Business School Update

Ahhhh, and so the parties/madness is slowly winding down. I’ve been entertaining guests from US since mid-February. Orlando works for Blackberry and was in Brazil on business, “coincidently” during Carnival. He’s actually a good friend of my friend, and we met here. He’s Cuban, from Miami and we grew up about 15 minutes apart. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL! We had a blast and were inseparable, if you’re reading this Chonga – Can’t wait to hang w/ you when I’m back in Miami! About 2 days after Orlando left, Talena came into town (almost on a whim). As soon as she got into town, we went to Recreio (a wonderful paradise right here in Rio, most tourist don’t know about this place). Once we got back, we went to the winner’s parade at the historic Sambodromo and have been busy site-seeing and enjoying Rio’s nightlife.

It is now Sunday, March 8 6PM and Talena left about 2 hours ago. It is the first time I have had to myself and one of the first things I want to do is update my “blog fans” with what’s been going on with my life. As most of you know, in early January I applied to business schools (nine to be exact) and slowly I am getting feedback. Unfortunately, but not surprising, I have gotten 3 rejections, 1 high unlikely, 1 not looking good, 1 “looking good” and still waiting for 3 other schools. Here’s the detail update: Emory, UVA and Yale have officially rejected me. I gave little to no effort on my UVA application, so I just can’t be surprise. I am however surprised from Emory/Yale’s decision. They were supposed to be my safety schools and as you can imagine my self esteem was pretty low when I got all 3 rejections. Most schools give a deadline on when they will send out their invitations to interview and for most schools if you don’t get one by the deadline, you’re not getting in. HBS and Stanford have both sent out the majority of the invitations and I have yet to receive one, so I’m pretty much banking on these will turn into rejections (both of which were programs I wanted to attend). Again feeling a lil sad, :-(

When Wharton’s invitation deadline approached, I was certain I would not get one and unlike Harvard/Stanford, Wharton sends out all invitation and if you don’t get on, you get a rejection letter. As you can imagine, I was checking/refreshing my emails every 5 minutes. It was already 5PM rio time and I had to meet Orlando for dinner, so I just assumed I wasn’t getting one and would see Rejection letter the following morning. I was talking with Orlando at dinner and telling him about the situation and he pulled out his blackberry and said, “let’s check your email and see once and for all, if it’s bad news we can drink your sorrows away”. While his intentions were kind, we had issues connecting on his blackberry and I decided to go to the nearby internet café. I signed onto gmail and my heart stopped when I read “Wharton Invitation to Interview”. I was just shocked and in disbelief that tears started falling from my eyes.

So here’s the deal with Wharton, I am not just applying for an MBA. I decided to apply to their dual degree program MBA/MA. The MA part will be in language (Portuguese) and they only accept approx 50 folks, whereas the MBA program accepts over 800. The fact that I was being considered for the dual degree program left me stumppyfied. Then I started asking my other friends, if they got an invitation to interview and none of them got one. I knew from the beginning that this would be a very competitive year and I honestly thought Wharton wouldn’t even be an option, but now I’m slowly realizing that YOU JUST DON’T KNOW WHAT ADMISSIONS COMMITTEE IS THINKING.

On the week of March 2, I had both my Lauder and Wharton interview (unfortunately separately, which meant wearing suits 2x in Rio’s HOT weather). The Lauder interview left me confused and I just don’t know if I provided the information he wanted. You know how sometimes you leave an interview feeling good or bad? I left this interview just confused, so we’ll see the end results. As for my Wharton interview, I TOTALLY NAILED IT! It’s just nice to hear the interviewer say, “Well I got what I needed, you are a strong candidate….” Now if only the admission’s decision were based on interview alone, I know I got in. But alas, I spoke from an ex-admin person and the process goes as such: After interview, the admission committee meets again and re-evaluates my candidacy. I think they use the information from the interview to cross reference my app and then make a decision, so basically what I’m saying is I got a 50/50 chance of getting in. So while I am still scared I won’t get in, “I am happy to have been nominated…” LOL.

U-Michigan will release their decision on March 15. UNC on March 23 and NYU has not provided any indications. As for Wharton, I think their deadline to make decisions is March 27, but I really would like to know earlier (good/bad). I just hate waiting and waiting and waiting and then getting a HNJN! But alas, I will have a very busy next 3 weeks with the nonprofit and my mini-trip to NYC/Miami next weekend. Yeah, I have to go take care of something in NYC and will get there early Sunday morning, 3/15. I leave NYC the following Tuesday, 3/17 to Miami for one night and back to Rio on 3/18 with Claire who’s also helping out with the NGO. I feel like I’m traveling like a total ROCKSTAR, except I’m in coach-LOL.