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Rejected, but not down

August 4, 2011 By 2 Comments

Rejection, by Mouse

I didn’t get the Tippie Tweet scholarship.  I got the rejection in an e-mail lastnight.  My reaction was better than Iwould have thought.  I just looked at it and thought, “Huh.  Well, that decision is made.”

If I had gotten the scholarship I would have had two weeksto get my act together and get to Iowa.  That would have meant immediate notice for my bosses, somehow tracking down a place to live, packing up my stuff (leaving behind a whole lot), finding a way to pay for living expenses, and leaving my husband and dogs for an undetermined period of time.
During the four days I waited to find out, I said I wasn’t going to worry about all that, but I fretted anyway.  I surreptitiously checked on houses and apartments, thought about what cookware I’d bring with me (“Thank heaven I have two blocks of good knives,” I thought to myself—like Alex ever uses a filleting knife.), and wondered how in the heck I’d get my stuff there and into a living space without any help.  Alex and I even had a small tiff over what would happen to his eating habits if I left.  (He said he lived without me before and would be fine.  I know he ate nothing but junk and whatever he could heat up or deep fry.)

So, I guess you could say the rejection resulted more in relief than disappointment.  Don’t get me wrong—I’m disappointed.  I would love to
have had a whole year of school paid for, and the program ranks pretty well, so I would have had a good name behind the MBA.  But Iowa City
was never my first choice, and I never liked the thought that Alex might not be able to join me there.  If the contest had been for fall 2012 and I had time to plan, I think I would have been much sadder about the results.

But, I made it through one application process, so I can make it through more.  I got an interview, so I know I was a contender and that makes me feel pretty good.

The next step is writing all those application essays for October.  It’ll be good to do them in a month instead of a week.  Oh, yeah, and I
get to pay attention to my personal stuff again.  Things are looking up!

 

P.S. – After writing this I read the little article Tippie posted on the winner.  I now feel totally inadequate and not the contender I thought I was.

Note to self: Don’t do that again.

 

 

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Tippie Tweet: B-school Entry Blog Post

July 25, 2011 By 14 Comments

 

University of Iowa, by Anthonylibrarian

If you read my last post you know that I’m applying for a business school that has presented a rather unusual possibility.  Instead of writing one of the two essays required for admission, you can tweet it.  The tweet has to answer the question, “What makes you an exceptional Tippie Full-time MBA candidate and future MBA hire?” (Tippie is the business school at the University of Iowa—it’s well-respected and has a good program.  It is by no means a joke school.)  At first, I thought it was kind of silly, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea.  After all, distilling a 450-word essay down to a 140-character tweet is quite a challenge.  You have to cut through a lot of the usual, flowery back-patting and get to brass tacks.  Plus, the rules state that you can be creative and link to video, pictures or a blog.  I decided to take a chance and link to my blog.

Anyone who cares to browse my blog will see very clearly just what kind of person I am.  The past year and three months has been an incredible challenge for me, and I’ve tried to approach it realistically, but with humor.  I’ve stuck with it, made the best of my situation, formed a new plan for the rest of my life, and set out to make it a reality.  I don’t have thousands of readers, but the ones I have are supportive and loyal—you can’t ask for much more than that.

I’m linking this post in particular for the admissions staff to view, so pardon me if I do that bit of flowery back-patting I referred to earlier. (Don’t worry; I’ll be brief.) 

I work hard, especially when I really believe in what I’m working for.  My interest is in helping museums adapt to the future and change the way they are run for the better.  I’m interested in innovation, thinking outside the box, and being the best steward of my future employer’s financial situation.  I have years of workplace experience and have felt the impact of both success and failure.  I want to succeed, and I want Tippie to help me get there.  In return, I promise I will contribute as much as I can to the Tippie experience and help others through the process.

If any of my regular readers have a particular post that they think might be good for the admissions staff to read, I’d appreciate it if you’d note it in the comments. 

Thanks, everyone.

