Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Haas and HBS...

Hmm... still no word from Berkeley and Harvard. I haven't even received the email from Berkeley that my application is ready to be reviewed! As for HBS, I submitted the app on Oct 1! That's almost 2 months ago... don't have a good feeling :-(

In two weeks I'll go check out the campuses of IESE and LBS while I'm back home in Europe. I will be at LBS a week before they send out their decisions. Well, I guess I'll have to take the risk since I'll be in Europe, hopefully I won't get dinged just right after I visit :-).

Monday, November 26, 2007

London Business School interview

Just received an email with my LBS interview logistics (luckily it will be in Boston). It seems like everybody has to give a 5min. impromptu presentation? Man, the whole MBA application process is getting a bit too crazy. I wish I had applied in the days when you didn't even have to interview! What's going to be next? Two inteview stages? 15 essays?

Received an extension from IESE...

As I wrote in my first post, I am very happy that I already received an offer from IESE. Definitely takes away some of the pressure and anxiety. A little issue I faced though was the decision deadline I was given by IESE. I got accepted on November 7, had to give IESE word by November 23 if I was accepting, and make a 4500 Euro deposit by December 5! That was quite soon! By December 5 I will not have heard back yet from any other university and also I haven't even visited the IESE campus! So I called admissions (after having sent 2 unanswered emails) and finally today (three days after I should have sent the fax) I received an email that the admissions committee granted me an extension to January 16 (and a deposit extension to January 30). I really appreciate IESE's responsiveness and look forward to checking out their campus and meeting current students in December!

Friday, November 16, 2007

LBS...

...quick update: I got lucky and received an interview invite! Hurray.

Curious to see where I'll have to interview, hopefully here in Boston... back to work now.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Blogging a bit late...

...in the game but still wanted to share my experiences! After weeks of writing essays, attending information sessions, campus visits, etc. I already submitted my applications for the following schools: HBS, IESE, Haas, and LBS (all round 1).

A bit about myself: German/US national (grew up in Munich until I was 20), 3.5 yrs of consulting experience (Boston), low GMAT (640), high GPA (3.72 from Boston College), quite involved outside of work (teaching ESL at a non-profit where I'm also a board member; created a website for prospective MBA students, also working on a screenplay, etc.). It should be interesting to see how my low GMAT comes into play. Aside from that I feel I'm not aiming too high.

As of today:
I interviewed with IESE in NY and wasn't too optimistic after. For those of you still awaiting an interview in the US, expect some tough questions:
- When did you disagree with your supervisor and what did you do?
- When did a team project fail and what did you do?
- When did you not meet a deadline and what did you do?
- When did you face an ethical dilemma and what did you do?

Last week, however, I got accepted! I was super happy and I catch myself constantly day dreaming about how it would be spending 2 awesome years at IESE in Barcelona...

Next week: LBS will kick out the first batch of applicants for round 1 (interview invites will be sent as well as lots of rejection letters). Good luck to all of us!


Update: Check out the accepted.com interview database if you want to know more about your target school's interview process. You can filter by school and feedback rating.