{"id":6156,"date":"2011-01-31T16:32:41","date_gmt":"2011-02-01T00:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=6156"},"modified":"2011-01-31T16:32:41","modified_gmt":"2011-02-01T00:32:41","slug":"why-wasnt-i-admitted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/why-wasnt-i-admitted\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Wasn’t I Admitted?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting rejected is tough to deal with. What makes it even more difficult is that few MBA programs give rejected applicants specific feedback on why they didn't\u00a0 get in. Applicants just want to know what they \u201cdid wrong\u201d to not get in, but, even when schools do provide feedback, the applicants normally end up confused and still guessing about what to do next.<\/p>\n

Are admissions officers trying to obfuscate the process, keeping you in the dark so that you can\u2019t \u201cgame\u201d the system?\u00a0 The truth is that, when someone gets rejected, it is often because the school just could not find any great reason to admit them over thousands of other applicants.<\/p>\n

Rejection letters often contain lots of references to \u201can unusually strong year\u201d and the fact that \u201cthe admissions office reviewed more great applications than it has spots to offer.\u201d While this may sound like a lot of hot air, therein lies the real reason why many applicants get rejected.<\/p>\n

Next year\u2019s incoming class at Stanford GSB will be a bit smaller than 400 students. Out of the 7,000+ applications the school receives, do you really think that only a few hundred are strong enough to be admitted? Of course not. The number is probably closer to 2,000 than it is to 500. (We\u2019re speaking in pretty broad terms here, but the exact numbers aren\u2019t what\u2019s most important here.) Separating out the 2,000 great applicants from the rest is the easy part; it\u2019s deciding which of those 2,000 to admit is where things get hard for the admissions office.<\/p>\n

Invariably, they will see hundreds of applicants whom they really love, but who just aren\u2019t presenting that one knockout thing that makes admissions officers choose them over the next (very similar) applicant. Two applicants with amazing international banking experience, identical GMAT scores, perfect letters of recommendation, and fantastic essays......\u00a0 There is no law that says the school can only take one, but they have to start making hard choices at some point, and soon enough the admissions director will start leaning on his or her team to start reducing the number of bankers in the class, or to only take another consultant if he walks on water, etc.<\/p>\n

So, admissions officers start to make tough choices, and really are forced to not<\/em> choose some applicants simply because they only have so many spots left, and they can\u2019t justify devoting a spot to those applicants because they just not quite great enough to justify it.Thousands of applicants get the \u201cIt\u2019s not you, it\u2019s us\u201d letter, and for at least a few hundred of them for a given school, the admissions committee really, really means it.<\/p>\n

The way to avoid falling into this bucket (or, more accurately, to minimize your risk <\/em>of falling into it) is to present something truly outstanding about yourself, something that really stands out and will stick in admissions officers\u2019 minds when they start negotiating and whittling down the class. Make sure your essays help them feel like they know you personally<\/a>. Submit recommendations in which the writers scream from the rooftops and nail your interviews so that they have no questions about your maturity and your ability to work with others. Display a knowledge of (and a passion for) the program that leaves no question in the admissions committee\u2019s mind that you will matriculate if accepted. And, perhaps most importantly, don\u2019t force them to overlook any weaknesses in your profile. Make their decision an easy one.<\/p>\n

The above steps are obviously more easily said than done, but they really are the best way to avoid falling into the \u201cWe really like you, but just can\u2019t quite find room for you\u201d bucket. Do it right, and when the admissions office talks about the \u201cunprecedented number of highly qualified applicants,\u201d they\u2019ll be talking about you.<\/p>\n

Ready to sign up for a GMAT course ? Enroll through GMAT Club and save up to $180 (use discount code GMATC10)! Take a look at our course options in some of our most popular cities: New York<\/a>, Chicago <\/a>and Los Angeles<\/a> and make sure to check the Veritas Prep blog<\/a> for daily articles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Getting rejected is tough to deal with. What makes it even more difficult is that few MBA programs give rejected applicants specific feedback on why they didn’t\u00a0 get in. Applicants…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-uncategorized","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6159,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions\/6159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}