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I’m back! And I took the GMAT

July 18, 2011 By 4 Comments

My reward for enduring the GMAT- pic by Drunken Monkey

Well, I did it.  I took the GMAT.  If you are considering taking it, you need to know that getting in is like visiting Fort Knox.  First, a lady swiped my ID, palm-scanned each hand, then took my picture.  (Think DMV quality.  I hope to heaven the B-schools don’t see it or they’ll dismiss me entirely for looking like a drunk.)  Then I went to another lady who swiped my ID and scanned my palms again.  She took me in the testing room and logged me in the computer.  During breaks I had to raise my hand for her to come in, escort me out of the room, and do the ID and palm scan dance again.  The process was repeated to reenter.  I have to say there must have been some crazy elaborate cheating schemes in the past for all this hoo-ha to become standard operating procedure.

The essay portion was first, and according to most of the “experts” online the least considered portion of the test by schools.  I did very little to study for it since you don’t know the topic until you get there.  I reviewed the structure of a good argument, but that’s about it.  It’s also the only score you don’t find out about immediately, so I’ve got a couple of weeks before I hear about that bit.  As predicted, the math was my weak point.  I panicked, dithered over the problems and ran out of time.  In fact, the last five or so questions were near-blind guesses—I literally clicked the last answer with one second to go.  After I remembered to breathe again I found that my hands were shaking and I was sweating despite it being cold in the room.  The verbal questions were last and I’m glad of it.  I was able to relax and give it my best shot without worrying about the math coming up.

Way back in the olden days when I first took standardized tests you had to wait weeks to find out what you got.  This time, I found out right away.  Of course, this is after they ask if you want your scores reported to the schools.  I held my breath, clicked “yes” and got the results. 

I did pretty well. 

I didn’t hit my goal score, which bummed me out, and I was decidedly average on my math score, but I ended up in the 88th percentile so I shouldn’t complain.  (I did complain to Alex, who gave me a short dressing down for being a silly git who should be happy for a good score.)

I am now moving on to the big job of writing all the different essays that each school requires for entrance.  For the most part, I have a little time—the big guys start taking applications for fall 2012 in October, and a couple of the part-time programs accept applications for spring 2012 at about the same time.  But I’ve got one school that’s a rush job—they are asking for a tweet instead of an essay, and the best tweet gets a full ride.  It’s a longshot, but the school looks cool and I’ve got nothing to lose.  So, I figure, why not?

There are other projects to be worked on, so I’m still limiting my blogging time.  I’ve missed the blog so don’t count me out just yet!

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No respect for lunch!

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Like many, I get half and hour for lunch every day at work.  Every day, I am reminded at how short an amount of time this is, and how little it is valued.  Every day, I get a little ticked off.

I like to take it easy during lunch; I not only eat, I read, look around, relax and generally expunge all the morning crap that occurred.  Given my preference, I would take an hour to complete my lunch activities.  I value it that much.  I know that others – like my bosses – have little regard for lunchtime.  They usually cram something between meetings, but often they have a “working” lunch with outside appointments, either catered here or out at a restaurant.  Because they are salaried, they can also take as much time as they wish (though they usually don’t.)  I have offered on more than one occasion to make sure they get at least half an hour. (This is a science center, not a hospital; no one is going to die if there isn’t a meeting about the next board meeting.  There is absolutely nothing so urgent here that it can’t wait.)  As one of the bosses is a workaholic – and I suspect has a slight eating disorder – lunch is treated more as a nuisance than anything else.

I, however, am not salaried.  Therefore by law I get my half hour, and I use every minute of it.  The only problem is that I generally sit at my desk to eat.  This is because our café is noisy and cold.  My desk is quiet and I have a heater hidden under it.  But because I am at my desk, everyone thinks I am still working.  I can have my mouth full of food and anyone who stops by will still say, “Oh! I hate to interrupt your lunch, but…” 

Please.  If you really hated to interrupt my lunch you’d go away.

I have also found that even if I go all morning without a phone call, someone will call at lunch – or more precisely between 12:30 and 1pm, when I am usually eating.  I don’t make calls from noon to one, even if I’m not eating because that’s when everyone else is!  If, by some strange twist of fate, I have left my desk for lunch there are always missed calls and/or messages. 

The only one who respects my lunchtime is the finance director, and that’s because she knows it is illegal to make me work during that time.  

Maybe the next time someone interrupts me, I’ll sue.

"A Great Sandwich" by James Yu

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