Application Essays

There was a spot on the radio this morning about monologues based on college application essays. I was shocked. I usually don’t get to hear something applicable to my life on the radio. It got me thinking about applications…

Now that I’m basically done with the business school application process, what did I learn?

- Applying to business school is exiting. Visiting different schools rocked. The other prospective students at the schools and at admissions events were really “my people”, and there was a feeling of opportunity in the air.

- I enjoy writing essays. Not so much that I’ll continue doing it, but it was ultimately satisfying. I really had to think about what I want to do with my life, and try to be very clear about it. I also had to look back at what I’ve done, and try to find things that were interesting and show me in a good light. This introspection was actually pretty ok. Heck, I love thinking about me, but usually no one else cares.

- I saw some things about myself that I don’t really like. I took the CBS value system question as an ethical question. What I wrote forced me to look at a pretty glaring weakness in who I am. I guess that it’s called temptation for a reason, but I really have to work to resist it.

- I also didn’t like that I completely fell apart after the Columbia interview. I knew that I needed to deal with the Stern and Tuck applications, but I couldn’t make myself work. I told myself that I didn’t feel right about Stern, and that I had screwed myself with Tuck with a lousy interview, but that wasn’t the truth. I just could not force myself to come home and write essays. The December 1 deadline came and went with no work on my part. Sure, it worked out with Columbia, but it was not a calculated risk. It was paralysis.

So the pros are that I like business school people and writing about me, and the cons relate to looking straight at some of my flaws. I was hoping for some more meaningful lessons. I’m sure that I could come up with more, but for now I’m done re-writing everything 12 times before it takes shape.

Anyway, the next challenge should be financial aid, and maybe scholarships. I will try to wait until at least the new year to start worrying about how much work business school apparently is. My dream is totally the “happy hours and fat job at the end” business school, but that won’t happen :(