In the end, it
took Labor Day weekend early last fall to get me into action. While I am
several years out of undergraduate school, the start of September still brings
a mental change from the end of lazy summer to the start of
busy, no-nonsense fall. After spending Labor Day weekend camping at the summit
of a Southern California mountaintop, I came back ready to take on the GMAT.
With an end goal of an October test date locked in and the clock ticking down,
suddenly the path forward seemed so much clearer. It was the starting line of
the race—one that would finish in the spring and ideally would do so amid a
shower of admittance letters. Studying every evening outside of my apartment
with endless timed practice tests was easier knowing that I had a concrete end
date in mind. Baristas at my local coffee shop began to know me by name and by
drink order, sympathetically asking, “Studying again?” I owe them all a big
thank you for letting me stay for hours on end for all those evenings. In the
end, I did far better than I expected. I can’t say I recommend waiting until
the fall of your applications to take the GMAT—believe me, it’s no treat to be
churning out essay drafts while revisiting high school algebra. At the same
time, you shouldn’t begin studying until you are ready to commit
wholeheartedly, because unopened study books don’t read themselves and because
the application process that begins afterward will be a long, arduous road no
matter what.
Lilian Haney,
Forté
Fellow
MBA 2014, Yale School of Management
MBA 2014, Yale School of Management
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