I recieved an e-mail from the ESADE admissions commitee at 630 am this morning - I have been accepted!!!!!
Happy e-mail:
Dear Kathrine,
It is with great pleasure that I write to inform you of your acceptance into the Full Time MBA- English track Programme at ESADE Business School!
Congratulations and welcome to the ESADE Business School community! We think that you are a perfect addition to a class that includes professionals from all over the world with one ambition: to be Global Leaders who Deliver.
The Admissions committee discusses every single application in detail, looking for the best and the brightest. We believe that you have what it takes to successfully complete our academically rigorous and demanding programme.
We also think that you will be an asset to the greater ESADE Business School community and challenge both yourself and your classmates to raise the bar in the business world.
I will now send you another e-mail with the documentation to reserve your seat in the Programme as well as next steps in terms of financial aid and registration, as the class is filling up quickly. Please do let me know if I may answer any questions or provide you with additional information.
What an exhausting, roller coaster of a day!!! Kinda wanna die right now...but yeah, whatever.
Of course, I got no sleep last night. If I could sleep the night before big, important events, I probably wouldn't be me. That being said, I'm proud of myself for surviving today on no sleep, even if I did f it all up in the end.
The day started with some coffee and small talk - typical. We then had to sit there for 2 hours while each candidate came up and introduced themselves for two minutes. 2 minutes, which often stretched into 3, times 30 people, plus time for questions...it was long. I felt like you could tell from people's introductions whether or not they'd be admitted - personality really came through. I made people laugh with by making fun of myself in my picture that I drew where I'm saying "yes" in 4 different languages like "YES! I want to go to IESE", but I don't know if it was just polite laughter. We were supposed to talk about something unique about ourselves. I talked about being a Russian Jew, doing crew, and having spent the last 5 NYEs in different cities. I framed it as "What I thought made me unique in each stage of my life". She then asked me about my picture and I talked about Yoga & Creative Writing. I think I did pretty well. At least I had things to say, without boring people. This one guy spent 5 minutes telling us a story about how he's a Big Brother and his Little Brother got mixed up with a gang and the kid's mom called him and blah blah blah - like, yes, that's a great organization and its great that you do that, but you're trying to sell yourself here and you're selling yourself as well-intentioned but dull. He followed this story with an equally boring story about how he's not good at golf...I wish there was a way to know if he's getting in!
We were then separated into groups of 6, and given cases that we had to analyze and prepare to present to the other groups. Our case was about a guy who had 3 great career opportunities in front of him and we had to figure out which one would help him achieve his goal of having the "greatest positive social impact". It was pretty simple, even if corny. I busted out my mad facilitation skills (Thanks, incredibly difficult people at SDG&E who go off on tangents every day and press the reset button at the end of every meeting) and I think our group actually came together well. The Bulgarian chic and I obviously had some serious differences in opinion but I think we worked through them professionally. I hope they noticed my "facilitation skills".
Watching the other groups present was unnerving as the admissions directors really tore them apart. Regardless of their answers or decisions, they turned everything around on them, arguing for the opposite approach and really making the whole class jump through hoops trying to prove that their opinion was correct. Obviously there's no correct answer but you have to justify your reasoning, which is tough when its being attacked from all sides. We were really lucky - by the time we presented, everyone had kinda lost steam and our presentation went extremely smoothly.
I thought I did a good job overall, not falling out of my chair to be heard like the girl next to me, but raising my hand when I had something unique to contribute and not overdoing it...or so I thought. The rest of the day was listening to the other groups, trying to participate, stay focused, look "awesome" etc. After presenting, you feel like your work is done so you kinda relax, but you still have to pay attention and participate.
Unfortunately, by the time the 6th group went, around 4:30pm, I was completely out of it. I couldn't explain for the life of me what the 6th case was about. I didn't say a word, thinking the worst was behind me and half the time when I did raise my hand, I wasn't called on.
So there I am, off in Kate land, analyzing in my head who I think will and will not be accepted and then out of the silence, I hear my name...
"Kate".
Nani, the admissions director leading the discussion had called on me. There wasn't a question preceding it, or anything. The room had been silent. I had NO IDEA what the class had been talking about. All I could muster to stumble out was "I'm sorry I wasn't fully engaged in that part of the discussion..."
Nani muttered something about "All you guys are falling asleep" and called on a guy sitting behind me who's company the case had actually been ABOUT. A couple minutes later, she called on some other guy, named Sam or something and said "Sam, what do you think?". This kid was clearly as caught off guard as I had been earlier, since his response was "About what?".
Obviously, at this point I was devastated and feeling humiliated. They then told us that we would be receiving our decisions on February 15th or 20th. At that statement my hand shot up. I was promised my decision by Feb 5th - should I not expect that anymore? They practically laughed at me for even asking. What I realized in the follow up questions is that the 2nd round applicants (me!) were being considered with the 3rd round applicants. So I got no advantage by applying before the new year. Needless to say, I'm pissed, and frustrated, and generally exhausted. I worked my ass off to get that stuff in on time, and now that's not being given any consideration. And now, the last thing they remember about me is my not paying attention. Absolutely fabulous.
