Stanford GSB: Class of 2017 - Calling All Applicants!

They're all moving to Massachusetts, I hope.

congratulations!

It is way too quiet on this forum!! The wait continues...

For some reason I've got a bad feeling about this one. Hopefully Mr. Bolton will prove me wrong!

Posted from my mobile device

Hi everyone! This is my first time ever posting in one of these forums! but I've loved following all your posts and really appreciate everyone sharing their experiences. It's helped me a lot and made the wait more bearable!

I was rejected by HBS couple weeks ago and Wharton yesterday. I'm crushed, but only because that leaves me with 1, my last drop of hope, and my number 1 school, Stanford.

Stanford has always been my dream school, it also happens to be the most competitive to get in to, so i lose more and more hope with each rejection from other top schools and definitely with each day that goes by without me receiving an interview request.

I'm a Middle Eastern women based in Dubai with some North American prior experience. Work in financial data and cover parts of Sub Saharan Africa, so I travel a lot to work with major banks and regulatory authorities in that part of world. I thought that would be appealing to schools, specially with most focusing on diverse knowledge sharing and discussion based learning..anyways..Sorry to ramble on... I needed to vent a little, but here is my question:

Do you guys think I should apply in Round 3 to other schools? For me, It really is now or never. My original plan was to go to Stanford, if not HBS, Wharton or no MBA at all. Now however, after all the work and thought I put into my original applications, I'm considering applying to Kellogg, Haas, and Anderson in Round 3 - even if it is just to prevent being completely gutted and destroyed on March 3rd.

Would love your thoughts. Thanks

!mogharbel فرصة سعيدة يا

Just my 2 cents here. I think your intuition is right that your profile would be desirable to many schools (I happen to work in a similar field). The issue is that you applied to the three most competitive bschools in the world. Even if you're well qualified, the odd's are against you at those schools. The question you're facing now is, as you surmise, "Do I really want/need an MBA, and, if so, do I need it now? or did I just want a feather in my cap?" If the answer is the former, then yes, you gotta apply round 3! Those are great schools you're thinking about adding, but depending on your profile, it may be wise to throw in a safety (not sure if those are safeties for you, all are selective schools) if you really need to do it now. Keep in mind, if you take this path, you can still always decide not to matriculate later, it's just that this option broadens your opportunity set. Good luck!

Thank you for your response Scofield050! I definitely need an MBA and know that the perfect time is now, for professional and personal reasons. What would you consider good safety schools?
I know the obvious ones, lower ranked, higher acceptance rates.. etc but for me, programs outside the top 20 or 25 are not worth the money.. I could study topics online and up my networking initiative instead..

Appreciate your help! Thanks again.

I think choosing the specific schools that make the most sense depends heavily on personal factors, but it never hurts to apply to as many as possible (subject to application fee constraints)! I think the three you mentioned are great, but keep in mind, anything in the top 20 to 25 will be very competitive, so it's under the circumstances the more you apply to the better shot you have of landing one!

Just as they send out rolling interview inviations over a month long period, I wish they would send out rolling rejection letters....it would make it much less painful!

FWIW- If I were you, I would seriously consider applying to a program like INSEAD if you were set on going back to school this year and don't necessarily need to be in the US. I went to one of their info sessions back in the fall and I remember them specifically saying that your chances of being admitted will be the same regardless of the round you apply in. They also place a heavy emphasis on diversifying the geographic regions students come from. That being said, I agree with Scofield- I think your profile will be compelling to the schools you're considering for R3 and you should have a reasonable shot!

انت تتكلم عربي كمان؟ scofield و

mogharbel7 i would also echo insead (maybe apply R1 to Jan intake instead of final round for september). The other schools totally depends on what you want out your mba - so many schools that you could R3 into

Haas, darden, duke, kellogg, booth, tuck, then there's also LBS & IE. nobody can really give you a list coz we'd need to know what you are looking for.

Others have reiterated this before - but please do not try to predict the interview invite pattern, or assume you will or will not get one. I know several folks (including myself) who didn't get invited till the very end, and I made it through just fine

Good luck, everyone!

فقط قليلا ... عامين !

Stanford would you be my valentine??

Posted from GMAT ToolKit

I don't believe there is NO pattern; just because GSB told so, or we don't know their selection process doesn't mean there's no pattern. I am an engineer and scientist, and given the human nature there is nothing without a pattern. It will just take a lot of effort to predict it; you need to know all the applicants, their profiles, GMAT, GPA, application dates, geographical region, when they received invites etc. Or even if the adcom picks up applicants randomly from the all applicant pool there is still a pattern or in other words distribution according to age, profile, sex etc. and randomization will not make it random in fact. So scientificly proven GSB's statement on no pattern to be wrong:) Oh, did I say I don't believe there is NO pattern? Well, I say so not because I belive there is one, I believe because it's impossible not to have a pattern (even if GSB does think that there's no pattern). Now, this doesn't mean you need to try to predict it, it will take you so much time and data to do it. So it is just reasonable to sit back and relax let them to do their work))
/ just wanted to keep the energy in this topic))

I think we're on the same page - I didn't say there was no pattern. I just said it would be a futile and wasted effort to try to predict the pattern. A world of difference there

After both admit weekends, I finally chose Stanford GSB vs Harvard Business School, and matriculated. Great joy!

Good luck to everyone with a R2 interview and everyone still waiting for an invite. I look forward to being your classmate, you can do it!