MIT no more
A few people have asked me why I decided to drop Sloan so I thought I might as well cover it here. Well, the short story is I don’t think I will have time to make the Nov 2 deadline, seeing that it’s less than 2 weeks away and I haven’t even worked on it yet (although I can probably reuse one Wharton essay). Since Sloan only has 2 rounds, that makes the next one the equivalent of other schools’ R3, which doesn’t spell good odds for me.
The long story: I’ve been working on my Wharton app since the end of August, and I am still midway through the fourth and final essay. I never expected the whole essay writing process to take so long, and it has seriously taken a whole lot out of me. Especially with a punishing work schedule, the wedding, and the apartment. I have been tempted several times already to just put all my eggs in one basket and submit Wharton and only Wharton. Essay writing sucks. Period.
Fortunately the rational part of my brain realizes the suicidal nature of this plan and I have to send out my other applications just in case. Well not quite. I really want to go to Tuck, and I would just as happy if Wharton dinged me but I get admitted to Tuck, so I definitely have to get that out (just over 30 days left…). Chicago also gives me a good vibe with the flexibility in its curriculum. But MIT was pretty much never a good fit to begin with. The two things that attracted me were brand name and location. But I really don't think I would enjoy slogging through the quant intensive curriculum (I already went through 4 years of engineering hell during college so I know). Who wants to pay 120k and be miserable? And given that I’ve discovered how horrible I am at writing essays, I’ve decided to alleviate some of my pain and bid my Sloan hopes farewell.
That’s it. Hopefully I get into one of the remaining three, so I won’t mope and think: if only I’d applied to Sloan…
The long story: I’ve been working on my Wharton app since the end of August, and I am still midway through the fourth and final essay. I never expected the whole essay writing process to take so long, and it has seriously taken a whole lot out of me. Especially with a punishing work schedule, the wedding, and the apartment. I have been tempted several times already to just put all my eggs in one basket and submit Wharton and only Wharton. Essay writing sucks. Period.
Fortunately the rational part of my brain realizes the suicidal nature of this plan and I have to send out my other applications just in case. Well not quite. I really want to go to Tuck, and I would just as happy if Wharton dinged me but I get admitted to Tuck, so I definitely have to get that out (just over 30 days left…). Chicago also gives me a good vibe with the flexibility in its curriculum. But MIT was pretty much never a good fit to begin with. The two things that attracted me were brand name and location. But I really don't think I would enjoy slogging through the quant intensive curriculum (I already went through 4 years of engineering hell during college so I know). Who wants to pay 120k and be miserable? And given that I’ve discovered how horrible I am at writing essays, I’ve decided to alleviate some of my pain and bid my Sloan hopes farewell.
That’s it. Hopefully I get into one of the remaining three, so I won’t mope and think: if only I’d applied to Sloan…
posted by SgHama | 10:52 AM
5 Comments:
one piece of advice, if I may, from my 'extensive' experience in these matters - please make sure that you stay on track. i found that i worked harder towards the deadlines, and in cases where i decided to push to next round, i ended up easing off too much and landed up with the same pressure when the next deadlines came around.
good luck.
Thanks PY - I think i know what you're referring to, and unfortunately I also have the same tendency to coast until the deadline is about a week away. Will actively try to keep to my internal deadlines.
Glad to hear that - hope you stay in the zone until it's all done. Me, i'm still trying to catch my first wind.
Hey, thanks for explaining the rationale. Is MIT's 2nd round really as bad as other school's 3rd round? Now you have me worried! Anyway, its too late now for me.
Good luck on the Tuck essays. I am trying to get the 1st draft ready this weekend.
I was planning 4 schools in R1 but had to push 2 to R2 so i know your pain.
essays take way longer than i expected. maybe it's the same reason - just like you i'm an engineer too. never wrote anything (i mean it - anything) other than emails at work. neither do my engineer managers who are writing my recommendations.
as to MIT R2 -- yes, i have heard it from the adcom directly during my visit, R1 has twice the chances than R2. so mit R1 is definitely preferred over R2.
good luck in your applications!
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