Ready...Get Set...Go!

I'm planning to start work on my apps this weekend. I don't see any point in waiting till the application deadlines and essays are out in August. I want to get the preliminary ground work and the standard questions out of the way by mid-July.

I don't want to be in a spot where I start thinking about what I want to write after I look at the questions. They will turn out to be a farce. The essays have to paint a picture of me. But I'll not settle for a picture, I want a near perfect portrait!

I want to do some aimless soul searching, not trying to answer any tricky essay question, not trying to fit in or stand out of any school, not trying to paint a picture of the perfect B-School applicant with stellar credentails. I just want to have honest and clear answers to 3 questions.

• Who am I now?
• Where am I now?
• Whom and where do I want to be? Why? How do I intend to get there?
  

Ideally, once the schools publish the essays, I should just tailor my answers to the above questions to fit the school's questions.

Here are my first 3 tasks:

• Make a fact file containing anything and everything that I've done in my life, that's worthy of mention.
• Make fact files containing stuff that I can use in my essays, one for each of my target schools.
• Find at least one student/alum whom I can speak to about each of my target schools.

Deadline - Friday, 26th May.

Am I enjoying this journey???!!!!! Licking my lips in anticipation!