The 7th inning stretch for R1 deadline

Whew! I am finally done with my essays for Wharton. As previously mentioned, I am applying to only one school in R1 (Wharton, that is). My original plan was to submit at least 2 apps for R1, but unfortunately, I have been suffering from numerous excruciating editing/rewriting/reorganizing tasks that were presented to me, not to mention dealing with a prolonged writer's block. So I will submit only 1 app for R1. I think I wrote a total of 10,000 words thus far just for Wharton apps.

My plan is to get an admit decision from Wharton on 12/23 so that I can put all my time and energy for HBS application in R2. Then again this is the best scenario, and from my personal experience, best senarios havent usually worked out exactly as I hoped for. Blame on my optimism or lack of perspective, but I am really high on my Wharton appls. If accepted, I will have the best Christmas present ever on 12/23. Then, again, if I dont get an admit (waitlist be damned!), I am gonna have a serious talk with God:)

Just recently, I have been dealing with highs and lows of my emotion as I am getting into the final stretch for R1 deadline. I admit, this is the worst time to have such fluctuating tide of emotions. A couple of days ago, I visited Dave's forum, and I spotted a link to a PDF file of Wharton student resumes, and I totally got intimidated by the endless list of "Harvard, Princeton, Columbia" grads with cum laude notations on their resume. (What have you done to me, Dave? What have you done to me!!!)

After a while, I got so tired (more like irritated) of seeing those high profile resumes that I quickly scrolled down to try to find more ordinary profiles where the names of undergraduates were less prestigous by my own subjective standard. But then again, when I finally found such resumes, I saw their grades - they were something like "3.99/4.00". Yes, I did learn something here, you dont have to score 700+ on GMAT to consider for an admission if your GPA is somewhere around 4.0. Where did all those normal people do??? You know, the ones with 3.0 GPA, 650 GMAT, and non-F500 professional WE? Where are they?

Just today, I woke up early in the morning only to find myself seriously doubting about my MBA candidacy. I even asked myself, "who am I trying to fool here? Perhaps I should lower my expectation." Well, I dont know. And I dont care anymore. Honestly, I am at this point where I no longer care about this whole MBA application stuff. I have become more philosophical about this MBA thing, and my attitude has become more like, "If i get in, I get in. If I dont, then I just have to wait another year for a second chance." (but then, there is no guarantee that my candidacy would improve dramatically by next year, given the scope of my current job.)

Back to my Wharton apps preparation, I finally got a rec from my boss, and it seems ok, considering that its her first draft. I still feel uncomfortable about asking her to do another draft, and I guess I just have to find a delicate way of requesting that. Perhaps a small gift would work?

I have sent my essays to my friend for proofreading (thank you, Sarah!) So I guess I will have a couple days of facetime here before I do something else. Perhaps I should go out with my friends and get wasted to alleviate some stress?

Good luck guys, and I really mean it. (yes, you fellas, Dave, Aregon, Swoop, BritChick, PowerYogi, Dr.Martini, Wakechick)

I have been following your blogs and enjoying your posts for some time, and by now, observing your developments over some time, I can honestly say with some authority that each of you guys will get into one of your top choice schools. And I am being dead serious here. The last time I made such a bold claim was when I told the same thing to my friend who was in the middle of applying to dental schools (NYU, Columbia, and Case Western). And guess what? At the end, he got into all of them, despite having average profile.

Oh, one more thing, did you guys know that your Wharton applications will be read by at least 2 readers and you would require an approval from only one of the readers to get invited for an interview? In other words, you only have to convince one reader (have mercy on us!) to say yes in order to get an interview invite! And we all know that once we get to the interview, anything can happen there :)

(I will try to find a link (s2s board) sometime this week. )