Just one invite - but not down yet :)

I have been away from my blog for a few days now, and I do not have much to report :) I do have one interview invite from Chicago (and I'm happy it came), but no word from the other schools.

I spent the last week brooding - self-casting doubts over my candidacy, and allowing the wait to get the better of me. But in the last one hour, something snapped. I just came out of that spell as if by magic. I still have no word from other schools yet, (even as reports of interview invites from all my target schools trickle in) - but I'm just back to my normal self :)

With my Chicago interview coming up on 14th February (yes, I know its V-day), I cannot afford to be nervous about not getting interview calls from other schools. Although I do not believe in rehearsing to the last word, I just want to be prepared to the point that I do not stumble for ideas. My best friend is helping me prep up, and she's done a fantastic job of getting me over my blues this week.

Congratulations to BSchoolBound for scoring a perfect 10 on his applications, and good luck to MissCurlybee for her HBS interview!

GMAT Strategies...

To all ye future GMAT applicants-

Just pasting the cumulative essence of whatever worked for me during the 2 months that I studied for the GMAT...and I'm sure there's lot more to it, but I'm presenting my 2 cents.

Best,
~vectorSpace


The 2-month strategy that worked for me

Disclaimer : The author takes no liability towards reduced scores or dings. Lawsuits could be long-drawn and dirty.

Afterthought : I feel 2 months was a slight overkill (see my GMAT score progression). I decided to play safe since I was working full-time all along these 2 months. No regrets. Hindsight kills.

Total Prep Time: 2 months(@ 1-2 hours/day on weekdays, and 4-8 hours/day on weekends)
Resources: OG 11, GMAT Sets, Manhattan GMAT, Test Magic, GMAT PREP

Week 1: I started with OG 11 to get an initial feel for things. I gave just about 1-day for each topic (PS, DS, CR, SC and RC only). At the end of week 1, I managed to complete about 10-15 questions from OG 11 for each topic. This gave me a great 'sense' for each problem type on the GMAT. I divided all topics into one of 3 groups:
a. I Suck: I absolutely suck at these.
b. Average: I do fairly OK on these, but not quite GMAT-ready yet
c. Awesome: I am my own standard here – bring on the GMAT!

At the end of week 1, I rated myself at: I Suck: SC; Average: CR, DS Awesome: RC, PS

My goal was to get all or most into the awesome bucket at the end of 2 months.

Week 2 and Week 3: I did each of the above types in 2-hour slots. This gave me time for about 50-60 questions per slot, and about an hour of error-analysis.

Error analysis and the mistake-scale: I cannot stress how important error-analysis is. In the past, people have tracked errors through different methods: from the basic and trusty writing-pad, to the Word Document, to the Excel Spreadsheet. I started off with a writing pad, and then graduated to an Excel spreadsheet. The advantage of a spreadsheet is that you can embed links to discussions on questions that you have erred on. My initial sheets were littered with links to test-magic discussion threads. It also goes well with doing OG and GMAT Set questions – almost every question is documented and discussed on Test-Magic.

To measure performance, I focused on mistakes per 100 questions. IMO, the mistake scale (let's call it the M level) is a good indicator of improvement while preparing. On a bad day, mistakes on key questions could lower your score by more points than you can imagine – and theoretically, it is hard to deliberately spread your mistakes. Mistakes follow essentially a randomized distribution – which means that you cannot control how they are spread over a 40-question test. It is best to try and minimize the total number of mistakes while preparing. Putting the spotlight on weak areas guarantees improvement.

Week 4: Having gained sufficient accuracy in weeks 2 -3, my next focus area was speed. Timed conditions turn the GMAT-game on its head – most of us can do most questions given ample time. I started off by doing timed GMAT Sets (in batches of 40). I realized that my performance dipped slightly – since the 2 minute mark rather than deducing a solution now decided whether I needed to move on to the next question. It was not entirely unexpected – but again, more practice in Week 4 helped me get back to my original M-level.

Weekend 4: On the weekend that followed, I decided to take GMATPREP 1. I got a 760 (Q50, V40), but more importantly, my M levels were: Q7, V11. There was a remarkable pattern on the mistakes: all Q mistakes were in DS, while 7 of 11 mistakes in V were in SC. Which meant that I needed to focus squarely on these 2 areas to improve my M-levels. With some more practice, my M levels would reduce even further. At this point I took the next available GMAT appointment - a month away.

Week 5: More practice on all areas – though from GMAT Sets and OG only.

Day Off
At this point, I was feeling quite saturated with GMAT preparation. So I took a day off from the GMAT just to let my mind wander and refresh. It certainly helped – the next day, I was feeling recharged once again.

Weekend 5: This weekend, I did 1 practice test (from Kaplan I think). My M levels were Q2, V15 (with more practice, my Verbal M levels should have dropped, if anything. I decided to discontinue practicing from Kaplan – it is too inaccurate an indicator).

Week 6: At some point during this week, I attempted GMATPREP 2: My M levels were Q6, V3. It was certainly an improvement over GMATPREP 1.

