Chicago Booth Interview invite!

My first interview invtation arrived, and it is Chicago Booth!

It starts like this:

"Congratulations, we have evaluated your application and are extending an invitation for you to interview with us in the next phase of our admissions process."

Then it just gives some instructions about the logistics of the process.

I wasn't expecting it at all! I mean, I had the hope that it was going to arrive, but I was expecting it for later!

WOW ! Now, to focus on the interview questions!

MIT submission, no news from Wharton nor Chicago

It's too much going on today!

First, after having a weekend of proof reading my Sloan essays, and adjusting minimal details (which I hope they give more bright to the essays!), I submitted Sloan's app. I will now call my recommenders to remind them that the deadline is over us!

Second, Chicago Booth is supposed to start sending inteview invites today! But i still didn't receive one. As with Wharton, I don't expect to be one of the first people who receive one. I will be happy if I receive one in the first days of november! Some guys in the Business week forum claim to have received an invitation. All the luck for them in the interviews!

And finally, Wharton's inteview invites are shining for their absence. They were supposed to be sent since October 22nd. Only one person in the Business Week forum claimed to have received one! (I'm getting adicted to that forum... I read that it could happen). However, it is kind of rare that almost no one in the internet received and invitation.

I believe the best thing is not to worry about this issues until November 7th... but it is VERY difficult!

Wharton interviews and uploading MIT materials

Just a notifier for those waiting for Wharton: Today the adcom was starting to send invitations to interviews! Of course, I haven't received one. I hope to receive one more close to the mid decision deadline, which is November 12.

Regarding Sloan, Today I will be uploading the transcripts. The essays are almost done, and my recommenders told the have started working. Hopefully everything will be ready by Monday!
Sloan allows you to upload many scanned transcripts file, which is great! Because I don't have to worry about the file sizes when appending new scanned pages. As I am an international applicant, I have to also scan the translations, which means I have to send double the number of scanned pages! But Sloan makes it easy for me :).

MIT essays weekend

We have only seven days to the Sloan deadline!
This weekend was a very productive one, in terms of the essays. I spent more than 18 hours writing the essays! I will now wait a couple of days to review them, to refresh my mind.

I feel much better writing the MIT essays, which reflects my past performance. Also, they are not asking to suck up to the school, as most of the others are.
Furthermore, I am happy I could meet the word limits in all of the essays! I still have to cut some words off from the cover letter.

Now I will start bugging my recommenders, because I think they haven't written anything yet!

MBA - Cars comparison

I found this excellent comparison of cars with MBA's here: http://mbaapply.blogspot.com/2007/06/top-mba-programs.html.

HBS is like the British luxury car of varying quality - Bentley, Aston Martin, MG, Rolls-Royce. They are Establishment, tophats and all. Some drivers are able to break the "unapproachable" mold and will take their cars for a bit of a joyride, but some are trapped in the pomp and circumstance of their cars.

Stanford is like the Italian sports car - Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Alfa Romeos, Maseratis. They are bold, distinctive, and anti-authoritarian. They aren't the most reliable cars, but they sure look good, and they are the ultimate joyride car, risks be damned.

Wharton are like the German sports cars - Porsche and AMG-Benz. They combine the quality/reliability of German engineering that the British and Italian sports cars don't have, with the cachet that rivals only the British and Italian luxury cars. However, they don't quite have the same cachet of the British and Italian luxury cars, even though many drivers would still kill for a Porsche 911 turbo or AMG.

Chicago GSB is like a Volvo - the quality, performance and reliability is probably as good as any luxury automaker, but it doesn't do as good of a job at marketing itself. It has a reputation for being a bit staid, boxy, boring. But it's like a tank - impenetrable to any kind of criticism because its owners will try really hard to explain why its car is as good as any German car out there.

Kellogg is like a Volkswagen - they aren't the most reliable cars, but they are sure fun cars to drive. They also have a very young, hip and aspirational image - but one that is within reach of many people. They are very good at promoting and managing its reputation as a “cool and hip” car to drive.

Sloan is like an Audi - more people have them than you'd expect, and for a German car, they are a bit younger and hipper. Particularly it's S-series. They are mentioned alongside the other great auto manufacturers, but still fly under the radar in most discussions.

Columbia is like a BMW - an amazing machine that combines performance, quality and cachet, but it also attracts a disproportionate number of aggro drivers who believe they own the road, and act accordingly (blasting their music for everyone to see, cutting people off in traffic, honking their horns, etc.).

Tuck is like a Saab. It's quirky, relatively small in number, but has a fiercely loyal following of aficionados. Not many people know the car, but those that do rave about it.

What will I be?
If I do a reverse rationale, that means, match my personality with a car, and then the car with the MBA, I think I would have Chicago Booth as a first option, and then MIT! That's funny! Try it out!

MIT essays!

MIT's essays are very different from the other schools'!
As reviewers say, they look for your demonstrated leadership and all that MBA stuff in the past. Nothing about goals nor plans.
I went to an information session where the presenter said "we don't ask you for your goals, because we don't believe you!". Although it was a joke, it was kind of scary! However, I believe it is a correct approach. Although I would like a more direct way to demonstrate my fit and genuine interest in MIT Sloan.

