I haven't been around here for a while, and the Roma - Man Utd game tonight looks like it may be a good game (as does tomorrow's Chelsea match) so a decent update may wait a while.
Or it may not, because I have a change in motivation for daytime pursuits.
School A - Ding with Interview.
School 2 - Admit.
School Z - Ding no Interview.
School A was a frustrating one, as it came through well before school 2, and put a huge stress of the am-i-going-to-get-in-anywhere kind on the household. All the same, had school A and school 2 come through, consideration of Ms Soliloquous and other things would have made it a real tricky call - she clearly favoured the location of school 2.
My school A interview was a washout, so I wasn't too hopeful. But, as this was countered by an alumni asking to send a recommendation to offset this, I thought there might be some hope. Alack, it was not to be. I am actually happy it wasn'ta waitlist, as the torturous wait with the necessity of student visas et al would have been painful.
So, school 2 it is - assuming funds and other stuff run fine. Emigrating. A move of career. It's all happening here, and damn soon.
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MBA. Show all posts
Tuesday, 10 April 2007
Wednesday, 14 March 2007
time drifts by like a neon snake
Updates have been sparse this week. This is due to a current experiment in my daytime world of our team. It is the increased workload, decrease headcount experiment. Time series data shows this experiment trends towards failure, but if it works offers great rewards to the implementer.
Anyway, this means I am hectic busy, silly hours busy. That, and outside of times I am spending as much in the company of Ms Soliloquous as possible – mostly because I am away for a week visiting A, 2, and Z. Not just that, but then a week after I return she is away for a fortnight over easter on Maid-of-honour and family visiting duties.
This can be summarised to mean two things:
If I find interweb access, you may get some posts while I am in the US. If instead I am absorbing culture whilst listening to HNAS and Nu-Creative Sounds and other stuff then sorry. Everyone needs a holiday (of sorts).
From my return, we will pick up more on the GMAT stuff. I have elements noted down and constructed but they aren’t ready. Folks, I know that GMAT is a topic of great value to some, and just plain huge bad-mind discussion to others. Every word is likely to be assessed, so I have to make sure it reads as intended. I want to get it right, and the two weeks that Ms S is away are a good opportunity for this. Though there may be some Champions League football around then, and pubs open. So, don’t put your house on it being every day.
But, for the meantime, let’s have a roll call on the schools.
A – Interviewed. Visit arranged.
2 – Interview arranged. Visit arranged as well.
Z – Visit arranged. Radio silence phase one persists, and could for about another month before serious concerns begin. Softly, softly, catchy monkey.
Any other business
So that is the schools bit. In other things, I was indulging in a happy pastime of fatty TV™ (read ITV2, ITV3, BBC3, BBC4) last night. Modern programming seems to have moved a focus onto kids who only eat chips (applause when they eat a sausage) and only eat beans. Then there was the 27 stone teenager, who needed a leg-pressure gauge on her arm to take her blood pressure. Well, last night was the fattest kid on earth, the 17 stone seven year old from Russia. Chubby delight. The Stanley Cup of Fatty TV, he was. As ever, they send a doctor along from A-Developed-CountryLand to check him out, and conclude that he is fat. Not only that, but concluding that being seven years old and weighing more than an overweight 6ft man isn’t healthy. Fall off your chair stuff it was, really. ADCL Doctor reckoned that his mom was feeding him ‘roids to get him into being a mythical beast (he was praised as a reincarnation of some mythical heavy, honest) and to become a pro sumo wrestler. He has the bone structure of a 13 year old, they say. Well, considering he is one-and-a-half times my late-twenties bone structure carries, it is just as well. It was FAF to watch 17-stone fatty take on a normal size kid his age at sumo. Unsurprisingly, he won. Sumo coach was impressed with his skills. Beyond the humanitarian and health mask to the programme, they fit in the “look at the fatty!” moments with style. Small carriage of big wheel (legs dangling)? Check. Swimming? Check. “Exercising”? Check. In a bumper car, trashing smaller peoples cars? Check. Filling a front seat in a car? Of course.
There is new theme music on hollyoaks. It has been given the thumbs down by the jury.
I made a sock monkey at the weekend when the rugby was on (I didn’t watch the rugby). It was a nice day in the pub with friend photographer and his lovely lady. Her sock monkey was the better of the four, but it appears to have lost its ears in transit on the way back to Nottingham. Photos of the dwarf, mentally impared-looking sock monkey I made may arrive later in the week.
The Saints have won the league. After all the concerns in the recent post, schedule means I will play the final game, make the ball, and get to the US. We won at the weekend 5-2 in a somewhat impressive performance. I apologise (for about the umpteenth time) to the player I hit in the head with the ball, and needed length medical attention to stop the bleeding. Unintentional, as he understands. Getting their forward sent-off was a bit more planned. Anyway, third and second played at the weekend, and the result all but gave us the title, barring some very suspicious score-lines (and also us having to lose badly against second place this weekend). That means champagne and all on Saturday. Hoorah.
Anyway, this means I am hectic busy, silly hours busy. That, and outside of times I am spending as much in the company of Ms Soliloquous as possible – mostly because I am away for a week visiting A, 2, and Z. Not just that, but then a week after I return she is away for a fortnight over easter on Maid-of-honour and family visiting duties.
