Ask Stacy Blackman

Hi Stacy,

A big thank you from all of us reading this board. I have two questions:

1. I am thinking of applying to 10 schools, mostly within the top 20. Do schools share their list of applicants with each other? In other words, does it look bad to each school to which I'm applying if each knows that I am applying to 9 other schools?

2. After I graduated, I wanted to try a career in a field (advertising) mostly unrelated to my major (business/finance). However, after about a year, I realized I was at a learning plateau and wanted to transition back to a job in finance, which I did, and I have worked at said job for two+ years now. How does one approach explaining this transition in an essay? The truth is I thought I could apply some of the skills I learned in school to a new field, but eventually found myself unchallenged and switched back. Is it alright if I explain it as such and admit my mistake, or do I explain it some other way?

Thanks again.

Hi Stacy,

I second the query above- similar situation here, although a little inversed.

I studied Marketing in school, then got into Design, got an opportunity in Advertising (Client Servicing) within 8 months, worked in Advt for 6, switched back to design and have been working there ever since.

Reasons for the switches are pretty much what has been mentioned in the post above.

Some help on this issue would be highly appreciated!