Procrastination!
... is the name of the game.
Today was the last day for the submission of the Michigan application. This was the application I was supposed to be ready for, the earliest. Discerning readers will note that I have been speaking about submitting my Michigan essays almost every day in the past week but never got around to doing so. This weekend I was so confident of wrapping the application in a few minutes that I hadn't even bothered to look at the application till Sunday evening, when I decided to hit submit and end the suspense.
Much to my surprise, I realized that the application form was only half filled out and I still had the last couple of lines to write in almost all my essays. (I had the story down pat, but I needed to add some content based upon my additional research of the school). As you can imagine this epiphany rated really high on the "Oh SHIT!" scale. And there I was with both my Wharton and Cornell apps open in front of me trying to desperately fill in the questionnaire for Michigan.
Just as I had the task under control, my wife decided to call and speak to my mother, who just had to speak to her only son, to find out just what was going on with his application process. So after an hour's worth of detour, I got back to the application, did as much as possible and staggered to bed at 1:00 am. This morning luckily nothing was broken at work, and I had a reprieve which I used effectively to complete my application and send it off with a wave and kiss, in the nick of time for R1. Interestingly I beat the 5:00 pm buzzer by about 40 mins when my final recommendation came in to my great relief.
Moral of story? Some people never learn, and there is no use trying to teach them to utilize time effectively. I should have sent this application along its way last week and started to work on my Chicago drafts (which are in need of some serious work). But given the state of affairs and the fact that my right brain is on strike, I am effectively calling it a day for my application process in R1.
YES! R1 for good or for bad is OVER! Long live R2.
As much as I loathe to do so, Chicago has been shunted to R2, and I hope I can do a much better job then as compared to what I would have submitted next week. I am a little sad that I couldn't accomplish all my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the application process. I am happy with all my applications, which in my humble opinion are good solid efforts, that should garner some response from the various AdComs reading them, but it would have been nice to have closed the round with Chicago.
The strategy hence forth? I plan to apply to 3 colleges for R2. Harvard, Chicago and 'X'. I have two months remaining, though I expect (misguided notion?) to have several distractions in this time frame (yes I am hoping for interviews from the schools I have applied too), I will try to do a good job.
I have learnt several lessons from the first round that I hope to carry into the second round to make the experience better:
1. Work consistently over a period of time and not try to leave things till the last day when time is of essence.
2. Ensure that the content follows solid themes that are well defined *BEFORE* sitting down to write the essay.
3. Take enough time out of the busy schedule to actually have a life.
Good luck to all the applicants who have applied in R1 so far, I hope everyone makes the cut at the school they like the best.
Today was the last day for the submission of the Michigan application. This was the application I was supposed to be ready for, the earliest. Discerning readers will note that I have been speaking about submitting my Michigan essays almost every day in the past week but never got around to doing so. This weekend I was so confident of wrapping the application in a few minutes that I hadn't even bothered to look at the application till Sunday evening, when I decided to hit submit and end the suspense.
Much to my surprise, I realized that the application form was only half filled out and I still had the last couple of lines to write in almost all my essays. (I had the story down pat, but I needed to add some content based upon my additional research of the school). As you can imagine this epiphany rated really high on the "Oh SHIT!" scale. And there I was with both my Wharton and Cornell apps open in front of me trying to desperately fill in the questionnaire for Michigan.
Just as I had the task under control, my wife decided to call and speak to my mother, who just had to speak to her only son, to find out just what was going on with his application process. So after an hour's worth of detour, I got back to the application, did as much as possible and staggered to bed at 1:00 am. This morning luckily nothing was broken at work, and I had a reprieve which I used effectively to complete my application and send it off with a wave and kiss, in the nick of time for R1. Interestingly I beat the 5:00 pm buzzer by about 40 mins when my final recommendation came in to my great relief.
Moral of story? Some people never learn, and there is no use trying to teach them to utilize time effectively. I should have sent this application along its way last week and started to work on my Chicago drafts (which are in need of some serious work). But given the state of affairs and the fact that my right brain is on strike, I am effectively calling it a day for my application process in R1.
YES! R1 for good or for bad is OVER! Long live R2.
As much as I loathe to do so, Chicago has been shunted to R2, and I hope I can do a much better job then as compared to what I would have submitted next week. I am a little sad that I couldn't accomplish all my goals that I set for myself at the beginning of the application process. I am happy with all my applications, which in my humble opinion are good solid efforts, that should garner some response from the various AdComs reading them, but it would have been nice to have closed the round with Chicago.
The strategy hence forth? I plan to apply to 3 colleges for R2. Harvard, Chicago and 'X'. I have two months remaining, though I expect (misguided notion?) to have several distractions in this time frame (yes I am hoping for interviews from the schools I have applied too), I will try to do a good job.
I have learnt several lessons from the first round that I hope to carry into the second round to make the experience better:
1. Work consistently over a period of time and not try to leave things till the last day when time is of essence.
2. Ensure that the content follows solid themes that are well defined *BEFORE* sitting down to write the essay.
3. Take enough time out of the busy schedule to actually have a life.
Good luck to all the applicants who have applied in R1 so far, I hope everyone makes the cut at the school they like the best.
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