I finally heard from Arizona State University about my application to their full-time MBA program. There was some issue with FedEx getting me the packet which I won’t go into, but it finally arrived. Now for what the letter had to say:

• I was accepted to the program for next fall
• They lowered the tuition for me by about half.
• I have a graduate assistantship working 10 hours per week.
• I have also been given the maximum cash award per year.

So all in all it’s a pretty good deal. As far as tuition and expenses are concerned, I think it’ll probably cost about $5,400 for the two year program. Obviously there are living expenses and such, but it’s good to know that school is pretty much paid for.

Now for a few links that are worth checking out.
Living Below Your Means…?: A little different take on this often quoted advice.
Developing a Wealthy Mindset: It’s probably not going to happen for you unless you do.
Reasons I like Real Estate: Even in the current market these reasons still apply.

After taking the GMAT back in August, I have been researching the many different schools and subsequently working on the applications. The process is quite involved, and applying to each university is a unique process. So here is the progress to date.

The first application I submitted was To Arizona State University since it had the earliest deadline for their first round of admissions. Once the application was in, an admissions officer took me to lunch since she was out here for a conference and conducted an interview. This took about 2 hours and I was then informed that she wanted to finish the interview with a current student and that she would call me the next week to set up a phone interview. This next interview lasted about 45 minutes and now I am just waiting on a response.

I next submitted my application to the University of Texas at Austin. Shortly thereafter, I was contacted by email to set up a time to conduct an interview either on campus or off. Since I live quite a ways from Austin, I opted for an off-campus interview to be conducted by an alumnus in my area. I met him downtown and the interview lasted about an hour. Now the complete application will go to the admissions committee for their decision and I am again just waiting for a response.

My third application is in at Ohio State University. I have only recently been contacted about an interview and have scheduled a phone interview in about a week and a half. This should be the last step in the process and then I’ll have to wait on a decision from them as well.

Hopefully I’ll hear something soon from these schools as I’ve been working on this since the end of August. It has however, been quite the learning experience. If you are also thinking of going for an MBA and you have any questions about the application process or anything else, feel free to contact me. I’ll be glad to help with anything I can.

I spend a great deal of time these days working on my applications for graduate business school. Writing the essays is probably the most aggravating part of the whole process. It’s pretty simple to gather all the other needed information, but for some reason the essays are taking the most time for me to complete. I’m planning on spending quite a bit of time tomorrow on them, so hopefully I’ll finish a few of them and make some significant process on the others.

This has definitely been an exercise in time management, procrastination, and distraction avoidance. Hopefully the entire application process will be worth it, and I’ll be sure to let you all know how it turns out.

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to decide which graduate business schools I would like to attend and therefore apply to. It may seem like a relatively simple decision but there are so many competing factors which make it actually quite difficult.

Of course I’d like to go to the best school possible and have looked over the school rankings many times. Unfortunately, many of the top schools are in places that I have no real desire to live. Most are located either in the Northeast or in California, two of the most expensive places to live and work. This makes the decision pretty tough.

Also, since I’m looking to apply to multiple schools, I’m going to have to pay multiple application fees. This wouldn’t be so bad except for the fees being outrageously high. Many of the schools have application fees over $200. Some might say it’s quite a racket.

I’m also supposed to send an official GMAT score to the schools to which I’m applying. Since I wasn’t sure to which schools I wanted to apply at the time I took the test, I have to request additional score reports. Not surprisingly, these are also quite expensive. It costs $28 apiece for each school I want to send it to.

So far my first choice of school is the University of Texas at Austin. I’m also considering the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton), The Ohio State University, the University of North Carolina and a couple of others. I’m hoping that all of this will eventually pay off because it’s already stressful and also getting quite expensive.

Over the last week, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about and trying to decide which business schools I would be interested in and ultimately apply to. When I first got my score from taking the GMAT, I was all excited because of all the possibilities and opportunities. It isn’t, however, as easy to pick schools as I thought it would be.

There are many different aspects that factor into this decision. The overall rank of the school plays a large role in the quality of education and subsequent employment opportunities. On top of the overall rank though, the schools are ranked with respect to certain specialties such as Marketing, Finance, Entrepreneurship or Supply Chain, further complicating things.

How much it will cost to attend one of these schools is also not to be taken lightly. There are tuition considerations, in-state and out-of-state, as well as the general cost of living in various areas. Living in Boston or New York is definitely different from the Midwest or the South.

I’ve also been told that I should consider where I’d like to work once I graduate because many companies concentrate their recruiting efforts at schools in their own area of the country. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule, it is something to be considered.

I’m also going to need to look into the different options for financial aid. This one element will have a huge bearing on my decision. The less debt I would have to take on to finance my graduate program the better. In the end I hope I’ll have a solid gut feeling as to which school to attend. It’s not the most critical thing in life, but I would like to make the best decision possible considering my circumstances.

Today I took the GMAT. For those of you unfamiliar with what this is, it’s the Graduate Management Admission Test that’s required to get into graduate business school. I registered for the GMAT about two and a half weeks ago and have been studying off and on since then.

My appointment was at 5:30 this evening and pretty much just wanted it to be over with more than anything. I was surprised at the security they have at the testing facility. They take your picture to make sure that it’s really you when you leave and enter the room for a break and whatnot. They also have fingerprint scanners to ID you as well. I didn’t really utilize the break times since I wanted to be in and out as fast as possible.

As far as the test goes, it was pretty much as I expected. It was really long though, and when all was said and done I was pleased with the score I received. I was actually quite surprised because I got a 750. It’s made me rethink some of my former plans and I’ll be exploring other possibilities. Mostly though, I glad it’s over.

I’ve got a week left until I’m scheduled to take the GMAT. Over the past week, I’ve been reviewing the different principles for the math section and working through a lot of practice problems. I must say it’s more tedious than anything though. This next week I plan on reviewing the verbal sections. More than anything, I’m looking forward to having it over with. I’ve never been one to study a lot before a test, but I feel like I should this time since it cost me $250. So I’ll continue for the next week to be as ready as possible.