This can be summarised to mean two things:
If I find interweb access, you may get some posts while I am in the US. If instead I am absorbing culture whilst listening to HNAS and Nu-Creative Sounds and other stuff then sorry. Everyone needs a holiday (of sorts).
From my return, we will pick up more on the GMAT stuff. I have elements noted down and constructed but they aren’t ready. Folks, I know that GMAT is a topic of great value to some, and just plain huge bad-mind discussion to others. Every word is likely to be assessed, so I have to make sure it reads as intended. I want to get it right, and the two weeks that Ms S is away are a good opportunity for this. Though there may be some Champions League football around then, and pubs open. So, don’t put your house on it being every day.
But, for the meantime, let’s have a roll call on the schools.
Any other business
Friday, 9 March 2007
World MBA Tour (except not really much of the world)
I have been running with song titles as blog headlines for quite a length of time now (in such an infant page, this claim can be dealt with the disregard it deserves). But last night was one of those things that fill rare qualities on here. “Relevance”, being the main one of those qualities that is so rare, we best dwell on it.
The World MBA tour thing hit town. It was in Holborn, and I was interested in going along for a variety of reasons. First, I have the big dinner thing coming up at the same venue in a fortnight, so I could scout for pubs. Second, I have done very little of the “conventional” MBA research stuff. I did GMAT from a whim in a NYC bookstore (well, a bit more considered than that, but lets sell it as “self-started” and move on), I selected MBA schools without them trying to select themselves onto me, and I have only really talked about what and where with people [i]once[/i] I had applied. Third, there were some schools there where meeting them might be a good idea.
So, I trekked across town (WC sucks), the Central line in rush hour being the typical bandit-fare as ever. There was a lengthy queue outside the venue. This was the first bad sign. A queue to get to see some tables. I got flyered for courses in the queue. This was fun – the last time I got fliers in a queue I found out that Ariel Pink was doing another show in town (outside the Boredoms gig, it actually gave me the url for upset the rhythm so I knew of their shows). These were not so fun. Do people really spend £1000 on a training course on GMAT? If so, I have dead-straight got myself a sideline earner when I get into school. I would guarantee one-on-one tuition to get someone up to their required GMAT for $1500. Reasonable cap meaning I don’t get people saying 800 and all. That will safely cover the bills.
Anyway, that isn’t the point. I am waiting outside what is little more than a recruitment fair, at 6pm in a street in London. Because the registration is taking too long (this being after online registration – registration appeared to be checking your name on a bundled list, taking some money off you and giving you a sticker). I waited about fifteen minutes, mostly with the aim to see one school and then float around.
Once I got in, it was like societies fair at university. Tables, little presentation screens, gimmicks to try and draw you in. It seems very odd to me that Schools are so keen to make an effort to recruit – it almost points to the fact they are struggling for numbers or quality applicants I find. Sure, this is not a factually based thought, but it is the impression that you get – a desperate desire to increase numbers, quality or whatever. I think this is actually partly based upon the fact that I hate this type of event.
Anyway, World MBA tour was somewhat a misnomer. Several of the schools advertised on the site earlier in the week had pulled their stands, most significantly including the one that I wanted to see. International scoring on the stands was three Australian, one Windies, one Singaporean, and seven US. The rest were European. Not wanting to go to a European school, this kind of killed the night off for me. Sure, before I get told I should research these things, I was there for one school, that I found out was pulled as I went in. Having queued and paid, I had a look around (and picked up a monster.com ugly toy thing.) As for the popularity, the LBS and INSEAD stands were rocked off their feet, and every other stand was trying to lure people in. Not much surprising there, then.
The crowd was very representative of every business school trend I have seen reported. Sure I had read that there was the huge surge in Indian applications, but I was taken aback when I was in the fair. I had lazily assumed that this would be a localised effect on global applications, whereas it became rapidly apparent that the MBA is a big thing to Indians, full stop. It was very fun to be in a space where there as such a demographic mix Рsadly, there was little reason to be there. There were lots of really quite serious looking people there too. I suppose I should have expected this, but it left me feeling quite distressed. I hoped for lots of work hard, but look like they would be fun in the pub folks. I got people who would probably order cr̬me de menthe. Not good.
I looked into the presentation rooms, but it was a talked-to powerpoint on preparation. Given I have applied to three schools, interviews with two, it was all a little late for me. Given that I hate powerpoints even when they are even relevant (unless the presenter is actually captivating, which is sadly rare). Lots of people were there, and I hope some got a lot out of it. It was disappointing for me that none of the major schools were there, but I suppose this sits so badly in their schedule of stuff to do, it is hardly surprising. As I alluded to earlier – having your admissions staff here would suggest you are low on applicants to review, or – maybe – you are in town interviewing around the date.
Whether I get in or not, I will not be heading back to one of these events. Interaction with the desks for the schools didn’t look as though it would be particularly beneficial to any applicant’s case. It was more having someone to speak to about things, formulate their first ideas about MBAs, GMAT, in a place where you know they will try and sell whatever you want to hear to you. If you want that, these things are great. If you don’t, then you will probably feel the internet has superseded the necessity for such road-show events, as you can find the information yourself. I am firmly in the latter category.
It did look like a good party venue though, and at least when I return to the venue, there will be alcohol.
