Last visit was: 26 Apr 2026, 06:13 It is currently 26 Apr 2026, 06:13
Home
Messages
Tests
Schools
Events
Close
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.

Customized
for You

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History

Track
Your Progress

every week, we’ll send you an estimated GMAT score based on your performance

Practice
Pays

we will pick new questions that match your level based on your Timer History
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Go to My Error Log Learn more
Close
Request Expert Reply
Confirm Cancel
avatar
targetfocus
avatar
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Last visit: 16 Jul 2007
Posts: 16
Own Kudos:
1
Posts: 16
Kudos: 1
Do waitlisted candidates have a fair chance the next year? 04 Jul 2007, 18:12
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
Hi Paul,

I was wailisted at Haas (UC Berkeley) for the part-time MBA program for Fall 2007. I was finally dinged last week after being on the waitlist for awhile. The ding letter e-mail says something like "the fact we placed you on our waitlist indicates that we think highly of your accomplishments and would like to offer feedback, so you can work on those areas and reapply next year".

Ofcourse this is no consolation to actually getting in. In my case, I am positive that my low GMAT score of 610 was the reason I was dinged. My real question to you is it is really worth reapplying?

I work for a very big corporation in the Bay Area. We have over 20 people from my company that apply to Haas every year. Almost 99.9% of the people who were waitlisted the first year were dinged the following year without being waitlisted. Almost every collegue that I have spoken to is frustrated with Haas. They seemed to have acted on the feedback that Haas has provided them. They have retaken their GMAT's, switched career paths and some have even quit my company just to aquire a position with a title such as project manager etc., But nothing seems to have helped reapplicants get admitted.

In my case I have already taken my gmat 3 times and am planning to take it a fourth time to improve my score. If I get 700+ then I plan to reapply to Haas. But it is a hassle getting good referrals when I have already had 3 people give me referrals to Haas already. Should I even bother reapplying to Haas next year?

Thanks,
User avatar
PaulBodine
User avatar
Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Last visit: 11 Jul 2018
Posts: 1,794
Own Kudos:
192
Status:Trust Experience, Trust Success
Affiliations: U. Chicago, Johns Hopkins, AIGAC
Posts: 1,794
Kudos: 192
Do waitlisted candidates have a fair chance the next year? 06 Jul 2007, 10:45
Kudos
Add Kudos
Bookmarks
Bookmark this Post
targetfocus
Hi Paul,

I was wailisted at Haas (UC Berkeley) for the part-time MBA program for Fall 2007. I was finally dinged last week after being on the waitlist for awhile. The ding letter e-mail says something like "the fact we placed you on our waitlist indicates that we think highly of your accomplishments and would like to offer feedback, so you can work on those areas and reapply next year".

Ofcourse this is no consolation to actually getting in. In my case, I am positive that my low GMAT score of 610 was the reason I was dinged. My real question to you is it is really worth reapplying?

I work for a very big corporation in the Bay Area. We have over 20 people from my company that apply to Haas every year. Almost 99.9% of the people who were waitlisted the first year were dinged the following year without being waitlisted. Almost every collegue that I have spoken to is frustrated with Haas. They seemed to have acted on the feedback that Haas has provided them. They have retaken their GMAT's, switched career paths and some have even quit my company just to aquire a position with a title such as project manager etc., But nothing seems to have helped reapplicants get admitted.

In my case I have already taken my gmat 3 times and am planning to take it a fourth time to improve my score. If I get 700+ then I plan to reapply to Haas. But it is a hassle getting good referrals when I have already had 3 people give me referrals to Haas already. Should I even bother reapplying to Haas next year?

Thanks,
Show more


targetfocus,

Very interesting question. I think B-schools oversell their openness to reapplying applicants. They are marketing people and part of their job is to *encourage* people to apply. The schools earn revenue on applications and the more people who apply and get dinged the more selective the schools appear. So adcoms naturally skew toward "yes, by all means, apply!" I don't think, however, that Haas is blacklisting your firm. I just think that they are an increasingly tough school to get into, and even when you address the weaknesses they tell you about you are only making yourself *competitive* among other equally talented applicants, *not* assuring yourself of admission.

Given that you have taken the GMAT three times and are still roughly 100 points off a score that would make you competitive at Haas, I would probably advise that you look elsewhere. Please understand that I am not saying that Haas's feedback is inaccurate or deceitful but that following through on it is no guarantee of admission. So take the adcoms' encouraging words with a big grain of salt. Haas may wait-list a lot of people because it's competing with schools with better brands and must wait for the people it admits to accept or reject at those other schools' before drawing from its wait-list. It may have found that it didn't need to draw as much from its wait-list as anticipated because more of its first-choice admittees said yes. Last year Haas admitted 18% of its reapplicants and 17% of its applicants overall. So reapps have about the same chance as everyone else, no better but no worse.

Good luck,