From The Bench To B.School: A Scientist’s Road To Enrollment (V and Final)
by Jonathan McEuen, guest blogger
Jonathan McEueun is a Manhattan GMAT grad who is off to Wharton this fall. We asked him to share his application process with us. What follows is Part 5 of 5 posts in a series about his experiences. You can read Part 4 here.
Decisions, decisions
I’ve written so far about my experience preparing for and taking the GMAT, writing and editing (and occasionally re-writing) essays and gaining confidence for the interview process, all of which led into the result – in broad strokes, a yes or a no. In this last post, I’m going to describe my experience after getting the “yes” I was hoping for and the process of confirming my enrollment in a full-time MBA program.
In the moments leading up to receiving the response, I regarded the time I had spent – what felt like a small eternity – applying. While I found the experience enjoyable, engaging and insightful, it was also intellectually and logistically challenging, especially in balance with the priorities of work and personal commitments. It was a big investment in all respects, and I was fiercely hopeful that it would pay off.
Receiving an acceptance notification dramatically changed my thought process. Turning almost on a dime, I began to think again about the loss of income, the departure from an equally engaging and challenging job, and the lifestyle changes that would accompany the opportunity. It’s funny how some of the most hard-fought victories can be recast so quickly. Still, I reasoned that it was a good thing, and that it was worth a moment to think about the changes, both good and bad, that would come if I accepted.
The financial commitments were easy to dismiss – not because they weren’t real or tangible, but because I wouldn’t have applied in the first place if I wasn’t confident that the two years would easily be worth the various costs, from tuition to giving up a salary, and if I hadn’t already considered my expenses as a potential future MBA student. This, in short, was a knee jerk reaction easily resolved.
Leaving my job was (and still is) a difficult choice. But on the other side of that choice is a great opportunity for personal and professional growth, for connections with a diverse group of leaders who can, as peers, teach me through teamwork, and for collaborations outside of business school with my classmates. These prospects, and the goal of emerging as a more skilled, capable and valuable leader, were enough to put aside any fears of leaving the work force for an MBA
It might sound a bit ridiculous to be asking these questions after going through the entire application process and succeeding, but for some it can be helpful to take a moment and smell the roses – and to freshly re-commit to the MBA experience, free of any burnout or lingering thoughts from the application process. For me, taking a moment to get the lay of the land only got me more excited to finally say “Yes” to my acceptance offer and to get ready to hit the ground running in the fall.
Jonathan McEuen is a Senior Associate at the Frankel Group, a life sciences strategy consultancy in New York and Cambridge, MA. He will be attending Wharton in the fall as a member of the Healthcare Management MBA Program.