Just to talk about the application experience:
BackGround : Indian applicant, 9 years of work ex in Software Product Develoment.
Extra curriculars : Mod at Pagalguy.com (India's largest MBA forum), Freelance content developer and other initiatives.
GMAT : 760 (49/44)
Since I got my scores pretty late considering all the R1 deadlines were over when I got my score , I was left with only R2. It was mad rush to push applications for R2.
I applied to R2 : ISB, Tepper,Ross, Kelley, Anderson, NUS and WPCarey.
Calls : all apart from Anderson
Admits : NUS and Tepper. WPCarey is WL as of now. (
Later Edit : Got a admit from WPCarey with a phenomenal offer)
I got calls from all the institutes apart from Anderson. It beats me why I didn't get a call from Anderson. May be the reason was I didn't spend too much time on the application and unlike other schools, I had only one essay to showcase my fit with the school. In other schools as I had two essays, I dedicated one essay for professional experience and other extra curriculars. In fact, having spent 9 years in Tech and my post MBA goals are in Tech industries, I thought west coast will make proper sense and Anderson will be a good fit.
One more reason which can be a spoil sport in Anderson is my high workex.
In fact, I think high work ex was a spoiler in Ross and Kelley as well .
Kelley I thought I will definitely make through because of high GMAT score and as all the Indian admits in Kelley have higher GMAT score, I though I could make through. Kelley interview was descent apart from one question where I was asked if I were to do something different, what I would have done. I should have thought about it and reaffirmed that nothing. That shows believe in my ability and strong conviction in what I am doing. I said, I will change somethings and that might have decreased my chances.
Ross was an interesting experience as Team exercise was pretty good and Interview was descent. Ross was my best school and profiles of candidates competing for Ross seat was intimidating.
ISB : I still don't know what went wrong. May be there are looking for marketability post MBA and with 9 years in Tech, might not be easy to place in India. My thoughts after the introspection.
Mostly, I will be going to Tepper.
All in all, the Applications are way more tougher than GMAT and requires a considerable effort on behalf of applicant to network and talk to current students and come up with a good fit. I must say, all the current students or alum were very accommodating in answering questions about schools and inside details which is not available on the site.
Only Regret I have : I didn't apply to top 10 schools and when I look back, I should have. I took 4 mock ISB alum interviews and I was pretty confident for ISB. In fact, because of those 4 Mock ISB alum interviews, I missed submitting application for Goizuetta and UNC. Anyway, part and parcel of the game.
Ding feedback :
Ross : Doesn't provide any application feedback.
Kelley : Not so competitive among the pool.
Anderson : Still waiting
ISB : Still waiting
All the best to all the applicants. R1 is closer than you think.