Hello and welcome to Fridays From The Frontline, Clear Admit’s steadfast study of the strenuous lives of MBA aspirants and admitted students. While some are still waiting to hear from a few last schools or to have their interviews, many b-school hopefuls are now weighing the relative merits of the programs to which they have been accepted and determining where they will be calling ‘home’ for the next two years.
Helen felt generally positive about her Foster / U. Washington interview. Bizwiz went into slightly more detail about his Kellogg and Chicago Booth interviews. With Kellogg and Tuck acceptances in her pocket, and a positive Columbia interview behind her, Samantha was leaning towards Kellogg and feeling ‘super cheesy’ about it. Ahembeea made his MBA choice and recounted an interaction between two co-workers and himself in which his choice of program and location was called into question. Ahembeea wasn’t the only one facing the real challenges of being an international student pursuing an MBA in the states, Maverick felt lucky to get some merit-based funding from W.P. Carey and was even more relieved that he was done with the ‘wait game’. MissionMBA was also deciding to brave financial uncertainty and moved forward on his Emory enrollment by officially turning down a space at ISB.
Representing another perspective in the applicant pool, MBA Dreamer expressed his preference for IIMB Bangalore over ASU and shared his b-school reading list. D.G. considered the differences between European and American cultures, from the caloric values of American meals to Europe’s strange spelling choices. Omne, wished his readers a happy Mardi Gras, planned to attend Wake Forest’s Scholar’s Weekend and appreciated Babcock’s positive communication strategies. Palo Alto had homework to do before Harvard’s admitted students welcome event. Tieny Chesney went to Columbia’s Open House Weekend and attended classes and cocktail receptions but turned down some pre-event events (for the first time!) in favor of dinner with a friend. Choc Heaven questioned the validity of ‘no news is good news’ when applying to b-school and also wondered what would happen to the art of polite conversation if weather was taken off the table.
Two bloggers continued their GMAT preparation with mixed results. MBAMonk took a two hour walk after learning his new score wasn’t as ideal as he had hoped. ArdentMeerkat’s score was improving through practice tests, but she still sought advice and wisdom from those successfully on the other side of the test.
Second year students were relatively quiet this week, but not entirely silent. Darden ’10 JulyDream pondered the possibility that her investment banking internship dreams might rise from the ashes of ‘not gonna happen’ due to the powers of Facebook. McCombs ’10 Paragon2Pieces had no idea where her weekend went, but the six classes and numerous extracurricular activities on her plate make it almost certain that she will be misplacing a few more weekends before the semester is over. Kellogg ’10 La Coguette gave wonderfully barbed advice on how one should act during the recruiting process.
Some ’09ers entered a reflective and appreciative portion of their MBA experience this week, while others were still just trying to keep up with their studies. Ross ’09 M@ reflected on the remaining time he had to spend in Ann Arbor and the people and small things that he will miss when it all comes to an end. Darden ’09 Mandy found herself choked up by the feedback she received in her ‘Business Ethics Through Literature’ class. Fuqua ’09 MBAStarter attended his last lecture before an early graduation and the commencement of his non-profit work in India. Chicago Booth ’09 MaybeMBA seemed a little stressed but managed give a short response to questions about recruiting figures. Harvard ’09 CS satirized the typical HBS student’s four day weekend and did a comparison to her last two weekends. And, finally, Chicago Booth ’09 GSBSutras was less than impressed by Slumdog Millionaire’s recent Oscar success.
Clear Admit’s MBA blogosphere awards season isn’t until April, and is a decidedly dressed-down event – lacking in location, paparrazzi and strange Broadway medleys sung by X-Men. That being said, we hope b-school bloggers continue to give us an inside view of the highs and lows, adventures and doldrums and overall ‘feel’ for their lives during this intense academic experience. Until next week!
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