Calling All Wharton 2011 Business School Waitlisters

As if they read our minds....Got these instructions-a second time..
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Dear ZZZ

As a waitlist candidate, you may have questions about the admissions process going forward. Below is some information about waitlist procedures that will be helpful to you:

We will be reviewing your application periodically and will contact you no later than 12 May, 2011 with an update as to your status unless you request your application be withdrawn. If you would like to withdraw, please e-mail mba.admissions@wharton.upenn.edu, using the subject header: "Waitlist Remove."

In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application. In this same spirit, we do not offer another interview.


There is no point person in the office for the waitlist. All waitlist decisions are handled by the Admissions Committee.


Feedback to candidates is not offered to candidates while they are on the waitlist.


There is no rank order to the waitlist.


The chances of being admitted off the waitlist are hard to predict since much depends on the strength of the pool in subsequent rounds. Historically, the admit rate has varied from year to year and has very little correlation with the number of candidates placed on the waitlist.
Thank you in advance for honoring these guidelines. We sincerely appreciate your interest in the Wharton School.

Sincerely,

Wharton MBA Admissions Office
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

Did everyone's say e-mail say periodically? Or just the R1 re-waitlisters?

PEanalyst, I know you will love this:

https://engage.wharton.upenn.edu/MBA/for ... .aspx#8052

Sorry to debunk your theory, but my email also says "periodically". I'm a R2 waitlister.

I am a R2 wl candidate and in my letter it says "periodically" as well. But i think it does not mean anything, cause in my opinion we'll all get the decision on the same day, may 12th with R3 applicants. Our chances also are dependent on how many R3 candidates Wharton is gonna accept. Usually they dont accept anyone or just a few people. in that case wl candidates have pretty good chances, otherwise, being honest, our chances are really miserable!!!

I've talked to few Wharton alumni and some of them said " Dont do anything, dont try to contact to admissions under any circumstances, unless you just want to withdraw your application", while others said: "You have to be really careful with sending any additional documents. If you want to send your new GMAT score or some new essay, thats not gonna help, only hurt, but if you can find someone very influential to the school, that might help, however, even with some connections, you have to be sure that this person's call/letter will help, otherwise you are gonna get dinged right away"


So, from my understanding, its better to do nothing.

That actually comes as kind of a relief. No need to stress about whether to re-take the GMAT, no pressure to befriend an influential alum to call adcom on your behalf, no need to rack your brain to think of ways to spin otherwise ordinary work experiences into tales of leadership and responsibility, etc.

I just hope that they actually mean it when they say that they won't review additional materials. I'd hate to move to the bottom of the stack just because I followed the rules...

All we can do is hope that a good number of people who got in to Wharton will also get in to HBS and/or Stanford tomorrow.

Or the economy recovers to the point the don't want to go to bschool...

well, its still risky to ask someone for help, i wont do that. i'd rather do nothing and then get dinged than get dinged because of sending some "additional" materials, at least i would know that i am just not good enough yet to become a part of Wharton community, not because i screwed up my application by asking someone for help.

Don't jump to conclusion. That is person's perception. For all we know, those letters may have done diddly squat and the person got off because it was their time

Posted from my mobile device

R2 waitlister here...and definitely like the energy on the W WL!
Regarding updates, I won't send anything...they specifically asked for that...and I play by the rules (mostly )...

On the other hand, if you happen to know a John/Jane Doe - Master of the Universe type figure, I'd say send that letter in...especially if you have another admit. The WL chances are pretty slim anyways, so there's much to gain and not as much to lose by sending a strong letter.

An insight I gained when I was speaking to a Stanford GSB alum (I think it's related)... but the gist of it is that a lot of the times this comes down to a crapshoot. You may have a near perfect GMAT and GPA score. You may be awesome in extracurriculars and your career. You may have laser-like focus on what you want to accomplish. But in the end, one big factor that you can't ever control is just pure random chance. The thing that really stayed in my head was my friend saying Derrick Bolton probably has 3 stacks of 200 students in front of him that would make an equally fantastic incoming GSB class. No matter what though, two of those stacks will have to go. It's not your fault, that's just the way the chips fall.

I guess in the end what I'm trying to say is don't be discouraged if you don't get in. You're all still rockstars in the work that you do and have the capability to do incredible things. In my book, Wharton is a nice to have, but not a must-have.

that sounds like the age-old "you are all winners...." pep talk....BS

I am a Round 2 waitlister.

well put CyberC...though, here's when i start praying for wharton admits to get through stanford and harvard..and for them to accept those offers ;P

Old pep-talk, definitely...BS, I think not!

Amen

Posted from my mobile device