Beat The GMAT a GMAT & MBA community

Just thought I'd share my story with the community:

Profile:
MBA PT Programs
WE: 5 years engineering consulting (2.5 years fossil power, 2.5 years hydropower), with one year of project management experience
GMAT: 710, 5.5 AWA (47Q, 40V) Only took once
UG GPA: 2.97 BS in Electrical Engineering from Top 5 undergrad program (Used optional essay to talk about low GPA)
EC: Marketing Director for Engineers Without Borders - Sacramento Chapter, Epic Relay Races, BPeace member, Graphics and Layout Editor for company newsletter
Career goals: Energy consulting, management (very clear career goals in essays)

Went into depth in essays on Why an MBA? Why from that particular school? Why Part-Time? Since everyone is very different, won't go into detail on my specifics.

To study for the GMAT, I completed two practice problem books. They weren't like Kaplan or Princeton Review, they didn't have tips, strategies, etc. Just problems and solutions. Personally, this was a better method of studying that I enjoyed. Was shooting for 720+, but decided it wasn't worth taking another exam for 10-20 point increase. Instead, spent time developing and writing my essays.

Applied to:
Kellogg - Saturday MBA
Booth - Evening MBA

Got the call a week ago that I was admitted to Kellogg's Saturday Program. Still waiting to hear from Booth as my second recommender hasn't submitted his LOR yet. If I get in to both, it'll be a tough choice.

Booth has Harris and EPIC, which would be great for tapping into energy sustainability and public policy. Also has a great entrepreneur center (aspiring to open a company later in my career). The flexibility of the classes I can take, the order I take them in, and availability of all majors is a huge selling point. Very quant and theory heavy studies, which as an engineer, I should be comfortable in.

Kellogg, in very general terms, would be better for teamwork building, collaboration, management, and the over used term "soft-skills". I think this would be an incredible opportunity to complement the skills I have already been building. It would be more out of my comfort range, which I believe is a great thing. The Saturday Program is a lot more structured (cohorts) but I believe this would be better for getting to know my class and building relationships. Sadly, they only offer three majors in the Saturday program, but we're free to take evening courses to pick up a major in other fields. They also have a huge selling point which is 6 free classes you can take in the 2 years following your graduation! That's over $30k! I definitely think I would utilize this.

Clubs I want to join - Tie
Strength of Faculty - Tie
Brand recognition - Tie
The "feel" I got visiting downtown campuses, classes, and talking with current students - Tie
Responsiveness of admissions committee and student services - Tie
Ties to companies I'm targeting - Tie

Either way, I'm stoked that I got into Kellogg. Whether or not Booth dings me, I know I'll be starting b-school this coming summer. If I get an acceptance from Booth, I'll definitely have a tough choice to make, but I'm not going to lie, it'll be a choice I'd be happy to have.

Very long story short, do not skimp on your essays. I spent 6 months writing, re-writing, outlining, and just thinking about what I want the general theme and sub-themes of my essays to say. These are personal questions and should be answered with an honest and carefully thought out response. All my first drafts were completely scrapped because I realized I was writing what I thought the adcom wanted to hear (and it usually is very obvious). When I got my acceptance call, the admissions committee member said "We loved your essays." Not "We loved your work experience", or "We loved your GMAT score", or "We loved your GPA (HA!)". Maybe I'm reading too much into that, but I thought it was worth noting!

I feel very blessed and humbled to have an acceptance. I met some incredibly impressive people with even more impressive profiles while networking with students, so it's an honor to be a part of that community. I'm fully motivated to really take advantage of all the opportunities (student clubs, foreign country travels, snowboarding trips!) that Kellogg or Booth will provide.

I'm sure that people with higher GMAT scores, GPA's, and better work experience were dinged. There's so little we have control of in this whole process. The essays, and to a lesser extent, the GMAT score is our chance to really shine. Put forth your best effort, take your time, enjoy the self-reflection, and be honest.

Last note, I tried to make the essay process a little more fun by thinking of it as a time capsule. 3 years or so down the line, when I graduate, I can look back on all my essays and remember my exact mindset, goals, and career/life passions. Even 10 years down the line, I can still go back and see how accurate I projected my career or if I went a completely different direction. I can see how my way of thinking has changed over the years since I have a fairly complete description all laid out on paper of where I wanted to go.

How cool is that?