8.16.2008 ||> Pre-term has begun!
I'm out here at business school for preterm, and it is so busy, I barely have time to think. I don't think one night I have been able to just make dinner, or go to bed on time. There's meeting new classmates, studying accounting and running around campus like a chicken with my head cut off in between sessions of orientation.
I still don't have internet, and it's a long story about why. I am getting it today, hopefully.
The one thing that really amazed me was how friendly almost everyone has been. I thought, what with it being business school, that people would be more cliquey and competitive and that it would be a more negative experience. So far, it's been all big smiles and requests for phone numbers. It's been very happy so far in that regard, because the Peace Corps group I was with was not very friendly as a whole. I find it interesting because people who were trying to make the world a better place were much more negative (generally) than the people who are future captains of industry.
Isn't the world a funny place?
The hardest part is being away from Tony. I'm not used to coming home to an empty place, and the phone calls are cut down so I miss that during the day. He's coming in about a half hour, so I hope we will have some good quality time. I am really looking forward to seeing him again. I'm also missing my kitty terribly, and Tony has said that she's obviously missing me. She's destroying his apartment and otherwise being a brat. We were expecting that as well, so it's no big surprise.
Hopefully I'll be able to write more, but I need a chance to breathe first.
Labels: mba
Pre-term classes haven't even started and already I have homework! I had to do a couple balance sheets, an income statement and figure out retained income. It was due today and I just sent it in.
Complaining aside, I'm actually grateful for the early-early homework. I've never taken a financial or accounting class in my life, so it's good to get ready for all my grad classes.
Labels: mba
Today is the beginning of the end of work. I have been looking forward to my summer vacation for awhile now. To be honest, I have some serious money worries and have been second-guessing my decision to quit so early. I know I made the right decision for my own sanity, and that this will give me the ability to get super organized before the move since I will have so little time to unpack when I move in -- about two days at best.
In response, Tony has offered me $40 to do his laundry once a week, so at least I will have something. Actually, for awhile now, Tony has been paying me to fold his laundry. We have always done our own laundry, and it's not even one of those tasks that would be easily synced. But he hates folding, and about a month or so ago, he offered me $15 in hopes that I would do it. And I did, but once I figured out that it was about an hour, I increased the price to $20. My time is more valuable than that. So now it will be $40 for washing and folding about three loads a week, which is nothing, really.
I would still be willing to do my job on a semi-part time basis for the next couple of weeks for some extra cash, but I am afraid that "part-time" would magically turn into "full-time" for less money, so I am a bit afraid to go there. And since my boss isn't offering, I haven't discussed it. So for now, there will be that $40 tax free, and that's it.
So, I turned in my two weeks on Friday. Friday's the best anyway, because it gives your boss a good amount of time to think about what you need to do before you leave. And, it went well.
I was super nervous about sending in my resignation. At the last minute, I was totally unsure that I should be doing this. So, I closed my eyes very tightly and hit "send." And then I walked over to put the hard copies in the proper mailboxes. After that, there was a nail biting hour wait until I received the replies.
I wanted to be a fly on the wall for the reaction shot, but of course I couldn't be. Apparently, my boss was shocked that I am leaving, but my former supervisor is really happy for me and admitted that it is one hell of an opportunity. Since then, word has spread incredibly fast, and for that I'm a bit glad. We have a tendency to keep information, any information, close to the chest in my department, and I have always thought that transparency was the best policy. (Also, the more people know, the more likely it is that I will get cake before I go.)
Overall, people have said that they will miss me, but they are also very happy for me. It has been a really positive experience so far and I am hopeful that no bridges were burned. As much as I know I need to move on, I wanted to do it all the right way and make sure that no one thought less of me for how I exited. And now, it's onward and upward!
I have been counting down the days until I resign from work since I was accepted into the MBA program. I'm doing it tomorrow and then two weeks until my summer vacation starts!
I have been pretty down in the dumps lately, and I'm not sure why. I got accepted to the school of my choice, and I will be quitting this job in a couple short months.
I think one of the things that's bumming me out is that Tony will no longer be living with me. Originally, Penn State was my first choice because Tony had work in the town, State College. But it's not where his primary work is, and so we decided that we should split the living arrangements. It's weird because our relationship seems to be going in the wrong order. Couples are supposed to live apart, and after a couple years move in together. We have been living together since the second week and now, after a couple years, we are moving away from each other.
My grandma died recently as well, and while we weren't close, I did visit her in the nursing home, and I have at least one great memory of her. She had a really hard life, and it ended with a difficult and slow death. I think it has made me feel off balance.
I should be relaxing now, saving money and waiting for the fall, and for whatever reason I cannot do this. It is making me crazy.
It looks like I might matriculate with Penn State after all. I got a GMAT score of 620 - and I needed a 600 to get in!
Suck it, GMAT! I'm done, and ready to live again.
Labels: mba
I would punch it in the face.
That's all!
Labels: mba
Penn State University says that it will accept me if I can bring my GMAT score up to 600. If I get above 650, I will be eligible for financial aid. Penn State was my first choice, and actually, the only school I have applied to so far. It's in the top 50 of the rankings and it's in a place where Snuggles can live and be close to work so we can still live together.
