Friday, July 25, 2008

Thoughts on New App and... New Consultant Hired!

Things are moving briskly. I figured I'd give my thoughts on the new CBS app that was released yesterday now that I've had a chance to look it over a lil...

The Essays are exactly what were leaked a few days earlier. They are indeed the first 3 from the J-Term with no "passion" essay this time. This is good news I guess since I have rough drafts of all 3 essays now. I also need to write the optional essay to explain why I can't get a rec from my current supervisor (he's only been with us for 2 months). This will probably just be 3 sentences.

The Activities Resume is revamped. According to Djhouse on the GMATclub forum, you used to be able to list as many activities as you wanted. Now you are limited to three activities (in order of importance) from your collegiate career as well as post-collegiate. This makes things interesting! I haven't ascertained whether it's 400 characters or 400 words allowed per activity but thank goodness we won't have to stress over wording every single activity ever conducted.

The biographical info asks for parent's college. This will be tricky cuz I have to transliterate it from Chinese. Also, parent's occupation is a tricky field because they're kinda retired though they're still general partners in the family business. Any ideas what I would put?

Recommendation questions are only 8 instead of 10 now. But that's actually misleading because they combined some questions. They look good though. Oh, and an update! I am switching out one of my recommenders... you may remember that I had 2 Asian recommenders but I was afraid of falling into the cliquey Asian stereotype so I switched one out for a Caucasian. Yay. I will be meeting him for drinks/dinner on Wednesday to fill him in on my backstory and reasons. He has promised that the quick turn-around time won't be an issue. Let's hope!

The online app system sucks. It wouldn't let people in until last night. But once in, it looks okay so far. I guess I won't start pulling my hair (and I have lots of it) out until I start pasting stuff from Word (or Notepad as they suggest).

Nobody seems to know (on both BW and GMATclub forums) what a Salary PIN is... I guess that will be ignored.

I am a limited partner in my family business and I do some work for them though I do not get paid (but then again, I'm a partner), so do I put this as an activity or work? I called and they said work. Darnit. I wanted it to be an impressive activitiy :(

The biggest bit of news is that I have officially hired and paid for a new consultant. The old one wasn't doing anything (literally) except counting his millions stolen from anxious aspirants. My new one is good thus far. Just hired this morning. I already have his comments/edits on my rough drafts and it is going to be a long, long, super arduous journey to rework them. I thought I was so close but now that I see all his comments (and there are a ton), I see I have so much work left to do. This stinks. Do you ever think that your essay is good and then someone reviews it and gives you a million things that can be changed/improved upon and you can't help but agree with them? Even though it breaks your heart to know that you'll have to input so much more energy? Sigh. I really wanna go out this weekend but part of me is saying that I should sacrifice hard for the next several weeks and it'll soon all be over and worth it.

Oh, and in more stressful news, I need to find new roommates (plural) as my old ones are leaving at the end of the lease in September. I really don't want to move. Oh well. Normally this would be fun because of meeting new roomies but I just don't need extra work right now :)

In other news, Soni is the man.

And other news, I know Bunny's identity!

And other news, apparently Samantha is a hornball ;)

Out.

31 comments:

Mo Zhou said...

Man you are way ahead of the game. I'm going to try to finish the draft by Sat and send them off for critiques.

Did you get your money back from the other consultant?

TienyChesney said...

HappyB, which draft are you working on finishing? As for the consultant, no, i didn't get my money back... i'm not even going to try. I really don't know what recourse I have. How could you possibly argue for your money back in such a case? (tell him he sucked and didn't try very hard to help me?)

OMGparishilton said...

hi tieny
can you send me the name of your consultant if its not too much of an incovenience..
my id: omgshahrukhkhan@gmail.com

thanks
-omg

Mo Zhou said...

Oh, I'm trying to get the whole set. I finish the first draft. I'm so sorry people scamed your money.

Anonymous said...

wow...you are already done with your drafts...way ahead man! hey i need some info regarding the consultants u hired...can u send me ur suggestions to chinna8@gmail.com...thank you :)

Soni said...

Tien,
Thx for the tips on the CBS apps. I logged out and back in and its up and working now.

As for Salary PIN, Christina recomended on BW forums that it be left blank. Also, about your parents' schooling, that's optional as well. You can put down whatever, but I don't think it makes any sort of difference. Where it would make a difference is for example, someone who was the first to go to college in their family...now that would be a big deal.

Can u email me sonibubu79@yahoo.com and let me know what consultant you added and who you dropped (though I have this one narrowed down to 2)? I'm thinking of using MBA Exchange to help with Chicago GSB and Wharton.

Mo Zhou said...

hey I would like to know the consultant you dropped too. :P

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny, that's very bad. From your description in the earlier posts, I figured out that we are using the same consultants. Now, I do not know what to do :(

TienyChesney said...

Anonymous,

Aw, I really hope that isn't the case. But maybe you will have a better experience. I mean it's all subjective right? But in my experience, everything has been terrible... it's not even a matter of liking or disliking his edits... it's the fact that he doesn't even seem like he's trying (considering his 3 word replies and refusal to take phone calls or explain his reasoning why some things are good/bad). I really hope you get better service. Otherwise, I really don't know how you can get out of your situation. I had no choice, I was already his client for a while so I just swallowed the cost and said "oh well." But the bright side is that I was not going to let it keep me down. At least I got a better consultant. It's kinda like dollar cost averaging when your stock pick goes down :)))

Unknown said...

