Thursday, February 22, 2007

Remembering the chat with my boss

I had just told my supervisor that I am going to reapply for Business shool again this year after brutally rejected by four top shools in 2005. He and I started to chat about why I want to do MBA, what I want to specialize in etc.. Then came the "Plan B" question :

Boss :" So what will you do if you don't get in to any Business shool again? "
I : "No plan.. Right now I'm just going to make sure I'll get in.. If I don't, I'll think about it later "

Pretty stubborn of me but makes me giggle if I remember this moment

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Getting Bored

Here I am on my vacation days.. .with nothing to do but studying for CFA test in June!! most of my friends are working so I can't meet up during the day time.. My mom is currently out of town, my dad is working, my other brother is working, my youngest bro is studying til 3pm everyday.. my vacation days only start at 6pm when everyone is out from work and I suddenly need to juggle spending time w my friends in Indon, my friends from LA who are in Indo and my family..

My not being able to drive around in Jakarta adds to my already boring life here.. So why don't I drive here.. other than because my parents deem it to be too dangerous for me ( high crime level ), and because there are thousands ... ten thousands..hundred thousands... motor bikes all over the street.. You'll be driving forward while motorbikes around you are driving the opposite direction ( OH YES IT's true.. ) and people practically not follow traffic lights in areas other than the center of the city ( which accounts for wat.. maybe 80% of the city )..Not to mention that ppl here don't follow the car lanes.. Three car lanes will be filled by four or five cars along with the motor bikes...

And then more often than not, you'll see people carrying carts ( selling food or carrying things ) walking at the side of the road.. if not on the middle of the roads

OH WELL!!!!!

I'm patiently checking my emails to see if Berkeley will show me some love... Anyone in the same boat?

Sunday, February 18, 2007

Reflection on Columbia' reject

Okay so let me try to list the reasons :
1. Reapplication so I only had one reapplication essay, which I think was pretty good but I guess was not good enough
2. One new LOR only from my supervisor which is good but not stellar.. Usually I had another Associate write me a LOR and he's pretty detailed in his LOR
3. Never visited the Columbia campus maybe?
4. My lack of w/e
5. My gmat scores

I think at the end of the day a lot of more qualified ppl applied to Columbia and what's with their well-prepared applications as compared to my lousy essays in my first time applying, I lose out...

Friday, February 16, 2007

First Ding.. OUCH!


Yup so Columbia.. rejected me twice in a row.. OUCH ouch OUcH.. but oh well...
I'm in Indonesia now people!!! I had checked my email yesterday when I saw the change of status in my Columbia application and the internet here is SOOOO SLOWWWW... that it takes me 10 minutes !! just to go to the login page and the check status page...

SIGH!
So anyway this is like 4.30am in the morning.. and I was up since 3.30am.. Jet Lagged. so what's my opinion of Jakarta after not being here for 2.5 years... SO DIRTY! oh mi god.. okay maybe because the flood has just receded recently but wo.. you see trash all over the place.. in front of the small houses.. on the alley..

another shocker : as my plane was landing, it showed me the current outside temperature... from 9 degree C in LA, 14 degree in Hongkong to 35 degree in Jakarta.. I was like.. WHAT THE HELL?

Okay so maybe it's more like a 32 degree celcius which is like about 100 something F.. but you see when I stepped out of the airport.. the 100 degreeF in LA feels hotter than the 100 something F here in Jakarta.. maybe because in Indonesia it's humid instead of really burning hot..

So anyway while I'm awake.. I was studying CFA, eating Rotiboy (some bread from Malaysia .. very buttery.. ) and updating my blog

Now let's talk about my experience w my mom... Before I went home, I knew that she would complained about my looks ( I don't know why she does this non stop my whole life : you're too skinny, you're too fat, your hair is messy, your clothes! ) okay so I did whatever I could before I head home.. facialist, eye brow shaping, hair cut.. and not to mention I had dropped 18 pounds through out last year.. but anyway.. met her yesterday and :
you're too skinny
you look unhealthy
if you want to stay skinny can you please go to the gymn and gain some muscle
maybe you should gain 4 more pounds
your clothes!!! ( speechless.. too much complaining )
your hair
YOUR FACE!! ALL THOSE SCARS and pimples.. and wanted to drag me to her dermatologist ASAP

Alright it's not as bad as it sounds.. just because I had gotten used to this 24 years of my life and all those words went from one ear straight to the other :) Asian mom just can never be satisfied.. or even if they are .. they still find ways to complain.. Is it just mine?

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Hardworking is Overrated!



Okay the title will not have anything to do with what I'm going to talk about.. I just remembered hearing it from TV.. must be from "My Name is Earl" show or something.. Or okay.. maybe I'm just venting some frustration at work

But anyway... some people have been getting interview invite for the Second Round.. I'm getting pretty listless.. Where is my newss?? I'm still waiting for Columbia ( uncertain of what to hope for ) and Berkeley ( either waitlist or reject).. but still I would love to know sooner than later..

Especially since my vacation to Indonesia is coming up in a week... (I'm heading home on Feb 14 night so you guys won't see my posts for a few days.. if not 2 weeks.... ) What I dread is if I get an interview invite one of these days that ask me to sign up for interview while I'm on vacation.. I'll be back in LA on March 3rd... But yeah that's just ol' hopeful' moi.. isn't everyone tho'

So let's get back to the interview invites.. AgirlsMBA just got her interview invite to Columbia today for her Regular decision.. oh well oh well oh well.. AgirlsMBA is really something! Applying to 9 schools and invited for interviews for 7 schools and maybe more to come ! DANG! that's crazy.. all the best for her...

