Motown - November/December Updates

Since I missed the boat on writing out my November updates I’m going to combine both month’s milestones. In November I had the chance to visit and interview with Kellogg which I recapped HERE. Then my work travel schedule finally died down which really helped me finally focus on essays. In my personal life, I had my wisdom teeth pulled which honestly knocked me out for a week for recovery and just celebrating Thanksgiving. In hindsight, I don’t know if I would do that all over again. As a lesson learned, schedule any medical/dental things BEFORE the height of b-school season (if you can…). I somewhat feel like I’m still catching up from that week I lost.

Anyhow, since Thanksgiving I’ve been in a hardcore essay mode. I was forced to modify my school list and reduced it to 5 schools. This past Saturday I started my Consortium school deck, which is my second to last school deck!!!! Just one more school and then I’m ALMOST done. There are still some small logistics I need to complete like sending off my GMAT scores and transcripts which is ON my to-do list this week. Also, all my recommenders got all their recommendations in (except one who will get his in by Christmas)!! So I’m really glad that burden is released.

I’m also still taking this self-paced financial accounting course. My final exam was two days ago….I’m glad its over. But I still have a class project hanging over my head due by 12/31. In hindsight, I really wish I took this course a long time ago, but due to some logistics I wasn’t able to.

More in my personal life, I ended up rescuing a kitten within the last 3 weeks. My coworker found a kitten at our job and had no one to take it in…so I took it in..which now adds another distraction to this somewhat stressful season!

Anyhow, once that is over I’ll be home in Michigan for the holidays while also trying to complete this homestretch of applications. In the midst of all of this some of my R1 friends have gotten acceptances to Booth, Johnson and Kellogg!! Congrats to them!!! I’m sure there are more acceptances but I’ve kinda been off the radar socially because I’ve been feeling so swamped…so please forgive my head and not my heart.

Also, my good friend MktgBadger will be discussing her journey from application to acceptance and pre-matriculation at Kellogg in an upcoming post. So PLEASE tune in for that. CONGRATS AGAIN!!!!!!

Anyhow – I’m sure this will be my last post of the year until I resurrect myself post-submission. So I wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays and GOOD LUCK submitting R2 applications!! You can do it!!!!

oh yes...and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

-Motown

My kitten with her Kellogg Lanyard (her fave toy)...wishing all the Kellogg Admits a Congrats :-)

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Response to Did I do the math right? Part 2

Just wanted to highlight Accepted.com's response to my recent post: here

Enjoy!

-Motown

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Recommender Update

So I told all my recommenders (except one) that I would like my recs in by 12/9. Even though they had since August to prepare…only one person has officially submitted. Now the rat race begins.

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Luckily when I got to work, one contacted me before I could reach out. So I’m positive at least another one will be in by the end of the week. Two have not started at all. And another one, who I’m pretty cool with – we will probably talk about it over the holidays, so I’m not too worried. This is just something I wish I WASN’T doing while I’m writing essays :-/

Long story short, I'm looking at 1 out of 5 completed recommendations right now :-/

As a piece of advice to future applicants,  pulse your recommenders every 2-3 weeks….maybe that’s excessive..but then it won’t be hanging over your head. Any one have all their recs in already? (CONGRATS!) or anyone in this rat race with me?
-Motown

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Did I do the Math right? Part 2

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So now that my school list is finally final… My total count for essays has come to ::drum roll:: 21 essays!!

So far I have completed (all in varied draft modes) – 11 essays meaning which equates to 3 schools that are on their way to being “finalized”.
So that leaves 10 more essays left! Yikes!!!

To my surprise, my hardest essay’s have been the ones around: Why MBA/What are you professional goals?/What do you envision for your career.
Throughout this process, I knew exactly my ST and LT goals…but to articulate in 300 - 600 words is a different story. I’ve spent a lot of time just trying to hone that down…even soliciting feedback from friends/family whose opinions I never asked previously for anything (but its ALLLLL been appreciated ☺ )

Anyways, so this weekend, I’m still going to hone in on finalizing one/two on the school …and starting next week…..I’ll be starting a new school deck to kick off the last 3 schools and 10 essays I need to focus on.

I also prioritized my school list…even though I was previously fighting doing that. I did this so that IF I'm burning the midnight oil on Christmas eve I already know what school or two I’m knocking off the list. I don’t want to have to do it! But I don’t want to turn in sloppy essays or waste my time on something sub-par


Note: This is a continuation of my previous post


Anyone else struggling on a particular essay type? Anyone knocked off a school in the interest of time?
-Motown

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My Visit to Kellogg

A month ago I had the chance to visit Evanston, IL for Kellogg’s Diversity weekend. First thing, the campus is beautiful!!! There’s this lake, and then there’s flowers everywhere….it really made me miss being on a campus.

My first day there we all had the opportunity to hear Dean Sally Blount speak. One Word: AMAZING. She was super inspirational. Afterwards we had a marketing class and also heard an admissions panel. That afternoon I interviewed and then made it back in time for a professors panel. That evening there was a sushi happy hour in Chicago and then out in the city.

The next day we had the chance to network with students, participated in an entrepreneurial finance class (awesome!!!) and listened to an alum panel. Finally that evening we had small group dinners.

The best thing about this visit were the ample opportunities to mix and mingle with students. I loved being immersed in Kellogg’s culture and meeting soooooo many students! Also, this was the first school visit I actually stayed with current students which I think helped me really see how busy it is to be an MBA student.
Overall, loved the school and culture. I had a really good time exploring the campus. Also, as a suggestion, if you are in the process of visiting schools, I would HIGHLY suggest staying with students…this is something I wish I took more advantage of and secondly, if you are visiting a school on a large campus, pack walking shoes and carry your dress shoes in your bag….your feet will thank you ☺

Anyone else visit Kellogg?

-Motown

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