Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants : MBA Archive

CerealsMBA

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

17 Jan 2008, 09:05

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Here is the transcript, for those of you who missed it...

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rhyme

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

17 Jan 2008, 18:45

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ryguy904 wrote:

So I read the transcript and if I understand correctly, GSB interviews ~50% of the applicants??? How far do they get through the app before making that decision? Then do they only take about 1/4 of those that they interview?

It seems that they talk about "crafting" the class based on diversity. Is that because they cannot ask for (i.e. require) ethnicity in the app, but they make notes when they get back from the interview....Perhaps I'm just a paranoid white boy.

Cheers

To your first q: Correct, its roughly 50% interview rate. They read the entire app. Here's how it works: A student reads your app first and makes a recommendation to interview or not. Then a staff member reads it. If they both agree, then you get an invite. If they disagree, then a third staff member reads it, and acts as the tie breaker. After the interview process, I don't know how precisely it works, but its basically a roundtable discussion at that stage. As for what percentage of people who interview get offers, no one knows (and I'd suggest you not bother trying to guess cause itll just drive you nuts). As to the rest of your q: You are a paranoid white boy. When they say "Craft" they don't mean "1 black guy for every 3 whiteys", they mean making sure the class is diverse - on every dimension -- (even academic, actually, which I was surprised to hear) - they want people from varied backgrounds, industries, different hobbies, interests, goals, experiences, skills, weakness, strengths, etc. It is not a race/ethinicity decision.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

25 Jan 2008, 09:32

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nervousgmat wrote:

Obviously, I would want to be the one executing the idea in the future, and I would hate to see someone else implementing a similar idea first.

That is definitely true if your idea is driven by your own desires of success and fame. If the idea is really driven by pressing need, then "as soon as possible" implementation would be priority.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

27 Jan 2008, 16:28

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Nick

In Brazil at least we do have "official translators", they are the ones who are accepted in theses cases, and they are authorized by both governments to translate things. I'm not sure how things run in Russia. Call GSB ad office and ask them whether you need to send the transcript, and if they have any translator to indicate in Russia.

You should see that, because all other schools are going to need your transcripts translated by those translators, so...

I know I'm not helping too much, but that's it, and Oh I forgot to add hat up to the whole MBA Cha Ching thread... doing that later, when I find the receipt...

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

28 Jan 2008, 06:25

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2 more days....

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

28 Jan 2008, 17:09

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rhyme,
will holler at u tonight just to confirm...
ok.. had to mention a couple of things..

1. I met my arch nemesis (my GSB interviewer) in school.. the guy has turned loony.. long shaggy hair + french beard + unkempth clothes = drug induced parikrama (indian rock band) worshipping yuppie.. he really stood out in the crowd based on his slovenly appearance.. it looked weird seeing a hippie like that among all the "fit" students.

2. Ok, I met another indian student... the conversation was very awkward and he went on and on about his exploits in high-tech Silicon valley and how he is going to be in high-tech VC.. then did some kellogg bashing.. calling it a school filled with indians...the dude had no pride in being an indian himself (WTF??)and had the audacity to tell me that the lesser there are Indian GSB students, the better... till now, I have not met a single normal fun loving and Indian loving Indian GSB student.... what is wrong? am I just reading things wrong or rubbing off people in the wrong way...I sincerely hope that I am proven wrong and meet some really cool, down to earth Indian folks who will indulge me by inviting me to some home made biriyani and not pull out my ear wax with their work exploits..

3. heard many grumblings about the dismal scene in IB.. last year folks got 6-7 offers, this year its been only 2-3..the scene next year can be look worse.. but its just a hyopthetical scenario.. who knows..

4. met a few russian students.. one word.. RUSSIANS RULE.. coolest bunch of folks..they all say "privyet". ..down to earth... help each other and clueless folks like me... one guy ..even told me how to apply to IB, how the process works...+ the women are ravishing... :twisted:

R2 applications are up..wayy uppp.. there is going to be a lot of blood letting and gory competition.. so prepare for the best...

rhyme

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

29 Jan 2008, 17:38

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nupurgupt wrote:

Rhyme, you might be best able to answer my question.

I am curious that if I get an interview invite, being in the Chicago area, am I expected to go to campus for my interview?
(I have already visited the school for Chicago GSB live and also attended a class at Gleacher Center. )

I heard about Avi's interview experience and frankly that scared me, so just trying to figure out what my strategy should be.

Officially, there is no difference -- and I don't really think it would matter. However, I'd probably chose to interview on campus given the choice.

