Booth 2012 - Calling All Waitlist Applicants

Is there any hope left after so long ?

I think "cautious optimism" is the name of the game now. Plenty of people have gotten off the wl already, but If last year's trends mean anything, plenty more will continue to get off the wl. If Booth is your first choice, be patient but have a backup that you'd be satisfied with.

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How long are you guys planning to wait? If people have a backup school, they will need to start the loan paperwork pretty soon. And I am guessing that there is no looking back after the papers are signed, right?

NA

i've set mid / late july as my deadline. my backup school is in Europe so once i get the motions started to move over there, i guess i will have already spent too much to change direction. i'm guessing that by that point, the chances of getting a place are pretty non-existent anyway

When do classes start at LBS? Stern's orientation starts on 8/20 and the tuition is due 7/10. Will need to set aside several days for the loan processing. So, I guess this is the end of the line for me ...

classes start Sept. 3, but orientation is on 8/27 so i can still afford to wait a little...

Hi All,

I just talked to admissions earlier today. In summary, they said that the waitlist has not been looked at in any capacity and there are no plans, either short term or long term, to look at it ever again unless a spot opens up (they say they are still oversubscribed - accepted more than they have space for - and have tuition continually rolling in). They said that there are no dates to look forward to, (I explicitly asked), no day of the week that they conduct a weekly review, and that no efforts are being made to look at the waitlist.

Sorry everyone. Not the best news, but at least for just a few brief minutes today, I stopped looking at my phone obsessively..., only a few.

StillWaitlisted,

Thanks for having the guts to call, and then posting the content of the call. Sorry but gotta vent...

If what admissions told you is true, I feel completely disrespected. It seems Booth has kept a lot more folks on the WL than other programs, and they at least should offer most of us the courtesy of a ding and their class status in an e-mail update, instead of having us, as you say, obsess over our phones. HBS has been very transparent with their WL, Kellogg/Haas are dinging people, and Columbia/Sloan are offering deferred admits... WTF Booth! Moreover, a ding lets us get excited and more engaged about our fallback plan.

Especially after inviting us to walk the extra mile and even submit video updates, they at least owe me a ding, and a mass e-mail Kurt could type up over a coffee break. Better would be offering feedback (like Darden) or opportunities in a future class. It's poor taste that reflects poorly on a school I loved when I visited, and if I give MBA applications another go, Booth may not be getting another app from me.

Seems odd the response would be so definitive given the fact that the Round 3 deposit deadline was on June 29th. At a minimum, it seems like they would have taken another look at the wait list once they had a final count for their round 3 yield.

Having said that, the admitted student directory is over 625 students strong, so there's a good shot that they did have a higher yield than expected this year (class size the past few years has been around 580).

I hope you are right, BStand. I called them directly on Friday to ask about the waitlist verbally and tried to get specifics on this years class, but I hope I misheard them tell me that they are not looking at the waitlist at this time, nor do they plan to after any key dates (I quoted tuition deadlines that were posted in this forum when I asked the question).

Again, I will hope my phone rings this week based on the Round 3 tuition deadline. Phone on max volume and vibrate once more.

I called yesterday to try and get some information. I was also told the class was full, there are no dates that they plan to release decisions, and they typically do not "release" the waitlisted students until one week before classes start. I wasn't able to actually speak to an admissions officer - as the front desk person/operator answered the questions herself and even said they do not have waitlist managers set up. Not the best news, I suppose...

It seems to me that the class size as shown in the directory is WAY more than the 625 number quoted earlier. This would also mean that this year's entering class is 17% larger than before. Wow.........

Actually, I've been wondering the same thing. Class size seems significantly larger than previous years. On one hand, a larger class size offers more interactions with fellow students and, ultimately, a larger alumni base, but it does worry me a bit. I'm not sure how I feel about being in the first class with the new, larger size when it comes to things like students per course, course bidding, ability of support services (eg career services) to handle the extra 75-100 students.

I'm sure Booth has this all under control. For all we know, they might always have 50 people drop out of the class in July/August.

I seriously doubt 50 people dropping out in the next month or so. That would be nearly 10% of the admitted class dropping out. And for what reason? All schools' R1/R2/R3 decisions are on the table, there is no ambiguity left. Everyone heading to b-school this year should be pretty decided about where they are headed.

What worries you worries me too. If the economy is in the ****, come 2014 (or even early 2013 - internship interview time), we all will be in deep doo-doo as it will get super-competitive for the few jobs that do open up. Class of 2009 placements might be a good place to get some information about job/internship placements in a bad year. Anyhow, even in a good year, I do NOT like the prospect of competing against a 100 more stellar Boothies, for the same job(s). Business school is a very, very, VERY cut-throat environment, and things like co-operation/help/solidarity among students go out the window as soon as internship/job season rolls around. I know people may not want to believe this is so, but this is my opinion (and thus, could be completely wrong).

Good luck and prayers for all - those admitted, and those still waiting for word.

I think you're right about the competitive environment on campus if opportunities dry up. Thankfully I won't be pursuing banking/consulting. But, I will be annoyed if bid points and number of available sections stays the same despite increasing the total student body by 10%. Especially because entrepreneurship is an area of interest for me and that's already an incredibly popular concentration at Booth.

I just want to get in and I am ready to compete with the whole world. In my opinion +/- 10% or even, say, 30% of admits should not be a thing to worry about guys. Thats just so far from my "MBA ego"....eh...

-waitlisted in R3