The World MBA tour thing hit town. It was in Holborn, and I was interested in going along for a variety of reasons. First, I have the big dinner thing coming up at the same venue in a fortnight, so I could scout for pubs. Second, I have done very little of the “conventional” MBA research stuff. I did GMAT from a whim in a NYC bookstore (well, a bit more considered than that, but lets sell it as “self-started” and move on), I selected MBA schools without them trying to select themselves onto me, and I have only really talked about what and where with people [i]once[/i] I had applied. Third, there were some schools there where meeting them might be a good idea.
So, I trekked across town (WC sucks), the Central line in rush hour being the typical bandit-fare as ever. There was a lengthy queue outside the venue. This was the first bad sign. A queue to get to see some tables. I got flyered for courses in the queue. This was fun – the last time I got fliers in a queue I found out that Ariel Pink was doing another show in town (outside the Boredoms gig, it actually gave me the url for upset the rhythm so I knew of their shows). These were not so fun. Do people really spend £1000 on a training course on GMAT? If so, I have dead-straight got myself a sideline earner when I get into school. I would guarantee one-on-one tuition to get someone up to their required GMAT for $1500. Reasonable cap meaning I don’t get people saying 800 and all. That will safely cover the bills.
Anyway, that isn’t the point. I am waiting outside what is little more than a recruitment fair, at 6pm in a street in London. Because the registration is taking too long (this being after online registration – registration appeared to be checking your name on a bundled list, taking some money off you and giving you a sticker). I waited about fifteen minutes, mostly with the aim to see one school and then float around.
Once I got in, it was like societies fair at university. Tables, little presentation screens, gimmicks to try and draw you in. It seems very odd to me that Schools are so keen to make an effort to recruit – it almost points to the fact they are struggling for numbers or quality applicants I find. Sure, this is not a factually based thought, but it is the impression that you get – a desperate desire to increase numbers, quality or whatever. I think this is actually partly based upon the fact that I hate this type of event.
Anyway, World MBA tour was somewhat a misnomer. Several of the schools advertised on the site earlier in the week had pulled their stands, most significantly including the one that I wanted to see. International scoring on the stands was three Australian, one Windies, one Singaporean, and seven US. The rest were European. Not wanting to go to a European school, this kind of killed the night off for me. Sure, before I get told I should research these things, I was there for one school, that I found out was pulled as I went in. Having queued and paid, I had a look around (and picked up a monster.com ugly toy thing.) As for the popularity, the LBS and INSEAD stands were rocked off their feet, and every other stand was trying to lure people in. Not much surprising there, then.
The crowd was very representative of every business school trend I have seen reported. Sure I had read that there was the huge surge in Indian applications, but I was taken aback when I was in the fair. I had lazily assumed that this would be a localised effect on global applications, whereas it became rapidly apparent that the MBA is a big thing to Indians, full stop. It was very fun to be in a space where there as such a demographic mix Рsadly, there was little reason to be there. There were lots of really quite serious looking people there too. I suppose I should have expected this, but it left me feeling quite distressed. I hoped for lots of work hard, but look like they would be fun in the pub folks. I got people who would probably order cr̬me de menthe. Not good.
I looked into the presentation rooms, but it was a talked-to powerpoint on preparation. Given I have applied to three schools, interviews with two, it was all a little late for me. Given that I hate powerpoints even when they are even relevant (unless the presenter is actually captivating, which is sadly rare). Lots of people were there, and I hope some got a lot out of it. It was disappointing for me that none of the major schools were there, but I suppose this sits so badly in their schedule of stuff to do, it is hardly surprising. As I alluded to earlier – having your admissions staff here would suggest you are low on applicants to review, or – maybe – you are in town interviewing around the date.
Whether I get in or not, I will not be heading back to one of these events. Interaction with the desks for the schools didn’t look as though it would be particularly beneficial to any applicant’s case. It was more having someone to speak to about things, formulate their first ideas about MBAs, GMAT, in a place where you know they will try and sell whatever you want to hear to you. If you want that, these things are great. If you don’t, then you will probably feel the internet has superseded the necessity for such road-show events, as you can find the information yourself. I am firmly in the latter category.
It did look like a good party venue though, and at least when I return to the venue, there will be alcohol.
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
Foreign Accents
With most the deadlines for people hitting dates in the next month and half, there is clearly some tension seeping into the MBA communities as announcements are awaited. I would obviously like to consider myself an exception, and for the most part I am managing quite well. I am not stressed about the notices from them, I am stressing about how I can arrange to visit them, and then stressing about the possibility of doing so permanently.
I am going to have to either the last game of the season for my team (top of the table clash, no less, in fact it will most likely be for the title if we win this weekend), or going to have to miss the end of season ball. I can’t miss the end of season ball, as it will be my soiree if everything MBA goes right. Which also means that if everything goes right, this will be my last game for the Saints. At least for two years; possibly forever. Thinking about this kind of change really brings it home to me the scale of what I am planning.
I have never been a person of a large group of friends, but the guys from my team are amongst the best people I have met. Two years of sport and partying, involving some very drunken nights of discovering that sambuca doesn’t mix well in a 10 pint jug, that gin in the jug gets everyone going crazy, that I am really unfortunate at arrogance, quite good at three coin spoof (especially with ghosts), and can about hold my own in games of aliens and its variants. The bouncing coin game is still a loss to me. There was the alleged falling asleep in a club (I don’t remember this), the whole of the festival where I had my drinks spiked, and drinks in town where we had to carry a few of the players home. In true stereotype of this fine land, there is a concurrent theme. We got promoted both seasons too, but that is a side issue (the fact that this season in the league above the other that it has been an easier year is an unexplainable side-issue).
