Stanford GSB 2013 - Calling all Applicants

Sorry dude, but when it comes to stanford, forget about passion. Even when you have a gmat score of 800, applying to stanford is still more of a lottery. I guess we are all passionate about the school like you are but please start thinking about alternatives.

If you are young and can apply next year, it's fine. But only applying to Stanford means you are a glutton for punishment. It's worse than a lottery because they give the illusion that you can figure out how to win. At the end of the day, only the admissions committee knows why they let anyone in. Like abou says, apply elsewhere if you're set on going to bschool!

I knew it was a crapshoot and tried not to get to emotionally into it. But I still did

I'm in the same boat as you. I only applied to Stanford, which seems silly to most people, but there really isn't another school that meets the criteria I am looking for. I'm trying to be unemotional about this, but at the end of the day it's difficult to brush rejection off when you pour this amount of heart and effort into something. I'm still hopeful of course, but starting to think hard about what I plan on doing if I don't get in. The good news is that in a couple of weeks I will have full clarity around what my path going forward looks like. This awful period of uncertainty is nearing its end.

By the way, let me ask. Has anyone come across an article detailing what happens after an applicant presses the submit button? I realize almost all schools have that on clearadmit except stanford. The process is so opaque!!!!

Stanford is the one school you cannot predict anything. I know people rejected at Chicago and NYU but accepted to Stanford.

I do wish they will make their process more transparent. i think Wharton and HBS have done great with their interview roll-outs.

To the Seattle folks, some interviews in high tech have been out for a while

Any info on number of invites? profiles? No one from Seattle/Portland has posted on invite in the recent past.

I really don't think it's geography based. I know some people were invited in the US (west coast) several weeks back.

Sorry should have been clearer. My fiancee's friend in one of the big tech companies in Seattle was invited a couple weeks back but I do believe that is not geography base.

Guys if you call up admissions some where is an automated message that says order of interview invites are completely random not based on geography, first name, last name, strength of application etc.

I really want to attebd gsb... I am confident i fit in their culture, and my credential is good enough. But no invite yet

Posted from my mobile device

Despite the fact that there is no official driving variable behind an invite or going out or not, every day we are correct to be more pessimistic about being invited. Every time that someone else is invited, it consumes an interview spot, thereby reducing the number of spots by one and the number of people seeking spots by one. If we were to be invited, we would be told so immediately. However, if we were to be rejected, we are not told so until the entire invitation period ends. As a result, odds decline over time. If invitations are issued linearly from the application deadline to one week before notification, our odds would look something like this:

10/3/12
~1000 invitations to be distributed
~7000 applicants
=14% chance of being invited to interview

11/19/12
~254 invitations to be distributed
~6254 applicants yet to be invited
=4% chance of being invited

12/5/12
0 invitations to be distributed
~6000 applicants yet to be invited
=0% chance of being invited

The official driving variable for the order of the invites is the order of the files being read (if you want another confirmation look at yesterday's post on their admissions blog). Therefore you have two cases :
- Your file has been read and you don't have an invitation : 0 % (+ waitlist odds)
- Your file has not been read and you don't have an invitation (obviously) : 14 % (+ waitlist odds)

Its as simple as that.

There's a new post on the MBA Admissions Blog:

So, those of you who have received invites lately, when did you submit your application?

Posted from my mobile device

Sure, but the two cases have different probabilities. Before any applications have been reviewed, there's a 100% chance of being in the second scenario, thus 14% chance. After all applications have been reviewed, there's a 100% chance of being in the first scenario, thus a 0% chance.

As we get later in the cycle and more applications have been reviewed, the likelihood of being in the first scenario outweighs the likelihood of being in the second scenario. So the odds kmcduw put out there are actually right.