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You put your heart and soul into applying for an MBA in hopes of getting into a top business school. You were invited for an MBA interview<\/a> and it went really well. The waiting to get the final response seemed endless. And then it came.<\/p>\n Not only wasn\u2019t it what you expected, it introduced a new level of torment: the MBA Waitlist. \u00a0It\u2019s not total defeat, but it\u2019s certainly not the jump-up-and-down moment yelling to anyone who would listen \u201cI did it \u2013 I got accepted to my dream business school!\u201d Disappointing but also confusing.<\/p>\n It\u2019s natural to ask, how do I get off the waitlist<\/a>? But first, most candidates want to understand the odds. Onward to the million-dollar question, what are the MBA waitlist acceptance rates?<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been waitlisted, it means that the school thinks you could be a good fit, but isn\u2019t ready to make a final decision. The waitlist is neither a \u201cyes\u201d nor a \u201cno.\u201d And while it may not feel like something to celebrate, you should be proud.<\/p>\n The MBA admissions team may have different reasons for putting you on the waitlist. As admissions officers are tasked with building a diverse class (from industry experience to gender and country of origin), it might have come down to the numbers. As Fortuna\u2019s Karla Cohen, former HBS Associate Director reflects in her advice on the HBS Interview, \u201cAfter more than a decade working in admissions at both HBS and INSEAD, I\u2019ve seen firsthand the anguish of rejecting some exceptional candidates because of the numbers \u2013 for example, 50 bankers vying for 9 spots and some 19 knock it out of the park. It\u2019s rare, but it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n You may have a strong profile but there were a lot of other candidates with similar profiles who had an edge over you. Or it may be that while your profile was compelling, your low GMAT score gave reviewers pause about your ability to handle the quant-heavy coursework.<\/p>\n All the top schools maintain a wait list. They\u2019re essentially hedging their bet.<\/p>\n You may have applied in R1 and the admissions team wants to gauge the quality of applications they receive in R2. Harvard Business School is very clear about that on its website, where they say those who are waitlisted are \u201ca small group of strong applicants who we ask to wait until Round 2, at which point we will review your application again.\u201d<\/p>\n Schools are also waiting to see who accepts their offer. Creating a waitlist gives them time later in the process to assemble the strongest and most diverse class possible.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>You\u2019re on the waitlist and of course you\u2019re wondering what the acceptance rates are at the different schools. As schools do not proactively report waitlist acceptance rates, it\u2019s difficult to speculate exact odds, especially year over year. Certainly, getting off the waitlist is harder at some schools than it is at others, and it has a lot to do with yield (which we\u2019ll explain later). It\u2019s safe to say though that the higher the school is ranked, the harder it is to get on AND off the waitlist!<\/p>\n The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has attempted to gather data and below you\u2019ll find a chart based on their data showing what the odds were at the top schools in 2019, pre-pandemic. Keep in mind that these percentages can change from one year to another.<\/p>\nWaitlisted? Here\u2019s What That Means<\/b><\/h2>\n
\nWhy Do Schools Use Waitlists?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
MBA Waitlist Acceptance Rate in Different Schools<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Waitlist acceptance rates (2019)<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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