I was wait-listed in R1 and was kept until August this year (9 months almost!).

First thing.. don't lose hopes.. but be aware that it will be very tough. Among the member of gmatclub, I heard that only 2-3 people were admitted out of more than 30. I personally wrote to them and one told me that sent regularly updates on his profile and for him it worked. Another was just admitted after being wait-listed a week earlier, probably because somebody withdrew his application.

I personally sent an update quite late, in July after being promoted Manager in a Big4 firm and another one after receiving my final feedback but it did not change it. I believed that sending monthly update with no real improvements was a bad thing rather than a good thing (on the contrary I believe it was also not trustful because I hardly believe that all the good things such as promotions and so on happen always after the submission of the application). However I did not manage to be accepted, I was asked to send an update by beginning of September to have an early admission to next year MBA but decided not to do so because I wanted to do the MBA this year. And again, among the 15-20 people who sent an update, only 2-3 were admitted to next year class.

I also spoke with some LBS alumni while studying here in London and they told me that usually the interview has a smaller weight compared to the other pieces of the application. It happened to them to strongly recommend somebody who was ultimately not admitted and it also happened the contrary.

During the process I was also given the opportunity to apply for the MiF but they finally told me that my goals were more supported by an MBA than a MiF. This was quite clear so I did not understand why they propose me to apply for the MiF (I felt that anyway a MiF from LBS was very strong compared to a MBA somewhere else, given teh fact that I wanted to work in finance after the MBA). The point was that they had access to my MBA file so I needed to be consistent with what I had written in my first application when submitting the additional essay for the MiF. But this is not easy to do as the two programmes are very different.

I believe that LBS wait-list is very painful and very wrongly managed because some people stay in the WL so long and the first movement usually happen after R3, not before.

All what I have written is based on my personal experience (very frustrating - I completed a survey for LBS with my comments about the process) so don't consider this as the TRUTH, however as said at the beginning, not lose hopes!

Good luck
Matteo

Ok guys more analytics:

I have analyzed the roll call in gmatclub (where they list the admitted, waitlisted, and denied candidates at the beginning of each thread)

Surprisingly EACH year, with AMAZING consistency.
Around 27% of the applicants are given admits
27% (yes exactly same number each year for the past 5 years) are placed on waitlist
and the rest are dinged.

I searched online info on acceptance rates and yields (LBS doesnt release this data)
Acceptance rate, widely accepted is 20% (highest in range)
Yield, widely accepted is 65% (lowest in range)

Now this gives a percentage admits of 31% at max.

So each year 4% of applicants at maximum make it through waitlists and get accepted.

This translates to 4/27=one in 6 at max will come off the waitlist. Out of the 14 here, 2 to 3 will therefore get accepted. Who are those 2-3?? FK the LBS lottery

Any R1 waitlist hear back today? I only received note I'll be reviewed again for May.

I came off the waitlist yesterday and am happy to share the steps I took, though I'm sure individual circumstances dictate what works best.

The first lesson I learned is that the managers of the waitlist (who can be reached at the email address cited in your original email letting you know you've been waitlisted) are incredibly responsive and happy to talk to you about how best you can enhance your application. If you ask, they will give you an indication of your gaps if there are any. Sometimes they just aren't sure about you, so it's about engaging rather than, for example, retaking the GMAT.

I met with them when I happened to be in London and we basically had another interview, but it was much more casual and based more on their legitimate curiosity than any structure. They took notes, which were added to my file.

I followed their instructions on sending updates and shared the following in one brief letter:

1. High grades in a math course I'm taking to supplement my relative quant weakness
2. My motivation for why LBS (both personal and professional)
3. That I had competing offers I needed to respond to (from schools in the same league)
4. That I received the promotion I'd told them I was anticipating

5. I had an additional LOR submitted on my behalf by someone at my firm who's perspective on me would be different from that of my initial recommenders. (The waitlist managers had told me to feel free to send in additional LORS, but quality over quantity is critical).

Over the past few months I've also been in touch with a number of current students and believe that doing so and letting the AdComm know you learned something new that strengthens your certainty that LBS is the right place would also be a helpful sentence on an update letter.

Ultimetly everything you send in is added to your file, which is re-reviewed by the AdComm, so I addressed my letters accordingly.

Good luck! I think the advice of everyone above is great: If you want to go, just keep engaging and don't give up.