Less applications in R2/R3

Question

Hello,

I thought I will share with you all what I have heard from admissions office of some of the top schools. It seems after the initial spike in first round, the application volume has fallen in R2 and R3 for most schools. In fact one of the admissions officers mentioned that this year last round would look very different from past years, they expect to admit more students in the last round. So all of you who are still thinking, perhaps there is still a chance. Good luck:)

RJ

Jerz · Answer

That's interesting. I wonder how much the talk of higher app volumes this year caused people to push for R1, resulting in a huge increase in R1 with lower increases in R2 and R3.

This would seem to be a good sign for people on the waitlist too.

solaris1 · Answer

RJ, could you share with us which schools you are referring to specifically, please?

Without appropriate attribution, this information is pretty speculative and not as helpful as it could be to GMATClubbers sitting out waitlists.

The only similar comment I have heard was on one of the BusinessWeek's "Ask Johnson School Admissions" threads, in which an admissions representative claimed R1/R2 application volume combined at that school was essentially flat in comparison to last year's application cycle.

agold · Answer

I would love to see any facts, quotes, or specific school names to support this claim.

zonk · Answer

I don't know if gmatclub is representative of the applicant pool as a whole, but it seems to me R2 applicants are way down on this forum.

For example, Wharton R1 had 60+ people from gmatclub. Wharton R2 currently has 18.

mba07 · Answer

https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/mb ... =rss_daily In this interview, the Darden admissions Director says that the app volume has more or less been flat.

mba07 · Answer

And just to add, one school (not UE/E) recently contacted me and asked me to apply in R3, with an app fee waiver!

Though it might be common for schools outside the top 25 to do this, the fact that they are doing this NOW is surprising!

svrider · Answer

I was checking the threads for all the schools yesterday and except for Columbia, which has rolling ED/RD structure, the number of applicants in R2 are way down from R1. For instance, look at Kellogg, Stanford and Ross threads. Over the years applicants, especially from oversubscribed profiles, have been applying in R1 to have the best shot. But with the 'WL management' efforts at some schools, it seems that the average applicant (and by that I mean, not superstar) will get compared to R2 and possible R3. Maybe in a few years, the tide will reverse

bouncer1981 · Answer

Hey guys.. maybe my firm is different from the norm but we have lot more applicants in R2 than R1 (roughly 10 vs. 4)

my theory is give this forum a cpl of months time, you will see some more R2 applicants chiming in..

suntaurian · Answer

I find it very hard to believe. For Kellogg the number of R2 apps is much more than the number of R1 apps received and I know for a "fact" from talking to an adcom member..Kellogg received only close to 2000 apps for R1.

SolarMBA · Answer

At Haas Super Saturday, the Director of Admissions said Haas Rd 1 apps were up 23% while Rd 2 apps were only up "slightly". He also said that he has spoken with most of the other top 10 schools and they are seeing the same trend.

FN · Answer

picking on Zoinnk's point..if GMClub is a bellweather of even if BW forum is a bellweather than R2 applicants look to be down.. I mean look at BW the chatter is quite less these days..

or maybe everyone was so pshyced and well prepared for an mba that they all submitted in R1

mba07 · Answer

Or maybe everyone thought R2 was going to be crowded and submitted in R1.

If I look back now, I went for one of my R1 apps knowing fully well that it was not my best effort. Wish I had held back and submitted in R2.

I wish I could live my life in hindsight. :D

RJ · Answer

Well it is from talking with Tuck and Johnson adcom.

enteraka · Answer

I don’t know about others, but I heard the same thing from Johnson AdCom staff. We talked about it in length and came up with several reasons:

1. A large portions of R1 applicants are from the finance sector, which was hit hard long before the R1 deadlines, and the applicants hoped to ride out the recession in B schools and rushed to apply R1
2. Some younger people who had plans to apply begin to realize the recession probably will last longer. The economy may not recover if they graduate in 2011. They’ve decided to postpone their application for a couple years
3. Those who are unsure about the job market in 2011 decide to hold on their current jobs instead of going to school
4. Even without non-cosigner loans, a lot of international applicants applied R1 anyway, because they had confidence the world’s top B schools should have not problem securing a replacement. When they realize there will not be such a loan program this year, they lost faith and decide not to apply because they can’t afford anyway.

mba07 · Answer

If you put the two together, it makes sense. Kellogg is one of the few schools which is still offering non-cosignor loans to internationals. It is highly possible that schools offering non-cosignor loans are seeing increased International apps in R2 but other schools aren't.

agold · Answer

These have been the primary drivers of my lack of applications this year (along with my natural slant towards laziness).

nink · Answer

If using Gclub roll call stat to support the above claim, the logic won't work. R2 app numbers will be less compared to R1 apps because:

Number of Gclub members participating in this year's application pool is limited. If there are 100 people applying for bschool this year, and I would say at least 70 to 90 percent of us have at least one admit from 1st round.....and out of this pool (70 to 90%), at least half of us are happy with one of our admits from R1, of course R2 applicants in this forum is going to be less compared to R1.

zonk · Answer

Just had brunch with my friend who is a first-year at HBS. She's pretty involved with admissions and confirms that R2 apps are actually down. R1 apps were up ~25%, enough for HBS to have considered expanding the class size by 10% for this year. However, R2 apps were down enough that the idea was scrapped, and admissions will be shooting for the usual target size of 900.

isa · Answer

Interesting. Thanks for sharing the insight.

I wonder if this is true for other schools - I remember hearing that Kellogg's R1 apps were up quite a bit, wonder what their R2 was like?

Less applications in R2/R3

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