One more day to hear from Stern

So it looks like Stern is going to string me out until the last possible day. I’m not saying that I’m upset with them; just that it does heighten the emotions involved. As each day passes without notification, I get more and more anxious.

I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s any discernible pattern in the timing of the post-interview notification from Stern but I’ve determined that there is none. People have received an admit as soon as six days after the interview but as late as three weeks plus two days after the interview. The two people I know of who got waitlisted after interview received notification 2 weeks after interview and 3 weeks after interview. Then I thought it might have something to do with the financial aid package, but most people don’t publicly report that information, so we’ll never know. Even if we did have that information, it looks like someone got waitlisted the full 3 weeks after the interview date, so adcom was obviously not taking that time to come up with an aid package for them. So does timing have anything to do with the outcome? It doesn’t look like it.

I’ll try to relax this weekend. I hope to have good news to report on Monday but I need to prepare myself for the worst. Stern, please take me!!! I have my cash deposit in hand, ready to send to you!

Three more days to hear from Stern

I’ve been a wreck the past few days, anxiously awaiting the final decision from NYU Stern. Today is Day 17 since the interview. It seems like almost everyone else has received their final decision within 14 days. Sure, Stern promised to get back within 3 weeks from the interview date, so that means I still have three more business days until that date. But it’s still nerve racking! ARGHH!!

One girl on the bw forums who interviewed two days after me already received her final decision, which was a waitlist. I guess I should be fortunate that I’m still in the running for an admit.

Okay, this may sound cheesy/silly, but I feel like Drew Barrymore’s character in the last scene of Never Been Kissed (maybe because I just watched it this past weekend). All my friends have been very supportive throughout this bschool process and they’re all watching and waiting with me to see if my (bschool) partner will come forward to accept me. The clock is ticking down to the end and I’m still anxiously waiting out in the field, hoping and wishing with every ounce of my being…

If I don’t get into Stern, this might be the end of the road for me. It’s sad thinking about the possibility of not going to business school this fall after all the emotion, money and time I’ve invested in the process. Not getting in to a bschool has always been a fairly strong possibility since I made the decision not to apply to any “safety” schools but the reality of it may be hard to deal with. I will eventually get over it, continue pursuing my career goals, and probably reapply next year.

One thing I’ve realized as I’ve looked at bios of other successful people is that it can take a long time to get to a position of influence in our careers. I think the perspective of people in our generation has been so skewed because of all the 20 and 30 somethings who became millionaires during the dot-com boom. We think success can be obtained instantaneously. While that is true of a handful of lucky people, for the large majority of the population, it takes a long time to develop a successful career. Whether I start an MBA program this fall or not, I need to remember that I’m still young and I still have a long life ahead of me.

Good luck to everyone else who is anxiously awaiting decisions!

Finding the balance between self-expression and doing societal good

What is the ideal job or career? This is something that every business school applicant has to think about as he/she writes essays and goes through interviews. For me, it was a deeply soul-searching process. What do I want to do for the rest of my life?

On some days, I thought about how meaningful it would be if I could start a business in the developing world and create jobs for hundreds of people.

On other days (especially after looking at Stern’s website or brochures about their EMT specialization), I thought about how cool it would be to help artists successfully market their creative genius or to figure out innovative means of experiencing music or film.

I went back and forth between the two but now I’ve realized that it was silly to think that I could only do one or the other, which leads me to the point of this blog entry. I think our ideal career or job is one which balances 1) expressing our unique God-given traits and talents and 2) doing something beneficial to society.

1) Expressing our unique God-given traits and talents

I think some pure capitalists may argue that society is inherently most greatly benefitted when everyone act in their own self-interest. While I would probably accept that view more than one which suggests people should always act in the interests of others, I find it to be philosophically and morally “empty”. Do we really want to live in a world where people just think of themselves? I’ve found that people need other people in order to be happy in life, regardless of what they’ve accomplished on their own.

2) Doing something beneficial to society

I think if everyone always acted primarily in the interests of others, we’d live in a very unhappy world. However, I believe we often underestimate how the things we do for what we believe are for pure self-interest do benefit others. For example, someone like Norah Jones probably sings because she loves to sing. But I hope that she knows that millions of people enjoy life a little bit more because they have her music to accompany their lives.

Anyways, all this to say that I think if we really wanted to, we could each find some way to integrate the things that inherently interest us with the things in this world that need fixing. I think what will bring most of us the most joy is when we can fully be ourselves but at the same time, feel like our existence on this planet matters. For those people who tend to think only about themselves—consider what you can do to help others; I think you will find that it gives you more meaning in life. For those people who tend to think mostly about others—do not discount how special and unique you are as an individual; discover who you truly are and do not be ashamed of expressing it.

The most difficult part of going to bschool…

…for me, might be trying to sell my condo. With regards to getting ready for bschool, it seems like most people just write about the difficulties of leaving their job, improving their quantitative skills, and planning their summer pre-bschool travels. While those are things I will still have to go through, the most complicated part of the bschool transition for me might be offloading my real estate investment. I purchased my condo three years ago, thinking that I’d be living in Boston for a while. Or at least long enough to ride out any dips in the real estate market. Going to bschool was the furthest thing from my mind.

