Thursday, March 29, 2007

Admitted by UCLA Anderson

I just got admission Email from UCLA this morning, so now I have a really tough decision to make...

UCLA vs NYU on Entrepreneurship, any advice?

Monday, March 26, 2007

Submitting LOR

LOR=Letter of Resignation... Yes, I've finally got to this moment. I just sent out an Email to my boss, set down the last day as Apr 30 and thank him for his support. I had a conversation with him the week before, and he was very supportive. He also thanked me for notifying him early, so that he could prepare for it.

Finally, it's time to leave my first job. Why do I sound sad? No, I'm very glad about that! Imagining the next two months vacation in Sydney~~ Sweeeet~

Dinged by Columbia

First ding for me came in last Friday... (actually Sat morning for me) I'm pretty sure there'll be more coming (Stanford, MIT...) coz I haven't heard from them ever since I submitted my application. Anyway, I'm just not made for them.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

UCLA interview

Went to the interview at the alumni's office near my college. He turned out to be an undergrad alumni of mine too. He is a very nice person, we started chatting in Chinese. He asked me how well do you know Anderson? So I told him about my visit. Then he also asked what are the other schools I visited. I was kinda nervous, but still told him the truth. And I did emphasize that I love California very much, mostly becoz of the weather, and the life style there. Next, we switched to English and started the official interview. The questions he asked are as follows:

  1. Walk me through your resume (he interrupted me to ask about one of my job functions in the company)
  2. What's your strength/weakness
  3. Is there a time your boss doesn't agree with you? Example?
  4. Example of teamwork experience
  5. What's your career aspiration?
  6. How's your experience at current company related to ur future career goal (since my aspiration is entrepreneurship)
  7. What do you think is the essential thing for the success of an entrepreneur?

Finally, I asked him whether he could share his experience with Anderson. It turned out that he has been working in IT consulting, MC, and financial services in the past, and has only joined the current company (an internet startup) for several weeks. The current company was started by his friend, also a Fudan Alum. When I asked him how helpful he thinks the Anderson experience is in working for a startup, he said he never imagined himself working as an entrepreneur before, even after graduating from Anderson. But the entrepreneurship atmosphere has affected him bit by bit, and finally took him to his current position. He also strengthened how much he loves about living in California. ^_^

He walked me to elevator after the interview, and told me to call him whenever I have a question. Overall speaking, the experience is very pleasant. No tough questions, very relaxing.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Stern Admission & Anderson Invitation

Received my Admission via Email last night, just before I got totally beaten up by jetlag! Nothing beats the first admission~ ^_^

And this morning, I received Anderson's alumni interview invitation. They say good things come in three, wondering what the third thing might be... Anyway, it's great to have an admission on hand, and knowing that I'll be able to study somewhere in Fall. Besides, Stern is definitely not just somewhere. Judged from what I saw from my visit, I have a lot of reasons to love the friendly and vibrant community. Though NYC is dirtier and more crowded than I thought, it still has its charm. If I get admitted by UCLA also, I would have a tough choice to make... But it's already lucky for me to have that chance to choose, isn't it?

Next step, I'm going to call my boss and tell him I won't be working here for long... Hope he can take it well...

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Stern Interview

Had my Stern interview on Mar 1 afternoon on campus (there's no campus actually, just in the Kauffman building). The whole interview went on for 30min, and the questions are pretty standard. The adcom was very friendly, and she encouraged me to talk about my past work experience, and what I want to do in the future. It felt just like those conversations I had with my friend when I told them why I want to get an MBA.

The question details as follows (there are some other small questions but I can't remember exactly):
1. Tell me about your past work exp
2. What do you like about your job
3. What do you want to change about your job
4. What activities do you want to join after you come to Stern
5. How do you choose schools
6. If you come back to give a speech at Stern in 10 years, what would be your achievement

I think these questions have already appeared in Clearadmit wiki and Accepted DB.

I also sat in a class in the morning and had lunch with a current student. The class was a case based, and the prof was very interesting. Another impressive thing is Stern students seem very nice and friendly, several students came to introduce themselves and wished me and another prospective student good luck in the interview. I finally met Rubeo boy in NYC, and he is such a fun person to hang out with^_^