UCLA Anderson: Waitlist Guidelines for Round 2

Anderson School of Business(UCLA), on its blog, laid out the guidelines sent out to all waitlist candidates from Round 2 (including those who remain on the list from Round 1).

"We will retain your name on the waitlist for consideration at the end of Round 3 unless you request your application be withdrawn. If you would like to withdraw, please e-mail wlmgr@anderson.ucla.edu, using the subject header: “Waitlist Remove.” If you would, please include your reasons for withdrawing in your message", informed Mae Jennifer Shores, the admissions director at Anderson School of Business(UCLA).

Stated UCLA Waitlist Guidelines are as below:

• " * All waitlist candidates who do not ask to be removed from the list will be reconsidered for admission in Round 3 and notified of the Admissions Committee decision by 6pm Pacific Time of the Round 3 decision release date of June 4, 2009. Decisions include: admit, waitlist continue and deny.
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• * In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application, except for new GMAT test scores or final grades for academic coursework completed since the time of application. (Please note: decisions are made across multiple criteria and submission of additional materials beyond test or academic scores would not alter the original admissions decision.)
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• * In the same spirit of fairness and equity, we are unable to offer applicants who have already had an interview another one. Waitlist candidates who have not already been interviewed may be invited for one at a future date.
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• * There is no individual person in the office assigned to manage the waitlist. All waitlist decisions are handled by the Admissions Committee.
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• * Feedback is not offered to waitlist candidates.
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• * There is no rank order to the waitlist.
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• * The chances of being admitted off the waitlist are difficult to predict since much depends on the strength of the pool in subsequent rounds. Historically, the admit rate varies from year to year and has little correlation with the number of candidates placed on the waitlist. "

Wharton: Waitlist Procedures for Round 2

Wharton MBA Admissions Committee in its blog post informed its waitlisted candidates about Wharton's waitlist procedures.

According to Wharton's MBA Admissions Office:

• * "We will retain your name on the waitlist for consideration at the end of the next round unless you request your application be withdrawn. If you would like to withdraw, please e-mail mba.admissions@wharton.upenn.edu, using the subject header: "Waitlist Remove."
• * All waitlist candidates who do not ask to be removed from the list will be reconsidered for admission on an ongoing basis with decisions being released every Monday beginning Monday 6 April, 2009 and ending no later than Monday 27 July, 2009. Decisions include: admit waitlist, and deny waitlist. No change in your letter means you are still on the waitlist.
• * In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application. In this same spirit, we do not offer another interview.
• * There is no point person in the office for the waitlist. All waitlist decisions are handled by the Admissions Committee.
• * Feedback to candidates is not offered to candidates while they are on the waitlist.
• * There is no rank order to the waitlist.
• * The chances of being admitted off the waitlist are hard to predict since much depends on the strength of the pool in subsequent rounds. Historically, the admit rate has varied from year to year and has very little correlation with the number of candidates placed on the waitlist."

Link: Advice for Waitlisted Candidates

Chicago Booth MBA Waitlist

Rose Martinelli, director of admissions and financial aid at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, gave the impression of Chicago Booth waitlist, in the post on her blog. She said that Chicago Booth uses the waitlist to gauge the flow of decisions, view the next round's applicant pool and size the class appropriately.

"While we have a great deal of history in understanding patterns for students accepting our offers of admission, we feel that with the current economic challenges that those trends may not hold true this year. The waitlist is a very good place to be -- and we believe you are a good fit/match for Booth. So this process is not about gauging your interest in Chicago Booth. I would encourage each of you who have been waitlisted to follow our instructions. Feel free to send us updates as you deem appropriate and send them to our general admissions address: admissions@chicagobooth.edu. Remember to send these updates in the body of an e-mail (no attachments, please) and put "waitlist update, your name" in the subject line," said Rose.

She informed that the school will not begin reviewing the waitlist again until the end of April. "While we cannot offer feedback to waitlist candidates (we just don't have the resources), I would encourage you to review your own application to see if there are areas that you would like to supplement. The choice of sending materials is completely up to you, but do use your judgment as to amount, frequency of contact, etc," advised Rose

"Deny after Interview: These are some of the hardest decisions that we have to make each year. Everyone we invite to interview is extremely talented -- that's a given. However, each year we have more great applicants that apply than we have room to admit. It's a pure supply and demand problem. If any of you are interested in reapplying in the future, we will be hosting re-application chats over the summer months. Stay tuned for more information", she said.

Link: Round 2 -- Waiting on the waitist

The Wharton MBA Waitlist

Wharton MBA Admissions Committee in its blog post advised and informed its waitlisted candidates about Wharton's waitlist policies.

The committee said,"While we can appreciate how challenging it can be to be waitlisted, please keep in mind that being waitlisted should serve as an affirmation of your accomplishment and achievement in a competitive applicant pool! We thank you for your interest, and ask that you please adhere to our waitlist policies."

They informed," At Wharton, there is no need to:

• * spend countless hours developing creative ways to keep in touch and “win us over.”
• * expend additional time and resources submitting additional recommendations and other materials. These are unlikely to change your eventual decision, which is made across multiple criteria.
• * or fear that those who lobby lavishly and loudest will receive preference.

All waitlist candidates are given equal consideration – equity and fairness rule the day."

Below is the copy of email sent to all Round 1 waitlist candidates.

______________________________________________________________________

Dear Waitlist Candidate:

As a waitlist candidate, you may have some questions about the admissions process going forward. Below is some information about waitlist procedures that will be helpful to you: We will retain your name on the waitlist for consideration at the end of the next round unless you request your application be withdrawn. If you would like to withdraw, please e-mail mba.admissions at wharton.upenn.edu, using the subject header: “Waitlist Remove.”

