Sinking

The feeling is slowly sinking in...
and it is being replaced by the thoughts of what if...
Reading through tons of blog material, I come across story after story of rejections, denials and sad faces.
Even the most optimist of people like me can be jittered into feeling a bit ackward when I think of the future!
Not bothered about the effort that has been put in.
Bothered instead about whether I will be headed on the path of my dream!

The dream is far! but the path, that is not!
I have to start walking on it if I wish to reach the destination!

Damn! Phase III has already started!
And I am loving it! :D

Freedom

The sweet sense of freedom!
The freedom to get back to normal!

It all started in the month of May! Yeah May!
I was in the US of A visiting the wonderful city of New York! God Bless the Big Apple!
Suddenly, in a moment, I decided that I wanted to do my MBA in America.
Until then, I too was chasing the CAT dream!
I belled the CAT, got the IIM (Indian Institute of Management)! But, alas! I did not get the IIM of my choice!

Dogged that I am, I decided that I will play hard! Winner or none! I decided to re-appear.

But fate had other plans for me.
Back from the US, I started perparing in the month of July! Studied, answered tests, studied and answered tests again! That was the routine for a few days!
Days became nights and nights became days as the preparation was in full swing.

A few days before the D-Day, I took stock of the situation. At 690, I wasnt going anywhere! Definitely to the schools that I sought! I decided to buckle up! Its easy to pressurize yourselves when you know how badly you want it!

Social life was reduced to a minimum! Poor friends of my bore with my idiosyncracies, changing their schedules and accomodating me so that we could spend time together!

The day was great! The Quant section went well and I had no problems there! I was left with less time at the end though and I had to HURRY!!!
Verbal was turning out to bit of a tougher cookie to crack! All went well... never before score of 750!

Applications meant research, research meant time and time meant incommunicado Max!
The essays had to turn right! Some of them went to SO MUCH of revision that I cannot believe the number of versions that I am left with!

At the end of the entire process! I am DONE! Relieved and a weak smile on my face!
I guess that I can have a good nights sleep and rest in peace for a few days!

Things to do
-- Get life back in order
-- Meet friends
-- Party like there is no tomorrow
-- Go trekking
-- Run the Mumbai Marathon
-- Clean the house
-- Continue Jogging 8 rounds
-- Party more
-- Travel
-- Read
-- Blog
-- Live Life
-- Work (Yeah!)
-- Get pending things done!!!


Enjoy the moment and live the glory!

The end of R2

Today officially marks the completion of R2!!!
I submitted Stern today!
Although there wasn't much left to be done, It was a sigh of relief when it was submitted!

I feel relieved in more ways than one!
I guess that I can finally breathe easy!



Njoi the moment and savour the feeling!
Phase II is officially complete!
Time to rejoice!

But that marks the beginning of Phase III.
This will involve the gift of the gab and the extruciating wait for the result!
The use of the F5 key and the long wait for success! (XX - crossed fingers!)

For now! yahoo!!!!

Almost there

All done and ready to go!
The button needs to be pushed!
I have forwarded the essays to a few friends for reviews. Some have reverted back. Some are yet to get back to me. I don't foresee anything major happening between now and the submit button.
The recommendations are also in place.
Its the end of a long journey. And the journey seems to be coming to an end.

Its just a matter of hours now...its just a matter of hours!

Clamor to finish

Its suddenly a clamour to finish it all.
All in place and yet things to do!
As usual, things have to be perfect and as a result of this, i will review and get them reviewed!
and submit i will tomorrow!
And that will be the end of the third phase of the application!
The first was a mix of research and GMAT.
The second was totally research and recommendations!
The third has been the apps process! I must say that it has been a great experience as of now. Hopeful that it will be fruitful and that will probably make all the difference between a wide smile and a weak one!
Stern! here I come!

Loved NYC any which way! It was an amazing experience that I had there! Sad that it had to last for a short duration!

But hey, that is in the past! for now, have to click on the submit! that is onething that does not psyche me! hehehe!