Some applicants seem to choose to apply to local places, and others look to improve their status and wages in moving overseas. I am in the third camp – the group that decides that going somewhere entirely different (country, attitude, choice of cars, temperature of beer, climate – everything) would be the best way forward for me. There is nothing wrong with where I am at all. I have one of the best business schools in the world nearby. I just feel that this whole thing should be a change. And actually flying out to see the schools is the first time I have actually thought how absurd my plan is.
It will be a big change – one in which I will be Best Man for my man T in Ibiza during the summer 2008, with me being somewhere in the US. One where my photographer friend, who is kipping round mine at the weekend, will probably want to visit even more, but will less likely give me a weeks notice. One where Mr Chow and his lovely lady won’t be able to invite us to a cheese and wine evening of such surreal carnage, where I will bump into a friend who’s phone number I lost when I got mugged and thought I’d never get again. Ten years of good friends are all soon to be a huge flight away (school friends aren’t under any consideration here as they number a cool zero). I knew all this when I started, but as it moves closer to being a reality it is becoming more of a wrench. Not one that I will back away from, but one that I had not realised would be quite as difficult to me as it most probably will turn out.
So everything becomes a stress about friendships. I am going to be hugely absorbed in School if I go, because all my friends will be made from arriving at day one. It is like going to University all over again, but this time I am somewhat more assured and confident in my abilities. I told the gf how I would be disappointed if I didn’t top one class while at school. She laughed. I need these kind of objectives for going through this, as I am inherently lazy if I don’t give myself targets.
But most of all, I will be making a new group of friends, away from enforced relationships and all that is typical now. I know it isn’t so bad – I went to University in a city I had never been to in my life, and was selected purely by a mixture of the sensible (it was a top rated course), the reasoned (it was sufficiently far from home), and the absurd (on page five of the viewbook there was a picture of a bulletin board with a poster on it of a band I liked playing a gig). This time I almost feel like I am overpreparing.
I am going to have to either the last game of the season for my team (top of the table clash, no less, in fact it will most likely be for the title if we win this weekend), or going to have to miss the end of season ball. I can’t miss the end of season ball, as it will be my soiree if everything MBA goes right. Which also means that if everything goes right, this will be my last game for the Saints. At least for two years; possibly forever. Thinking about this kind of change really brings it home to me the scale of what I am planning.
I have never been a person of a large group of friends, but the guys from my team are amongst the best people I have met. Two years of sport and partying, involving some very drunken nights of discovering that sambuca doesn’t mix well in a 10 pint jug, that gin in the jug gets everyone going crazy, that I am really unfortunate at arrogance, quite good at three coin spoof (especially with ghosts), and can about hold my own in games of aliens and its variants. The bouncing coin game is still a loss to me. There was the alleged falling asleep in a club (I don’t remember this), the whole of the festival where I had my drinks spiked, and drinks in town where we had to carry a few of the players home. In true stereotype of this fine land, there is a concurrent theme. We got promoted both seasons too, but that is a side issue (the fact that this season in the league above the other that it has been an easier year is an unexplainable side-issue).
Some applicants seem to choose to apply to local places, and others look to improve their status and wages in moving overseas. I am in the third camp – the group that decides that going somewhere entirely different (country, attitude, choice of cars, temperature of beer, climate – everything) would be the best way forward for me. There is nothing wrong with where I am at all. I have one of the best business schools in the world nearby. I just feel that this whole thing should be a change. And actually flying out to see the schools is the first time I have actually thought how absurd my plan is.
It will be a big change – one in which I will be Best Man for my man T in Ibiza during the summer 2008, with me being somewhere in the US. One where my photographer friend, who is kipping round mine at the weekend, will probably want to visit even more, but will less likely give me a weeks notice. One where Mr Chow and his lovely lady won’t be able to invite us to a cheese and wine evening of such surreal carnage, where I will bump into a friend who’s phone number I lost when I got mugged and thought I’d never get again. Ten years of good friends are all soon to be a huge flight away (school friends aren’t under any consideration here as they number a cool zero). I knew all this when I started, but as it moves closer to being a reality it is becoming more of a wrench. Not one that I will back away from, but one that I had not realised would be quite as difficult to me as it most probably will turn out.
So everything becomes a stress about friendships. I am going to be hugely absorbed in School if I go, because all my friends will be made from arriving at day one. It is like going to University all over again, but this time I am somewhat more assured and confident in my abilities. I told the gf how I would be disappointed if I didn’t top one class while at school. She laughed. I need these kind of objectives for going through this, as I am inherently lazy if I don’t give myself targets.
But most of all, I will be making a new group of friends, away from enforced relationships and all that is typical now. I know it isn’t so bad – I went to University in a city I had never been to in my life, and was selected purely by a mixture of the sensible (it was a top rated course), the reasoned (it was sufficiently far from home), and the absurd (on page five of the viewbook there was a picture of a bulletin board with a poster on it of a band I liked playing a gig). This time I almost feel like I am overpreparing.
