How to Get Off a Waitlist? MBA Waitlist Strategies

What to do if you are Waitlisted at BSchool?



If you had the misfortunate of getting waitlisted, I am sorry - it is going to be a long haul most likely.
I will outline some strategies and ideas how to get off the MBA Waitlist as well as what has worked for people in the past. However, there are other elements at play than just your candidacy. Other MBA applicants (both admitted and applying) are also impacting your chances of clearing the waitlist.

Read also: Former AdCom member shares the real deal on Waitlists


What is the MBA Waitlist, How it works, and why does it exist?
Understanding how you AdCom thinks and how you got on the waitlist in the first place will help you figure out how to get off it

WL (Waitlist) is a way for schools to manage the uncertainty and hedge risk.

This can be multiple risks such as (lower than expected applications in the next round) OR too many people defecting to other programs after admission (yield problem). MBA programs know about both of these issues and have experience over the years. For example, many MBA programs have a yield rate lower than 50%, which means for 2 people you admit in R1, only 1 of them will show up at school in August. Some may pay the deposit and some may bail right away and some will try to negotiate a higher scholarship. Since GMAT comes with 5 free score reports out of the box, basically almost everyone is applying to 5 schools and this trend has been increasing during the pandemic when more MBA programs have started taking people without GMAT or GRE and started offering app fee waivers (these used to be quite rate 3 years ago)

Imagine you are the AdCom member of a Top 15 MBA program and your goal is to get 50% of 400-person class in R1 (you will then get 40% in R2 and 10% in R3 and WL). You need to get 60/40 split for domestic vs. international students and you want to get a diverse class of Males and Females with at least 40% women. You also want to get students from at least 10 different countries and it would be a plus if you can get someone from Australia and Norway. You also want to get some military folks and some consultants, a few Tech guys, and a few jocks and possibly a biologist. This then becomes more detailed in terms of introverted and extraverted and confident or perhaps not so much. However, you also know that half the people will bail and choose not to attend after you admit them, so you have to recruit the full 400 people in the first round. This becomes a mathematical "what is the least number of people do you need to hit all the requirements" type of a GMAT-PS question. If you can get someone from Australia who is a veteran and is a woman, you are hitting 3 boxes at the same time and you want to make sure this person attends. With other folks you may be hitting just one box - a boring guy from Chicago with GMAT 720 and a good job but nothing special otherwise. You also have the 760 Indian crowd that is quite scholarship-sensitive. As you see, you are playing 3D chess and your best friends are your instincts, and as many people as you can get who hit multiple checkboxes since it is easiest to get boring Chicago guys or Indian Engineers with 760. You start with the most unique and exotic applicants who have no red flags and then go down the line to the least interesting but still highly competitive and qualified candidates. You know that half of the admitted students won't attend, so you have to double on everyone and you almost want to over-admit the interesting profiles in the class in R1 so that you would get their commitment or answer by mid-R2 and you know if they are attending or not attending so you know how to build the class in R2. (This is an over-simplification of the process; a lot more goes into evaluation including employability after graduating, contribution to the school brand, rankings and scores, and red flags). For example, you may have checked many admissions criteria boxes related to stats and demographics but your career goals were not realistic and it was clear you have not thought through this enough or there were other concerns. Some perhaps not strong enough to warrant a Ding but definitely multiple not to warrant an admit either.


After you built your ideal class you invite all the cool kids - the ones you really want to have. Most of these tick off multiple boxes or make a great addition to the class in more than one way. You deny the canon fodder - those who have no place applying in the first place, the bad work experience low-GMAT scoring folks with terrible essays and then you start sand-bagging (this means you protect youself and you start issuing insurance policies in the form of Waitlist notices) This is a very simplistic example, but bear with me: You may have an Australian who is not a woman but a guy and not a military veteran but an accountant. Decent GMAT but nothing special otherwise. You don't know if you will have many Australians apply in R2, so you WL them - it is better than nothing just in case your R1 Aussies jump ship. You also balance this with scholarships - e.g. you can offer all of your Aussies admitted in R1 a scholarship and then many would likely stay so you do not need to WL that Aussie accountant and you can give them a good old boot. Did you notice how WL is tied to a scholarship via likelihood to attend?

TLDR; If you did not read the above amazing write up, know this - Waitlist means you did not fit the requirements of admission in the current round. However, since there is a risk the Adcom may lose too many of the admitted students from this round to other schools and/or not get a sufficient number of quality candidates to replace losses and meet all of their goals in the next round, they want to keep folks on the Waitlist. Waitlist is a combination of supply of other candidates, spaces available AND your qualifications to check as many boxes as possible.