But now, here I am, a few months away from hopefully enrolling into a great MBA program, with this condo on my hands that I need to get rid of. I could keep the condo and rent it out but that would be in the hope that the market would go up in the next few years (which with all the political and economic uncertainty, is not a given, despite reports that the Boston real estate market has hit bottom). I think selling it is the ideal course of action.

So… if you know anyone who wants to buy a 2BR condo that’s a short bus ride to MIT or a 20 minute walk to Harvard Yard, let me know!

Admissions411.com rankings and Prediction markets

Well, they’re not *really* rankings in the traditional sense. But it is pretty amazing when you sort the list of bschools by the number of applicants; it matches up extremely well with people’s general opinions on how those schools rank. It’s almost scary…

1. Harvard 667
2. Pennsylvania (Wharton) 553
3. Stanford 477
4. Chicago 370
5. Northwestern (Kellogg) 367
6. Columbia 306
7. MIT (Sloan) 263
8. UC Berkeley (Haas) 228
9. Michigan 212
10. Duke (Fuqua) 207
11. Dartmouth (Tuck) 192
12. NYU (Stern) 170
13. Virginia (Darden) 169
14. UCLA (Anderson) 168
15. Yale 154
16. Cornell (Johnson) 142
17. UNC (Kenan-Flagler) 91
18. London Business School 81
19. Carnegie Mellon 80
20. Texas-Austin (McCombs) 64
21. USC (Marshall) 45
22. INSEAD 45
23. Indiana (Kelley) 43
24. Georgetown (McDonough) 42
25. Emory (Goizueta) 40

This reminds me of how well prediction markets work. I guess that sorta makes sense since paying the application fee is basically like buying shares for the probability of being admitted to that school. I think it’s pretty accurate; the only serious inaccuracies might be London Business School and INSEAD. Most people would probably rank them higher. However, their low “ranking” on admissions411.com is easily explainable—they are non-US schools and most users of admissions411.com are probably American.

Anyways… I think it’s fascinating!

P.S. It’d be even better if someone took the time to get the official applicant counts for all the schools since admissions411.com’s data is purely self-reported voluntary data.

Changes to specializations at NYU Stern for Fall 2007

In my preparation for the interview, I poured over the Stern website to absorb as much information as I could about the school and its programs. I noticed they made some changes to the specialization offerings that will take effect in Fall 2007. Another prospective student I met this past weekend also noticed the new specializations since one of them is in an area she’s interested in pursuing.

The new specializations are 1) Data, Models & Decisions, 2) Financial Systems & Analytics, 3) Management of Technology & Operations, and 4) Supply Chain Management & Global Sourcing. The Information Systems specialization is being discontinued. It looks like they’re taking a very general field and replacing it with much more specific concentrations.

Even though it seems like they’re adding a lot to the curriculum, I doubt there will be a ton of new courses. It’s probably more about helping students more clearly match their career goals with the courses they choose to take. I imagine it’s also intended to help differentiate Stern students during the recruiting process against students from other schools; if a company is looking to hire someone for a supply chain management position, they might take a closer look at a student with a specific specialization in that area.

Companies play this sort of naming game all the time. While some people think it’s silly because nothing really changes substantively, people’s perception of what a product or service offers can totally change based on things like naming, logo, colors, etc. It’s great that Stern is being proactive and innovative in the marketing of the “service” that they’re offering—a two-year MBA.

(I don’t mean to single out Stern but I do just because it’s the program that I’m most familiar with. I know that many MBA programs are constantly looking at various ways to innovate. The most talked about innovation in MBA programs is the online MBA. Not sure if I believe that it’s worth nearly as much as a live MBA program though.)

Dreaming about seeing *my* name on an NYU Stern business card

I wrote some thank you cards today during my lunch break—one for my interviewer and one for the current student who took me out to lunch. As I looked at each person’s business card to write their address on the envelope, I imagined *my* name being on that NYU Stern business card. How cool would that be?!?!? Maybe part of that is just the novelty of having a business card in the first place (my current company is so cheap that they don’t allow people who don’t see clients to have business cards). But in reality, I do have a strong genuine excitement about being at Stern. I don’t know how I’m going to react if I do get that acceptance letter. I might physically explode from being unable to contain my joy.

Now it is all up to God (or fate, if you don’t believe in God). I’ve done all I can. All I can do is wait and hope that the powers that be decide that I am worthy to be a Sternie.

P.S. One thing I appreciated about the Stern admissions process is that they truly are looking to find interesting people and not just focusing on GMAT score and GPA. I was able to use the Stern Essay 3 to express myself through photography, my preferred means of creative expression. It was almost an unfair advantage for me because if pictures truly are worth a thousand words, I was able to submit a 16,000 word essay as opposed to the 250 words that applicants using words were limited to. The header image of my blog was a photograph I took at Millennium Park in Chicago.

