Counting down...
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
I officially will be taking the GMAT on September 5th, 2006.
Son of a bitch.
I'm not really sure what possessed me to schedule it so soon, but I had the notion in my head that I'm nearing the limit of study and soon enough, I won't be able to fit any more grammar rules or equations in my head.
I decided to take the test on a Tuesday, because I have the attention span of a 3-year-old on crystal meth and a full testing center would provide me with lots of reasons to lose focus. I can barely study in my own house with minimal distractions. I wear two sets of earplugs to drown out ambient noise, but at that point the sound of my breathing is enough to make me stop doing the practice problems and start setting my desk on fire.
I've taken 3 practice tests so far, and as you can see by my scores below, I have zero reason to be confident about the next Tuesday, but being a middle-class, suburban, non-minority (as defined by higher educational institutions) male, I've overcome much adversity before. I will overcome adversity again, oh yes.
GMATPrep Test 1: 20 correct Q, 26 correct V (I didn't even get my scaled score. I was too stupid to figure out how to see them.)
Kaplan CAT Test 1: 40Q, 30V, 580
Kaplan CAT Test 2: 50Q, 36V, 660
I plan on taking a 3 more practice tests by exam day, which will undoubtedly destroy the rest of the hope that I once had for doing well. I do know that I will be getting really drunk Tuesday night and that football season starts Thursday night, so I'm hoping for 2 out of 3 next week.
posted by mbahunt @ 11:54 PM,
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Waxed by Kaplan
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Today marked the second time I took a practice GMAT on the computer. Today also marked the second time I severely embarrassed myself. I took the first one (GMATPrep) about 3 weeks ago and scored a 640. The second one I took today (Kaplan) and was presented with a nice fat 580. I know that the Kaplan tests are skewed down by up to 100-150 points at times, but still, that was pretty pathetic.
Granted, I was a bit hungover and really started feeling queasy around question 26 of the quantitative section, but that's still no excuse. I wanted to stop the test so bad and lie down, but I forced myself to forge onwards, as I have to emulate any possible scenario for the real test day. What if I happen to be coaxed out to an evening of raucous alcohol consumption the night before the exam? I can't control things like that. I have to be prepared for anything. Maybe I should keep a couple charcoal pills in my pocket.
I know it's not any different, but I'm having serious trouble taking these tests on computer versus taking them on paper. For some stupid reason, I find it easier to read and comprehend when the questions are on paper. Maybe I have cancer of the visual cortex.
posted by mbahunt @ 11:14 PM,
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How low did I go?
Saturday, August 12, 2006
It has been stated that while a low GPA is not great, evidence of improvement over time is regarded very highly in an applicant. Unfortunately, for me, my low GPA can be attributed to a slow and steady decline from year 1 to year 4. I'm sure that's going to look more than fantastic to the admissions committee.
Here's the problem, I'm not sure if my overall GPA is low enough to warrant extra explanation in an optional essay. Pretending that I do the optional essay, I'm not even sure what I could say that wouldn't make me look worse than my application already does.
Dear AdCom, I know that it may seem that
posted by mbahunt @ 4:58 PM,
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Haha, good one, you official guide, you...
Monday, August 07, 2006
I was advised to purchase the Official Guide for GMAT Review as it contains "more than 800 REAL practice questions straight from the horse's anus" and "the secret to picking up LOTS of chicks without really trying." I think they are really forgetting about a growing demographic of customers by only revealing the secrets of picking up chicks and not dudes, but I don't have my marketing MBA yet, so what the hell do I know?
Anyways, I started plowing through the questions in each section, and like the pimp that I am, I was getting an average of 95% of the problems correct across the board. I then proceeded to minimize my studying over the next week because I was indeed a superior human being.
You see, nobody told me that the guide is set up that questions go from easy to hard. I suddenly realized that I was doing the equivalent of playing little league, now, and beating the hell out of 3rd graders. Not cool.
Based on the above passage, which of the following conclusions can be inferred?
(A) The Official Guide writers are bastards.
(B) The Official Guide writers didn't expect me to be retarded and figured I'd realize the questions would be arranged by difficulty.
(C) The Official Guide writers did note that the questions are indeed arranged by difficulty and I will score -43 on the GMAT because I cannot read.
(D) The Official Guide writers assumed that most people using the book to review would do more than 3 problems before taking the test.
(E) The Official Guide writers did not arrange the questions by difficulty; I am retarded and am just getting more questions wrong.
The answer is C. It is clearly stated on the front cover of the book that the "NEW organization of questions in order of difficulty saves study time."
posted by mbahunt @ 1:02 AM,
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Look how big my penis is!!!
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I recently went to a Admissions Committee Panel, where seemingly high ranking admissions committee members from the top 5 business schools (as valiantly ranked by US News) provided some general information about the admissions process as well as some tips and insight as to why people get in and why they don't. Although most of it was basic crap that anyone who's done any reading about MBAs would already know, I did gather a few tips that might prove to be helpful. (They are at the end of the post. I'd rather speak my mind first.)
So imagine a hotel ballroom full of maybe 500 young, 20-something, yuppie schmucks. Now imagine them asking all kinds of retarded questions they know the answer to, but are asking anyways because they think that the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard will remember their name and face. Now imagine a "reception" afterwards that consists of everyone crowding around a table of alumni and adcom members, trying desperately to have a pissing contest. Listen, asses. This is a recruiting event, not a group interview. These adcom folks do this for a living. They see approximately 3 billion applicants every day. THEY WILL NOT REMEMBER YOUR NAME. That's why they make you apply. Man, I had to leave, because if I heard one more ibanker talk about an investment fund, I probably would have administered papercuts to my eyeballs with the brochures I collected.
All in all, I'm glad I went simply because I picked up a few things. I really hope that the douche mentality is only prevalent among MBA applicants and not MBA students.
Some of the highlights from the forum:
1. When writing resumes, don't just focus on the tasks, but also the accomplishments as well. Also be sure to include non-project accomplishments as well, such as corporate community type stuff, if applicable.
2. They are much more interested in what you did in an extra-curricular and how it affected others rather than the extra-curricular itself. No single activity garners more weight than others. Read: Community service is not a requirement.
3. Women have an easier time of getting in than men do, and I quote, "Only 30% of our applicants are female, but we strive to have half our class be female."
4. Business schools would rather have really diverse student bodies than really qualified student bodies.
posted by mbahunt @ 11:18 PM,
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