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
A brief contemplation on GMAT
There is a wealth of information on this exam around and about the web, make no mistake. There’s a lot of people making a lot of money out of it all through courses and all. I am thinking over time I may catalogue a few bits and pieces on the GMAT that aren’t covered elsewhere, but for this post alone I am going on my own a little. Some distance away from the GMAT advice consensus.
GMAT is not as big a deal as many people make out.
OK, I need to reason that a little. English is my first language. I was always pretty good at maths (my undergraduate degree involved regular exploits into Calculus). Taking this as the case, GMAT is more a pain in the ass than a huge campaign.
My main problem was finding the time to study. I have stuff to do, a relationship, and a job that pretty much eats Monday to Friday. Right around the time I needed to study for GMAT I had a big load of work on, non-negotiable stuff. I could read a little on my commute, but that was no great shakes on making ground, and frankly I was knackered. In the end, I took three days off work, with a weekend in the block, and did the GMAT.
By that point, I had a book on GMAT for about four months. I had opened it to read outlines of both topic and structure, but before those five days I had not attempted a single problem. I crammed it, did some questions in the Official Guide 11 (nowhere near half though), one GMATPrep (which was hugely valuable) - despite the importance, I never really got hugely into it (how are you meant to get into exponentials and dullard elements of reading comprehension?). But I did enough to be within range for any school I wanted to apply to. Not above average, but easily within range. Not special, but not out of the running.
I “studied” for AWA on the train to the exam.
Now, I can see this sparking off a little bit of a riot if people finally find this blog. I am by no means trying to say that anyone should follow the model I show here, but am trying to show that the GMAT isn’t necessarily a game of three months preparation. Really, you just need to be attuned to what you want, and what you reasonably think you can achieve. If GMAT Verbal was in German, I dare say my preparation would have been somewhat more extensive. Given that it is a general exam in my mother tongue, of things I have learned before (and is in no way particularly advanced), I could not see how GMAT could be a big problem for me. I sat the exam once, and that was within two days of the first application deadline I had to meet.
To prove that this method is by no means perfect, I will be sitting GMAT again. Irrespective of admits or whatever, I know that with a reasonable amount of effort (I still see this as about a month, with a few days a week and weekends) that I can reach 99% levels. I can see no reason why I cannot get 800, mainly through improving my technical approach on the verbal section (I am by no means a fast reader, but can never read a book twice as I will memorise the content). I now have some of the time I need to commit to the GMAT “properly”, but am glad to be evidence that this commitment is only really required for elements that are new to the candidate, or relatively advanced in their asking from the exam itself (read - mid to high 700 score, in my opinion).
The draw to re-sit is the interesting characteristic shared by nearly all takers – because the exam structure is not particularly advanced, it is a game of pressure, precision, time management and composure. Like learning a rubik’s cube, there is a method that ensures it can be beaten given a practiced approach. GMAT really is a test of applying method, little else.
While I wrote this inbetween days has reposted an example of the traditional GMAT-needs-months-of-study post. What I am saying is not so much diametrically opposed, but definitely approaches the GMAT with a different perspective. I see it that if you can’t score 700+ with two months study, as a native English speaker, you should really worry about how you will find a class on investment theory, economics or writing a big presentation. GMAT needs preparation, sure, and you must work out how much prep you need, but I really hate the idea of people spending months preparing for something when they needn’t have. The 80-20 rule applies to GMAT as much as anything else. If you are applying for an MBA, your time is a lot more important that some crappy algebra and reading test.
I really do feel that sometimes people try and build an imaginary barrier to entry for competing with them for MBA’s – spend 70 hours per application, three months on the GMAT… I don’t want to risk shooting myself in the foot on this all yet, so won’t recommend courses of action I cannot verify as successful. But I seriously hope these people are experiencing the fish size problem (“it was this big” stretches arms). While this whole process is emotionally demanding and time-consuming, it should not be that bad. I am almost drawn to worry for the people who tell these stories, so incomprehensible do I find their tales.
GMAT is not as big a deal as many people make out.
OK, I need to reason that a little. English is my first language. I was always pretty good at maths (my undergraduate degree involved regular exploits into Calculus). Taking this as the case, GMAT is more a pain in the ass than a huge campaign.
My main problem was finding the time to study. I have stuff to do, a relationship, and a job that pretty much eats Monday to Friday. Right around the time I needed to study for GMAT I had a big load of work on, non-negotiable stuff. I could read a little on my commute, but that was no great shakes on making ground, and frankly I was knackered. In the end, I took three days off work, with a weekend in the block, and did the GMAT.
By that point, I had a book on GMAT for about four months. I had opened it to read outlines of both topic and structure, but before those five days I had not attempted a single problem. I crammed it, did some questions in the Official Guide 11 (nowhere near half though), one GMATPrep (which was hugely valuable) - despite the importance, I never really got hugely into it (how are you meant to get into exponentials and dullard elements of reading comprehension?). But I did enough to be within range for any school I wanted to apply to. Not above average, but easily within range. Not special, but not out of the running.
I “studied” for AWA on the train to the exam.
