Calling Fall 2010 Chicago Booth Applicants

Sorry for giving this information so late but please add me to the Booth interview invite totals. Got an interview invite for Booth 2 weeks ago and had my interview on-campus this past saturday with a 2nd yr..fairly standard questions except for the last 2:

interviewer asked me to put myself in the shoes of an adcomm member who is reviewing my app and then, tell him 2 weaknesses that are apparent/ that I percieve in my application.

The first weakness (which is really obvious) was I told him that my quant GMAT score is fairly average (67 percentile). He accepted that as 1 weakness but told me not to tell him the score since he is not supposed to know about the other parts of my app.

For the other weakness, I attempted to treat it as a standard weakness question and tried to say that being a finance and execution / analtyics guy, I have limited knowledge and exposure to other functional areas of business such as management, marketing, strategy, operations and international business. I also said that at times, I feel like i get caught up in the details and need to expand/develop my big picture and strategic management perspective. Basically I was trying to turn the weakness into a development area that would support my case for bschool.

The interviewer called me out on this in a way. He told me that it wasnt really a weakness. i made somewhat of an attempt to convince him but obviously didnt want to be disagreeable. I tried thinking of something else but couldnt come up with anything since I really dont think I had any other weaknesses in my app that an adcomm member might perceive.

The interviewer then said "fine, lets make this easier on you: what are 2 reasons that would compel booth to pick you over other people with similar profiles...you have 60 seconds" (as we were about 24 minutes into the interview). I think i answered this question pretty well so I am hoping that made up for not being able to answer the previous question fully.

I got the feeling the interviewer was trying to put me on the spot by asking these questions as I was well prepared for all the other questions. lucklly, i am a confident interviewer so I took it all in a light hearted way and didnt get flustered at all.

anyone else have a similar experience? Would appreciate any feedback

Argh, I almost had a heart attack. Good thing that I'm hitting the gym after a long gym hiatus due to apps/gmat stuff. I fear I shall not survive a second time.

Well the 2008-2009 data is actually the one you mentioned about (the 13.3% people still looking for jobs post graduation, representing 66 people). You will see from this report that rhyme's class was hit hard. The number for internationals is better though, but I still believe that Europe, and especially London, will have a long recovery, and as you mentioned, there are still many people to compete with.

All that said, my class numbers may be better, from what I have been talking to people, there are several people with very interesting offers. Tons are going to NYC, banks are hiring back, and talking to first years (class of 2011) it seems that things are much better than last year. There is still the chance that markets may pull back and another downtrend start, though I believe that now it is very unlikely, companies have already downsized, and they are indeed hiring in a more "prudent" fashion.

I am not sure if I will make to admit weekend as I am pretty busy with academics this quarter (Veronesi and Financial Econometrics are a Killer, and PE takes lots of time to prepared for classes). Probably I will be at the LPF, let's see.

Fair enough, I feel like this is one of those things that has been hashed out before and I've just forgotten by now. That said, I did see this in an interview mbaMission conducted with Rose this past summer:



So I dunno. At the end of the day, this is all just intellectual exercise. Who knows what the numbers are, who knows what the criteria, who knows? Here's hoping we buck the trend -- whatever the real numbers are -- and we ALL get in.

I love how much time we all waste stressing about things we cannot control...as if developing conspiracy theories somehow gives us control over the situation.

Found the link.
https://gmatclub.com/forum/calling-chicago-gsb-applicants-48955-2060.html#p443000

Very interesting. No wonder I got an interview!

Hey, BG, that data is class of 2009, is not pre crisis is the data that BW was referring to. Anyhow, take the data from schools with a grain of salt. I checked both Booth's and Kellogg's data and found at least one error in each. Booth's was missing a friend of mine's offer who got into a consulting shop in Latin America (@rhyme: the guy I mentioned when we talked over the phone) so we was counted as an unemployed guy. You might say 1 out of 500 is not a big deal since it is only .2% unemployment. But if I found 1 right off the bat, there could be maybe 10 of those. And 10 people is 2% less unemployment figures...

