Calling All Fall 2012 Consortium Applicants!

Congrats sir! I had to opt for a phone interview, no way I could make it out to Ithaca by the end of the year. Hopefully that doesn't hurt me too bad in their decision making. Today after work I'm meeting up with my Auntie's friend who is a Johnson MBA Alum and did admissions interviews for years after she graduated, so if she has any unique insider information relating to the interview i'll let you know.

Thanks man! It does feel good to get the invite, I was getting anxious when mixedin86 got his, glad mine didnt come much long after, lol... That sounds awesome about the updates, let me know if you'd like me to help with anything else, I'm more than willing.

Thanks man, congrats to you as well! Yeah definitely let us know what your Aunt's friend says, that'd be great. I don't think the phone interview will hurt, you're out west and thats a big trip to make on short notice, especially so close to the holidays. I feel I need to make the trip though cause I'm much better face-to-face than I am over the phone (weird i know) and I want to be on my best for it. When did u schedule for? Let us know how it goes!

In an attempt not to embarass anyone, our first reported Consortium acceptance has come to pass -- Congrats Zilla on being accepted to the Johnson School! Hopefully a Consortium fellowship will come with it.

Queue the applause...

Posted from my mobile device

Congratulations to those who have been admitted to Johnson. As a 1st year Johnson student now who was doing the same exact thing last year as you guys are doing now, I completely feel your frustration! Just know that it will work out for everyone. The reason I write on here now is because last year a classmate of mine started our class facebook page after he got his acceptance in December. It now consists all of the 1st years and is a resource that has helped us since February (prior to arriving on campus) through now... it's still incredibly active and it's just 1st years. Admissions/Administration has nothing to do with our FB page. So what I've done is created the FB page for the Johnson Class of 2014

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JohnsonClassOf2014/

Just trying to get some grassroots efforts spreading the word, so I decided to come on here. Best of luck to all! let me know if you have any questions about applications or just Johnson in general! Feel free to email me at rab492@cornell.edu

To Those Who Cannot Visit: Definitely try to reach out to any and everyone you know at the school so that you can really speak to the true values of the school (as with any school).

Any R1 hear from Anderson or Marshall yet? My heart's in SoCal and I'm starting to get a little restless.

Hi Capital, welcome aboard. I actually just received the confirmation email from Marshall stating that they received my Consortium app. Still no word from Anderson though

Congrats to those who are already receiving acceptances and interview invites! I'm currently a 2nd year at Ross and it's been awhile since I've been active on the boards but want to help out those applying through Consortium as the application season is in full swing! I had descent Consortium success and have visited about 13 different schools prior to applying anywhere so I've seen a lot of different programs up close. Happy to help anyone with Consortium questions on here or Ross specific questions via PM (don't want to hijack this thread with too many school specific).

Best of luck to all and I'm excited to see this thread buzzing once again!

Thanks Johnny, glad to hear I'm not the only one. I've been checking out this board for a little while, although I haven't contributed anything until now. You guys do an excellent job of posting relevant information.

As for the speculation about Consortium rankings, I can add only this to the discussion. Not only do all the schools see them, they also matter big-time in terms of admission (not just for the fellowship and regardless of what Ross says). I have it on very good authority from a friend who works in admissions at a Consortium school that the admission rate for Consortium applicants usually hovers around half of the general application admission rate for most schools. That means that a school with an admission rate of 30% will accept 15% of Consortium applicants. Don't let that statistic fool you though:
(1) to protect their yields, schools will rarely accept students that rank them below 3 and in many cases below 2 (especially true for the Tuck's and Stern's of the Consortium)
(2) the caliber of many consortium applicants is well below the general population of applicants, which is partly why programs like MLT and SEO are a big plus (they're seen as good preparation and vetting to overcome low GMAT/GPA); if your numbers are at a school's overall average and you're a URM Consortium applicant, you have a very very good chance of getting in because you'll be well above the pool that you're being compared to (other URM Consortium applicants)
(3) as a result of (1) your chances of getting in actually improves over the general rate of acceptance if you rank a school highly in your Consortium rankings even if your numbers aren't great or trend closer towards the Consortium average
(4) keep in mind that the average GMAT for an accepted Consortium student in 2010 was 644, GPA was 3.24 - don't put too much weight into that though because the higher ranked schools will have higher averages for their Consortium students.
(5) essays are even more important for Consortium applicants than they are for regular applicants because (a) whether you like it or not you're pigeon-holed as a diverse candidate and that needs to come across (but don't be overbearing about it) and (b) if they don't think you're going to come to their school they'll deny you, so you have to show specific interest in the program in the school's essay(s) and preferably otherwise.