If you would like to read some tips on MIT essays, take a look at this links:

• http://accepted.mbablogs.businessweek.com/archive/2009/06/10/rl04odaopt6c
• http://www.stacyblackman.com/2009/09/01/tuesday-tips-mit-sloan-essay-tips-2/
• http://www.vibranture.com/essay/sloan-mit-mba-essay-writing.htm
• http://www.mbamission.com/blog/2009/06/28/massachusetts-institute-of-technology-sloan-essay-analysis-2009-2010/
• http://mbagameplan.wordpress.com/category/mit/

Hope they help!

My short list

I am a round 1 applicant for the following schools:

• Kellogg
• Chicago Booth 
• Wharton 
• MIT 
• Tuck (maybe)

As for today, all of the schools have something that really wake my attention.

For Kellogg, the community and collaborative philosophy. I went to an information session, and it was filled of alumni! They all conveyed this positive about their community.

I believe that Chicago Booth's academic rigor is definitely a plus. I see Chicago Booth graduates as highly intelligent and analytic people.

Wharton's rank says a lot of the school. Consistently ranked among the best three, it has a great reputation in many fields, specially finance. Big network.

MIT, for now, my favorite. I can't hide the engineer that is inside me!

Tuck. In addition to an excellent and intellectually demanding program, probably the best community and one of the most active networks. The only issue that doesn't convince me, is the little town. I want my significant other to capitalize the experience by studying or working. Living in Hanover imposes some limitations, although not completely.

So well... that is my short list. You may be asking about HBS and Stanford!! Those will go for 2nd round ;).

Humor - Essays

To my second post, I am publishing this really funny admissions essays I found here: http://paloaltoforawhile.blogspot.com/2009/05/real-admissions-essays.html

The are the real thing!

Here it goes:

Harvard: Of which Fortune 1000 company are you going to become the CEO and why would you pick that company?

Wharton: Of which Fortune 1000 company are you going to become the CFO and why would you pick that company?

MIT: Draw an ASCII picture of your favorite Lord of the Rings character and describe three lessons that today's business leaders can learn from Lord Of The Rings.

Stanford: Why? (100,000 words recommended)

Chicago Booth: Provide a detailed statistical analysis of why Chicago-Booth is #1 in BWeek and never higher than #3 in USNews. Do the math in your head.

NYU: How badly do you need a vacation from your ibanking job, and what makes you think you will be able to get back into ibanking upon graduation?

Yale SOM: Which nonprofit organization do you plan to run, and what about running a nonprofit makes you feel important?

Columbia: In your opinion, what is the best way to sabotage the Whartonian CFO of your company and become CFO?

UC Berkeley Haas: What makes a hippie like you think you can succeed in business? Use the words 'sustainable' and 'green' at least twice in your response.

Cornell Johnson: Describe how awesome being an Ivy Leaguer would make you feel.

UVA Darden: How badly do you want your ass to be kicked by our professors on a scale of 9 to 10?

Notre Dame: Describe how awesome Irish Football is, and list ten ways we can make our MBA program as well-known as our NFL training program.

London Business School: Answer NYU's essay and use the find/replace function to replace all 'NYU' with 'LBS', 'New York' with 'London' and 'program' with 'programme'.

Wash U Olin: How early are you willing to wake up to serve coffee to our medical students?

UNC Kenan-Flagler: See Notre Dame but replace Irish Football with Tar Heel basketball, and NFL with NBA.

U of Phx (pick 2 of 4): When your boss finds out you have enrolled here, how loudly will he/she laugh? Have you ever wasted a lot of money on something useless before? Would you be willing to appear on a billboard or would you rather keep your enrollment a secret? What is 5+8?

Tuck: Do you remember summer camp? How amazing was that!?!? Don't you wish you could go to camp for 21 months? Attach a letter you wrote to your parents in fifth grade summer camp explaining how awesome it was.

UMich Ross: What was the craziest thing you did while tailgating during undergrad, and are you prepared to tailgate like a pro again? In your essay, try to include the words moonshine, goat, and anus.

Kellogg: Explain why you think good quantitative skills are not required in business and discuss the importance of teamwork in situations in which no one is skilled enough to do the job by himself.

UCLA Anderson: Have you seen that show "The Hills?" Isn't it amazing? Discuss your strategies for getting into clubs to party with the cast of "The Hills" so you can feel important.

Duke Fuqua: What are your short-term and long-term career goals? Begin your essay with the sentence, "My career goal is to provide investment and business advice to the much more successful graduates of the Duke Law and Medical Schools."

Carnegie Mellon Tepper: Draw an ASCII picture of your favorite MIT student and list three things that business leaders can learn from MIT.

INSEAD: List the number of languages in which you are fluent, and explain how knowing a bunch of languages and studying in one of the world's slowest economies for ten months will make you an effective business leader.

CEIBS: Would you rather be upper middle class in the US, or rich in China? Pleeeeeeeease say rich in China!

Blog start!

Well, I finally decided to start blogging!!

I hope to share my thoughts and experiences of my journey with anyone who is interested. And hopefully to be of any help to MBA aspirants.