Kryzak’s Long and Windy Road to B-School

As does Ross

hopefully Haas will have it soon...

nice writeup. i was one of the people who told you that you couldn't make a wrong choice and my vote was for kellogg. but it always seemed like you had haas deep down in your heart.

RVD.

kryzak, kudos for a brilliant writeup! Especially the part where you quote Accepted.com's assessment at the end (IMHO, this should be a sticky)

As another west coast fan, I'd love to stick around, especially in the SF Bay Area. Haas is way up on my list, but its acceptance stats are a concern. I believe the acceptance rate is only around 12-13% of applicants.

I know you had a badass GMAT score, good essays and a strong interview. Besides these, are there any other significant factors that you attribute your successful application to? As in - how would you rate the following in terms of importance - campus visits, volunteer work/other non-work leadership experience, progress at work - promotions/awards, applicant profile (age, nationality) etc.

Apologies if this has already been addressed before. I have been intermittently active on just the GMAT forum so far, and haven't really had a chance to look beyond but this post made me realize that I need to take a step back and think things through a little..

Hi incognito. Thank you for the kudos. As for Haas' acceptance rate, that is always a concern for anyone, but I honestly believe that if you have the ability to get into any of the top 10 schools, you have a good shot at Haas. In terms of ranking things besides GMAT, essays, and interview, I would say your work experience and demonstration of progress at work is key. If you can also show that you're active outside of work (whether it's volunteering, a club, or a hobby you're passionate about), that will frame you as the "well rounded" candidate that Haas seeks.

I really can't pinpoint exactly why I got in, other than tidbits that I got from speaking with the adcom. They pretty much said that my background (going from Engineering to Business Development and being very successful at it) and my passion for all the different things I do in my life (two of my essays were about tennis, if that gives you an idea ) were what they were looking for.

Definitely read through some posts in the "Knowledge Vault" (link in my signature) and really start planning. It's mid-May already, and the next season is starting soon for the early birds like you. It's a bit overwhelming in the beginning, but give yourself a week or two of sorting out all the posts on GMATClub and taking some notes, then you will have a much better picture of what you want to do and how you want to attack your application.

Oh yeah, and always write a detailed profile for Accepted.com to evaluate, so you can quote it later on when you get into schools against all odds.

Thanks kryzak, this is very helpful. As a next step, let me go through some of the earlier posts including ones from the knowledge vault.

thanks a lot for sharing your wonderful experience. congratulations for getting admit in haas

thank you for the kind words howard. Hope I can help you and other 2009'ers this fall.

Hey Kryzak, great posts. Very insightful. Thanks guy

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