Romano25 wrote:
Thanks for all your replies.
To hello212: Would Sloan reject plenty of people who get into Harvard and Stanford every year
for non yield related reasons? I am skeptical. B-Schools are not all that different.
To Wallstreetbarbie: It happens all the time in the tech world. Sometimes loser organizations
wait for their employees to get a job offer from a rival before they give them an adequate pay-rise
to prevent them from leaving. As long as it is handled respectfully, it is seldom a problem.
I do agree it is a long shot, but if I don't get an invite next week, I figure I have little to lose.
I think Alex put it best in an earlier post: once you get past a certain threshold of GPA, GMAT, and WE, it's sort of just a game of randomness. You say that b-schools aren't all that different, but honestly, neither are applicants. And the fact that b-schools and applicants are not that different only AGGRAVATES the randomness in the process.
For example, there are hundreds of Ivy League graduates at McKinsey/Bain/BCG applying to all of the top schools every single year. I'm sure that most of them have stellar stats (3.7+/750+), amazing project experiences, great recommendation letters, and similar volunteer/EC experience (there's only so much you can do as a traveling consultant).
The result? Some of them get into H or S, some get into MIT or Kellogg. Some kids got into W but not Columbia, or S but not MIT. How does a school differentiate among people whose experiences and even lives almost blend into each other and all sound like the same applicant? There's a huge element of subjectivity and almost arbitrariness in the process. The Stanford reader may have felt empathetic about someone's life experiences, while the reader at MIT wanted nothing of it.
I think it's important to emphasize that yield protection, etc. doesn't happen as often as most people think. In general, subjectivity and pure luck has a lot more to do with it.
An example from outside b-school: my (non-McKinsey) consulting firm routinely turns down resumes from undergrads every year who end up at McKinsey. I guarantee you it is NOT because we thought they'd get into McKinsey and just decided to pass on them. McKinsey assuredly does the same thing with us. Sometimes different companies and different schools like different people.