Back to Studying...

What??  Studying... again??  I know I swore off studying the minute I left University of Canterbury.. couldn't stand the pressure of getting good grades and passing the course.. I for once.. am NOT going to repeat anything!  So when I graduated .. I thought that THAT was the last of it for me..

But I've been thinking lately about getting my MBA (Masters of Business Administration).. so I did some research about it.. and somehow I found the 'Harvard MBA' website.. when it suddenly dawned on me that I'd always had a dream of going to Harvard (maybe it was from watching Legally Blonde!) and I got excited about it.. I had a look at Stanford as well (two Ivy Leagues that I've always wanted to attend) and both offers one of the top MBA courses in USA!  Awesome.. what I wouldn't give to go back to the United States.. I'm in love with California!  Looking deeper.. it seems that I need to get my GMAT (General Management Admissions Test) before applying to the MBA courses.. sure.. no problem.. so I downloaded GMATPrep.. which was an online test that you can do to test yourself.. I was excited.. downloading took FOREVER on the office internet.. and finally.. when I opened the application.. the first question was: if Y = 4 + (X-3)2, then Y is least when X = ?  Holy Mother of *%@($#  What on earth does that mean??  If the entire test was like this.. I'm screwed!  I hated maths, and I was never good at it!  It took me YEARS to understand Algebra.. and then it was easily forgotten after I got my degree and never put to use again!  Oh well, at least it was multiple choice..

So I looked online, and I found this book..

GMAT for Idiots...

 Actually.. I think mine was the 13th Edition.. but never mind.. it's written by the creators for GMAT tests.. which means that it has to be good right?  OMG.. I couldn't wait to open it up and get cracking.

Unfortunately, due to my busy schedule.. I could only really focus on studying on weekends.... and since I now have to work at my juice bar on Sundays, it's the perfect time for me to study (as the gym business is rather quiet on Sundays!).. so if I studied at home on Saturdays and study at the gym on Sundays, I figured I could get 12 solid hours of studying done per week.. and I've given myself 6 months to prepare for the test.. so overall.. I have given myself 288 hours to study for the GMAT.  I'm aiming for a score of 700+/800!  So ambitious right?  

Til now, I have completed the maths questions in the book, but I'm going back through them just to understand it more clearly and learn which formula to apply to the questions.  There's another 3 parts to the exam, which is sentence correcting, data analyzing and essay writing.  Pretty scary stuff.. I've always had a thing for stressing out over exams, and especially results.. and no doubt I'll be stressing over this one when the time comes!  I'll probably take the test in October 2013, just in time for January cut-offs for US applications.

I've also looked at UK..and the best place to go is London School of Business.. and the second best place to go is University of Bath.. they're much cheaper than going to Harvard too.. and University of Bath is only a one year MBA course.. oooo.. all these pros and cons.. how will I ever decide which one to go to?  But then again.. it all depends on which course accepts me.. and it all depends highly on my application form.

Now most people have asked me why I want to do MBA (frankly speaking.. there's not really a need to get MBA when you're working in such a small town like Kuching).. but I say that I want to get it to better myself for the future.. when I'm looking after an organization.. wouldn't it be better if I equip myself with knowledge on how to manage that?  And I see an opportunistic future where things are going to grow bigger and better for Kuching...

So that's my plan for the rest of the year.. wish me luck okay? :)