Freedom

With all of my R1 apps sent out, I finally had a "free" weekend. There was nothing I had to do, and so I did nothing. And I mean nothing. Except laundry. Had it not been for laundry, I probably wouldn't have left my apartment. And it was great. I had completely forgot what it felt like to do nothing and not have something eating away in the back of my mind. And once I got the point where I was actually bored with doing nothing (Sunday, after football), I was truly free. Even though I could be working on R2 apps, I'm not. I'm going to continue my hiatus, catch a movie, get a drink with some friends, etc. Next weekend, it all begins again.

My game plan:

There are about ten weeks before R2 apps start coming due. I'm planning to start working on Harvard first. I already mapped out all of my essays for that sucker, so it shouldn't be too much effort. Then, I'll take care of Columbia. Columbia will be easy since there's only one reapp essay and it's basically the same as Wharton's (the "why" and "how have you improved" essay). It'll take no more than a week. Then I will undertake the hardest of them all, Stanford. Most people enjoy writing Stanford's essay A because they're writing about what's closest to their hearts and are really the most passionate about. That and there's no word limit ;-). But, I did that last year and I didn't get in. They tell you to just be honest. But they also tell you (indirectly) that saying something like "family" is not going to get you in. If you spin it the right way it will, but then it's not so much the "family" as the "spin" that got you in. This essay requires you to write about "what matters most", but also to write a b-school essay just like any other. Basically, what matters most shouldn't be a person/thing like a family member or money. It should be an adverb (like "winning", except "winning" is not a good choice) or an ideal (virtuous?), and probably one that fits with all the b-school-esqe themes floating around. Frame it in some kind of experience you've had and you're set. Or at least that's what I think. I could be wrong or missing something. Anyway, I have an idea for this sucker, but it's not going to be easy. So, I'm devoting a lot of time to it. Probably like four weeks or something. Really, what I'm shooting for is finishing HBS, CBS, and Stanford by Dec 23. By that time I'll have gotten an answer from Wharton. If by some miracle the Gods have smiled upon me, I'll just send those apps in and take it easy. If the likely event does occur, then I'll send in Kellogg section 1 by the interview deadline and spend two weeks hardcore and get that thing out for R2. Christmas week is a good time to get shit done since the office is normally slow. And if I start sweating that I won't get into the GSB, then I might scrape something together for Duke.