For those of you who are aiming those top schools, reading blogs of people who apply to those schools and seeing how they progress would help you achieve your goal too.. You can learn how they are able to get interview invite/ being accepted.. So good luck !

On a site note, the picture is of a vest I bought from J. Crew.I thought I would post it to show what stuffs I have bought after my mother demands me to shop more ! Shoot.. I bet lotss of daughters would LOVE to hear that from their mothers...

Monday, February 5, 2007

Sunday, February 4, 2007

A word of Encouragement


Dream Bag but I'm broke!

As you guys know, I was rejected by four top 15 schools last year when I first applied. As 2005 passed on, I was rethinking about my choices. Should I re-apply to Business schools again or should I pack my bags and head home ( Indonesia ) as I had planned to ..

Being waitlisted at Anderson last March was an encouragement and I wanted to see if maybe I would be admitted if I reapply. And that's what exactly happened.. I reapply and got in to UCLA..

But in between being rejected and admitted.. there's a major step left that I had yet to discuss in detail : the works!

Yup the improvements to the essays, the revision revision revision of essays, the hours spent reading websites about b-schools application, the emails to and fro to applicants who made it into B schools...

SO if you're thinking of applying B school, thinking of re-applying and you are unsure whether to apply or to reapply or to try that top B schools : don't give up ! Until you know for sure that you should let go of your MBA dream.. don't !

Anyway, my mother was the one who helped me in this process last year. She called and asked me what was the plan for B school.. Am I reapplying? I told her yeah.. but was still unsure of what to do next... She told me : well, talk to people who got in ! Ask them why do they think they got in! Go to those GMAT preparation classes and improve your GMAT score... Read books about the essays.. Ask professional for help with your english..

And so I did.. I asked my friend's friend who last year had applied to Wharton, Berkeley, Ross and UCLA ( And got accepted to all of them. Indonesian too btw )

Link to her website here.

I sent her a long email, asking her why she thinks she got in, what's her view about my kinda-low GMAT score, how did she write her essays, any tips for improvement. And she kindly replied with detailed answers :
She told me to check out MBA game plan to help me revise my essays. Note : I find that their services are not consistent because the evaluators are either current students in top B Schools or alumns from B schools. I had two evaluators : one was kind and encouraging and the other was fine but not v helpful.

And then she told me I can try to retake GMAT.. she told me to REVISE REVISE REVISE my essays.. ask friends/coworkers to read them and give feedbacks. And this is a very important factor ! SO People start asking for feedbacks and revise your essays if you're planning to apply this year!

Let's see what else.. Don't forget to check out all those helpful websites
1. MBA Blog list
2. www.accepted.com for the list of interview questions
3. www.admissions411.com
4. www.mba.com to download the free GMAT test software
5. Business school forums at www.businessweek.com

I'm out of ideas but you guys get the idea.. especially for those of you applying outside of US. Last year, I was quite ignorant. I didn't check out any forums or blogs or websites because I didn't even know they exist but seriously these websites and blogs are really valuable.. so set aside time to check them out

What else.. herm herm.. OU! Recommendation letters.. again for international applicants.. When you ask someone to write you a LOR, you can help them by giving them examples any leadership experience you had done in the past to refresh their memories. Also ensure to talk to them about why you want to do MBA and all those stuff.. Google it :) I didn't do this.. but from reading from other people's blogs and websites, this seems to be a norm and I think it's a brilliant idea!

So okay.. I'm out of words.. If you want any more info, shoot me a comment and I'll try to attend to them..

Good luck!

Aim High!

Friday, February 2, 2007

In at USC



Received a call around 5 pm plus from the lady who interviewed me ! And she welcomed me to the Class of 2009 for USC Marshall !!

WOW.. first time I got an acceptance phone call.. Crazy..

I never really thought of SC before but now that I got in.. a few friends are telling me : SC has good entrepreneurship program ( better than UCLA ranking according to usnews.com ) and their alumni network is REALLY STRONG...

Hah.. that will help me decide

Thursday, February 1, 2007

What do you reward yourself for getting into B school?


The question says it all.. but the answers I'd love to hear.....

Let me know.. be it a CAR (!), a new wardrobe, a gadget ( the new i-phone coming up in June?), a vacation somewhere??

I was planning to get myself a nice bag if I got into one of the B schools.. but then I had a breakout on my face in December that was so bad that I had to go to a dermatologist. I don't know what cause it.. but it was nasty... Huge pimples on my forehead and they kept coming out. Luckily, I went to Dr. Harold Lancer here in LA. I totally swear by him! He's a miracle worker.. But anyway , yeah there goes my budget for a new bag...

My mother seems to be encouraging me to get a new wardrobe though.. Every time she called or text me, she would ask me : have I shopped recently? Have I cut my hair to make it look nicer? Have I bla bla bla... I was pretty concerned about it.. Is she trying to set me up with some random guys in Indonesia while I'm having a holiday there.. I confronted her today and she had told me that she was just utterly shocked to see how I look when we had a video call a few weeks ago.. Well that makes me feel better ( or Not.. )

Now that I have this encouragement to get myself a present, I wonder what I should get..... What are u guys getting ?

I'm thinking :
1. a bag
2. earring
3. nice bracelet
4. vacation somewhere? maybe Europe or China?

I'm considering earrings or a bracelet from uyen-uyen