From Dr. Shel (Shelly Watts), https://www.mbaadmit.com, email: info@mbaadmit.com
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MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable top-quality MBA admissions consulting companies, with prices nearly 50% lower than our direct competitors.Waitlist: Tips for Getting Off and Admitted!It’s the time of the year when candidates hear back from Round 2 schools. Some candidates will find themselves waitlisted. This can be a highly frustrating situation and the typical candidate will spend plenty of time wondering what they can do to get off of the waitlist to successfully gain admission to their target MBA program.
Before helping you think through what sorts of steps can help get you off of the waitlist, let’s first review what it means that you are on the waitlist….
It means that the Admissions Committee sees great merit in your application and candidacy, but there is something that was not quite enough to get you “over the edge” to that clear admission.
For some candidates, they may be highly qualified as a candidate and lacking in no necessary credential, but the application itself was weaker than desired. There is a difference between being a qualified candidate and presenting an outstanding application. If you failed to present a great case for admission in your application, the Admissions Committee may be saying that they want you to do better.
For other candidates, they may be slightly lacking in a credential or have a “soft spot” in their qualifications. For example, perhaps their undergraduate GPA was slightly lower than desired. Perhaps their GMAT score is a little soft overall, or soft in quant. Perhaps there is a gap in employment. The shortcomings could be of many varieties. But, this candidate showed enough positive attributes through their application that the Admissions Committee is still giving them a chance.
For some candidates, your qualifications may be solid but you are in a highly competitive pool, like the pool of male investment bankers or the pool of Indian foreign national male engineers. In this case, the volume of qualified applicants with good applications was likely high and the Admissions Committee found other candidates more compelling for some reason, but you were reasonably close to getting the “yes”.
Regardless of the scenario, you will want to do what you can to get off of the waitlist and get admitted. Here’s some advice and steps that can help.
Business Schools that Bar Additional InformationThe first step is to determine whether you can send in additional materials. In some cases, the answer is no. It is very important that you refrain from acting in a way contrary to what the business school has set forth as acceptable actions for its waitlisted candidates. So, if a business school has communicated to you through their direct correspondence or through a message on their website that a waitlisted candidate should not send in additional information, you should adhere to this. If you don’t, you can look disrespectful and this may cause damage. It is currently a minority of the top business schools that bar students from sending in additional materials once they are on the waitlist. Business schools that in the past have held to this policy have been Wharton and Harvard.
Please note, though, that there are sometimes exceptions. At MBAAdmit.com, we have been aware of situations in which a candidate had a strong ongoing dialogue with an Admissions Committee member and that Admissions Committee representative indicated it is okay for the candidate to send additional materials, like an essay explaining further why the school is their top choice and the sorts of contributions they could make. If you are in this situation, then you are the exception to the rule and it should be fine for you to send in additional information to a school whose official policy is “send in no additional information”.
Business Schools that Allow You to Send in Additional InformationMost top business schools allow candidates to send in additional information if they are waitlisted, but these schools fall into two camps. The first set of schools limit the information to “updates” about anything notable that has happened since applying, such as a promotion or a new GMAT score. The expectation is that you will focus on notable changes since you submitted your application. The other set of business schools don’t restrict very much what you can send in. For example, they allow you to send in an additional essay or an additional recommendation to help bolster your case for admission.
When Sending in Additional Information, Stay On-Point!For both of these sets of business schools that permit additional information, you should take advantage of the opportunity to send in additional information while you are on the waitlist, but be concise! You should focus your efforts on sending in concise, value-added information. This will not only look good because you will be expressing your great desire to gain admission, but it will also allow you to add information that strengthens your application and candidacy, so that when the Admissions Committee members come back to your application to make another decision, you have an even strong record before them.
I cannot underscore how important it is to be concise, however. If you take great care to prepare materials that are on-point, well-written and value-added, you will show respect for the time of the Admissions Committee members. This helps keep things on a very positive footing.
Assess Your Candidacy and Application – Identify and Address ShortcomingsThere are several types of “improvements” to a candidacy that you should almost always report to schools if you are on the waitlist and they permit additional materials. For example, if you received a promotion, you should let the Admissions Committee know about this. If you received an award in the workplace, you should bring that to the attention of the Admissions Committee.
You can and should also take things to another level of analysis. As you consider what additional sorts of materials will be the most high-impact in encouraging the Admissions Committee to admit you off of the waitlist, you will need to assess your candidacy and the application you presented. Do you have shortcomings, such as a slightly lower-than-ideal GPA? If so, the information you provide and the additional steps you should take should all be tailored specifically to address those shortcomings.
For example, if you have a less-than-ideal GPA or a less-than-ideal GMAT score, you may want to enroll in a short online course focused on math for MBAs. That could give your application a boost.
As another example, perhaps you had insufficient leadership experience in the workplace or in the community? You can take high-impact, short-term steps to build your record.
Perhaps you discovered after your applied that one of your recommendations was not as strong as it could have been. Sending in another recommendation could strengthen your application.
Assessing your record excellently is a first step to identifying what materials will have the biggest “bang” in getting you off of the waitlist.
Do you need waitlist assistance? At MBA Admit.com, we can assess your application, identifying steps that can help strengthen your application and candidacy and potentially help you get off of the waitlist. We can also provide assistance in helping you identify what to put in any additional essay you might send to the Admissions Committee. We can also work with a recommendation writer to ensure they send in an outstanding recommendation that fully supports your candidacy.
We offer different levels of waitlist services, beginning at $165. Feel free to click below for more information about our waitlist services.
https://mbaadmit.com/waitlist-services-50-discount-off-regular-rates/
For more information about our Waitlist Special, Round 3 Special, Round 1 Special and Ding Analysis, send an inquiry to info@mbaadmit.com. To benefit from our free webinar about MBA admissions best practices, visit
https://mbaadmit.com/webinars/Best wishes,
Dr. Shel (Shelly Watts)
President, MBA Admit.comhttps://www.mbaadmit.comEmail:
info@mbaadmit.com _________________
From MBA Admit.com: Proudly, one of the most affordable MBA admissions consulting companies. Direct email address: info@mbaadmit.com