Sunday, June 17, 2007

off to pastures new

No blogging for a few days because I had a few decisions to take and they were more urgent than any MBA issue. My contracting assignment will be over in two weeks and I've decided not to renew.
Money was very good but the job really boring and not challenging, so I've decided to go back to Europe (or somewhere else...) where (hopefully) I'll be able to get a job I'm happy with. I know that a management position is not absolutely necessary to get admitted to business school but it's something I feel ready to take on regardless of any MBA consideration. Fingers crossed.
I have had the chance to think about the MBA thing as well and I have to say that I haven't changed my mind. It's difficult to explain my whole story and all my plans here but I still think that's the right choice. Next month I might have changed my mind but we'll see :-)

Monday, June 11, 2007

frustration part II

well I'm glad that at least my frustration inspired Linda Abraham to write a post on the accepted.com blog :)
Thanks Linda, it is always nice to have a different perspective (and in this case certainly a good one!) and to be brought back to the "fundamentals". Sometimes you're too busy thinking about the how (to get admitted to an MBA program in this case) that you forget about the why (you're doing it)...
I would like to get a solid preparation in general management to land a job there eventually. As to my short term goals, I'm really excited about (ideally international) rotational programs and I think that will be my first choice.
I do hate my current job (meaning I hate my current position) but I believe that didn't really affect my decision to apply, considering that I'm contracting and I'll be working there only for 3 more weeks.
So my choice is basically about what to do next. I could get a more "technical" (as in specialised) job or I could try to get into a management position in the same field, which I would prefer.
To complicate everything, there is a decision on whether to go back to Europe (where I could get a better job in a management role) or to stay where I live now (and I'd be happy to stay now that I'm settled in).
I also have to decide whether to squeeze in a professional qualification (CPA or ACCA) in the next year (considering that I'm supposed to work on my applications as well). This would be much helpful for my current job (even only starting), I'm not too sure how that fits in my long term goals but I suppose it can't do any harm.
So at the moment I'm waiting on an offer from the company I'm contracting for ("they're working on it"), plus I'm jobhunting in my current location, plus I have telephone interviews scheduled with recruitment agencies in Luxembourg and London.
To top it all, since I'm a masochist, the other day I have also applied for a completely different job that I'd be interested in (credit analyst for a rating agency) and I'm wondering what's going to happen if they really call me for an interview.
I am thinking that if I put off the MBA, I could confortably study for my CPA and probably build up my profile more in a management role. On the other hand I'm really excited about the whole MBA thing and I don't really want to wait one more year.
That's my story....

Sunday, June 10, 2007

frustration

I'm really torn. Never in my life I've felt so unfocused and undecided. On one hand this is good because it means that I have a few options to choose among but on the other hand it's quite frustrating not knowing where I'll be next month and what I'll be doing...
I'm trying to decide keeping into account my plan of applying for the class starting in fall 2008 but sometimes I think that my choice now would be easier if I decided to delay the MBA of one year. But I really don't want to put it off...
By the way, since my last post, there's no progress at all on my applications...

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Ten good reasons to do an MBA

- to learn a lot of stuff
- to (hopefully) receive THAT phone call and jump as high as you can
- to switch career without starting over
- to be off work for two years
- to see those three letters after your name (until the day you die)
- to discover a world of opportunities and see a lot of doors opening
- to do an experience of life in the US
- to be surrounded by bright and inspiring people for two years (and possibly for a lifetime)
- to be involved in clubs and attend conferences, seminars and events
- to feel alive

Monday, June 4, 2007

a bad day

Guys I officially hate my job. My only relief is that I know that next month I won't be working there anymore. I'm really undecided between moving to a different department as they seem to have offered or moving somewhere else... well we'll see...

Last night I wanted to give the essays a go and decided to start from Harvard so I drafted essay number 1. Today I read the transcription of the chat with the Harvard director of admissions and found out that this year they'll be completely changing the essays...

ah jesus.... I better go to bed

Sunday, June 3, 2007

blog and essays

hmmm this blog looks like the first draft of stanford essay number 1. It doesn't sound like me at all, and actually it's just plain boring... Hopefully I'll be able to improve...
In my mind keeping this blog should have helped me to keep my motivation and work on the applications, to be honest I'm not that sure it's working.

[rant mode on]
And could anybody tell me why business schools can't release essays in May/June rather than August/September? Argh...!
[rant mode off]

alright... I feel like ice cream now, I'm sure by October I'll have gained some 5 kgs.... (ranting again? yeah...)

Saturday, June 2, 2007

the drainstorming

well this brainstorming is killing me

As suggested by the books I've read (and as slightly adjusted by me), I'm putting down on paper everything that happened in my life over the last 10 years.
I've built a table with six columns detailing:
1) the episodes, the achievements, the activities and the major changes in my life, along with a short description of each
2) the year (or period of time) in which they happened
3) the "area" they pertain to (A for academic, P for professional, E for extracurriculars, I also added I for international since that's a strong area for me, for someone else it could be C for community for instance)
4) the "internal" impact, i.e. the lessons learned or the skills acquired
5) the "external" impact, i.e. the influence or the effects on other people
6) the main skills that the episode/achievement/activity shows, on which you can build the "themes" of your application

Brief example:

1) Managed project X (+ short description of the project)
2) 2005
3) P
4) Delivering within tight deadlines, liasing with different departments, leveraging on my network, etc.
5) made my boss happy (+quote "we could have never done this without you"), pi**ed off the manager of the other department, motivated my team, etc.
6) Leadership, focus on innovation

I hope it makes sense...

Seeing all your life on a couple of pages kinda makes you feel miserable, and struggling to find more episodes/achievements makes you feel even more miserable... but I guess it has to be done...

Friday, June 1, 2007

lazyness

This is one of those lazy days... starting early gives you a big obvious advantage but at the same time you tend to think "well it's early I don't really need to work that hard" so eventually you barely accomplish anything...
At the moment I'm looking for blogs of other people who look to start their MBA in fall 2008 but I can't find any, I bet I'm not the only one!!!