Patty’s Path to Wharton: Staying Sane While Waiting To Hear Back (Part 8 of 8)
This is part 8 of a series featuring b-school advice gleaned from one of Manhattan GMAT’s own. Until recently, Patty managed marketing and student services for our sister company, Manhattan LSAT. But she chose to return to business school and started at Wharton last fall. She has agreed to share her application experiences with us in a series called, “Patty’s Path to Wharton.” Read Part 7 here.
Today, we talk to Patty about the dreaded waiting period. “The process was agonizing, because you have nothing else to do,” she says.
Things are not in your hands any more. You’re just really nervous all the time. People spend a lot of time on GMAT forums, but try not to spend time on that because it just makes you more neurotic and you can’t do anything about it. You’ll end up checking it every day, though, so you’re constantly on it. You want to look at it.
The waiting game was especially tough on Patty, who had spent the preceding months juggling work with the applications process.
I was working full time the entire time. I tried not to let my work suffer, but I’m sure I did, just because you’re so focused, thinking about all these really big topics like what motivates me, when did I fail, what do I want to admit I failed at.
But once she heard back, Patty’s actual decision was surprisingly simple.
I didn’t have much to decide on, because I got into two schools and was waitlisted at the other. I got into the school where I really thought my skill set would fit. It really wasn’t difficult to choose Wharton. It’s close, and I knew I wanted to stay on the east coast.
This completes our Patti’s Path to Wharton Series. Below is a list of all 8 parts.
- Part 1: The Decision
- Part 2: The GMAT
- Part 3: The Essays
- Part 4: Short Answer Questions
- Part 5: Recommendations
- Part 6: Admissions Interview
- Part 7: Which Round?