Journey to Masters

This will be a personal progress dump for myself to look back to. Don't hesitate to reach out if you need any help / information starting from school research, GMAT prep, application tips, or just general support. Will try my best to help :)

March 2021

• Paid university deposit & looked for room and board

• Struggling to get a student visa :( this process has been really frustrating

February 2021

• Got a full time job at a startup as an Associate Product Manager! Exciting product for sure and a lot of potential for growth

• After 7 months of process, finally got acceptance letter from Schulich 🎉

• Started road-mapping until I will be leaving for Toronto in August

• Renewed my Passport

January 2021

• Got an interview from Schulich!! Super excited and prepared properly this time (thankyou Puspita and mom)

• Relaxed my way through the interview. Interviewer was super friendly and great, talked and joked about lots of stuff

• Decided not to retake GMATs for INSEAD because I figured that I really wanted to go to a Canadian university; can always retake GMAT next year and try again :)

• Started looking for a full-time job just in case the Masters thing did not work out

December 2020

• Got a rejection letter from Ivey :( (sad but saw it coming)

• Was supposed to end my internship in Siklus but extended it for one month

• Got an email from INSEAD that although my application had potential, they were not satisfied with my GMAT scores; thinking about retaking my GMAT at this point

November 2020

• Got an interview call from Ivey! Super stoked

• Also flunked the interview because (1) did not prepare well, (2) tired from work (note to take the day off before a big interview!), (3) was too anxious from remembering answers I THOUGHT the interviewer would want me to say and basically just not being myself, and (4) had an incident while was on call, really threw my confidence off

• Applied to INSEAD's MIM Programme (R2)

October 2020 • Finished my essays and sent my masters application en-route hiking on a mountain (big thanks to Niko, Kelvino, Utomo, Kak Fili, and my sister)

• Applied to Western's Ivey MSc Digital Management (R2) & York's Schulich MMgt (R1)

September 2020

• Did IELTS and got a band 8; flunked on the writing but managed to pass the minimum requirements

• Started my application, brainstorming my essays, crafting my Resume, and getting recommendation letters (thank you Ms. Devanny, Alif, and Verdy)

August 2020

• After two months of studying GMAT and one failed cold feet attempt and therefore re-scheduling it, I got a 690 on my GMAT! Felt quite confident and decided not to re-take it *Jan update: I was lucky as I did my GMAT Online and there was no AWA section, but now they started having them

July 2020

• Quit Dekoruma to start on my Masters journey

• Started studying for GMATs, mostly OGs and random question bank (hit me up! can share them to you)

• Got an intern position in Siklus as a BizOps / APM