Don't know, schools numbers are tricky. With kellogg it was the same, they account for the number of offers and exclude those not looking for a job because they were sponsored. However, in K's report I found a colleague that was listed in the offering list while he went there sponsored by the company...

and yes, Wharton did much worse...so I don't know, market was screwed last year...we'll see how class of 2010 does..

I think the 25% makes sense, given that Booth has witnessed an increase in applicants by 25%, and that they interview 50-60% of applicants (both figures for this year as said by Rose herself in either blog or chats)

Can I ask where you got the 25% increase in applicants? I don't think this is the case for 2010 admissions for three reasons:

1) I bet international applicants are less this year due to financial aid & visas being more difficult to receive.
2) People are more cognizant of not finding employment post graduation and so, if they have a job, they are more likely to keep it for now and not go to b-school.
3) There was a sense of panic last year. No one knew what the hell was going on and B-school was like a massive career put option. Lot of people were applying because no one knew if they would have a job in the coming months. This paranoia has largely subsided.

I know someone close to the admissions process at Kellogg and that person said admissions at Kellogg are actually slightly lower this year relative to last year because of these three items. To be honest it kind of makes sense to me.

I recently received a promotion and a huge increase in responsibilities. I was wondering if it's a good idea to inform Booth Admissions about this? I don't want it to be a double-edged sword, which might hamper my chances for Booth and any other school for that matter. A promotion might make me look better in the eyes of the AdCom and thus possibly improve my chances, but on the other hand, a promotion might be construed as a reason why I should reapply next year (this I def do NOT want to do).

Also, if I were to inform Admissions, how would you do so? Updated resume? A letter? I'm not familiar with this process.

Hey all,

Are my eyes deceiving me or did I understand the below chat transcript right?!

anita: how many students you plan to admit in this year?

Rose: Roughly 900.

https://www.chicagobooth.edu/fulltime/ch ... sions.aspx

anyway, just submitted for round 3, anyone else?

It's actually true for schools like Wharton. Sandy says he has credible sources who say Wharton admitted a number in the single digits from R3 last year. I think it's cruel and borderline fraudulent conduct by Wharton. Imagine all the applicants that shelled ~$250 for a minuscule chance at admissions! Sounds like an illegal lottery to me.

well... they aren't selling lottery tickets.

they're selling dreams.

(sorry, I couldn't resist)

Hey all-

Got back from the Admit weekend last night. I thought it was a very intense and rewarding experience. The whole weekend was so well organized and professional (granted, it was my first Admit wekend), but comparing it to the other programs' Admissions events, Booth did an incredible job promoting camaraderie among the class and hitting all the critical points. They walked us through an extensive schedule from course curriculum overview, financial aid, to alumni and faculty presentations, student activities fair, and even housing tours in downtown Chicago. On the social side, they planned rather large parties every single night-- mind you Chicago bars close at 5am and the morning sessions started at 8:30-9:00am so you'll pick up the habit of red bull and coffee.

On an informal note, the class was incredibly diverse and impressive. I met students from Norway, Mexico, Sweden, Japan, just to name a few, but each had an incredible story. It definitely was a humbling experience. Also noteworthy is that the school is really trying to make a push for well-rounded students. A few current first years mentioned that the difference between the c/o 2010 and 2011 is evident as the school transitions from its stereotype. They said that the intense competition for the c/o 2012 will help secure an even more diverse and hollistic class.

It was a great experience and I met some truly amazing people. I hope you guys get to attend R2 admit weekend!

PS Rose is incredible. She is just as open/transparent and friendly in person as she is in the blogs.

I am sure it's a piece of cake compared to 4yrs of banking...

*prances back to Excel*

Generally, decisions begin trickling out 2 days prior to the official date. Those who haven't heard by the evening prior to the official date are almost always waitlisted or denied.

Not always. I friend of mine was accepted last year in R2 and never got a call/email before notification date