task lists

In Progress
-

Completed
1. Clear GMAT
- Total 750, 99th (Q:90th, V:94th)

2. Contact potential advisers - Oct 2006
[14 August] Decided to skip this. Will just go ahead to apply to all the schools.

3. Shortlist School - July 2006
[19 June 06] Confirmed 4 schools. Think I will need to identify 2 or 3 more.
[30 June 06] Confirmed 5 schools. Considering 2 more schools. One requires me take the GRE, which I am not too willing at this point.
[31 July 06] Confirmed 6 schools that I will be applying. Still thinking of whether to apply to the one that requires GRE.
[11 Sept 06] Confirmed 9 schools that I will be applying - requested LOR for all these schools.

4. Clear TOEFL - Aug 2006
[19 June 06] Yes, despite having 15 years of education in Singapore, I still need to give a TOEFL score for most schools. Only 1 school gives me the waiver thus far.
[30 June 06] Registered. Test date is set on 18 Aug.
[11 Sept 06] Received my score: Total 114 (R=29, L=30, S=26, W=29)

5. Get transcripts - Sept 2006
[13 Sept 06] Collected

6. Get recommenders - Sept 2006
[19 June 06] 3 recommenders confirmed (2 academic + 1 work). Need to get 1 or 2 more academic references. To touch base with recommenders once the local U's term starts.
[30 June 06] 1 of the recommender turned shaky. Not sure if I can get a strong recommendation from him, which is crucial. To come up with a Plan B.
[31 July 06] Sent one LOR package to a key recommender. Will send the packages to 2 others by next week. Meeting up with a potential recommender tomorrow.
[10 Aug 06] Received the first completed set of LORs. 1 other set of LOR sent. 2 other sets to be sent.
[5 Sep 06] Received the 2nd completed set of LORs. 2 other sets are already out in the recommeders' hands.
[28 Sep 06] 3rd completed set of LORs in. Dropping my 4th recommender (non-academic).

7. SOP - Nov 2006
[19 Jun 06] Already done 3 versions of the Mastercopy. Guess just need 1 or 2 more versions & revisions.
[30 Jun 06] Latest version: Mastercopy 5.1. Quite pleased with it.
[31 Jul 06] Latest version: Mastercopy 5.4. This should be it.
[14 Aug 06] Done Mastercopy 5.5. Have also started to draft the purpose statements for 2 of the schools.
[19 Sep 06] Done Mastercopy 6.4. Drafted essays for 5 schools. 2 more to go.
[28 Sep 06] Getting my mastercopy to be vetted for a final time.
[4 Oct 06] Mastercopy 6.6 vetted and sealed.

8. Complete research paper - ASAP
[19 June 06] Just starting on this.
[30 June 06] Still working on this. Not much progress.
[16 July 06] Wrote out draft 1. "The draft is a good start". Thought that was a nice comment.
[31 July 06] Completed about 4 drafts of the paper. Now pending submission to a journal. Hope it get into the review stage. Will be good for my CV.
[4 Aug 06] Submitted for publication consideration.
[9 Aug 06] Paper not considered for publication for the time being. Need to work on it for another journal.
[2 Sept 06] Amended the paper for another journal. Left with some finishing touches.
[17 Sept 06] Need to expand the working paper.
[19 Dec 06] Completed for 2nd publication attempt.
[22 Dec 06] Submitted again for publication consideration.

9. Submit applications - Dec 2006
[4 Oct 06] App #1 out. Tier A school.
[5 Oct 06] App #2 out. Tier A school.
[13 Oct 06] App #3 out. Tier A school.
[15 Oct 06] App #4 out. Tier B school.
[24 Oct 06] App #5 out. Tier B school.
[2 Nov 06] App #6 out. Tier A school.
[12 Jan 07] App #7 out. Tier B school.