Three reasons:

1) I've heard that the admissions staff will be conducting some of the R2 interviews themselves. I don't know if thats still the case, but last time I talked to them it was (couple o weeks ago). Even if the odds are small that you'd get an adcom rather than a student -- I'd rather interview with a decision maker than with an alumni.

2) On campus, interviews are 30 minutes or so. With alumni, they can last an hour. Sometimes even an hour and a half. If things go kind of poorly at school, its 30 minutes of pain and you are done. If they go poorly with an alum, you might squirm for an hour or more.

3) If you are waitlisted, you can talk about your 2nd (or 3rd) visit to the school for the interviews in a love letter. Its a small detail, but it can't hurt.

In the end do whats most comfortable for you. I wouldn't take Avi's experience as indicative.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

Updated on: 30 Jan 2008, 09:01

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ncprasad - Submitted 01/09
adcxaway - Submitted 01/08 Invited to interview! WOOHOOO!
bherronp - Submitted 12/30
bsd_lover - Submitted 01/06
Dosa_don - Submitted 01/09
hsampath - Submitted 01/08
max125 - Submitted 01/08
mNeo - Submitted 01/09
nervousgmat - Submitted 12/31 Invited to interview
pandeyrav - Submitted 01/09
robinantony - Submitted 01/09
trojan812 - Submitted 01/07
tsaditya - Submitted 01/08
vchhaochharia - Submitted 12/25 Invited to interview
bkk145 - Submitted 01/09
KingKREEP - Submitted 01/09
helg - Submitted 01/09
CerealsMBA - Submitted 01/09 Invited to interview
gregspirited - Submitted 01/09
Audio - Submitted 01/09
ryguy904 - submitted 01/09
nick_sun - Submitted UNK
Poochandi - Submitted 01/09
vishalsuri
wallspotter - submitted -01/09
svrider - Submitted 01/09
saurabh357 - submitted 01/09
sudden - submitted 1/8
swedenr09 - submitted 1/9
ujjib - submitted 1/9
nyrberg - Submitted 01/09
Prodigy- Submitted 01/08
nupurgupt - Submitted 01/09

Originally posted by adcxaway on 30 Jan 2008, 09:00.
Last edited by adcxaway on 30 Jan 2008, 09:01, edited 1 time in total.

rhyme

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

30 Jan 2008, 15:42

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ryguy904 wrote:

nyrberg wrote:

I have a tough time believing adcoms when they say order of interviews don't matter. Intuition would certainly suggest that early interviewers must have stood out to get noticed so early on in the review process. Standing out in this case is obviously a positive sign. Please correct me if I am wrong.

No no no no!

Here's how things typically work in admissions at a school - GSB or not. Applicants come in. Often, they'll be segregated by last name or some other simple element. They are placed in bins, literally - plastic bins - and might be assigned as simply as "You do A - D". In other cases they might be assigned with some other purpose. For instance, if you come from an international school, generally, the person familiar with international schools (eg the one who knows what a second high honors is) will do a first read. At the GSB, its a bit different, the first read is from a student. It should already be clear that with such a process, its basically impossible for oder to be retained. Still not convinced? There's another key factor.

People are generally asked to read a certain number of apps per week - a target figure. That might be 20 apps a week for a student volunteer. It might be 150 for a full time dedicated person. It might be 50 for someone dedicated 50%. In cases of really high volume, they might even bring out some outside help to read things. ( I dont know if hte GSB does this, I know other schools do). The number of applications read each week by each person is going to differ. So you might be number 50 in a stack of 100 and get read in the first week, and you might be number 50 in a stack of 100 and get read in the second or third week! In other words , not only is the stack split in various different ways - but the same position in two stacks might even play out differently!

Making it more complex, the first read is by a student. The second is by an admissions individual. So now you've got to consider the "read rate" and deadlines of two different people. If you happen to get a fast student reader, even if you happen to be on the bottom of the pile and happen to get a fast 2nd reader -- you might be read very quickly. Conversely, you might get read by a part time student and a half-time adcom - in which case, you might take a long time!

Think of it like a deck of cards. They randomly split the deck, shuffle it, put it back together - not one - not twice - but three times or more. The order in which your app is read is basically random - and as a result, the order in which interviews come out is basically random too.

In other words, the order really, honestly, truly doesn't matter.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

30 Jan 2008, 16:13

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nyrberg wrote:

Rhyme, very insightful comments. Thank you for taking the time to explain the process as you definitely made me feel better. Ryguy, as for me relaxing, easier said than done

. I work in a breast cancer research lab and have absolutely no idea what to expect this application season. Mostly because no one I work with has ever considered an MBA, only PhDs. My background is totally non-traditional and I am not sure if Bschools are going to give me a chance. I have visited a few schools and while you learn a lot about each school's atmosphere, you really don't learn much about admissions. Thank god for GMAT Club otherwise I would totally be in the dark.

