I'm Lovin' it !!!

I'm absolutely lovin' writing my essays. I have figured out what I want to write in each of the HBS essays. I started with a draft of "What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such?" yesterday. I've written about two accomplishments. I can edit the essay endlessly. But what I really like is- I'm always thinking about the whole story instead of essay by essay or paragraph by paragraph. I place every line against the background of my entire story and see if it fits. If it doesn't I change the idea, rephrase it or delete it completely. It's really difficult to make myself forget about the word limit for the moment, but I'm pulling along just fine.

Now that I've actually started the "process", my needs have become very minimal. Just food, water and showers. But the weather outside is heavenly, cool breeze, light drizzles, the sun feels like a warm kiss... it's just perfect! And it is just not helping my cause. So I've resorted to strolling on my terrace- really helps me think. My story is getting better, but gradually...

Harvard announces essays!

Yippie!

Finally HBS has announced its essays and I have something concrete to work on. Deadlines are in the sidebar. So scratch yesterday's targets. The "Recos for dummies" is ready anyway :)

I will begin with Harvard's essays today.

Change in schools and essays update

I have been doing some more B-School research. I find Stanford and Columbia incredibly attractive! But I cannot apply to 7 schools in R1. I just cannot do it with my work load. So after a lot of thinking and re-thinking and talking to people, I have decided to push Kellogg and Ross to R2, I may not apply to them at all, I may change the list, but these decisions can wait.

Columbia, by virtue of its rolling application process, has a deadline around the same time as R2. So that's one school I can work on after September. Stanford's customized curriculum looks exciting, so I went with my gut feeling, I'm going to apply to Stanford!

As for the essays, I have a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft of a rough draft of... my goals and my career progress. Lot more work needs to be done to get it in shape. I also have an idea of how to answer the "Why X school?" question for Harvard,Chicago, Columbia. I'm putting together the facts now. That leaves Stanford and Wharton.

Target for this weekend:
1. Put together a file for my recommenders to prepare for the process. "Recos for dummies!!!"
2. Tackle the uniqueness question
3. Put down the "Why X school?" answers on paper (This is stretching it!)
4. Update the progress here on Sunday/Monday. I've really been neglecting the blog :(

Of false starts and disillusionments...

I've had a series of false starts on my goals essay. I've changed what I want to say and how I want to say it a dozen times. So I switched to more holistic approach and I think I finally have the whole story sort of figured out now. I've also decided which part of the story goes into which essay.

It's taken quite bit of soul searching, disappointments and gnashing of teeth to get here. Today I will have a rough draft of my goals ready. And then it's on to career progress again.

My schedule at work is not helping at all. Weekends are becoming increasingly crucial...

Back to work!