just got my ding today. extremely dissapointed. i killed myself after getting on the waitlist in hopes of getting an offer and am surprised that they at least didn't keep me on. i was a fool. at work i'd often slip into a daydream and in that dream i would be getting a phone call from a 415 number. i replayed that moment in my mind so many times. i just focused on what that moment would feel like in between receiving the call and actually picking up the call. that moment knowing that my life would change so dramatically for the better. sad. all over.
anyway, since this forum has been useful to me in gathering anecdotal evidence, i will share of my experience for future as i'm sure waitlisters in future years will crawl this thread for timing and tidbits of information in hopes of building a better strategy, same as I did on past years' threads. since the Haas waitlist is not really a waitlist but really more an "actionlist" i hope that these points will be helpful for othres.
* waitlist chat transcript for 2015 URL:
https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/WL_Chat_033115* waitlist chat transcript for 2014 URL:
https://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/chat_waitlist_040114 (i figured this one out after seeing what date the 2014 chat happened from the forum and playing with that date in a similar URL to the 2015 and *abra cadabra* 2014 chat transcript
* since Haas will not give individual you will have to do a self analysis and see what part of your application wasn't as strong as it could have been. For me it was clearly the below average GMAT score and below average GMAT quantitative subscore. Having already taken the GMAT four times, I decided that I would better focus on demonstrating my quant abilities through taking online courses. this strategy proved not to be successful. my belief is that the admissions committee really wants to see an improved GMAT score over an online course. here's why: I completed a statistics course at UC Berkeley Extension online with an A. still got dinged. If you read closely through the past waitlist chats, the admin committee says that they place equal weight on all options: course (statistics/calculus) or re-take GMAT. this was not the case for me.
* don't waste your time with an online MOOC. there is no final grade in these courses and the adcom knows about this. past chat transcripts will reveal that they want to see a final grade.
* mbamath.com course carries some weight but not as much as doing a full online course in stats or calculus. mbamath.com is supposed to take 35 hours but i did it in about 25 hours. many others online also reported completing it in under 35 hours.
*
mbaMission start to finish guide has some decent sample templates for waitlist letters
* Essaysnark guide to waitlist is a waste of $13 dollars and has no samples for waitlist letters
*
Accepted.com has decent guidelines for writing waitlist updates and some OK samples
Good luck to all and congrats to those future waitlisters who will get in off of the waitlist.
19 May 2015, 17:16
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