Firm

There was a doubt in the mind!
No doubts there!
But the doubts have been cleared!
Ive seen others with a variety of values!
have stuck mine to 5!
They are there at the side of your screens!

Yet to apply to NYU Stern! The rest are in awaiting information from them state! :)

Scary thoughts

the friend of mine who egged me, motivated me and counselled me throughout the GMAT and application process has now put me in an interesting quandry!
He asked about all the schools that I am applying to. Promptly, I replied with the 5 names... he was probably in his sleep. He asked me which my lowest and bare minimum one was amongst them! I told him!

He was shocked! He was shocked that my bare minimum way above what most people aim for. He was sceptical that if things dont go as hoped and planned (god! oh god! please let me go as per hope and plan this one time! please!), I stood to lose one year.

He already knows that I have my eyes set on only the best of the best and only those that help me get closer to my dream!
Some consider that stupid! Some consider that dumb! Some consider that daredevil!
No one that I can think of actually believes that it is a sensible idea. Deep down they all think that I am plain dumb and living in an utopian world and dreaming only about the best without any sense of reality.

I do not blame them for considering me to be dumb or stupid. May be I am. I am in search of my dream! And I am not ready to compromise. I am not ready to have the second best. I am not ready to settle for anything less than what I consider to be the bare minimum possible.

I know that the road is tough ahead and there are likely to be pot-holes, blind turns, dark alleys and U-turns. But I am ready to tackle all of that!

The one thing that I am NOT ready to tackle is the inner voice which will never let me live in peace. It will question why I decided to cave in and swim with the tide! And I will have no answer for that question. For deep within, even I would know that I would be taking the wrong decision by giving in.

I have waited for a long time for this!
And as much as I want it right away, I am not ready to settle for the consolation prize.
It is a classic gamble strategy! Double or nothing!

And while the downside is that I have to wait another year!
The upside is that I am not lying to myself!

I like the upside! I will take it!

NYU Stern remains

four done and one to go!
NYU Stern now remains.
Not because of any order or preference that has been followed.
It has been a simple logic!

It is the only one with a 15th Jan deadline.
which means that I still have a few days to review and make changes if any!

Which means that my friends are in for another round of versioned and tagged documents! :)
I wonder why is it that I am the only one who would be shouting yippee!!!

hehehe!

chicago done

Churning them out is the right phrase for what I am doing these days!
Churning applications out by the day!
Actually churning applications out by the night!

Had one last night... Columbia
Had one tonight... Chicago

Only NYU Stern no remains!

4 done and 1 to go...
the pressure of applying will ease...
the pressure of acceptance will rise...
the pressure of rejection will rise...

god! please give me the strenght to handle the acceptances well!
Thank you god!

And thanks to all those people who have helped me in my endeavors.
I may not be able to repay them, but I hope that I can be of use someday!

Columbia done

It may be a weird time of the day (???)
But no time is a bad time to submit an application!

Submitted Columbia today!
3 done and 2 to go!

To repeat...
We don't give up at half-time!
You dont score until you score!

Yippee!

Duracell

Sometimes the process reminds me of duracell!
It just goes on and on and on...

For the love of the Holy Mother of God!
When will this end?

And it better end on a happy note!
I do not wish to fall back on my backup plan! I definitely do NOT!

And that is why I egg myself on!
Go on and on...

Just a few more days i tell myself...just a few more days...

Abyss

Time passes by...
Essays pass by...
reviews happen
archives happen
but the process does not seem to end.
The process...that does not seem to end.

Its an abyss...it just wont end!
But we hold in there, hope, dreams and resilience

We dont quit at half time!
You dont score till you score!

My Schools

Everyone has their hit-list. I too have one.
In alphabetical order:

Chicago - GSB
Columbia Business School
Harvard Business School
NYU L.Stern School
Wharton UPenn

Let us see where the List leads me!

One step

With one small step, i start this tryst with destiny.
The tryst with an MBA.

Applications are in full swing!