It’s been exactly 50 days since I decided not to go to business school and, as usual, I can’t believe how quickly time seems to fly by. It’s been a whirlwind of different activities – a bit of this, a bit of that – and now my plans are taking better shape. So, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past month and a half, both to mark my progress and to help focus my efforts in the near term.
So… I decided not to attend business school this fall. At various times during the application process, it seemed more likely than not that I would enroll. However, in recent weeks, I came to the conclusion that the better choice for me was to not go. As I move forward with the next step of my career, the only thing that is certain is that I won’t be doing so with the benefit of an MBA. Still, I’m not emerging from this process totally empty-handed.
Just wanted to drop a quick line for those who are still interested in my business school journey. From an admissions standpoint, nothing has changed since my last update: I’m still admitted to one school and waitlisted at another. But, from a decision-making standpoint, I very recently made up my mind, after a pretty comprehensive decision-making process. I plan to write about it soon – perhaps next week – but, for now, I’ll just say that I feel that I am making the right decision for me and feel good about it. As always, thanks for stopping by.
Today, Chicago Booth emailed to inform me that I was being kept on the waitlist. The email wasn’t a surprise, since Round 3 and previously waitlisted applicants that were admitted were called yesterday and I didn’t receive a phone call (again). I experienced a bit of déjà vu yesterday and was bummed that I am in the same spot I’ve been for over two months now, but I’m looking on the bright side, much like Lloyd Christmas (see clip).
With the busy portion of the 2010-2011 application season now in the past, giving way to its plodding end, there hasn’t been much to update on the business school front. Instead, I went on vacation for a few weeks and took a break from actively thinking about my future. At first, it felt quite odd to not have regular access to the internet and to be disconnected from world events, but being away from my normal surroundings and routine allowed me to live life on a day-to-day basis, focusing on the immediate instead of the far-reaching.
This past weekend, I attended NYU Stern’s admitted student weekend. Unlike most other schools it seems, NYU Stern held a combined admitted student weekend for both Round 1 and Round 2 admitted applicants, instead of a separate weekend for each. One benefit is that the admitted applicants I met are a pretty accurate representation of the entire class that will enter this fall. That’s a good thing, since everyone I met was really friendly and down to earth.
I recently finished Ahead of the Curve, a real-life account of the author’s two years at Harvard Business School. As I hoped, the book contains a thoughtful, honest and seemingly balanced assessment of the merits of attending business school and its potential role in the pursuit of a fulfilling life and career. Thankfully, the book mostly avoids gratuitous, sensationalist anecdotes for the sake of selling more copies. Although everyone’s circumstances is unique and only I can decide what is right for me (and will live with the outcome), this book is a helpful resource for framing and making that decision, and I highly recommend it to business school hopefuls and current students.
I recently submitted the $2,000 deposit for a seat in NYU Stern’s Class of 2013. For the students who have already decided to matriculate at one school or another, making a seat deposit may be a mere formality. But, for others like me, submitting a deposit is like hitting the snooze button on an alarm clock, giving us the luxury of a few additional weeks or months of thinking and dreaming before we have to wake up.
On sunny days like today, there’s no greater feeling than rolling down your window as you drive around, feeling the breeze against your warm face and letting any worries dissipate into your peripheral vision. Against this idyllic backdrop, it’s easy to see how people here are wondrously free to create and innovate, infused as they are with a sense of endless possibility. Makes me wonder if I would be crazy to choose to leave this blessed place, even if only temporarily.
“As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball, but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom.” -Kodos from The Simpsons, Treehouse of Horror VII
Just Ship. 