Gmatclub.com Meet-up Report, Columbia’s optional essay 4, Changes in Recruiting

The Gmatclub.com meet-up last night was changed to an indoors bar because of the rain. We met up at this place in Murry Hill on the East Side called Bar12. I saw my buddy, SniperTrader outside the bar first. We both went in together. Two guys from the forum were already there when we arrived. They have already started drinking so we introduced ourselves and it didn't take too long for us to get comfortable with each other. The bar itself was pretty cool. Cute waitresses and sports on the tube, whats not to like. The happy hour specials and food were good too. I had a couple of drinks and the lobster quesadilla. Scarfed that down like butter. All in all, there were seven of us. Five of them knew each other already. Snipe and I were the only two newbies. The five have all been admitted to top notch MBA programs and know exactly what their futures hold for the next two years. And the schools they will be attending are quite impressive too. One is going to Kellog, one Yale, one Cornell, and one NYU. Do I feel inadequate? A little bit. To top it off, the guy who came last was accepted to both HBS and Wharton. Now he can't decide which school to attend. Poor fool. I feel sorry for him. If you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic. I admit I was a little jealous too. But at the same time, I'm glad to have met him. Whatever he decides, it's going to be the right decision. I asked him what the secret to his success was. And he basically said I have to think outside of the box, cliché as it may sound. I have to market/brand myself in a way that outshines everybody else. My essays should be unique and differentiate me from the thousands of other smart 700+ GMAT applicants. Not an easy task. I also picked the NYU guy's brain a little bit. He said his application was pretty much "straightforward." He applied, interviewed and was accepted within a week. He also told me about his creative essay. I won't give it away, but I thought it was a good idea. I am already working on mine. If you've been following my blog, you can pretty much take an educated guess on what it is going to be about. Anyway, it was interesting to hear everyone's stories and experiences as well as their take on different schools. They also recommend that I should play the numbers game and apply to more than two schools. Safer that way. I’m going to take their advice and start looking at other schools like Cornell, Yale and University of Rochester/Simon. Regrettably, I was the first one to leave. I wanted to stay, but had other obligations to meet. All in all, the Gmatclub.com guys were helpful, friendly, laid-back. I'm glad I went.

It looks like I am going to be writing the optional 4th essay. While I was going through Columbia’s January 2010 Executive application, I happened to come across the following,
“Should you have been employed for any significant period of time during your undergraduate program, please make note of this in optional essay #4.”
Since I worked part-time for four years at a deaf and hard-of-hearing school during college, I think it would be relevant to share this information with AdCom. This job was a pretty significant part of my life and I think it would provide admissions with further insight into who I am.

BusinessWeek came out with a not so cheerful article about the current job market. Here is the link http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/jun2009/bs2009061_508298.htmTo sum up, it basically said that the recruiting world has totally changed. Before this whole credit nonsense, MBAs were in demand and all you had to do was graduate and sit back while the money piles up (maybe exaggerating a little bit here). Now, first years are competing with second years who are competing with recent alumni who are competing with unemployed old alumni. Not a pretty picture for those of us who are MBA aspirants. Some MBAs are even returning to their old jobs. Seriously, it begs the question, why would anyone want an MBA just to return to the jobs they had before? The answer is that most of us, the sensible ones anyway, are in it for the long haul. The economy just like the seasons is cyclical in nature. An MBA is not a get-rich scheme. It’s an education and training that we can utilize for the rest of our lives. And as any true trader/hustler would say, the best time to get in is at the bottom. So although I admit things are in the toilet right now, the bright side is that the only way left to go is up, right? Or worse comes to worse, we can always hit zero and everybody will be reset back to an even playing field. See…there’s always a silver lining somewhere.