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!