Now, I can see this sparking off a little bit of a riot if people finally find this blog. I am by no means trying to say that anyone should follow the model I show here, but am trying to show that the GMAT isn’t necessarily a game of three months preparation. Really, you just need to be attuned to what you want, and what you reasonably think you can achieve. If GMAT Verbal was in German, I dare say my preparation would have been somewhat more extensive. Given that it is a general exam in my mother tongue, of things I have learned before (and is in no way particularly advanced), I could not see how GMAT could be a big problem for me. I sat the exam once, and that was within two days of the first application deadline I had to meet.
To prove that this method is by no means perfect, I will be sitting GMAT again. Irrespective of admits or whatever, I know that with a reasonable amount of effort (I still see this as about a month, with a few days a week and weekends) that I can reach 99% levels. I can see no reason why I cannot get 800, mainly through improving my technical approach on the verbal section (I am by no means a fast reader, but can never read a book twice as I will memorise the content). I now have some of the time I need to commit to the GMAT “properly”, but am glad to be evidence that this commitment is only really required for elements that are new to the candidate, or relatively advanced in their asking from the exam itself (read - mid to high 700 score, in my opinion).
The draw to re-sit is the interesting characteristic shared by nearly all takers – because the exam structure is not particularly advanced, it is a game of pressure, precision, time management and composure. Like learning a rubik’s cube, there is a method that ensures it can be beaten given a practiced approach. GMAT really is a test of applying method, little else.
While I wrote this inbetween days has reposted an example of the traditional GMAT-needs-months-of-study post. What I am saying is not so much diametrically opposed, but definitely approaches the GMAT with a different perspective. I see it that if you can’t score 700+ with two months study, as a native English speaker, you should really worry about how you will find a class on investment theory, economics or writing a big presentation. GMAT needs preparation, sure, and you must work out how much prep you need, but I really hate the idea of people spending months preparing for something when they needn’t have. The 80-20 rule applies to GMAT as much as anything else. If you are applying for an MBA, your time is a lot more important that some crappy algebra and reading test.
I really do feel that sometimes people try and build an imaginary barrier to entry for competing with them for MBA’s – spend 70 hours per application, three months on the GMAT… I don’t want to risk shooting myself in the foot on this all yet, so won’t recommend courses of action I cannot verify as successful. But I seriously hope these people are experiencing the fish size problem (“it was this big” stretches arms). While this whole process is emotionally demanding and time-consuming, it should not be that bad. I am almost drawn to worry for the people who tell these stories, so incomprehensible do I find their tales.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
Fat Tails
If moods followed a distribution around a mean point of satisfaction, then applying for schools would arguably require a distribution with fat tails, or alternatively two polar points of “happy” and “gutted” miles apart, with a mean point that never statistically occurs. You see, this guy, ~N (0,1), the centre of all option theory and anything a stats guru throws your way, doesn’t happen in an inefficient market, and that is what your applications to school are.
Since sending off the applications to A, 2, and Z it is almost as though the mean point of being balanced never occurs, and is a statistical anomaly between elation and outright misery. Dornbusch’s overshooting model^ has become an ideal representation of my psyche. The MBA application is a market where there is very little information, and any signal affects my market somewhat akin to Bernanke speaking affects T-bill yields.
If every time Bernanke spoke he said either “boom” or “recession” about twenty times.
One thing that is definitely true about that the mood of waiting is that any MBA boom is undoubtedly followed by recession, or “correction” as seems to be the favoured expression right now. All that confidence fuelled a heightened, unsustainable level of optimism, especially with the silence carried out by the schools throughout the process. The problem is that the signals are very infrequent, and all evidence seems to indicate that there is no true way to judge their correlation with any indicators. The BW folks love to try and find out the stats of anyone who receives a signal event from a school. “Your GMAT?” seems to be the only thing anyone cares about, neglecting that someone may have bombed the GMAT because, y’know, signing a 6m licensing deal for their start-up was a bit more important at the time. It’s all noise, but there is a big herd trying to read it and it takes some real will power not to get involved. BW is a no-go zone for me, but some seem to love to get themselves into a frenzy about this all. Someone should really run the prisoners dilemma by those forums – but he admissions staff think that I know that they think that…
To try and balance my thought, I continually have to go back to rational thought analysis. The only true signals are the dates that each school publishes. By April, you will know whether you are to be admitted. For some schools, if you do not get asked to interview by a date, then all bets are off. If you do, you interview, you don’t know for longer and then you find out just the same. No amount of anything is going to make a damn difference.
For Chicago R2 applicants, that day is apparently today. For those with interviews, they can labour just the same for another month at least, with the added element of how their interview felt, and their abilities to pretend they could ever understand what a member of admissions staff, a student or alumni member was really thinking.
So for two months I will refine my art of patience through distracting my mind from idle thought of what might be. I will cycle more, and am looking forward to the weather easing to allow me to return to this – City public transport is one of the worst things to have to tolerate through a winter. I will even try to study Corporate Finance. But all this time I know I will be thinking about what is happening to a small file with my name on, in an office I may never see. If only they had Polaroid’s, it would be like Pop Idol, with the Dean as Simon Cowell. A big, big lottery that pays out very big. And that is an image which will not help my plan to balance my mood any.
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^ I can’t find a suitable link – wikipedia includes the ISLM model, something I will never allow myself to link to. I am sure I will write about how much I loathe this model at some point in the future
Postscript
Given the coverage that the fat tails gets in financial literature, I thought I would be able to get a good chart to show up here with minimal effort. However, a cursory search for “fat tail distribution” on google pictures gives us this chap.
