The Mighty GMAT!

My friend got dinged at Kellog! Even after she thought she had it in the bag after the interview! Feel so bad for her because I know how badly she wanted Kellog....worse still, she had tuned off work because she assumed she was gonna get in....On a slightly brighter note, she got waitlisted for Darden....fingers crossed!

What's the most embarrassing exam out there? The CFA? Nope! Phd exams at MIT? Nope! Entrance exams at the John Kennedy School of Govt? Well, maybe if Sarah Palin was writing it....but for this purpose no! Its clearly the GMAT! Not because its the hardest....its simple! Its actually out of the simplicity that the embarrassment comes! It humbles a great many people...afterall its high school math and english....surely I can figure that stuff out when I see the questions! Its only when you click that famous 'finish' tab during the exam and your results stare at you that you realise that you underated the exam....then of course its too late and you'll probably have to take it again!

My personal experience? Well, I was lucky....I had a very good friend who had started MBA research before me so had a bit of a head start. Like everyone else, I assumed I was entitled to a 750 at the minimum....I bought the Princeton review and studied it for a bit. A lot of people rave about the book, but it really didn't do it for me. They had a few exam writing tips, but for me, the content was a tad shallow. I borrowed Kaplan from a friend and liked it much more...the questions were a bit harder though and made me realise it wasn't a piece of cake. I decided to get serious....I gave myself three months to study and scheduled the exam. I work better with deadlines....luckily, I was changing jobs at that point so I got a month off to study. It was then I found the Official Guide....this was the most helpful of the lot....it had loads and loads of actual GMAT questions. Then I started with the practice tests....my scores were shocking....570, 610, 590...I was depressed! After two months of studying, I couldn't remember the formula for the volume of a cube! My scores didn't get better in the last month and I entered the exam hall praying for a 600...for some inexplicable reason, I was calm. The questions started easy (as usual) but didn't get harder! This was a very bad sign! The GMAT is an adaptive exam so if you get one answer correct, the next one is harder! I still didn't panic though and it finally got harder....three hours later, I clicked 'finish' and waited....there had never been a longer 30 seconds....I continued staring at the cursor.....still loading....maybe I should become a hustler.....contractors make money right? I wonder of my boss would notice I'm not in the office.....were some of my thoughts while that result was being generated....just as I was about to start thinking about the latest episode of soul food, the page changed....there it was! 670! I wanted to take the computer out to dinner, buy it a nice dress and kiss it! I was estatic!

Now don't get me wrong, 670 is not mind blowing....its commendable at best but I didn't care! My highest practice score was 620! My advice for those taking the GMAT,

1. Get your hands on Kaplan and the Official Guide;

2. Solve questions till your mind bleeds!

3. Be calm during the exam....you'll probably be able to figure out most of the answers if you are calm and actually think through the questions;

4. Spend more time on the early questions. They carry more weight!

5. Most importantly, put in the time! Never! Never underestimate the exam! Unless you want to end up like Sarah Palin during the Couric interview!

Ramblings....

I know I know....I'm a terrible blogger! Its been almost a month since my last post....I would like to say I have a good excuse, but I don't really....I've been busy trying to study for my cfa exams and tidy up my love life. I am happy to announce that I have made progress on exactly NO FRONT! No I won't tell u about my love life but I can talk about the CFA though. Its an extremely punishing examination....I wrote the first level in 2008 and made it in one try...of course I felt like the best thing since the simpsons! Now I have been humbled...I am writing level 2 for the second time in about a month and I feel like I know even less than I did last year when I failed it and I might have studied harder this year. Only explanation is that my brain cells have gone cannibalistic and started feeding on each other!

Yeah I know it's an MBA blog, but I felt the need to rant....I'm up at three in the morning trying to figure out why option adjusted spreads derived from binomial models are best for valuing bonds with embedded options for crying out loud! I attended the QS world mba fair in lagos a couple of weeks ago....a few good schools were there, IMD, Insead, Iese, IE etc. I had a 30 minute informal chat with an alum from Iese who told me I had a good chance of entering the school (maybe she was afraid I'd kidnap her or something given the stories she had heard about Nigeria). It was a nice enough chat but it left me wondering, why would she be working for the school full time? She paid all that money for school only to be an mba recruiter? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying its bad, I think its quite noble to do what u enjoy and stuff, but how the hell is she gonna pay off her bloody student loans? She also painted a pretty grim picture of the job market in spain (apparently, the unemployment rate is 20% over there now!) This whole thing just adds to my concerns about the Mba...is it worth the cash outlay? Can you get a big enough bump in pay after graduation to restart your life, get married (in my case....and its funny I should mention that when my love life is in shambles) and service student loans? Its all pretty confusing to be honest.

On a happier note, my very good friend had a very good kellog interview. I'm thrilled for her....we started dreaming about the mba at about the same time, in fact she sorta introduced me to it! She gets notified on the 19th of May and I do hope she gets in....finger's crossed.

I'm hungry! Where do I get food at 3am? Hmmm.....maybe I should apply to columbia....afterall, New York never sleeps!