Tuesday, February 24, 2009

GMAT Round 2

Its done. I did not do well. In fact, I did worse - 650! Last time I got a 680 #$%!

So what happened? I should have done better - especially after studying and improving my concepts and all that...! I could go on about the details of what went wrong, but the bottom line is this: I suck at these timed standardized tests.

Initially, when I saw my score I was quite distressed. Almost felt like the world shook under me (I'm in SF, so it really does shake once in a while :) ). I just got out of the center and walked home (2 hours). Could not get myself to take a cab. Just had to walk to gather my thoughts. While on my way home, I spoke to friends and my wife and in general decided that its not that bad. I still have the 680.

To cheer me up, my wife brought some REALLY good hummus, baklava and fresh pita bread. And it was worth it! It tasted just like the stuff we had back in Jerusalem. Sure helped life the spirits :)

As of now, I'm done with the GMAT. The applications are due in 6 days and I have a lot of essays to write.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Starting apps

Am I screwed or what!?! Its January 18, 2009 - 2:15 AM! I have so much stuff to do!!

We just got back from a three week jaunt in Jordan (1 week) and Israel (2 weeks) a few hours ago. Before I proceed, please let me make it clear: Our visit was not religious or political. We love to travel and Israel just seemed like the right place to go (when I booked the tickets).

In fact, the Gaza stuff started to pop up in the news right when we were at the airport. My wife and I were flooded with phone calls from family members telling us not to go. However, since our first destination was Amman and not Tel Aviv, we decided to go to Jordan and then decide what to do further from there. We did end up traveling around Israel and had to cancel only one place we had initially planned to visit - Rosh Hanikra. The country felt totally safe and we had no problems whatsoever.

Overall, the trip was awesome and I really feel recharged. I'll put up some pics in a few days...

That said, after coming back and looking at my to-do list I totally overwhelmed! Its Jan 18 and the Haas app deadline is coming up on March 2. Yes I have some time, but I also need to give the GMAT within this time range. Juggling the application with the GMAT (not to mention a fulltime demanding job) really is scaring me. I'm still going to try to do it and submit the application this year. The Haas EWMBA is going to be my only app since it is the only school I really want to go to in the bay area - part time.

I already started the GMAT practice and also have a rough draft of 1 of the Haas essays. Have to work on 4 more! In the next few weeks I hope to have drafts of all the essays sent out to the reviewers and start incorporating feedback in to the essays.