Calling all Kellogg Fall'08 applicants

A processing fee is typically charged by the larger highrise agencies. I was told Park Evanston is notorious for 'hidden' fees.

I am gonna take my chances with Craigslist. The biggest shock of the weekend was learning how expensive Evanston is to live. I guess the student ghettos I associate with every school is filled with undergrads.

Nope, I haven't gotten into Kellogg yet, so there's no need for an extension since Anderson has A-Days in a few weeks.

I will probably take my chances with Craigslist, as the rent there within a few blocks of school (near the El station) are pretty cheap (roughly $500 cheaper than the SF Bay Area Peninsula here - e.g. Menlo Park). $250 "processing" fee just sounds wrong...

Ya it seems like if you dont mind being farther away and not next door neighbors with a bunch of kellogg people rents a lot better. I didnt notice most single folks had roommates and most couples only had 1 bedrooms. My wife and I are now strongly considering buying a condo but that really depends on our house selling. I think we might try to swing a deal where we sign a lease with an option to buy it or something along those lines. It doesnt seem like it will cost a whole lot more to do it that way and it would be a good way to stash the money we hopefully will make selling our house. Plus home equity loans and lines of credit have way better interest rates than student loans and we can write those off on taxes.

Well a 250 processing fee is better than a months rent brokerage fee thats common in some cities, I know NYC is crazy with things like that.

downtown as in downtown Chicago????

Hi everyone!!

I have to echo all of River's statements about DAK (though I was less in tune with the JV side, not having one ). Unfortunately never found you RR!! I did get to meet many of the other GMAT Clubbers, which was great.

Definitely one of those who was tremendously swayed by DAK. Sloan has a mighty high bar to clear in order to convince me in that direction - but for now I have to say that Kellogg is #1. There was a certain aura about the weekend that was pretty neat and I for one am drinking the Kellogg cool-aid.

Beyond the multitude of events (which River has already alluded to), the people stood out - both professionally and as great people (to borrow a couple of the differentiators Dean Jain mentioned). There was not a single person I met this weekend I could not see myself with on a project team or having fun with out at a bar (I think something that pretty much everyone agreed upon).

To those who were at DAK - thanks for making it a spectacular weekend

No - downtown as in downtown Evanston (where all the restaurants, bars, and most of the apartments are).

The neat thing is that while most of the Kellogg students live off-campus the vast majority of people live within a few blocks of one another.

$250 is not bad actually. We bought a condo in Evanston last year when my husband joined Kellogg, and we had to pay $200 to the condo association just to use the elevator for 4 hrs for moving in.

When I was renting in Chicago northwest subarbs (where rents are half those of in Evanston), even there they were charging $175 processing fee, though they waived it for me as I was employed with one of the preferred companies in their list

BTW, for those of you who went to DAK, have you gone to any other school's admit weekend yet? I just wanted to see if Kellogg just has a better admit weekend than all the other schools out there, or is it just something that most top schools do very well, and that its most people's first admit weekend (which Kellogg is very smart to hold earlier than other schools).

Kry---

To be honest, I think admit weekends everywhere will be great. However, I think what makes Kellogg special is that its planned entirely by the students. No one from the administration is 'selling' you during the events. It allows you to really get a sense for the culture.

I was pretty much already sold on Kellogg before I attended DAK I, but after this weekend, I am completely sold. I'll be sending in my deposit this week for sure. It was also great to meet all the GMAT Club members - you guys were just as nice as I expected.

We didn't end up signing a lease on Sunday, but we got a good idea of what we are looking for. Some places were tempting, but more expensive than we wanted. We decided to wait it out!

thanks MGO and faceman.

I was just curious to see how many people were "swayed" by Kellogg after attending multiple admits. I guess I'll find out after my first one at Anderson in March and Haas in April.

The rents are too high in Evanston, so we thought we might be better off buying. After adding the property taxes, assessment fee and mortage payments , I think you spend the same amount per month on average, as on the rent. When you rent, you have to pay for utilities and parking separately. And also taking tax deductions on mortagage interest into consideration, buying seems to be a better option.

Post graduation, we plan to rent out the unit to Kellogg students and sell it after few years (once the market recovers).

