The Reactions to a Do-Gooder MBA

Others: So why are you leaving San Francisco?

Me: I'm going back to school to get my master's.

Others: Oh, in what?

Me: I'm heading east for an MBA.

Others: ...ok...

Me: The plan is to do non-profit management! I'm still ME!!!!

Others: ...phew!

It's not just in my head

View of Yale's Campus from 300 feet

As I sit here in my hotel in New Haven, a few days after Memorial Day weekend, it dawns on me that I just celebrated my one-year GMAT anniversary.  The week after I took my GMAT, I kept wondering if it was really true - was I really done with the test? Was my score real and valid?  I can't help but find myself asking those same questions of myself: did I really get into business school this year?

Renewal

Many of us leave the workforce to get an MBA for very similar reasons: to accelerate our careers.  The ambition is in and of itself very compelling, but I believe many of us are driven by the complementary goal of obtaining positions that we want, positions that will make us happy worker bees.  

Obviously these goals are inter-related for most of us: because we like to have influence, the accelerations gets us into those positions faster.  I am thrilled that an MBA will propel me to a new phase in my career and will enable me to take on roles that motivate and inspire me. In fact, I'm looking forward to graduate school to remind me why this work inspires me in the first place!

Blogs a-gogo

After fastidiously following ClearAdmit's Friday's From the Frontline, I was inspired to begin my own blog.  Here I am now, a little over a year later, a nominee for the title of Best of Blogging. 

Totes cool. Vote for me (and other wonderful bloggers!) HERE!

Visit to New Haven

I have been meaning to write about my trip to Yale for over a week. With my countdown in San Francisco at about 6 weeks, I'm frantically selling all our furniture, planning our European adventure, and closing up shop at the office.  Needless to say, it's interfered with my blogging routine.  

Soooo, two weeks ago I was in New Haven, CT, savoring the satisfaction of knowing without a doubt that I had made the right choice in choosing Yale.  

Why MBA?

It's been awhile since anyone has asked me why I have decided to get an MBA.  It got to the point that I forgot it is a bit unusual.  However, a friend recently asked a pointed question: "Why an MBA and not an MPA from Wagner in non-profit management?" 

I can imagine people who stumble onto my blog wonder the same thing.  Those in the non-profit field may have different reasons, but I thought it might be helpful and interesting to share my own.

What's in a Name?

A rose by any other name...would be boring.

I have wondered many times over the past few months if there's anything that gave the committee doubts about accepting me into business school.  Mostly, my curiosity has centered around one key area: work experience.  My GMAT was solid, my GPA was acceptable, my undergrad university was reputable, and my recs were (must have been!) great. So my major question has been around how they evaluated the quality of my work experience and whether they were left with any doubts. Simply put: does name matter? 

"Gay Marriage"

We are taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to talk about Gay Marriage.  For those Americans with your head under a rock and for those foreigners who have somehow escaped American exceptionalism (good for you!): Gay Marriage is a big deal right now in the US.  Sure, other countries like Iceland, Spain, Canada, and Holland have permitted gays to marriage for years now. But now that the US is finally figuring shit out, it's IMPORTANT. 

Yay, equality and freedom and liberal values!  

Or something.

Deep Breaths, judgment is here!

First let me say hello again;  I've been swamped at work, but I have missed you all so!

Now back to the b-school world. Round 2 decisions are out in full force, and I love being along for the ride.  It's crazy that I can hardly remember the anxiety that I felt the weeks leading up to my Judgment Days.  But there you have it, the forums are burning bright with the feverish dance of an Anxious Applicant.  What, if any advice, can applicants take right now?