Sloan 2013 (MIT) - Calling All Applicants

It just emphasises the fact that there's more to MBA admissions that stats. [My GPA thing might be misleading though; it's a WES conversion]. Also, all this fuss on fit - its true!

This year's Waitlist FAQ states that Sloan expects to put 100-200 people on the waitlist

Haven't had a chance to post, was a WL for me. I'm a bit sad only because it was the last school to get back to me and it's a shame to end this whole process on a slightly disappointing note but I probably shouldn't have let it slip in the interview I had other offers (oops). Given what happened to MIT last year they probably took that as a sign to put me on the WL.

Will probably decline the spot, so that frees one up for the rest of you WLers holding on! Congrats to everyone who got in

Did anyone attend the Sloan chat for waitlisted candidates? Sadly, I had to be in a meeting and couldn't attend.

You certainly have great options! Good luck!

By the way, if there are any admitted students in the Boston/Cambridge area who want to grab drinks/coffee, PM me; I'd love to meet you!

I attended the chat. There wasnt too much worth noting. Basically everyone wanted to know where they could send additional info, if they should tell MIT they are the only school they applied to or first choice, Timing, etc. Answers were send it to waitlist email address, yes, anytime between Rd 2 decisions and first day of class respectively.

Not that I am overexcited about it, but a sense of optimism as moderators shared they were probably more conservative this year in offering admissions given last years over allotment. So maybe they will utilize the waitlist. They also mentioned in years past WL movement has been around 10 per year, so theres hope there.

My hope is just a ton more people applied in Rd 1 then Rd 2, so we kind of did ourselves no favors applying early. If thats the case, maybe round 2 will stack up less competitive and we can sneak in then.

Any idea when MIT begins to send out interview invites for Rd 2? They've had our applications for at least 5-6 weeks, should be soon, no?

Agreed. The chat information is pretty much the same as anything you can easily google. In any case, they will put up a transcript of it in a few days.

As for round1 being heavily stacked, I feel that is entirely possible, but I don't know to what degree. The GMAT added the IR section on June 2nd or 3rd, so ostensibly a great number of folks took it before the change and a heavier round 1 for all schools resulted.

Nevertheless, 10 off the waitlist is a really small figure especially considering they only grab candidates who match the ones they need to replace. It's unfortunate because ideally they would select candidates based on merit alone, not demographic, then only could they rank the waitlist and give everyone a much better idea of how they are going to fare.

Guys, I need some advice. I applied to Sloan in round 2. I have recently been notified that I am one of the finalists for the Fulbright award for young entrepreneurs (which is a big fat grant to study in the US). I was wondering if I should write an email to the admission committee to keep them up to date with this process. What do you think, would it be out of line?? thanks

Since R2 interview invites are about to go out, chances are your application has already been scored, and so they may be hesitant to go back and rescore your application -- it wouldn't really be fair to everybody else. But during your interview, the first question they'll ask is if you have any updates to your application.

folks,

have any waitlisters tried emailing the waitlist alias? it doesn't work for me -- keeps saying unknown address

mbawaitlinglist@sloan.mit.edu

Got an extra L in waiting.

I retook the GMAT (and scored significantly higher) the day the Sloan app was due (but after the time deadline) and they were not hesitant at all to accept my higher score after my app was submitted. Caveat though: I submitted the higher score maybe 2 days after the deadline and the holidays I'm sure gave me some more leeway.

From the past timelines it looks like interview invites should go out this week for Round 2, maybe next at the latest. Do other people concur?

Does anyone know if MIT sends them out all at once or over several weeks? I'm flying into Boston next week for an interview with another school. Though I certainly would be thrilled to fly back to Boston to interview with MIT a few weeks later, my pocketbook would much rather get it done all at once!

At least based on R1, the interview invites are sent out over the period of a few weeks. R1 invites started on December 4 (deadline was October 24) and I believe went all the way up until the decision day (January 29).

That is an unfair and unqualified analysis. It is sad enough that someone with their entire life ahead of them resorted to suicide; it is entirely unreasonable however, to pin the cause for their actions on the business school. Have b-school students never committed suicide before? Does this reflect on the school, or its culture, or its rigor?

I don't want to dwell too much on this subject, but if you'd read each article on the unfortunate event carefully, you'd note that the student had worked for 5 years in Investment Banking on Wall Street - on paper, she was well equipped to handle the rigor and pressures of business education.

Business schools are tough - the application process, the experience, recruitment - all aspects of it. I believe however, that this prepares you for a tough, competitive, cut-throat world once you graduate. This does not mean that b-schools are like boot camp, where only the fittest will survive and all others will perish.

Every current student and alumnus I have spoken to has told me the same thing - Your b-school experience is what you make of it. It will be incredibly challenging, but also be an awesome life experience.

A student committed suicide - let us leave it at that. Any attempt to dissect her motivations or deduce her compulsions will be an insult to her memory.

MBAWanderlust

My close friend attended high school with that girl and kept in contact with her. I don't want to go pouring out her personal life on here, but I'll say that according to my friend, she had significant personal issues weighing down on her. He didn't mention anything about her struggling academically.