I amassed a collection of virtually every book (see below) on business school I could find and became so engaged in the strategies of successful application marketing that my wife, friends, and family jokingly suggested that I drop my business school plans and become a full time B-school admissions consultant!

Not content with limiting my resources to the printed page, I became a regular contributor to Internet discussion rooms hosted by Business Week (Located for the time being only on AOL) and Princeton Review. The main benefit of these forums was the encouragement I received from communicating with a diverse group of other MBA hopefuls and successful applicants from around the globe. Additionally, I found that when online, people were often much more candid about their situations and experiences than they might be in a face-to-face meeting.

The advice from the B-school strategy experts (including many of the authors of the books listed below) is to start planning the application process very early, preferably two years before the intended date of matriculation. While this may seem like a very long time, consider the fact that decision letters will typically be mailed about 6 to 8 months prior to the anticipated matriculation date. Surely, 16 or 18 months may still seem like a long time to complete the applications, however a veritable mountain of work awaits the aspiring MBA applicant.

My 1997 application to the Wharton School was a reapplication, as I did not gain acceptance to the program upon my first attempt in 1996. While virtually every domestic MBA program has experienced record annual increases in applications throughout the 1990s, Wharton's positions fill up particularly early in the season, a reality that I indeed learned the hard way (i.e. don't wait until February or March to send in those applications!). It was a difficult decision for me to turn down offers from the excellent programs I was accepted to that year and to reapply to Wharton. However, I was convinced that I could prepare a much stronger application the following year and improve my chances by applying early.

Fortunately, my decision allowed me to better plan my transition from work to academia, bolster my financial resources, and give me the opportunity to take a much closer look at the schools that I was considering, including Wharton. Specifically, I concluded that my work experience and my future goals would be well suited for a program that allowed me to specialize in real estate and entrepreneurial studies. As such, I became very focused on schools that allowed for such a tailored major (as opposed to a strictly general management curriculum) and found my fit at Wharton and its excellent Real Estate Center (recently renamed The Samuel Zell/Robert Lurie Real Estate Center at Wharton).

My advice to any business school applicant is to take a step back from the seemingly clear-cut distinctions rendered by the magazine rankings and find those programs that dovetail with your interests, goals, and lifestyle. Consider location -- big city or rural hamlet? Think about the regional aspects of each school -- if you want to work near your alma mater, then a strong national or international reputation is less important than if you want to relocate. And, of course, consider the academic program, course offerings, and relative strengths of each school.

In short, if you're not psyched about a given program, move on and find the programs that you can truly get excited about applying to. Visit the schools, talk to students and alumni, and sit in on classes. On more than one occasion I found myself grappling with the essays from great programs that I was ill-matched for, trying to shoehorn myself into that school's image or culture. Your enthusiasm or lack thereof, will come through in the essays and the overall presentation of your application.

After completing my research of many of the top programs, I was drawn to Wharton for a variety of compelling reasons. I had not visited the campus before I submitted the initial application, but I did so in May, 1997. The spring term had just ended, and I was able to meet one-on-one with an assistant admissions director, speak with current students, and tour the campus and environs. It didn't take long before I realized that Wharton was an exciting place full of energy and run largely on student initiative.

Visiting Wharton, as well as other schools on my short list allowed me to make meaningful comparisons on the concrete aspects of the different programs and draw a conclusion of which programs I would be happy at for the next two years of my life. Certainly, the imprimatur of Wharton's reputation and name was a big factor in my initial interest. However, I found myself increasingly attracted to the vision of the school, the international focus, the large alumni network, and the depth and range of the course offerings. Philadelphia also matched the interests both of my wife, Caryn, and myself, allowing for an exciting change from our California lifestyle and providing for our individual educational goals and extracurricular pursuits.

On a less enthusiastic note, getting into the school of my dreams did not come cheap. Two cross-country trips (not to mention a third house-hunting trip) for interviews and campus visits as well as the Kaplan GMAT prep course proved to be very costly. On top of these expenses were the cost of the actual GMAT test, the undergraduate transcript request fees, and the application fees for each school. And, of course, there's that mountain of books I've mentioned, the two math classes, and the microeconomics class I took, as well as the transportation costs I incurred by getting to all of those classes! I haven't kept a running total of my costs, but a figure somewhere just south of $5K wouldn't surprise me.

Looking back, I think my willingness to reapply to Wharton and to incur the expenses that go along with applying to and preparing for business school is reflective of my very strong motivation and my commitment to the goals that I set for myself at the outset. Sure, it has been expensive, but as I recall the elation I felt in March when I received my acceptance call from Wharton, I'm convinced that it's been worth every penny.

As I conclude this entry, a sea of packing boxes and bubble-wrap surrounds me. Tomorrow is my birthday, and I'll spend it in a worthwhile manner -- packing a moving truck! In two days my friend Mike and I will be embarking on a week-long trip East (Caryn is flying out a week later), and if all goes well, I'll start Wharton's pre-term program on Aug. 3rd.

*Here is a short list of "must reads" that I would recommend (amazon.com stocks all of them -- search by title or author):

How to Get into the Top MBA Programs; Richard Montauk

Business Week's Guide to the Best Business Schools (5th Ed.); John A. Byrne

Marketing Yourself to the Top Business Schools; Phil & Carol Carpenter

Essays That Worked for Business Schools: 35 Essays from Successful Applications to the Nation's Top Business Schools, Boykin Curry; Brian Kasbar