There are basically two types of people:

1) OH NO! I'M A BANKER. THERE ARE A MILLION OF ME, I'LL NEVER GET IN. I DON'T STAND OUT!

2) OH NO! IM NOT A BANKER! I'M SO UNTRADITIONAL, THEY'LL NEVER ADMIT ME!

Don't worry.... You can be as untraditional as you like! Heck, I even have an ex pastry chef in my class

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

Updated on: 30 Jan 2008, 20:42

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bsd_lover wrote:

I was a bit bored so I rearranged this. I have retained adcx's unbridled pangs of joy, which he felt after refreshing his browser for 42,318th time on the 30th of Jan. Note that almost all of these decisions were made for people who submitted before the 9th of Jan - pointing to the perhaps the practice of "first come, first processed" at Chicago.

unbridled pangs of joy? you make this sound like a mills & boon book.....

Originally posted by adcxaway on 30 Jan 2008, 18:41.
Last edited by adcxaway on 30 Jan 2008, 20:42, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

02 Feb 2008, 20:58

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Good luck nervous - knock them dead - lets ALL go to Chicago

nervousgmat

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

04 Feb 2008, 21:28

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Just finished writing my thank-you note to Chicago GSB's alumni. As promised, I am posting my debrief below.

I had an interview today at Starbucks, as I mentioned in my previous post. The place was noisy but not overbearingly loud - I could hear my interviewer just fine.

Overall, I think the interview went well. What I liked about my interviewer is that he told me upfront that he wasn't going to grill me or ask tricky questions. The whole point of the interview was to assess my fit and my goals through a normal conversation. I think the only behavioral type question he asked was "tell me about the situation when you found yourself in a disorganized team and how you handled that situation"

Other questions were somewhat typical and easy to answer:

tell me about the events in your life that led you to make this important decision in your life? (referring to applying to b-schools)
why getting an MBA is the right step in your career now?
what are you hoping to achieve after obtaining an MBA from Chicago GSB? What are your long-term objectives?
why do you think Chicago is the right school for you, given your goals?
what was the most challenging class in college and why?
a question about tutoring that i provide on the side, and last but not least:
what is UFC? Is it like martial arts? (my favorite question of the night

)

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

05 Feb 2008, 06:54

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helg wrote:

nervousgmat wrote:

Thanks for the nice report! Kudos!
Did you put UFC in the hobbies section of your resume? :-D

Yes I did! :-)

and thanks for the kudos!
Oh, I realized that I didn't say how long the interview went for: both of us were early for the interview (I like being ealry for those types of events to settle down and feel comfortable). Apparently he likes it too :-)

So we started 10 minutes early. The interview was finished in about 40 minutes or so: not too long, not too short.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

05 Feb 2008, 19:24

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Yeah its pretty much implied that Kellogg (which interviews everyone) and Chicago (60%) put a good amount of emphasis on the interivews. So we'll see our numbers drop like flies once the interviews are over

sudden wrote:

wow, if true, that is surprising. so say they interview 60%, and accept about 20% (overall). an interview is only a 1/3rd chance of being admitted? does that imply that chicago weights the interview process more heavily than other, similar schools? if not, why would they interview so many people? (for ex. i read earlier today from a super credible internet message board (ha?) that wharton historically has interviewed ~40% and accepted 40-50% of these people).

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

05 Feb 2008, 19:37

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clarksdv2 wrote:

I disagree with extrapolating percentages year over year. If it was fact that 60% were interviewed last year with approx. 25% admit. I doubt admissions based on the typical yield would increase the number interviews. I believe the number of interviews and admittances are in absolute terms equivalent. This year since the general concensus is application volume is up then most likely the % interview has decreased. The only unknown variable is whether application volume is up due to more individuals applying or more applications per individual. It is most likely predominantly the former. I would guess that everyone going for an interview has roughly a 1 in 2 shot of being accepted.

1 in 2 sounds really good, but I think the numbers are lower than that. It may be better to look at absolute numbers instead of %. It could be a lower % are interviewed this round due to increased applications, but compared to last year's numbers, roughly the same number of people are interviewed. I think looking at % would just give a messy view of things. Unfortunately though, we don't have the absolute numbers.

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Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

05 Feb 2008, 23:36

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prettypleaseGSB wrote:

i'd like to trade my liver for an interview offer as well...

Don't! You'll need it for schmoozing.

gmatclubot

Re: Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants [#permalink]

05 Feb 2008, 23:36