This past thursday was the CBS Alumni Club of DC Happy Hour. It was from 6:30-8:30 at a swanky bar/lounge at the bottom of the ritzy Hay Adams Hotel. It's located about a block and a half from the White House.
One of my fellow admit buddies backed out due to work and I started hesitating about whether I wanted to attend. I wondered if it'd be a bunch of old alumni with nothing in common and only a couple admits. Plus it was like ten degrees outside. I got there at 7 pm (fashionably late of course) and was pleasantly surprised. There seemed to be about 8 alums and 8 admits, a nice ratio. The organizer said there were about 12 DC area admits so we had a decent turn-out given that some people probably had work or whatever.
The other admits were decently cool. You could tell that some of them needed a little while to warm up but after a drink, everyone was getting along swimmingly. I always think it's odd when I'm one of the most social people in a group because I've always been painfully shy as a child, and even up through some of college. I've been really pushing myself in the last couple years though as I've come to realize the value of an outgoing, friendly disposition. The upside of networking is a good motivator (otherwise how the heck am I gonna get a job in this economy?) I wound up hitting it off with one other admit really well in particular and I now have a potential roommate for the 1st year. We seem like a good match in terms of cleanliness and location preference. The surprising thing is that she brought up the idea within 15 minutes of talking to me but to her credit, we talked like old friends.
Amazingly, myself and 2 others were the last ones to leave... at 11 pm! We overstayed by two and a half hours. Be jealous, Soni! Almost all the admits there will be at the Feb. 20-21 happy hour so I'm sure I'll see them again (if I can recognize them!) Maybe they won't recognize me either cuz I plan on getting a haircut this weekend. I haven't had one since September for my CBS interview haha!
Meanwhile, my Rosetta Stone studying is going nowhere. I haven't touched it in a month. Oi. Can I go on a tangent here and say how much I love Taylor Swift's music? I revisited her first single, "Tim McGraw", the other day and it's just beautiful. I can't believe that was 3 years ago. Also, my favorite tv show, Survivor, is debuting its new season this thursday- I know you're as excited as I am.
Final note: I need to go back to Sydney pronto.
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14 comments:
I thought you are a guy. You are so involved with CBS. Well deserved admit :-).
I thought you were a guy, also.
Anon buddies,
I AM a guy! haha, did the Taylor Swift lovefest mislead you? or was it the haircut reference? or the potential roomie? regardless, I am a dude.
:-). In one of your prev post, u mentioned potential 'she' room mate. I suspected then. I reaffirmed it yday. Now clarified :-).
Confusion is due to cultural differences.
on a somewhat unrelated topic - how did you bear the space between when you interviewed and when you were admitted???
i had my interview on monday (went ok not AMAZING) and now im on the edge of my seat! i am literally losing sleep over this, im a nervouce wreck...what did you do to distract yourself?
last night i went to a fatboy slim concert and it was amazing...i even made out with a really cute guy, but guess what? by 5 am my mind was back on b school!
ack!
Anonymous,
Good question but I have no good answer for you. I agonized over the final decision after my interview went complete. Did your interviewer submit his/her feedback already? You'll get a status change email saying that your app has gone complete once that happens. That can take anywhere from same day to 2 weeks though it's usually within 1 week. Only after that can you get a final decision and it can range anywhere from same day to 2 weeks again. In some instances it will be more than 2 weeks (even up to 3 weeks) but those are uncommon waits. I'd imagine going out is the easiest way to distract yourself. Better yet, go on vacation somewhere. Otherwise you'll wind up like me, checking my email every 5-10 minutes. It will suck.
BTW, I like your carefree attitude when it comes to having fun, but we must do something about your taste in music. If you matriculate to CBS, let us go to Taylor Swift's concert at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 27th. I'll bring the stetson cowboy hats if you bring the cowboy boots.
Thanks for your note! And I do love your name TienyChesney. I look forward to your 25 things :)
I've also accepted my offer of admission for the class of 2011....would be good to get your insight on NYC (neighbourhoods to live in....I was thinking UWS until I read your earlier post.) and everything Columbia.
I'll be leaving Hong Kong sometime in late May/Early June...was thinking about getting a place for early/mid-July. When do you think I need to start looking?
-Zak
Hey Zak,
Congrats! I'm glad to see a future classmate on here. You'll be leaving Hong Kong in mid-May/June but not moving into your new apartment in NY until early July... where are you going to live in the interim?? Anyway, apartment hunting in Manhattan can't start for earnest until about a month (maybe 5-6 weeks max) before your move-in date. So if you want to move in on July 1st, then you'd probably start looking at places in person around June 1st or slightly earlier. There's no point in being earlier than that because places likely won't yet be available for viewing and few landlords/brokers list that early. NY is a very on-the-spot kinda market. If you view a place you like, then you should be ready with your deposit and payment right away cuz the quality apartments go super fast. It might not be there any more if you wait 2 days to get your deposit in. You can find places even a couple weeks before the move-in date but you can't start looking until 5-6 weeks prior in my opinion. Of course, you could always scan online just to get a sense of what the market's like and what's available for what prices.
If you've read my previous posts, then you already know what I think about the various NYC neighborhoods. I'm personally going to try to stay close to campus (Morningside Heights) but UWS is still an option if I find a great place. I have no interest being further than that. Most CBS students live on the UWS. If you're willing to commute for 25-30 minutes to campus, then you can live even further downtown (on the west side of course cuz east side would take too long to commute crosstown) such as the West Village or Chelsea. But if you're an international student, you're very likely to get student housing- why don't you take advantage of that? Student housing is very hard to come by and much cheaper... I think it's around $1000 per month. Even if you don't want it, you should take it and then sublet it... you could probably rent it out to someone else for at least $1200. Just my strategic thoughts :)
I'll be travelling a bit and then going back to Canada. I suppose being Canadian does technically make me an international student....but I don't think they would give me preference on student housing...not that I really want to live in Morningside.
Thanks for the advice on the timing......5-6 weeks makes sense, although I think I'm going to have to cut it a little closer than that.
I'm waitlisted at Columbia and crossing my fingers that a good percentage of people do not send in their deposit by March 2. Do you have any insights on the waitlist process?
Hi Ireneee,
Sorry but I know little about the waitlist process other than that the waitlist managers seem to be very unhelpful and unresponsive (according to the myriad complaints in past BusinessWeek forum threads). It really seems to be a waiting game that can border on excruciating :( The good news is that there's some hope because a lot of internationals who can't find funding may not fill their deposits. This is just speculation on my part tho. Another reason is that CBS might have an active waitlist if they're trying to identify people who are likely to matriculate and thus follow their mission of maintaining high yield percentages. So the situation may not be as dire as some might think. Godspeed to you!
congrats on your acceptance to CBS, hope to join you there next year!
Just curious what exactly is Rosetta Stone?
Hi Anon,
Thanks! Rosetta Stone is a popular language learning software... it's expensive but very good. Unfortunately I haven't been using it much! Hope to meet you soon.
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