Thursday, August 31, 2006

Admissions Events in Russia

Chicago GSB:
18 Sept, Moscow (reception - alumni)
11 Sept, St.Petersburg (reception - alumni)
2 Oct, Moscow (official admissions info session)

Wharton: 10 Oct, Moscow (admissions info session)

Stanford: 16 Oct, Moscow (admissions info session)

Columbia Business School: 6 Nov, Moscow (reception: Senior Associate Director of Admissions Amanda Carlson and alumni)

MBA World Tour: 9 Oct, Moscow

Getting transcripts - don't leave it for the last moment

A day ago I spent several hours in my first university (where I completed my undergraduate program three years ago) persuading the faculty to provide me with info requested by business schools. Things I had to get:
- The number of alumni of my class;
- The average and minimum GPA of my class;
- The breaking of all courses between terms, hours per course per term.
All these things are not provided in graduate certificates (the diploma) in Russia and can be obtained only from the faculty. GPAs are also not provided, but there is a list of all courses with final marks in each certificate.

As I said, I spent abot 2 hours in my university running between several departments. People played the famous game of passing the task to someone else :) In my search for a responsible person I made a full circle and finally received all answers in the faculty. "The answers" actually were a pile of copies of my classmates' certificates. So, don't expect your faculty to calculate all those dusty GPAs for you ;)

Monday, August 28, 2006

Humilating experience of TOEFL :)

Last Saturday I made my next step towards admission - I took TOEFL iBT in Moscow. My scores will be available at September 15 or earlier... A present on my birthday :)

The test: if you have by chance passed IELTS (which is a standard requirement for educational institutes in the UK, Canada and Australia), the idea of iBT is alike. The same division into four sections (reading, listening, speaking and writing), with minor distinctions: there is no sentence correction in TOEFL, and, an aspect that is widely discussed between activists of these two examinations, speaking in TOEFL is not in front of a real person, but tete-a-tete with a computer (in IELTS an examinee has a short interview with an examiner).

More about speaking. I was all flustered up with the conditions. Designing new Internet-based exam, the ETS made a point that TOEFL will test the ability of an examinee to speak coherently in irritating circumstances close to those present in real life. Be serious about it! :) I expected that I would have to speak simultaneously with other examinees and the challenge would be in ignoring various noises and distractions. But really, it was much worse! All of examinees (there were about 10 of us) started at one time, and as I was very fast with my Reading and Listening, I started Speaking when other people had break. Which meant that as I was trembling all over trying to make as less mistakes as possible, to speak loud and with expression, 10 other people stood around with their headphones off, listening to my pathetic speach :))) Grrr! Horrible, horrible experience :)
Mind this when you plan your exam... maybe it is better to drag your Reading & Listening on till other people are finishing, so that during your Speaking everybody else is busy with his or her own business ;)

Friday, August 25, 2006

Pains

What an international applicant should gain from his or her previous educators:

- Dates of terms, credit hours per term, credit hours per each course per term;
- Quantity of people in class, applicant's rank (rating) in class;
- Average GPA in class (everybody knows his or her own GPA, but how many people know GPAs of every classmate?);
- Contacts of a registrar (if there is no such person, which is a common case for Russia, contacts of the faculty representative will do).

An applicant may also be requested to put into application some details about his or her parents that may not be at hand:
- When parents attended to their colleges (years);
- Graduate majors of parents.

Costs

Unavoidable:
GMAT - $250
TOEFL iBT - $155
Applications (to be paid) - from $200 to $250 for each

My investments:
Preparation for GMAT (courses) - $700

Paid to date: $1,105
To be paid: $1,000-1,500

Additional costs that may occur to international applicants:
- Books and courses for preparation for GMAT;
- The same for TOEFL;
- Official report of TOEFL results to schools in addition to first 4 ($17 per each additional school);
- Cost of campus visit(s);
- Dinners with your recommendees ;)

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Weekly news

News from top-X (select your own rating):

Applicants to Stanford and Chicago, say hurray - applications for the Fall 2007 are available online.

Note that there is an extra "essay" question hidden in the application to GSB:

"Describe significant study, employment or travel outside your home country. Why did you pursue your experience abroad? How long did you stay (include dates)? Did it enhance your foreign language skills?"

Very likely, the question is designed only for international applicants.
International applicants: note that Chicago likes to learn not only about your average GPA, but also about average GPA of your class (it is not a kind of information usuallyprovided in graduation certificates), so, be ready to contact your alma mater for these additional data.

Columbia BS published rolling application for the Fall 2007, but the service does not function properly yet. Once you register, the application is available as long as youdo not clear cookies. Once you clear, oups! you're in trouble: a password, not known to you, is generated in activation letter that you cannot get yet, and so you cannot get into your application till activation letters are spread. Don't clear cookies or wait till the service is in full power.

Introduction

Hi All,

Let me introduce myself as Nat from Moscow. Glad to join a community of wannabe-MBA bloggers :)It's my first application - or my first five applications, as a matter of fact. My targets are the cream of business school ratings. Let's just say it's 5 schools in the 1 round.

What I have to date:
- GMAT: appointed at 09/02
- TOEFL: appointed at 08/26 (the day after tomorrow!)
- 2 of 5 applications complete, 2 of 5 are not published yet (see next posting for details)
- 3 recommendees: ready to make their input
- Transcripts from graduate and post-graduate programs requested, unofficial transcripts submitted
- Essays: 2 main and 2 optional complete, others (how many?.. 5 to 10) pending
I do not worry much about my GMAT. My expectation is 700, plus/minus 10. If I'm in this range, you will get a detailed report on my preparational steps :)

And the last - but not the least, of course - about myself: female, 26 y.o., Russian, graduate and post-graduate with honors, nice CV, passion for writing and travelling. I am looking forward to majoring in finance and international management. Hope to see you all in the same boat! :)

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