Submitted LBS, Tuck and Kellogg

It is Friday evening. I am at the Raleigh – Durham airport after completing my interview with Fuqua School of Business. Though my experience at Duke University is fresh in my mind, the whole week was very busy - 3 applications and 1 interview. WOW!
Last Sunday I looked at the available dates for Fuqua interview and did not find any during the week of Oct 25 such that I could visit the school before the Round 1 deadline (Oct 27) and after the busy week. But unlucky me! The only dates available before the round 1 deadline were Oct 16 and 17. I choose Oct 17 and also booked my flight hotel and car.
On Oct 14 I submitted my LBS app. I worked on it only for 5 days. It all happened very fast. When I was contemplating if I should apply to LBS in round 1, I contacted a LBS alum and had a chat. He validated my career goals and my fit with LBS. He also offered to review my essays. I prepared the essays in 4 days, he reviewed it one day and finally submitted my app on Oct 14 before noon. But one of my recommender turned in his reference little late. Now I do not know if my app would be considered for Round 1. The LBS app provided lots of room to explain work experiences and extra-curricular activities but no place to explain community services.
On Oct 15 it was Tuck. I finalized my Tuck essays just after my Tuck interview. But I made some last minute changes based on the feedback I received for LBS essays. The major challenge was filling up Tuck application. The app provided only 300 characters for describing each work experience. My Wharton and LBS description were slightly longer. So I had to spend time to trim the descriptions. Finally I made it my Wednesday 2 pm. My recommenders also made it on time.
On Oct 16th I planned to submit Kellogg, a day before the deadline so that I can spend the 17th at Durham. The Kellogg essays needed some tweaking. The part II app was easy. I just had to upload the essays and transcript. The Kellogg app has instruction to include 1 inch margin on the top for all uploaded documents . I had to format my scanned transcripts to include the margin. Finally I made it by 5.30 pm, which left me with only 1 hour to prepare for my Fuqua interview. Kellogg app did not have any space for extracurricular and community activity. Everything has to be covered in the essays. This year Kellogg has the lengthiest essays (3 two-page essays and 2 two-paragraph essays), which is roughly 3000 words (3*750 + 2*300)
A good thing to do before working on the essays is to complete the application so that we know what is already conveyed in the app and cover the rest of the story in the essays.
Note: I will write about Fuqua visit and interview in my next post