Kellogg (Northwestern) 2013 - Calling All Applicants

Xinga - I am re posting something I wrote a week or so ago. Hope this will help


To everyone applying from India. I am a reapplicant and hence am acquainted with how the process works. Let me detail it as I am sure it will calm some nerves:

1. Kellogg, by design, interviews each applicant. However, in areas of high demand of interviews such as India, it is not possible for them to match their alumni to each applicant as each alumni can do only as many interviews
2. Once both Part 1 and Part 2 are submitted, one of the following scenarios will occur:

i. You will be invited to interview on a day in late Oct/Early Nov. This is essentially an interview day - many alumni will gather at a hotel and many applicants will be interviewed. No clear formula on how the invitees are decided, but I think it depends on who submtited Part 1 earlier as from Kellogg's vantage point everyone has to be interviewed and hence no one is at a higher or lower priority at that point. Once the interview has been completed, the adcom will review your essays and recommendations and you then sit tight until the decision date to hear back from them.

ii. You will get an interview waiver. The Kellogg team does NOT read an applicant's file until their interview is complete. Hence, to avoid delays, they start reading the application first for those in India who weren't sent invites in the first go. The waiver does NOT affect your application negatively - it just means that they are waiving your interview in order to begin reviewing your application

iii. If they like your application, you will receive an invitation to interview. This will be a one to one with an alumnus here, or a Skype with the adcom in Chicago

iv. It may also happen that you don't get this invite after the waiver -> Dinged

3. Hence, unlike other countries, in India Kellogg does NOT interview everyone. Also, most people receive a waiver which can then convert/not convert into an interview invite at a later stage.
4. You will NOT be admitted to the program without an interview. Hence, if after the waiver you do not receive an invite, it means you have been dinged.
5. Dates: Please read last year's thread. If I recall correctly, people received the first invites 2 weeks after the Part 2 deadline. People who first received a waiver and then an invite (such as me) kept hearing throughout November. I got my invite around Mid Nov.
6. Hence, if by end Nov you haven't heard from them after a waiver, safe to move on to alternate plans
7. Most people in India will get a waiver - it will test your nerves (tested mine) but it is actually a blessing in disguise. If you receive an invite after a waiver, that means the adcom liked your application and wants to know more - that is a positive sign any day of the year

Hope this answers your queries. Indian applicants should NOT compare their interview timeline to foreign applicants.