A colleague had a similar dilemma with one of his clients who already received admission from a school, but has not yet heard from his top choice and wanted to know what to do.  His client was under the impression that contacting the committee would hurt his chances of admission.

Most schools will in fact, expedite interviews or decisions upon request for appropriate reasons (a deposit deadline due is one such example).  The request will not hurt your chance of admission.  If the admissions committee wants to interview you or admit you, they will.  If they expedite the decision upon your request and decide not to admit you, often they will inform you of that decision as a courtesy to you to let you make appropriate decisions regarding the school.  Despite rumors to the contrary, in the 19 years I spent in admissions, I have never heard of any admissions director suggest a candidate attend another school because the candidate asked for an early decision.  Schools may refuse a request for an early decision because they don’t have the resources or processes to review your application.  They will not deny your application because another school admitted you.  If they want you, they will go after you.

As an admissions dean and director, I wanted every candidate to have a good experience with our admissions process regardless of our decision and most of my former colleagues feel the same.  It was the right thing to do and good for our organization’s reputation.

If you need consulting regarding these critical decisions or assistance in editing your emails to an admissions committee, Accepted.com consultants and editors are available to help you make good decisions.

By Natalie Grinblatt Epstein, an accomplished Accepted.com consultant/editor, and is also a former MBA Admissions Dean and Director at Ross, Johnson, and Carey.

MBA Ebooks:

• Best Practices for MBA Admissions
• MBA BlastOff: 45 Terrific Tips to Launch Your MBA Application to Acceptance
• The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission
• The Finance Professional’s Guide to MBA Admissions Success
• The Techie’s Guide to MBA Admissions
• MBA I.V.: Mainline to Top MBA Programs
• The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist
• Create a Better Sequel: How to Reapply Right to Business School

Medical School Ebooks

• Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips to Help You Get Accepted
• The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on a Med School Waitlist
• Write Your Way to Medical School
  
• Write Your Way to a Residency Match
• Write Your Way to a Fellowship Match

Law School Ebooks

• Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips to Help You Get Accepted
• The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on a Law School Waitlist

Grad & College Ebooks

• Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips to Help You Get Accepted
• How to Write Great College Application Essays and Stay Sane

All these informative resources are instantly downloadable so you face no shipping charges.  And again they are 50% off through Monday, May 11. Don’t wait; it’s full price again on Tuesday.

• Duke’s Fuqua School of Business will offer a master’s program aimed at recent graduates with little or no work experience starting in August 2009. The program will provide a Masters in Management Studies (”MMS”) and consist of 12 business courses taught over four six-week terms or nine months.  Participants can have a bachelors, masters, or doctoral degree, but little or no formal business education. It is in direct competition with London Business School’s Masters in Management program.
• Natalie Grinblatt Epstein and I took questions from waitlisted applicants during a lively MBA waitlist chat last week. The first topic : The ABC’s of Getting Accepted from the Waitlist. For the whole alphabet, see the transcript.
• Thank you. Thank you. We have crossed the 1000 vote threshhold in Start-Up Nation’s Leading Moms in Business contest. You can still vote, and please do. The contest ends March 31, and I have no idea if we are among the winners.
• We will announce the judges for the Beautiful B-School Photo Contest next week. Whether you visited a school earlier, are attending an admit weekend in the next few weeks, or just got invited to interview, please submit your pics. You could win a $200 Amazon gift certificate.
• If you are on a law school waitlist, buy The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on a Law School Waitlist and save 20% through March 31, 2009. That’s Tuesday.
• London Business School’s MBA/MiF chat transcript is now online.
• 2009 Cornell Johnson MBA Waitlist Chat transcript is now online.

• HBS will extend offers of admission to about 40 round-one waitlisters shortly after April 2.
• HBS will release all round-two admissions decisions on April 2 and will not make congratulatory calls before that date.
• Many, but not all, round 3 interview invitations will go out on April 3.

Maverick refers to a “waitlist appointment” in his post.  If you are lucky enough to be waitlisted at a school that provides feedback to waitlisted applicants, then by all means follow the advice he gives. Review your application for weaknesses, discuss how you can address them during your appointment, and follow the meeting with appropriate action.

