Even just applying to go to business school takes on a lifestyle of its own.

You spend hours in introspection, worrying about what to write, how to write and whether it will value add to your application. You wonder about the best way to present the facts, exaggarating the good and polishing the bad. You construct sentences that are concise but laden with your best information. Write - read - rewrite - read - rewrite. On and on the process goes.

In the process you learn about yourself. You approach information more critically. Things are measured and evaluated. You talk to people with the intent of learning more about yourself, about what makes you tick.

You begin to feel guilty when time that could have been spent improving your essays was spent on something else.

And this doesn't even cover what the GMAT does to you.