The Day the Rain Gods and Cops Conspired!

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The Day the Rain Gods and Cops Conspired!

by aakaps » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:06 pm
GMAT Day:

Floodwater moved my car about 10 feet as I struggled to regain lost control. Most important day of my life and Atlanta roads were flooded! All the hard work put over last 3 months, literally would "go down the drain" if I was late to my GMAT appointment. Thank God I drive a Toyota so the engine didnt stop running and I could manoevur to dry land! From there on, entering the highway became a hazard, with cops blocking all the entry points! I drove from one exit to another to see any opening to the highway going the otherway, but no luck. Parked over in a Wendy's parking and figured out that using a GPS and driving on inner roads may be the best option. I was living my worst nightmare as my sense of direction and choosing the roads is even worse than my drawing skills!

After many perils later :cry: (pot-holed south atlanta inner roads, some rough looking neighborhoods and GPS malfunctioning showing route where there was no road!), I reached the GMAT testing center taking one and half hour for an otherwise twenty five minute ride. Had a great thought at that very moment that this may be a joke God is playing on me! So decided to laugh a little and entered the GMAT testing facility with no pressure as I thought I definitely will be writing it again later :) This thought actually lightened me through out the test and I gave my best I think to score a 700 (Verbal - 35 and Quant - 49).
Now to think of it, I can act like a perfectionist and think of rewriting, but just the amount of effort a rewrite will take and the time it will steal from my applications, I think I am happy with the score.

Now to think of my today morning's adventure, I realised later that a state of emergency has been declared in Georgia with massive expanses of land and roads under water and at least 5 people dead.( https://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/21/southe ... index.html). To have braved this to write the GMAT, I deserve to be in the best schools!! :twisted:
GMAT Preparation:
Let me elaborate my journey to GMAT:

1. Chose Class over self study for regularity. Veritas over Manhattan GMAT for more class time and time when classes were starting. Found Veritas okay, not spectacular.
2. Planned GMAT on 5th of September, immediately after class got over. Realised my verbal is still pathetic. Researched on BTG and bought Manhattan GMAT books. Went through all of them religiously. Appeared in the MGMATs with scores ranging from 630 to 720. Found the explanations, the structure and the forums really impressive to increase my verbal scores.Their books helped math as well as the content was structured and lesser exercises :) I can say I spent about 50 hours more after class on practise and a lot of time reading the success stories here. B-)

Wrote GMAT and though I know I could have done better, I think time to concentrate on the more important aspect of the application - the essays. I have gone to a few MBA fairs and informations sessions. Realise I thrive best in collabrative competition, so Target schools are Kellog, Ross, Stanford, Haas, Duke and maybe LBS.

Wish you all luck and ask me if you want any specific clarification.

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by gmat740 » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:08 pm
700 is good score especially after that adventurous ride. You must be proud of yourself. Your determination didn't let you down in spite of so many problems.

You are a hero! congratulations :D :D

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by aakaps » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:47 am
Thanks man :lol:

I think the soul digging part to choose the right school is a tougher part ahead!

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by ssmiles08 » Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:04 pm
man I am surprised the test centers were even open in Atlanta! anyway you definitely made the best out of the situation and came out on top! congrats and good luck for your apps! :)
You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

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by gmat_dest » Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:33 pm
Loved reading it...You are the man!

Congrats again!