Calling all Minnesota (Carlson) 2011 Applicants!

I can't speak for what will happen this time around, but I was told that last year notifications actually went out about 2 weeks prior to the date. I think the issue is that their application deadlines tend to be about 3-4 weeks after some other schools for the same round (i.e., Feb 1st instead of Jan 5th for R2).

I had the interview there yesterday and I am applying for the Feb 1 deadline. I really liked the school, its students, the class participation, the enterprises and the entrepreneurship center. Overall a great package and I hope they will sweeten the deal with scholarship. That will be ideal!

The admissions office told me they are aiming to have the Round 1 answers out by Feb. 1, but I have not seen anything yet today. Did any round 1 applicants hear a response? If so, was it by e-mail or phone call?

I applied for the Feb 1st deadline. We'll see what happens!

Best of Luck! I loved my trip to Carlson last week.

Just got an email informing me that I have been admitted!

Awesome!! Care sharing your basic stats?

I interviewed last week and submitted for the Feb 1 round and I'm not sure if I will be able to wait till April to find out

Hooray! I'm in too. :D

Domestic App/ GMAT 680/ 24 years old/ 2 years work exp/ Interested in Funds Enterprise

Congrats to you too! Just like last year's cycles, it looks like they are announcing invites a couple of weeks prior to the "official" release by date.

28/International (Malaysia)/Entrepreneur/700 GMAT

I got my acceptance e-mail a few hours ago! So excited! I applied for the December 1st deadline. Did anyone's e-mail include any information about scholarships or will we find that out later?

25 yrs old/ 3 yrs WE/ 730 GMAT/ MN Resident

I imagine they will mail us an acceptance packet that details our financial award. Congrats on the acceptance as well!

Anyone have any thoughts on the disproportionate number of part-time students to full-time? From my research and personal experience, most part-time students are admitted without an interview and their GMAT stats are much lower than for the full-time program. Speaking to people even here in Minnesota, that really dilutes the Carlson brand since no one really knows if you are from the Full time or part-time program. I believe Carlson has 200 full-time students and more than a 1000 part-time. I have a friend who got 550 on his GMAT and was accepted to Carlson part-time w/o an interview.

I have discussed this point with a few current and former full time students. Here is what I've heard...

1. Is your friend currently working for a company that has a lot of involvement with Carlson? Is his/her MBA being paid for? Supposedly there is a little bit of "if you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" with Carlson. In essence, Carlson enrolls part-time student from brand name companies, which leads to increased internship/employment opportunities for full-time students. This is at least according to current/past students.

2. For what it's worth, part time and full time programs have limited interaction. Part Time programs also do not play into rankings.

3. From what I've also been told, the disproportionate number of part time students also increases the scholarship opportunities for full time students. So yay for that?


Any other Round 2 applicants? I wonder when decisions will come out.

One more thing to add:

The job opportunities from Carlson are pretty plentiful if you want to stay in the Midwest. Minneapolis has a crazy amount of Fortune 500 companies for a city its size, and Carlson's reputation far exceeds most of the b-schools in the WI, ND, SD, MN, IA area.

Then analyze the full time class size. The class of 2012 is in the 70 range, and rumor is the class of 2013 will be closer to the 90-100 range. Of those 100, typically 20-40% are international looking to return to their home country. Of the remaining students, it's a pretty wide mix of finances, management, consulting, marketing students. So at the most, you're competing against maybe 20 other students for the relative abundance of potential jobs. Or so I've been told...

Based upon last year's experiences and the last round, I would say April 1st, +/- 2 days. Carlson is still sitting as my clear #1 choice at the moment.

Living in Minneapolis, I have many friends who are alumni, current students or just employers who have a strong opinion of Carlson graduates. While it does have a strong brand name here, I've spoken even to alumni who have not had great things to say about Carlson.

The main issue for me is that there is no distinction between part-time and full-time graduates, with most prospective employers not asking or not even knowing that there is a difference between the 2 programs in terms of student quality.
While this is true for more programs, even prestigious ones like Kellogg, the fact that Carlson has such a disproportionately large number of part-time students who are able to gain entry into the program with much lower stats bring down the reputation of Carlson graduates more than they do at other MBA programs.
I do like Carlson in terms of the set up and diversity of students, and also the fact that I will not have to move which is a big factor for me. But this is the most significant drawback by far for me and I just hope that people are aware of it.

My guess is that they are trying to game the system in a way by keeping the enrollment small in the full-time program to raise their stats and move up the rankings since all the rankings are based on the full-time stats. But on the flipside, they are enrolling many more people into the part-time program, probably for financial and social reasons.