Not quite what I had in mind, but it did briefly move me from my down frame of mind.
Thursday, 8 February 2007
Days pass slowly
I have always been one for introspection, but the current situation is extreme. Gmail must be reaching a point of mystification with the number of times I have refreshed the site in the past two weeks, with only the following items to show in that time.
Needless to say, this is not exactly what I am looking to see. Though the question could easily be, “what am I expecting to see?” Time-zone wise, I am checking my email several times before it is even 7am in New York. Unless there are some serious vagaries in email, it will either be there when I check in the morning, or it won’t happen that day. I will report back in due course if such vagaries occur, obviously.
I have been quite good in that I have not looked at my essays since I sent them to A, 2 & Z. That is the one thing I have left alone. My GMAT bothers me slightly, but is by no means out of the realms of reason (well in the 80% for the schools). What I have thought long and hard about the differences between my University Education and that in the US. For those who don’t know, US schools have a glorious scheme called Grade Point Average (GPA) where all the courses are scored out of four, then, well, averaged by their weighting. For those of you who did know that, you may well be unaware that this doesn’t happen at all in the UK. Instead, in third year and (if applicable) fourth year, you get marked on honours courses and given an overall grade: First, 2:1, 2:2 (still known as a Desmond after the Archbishop) and, if you really did nothing in the time you were there, a third. This set of exams is commonly knows as finals, due to their dependency on single exams (this has leaned to involve some essay work for each course, but is still predominantly weighted to the one 2/3 hour exam).
What this means, of course, is you can arse about in years one and two, doing crazy courses like linguistics and Japanese, whilst filling your course requirements for your Physics masters degree. And no-one would care, so long as you passed, and then actually worked at the physics bit later on – it is all about those magic numbers. At least, noone until you engaged with a school across the Atlantic. Suddenly the pre-dereliction to study Applied Maths, which you were crap at, is brought under question. The answer that it was purely to get out of doing a math for economics course at 9am for a year, well, doesn’t shine quite as bright as it did in the mind of the eighteen-year old you.
Schools A & Z now proudly boast a letter on this very topic attached to my file, due to levels of paranoia beyond all reason on my part. In providing grades to School Z, in the weirdest turn of events, I was given me an option. Either I converted my grades to a proxy of GPA, or I posted them my transcripts. Best, was being told to do “whatever you find more convenient”. Well, let me see - £6.28 on Airsure and £1.09 on a “Do Not Bend” envelope, or the best part of a day proxying a mark-scheme. I was in the post office like a shot. Having pieces of paper emblazoned with a degree mark much superior to the comparable GPA is surely the way forward. To make it pure genius, it was accompanied with a letter conveying how, had I had known of GPA, I wouldn’t have spent my first years at University exploring the finer points of drinking cheap lager whilst singing Charles & Edie or Freddie Fender songs. This was the early days of what became known as Wyattingwhere a group of friends would spend the evening in the union, avoiding study, and putting intolerable music on repeat coupled with a lot of singing. Just rather that filling the bar with some avant garde, Msrs Charles & Edie were our weapon of choice.
Would I lie to you, school Z? To be perfectly honest, no I wouldn’t. I would have worked harder in those years had I known the impact it would have on such things. But hell, just please accept that this is the way we do things back on the little Island.
Onto other events. Today it took me twice as long to get the office compared to normal – a smattering of snow seemed to be all that was required to bring chaos to the underground. Yes, snow = delays on the underground, mostly as a result of the fact that the underground is, in part, overground. Fortunately with a fully stocked ipod, the journey horrendous delays and cramped conditions were near tolerable, and I actually arrived to work late without realising. That, reader, is the wonder of James Murphy’s forthcoming album. London, I love you, but you are bringing me down. Soon all the crap weather and busy period will be over, and I can get back on my bike.
- A receipt from Amazon for some books, bought to try and occupy my time from the aforementioned introspection
- NANA getting in touch. Definitely not my grandparent, as email from the deceased is something that even Bill Gates hasn’t been able to sell yet. I am glad to hear her sleep apnoea is being taken seriously by her doctor all the same.
- Woebot to say that episode three of Woebot TV is online
- Rapidshare registration code
- Adcom from A.N.Other School trying to tempt me into applying (verified as real and not a GMAT mailshot)
Needless to say, this is not exactly what I am looking to see. Though the question could easily be, “what am I expecting to see?” Time-zone wise, I am checking my email several times before it is even 7am in New York. Unless there are some serious vagaries in email, it will either be there when I check in the morning, or it won’t happen that day. I will report back in due course if such vagaries occur, obviously.
I have been quite good in that I have not looked at my essays since I sent them to A, 2 & Z. That is the one thing I have left alone. My GMAT bothers me slightly, but is by no means out of the realms of reason (well in the 80% for the schools). What I have thought long and hard about the differences between my University Education and that in the US. For those who don’t know, US schools have a glorious scheme called Grade Point Average (GPA) where all the courses are scored out of four, then, well, averaged by their weighting. For those of you who did know that, you may well be unaware that this doesn’t happen at all in the UK. Instead, in third year and (if applicable) fourth year, you get marked on honours courses and given an overall grade: First, 2:1, 2:2 (still known as a Desmond after the Archbishop) and, if you really did nothing in the time you were there, a third. This set of exams is commonly knows as finals, due to their dependency on single exams (this has leaned to involve some essay work for each course, but is still predominantly weighted to the one 2/3 hour exam).