I will be taking the GMAT for the third time in March, so keep your fingers crossed!
When I was a kid, my sister and I decided that we did not want to go to college at the same school. I was going to go to the University of Arizona and she was insistent that she was going to Penn State and I was not to go there.
Oops.
Labels: mba
I have to take the GMAT again, and I really hope this time will be different than the last two. I am taking a fancy-schmancy Kaplan course that costs more than my plane ticket to Malaysia did, and I hope it's worth it.
Basically, it comes down to: #1 school likes me, and it would be a slam dunk acceptance, except that they hate my score. So they may make me either take a class or retake the GMAT as a condition upon acceptance. But even if they admit me without needing to retake the GMAT, I may not qualify for scholarships with my current score. So I am willing to pony up for the GMAT once more in order to get more money down the line when I'll need it the most.
Either way, there's no other way around it. I have to retake the dumbest test in the world. Suck.
Labels: mba
The deadline for Penn State's early decision looms on December 1st, and I have a date with the GMAT on November 26. I have three application essays to write and bare my soul on, a GMAT to study for, and this month I will also be flying to Malaysia and getting my plumbing checked before I go.
It reminds me of that commercial with the guy sitting at his desk screaming, "Busy Bee! Busy Bee!" Crunch time sucks.
Labels: mba
I'm taking the test again, because of math. Math is stupid. If it weren't for math, I would have kicked this test's ass and sent it home crying to its mama.
Total Score: 560 (56th percentile)
Verbal Score: 37 (82nd percentile)
Math Score: 30 (30th percentile)
Writing Score: 5.5 (83rd percentile)
Note that the verbal and writing scores are Ivy League level, and would make Harvard and Wharton lay out the welcome mat. Unfortunately, the math score tells people that I shouldn't be let within 100 feet of a math problem, and it took my score and made it average.
My next test is on November 26. I am only studying math this time around.
Labels: mba
Last Saturday, I went to the testing center to take my GMAT exam. The GMAT is important for getting into a business school, and it is $250, so I took it very seriously. As I was instructed, I didn't study the night before and came in well before the test began. And that's where it all went sour.
Apparently, the "system" was "updating" and I was forced to wait with 10 other people from 8:20 until 11:40. During that time, one of workers put their the regional manager on speaker phone where he was heard to have informed the guy to tell us to go home, in order to make room for the next group, after we had already waited a long time.
After it was clear that no testing was to be done that day, we were promised a phone call by a guy named Jeremiah and that the testing center would be open on Sunday the 14th.
None of the people at the testing center got a phone call as we were promised and I spent a horrible afternoon and evening wondering if I would be able to take the test on Sunday. Later that evening, I happened to check my email and noticed that I had been automatically re-registered for the test on Sunday. No one had contacted me or asked me if this was okay. As it happens, I came down with food poisoning, so it would not have been alright.
Nervous about the test and feeling forced to take it even thought I didn't feel well, I came in despite severe stomach cramping and was forced to wait an additional 2 hours as the system still wasn't available. I couldn't believe that there had obviously been little done to make our testing experience run smoothly.
Unfortunately, before I could take the test, I fainted from the stress and stomach pain and had to be taken to the ER.
I am ok now health-wise, but that was only the beginning of the Week from Hell. I am rescheduled to take it Monday, which is upsetting for a variety of reasons. But I will study today, hold off tomorrow. Wish me luck for Monday!
Labels: mba
Hard to believe it's been a month since I have last posted. But there was the first week of July when I had my best friend and my family converge on me. Then, the second week, dealing with work and how ambivalent I have felt about it as of late. Studying for the GMAT. Oh, and Harry Potter dying! He dies, right? Just kidding.
So my real-life old friend is having a baby shortly, and my Internet old friend is having a baby soon (one hopes, for his wife). Snuggles' work friends are all having babies as well. Having been an avid fan of dooce.com for years now, and reading tangentially about the crying and the lack of sleep and the Mommy Wars (which sound uncomfortably like Witch Wars), I am a bit grateful to be a DINK. Ironically, that was my sister's nickname as a kid, and she was the first to reproduce, and quickly at that. Goes to show how some parental influence never sticks.
I now have a good reason to check the water.
But on to the Boy Who Lived. I saw him in both theatrical and book format this month, and I liked both. JK Rowling really knocked the last book out of the park, and the ending really reminded me about a book I was supposed to read in college for a Buddhism class. All the right themes are discussed in Joseph Campbell's Hero of 1000 Faces, if you care about what makes a good story about heroes. When I have seen the "Harry Potter is Jesus" and Narnia comparisons recently, I start shaking my head at the Internets.
"No, no, no," I say, "This all goes back much farther, and here's the definitive account."
But I don't really post on fan site message boards anymore, having learned That Lesson. For a better reason, go to this journalfen blog about Harry Potter fandom in the early 'aughts. But only if you have several hours. When I read it, I stayed up until 2am, transfixed at the sheer soapy drama emanating from the story. I couldn't pull myself away.
I will try to write more in August.
