my plans and ask for recos.

September - Its essasy's time. Writing rough drafts and revamping them till we get a master piece. To do: Make sure that recommenders are doing their job.

October - Some schools have their deadlines in the second week of oct itself and few have deadlines in the first week. Its time to submit my first application.

To do: Redraft essays and make a final version of them. Send them to few close friends for reviewing. Ensure that recommenders are submitting the reco's in time. I don't want to face the tense moments in the elventh hour.

November - Few schools have deadlines in Nov.

To do: Finish with all most all the R1 applications.Start researching schools for R2. Pray to god and wait for some interview calls. If we get one, start preparing for interviews. Thank recommenders for their time and invaluable support.

December: Wait for interview calls, research R2 schools. Identify mistakes we made in R1. Reform your essays. Still no interview calls. Dont panic. Try putting one or two safe schools.

January- Submit all your R2 applications. Thank recommenders again for their support. Wait for interview calls. If you get one then all your time will be sucked for interview preparation which is worth spending.

February- Its waiting time. May be we will get results for all R1 schools and interview calls (if any) for R2 schools also. Prepare for inteviews.

March - Still no admits after interviews (yeah, sometimes i can be a real pessimist). Again don't worry. Depending on the time frame (I,being an international applicant) apply for one or two schools as a last resort in R3. Yes, one of my friend applied in R3 and got into two schools. One of them is in Top 15. This news is a real confidence booster for me.

Remember: No matter what the result is, its really important to enjoy the process. I know, its easier said than done.

So atleast till march, we have to face all this drama. If at all i got an admit by dec/jan, i will pack my bags and go to world tour. (just kidding).

Oops, i forgot about the toefl. In the middle of all this commotion, i have to find time to give my toefl because i dont want any last minute hiccups like schools aksing me for a toefl score. I will take toefl in august or september.

All along we have to manage our day jobs and any travels if req. How about friends, parties and movies during this time?

Blessing in disguise

My presence might be required in US in the months of sept or oct for a duration of 3-4 months. Though i am looking forward to it, I am in a situation where i can't decide how to go a head. Lemme go throught the pros and cons...
Rewards:
-I can get a feel of the enviornment, culture and other things of US before starting my school.
-I can go for school visits. (This i never thought is possible)
-I can meet current students and attend some classes to get the first hand experience of the classes and the whole bschool environment.
-If i am still in US for interviews (if i can get any), there might be a possibilty that i can request them to conduct interview in the school itself. (There might be some advantages of having an interview in the school rather than in other country, but i am not sure of this. experts please comment).
-I can save money and this will help to some extent to finance my mba. (well this should be the first point in the list. it relieves the financial burden to a certain extent)
-Definately adds to my international experience which is lacking in my resume.
-May be i can find some plan B. Infact there is no plan B as of now, but when if everything goes topsy-turvy, It is always good to have a plan B.
-I might get a chance to meet my kith and kin there.

Disadvantages:
-Sept & Oct is the peak time where every applicant is engaged in writing, rewriting essays, submitting recommendations and finally filling the applicaitons and sending them before deadlines. As everyone knows, this arduous task is time consuming and one cannot do this in haste. Every one knows the amount of work pressure one faces when placed on the client side. It becomes very difficult to sneak out (read: time management) and spend time on our essays and apps.
-Difficult to reach my recommenders and to have a tête-à-tête chat explaining my goals to them.(I identified three recommenders, one recommender already knows my plans, but for the other two i will let them know only in mid-august or september. I think they will have enough time to finish their recommendations).
-I might have to put a full stop to the list of activities i am planning to pursue post gmat. (But this is the least of my worries).

The cons look disheartening, but at the same time the pros look appealing.Is it a kind of catch-22 situation i am in..well i donn't know!!! Its time to wear by thinking cap..

Derailed..Back on track

"There's nothing really difficult if you only begin - some people contemplate a task until it looms so big, it seems impossible, but I just begin and it gets done somehow. There would be no coral islands if the first bug sat down and began to wonder how the job was to be done."
Because of the vagaries in the last month i was coerced to take vital decisions that burnt a hole in my pocket. Yeah!!! i belong to those 'some peple who contemplate a task until it looms so big'. I proudly declare that i have re-scheduled my gmat. There are few reasons. I have to go out-of-town and my presance is required there. This has happened three weeks before my gmat schedule date, more over my preparation is moving at snails pace. My scores in the pratice tests is not at all appealing. All these factors enforced me to re-schedule gmat for a later date which is two months away. I started my preparation slowly and planning to rise the intensity with time. Hope i am back on track.
I am doing a great deal of thinking on 'did i make a mistake by booking the date early'. Well i booked my date two months in advance and i still belive that it was enough for me to give a good shot. There is no point in beating a dead horse and absolutely no point in pondering over something that was over and anything which i cannot change. Still my mind hovers to that every now and then.

I almost decided on the list of schools for which i want to send my scorecard to based on the basic program structure, class size, loan & fin-aid options, location, placements and finally their importance for international applicants. I think i did enough research on this part and atleast for the next two months i want to take my mind off the schools so that i can concentrate on preparation.
Of late i am thinking of the list of activities that i want to pursue post gmat. Well i am doing this pretty early, but there is nothing that i lose my planning something in advance.
1. Take a break for a week and visit my parents. (irrespective of the score and if i didnt get my desired score, prepare for a month and give it again in the last week of july).
2. Start research on my post mba career. (I never did this and it will help me in defining my short term goals).
3. Explore opportunities in europe. (atleast on the job front).
4. Explore more on fin-aid and loan options. (This is very important for me)
5. Improve my writing skills. (I always thought that my writing skills are good, but blogging taught me that there is a huge room for improvement)
6. Reach-out to alumni, current students of few schools of my interest.
7. Do an indepth analysis of the various mba programs.
8. Resume my community service activites. (i have achievements in the work place and leadeship roles that i think are worth mentioning. To be upfront my role in community activities sucks. i am involved with couple of ngo's but i never did something which i felt is great. Anyhow i have to improve significantly on this).
9. Spend only 1/2 hour in bw forms. (rightnow i am only reading all blogs in hellas list).
10. Start french and german classes. (don't know how feasible this would be. But i will try my best to get proficient in atleast one of these languages before going back to school)
11. Get back to strumming. (yeah!! almost forgot everything i learnt).
12. Improve my excel programming skills (Maybe attend a two-day training)
13. Continue my workouts..(try for a six-pack....no joking.. i am hell bent on this)
If at all something comes to my mind, i will update this list.

Winter has past
Spring has gone
Summer is here
And the song that I meant to sing
Is still unsung
I have spent my days whining and dining....
aloha!!!