108/120

Yup, that's what is my TOEFL score. Though I was a bit anxious about the listening section, as people who sat beside me started their speaking section, the scores are OK. With this the TOEFL chapter is complete, and the books will be moved from my study table( I had kept them in case my shitty luck pops up its head)

After receiving comments from my reviewers, I changed the essay structure( not style and content)at least 8 times. Despite being so busy, 2 of my reviewers have been very kind to give me an in depth analysis of my stories. I really appreciate them.

'People, there are still good guys around in this world'. Thanks to LSMBA for his offer to review my essays, I look forward to hearing his comments.

Also, 2 things I felt while writing my Chicago essays

1) 'You will get better at essay writing with time'. I did not believe when people said this and suggested that I write the essay of my number one school last. I did not give it much thought because I had already decided what stories to write and what tone to use long before my GMAT. But, I was proved wrong. The Chicago essays are a lot sharper content wise and style wise. I had to go back and rewrite my Kellogg essays. So, the suggestion is to write the essays of safety schools first, and then start with your top-choice schools. BTW, I'm not applying to any safety schools,and I like Chicago and Kellogg both in equal measure

2) Unlike Kellogg, Chicago doesn't give a lot of room for you to write and paint your personality from different angles. So, chose what you will do with slides carefully because you cannot do much with Essay 2 and Essay 1. Think leadership skills, teamwork etc

I visited my university to collect my transcripts. So, I'm ready to submit the part I of my Kellogg application this week.

All the best to the R1 applicants for the final results. I think the following 2 weeks will be emotion laden for almost all.

Ciao,

Unplugged

Here's unplugged's brain fry for you......

Yeah, it's up for free on this blog!

I'm almost done with only my Kellogg essays and my brain is fried. I've lost the ability to judge rationally whether a sentence makes sense or not or whether a sentence is grammatically correct.

Here's how I approached the essays ( after the school/program research of course) - I wrote down the stories I wanted to convey in as many words as I could. Once all the essays were complete, I started to trim them down keeping in mind the big picture and culling out the redundancies - That is deleting whatever was mentioned in some other part of the application and that did not merit a mention once again. I went on and on like a raging bull, trying to lock my horns with anything and everything until I got somewhere close to the word limit.

The end result? - Read the title!

I don't know whether it's because I put in too much effort in thinking about the stories and how to differentiate my self or because I'm just not capable of churning out essays after essays as some other applicants do. Anyway, I'm just happy that the essays are genuine and honest, and they have turned out the way I wanted them to

I seriously apologize to the reviewers of my essays. Let's call them the 'JOF' trio for now. While sending them the email a few hours ago, in my half -brain -dead state, I accidentally wrote - 'There are somethings I want you to tell before going through the essays'...... where as I should have written ' I want to tell you ......'. Sorry guys! They're going to think 'What kind of a retard..eh?

There's one tip I have for those of you who haven't started their essays

If you are trying to get your essays reviewed by a person who doesn't know you at all( you ideally should), it makes sense for you to send even your resume. Also, it is always better to work on your resume first before starting the essays. This way, you'll have 2 benefits

1) You will know what areas or stories to concentrate on

2) You will be able to weed out the redundant points I was mentioning earlier

On to Booth now.....

Yours truly fried,

Unplugged

Peer Pressure....????

The 3rd essay from Kellogg - 'Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would your peers select you to become a member of the Kellogg community'? (600 word limit)- is not going as well as I thought it would

When I go deep into the question, I fail to understand the adcom's intent of using the word 'peer'. Of course, I looked up in the dictionary only to find a few meanings which more or less mean 'an equal'.

Now, the reason why I haven't been able to complete this essay despite spending my weekend on it is that I really don't know who will be the peers of a student member of adcom.

There are 2 versions on the web as to what means 'a peer'. The blog here implies that a student member of adcom will work along with faculty who are on adcom, a handful of other student members of adcom, then there are members from pure adcom staff. In this case, the peers will be the people who are evaluating the application.

Clearadmit's analysis assumes that 'peers', in this case, are fellow class mates. The dynamics of your response will change dramatically depending on what you think is the meaning of 'peer'. In the first case, you would want to round off your candidature by touching upon your stats , your 'unique' experiences and how you would contribute. In the second case, you are better off addressing specific reasons as to why the student body would want you as its member.

What do you guys think?

Updates on essays...........

Indeed, I'm having a crazy time writing essays. I've started to completely ignore my fitness routine. It so happens sometimes that I'm glued infront of my laptop for 6 hrs without a break. This happened twice in the last week. I opened my laptop at 7.00PM and went to sleep at 12:30AM. But, you know what, I'm beginning to enjoy writing as it is turning out to be not as intimidating as it did while I worked on my career goals essay.

I've completed 3 essays from kellogg.My brother really liked my writing style and he said the story 'stuck'. But, until and unless I have them evaluated from a third party, I'm not believing him. So, I'm actively looking out for reviewers who will be kind enough to critique my essays.

'Evaluating your own file from an adcom perspective' is pending. I seriously don't seem to have any ideas on how to approach this essay.

One more thing, I found a 'readability test software' , which is a useful tool to test how readable are your essays. I found it on GMAT club and thought it might be useful. I also read that Harvard business review's scores fall between 45 and 50, reader's digest - mid 50s. My essays, which are currently over their specified word limits have fared well( the scores are close to 60!). But, I don't know how they'll look after I trim them down.

I've also booked a date for TOEFL. It's on 21Nov2009. And as per some of the debriefs on some forums, the exam is not as easy as I thought( the sheer duration of 4hrs will be draining) and not as tough as the GMAT( people say TOEFL is walk in the park). One section I'm quite vary about is the speaking section as the scores seem to be following a random pattern.

I'll have to devote atleast 1hr every day to do well on the exam

Adios,
Unplugged