rjdunn03 wrote:
UTMPA2011 wrote:
I agree w/ the theory about McCombs trying to protect their acceptance yield rate to a certain degree, but there's a chance that many students w/ high GMATs are letting their "safety school" bias bleed into the application (not saying that this happened to either of you). rjdunn got an R2 interview invite w/ a 780 GMAT, and 3 R1 gmatclub admitted applicants had a 740+ GMAT, so you could easily have one coming your way this week. I'm not saying any of these apply to you, but just some factors that might come into play:
- Are your essays cookie cutter in the sense that you could virtually copy and paste everything into your next school's application by replacing the school name?
- I've heard AdCom members say it's surprisingly common to see applicants who actually leave another school's name somewhere in the application.
- A question on the app. reads, "Other Graduate Applications." If it says something similar to, "Stanford, Wharton, HBS," did you properly justify in your application what unique characteristics make McCombs stand up to the others?
- Do you know how you were rated by your bosses in the letters of recommendation section? If their ratings are low enough, AdCom members have said that's instant death.
I'm sure everything will work out, but just some food for thought...
As far as my essays, I provided specific examples of the benefits of the UT MBA program that would require major revision to be used in other applications. I did not provide a list of other schools because that only benefits the school at my expense. The recommendations were very strong and from directors. UT was my first application and I took precaution to ensure that I used McCombs and UT only.
I think that the major weakness of my application is my work experience. I will only have 41 months of experience by the time of matriculation. No supervisory experience.
Honestly, I was hoping to leverage my prior McCombs master's degree to get into the MBA program. In fact, I have already taken MBA courses at UT and earned As. I don't know how I could possibly support my academic aptitude more than that. However, the lack of management experience ("leadership") will probably kill my chances.
That seems strange that you didn't at least get an interview. You're obviously qualified for Texas, along with pretty much any other school, so I'd guess (kinda what USAFinDenver was saying) that you probably didn't sell it well enough that you want to be there. In my case, my very high gmat is tempered by a mediocre/low GPA which I think puts me more in line with typical applicants. More importantly, I really want to go to Texas and I think that came through in my essays. You mention that you talked about specific qualities of UT - which is good - but that may have ended up sounding cookie cutter in the sense that many applicants are probably writing similar things. Like you, I talked about the benefits of UT but I also took it to the next level and talked specifically about why the program/atmosphere/location of McCombs is a good fit personally. BTW, I'll have a little less than 3 years FT work experience next fall, though I have a 2 year service mission to Guatemala and a year and half internship with a solid company on top so I'm hoping that makes up for it. Also on the leadership, you don't have to have direct reports at work to be a leader. You should talk about initiative and leadership on team projects, or leadership in community involvement and extracurricular activities.
Anyway, those are just things to think about as you continue your apps. Take it with a grain of salt from someone who got an interview but (God forbid) I could still easily get dinged. You've got awesome grades and a high GMAT so you really shouldn't have a problem getting in somewhere.
I think it is a combination of application elements: generic language, at times, in my essays, lack of well-known employers on my resume, and the commonality of my background at UT. It is interesting to note that I have been invited to interview at every MBA program that I have applied to, except for UT. While I didn’t exactly apply to H/W/S, nor do I think that I have a shot anyway, I applied to a couple of schools that are comparable to UT with respect to rankings.
I did want to point out an interesting fact from the BusinessWeek MBA profiles: last year, UT waitlisted 290 applicants out of 1900 applicants (15% of applicants). 21% of waitlisted applicants were accepted last year, which is roughly 60 students, so there is still hope if waitlisted. At any rate, I will just ride the rollercoaster that is the MBA application process.
Congratulations on the interview. Good luck to you in February. Hook 'em!
16 Jan 2013, 18:10
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