Now what?

I definitely never EVER for a SECOND considered the possibility that I would be admitted to BOTH SCHOOLS. IESE & ESADE have both offered me admission to their September 2010 intake. Both schools are awesome, both are places I'd be very happy at. Both involve me going VERY deep into debt. Yeah, IESE's about 20K more than ESADE, but in the grand scheme of things, those 20K are pretty insignificant so I need to not consider that in my decision making process.

From the acceptance e-mails alone, you can just tell that I'm going to get a lot more personalized attention at ESADE than IESE - ESADE's acceptance e-mail was so gushing, so excited, so helpful, full of contacts and information and an offer of anything I needed to help me through the process. IESE's was like...congrats. Here's where you pay, and here's how much. But, on the other hand, they're #1....when you're number one, you don't have to kiss anyone's ass. And, on that same token, when you're accepted to the #1 anything, you don't say no!

I have a lot of factors to consider:
1. Where I'm gonna grow the most professionally
2. Where I'll grow the most personally
3. Alumni connections for jobs post graduation
4. Alumni connections for jobs in the US
5. Reputation...but that's an easy one.

What attracted me to ESADE was their claim of Career Services working with you from the moment you're admitted to start developing your profile and start you on the right path to searching for your dream job. Their "LEAD" program sounds like something I'd be intensely benefited by, that kind of 360 approach to leadership development and mentorship. Their workload, which is somewhat less than IESE, sounds like I would get more out of it. Its hard to learn when you're just constantly rushing to get things done. On the other hand, I always do better, the more I'm challenged. But preparing 3 cases a night just sounds excessive to me! So i think overall my time would be more enjoyably spent at ESADE. IESE's focus, as evidenced by their reputation, is on the Banking & Consulting industries, and that's where most of their connections are and companies recruiting on campus come from. I'm not interested in either of those industries. ESADE seemed to have a lot more going on with Energy companies, with innovative technology, etc.But then again, that's what I think I want to do now - that might change. On a broader level, IESE probably offers more opportunity. They are more established, have broader alumni contacts, in more places in the world.

I'm gonna be engaging in this back and forth a LOT...

ACCEPTED!? Again?!

I'm in complete and utter shock. I received my acceptance from IESE this morning!!! After the weekend of hell they put all of us through, resulting in my coming home on Sunday night convinced that I stood no chance, after them pushing off the decision for weeks, after me thinking, good freakin' riddance, they actually WANT ME!? I woke up this morning and, as usual, obsessively checked my phone. I had an e-mail saying admissions decision from IESE, but the decision was an attached PDF, so I figured, its gotta be a rejection. But my phone wouldn't open the attachment, so I stumbled to my computer (which of course froze and had to be restarted) with my eyes still blurry cuz I was basically still asleep. So I was in complete disbelief when I finally opened the stupid PDF. The congratulations was short but sweet:

On behalf of the MBA Admissions Committee, I am pleased to inform you of our decision to offer you
a place in the IESE Full-Time MBA Program starting September 2010. Congratulations on
earning a well-deserved place and welcome to IESE!




I have been accepted to the program ranked #1 in the world by the ECONOMIST. I mean, SERIOUSLY!??!?!

http://www.economist.com/business-education/whichmba/


The next 4 paragraphs (surprise surprise!) were about money, how to transfer it, and when to transfer it by. Now I have to make a decision - by March 12th. Holy CRAP. I never thought I'd be in this position!! AHHH!