Hardwork never goes unrewarded for ever - 760(49/44)

Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I will surely buy the question pack and mocks.

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.

Congratulations for making it to Tepper and NUS. Both these schools are excellent. Both have really good faculty as well as placements. You will be in good company at either school.

I agree with your assessment of ISB - with 9 years of experience, they may be concerned about your marketability after your MBA.



Must be your application. I can say that the best places for techies are

1) Bay Area (really active VC community + amazing job opportunities)
2) NY Area (really good VC activity + job opportunities)
3) Dallas (although BB may recommend Seattle area)



I am glad that you actually talked to Alums. This gives insights that you won't get from the website or even from admission consultants.



I am surprised. How was your application? You are the second student I know of who has been wait-listed despite having a good profile and a great GMAT score.

Overall, both Tepper and NUS are amazing schools. Just make sure that you continue tapping into the network at Tepper.

Good luck!!

Rajat Sadana

egmat kinjiGC - Marketability in what sense? In terms of getting a placement or something else?
I recently came to know of a person who has gotten into ISB with a 600 on GMAT. A female who had a broken 3 year work ex with lots of gaps. Although she wasn't from IT or an engineering background.
It beats me how can such profiles make it to ISB with a 600.
I mean I know GMAT isn't everything but, its quite important isn't it?

Marketability -> Placing students post MBA.

ISB adcom is the best judge of the profiles they want to let in.

Rohit - you are correct - Marketability in terms of a getting a securing a job in which Kinjal earns significantly more than he currently is. After all, this is one of the metrics that every (or most) business school strives to achieve.

While GMAT is quite important at ISB, there are other factors that they look at as well. One factor that I know is International Work Experience. I know of couple of cases similar to the ones you cited (though guys not girls), in which ISB has offered offered admissions to students who had international experience despite low GMAT scores. This by no way means that they will reject students with high GMAT scores.

I am sure that Kinjal would have gotten through ISB if he had three years of experience as opposed to 9.

-Rajat

Got an awesome offer from WPCarey. It made me thinking !!!

Converted from WL

Congratulations KD.. Scholarships/Fellowships ?? What did you do the convert the WL?

Do let me know if you plan to come to the Warm and Sunny Phoenix .

-Rajat Sadana

Still thinking. I have got scholarship + Graduate assistance ship. If I accept GA, my MBA is free plus I will get $.

Nice.. Congratulations.. That's what I received in 2004. Its good to make some $$ while studying for free .

I can tell you that WP Carey's placement is quite good. They are the #1 school in Az, so all the top companies come for recruitment there. This is one thing I realized after choosing Babson over WP Carey (I had the full fellowship from Babson as well). Since Babson is in Boston, close to MIT, Harvard, Yale, BU, BC, and comparable or better ranked schools, I had to compete for jobs with graduates from these colleges, whereas ASU graduates had the advantage of graduating from the #1 school in the state. Most of the graduating class of 2006 had jobs by 2005 December (The job market was really booming then)

You are in an excellent position. Choose wisely.

-Rajat

A very good point. Thanks for the help.

Hey Kinjal
Mayank here. congratulations on the WP CArey... v good offer.....

Am shortlisting colleges as well.....

Thanks

Hello and congratulations. I am totally confused by this. Can someone help me clear the process in admissions.

So, apparently when kinjiGC applied to WPCarey, the school waitlisted him/her. I interpret this as a signal that he/she just about failed to make the cut. Is my understanding correct?

Subsequently, not only did kinjiGC "make the cut", he/she was actually flooded with goodies, by the school. I interpret this as a signal that the school desperately wanted kinjiGC to join WPCarey. Is my understanding correct?

If yes, then this is not just adding up. First the school almost does not want you, and then the same school desperately wants you

I have yet to appear in GMAT, but reading these mails gives me the impression that GMAT is not even half the journey travelled

Dear Suryakumar,

I understand the confusion. I was too so I spoke to Kinjal. The initial feedback that he received from WP Carey was that they needed more time to decide on his candidacy. So he was not rejected or wait-listed, just told that the decision on his candidacy has been deferred. My guess is that the folks at WP Carey wanted to give him a very strong offer - the best they could (it actually is a great offer; in addition to a full tuition wavier, he will make some money too).

Secondly, there is a very strong correlation between your GMAT score and probability of getting a scholarship. I personally had the same offer from W.P. Carey as well as a full tuition waiver from Babson.

I hope this helps.

-Rajat

Thanks for looking into this and replying. It now makes much sense.

The entire thing about first being "waitlisted" and then suddenly opening the floodgates of goodies was just making me totally confused:(.

Don't worry about those. There are pretty interesting decisions which defies logic. So just concentrate on GMAT, your profile and your app. Rest is there decision.

All the best.

Truly inspiring Man!!

Even i have given CAT for 4 times but didnt get to good college .. .scores ranged from 90-98.8 percentile!!