Issue: I also realized that I was having one issue in the quantitative section: at high-difficulty levels, I sometimes ran out of time on account of hard questions in the latter half of the CAT. The quality of hard questions on the GMATPREP was way above that of Kaplan or GMAT Sets.
Resolution: I decided to look at 2 other sources: GMATClub and Manhattan GMAT. I purchased a 6-test set from Manhattan – and I had a fabulous experience. The hard questions on the Manhattan GMAT were sometimes tougher than those on the real GMAT / GMATPREP. My timing improved dramatically in the Q-section as well. To anyone wanting high-quality practice in 700+ level questions, I would recommend the Manhattan GMAT's online test package. It is adaptive – so you get harder questions if you do well, and its results co-relate closely with my GMATPREP scores.

Week 7 and 8: More Manhattan GMAT, and a little bit of GMAT Club, coupled with more error-analysis, and tracking M-levels.

Score Tracker:

Week 4: GMATPREP 1 (Q50, V40) (Q7, V11) à 760
Week 6: GMATPREP 2 (Q50, V47) (Q6, V3) à 780

Between Weeks 6-7:
MGMAT 1: 730 (Q48, V41)
MGMAT 2: 780 (Q48, V51)
MGMAT 3: 740 (Q51, V40)
MGMAT 4: 750 (Q50, V42)
MGMAT 5: 740 (Q51, V39)
MGMAT 6: 750 (Q51, V41)

Tactics I Used:

• Practice doing full-length tests: The 4 weekends that led up to my GMAT, I made it a point to practice full-length tests from quality sources (GMATPREP and Manhattan GMAT). Doing an hour of AWA writing does affect stamina, and has a bearing on the performance.
• Keeping it fresh: Revisiting all quantitative problem types in the last few days: just to make sure that things remain fresh in my mind on the real test.
• Priming: I found this strategy to be highly fruitful – about an hour before you start your practice test, 'prime' your mind by attempting 4-5 questions Q and V questions. I compare it to like warming up the mind – when you start the test, your mind is already in top gear. I have noticed that if I do not do this, I spend more time with the first few Q questions – until I reach my full problem solving speed.
• Study in a pattern: I had booked an appointment for 9 AM. During the preparation stage, I was always up early and put in an hour in the morning before heading out to my office. This helped by tuning the mind to be at its test-taking best at that time of the day.
• Time yourself: There is an excellent spreadsheet floating around that lets you monitor the time you took for each question. I highly recommend it during the prep-stage. I was able to pin-point what questions I typically took more time with, and this helped me focus efforts.
• Use technology: Embed links on the same spreadsheet that you use to practice. This way, during crunch-time, you can simply look at your errors, and click on the links to be taken to a discussion on the question.
• M Levels: Focus on your mistakes. It's OK to make mistakes – it's not OK to make the same mistake multiple times. It means that you are not learning. Analyze your mistakes, and think of ways to prevent these from happening again.
• Quality over quantity: I tried to keep my question sources to the standard and accepted ones – GMATPREP, OG, GMAT Sets, GMAT Club and Manhattan GMAT. So I never had to bother about an 'ambiguous question' – one variable out of the equation!

One Application Per Applicant

As one of my last acts in 2007, I submitted my Harvard and Wharton applications yesterday. And then promptly ended up at what turned out to be an awesome party in DC.

The day after, as I re-hydrate my system with detoxifying fluids (whatever that means), I feel an overwhelming sense of relief at having finally submitted. I also feel like penning a thought I had since the past few days as I spent re-positioning essays.

Why can't we have a unified system of applications? Here's how: there would be one set of essays across schools; applicants must pick which ones to write depending on the schools they target, and the message they want to position. There could be a set of 10 essays, and applicants can choose say 5 of those. Applicant picks what schools to apply to, and dispatches the same essays to all those schools (perhaps with an additional essay describing why that school).

Clearly the applicant stands to gain. Countless hours spent re-positioning the same content for different schools could be utilized to introspect. This would make for more focused essays, more/better reflection on career goals and hence (hopefully) a better business school experience. By forcing the applicant to choose one message, schools get a true picture of what a candidate really is, taking the guesswork out of the entire 'fit' question. And that is precisely what schools stand to gain.

Also, this might likely reduce the number of applicants applying to each school. Enforcing the one message policy would reduce simultaneous applications to schools with very different cultures (Eg Wharton and Tuck. Sorry, but I fail to understand how an applicant could be a perfect fit for both Wharton and Tuck). A lower, more focused application volume would make the selection process easier for Admissions Officers.

Now lets do some math. Take the average MBA applicant, Mr Joe Hopeful.

• Mr Hopeful applies to 4 schools, lets say he's a first timer, and applies in R2.
  
• 16 essays total (Mr Hopeful does not have extenuating circumstances). Let's say 7 of those are similar which means they almost count as one. That makes 10 unique, non-reusable essays.
• Each essay takes Mr Hopeful 10 hours to think about, write and review.
• His reviewers spend an additional 10 hours in total.
• Plus another 10 hours that he takes to write the online details for 4 schools.
• Plus 5 hours that he spends creating content for his two recommenders, who in turn each spend five hours on Mr Hopeful's recommendation.
• Add it all up: 100+10+10+5+10 = 135 manhours spent on Mr Hopeful's MBA application.