Recap of my NYC weekend

I just finally got home after a good long weekend in New York City. Here’s a quick recap:

Saturday:
- Went to Barney’s warehouse sale in Chelsea. I guess there were good deals if you like high end brands. But it was still way too expensive for me. They have good deals on high end suits.
- Met friend for brunch at Brooklyn Diner near Columbus Circle. Was skeptical at first but was really yummy.
- Stopped by The Shops at Columbus Center. Kinda neat to see a big mall right in the middle of NYC. Went to Borders and picked up a copy of NFT New York City. Perfect city guide without all the fluffy touristy crap.
- Visited the famous Zabar’s. Some people call it a gourmet grocer, which it kinda is, but I liked it because it wasn’t snooty/pretentious at all and prices were very reasonable. The food was excellent of course.
- My wife’s friend’s friend owns a cosmetic/skin care shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn called Mio Mia. I’ve become more interested in skin care lately (my wife thinks I’m exploring my metrosexuality). I think it’s neat when people start their own business doing something they’re passionate about. I tried to offer some suggestions on marketing while I was there. If I attend bschool at Stern, maybe I’ll take up her shop as a volunteer consulting project.
- Walked around Williamsburg to scope it out as a potential home. Much cheaper than living in Manhattan and only 3 stops away from NYU on the L train.
- Had dinner at Momofuku in the East Village with some other friends. Trendy, hip Japanese noodle bar. Had the Momofuku Ramen. Delicious.
- Went back to the apt that we were staying at in the West Village.

Sunday:
- Bagel with cream cheese and lox at Ess-a-Bagel. Best cream cheese and lox bagel ever.
- Sunday morning service at Queenswest Church in Long Island City. We have a lot of good friends there but will probably not attend if we move to NYC because it’s all the way out in Queens and a little too Asian for us.
- Took subway to Park Slope to check out neighborhood. Nice, but I think too expensive for us.
- Took subway to East Village. Got some Poutine from Pommes Frites. If I go to NYU, I think I’ll be hitting this place a lot. Belgian fries with a wide variety of delicious dipping sauces.
- Walked down St. Marks Pl. Lots of umm… “interesting” shops.
- Dinner at Wild Ginger. I usually get Pad See You when I go to Thai restaurants. This time I got Pad Kee Mao. Didn’t like it nearly as much. I will stick to my Pad See You.
- Hung out at the apt we were staying at. Tried to prep for the interview but mostly ended up watching the Oscars.

Monday:
- Prepared for interview
- Had lunch with current student and another prospective student at Penang, a Malaysian/Thai restaurant close to Stern. Had a nice conversation over excellent food.
- And finally… the interview. It went about as well as it could have gone for someone who is not a good interviewer. I stumbled over a few words and didn’t answer some questions as well as I could have. But hopefully it allowed them to get to know me a little better and to see that my interest in their program is genuine.
- Sat in on a class at Columbia Business School. Maybe I shouldn’t say this publicly while my application is still pending but their facilities are atrocious. I think it’s okay to say since that seems to be prevailing opinion. It’s unfortunate because Columbia is a top ten MBA program and deserves to have great facilities. They can blame the neighborhood and lack of real estate all they want, but in the end, if they REALLY wanted a decent bschool building, they would have found a way to build one. On the plus side, the students seemed really sharp.
- Got a Jamba Juice for “dinner” before getting on the bus back to Boston.

Overall it was a very good weekend. Now I anxiously await Stern’s decision. Going to NYU would be so awesome. I guess going to any of the schools I applied to would be pretty cool. But there is nothing like going to school in Greenwich Village. So many cool shops, bars, restaurants. I’m afraid I’ll have too much fun if I go to Stern.

Interview Invite from Columbia!

Just got an invitation to interview from Columbia! Yay!

Maybe this is my reward for publicly defending their early decision process.

I’m going to try to squeeze in a class visit at the end of my New York trip this weekend. There’s only one class that’s in a time slot that works within my schedule on Monday and it just happens to be the class that I’m most interested in visiting: “Business in society: doing well by doing good?” Cool!

Finally gettin’ some love from Clear Admit

I finally got the people at Clear Admit to notice my blog and get mentioned in this week’s “Fridays from the Frontline” post!

http://blog.clearadmit.com/2007/02/fridays-from-the-frontline-23/

I noticed they have consistently linked to asiangal, inblue, iday and a few others but never me… until now. Hopefully this will put me in the running for their Best Applicant Blog award.

I’m fleshing out my plans for my NYC trip a bit more:
- Go to a Korean fried chicken place, as I mentioned before
- Try to hit Pommes Frites for some tasty Belgian fries
- Meet up with one of my wife’s college friends who just happens to be visiting from California on the same weekend
- Meet up with some former Boston friends who now live in NYC
- Meet up with one of my friends from high school who’s at NYU Law
- Scope out some neighborhoods in Brooklyn if the weather’s nice

My wife thinks I should get a manicure before my interview. Does anyone know of guys who get manicures? Or is that a little too “metro”? I once let me wife work on my fingernails with an emery board; I have to confess… it was nice to have those ridges smoothed out.