And the winner is...

well, me, of course!!!! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist (I've had a long hard day at work, you'll have to excuse the pitiful attempt at humour).

After a lot of soul-searching, whining to everyone who wanted to listen to it and looking at it from every angle, I've made a decision about which school to attend. And the winner is: .....[drumroll please] .............. LBS !!! Which means I'll cancel the Wharton waitlist spot.

Like any professional jury-member will tell you 'It wasn't an easy decision', and it really wasn't. I felt that even though I was on the waitlist, and the chances were that I wasn't going to be faced with the decision, I thought it'd be wise to decide before the decision comes out on the 19th (especially since the Wharton admit would mean a lot of extra paperwork). So I ran it over and over in my head. And drove myself and others nuts. 'Til I decided to just stop and think why I want this MBA in the first place. I wanted a good business education from a 2-year MBA (I'm a career changer so I need all the opportunity I can get to help me change), in a great city, in an international environment, with lots of opportunity to get involved in extracurricular activities, and a great alumni network in Europe. All of this so I could change careers into a management role in the arts sector in Europe, preferably in the UK. So this still doesn't exclude Wharton from the picture... but it did put LBS at a distinct advantage. I remember reading my first LBS brochures back to back 2 years ago and all I could think of was 'I want to be there'... Add to that my love of many things London and British and there you have it. LBS it is! And I am so so excited, I can hardly wait!!!! [ note from editor: I am still going on an exchange and Wharton definitely tops that list....:-)]

To all those still thinking about choosing between different schools, I can only offer you this small piece of advice: follow your heart. It'll tell you what to do. And remember: this is not a life and death choice. It's important, but what's more important is what you put into it, and intend to take away from your MBA. OK, enough riding on this high horse of morality, off to bed for me now.