Introduction
Hello everyone!
My name is I-Jou (Tandy) Wu. You can just call me Tandy because the English pronunciation of my Chinese name is TERRIBLE. I came from Taiwan, the beautiful island which is full of friendly people, extremely delicious food (Oh, I miss them so much!) and motorcycles! In Taiwan, the weather is like spring all year round. Therefore, winter in Ohio must be a big challenge for me!
I am fated to be a buckeye. My application process is a long story, but I would be more than happy to share my adventure with all of you who are interested in Fisher. In 2008, I decided to apply for MBA program and I joined QS world MBA tour held in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan). I still remember it was Nov. 17th, and I asked for one day off the office, struggling to meet the deadline submitting the essays. Fisher also had a booth in the fair; the Executive Director of Graduate Programs Office (GPO), Mr. David Smith was standing there and sharing his invaluable suggestions with all prospective students. As for my application package, I realized that there were some barriers for me to be admitted by Fisher compared with other applicants. Therefore, I decided to talk to David directly and resolutely demonstrated that I will certainly be a great asset of Fisher. Later, I had a brief interview with David—it was an excellent opportunity to prove my talent and passion to be success in MBA program and future career. In the end of the interview, David asked me, “If I invited you to visit Fisher and have an interview with the Admissions Committee, would you have confidence to present yourself very well just the same as the person sit in front of me?”
“Of course! ” I promised.
In one of the following emails between David and me, he said, “I felt like I got to know you better, and understand your interest and motivation for your degree and our program. Please do keep in touch, and let's see what we can to do make Fisher a part of what is sure to be your bright future, filled with much success.” You can see that I already applied the job search skills learned from MBA when I applied for business school!
Few months later after submitting my application package and did nothing but waiting, I decided to have a three days vacation to Hong Kong during Chinese New Year. At the time when I was crazy shopping (to release some stress… ha ha ), I surprisingly got an email from Ms. Emily Davis from GPO invited me to attend Fisher Debut Weekend scheduled for February 20th and 21st. In addition, I will have an on-campus interview right before the event started!
Without any hesitation, I RSVP for the debut and rushed to apply for the B1 visa, buy airline tickets and most importantly, prepare for the upcoming interview. I cannot demonstrate how hard it was for me to ask for few days off the office to travel to USA since my project was so busy. I made a lot of effort negotiating with my supervisor and fortunately, I got his kind permission. I fly for 23 hours to Columbus, had my interview and joined the Fisher Debut.
It was a day to remember--- the most enjoyable memory was not only the face to face interview but all the people I met in the event, the OSU culture and the case discussion experience with Professor Jay Dial. We had a tour of Fisher, RPAC (Recreation & Physical Activity Center) and Fisher Commons. We even had a bountiful feast at Lindey’s in German Village! I met many new friends in the Debut—and most of them are currently my lovely classmates. I strongly recommend prospective students to have an on-campus interview. You will not know what you really want unless you see the business school in person! After digging into all things in OSU for only two days, I backed Taiwan totally refreshed. How eager was I wished get the admission!!
On March 6th, 2009, I got the admission from Fisher. I almost cried with happiness when I saw the exciting message
http://connect2.askadmissions.net/fisher_osu/UserMedia/flash/FlashMBA.html
I could not believe I really did it!
I understand that for some applicants, their experience of applying for B-schools may not be as difficult as mine. I cannot forget how struggling and confused I was throughout the application season, and I totally appreciated for all the kind support I gained from GPO, the alumni (especially Wen-Yen Jiang, who is now a Chief Planner of his own consulting company in Taiwan) my current classmates, my colleagues and most importantly, my family.
I truly hope to post some pictures that I took when I had my on-campus interview; however, I left all the pictures in Taiwan (I will try to ask my brother to email them to me!). As a result, let me share one picture of the O-H-I-O sign when I joined the ASIA MBA Conference held in New York. I am so proud of myself being a buckeye!
Go bucks!!!
Cheers,
Tandy