How do you get off the MBA Waitlist?
Getting off an MBA waitlist can be a challenging process, but it is possible with determination and a strong strategy. AdCom will provide you with a path/process for submitting updates. Make sure you have a plan for MULTIPLE updates. When you send waitlist update letter, be sure to highlight any new accomplishments or achievements that you have made since you submitted your application (not since the WL). If AdCom has not reached out or identified the WL process, reach out to them and express your continued interest in the program. This will be the easiest tool available to you with the least effort - to reassure AdCom that this program is your first choice and if they admit you, you won't bail and wont' waste their time since the main reason they are admitting you is most likely since someone bailed on them in the first place. You want to be the biggest fan and the biggest supporter.


Best Waitlist Strategies:
The most impactful changes will be the hardest to make usually:

• Reach out to current students or alumni of the program and ask for advice on how to improve your odds of getting off the MBA waitlist. They may have insights on what the admissions committee is looking for in a successful candidate. This is a good soul-searching time. Many current students are ambassadors (2nd year) and involved with AdCom activities and have definitely seen enough on their watch of various admits, dings, and WL's. They know what the school is looking for and they should be able to identify concerns. It is possible that you were a desired applicant but you were held back by.
  
• Improve your stats (if reasonable) such as GMAT (if you already have 750, don't bother)
  
• Ask your boss at work if there is anything else you can do, score a promotion, or a raise, recognition, end of year award, etc. You can also try to think outside the box and get an offer from another company with more pay/better title.

Helpful Waitlist Strategies:
Remember that the chances of getting off the waitlist are in part dependent on you and in part dependent on the other person who is decided to stay or bail. If you are an engineer and there are already 10 engineers in the class, unless one of them chooses to decline, no matter what score or promotion you get, you are not very likely to get admitted. This makes waitlists tricky when some people get in with lower scores and others stay on the waitlist forever.

• If you cannot improve your GMAT (I would not bother if you already have a 750) and doing anything at work is not really possible either, and you don't have a great other job offer either, I would demonstrate to the AdCom that your career goals/plans are reasonable and start working on making them more real. E.g. If you are an programmer and you said you wanted to be an MBB consultant, this can be a stretch, esp if your interview was not amazing. You can start joining various consulting industry events, join a toast masters or a presentation club, take some classes on casing, interviews, etc. Connect with some of the alums who have gone through this path of being a programmer and joining an MBB (if you can find them; if not, then you should have done better research to start with) You basically are getting a head start working on your career and this tells AdCom you are serious about it, you will be able to get a job and you may find that job even without an MBA to an extent.
  
  
• Update your resume and application materials to reflect any new experiences or skills that you have gained since you submitted the application. This would be good 3 months ago and maybe you have something to add/update on the resume. This will demonstrate additional commitment and could potentially address some of the concerns.
  
  
• In either case, you want to at some point write a letter/note to school indicating that they are your first choice and you will attend without a doubt if you get admitted. You'd better be sincere by the way. This is not an effective approach but this is a must-do and can easily be done in a cover letter or in a communication with the waitlist manager

Least Effective Waitlist Strategies

• Asking a random alum or current student to vouch for you and send a letter of support. The more random they are, the weaker it will be. This is almost not worth the effort and I would instead ask them to review your application (even if you have to indirectly pay for their time). I would def offer to pay since current students are poor on time and money.
  
• Building alternative transcripts or taking expensive courses/classes. Chances are you won't have enough time to do anything meaningful. Taking a full class makes no sense. I would instead recommend doing shorter courses/tasks that bring you closer to your end goal. In other words, don't just sit on your rear end waiting for the WL to clear, keep working towards your goal - use your time wisely! AdCom will love it.
  
• Be persistent and continue to show your interest in the program. AdCom will often reach out multiple times (3-4) asking for updates and I would plan or expect to be able to send some each month at the least. Plan for this. Many people run out of updates after 2. Make it more effective - even something small but interesting is better than nothing or something big but boring! These updates do not have to be huge updates every time but you could say "I started volunteering with a local non profit that helps clean up local beaches. When I grew up, we could not use the beach but last weekend 200 of us spent 8 hours and achieved an amazing result - we have been able to open the local beach for the first time in 20 years. Here is an article about it in the local paper or on the non profit's website" This is an awesome update. All it would take is a day of volunteering at a special event and hopefully believing in this kind of work and effort.

Admissions Consultant Advice:

1. How to Get off the #MBA Waitlist; Your 6 Actions will Impress #BSchool AdComs - YouTube video with 37 Likes
2. MBA Waitlist Acceptance Rate at Top Business Schools