Behind Schedule

Maybe the reason I feel behind is that I don’t really have a schedule, just an urgent sense that I have a ton to do to get these 8 or so applications sent off this fall.  Whatever it is, lately I’ve been plagued by an inability to enjoy myself because I feel compelled to start researching and writing my career vision essay even when I should just be enjoying myself.  I spent last week in Central America, hiking and ziplining through the rainforest and sleeping at the base of a crazily active volcano.  Sounds great, right?  Not so much when you’re composing all the leadership roles you’ve held that will make you truly appealing the schools you want to infiltrate before you polish off a little “What do people admire most about you?”!  

I arrived home yesterday after being stranded in the Ft. Lauderdale airport for many unproductive hours, only to discover that the windshield of my car was smashed and unfortunately, the storms while I was away have turned my car into a (very smelly) rainforest.   Just a little additional punishment for not finishing those essays, I guess.

On a positive note, I just attended a “webinar” for resume coaching put on by Teach for America.  They have set up a system where alumni who are familiar with the sector you’re interested in will review and critique your resume for you.  I am definitely going to utilize this service and now I’m trying to figure out whether I have to create a one-page resume.  I’ve been out of college more than 5 years and I’m certainly not discussing at length every internship I’ve had since high school, but I also wonder if a one page resume can really contain all the jobs I’ve had over the years (does it have to?) and if it can’t, won’t these career gaps look bad?  I guess many schools allow you to explain any gaps in your career.  Is it completely ridiculous to have a two page resume?   

 

Recommendation Questions

I’ve been thinking about who I would ask to write my recommendations this time around.  When I applied to HBS last year, I had to rustle up three recommenders.  I asked two former work supervisors and a current supervisor in an extra-curricular activity.  Now, my current boss (I work in government) knows that I plan on going to b-school, and I’ve already asked him and another upper-level individual I’ve worked on numerous projects with for a recommendation. 

My question is:  Can I really ask these two people to do four or more recommendations (potentially eight depending on my own stamina and how things go)?   It seems like a lot, especially because all the recommendation forms are unique and though they may overlap in substance a bit, they’re still pretty different.  Even though I think these two individuals can really offer the best insight into my current performance, should I ask people who are farther back in my past just to spread out the burden?   

 

A semi-reapplicant

Last winter, I took a lob shot from center court…and airballed.  I took the GMAT in late summer and decided to apply to one school-HBS.  My fiance is currently a student at Harvard and we were going to be in the Cambridge area for at least another 2 years, so I thought I would test the waters. 

I had recently started a new job (having left a really bad job situation that I’ll write about in a future post).  I couldn’t ask my new supervisors for a rec, because they wouldn’t be exactly happy I was thinking about leaving.  I asked folks from my past for recs as well as a current supervisor in a volunteer position I held. 

The essays nearly killed me, and though by the end, I felt like I had put together a unique application, I was promptly rejected.  This may have to do with my age–I’m 29.  Harvard seems to like those that figured out business school was for them when they were 14.  I had never heard of an MBA until I was probably 24.  I’m not kidding!  I grew up, the daughter of a farmer and secretary at a John Deere Dealership, in rural, rural Minnesota where the most common topic of conversation was cumulative rainfall.    

Anyway, I know that I want an MBA and I think I’m getting closer and closer to knowing exactly why I want one and this time, because my fiance is finishing up school and we have more geographic flexibility, I am going to be applying to a greater number of b-schools with the hopes that maybe just maybe one of them will admit little ol’ me.