Now lets take our system.

• Mr Hopeful must write a set of 5 essays.
• Even if he spends 12 hours on each, thats 60 hours.
• Plus 5 (reviewers)
• Plus 2 (online application details)
• Plus 3 (creating content for recommenders)
• Plus 10 hours spent by the recommenders themselves.
• That adds up to 80 hours.

Hence:

• Time saved: 55 manhours per Mr Hopeful.
• There are 175,000 Mr Hopefuls that apply each year. (Source: GMAC Annual Report)
• Total time saved: 9625000 manhours.
• Which is roughly the work that an 1100 person team can get done working 24 hours a day for a year. And this is just for full-time programs MBA programs.

My numbers may be off, but you get the point.

I'm sure that this has been discussed by schools before - so what holds back a unified admission system?

Closure

After quite a long break, I return to my blog again. It's been almost 2 months, I'm knee deep in the application process. While I'm writing essays at full tilt, I also am perplexed by a question which is the topic of my post today.

I shall present two arguments, and invite comments from fellow bloggers (to whom I promise, that I shall write more often).

Writing essays is an iterative process. It's like sculpting - you start with a flat slab, and then shape it, chiselling away until what remains is what you want and only what you want. Write a draft, and then leave it. The next day, hack it, turn it upside down, and add new content. Come back to the third day, and add a fitting opening and conclusion, make some more changes, and so on. By extension, the quality of essays becomes directly proportional to the number of revisions it goes through. It is therefore a no-brainer that the best time to submit an essay is after the most revisions you can make to it (assuming you do not lose steam or burnout and all that). Which would be right before the deadline (or a day before the deadline, if you are scared of server malfunction). To this end, there is no closure.

On the other hand, I also feel that closure comes when you know you cannot do any better. Closure is not a defined, clearly visible destination that you can say you are at a certain distance from. Closure is a state of mind - you know it when you are at it. Closure is when you (or your reviwers) are truly satisfied with your work - what you say represents what you are and what you want to be. It may come within a few revisions, it may come right before the deadline, or it may be elusive, and you could continue to feel something's amiss despite having submitted. In short, closure is when you know it. Conversely, when you know it, you know it's time to click submit. That the deadline is 3 weeks away notwithstanding.

Closure is relative. What is your closure?

Of acceptance rates and yields

I happened to look at acceptance rates and yields for top schools today, and thought I'd share some thoughts about these 2 parameters.

Its well-known that acceptance rate is a measure of the selectivity of the school (#admitted/#applied), while yield is a measure of 'relative desirability' of schools to students (#accepted/#admitted). Schools publish both numbers - and taken together, these numbers offer some pretty interesting insights.

I've compared the schools I'm applying to by normalizing the two ratios. The number in parenthesis give the two ratios (Yield, Acceptance Rate in %) for each school.

School	Applied	Admitted	Accepted
HBS(89,14)	720	100	89
Wharton(69,17)	800	100	69
Columbia(77,16)	800	100	77

After thoughts

1. These numbers mean nothing to me. Fit cannot be quantified - it is a function of each combination of applicant and school. School X may simply be a lot 'nicer' because its alumni were more responsive, or a visit to its campus was much more pleasant.

2. This comparison is a digression during essay-writing. If you hate digressions, use Dark-Room.

Errata

Anonymous correctly pointed out that these numbers are not updated - I used the figures from Bouknight's "MBA Game Plan", 2003 edition. Apologize for this oversight, which makes the numbers obsolete by 4 years. I've since corrected the numbers (I did not find these stats for Chicago GSB or Stern).

This also renders my conclusions invalid - I've taken these out since. Thanks, Anonymous.

Autumn heralds R1 deadlines

It's been a full 2 months that this blog has sprung back to life. With the GMAT done, I thought the hardest was over. How wrong, and how vain.

The last 2 months were grueling - there have been times I've thought my essay drafts were absolutely awesome - and then thought they should be gutted the very next day. It's hard, this writing game, since there are no benchmarks, no comparisons, no percentiles that serve as a crutch to your dreams. It's like shooting at flying targets in the dark - take aim, take your best shot and fire. It's a hit or miss.

B-schools make the field even more level - by encouraging almost anyone from 1-10 years out of school to apply, regardless of industry, education or nationality.

I've been caught up in this write-introspect-edit cycle for weeks now. I know not if I possess the much-talked about wow factor, I don't even know if there is any such thing. I'm visiting Chicago on October 12, and really would like to talk to folks there, since I've heard so much about this school.

My first recommender has already agreed to write what it takes, I talk to the second one tomorrow.

Sorry if this blog seems in bits-n-pieces and scattered all over, but I also promised myself that I'd blog more often - I feel it is cathartic. I also hope the now-defunct blogging community kickstarts back to life, and becomes alive with comments/posts.

GMAT ... [OK]

Registration: $250
Manhattan Tests: $40
GMATClub Tests: $40
Red Bull: $2
Ghirardelli Chocolate: $10

760 (99)
Q51 (99)
V41 (93)

Irish Car Bomb at local bar: Priceless.