Tien, can you please share your new and old consultants with us?

Anonymous said...

I have also had to end a relationship with a consultant for the same reason and would be very interested to hear who you picked up. There are so many out there and I just can't decide how to narrow down the field. Could you send me his info? ryandeancox@yahoo.com

Thx

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny,

I read your entry with interest - could you please let me know which consultant you dropped and which one you hired? You can email me at leonard.chiang@hotmail.com, thanks.

Anonymous said...

Tieny,

I'm planning on a visit to Columbia next week (probably on August 4 or 5). Would you happen to know whether its exam week there - because I want to sit in on a class.

Thanks!

TienyChesney said...

Hi Anonymous,
I'm sorry but I have no idea about exam week... I may know alot about CBS but not THAT much hehe. You could call if you're worried, but I don't think it'll be a problem. It's unlikely that all classes will be having exams. It may even be cool to sit in on a class that is reviewing stuff for the exam becuz that'll give you a broader overview of a large part of the course.

Hi Leonard,
I'll email you tonite. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Hi Tien, could you please email me your old and new consultant info as well? That would be much appreciated -- seoulchris@hotmail.com. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Tieny, could you be so kind as to share with me as well the name of old and new consultant? I'd be very grateful for your help. My email is adam.sapat@gmail.com

Thanks
Adam

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny,
Could you send me the name of both of those consultants, new and old, i think i am having problems with mine as well. May be i have to do the same, and find a new one.

Thanks,
theicetree@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny,

It seems your post about the consultants came at the right time. Can you add me to your already long list of people asking for the names of the new and dropped consultants? I too was considering someone that sounds an awfully like someone you described. = ) Email address is:
seoulb@gmail.com

Much appreciated. Goodluck writing

Happy Libran said...

Hi, please add me to the long list of sending consultants name. I want to know the dropped and new consultant name.
Please email me at happylibran@gmail.com

V2B-School said...

Tieny,

Please email me the 2 consultants info too.

I think I know the one you dropped!

v2bschool@gmail.com

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

same thing hapened with me too. From your posts it is 100% clear that u r tlking abt my consultant :(:(:(. Whatever I send to him, he replies "Good and done". First time I thought that my essay was good thats why he mentioned that. However, the second time, my essay sucked and it was double the world limit. I mentioned it to him, but he said good and done. Can you believe.
The problem is that I do not have any saving. I am a spendthrift. Right now, I do not have any money, and thinking of saving 6000 for CBS in case I get in.
I am so upset that I wasted my money like that. Last year my colleague had worst experience with stacy blackman. So be cautious of her company too.

BTW, it just came to my mind that even though I write to u almost regularly, you would not recognise me. So, I thought of something to fix this
- LoveCBS

TienyChesney said...

Hey LoveCBS,
Great to associate a name with you. haha, I had no idea that any of the "anon"s were the same person. Sorry to hear about your consultant experience, it definitely sounds like we have the same jerk. Coincidentally, I've heard bad things about Stacy Blackman too (basically that she doesn't exist and a bunch of 21 year olds are editing the essays). Keep your head up. I can tell you're obsessed about b-school so that means you've probably picked up a lot of good application tips along the way.

Anyway, if you don't want to remain anonymous, feel free to email me and I won't post anything on the blog. Otherwise, godspeed! hehe

Samantha said...

I feel so popular -- I always come to the end of your blog and there's a comment about me. Hornball might be too strong a word:) I just like my informational interviews aesthetically pleasing.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny,

another one here bothering you to have the two consultants names. I have to pick one, so I'd like to avoid awful experiences. I'd really appreciate if you could write me at easysteps09@gmail.com. Thanx in advance.

Anonymous said...

Could you please sent me the names of your new an dold consultant too? Thanks!

email: enteraka@yahoo.com

AJ

GoBruins said...

I'm new but I thought I'd chime in.

For SALARY PIN, I believe what they are talking about is this number or passcode that you can give out to others (employers/schools) which gives your information. For my Company I have a couple options:

Proof of employment, Job title, length of service.

Or

All the above w/ payrate, gross earnings.


Hope that helps.

Unknown said...

Hi Tieny,

I'd also appreciate it if you could email me the name/consulting firm of your old and new consultants. The thought of paying $$$ for a crappy consultant really scares me. Thanks!

email:tofering@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Tieny,
This comment's coming months later...(Congrats on Columbia by the way!)...Please add me to this list of guys who wish to know which consultant you dropped and which one you joined! I had a bad time applying last year (Got 5 dings) and really wish to get through this year! Let me know! Thank you!

PS: My email address is walker.arch@gmail.com

Arch

irislo said...

Hi Tieny,

I posted a comment originally asking for the original consultant you hired. Can you email me at iristylo@gmail.com the name of your new consultant as well? Thanks, I am really looking forward to hiring one soon!

The.Dream.Catcher said...

Hey.. it would be great if you can let me know the consultant whom yuo hired and whom you dinged?:)I'm an aspirant for the class of 2013. you can mail me at topgun5781@yahoo.com Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Hi Thieny,
Great blog!
Could you please let me know which consultants were let go, and which one you finally decided to hire (and did a good job, I assume?)?
Thanks in advance. My email is askhoman4_at_yahoo.com.