An year later.....

"Life goes on.." is probably the only truism that can describe the aftermath of what ever happened last year. I was so dejected by my performance in GMAT that I left blogging as a whole. Now, a year later, with no significant weight to add to my resume, I feel I've got something to look back and learn from and move ahead in life. In short, my first take at GMAT saw me getting 700 (Q: 50 and V: 35). I was convinced that this will never see me to a b-school given my background and I registered for a second shot on 9/30/08. 

In hindsight, may be I make things too complex for myself. With a hectic job, GMAT prep, mba apps and my new found interest in working out and learning music to juggle with, I was left with no time to do justice to anything. Yet, I multitasked and stayed put for an year. Take two of the GMAT was marginally better and the only reason for a cheer was that I did not score lesser than last time. I ended up with 720 (Q: 49 and V: 38). I felt like kicking myself for the 49 in math as I fancy myself in that area. I've always been good at math and when you have a few successes in life, people around you start expecting things out of you and in no time you start expecting it out of yourself.  

Anyways....I churned out, what in my opinion were decent essays but, looks like they weren't. Then came ding after ding and ding after ding. I applied to 8 schools and ended up getting rejected in all. Some would say I'm jinxed. The exact same thing happened when I applied for a masters degree in technology about 4 yrs back. People said that with an enviable GRE score of 1490, the sky was within reach. You now know what happened. I did not learn from that experience.

Sitting in the same chair in which I wrote the first blogpost last year, I still feel as strong about my abilities as I always have. No incident in the last year has broken my confidence...err.. it did for a while but, I have regrouped now :) (c'mon I'm human too !).

With hope.. I've thought about a long term plan. Given the economy, holding onto my current job is crucial. It pays the bills and burns the oil..so it lets me dream of living my dream ! I will now pursue a part time masters in Quantitative Analysis (Well,  I need to get an admit yet and you know..some people think I'm jinxed !). It''ll take me about a couple of years to complete the program. I'm also a candidate for the Dec-2009 CFA. 

I've spoken to a few mba students from top 15 schools and I feel for them because they've sacrificed a lot to get where they are now. Most of them have no internships. Hearing all this, I sometimes feel - maybe it was a good thing that I got dinged from all schools. Even if I had been able to get an admit. My profile isn't good enough to get a decent job post mba. Lets see how it goes.. I plan to be a bit more regular at updating this blog. Old blog posts are really nice to read... more like a time machine... you get to live those moments again and COME BACK !

"....Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past ...........You must fight just to keep them alive........."