The Divine Miss N

Wharton R2 update

Waitlisted... Relieved that it's not an outright ding, anxious because the wait'll continue.... Still waiting to hear from LBS.

Five more miles to go....

Or to be more accurate, four more days to go til d-day (decision day that is). I'm not terribly nervous yet, although I must admit I can't wait for Thursday to roll around. ABN AMRO bieden studenten die een master gaan volgen een speciaal master-krediet aan, dat zowel voor collegegeld als levensonderhoud gebruikt kan worden.

Touched

I suppose like most people nowadays, I find life often moves too fast to stop and enjoy it sometimes. Today I was lucky, I had half the day off to take care of some stuff at home and go to a meeting. I decided to go on my bike, it has been ages since I biked anywhere, and it was great. I had forgotten how nice it is to bike around on a nice day like this, you just notice so much more of what's going on around you. That said, I also tend to be touched so much more by events, stories, people. Like when I read this story in today's Times, about Iris Chang, an historian who killed herself after writing a book on the atrocities of the Rape of Nanking.

11 more days / 11 dagen

After a small party-for-one to celebrate my first admit (yes, I am going to school this summer) it's now back to the waiting game. 11 more days until I hear from LBS and Wharton. I have started on the first preparations: figuring out how much money I'll need (a whole lot I can tell you), having a browse on the internet to see how much apartments in my area are fetching and clearing out the first stuff.

Found this in today's Observer, an article on Edda Tasiemka, an inveterate clipper of newspaper and magazine articles. An article clipper myself, I was awestruck. Nadat de eerste euforie over mijn IESE admit is afgezakt, is het nu weer terug naar het wachten tot 24 maart. Nog 11 dagen....Ondertussen ben ik begonnen met de eerste voorbereidingen, een budget maken (met het geld wat ik nodig heb, kon ik 5 jaar geleden mijn appartement kopen), eens kijken wat huizen in mijn omgeving opbrengen en de eerste spullen opruimen.

IESE visit and interview

As most MBA-wannabe's will tell you, visiting the schools you are applying to is the best source of information about the school. With that in mind, and the prospect of spending some time in Barcelona, I headed out to visit an IESE Open Day. All the participants, more later about them, were sent a case in advance to read, a mock class was part of the day's agenda. My first impressions of the school were that it was well laid out, beautiful buildings, all in all very impressive (for an idea of what it looks like, check out this link). We were greeted by the entire admissions staff, and after picking up our information material and name tags we were ushered into what I suppose is a good example of a regular classroom. Welcome speech, followed by a tour of the campus and coffee, followed by a powerpoint about the school with some general information. So far so good. Next was for me one of the highlights of the day: the mock class that one of the IESE professors gave to illustrate IESE's teaching methods. They use the case method extensively and this class was the discussion of the case that we were sent before the Open Day. The professor handled the class and the discussion skillfully, allowing room for discussion but at the same time knowing which points she wanted to make and making them. I was impressed! Lunch was at the school restaurant, rather nice, a three course meal with wine, and each table was assigned two current MBA students, who were able to talk about the school from a student's perspective and answer questions. I was struck by the enthusiasm of the students, but also of my current MBA-wannabe's. There were some 50 people there, from Europe but also the US, and I had some nice chats with people. The afternoon continued with a presentation on Career Services (during which most people felt the effect of a three course meal I must say), and a panel of current students who, again enthusiastically, answered questions from the audience. As I had applied a few weeks before, I was able to have my interview at the end of the day, it lasted about an hour and besides the usual questions we covered some specific questions about my hobbies, who my favourite historical figure was, and some concerns I had about the case method. All in all I was impressed by the school, the current students and the prospective students that were there. The facilities were nice, and staff helpful and friendly. (disclaimer: this was written after I was admitted to IESE, but I have tried to be as objective as possible)

What women want....

Apparently, young women want to stay at home nowadays.... The Guardian ran two articles about it: What Women Want and Superwoman Is Dead. It's slowly starting to sink in that although I still don't know where, I know for sure that I am going to school this summer. I can start on the first preparations, talking to banks, real estate agents and that sort of thing. I am such a lucky person.

Admit!

My first admit is in: IESE wants me! I am definitely going to school this September....

If Pepys' were alive now...

I'm sure he would be a blogger... Have been reading Clare Tomalin's biography and she really does him justice. Today I found this, an online version of the Diary, created by Phil Gyford, who blogs the diary day by day. Am very impressed. So, the silent period has set in I suppose. Although I haven't heard anything from Stanford yet and the rumour is that they will be sending out interview invites up to March 24th, I've sort of given up hope on going to the West Coast. It was a nice dream while it lasted, though, and at least I gave it a shot. Plus, I'm very happy about the three interview invites I did get. And now, all I can do is wait. And to be really honest, it's pretty nice to have some down-time. Added, optional extra: great piece in the Observer on the differences between men and women when it comes to wine.

To phone or not to...

The other day, I had a discussion with someone over taking your mobile phone with you wherever you go. He takes it everywhere, I don't. Sometimes I just don't need to talk to others or have others have the ability to talk to me. I don't need to talk to someone on the phone when I'm doing grocery shopping, visiting a museum or picking out my weekly supply of books at the library. He retorted that he would never be able to live with himself if something happened to someone, they had wanted to contact him, but he didn't have his mobile phone on him. There's a point there, I admit, but somehow I just can't get myself to take my mobile with me wherever I go. I need some downtime. Without other people interfering. Selfish as that may be, but it's one of the ways I help keep myself sane. I believe that communication options such as mobile phones and PDAs are just that: options, not default.

This entry, in part, was sparked by a blog-entry from Attagirl and an article she referred to on HBS Working Knowledge.

NL: Wharton interview

Mijn Wharton interview ging goed, al was de rest van de dag een beetje vreemd. Er lag zoveel sneeuw dat Schiphol helemaal in de stress zat, en mijn vlucht naar Heathrow 's ochtends anderhalf uur vertraging had. Na een snelle kop thee op Paddington spoedde ik me naar Green Park underground station, om erachter te komen dat ik het precieze adres thuis had laten liggen! Na een beetje rondvragen, wat gestress en een paar minuten te laat kwam ik dan toch waar ik wezen moest. Het interview zelf vloog voorbij, ik denk dat het goed ging, en de tijd vloog voorbij. Na 30 min stond ik weer buiten. The long wait continues.... Status: IESE: interview gehad; Wharton: interview gehad; LBS: interview in week van 7 maart; Stanford: nog niks gehoord (de geruchten gaan dat zij nog tot 26 maart uitnodigingen voor interview versturen). Op 24 maart is de uitslag van LBS en Wharton, op 31 maart de uitslag van IESE en Stanford.