The 2008 ZERO admits club

My manager wrote my recommendation and he knows about my dings. From what I've noticed, most managers (via friends and my own experience) are quite supportive of people going to get MBAs. He continues to ask me about my progress on the waitlist and is keen that I get into school. In the meantime, he has also told me that I will be getting promoted soon, so he is not holding the fact that I am applying to business school against me.

Great thread. It's just demoralising to see many great profiles here with 0 admit. This really is not a good year to be applying to b-schools. Best of luck with the waitlists.

good luck guys, stay strong.

Still waiting on 2 waitlists over here as well. Good luck to the other waitlisters.....

When I spoke to my recommenders I basically showed them how competitive it is. Is some cases your talking about 14% admittance rates. I think this encourages them to do their best for you but also builds a foundation in case you don't get accepted. Especially if your in a situation where if you don't go top 10 your going to wait until next year.

definitely apply to a "safety" school that you will go to if that's the only school you got into. If such a school doesn't exist, then be prepared to re-apply again next year if this year doens't work out...

My piece of advice would be to really commit yourself to these schools. That means to spend a lot of time with your essays to make sure you have a polished and clear story explaining who you are, why you need an MBA, and why an MBA from that school is the logical next step. You really should visit the schools and sit in on classes. You should go to info-sessions and talk to people. If you can find a way to differentiate yourself so that adcom, current students, etc. all know how excited and gung-ho you are about the school, they will have a much harder time turning you down. If you present yourself with a weak set of essays, lifeless interview, no word of every visiting the school, etc. they will likely just ding you and pick another person who has demonstrated enthusiasm.

Put yourself into the shoes on adcom...you would pick the energetic, confident, down to earth, cool, humble, polite, and appreciative guy with good stats over the aloof person who comes in with the attitude of "you guys are lucky to have me and if you convince me, i might decide to go to your school", etc.

Good luck everyone on the WL. I know many students who have a lot of luck reapplying because the reapplication tells adcom that they really really want to go there.

RVD.

Not sure if I can be considered in the club. However, I will still post

GMAT score: 760
Work Experience : 10 years
Location : SF, CA
#Applications : 3
#Dings : 1
#Interviews : 2
#WL : 1
#Admit :1


Which ding hurt the most and why?
Stanford full time program after being on waitlist without interview

What next?
I am going to join the UCLA part time program (FEMBA)


Why the lack of success?
I think my age killed me. Not sure as to why Stanford didnt ding me right away but then made go thru the nightmare for 3 months.

or in my case, apply to several safety schools and a safety school for the safety schools :D.

Bung in a few lottery applications as well.. and that was my application gamble

dahcrap you're not a member - you have one admit ... my membership on the other hand has just been consolidated. Its a ding from NYU after 2 months in the WL. I nominate myself for presidency....

badluck buddy , any hope from LBS?

Bsd, I'm really sorry to hear this. I hope you stay here and reapply next year. I know I'll do what I can to help and I'm sure many others would as well.

damn, this thread makes me want to jump off a bridge.
in all fairness, everyone is aiming at top 10 here (i.e no one is applying to a nonranked program)

link please! need to get inspired!

Crap, that sucks bsd But like Rhyme said all of us here will do everything we can to help out. I'm sure you'll do much better this year!

Thanks guys, I'm still waitlisted at LBS. Retaking the GMAT mid-june, maybe a higher score there will help LBS make up its mind. If not, I am mentally prepared to app across the board next year; hopefully with better essays.

Hey BSD, great thread. I see that you are an Aussie too - anyway, just wondering whether you wanted to get in contact and trade notes for the application season this year. I am applying in secret, as I am a career changer and don't want my work to know about it, and would love to have someone whom I can talk about with the apps process.

By the way, I know people always like to know, so here are my stats.

GMAT: 770
Yrs Experience: 7 at the end of 2008
Age: 29

Wishing everyone the very best in their apps.