All waitlist candidates who do not ask to be removed from the list will be reconsidered for admission in Round 3 and notified of the Admissions Committee decision by 5pm Eastern Standard Time (EST) of the Round 3 decision release date of Thursday, May 14, 2009.

Decisions include: admit waitlist, waitlist continue, and deny waitlist. In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application. In this same spirit, we do not offer another interview.

There is no point person in the office for the waitlist. All waitlist decisions are handled by the Admissions Committee.

Feedback to candidates is not offered to candidates while they are on the waitlist.

There is no rank order to the waitlist.

The chances of being admitted off the waitlist are not predictable since much depends on the strength of the pool in subsequent rounds. Historically, the admit rate has varied from year to year and has very little correlation with the number of candidates placed on the waitlist.

Thank you in advance for honoring these guidelines.

We sincerely appreciate your interest in the Wharton School.
______________________________________________________________________
According to the post the dates will change following School's Round 2 decision release

Link: The Wharton MBA Waitlist: A Time for Inactivity & Repose

Tuck School of Business: Informs about its Waitlist Procedure

Karen Marks, Tuck associate director of admissions informed on Tuck admissions blog that this friday, on February 6th, Tuck will release November Round decisions.

She further explained How Tuck decides to waitlist someone. She said, "Candidates are placed on the waitlist for a variety of reasons. Sometimes we need more information about an applicant, but see many positive qualities and are interested enough to seek additional data. Sometimes we have questions about English or quantitative proficiency, so we will encourage the candidate to retake their GMAT or Toefl or to complete additional coursework. In other cases there are no particular areas of concern but we are unable to offer admission at that point in our cycle."

"So, how do you know which category you fall into? Consistent with our admissions philosophy, we are happy to communicate with you about ways to strengthen your candidacy. Once waitlisted you will be given the option of withdrawing or staying on the waitlist. If you decide to remain on the roster you will be contacted individually by an admissions officer. One of us (your designated contact) will then be available to discuss your application. However, it is important to make sure that you are communicating with us in a way that reflects well on you. It is great(in fact a good idea) to tell us that you are still very interested in Tuck, and to discuss ways to improve your profile.", said Marks

Answering the big question," how do you know if you have a reasonable chance of admission? Unfortunately, there is no reliable way for us to help you assess your chances. Historically, we have admitted people from the waitlist every year - but the number varies, as does the profile of those admitted off the waitlist.", said Marks.

Read in detail: http://tuckschool.blogspot.com/2009/02/waitlist.html

Waitlist - Best Practices

Can you grovel your way off of a business school wait list?...well the video below answers the same:

If you have been put on waitlist then this does not imply that you have been rejected. It is neither yes nor no but may be situation for you. It basically means that you fulfill the criterion that the school is looking for, but still there are some other factors because of which you may have not been admitted. In short the admission committee is not fully convinced about giving you admit in their school, but yes is willing to give you a chance.

Every school has its own differing attitudes on the wait-list policy. For example Harvard does not use the wait-list to reevaluate credentials and Wharton has "no additional materials" wait-list policy. However, few B-schools do invite additional information from wait-listed applicants such as new GMAT scores or a promotion at work. Some schools even provide the feedback on weaknesses and gaps in the waitlisted candidate’s applications. If you have been wait-listed by the latter category of school make sure that you do not ignore the instructions provided to you by the same. For example if in its feedback the school says that you have low GMAT score then they expect you to give the GMAT again and improve your score. If you have been put on wait-list by more than one school, then in such a case you should re-examine your application. Consider applying to other schools that may have a different take on your application.

The competition for getting to a b-school is very intense these days as the number of applicants are growing each year. For example MIT Sloan waitlisted about 150 applicants which is 5% of the total application pool—50 of whom were ultimately admitted, according to data the school provided to BusinessWeek.com. Quoting from BusinessWeek.com: "At B-schools such as Darden that have multiple deadlines, being put on the waitlist is often more like a deferral—waitlisted candidates from Round 1 are considered along with the rest of the applicant pool from the next deadline, becoming, in effect, Round 2 applicants. Schools with rolling admissions may waitlist more people early on in the process until the admissions office has a better handle on what the entire applicant pool for the year will look like". Wharton evaluates R1 waitlist with R2. In case you are a strong candidate when compared to the R2 pool then you would get an admit. So basically some schools may use wait-list policy as a yield management tool, while others may consider it as a we may consider you list.

Treat the wait-list as an opportunity since it is not a “no”. There are large numbers of applicants who are admitted off of the waitlist in most schools. Schools have varying policies, but in most cases, submitting a higher GMAT score, a letter updating them on your progress, visiting the school campus etc can really help getting in. It’s important that you convey to the school that you remain interested and would attend if admitted.

"The 9 Mistakes you do not want to do when on an MBA Waitlist"- Linda Abraham founder and president of Accepted.com

1. Ignore the school instructions on how to improve your profile.
2. be modest about your recent achievements.
3. Hide your genuine interest in the school
4. Don't seek expressions of support (read:unsolicited recommendation letters)
5. Plan a one-time deluge of correspondence
6. Fail to re-assess your profile and/or act on re-assessment
7. My favorite sin: Complain to the Ad COM about the agony of being waitlisted
8. Accentuate Ad Com's attention on weaknesses of your profile or apologize profusely for the mistakes in your application
9. Play schools off against each other

Some good links you should visit:
Business week's survey of top b-school waitlist practices: How to survive the waitlist
MBA Podcastor: Getting off the Waitlist: How to Improve Your Chances of Getting Accepted
Accepted.com: Waitlisted