Forrest Gump reporting, SIR !

1) changed the blog look and feel. inspiration - mbafarbe . you should ask - what am i doing with blog look and feel when the deadlines are approaching ? ans - please refer point 3.

2) attended a chicago conference recently.
interesting observations :
- a large number of alumni turned up = 8.
- i live in a cosmopolitan city, but 50% of the alumni were Indians.
- a grad from 2005, as well some old timers, so it was a really good mix.
- majority of them work in IBanking.
- adcom tells me that the GSB might be looking out for people who dont want to go into consultancy/IBanking. they will welcome the so called "poets", and people with interesting career goals.
- adcom publicly tells that they can't satisfy the recruiters need for marketing graduates, something that is adversely affecting the schools' image (a big enough hint for you all wannabe marketers).
- alumni give varied accounts of their experience ( and not the usual my-school-is-the-best stuff)
- one of the alumni bad-mouth's Kellogg, but he did in an entertaining way, so it was funny and not the sour-grapes story. he actually didnt apply to Kellogg, so he said ;)
- another doesnt feel shy to speak out that some of his classmates were a**holes, because probabilistically, they are everywhere.
- the I-was-taught-by-a-Nobel-laureat topic did come up.
- all alumni were extremely friendly, one guy even went out to declare that he has been helping applicants with their essays, and not surprisingly, a lot of folks go all out and jump for his attention (after the official seminar gets over).
- there are a lot of good things about GSB, and as is expected , some not so good things. all in all, you dont feel unreal being around the alums. just like we all need to admit, each one of us has his/her strengths and weaknesses, and so does GSB.
-with the way things are going, GSB might not be the place for just quant junkies in future(the reputation is one thing, the reality, not necessarily the same). it is pretty diverse now, and the rankings are helping the adcom effort.
- i really dont think that previous statistics should guide people to carve an approach for the GSB applications. the Rosemaria effect is surely visible.
- i had some good discussions with some of the alumnae, but missed a few key ones...after all, you just cant walk away as soon as your question is answered ?
- finally, the gsb alumni network is very very strong. we had first hand examples of people getting good IB jobs just because of the network.
- all in all, a good exchange of ideas, and surely one of the good schools to apply to.

MIT/LBS/Stanford all visiting town in the next few weeks, and if I get to attend, you will hear about it.

3) finally some personal life status update ::: complete disorientation and disarray in life. motivation to write essays has evaporated. the enthusiasm has deserted me at this key juncture. an absolutely messy and crappy situation to be in. hence, with nothing to do, i just wasted some of my time changing the blog template.
am not sure what i am gonna do to improve this situation, because i dont know what's the cause of this. but with not much of choice, i will have to figure out a way. maybe tonight's good night sleep will help remind me where my priorities lie.
Big decision taken - no apps going in Round 1, because the way things are - dings are inevitable.

Apols to all readers for ending this post on a rather sour note, but that's the mood of the day. And thanks to my blogger friends out there, who have kept up with me during this tough time. I believe I can do justice to the time and energy you have spent for my quest, and although its late, I know its not the end.

Best wishes to Axechick on her first application(which she submitted a little while ago). And all the best to others who are just waiting to hit the Submit button !