I'm very excited.

Tomorrow morning,  bright and early, I board a plane for Chicago to attend the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants' (AIGAC) first annual conference.

Almost exactly two years ago, Ricardo Betti of MBA Empresarial, Maxx Duffy of Maxx Associates, Graham Richmond of Clear Admit, and I participated in a panel hosted by  GMAC at its annual conference in San Francisco. Our purpose in presenting the panel: educate admissions directors about the admissions consulting field. They in turn gave us valuable feedback and as a result we decided to form AIGAC. And that's the short version. It was only two years ago.

Today, AIGAC has more than 50 members; an active, talented board of seven; and a terrific conference planned with 24 admissions professionals (including six Accepted editors), all as excited as I am to participate.

With this conference, AIGAC is striding forward to its goal: setting the standard for professional excellence in the graduate admissions consulting field. It will provide professional development training for attendees, networking within an industry that has been notoriously dispersed and fragmented, and opportunity for dialogue with complementary organizations like test prep companies and top schools.  In fact, the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management have graciously agreed to host tours for conference participants. We are turning a collective vision into reality.

I recently read Getting Things Done by David Allen (excellent BTW). He quotes a saying on a church in Sussex, England, "A vision without a task is but a dream, a task without a vision is drudgery, a vision and a task [are] the hope of the world."

As  AIGAC's first and current president, I am proud of the role I have played in co-founding AIGAC and leading it to this point.  We have a vision, and it's not merely a dream.  We have many, many tasks, but they aren't drudgery (usually) because of our vision. "Hope of the world" is a little too much hyperbole for me, but certainly the combination of vision and action is the secret ingredient to AIGAC's past growth, present standing, and future achievement.

I thank the co-founders, the other board members (Stacy Blackman, Anna Ivey, and Jeremy Shinewald), and AIGAC's members for their support of our shared vision, and for their willingness to perform the tasks, provide the input, and join in a commitment to excellence in graduate admissions.