Hard work paying off

Yesterday I received an interview invite from Duke. This morning I earned a 690 on a practice GMAT. Overall, a couple really good days. Hopefully everything will continue as I should hear from Michigan Monday and have my Haas interview next week.

Ok, so a 690 might not sound great when I'm trying to beat my previous score of 700. But it's only been a couple weeks since I began studying and the fact that I'm already back in striking range is pretty exciting. To make it even better, the last time I studied for the GMAT I never broke 660 on my practice tests. I've used ManhattanGMAT (yup, another plug for them even though I'm getting nothing from them but helpful tips and good service) during my studying which I've heard rumors provide harder quant questions than the test itself. Who knows if that's true but it makes me feel confident so I'm going to keep plugging it. Either way, in just a few short weeks I've increased by score from a 600 to a 690. That's pretty positive considering I still don't have a test date. Now for the tricky part, determining when to actually take the test.

Yesterday my Duke invite came. It was a long day...I figured I wouldn't really care since I have the admit to UCLA, which I'm excited about, and pressing for Haas, which is my top choice. As the day wore on, I became more and more distracted. It's nothing like it used to be, though it still hit a nerve. When the invite came through, I threw my arms up in celebration. It definitely feels good to be validated. At this point, I've received an invite from every program I've applied to this year. Yes, that stat does excite me but also makes me wonder why I only have 1 admit at this point. Oh well I guess but still a bit bothersome.

Back to the scheduling, I' already going to UCLA at the end of February for their admit weekend. Between now and then, I'm heading to Berkeley for a few days with a red eye back to the East Coast midweek. Then I have a full weekend with my girlfriend. There is one week between then and my LA trip. Now I have to find time to hit Duke and the GMAT, on top of taking almost a week off from work during February. At this point, they know I'm leaving but the culture doesn't exactly forgive that. Needless to say, scheduling is quickly becoming a nightmare. I suppose these are good problems to have but they're still problems. Last year, my problem was not having anything to do but question what went wrong. I'll take this year and stop complaining.