MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Must Have Gotten It Wrong!
January 24th, 2010
mbaMission hosts a weekly blog series, “Admissions Myths Destroyed,” for our friends at Beat the GMAT. Check out the BTG site for fresh material and ours for “reprints.” The following piece was penned by mbaMission Founder, Jeremy Shinewald:
You have a 720 and a 3.75 GPA. You have solid career progress and glowing recommendations. You have been actively volunteering in your community for years. You worked hard on your application and got your interviews, where you felt you did well. And…. You did not get in. So, you must have done something terribly wrong in your interview, right? You must have unwittingly made a mess of your essays, right? Your profile is strong so your execution is off, right? Not necessarily.
Recently, I visited with the admissions director at a top MBA program, who explained that his school does not give feedback to rejected candidates because it is simply a waste of the candidate and admissions staff’s time. Off the record, the admissions director told us that the school would need to nitpick in order to give candidates something to work on and to ensure that they filled the time during these feedback sessions. He explained that nine times out of ten, the feedback that they offered to weaker candidates was patently obvious and that countless strong applicants had done nothing wrong at all. In fact, most candidates had created their best applications, but there were only so many places in the class and they just lost a numbers game.
So, while this may not be comforting, if you have been rejected, you may just have been the victim of a competitive process during a competitive year. We suggest that you honestly assess your own candidacy and consider staying the course as you continue applying. Spending significant time revamping your applications may be a waste of time and a losing strategy. Patience may prove beneficial in the long term.
Posted in Admissions Myths Destroyed