What this means, of course, is you can arse about in years one and two, doing crazy courses like linguistics and Japanese, whilst filling your course requirements for your Physics masters degree. And no-one would care, so long as you passed, and then actually worked at the physics bit later on – it is all about those magic numbers. At least, noone until you engaged with a school across the Atlantic. Suddenly the pre-dereliction to study Applied Maths, which you were crap at, is brought under question. The answer that it was purely to get out of doing a math for economics course at 9am for a year, well, doesn’t shine quite as bright as it did in the mind of the eighteen-year old you.
Schools A & Z now proudly boast a letter on this very topic attached to my file, due to levels of paranoia beyond all reason on my part. In providing grades to School Z, in the weirdest turn of events, I was given me an option. Either I converted my grades to a proxy of GPA, or I posted them my transcripts. Best, was being told to do “whatever you find more convenient”. Well, let me see - £6.28 on Airsure and £1.09 on a “Do Not Bend” envelope, or the best part of a day proxying a mark-scheme. I was in the post office like a shot. Having pieces of paper emblazoned with a degree mark much superior to the comparable GPA is surely the way forward. To make it pure genius, it was accompanied with a letter conveying how, had I had known of GPA, I wouldn’t have spent my first years at University exploring the finer points of drinking cheap lager whilst singing Charles & Edie or Freddie Fender songs. This was the early days of what became known as Wyattingwhere a group of friends would spend the evening in the union, avoiding study, and putting intolerable music on repeat coupled with a lot of singing. Just rather that filling the bar with some avant garde, Msrs Charles & Edie were our weapon of choice.
Would I lie to you, school Z? To be perfectly honest, no I wouldn’t. I would have worked harder in those years had I known the impact it would have on such things. But hell, just please accept that this is the way we do things back on the little Island.
Onto other events. Today it took me twice as long to get the office compared to normal – a smattering of snow seemed to be all that was required to bring chaos to the underground. Yes, snow = delays on the underground, mostly as a result of the fact that the underground is, in part, overground. Fortunately with a fully stocked ipod, the journey horrendous delays and cramped conditions were near tolerable, and I actually arrived to work late without realising. That, reader, is the wonder of James Murphy’s forthcoming album. London, I love you, but you are bringing me down. Soon all the crap weather and busy period will be over, and I can get back on my bike.
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
May the navel-gazing begin
There is only so much time one can spend running away with one’s own thoughts. As of earlier this month, with planning tracking back a few months earlier, I am currently sat awaiting responses from three US schools regarding MBA Applications.
Let’s give them the names School A, School 2, and School Z.
Now, it is the waiting game.
I have decided to leave the names anonymous for a variety of reasons. Firstly, irrespective of what schools they are, there are dozens of us in a similar situation. As far as 2007 Business School applications, I am all in before the flop has even played. It is a big waiting game to see as the game unfolds – whether it be Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, LBS, Insead, Manchester, Notre Dame, Arizona’s agricultural MBA or whatever. Fact is, we all want to get an admit to the schools we apply to.
Second, I kind of like the idea of being a bit anonymous. It’s my football and I am taking it home with me.
Third, I have no idea who might be reading this. Maybe I will be sat next to you in class, or maybe I am a colleague who is looking to resign. You get the idea.
Over the forthcoming months of applications, maybe another year after that, the sitting of exams and the general banal happenings through gainful employment, I will meander on here and reflect on what has already been done as I type.
Maybe I will become the rare example of a blogger that actually manages to find the time to keep posting through the two years of study. The form would suggest this is unlikely, on the basis that I know myself a lot better than you, but who really knows.
If you are really seeking to read an MBA blog in its purest form, maybe have a hunt elsewhere. Because I have a propensity to offer a distribution that has a serious skew, fat tails and will fail all the tests required to fulfil the null hypothesis.
Let’s give them the names School A, School 2, and School Z.
Now, it is the waiting game.
I have decided to leave the names anonymous for a variety of reasons. Firstly, irrespective of what schools they are, there are dozens of us in a similar situation. As far as 2007 Business School applications, I am all in before the flop has even played. It is a big waiting game to see as the game unfolds – whether it be Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, LBS, Insead, Manchester, Notre Dame, Arizona’s agricultural MBA or whatever. Fact is, we all want to get an admit to the schools we apply to.
Second, I kind of like the idea of being a bit anonymous. It’s my football and I am taking it home with me.
Third, I have no idea who might be reading this. Maybe I will be sat next to you in class, or maybe I am a colleague who is looking to resign. You get the idea.
Over the forthcoming months of applications, maybe another year after that, the sitting of exams and the general banal happenings through gainful employment, I will meander on here and reflect on what has already been done as I type.
Maybe I will become the rare example of a blogger that actually manages to find the time to keep posting through the two years of study. The form would suggest this is unlikely, on the basis that I know myself a lot better than you, but who really knows.
If you are really seeking to read an MBA blog in its purest form, maybe have a hunt elsewhere. Because I have a propensity to offer a distribution that has a serious skew, fat tails and will fail all the tests required to fulfil the null hypothesis.
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