Deny Feedback

Question

Is anyone on the board participating in a Deny Feedback session? One of my schools has offered to set up a call so I can hear about why I wasn't accepted. However, I have already decided to attend Haas. 

 Pros for participating in the session:  It's always good to get an honest evaluation of one's strengths and weaknesses, which could be especially useful given all the job interviews and meet'n'greets we'll be doing over the next 2 years. Good to know where you stand and how other people view you, you know? 

 Cons for participating in the session:  These sessions only seem relevant for people who aren't going to b-school this year and plan on applying next year, so I would have to imply that I'm in that boat. I'm not too keen on that. Also, it's first-come first-served, which means I could potentially take the spot of someone who was planning on reapplying next year. That doesn't seem very fair. 


All in all, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to do it, but I just wanted to see if anyone else had encountered a similar situation and what you did. 

nattylight

johnnyx9 · Answer

I'm planning on doing this with Yale. It's more curiousity than anything. I thought I had a great interview there so I was shocked when I didn't get in, so I just want to know why so that I can figure out how much bitterness I should be harboring.

nbooky · Answer

For re-applicants, it is very important to collect feedbacks from  all  schools which denied the application. From the feedback session, the applicant can not only learn the strengths and weakness on the profile and experience, but also figure what went wrong along the application process. It will be valuable to understand the considerations and evaluation process of a school as well.

Given the competitive nature of application process, it is not uncommon to see the same school (especially top schools) to deny an applicant with a particular reason this year and deny the same applicant next year with a different reason, even the applicant had "fixed" the previous weakness.

By consolidate feedbacks from multiple schools, a re-applicant can address all the weaknesses altogether.

yellowrose · Answer

I plan on getting feedback from my ding, although I have no intention of applying there next year. I'm pursuing an MS at another school in the meantime instead. However, I very well may apply for an MBA program again in the next few years (even if I weren't pursuing the MS, I have a feeling the issues with my application can't be addressed in merely a year), so it would be nice to know their official reasoning.

Actually, due to other issues with that particular school, I'll probably never apply there again, but at least I'll still be able to get some insight into the process in general. I scheduled my appointment today and thought it rather amusing that they asked if I wanted to come to the campus or do it over the phone. Let's see, a 5-hour drive to hear how much I suck for 15 minutes? :evil:

Uh, no thanks, I'll settle for over the phone.

pelihu · Answer

I believe that many schools specifically ask that you only seek feedback if you are planning to resubmit the following year. Of course, I could definitely support the idea that every school should be required to give feedback for every single ding because of how much they collect for application fees.

yellowrose · Answer

This is not such a school, or at least if they are, they've never said so. Besides, after being strung along by them for 3 months on the waiting list, I'm going to milk them for all they're worth. They were really nice to me in my visit to the school, my initial interview, and my waitlist interview, so I don't think there's anything wrong with me wanting to find out exactly what went wrong that they're willing to tell me.

nupurgupt · Answer

i totally agree with yellowrose
we spend a lot of $ and time (more $) in applying
so the least they can do is tell us exactly what was wrong with our app
instead of just the generic email that they send out to everyone (with just the name change at the top), which is automated too

i contacted kelley to find out about why i got dinged
i got an email from them saying they'll be writing critiques at the end of summer so that's when i'll get to hear back from them

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