However, many if not most, top schools do not provide such feedback.  They rely on you to do your own self-assessment and act on it.  In that case:

1. Follow the instructions provided by the school.
2. Review adcom blogs and chat transcripts for additional tips for waitlisted applicants. Accepted has 25 chat transcripts devoted to MBA waitlist topics going back to 2000, including several so far this year. In addition, you may find tips for waitlisted applicants in recent general MBA admissions transcripts.
3. If you believe there is a weakness in your application, let the school know what you have done to improve in that area. . Have you raised your GMAT score? Have you taken a class in math or writing to prepare for b-school and address a weakness? Have you taken a leadership position in community service, which you had neglected since college?
4. Inform the school of recent positive developments like a promotion, new project, published article, community service initiative or success, etc. The schools want to admit dynamic, growing individuals.
5. Show fit and interest — provided the school is interested in hearing from you.
6. Be considerate of the adcom’s time. Send in relevant, meaningful, and succinct information. You are not paid by the word to write, and they aren’t paid by the word to read. If you send in reams of garbage — a cross between spam and junk mail — you will earn yourself a ding.

We are hosting several chats devoted to the MBA waitlist in the next several weeks:

• Accepted’s MBA waitlist chat is this Thursday March 19 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT. Natalie Grinblatt Epstein will join me in responding to questions. Natalie served previously as Director of Admissions at Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, and Arizona State’s W. P. Carey School of Business.
• Cornell MBA Waitlist Chat with Randall Sawyer on March 25, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT.
• Michigan Ross MBA Waitlist Chat with Soojin Kwon Koh on March 30, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT .
• MIT Sloan MBA Waitlist Chat with Jennifer Burke Barba on April 7 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT.

Please feel free to join us on Thursday if you are on an MBA waitlist and for the school-specific chats if you are waitlisted at any of these programs.

You can obtain more detailed advice in The Nine Mistakes You Don`t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist, our bestselling ebook ever. And of course, Accepted’s experienced staff is available to help you one-on-one with your MBA waitlist strategy and correspondence.

• Late Season Special. Accepted’s own modest contribution to the Porkulus, I mean Stimulus, Plan: $100 off all orders over $1,000. Use coupon code SAVE100 during checkout to get the discount. Ends March 12.
• Beautiful B-School Photo Contest Let the artist in you emerge through the lens of your digital camera. share your pictures from your b-school visits. And enter our contest to win prizes worth up to $250 in value. Check out last year’s winning photos and the rules for this year’s contest.
• UNC Kenan-Flagler Chat with Sherry Wallace Ask questions about this year’s admissions at UNC, applying third round, or your waitlist status. Sherry and her team will have the answers.
• Save the date: Accepted’s first 2010 MBA admissions telethon is scheduled for March 4, 2009 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM PT/4:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM GMT. Details and registration info to follow.

And ongoing: It’s a 10! MBA Interview Feedback contest and our featured ebook of the month: The Nine Mistakes You Don`t Want to Make on a Med School Waitlist

What was the “It” that NK found so helpful? The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist.

Just a quick reminder that this succinct ebook, our most popular ebook actually, is 20% off until Jan. 31. Full of tips on waitlist strategy, waitlist letter content, timing, and other common MBA waitlist questions, it is instantly downloadable and available within seconds of purchase.

On Thursday, January 22, 2008 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT, Soojin Kwon Koh, Director of Admissions at Michigan’s Ross School of Business will respond to your questions about Michigan Ross’s waitlist policies and procedures. If you are on Michigan Ross’s waitlist, come to the chat and find out what you can do improve your chances of admission.

The chat will take place in the Accepted chat room.

What if you’re waitlisted an another MBA program? Here are a few resources for you:

• MBA waitlist advising and editing.
• The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist.
• Waitlist Chat Transcripts
• MBA Waitlist Tips

The exchange inspired me to post a brief excerpt from my ebook, The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist:

Mistake #1: Ignore the instructions you receive from the school.

The letter politely indicates that your below-average GMAT score and GPA are a cause of concern. And you do nothing. Or the letter suggests that you take calculus. And you go skiing. Or the letter says that they don’t want to hear from you. And you call once a week. Or the letter tells you to contact your waitlist manager, and you call your girlfriend.

You might as well send a telegraph to the school saying, “I do not follow instructions.”

How impressive is that?

Right Move: Follow the directions contained in the correspondence telling you that you are waitlisted. If the school says “Jump!” you should ask, “How high?”

School instructions regarding deficiencies are pure gold! They tell you what you need to work on both for your waitlist effort and a possible reapplication. For more details on what exactly you can do, please see Mistake #6. For now, just know that constructively responding to school feedback shows the school you are improving your areas of weakness and are serious about the school.

The Nine Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist is Accepted’s featured ebook for January, and it is also Accepted’s most popular ebook ever. Save 20% when you buy it in January.