If you would like, I can give you my agent's contact. She helped us find an apartment in the downtown and within our price range even though it is in a very new building.

The one thing I didnt enjoy this weekend was the financial aid talk. Its just depressing to see close to 70K on an overhead for one years cost...then again thats going to be about the same at all but a few schools (state schools).

Kry, I dont think that Kelloggs admit weekend is going to be better or worse than anyone elses. I think that really what gets people to fall head over heels for a school is the people they meet. Not just the students and faculty but most importantly the other admits who are going to be your classmates. Everyone from my future classmates and their significant others to the different deans and alums we met, everyone was great. (there were 200+ people so I didnt meet everyone but I met more folks than I can remember) I think its one of those feelings you get when you are at the school, you can see yourself there with all those people. A lot of the students who attended other events said they had a good time at all of them but none really made them feel as much at home as Kellogg. Then again they were also at Kellogg not someplace else so people who ended up someplace else may not have felt the same.

You are right though that having the first is a huge help, people form a very high expectation and really picture themselves at a school. I know one person who was canceling their trip to admit weekend to GSB because as he put it, why waste the money and vacation time since this is the perfect place for me. And a bunch people said they were withdrawing other applications were removing themselves from waitlists, or were rejecting other offers. They might have enjoyed another schools admit weekend just as much but they made their decisions this weekend. Yes there are a lot going to other weekends and waiting on decisions still but being first is definitely an advantage.

During the closing ceremonies I was at a table with my wife and three other couples, one guy was still torn and all the wives including him were pushing him on Kellogg while we were all like see what fits your needs best. I think that was the biggest difference for a lot of schools, talking with students' significant others they were saying how the kind of felt forgotten about at other admits after going to DAK. It seemed that single people were the ones who were the most undecided, the significant others all pretty much made their opinions known. I am sure Faceman would back that up.

good stuff river! I love your analysis.

Yeah, Kellogg definitely scored a few good R1 students with the DAK being so early it seems. I guess they "hate" people like me who refuse to make a decision until I attend all the admit weekends.

The observation I have is that it goes to show people will be happy at almost any of the top 20 schools, especially if they already filtered out the schools they WANT to go to when they filled out the applications (this is probably different for those who applied to all M7's without discrimination). For myself, just being admitted to Haas and Anderson first has given both schools a slight edge. If it weren't for Anderson's disorganized admissions office, they probably would have still been high on my list. Haas right now is really winning me over (to the point I'm *almost* tempted to withdraw my Kellogg application) with things like a career counseling phone talk with their career center, an upcoming alumni event, invitations to sit in some more classes and club events, as well as some other events they're planning for the admits. It makes it hard to hold out for the Kellogg decision. But don't worry, I'll hold out until Kellogg either admits me or dings me.

Focusing on the partners is probably the best decision Kellogg made. After talking to the Haas partners club, Kellogg definitely gives more "perks" to partners. I guess us single students don't have to worry as much about the "external influence", haha

I think an interesting point regarding timing of admit weekends is coming from thiss discussion. I was told that some schools (Ross, Haas, Darden) do not have multiple admitted students weekends. If this is true, I think this puts these schools at a significant disadvantage when trying to get R1 admits to matriculate.

I have to concur that DAK was a great experience. It was so nice to meet all the gmatclubbers, although I didn't get to meet a few. (mba2010 - I didn't realize that we were at that (awful) dinner at the Celtic Knot together until after we left! I was sitting on the end across the table from you, I had a conversation with your SO about the Jimmy Choo shoes! haha!)

I had an idea that I would be totally into the Kellogg experience before DAK, but by the end I was definitely drinking that Kellogg Kool-Aid. Everyone was right - you definitely get a "feeling" that you belong and you love it, or you're just not into it. I'm still going to go to the Chicago GSB admit weekend in a few weeks, but I doubt it'll change my mind. Even more than that, if they offer the fellowship that I'm up for, I still think I'll go with Kellogg. There's no price you (or I, I guess) can put on going where you feel like you're at home. My undergrad experience was the exact opposite - I spent four years at a great school but I never felt like I belonged. Having had that experience, I can tell you that you should always go where you "fit."

reading your experiences, i am all sold out to kellogg. Now only if kellogg gave me an admit everything would fall in place