MBA diary: California dreamin': Applying to business school can take over your whole life, says Temi Olatunde.

“THIS should be straightforward, ” I thought, after deciding to apply for an MBA. With a degree from a renowned British university and several years’ work experience in a leading investment bank, I believed I knew how to get into a top MBA programme. You’ve probably already guessed that securing a place at business school proved to be more testing than I anticipated. Selecting my target schools was not an issue. I wanted to look beyond the smoke and mirrors of GMAT averages, salary stats, career placement profiles, student satisfaction surveys and rankings. I honed in on the schools which would take me out of my comfort zone. I was drawn to Stanford Graduate School of Business. Its programme was rigorous and its Silicon Valley location appealing. But most importantly it was also flexible, allowing me the latitude to craft my academic experience.

The first challenge was juggling the twin demands of my banking job—where I’d just changed roles—and GMAT preparation. I became GMAT-obsessed, poring over Stanford’s stats and playing the odds game in my head. But two weeks’ immersion, with no semblance of a social life, was enough to get me over this initial hurdle while retaining my sanity.

December was tough. My Christmas holiday in Cape Town was hijacked by the application process. Even obtaining recommendations—which I had anticipated would be one of the easier parts—posed a challenge, as I struggled to persuade my closest mentors of the value of an MBA. Equity-derivatives trading, it seems, is not a normal background for an MBA aspirant. Then the pressure of impending deadlines and incomplete essays intensified. The hallmark Stanford question “What matters most to you and why? ”, which is often cited as the most difficult of all business school application essays, plagued my every waking hour. I worked to craft a compelling essay that both told my unique story and reinforced my “personal brand”. Knowing the answer was not enough, it had to be woven seamlessly into my overall application.

Panic set in the night before the second-round deadline. My stomach churned as I read the feedback from an alumnus who advised that I delay submission to the third-round. In his opinion I was not ready. Faced with the stiff odds, though, I was not willing to risk a delay, and so I braced myself for a long night ahead. At 5.45am I had no choice but to click the submit button. The final click was the hardest. Commonly reported feelings of relief or elation were absent. Instead, as I walked for my 6.00am train to the City, my mind frantically devised plans to recall the application.

I remember decision day vividly. I spent most of it online on MBA blogs, forums and websites. Then the tales of acceptance calls started to come through. They followed the sun: Asia first, extending westward through the afternoon and evening. Needless to say, when my phone rang, that single call compensated for the sleepless nights, countless essay revisions and nail-biting wait.

Temi Olatunde will be writing regular dispatches from the Stanford campus when the academic year starts in September.