Good luck guys, I hope that helps. None of this is dispositive, so don't get too worked up - it's just what I took away from a very long conversation with a candid AD.

Welcome to the forum Capital. Seems as if you have a lot of good insight. This is in response to both your posts.

1. I recieved a notification that Marshall recieved my app yesterday and then I recieved an interview invite today. So it looks like they are getting things rolling for Rd. 1 applicants. Strange because I was told at their diversity day that they consolidate Rd.1 and Rd.2 Consortium applications. But oh well, I'm not complaining.
I didn't apply to Anderson so I have no idea what's going on over there.

2. What you said about the Consortium process at schools is SPOT ON! I wish you would have posted that 2 months ago when I was figuring out my rankings. Rd. 2 applicants should pay A LOT of attention to what you said in regards to rankings. The schools WILL see them before they admit you, and they WILL make decisions partially based off of where you rank them to protect their yields. With that having been said, it's not impossible to get admitted to schools you ranked #4, #5, & #6. But if those schools are arguably top 10 programs you are at a disadvantage. I, for one, have been invited to interview at my #5 & #6 programs but they are lower ranked and I won't be surprised if I am dinged solely based off where I ranked them.

Good luck at getting admitted to a SoCal school; maybe I'll see you at Marshall as I'd love to be a Trojan!

#2 has been a hot topic the last couple years on this board. I can speak honestly that every school views the rankings differently. There are some that it is really really important. There are others that don't even look at it until after an admission decision is made (and they mean it). And there are others where it's only a single data point in the total application, but is not over weighted. The key is to know the schools you're applying to really well and what they value.

If I reverse the logic that admissions and fellowships are most likely to occur the higher up on your list, my ranking was backwards then because my lower rank schools were the most interested on both accounts. I say all this to conclude that there is very little you can do to game the system because at the end of the day, what matters most is who you are, what you offer, and how you stack up against the other people applying to the school (which you really don't know). Too much strategy/time/effort in your rankings hits a point of diminishing returns REALLY REALLY fast.

Just my 2 cents.

With any luck this will turn into an respectful debate on ranking strategy, thinking through the application process and assessing your candidacy.

Before I give my 7 cents I have to agree with the statement 'know your schools' and how they value your engagement and affection towards them. Also, if the Consortium fellowship aka the $$$ is your numero uno priority then rank your schools according to where you think you can get the money. But if you are making your decision on the school you love, keep reading...

I'm one of these naive people who believe over synthesizing your ranking strategy and trying to outsmart adcom's will likely backfire. If you are confident your candidacy will stack up to your peers why wouldn't you rank your schools in accordance to where you want to go??? Many of us have it on 'good authority' from students, AD's, alumni and professors what to and what not to do -- but ask yourself; how much 'good authority' is enough for you to make an informed choice as an individual candidate -- just think about it. At the end of the day you have to live with the school you end up at; what if you ranked school B number two but they were really number five? Will you be satisfied ending up near your bottom? That said I think there are two factors (yes, another unsolicited opinion) that should drive everyone's choice of where to apply:

1. Where do YOU want to go to school?
2. Are you confident that you have a compelling candidacy that is (not perfect) but competitive?

This year we introduced statistical tools that can help (not define) assess your candidacy with 3 data points. ~Shoutout to #bb, #johnnygmat and #method for helping spearhead this~ But there are other components you all need to consider before making an ad hoc decision based solely upon GMAT, GPA and WE.

My final point, and I find this particularly troublesome, is that every now and again a seemingly reputable source could throw candidates for a tailspin who really want to go to School A, but instead Rank School D number one and will always wonder, "What if?" Don't fall into this trap. The only reputable source at the end of the day is the candidate and their honest assessment of their candidacy -- they tell the story of who you are -- not the adcom -- and not a gmatclub member.

I think theoutlawfades makes some really great points, namely about diminishing returns. I spent a lot of time considering how I would rank six schools, and in the end I went with just three and put them in order of where I would go if all things were equal. Looking back it should have taken me about 30 seconds to draw up the order, but I wasted hours and hours of my life devising some grand strategy.

And hilariously, unlike outlaw's experience, all of the interest has come from the 1st and 2nd ranked schools, and no interest has come from my last school despite its reputation for buying GMAT scores.

That said, I would not apply to Tuck unless it's #1. I would've said the same thing about Yale until Snyder took over, but now it looks like Yale is blatantly admitting GMAT scores to move up in USNews, so they've probably loosened up.

Please explain...Tuck is my #1 for the Consortium and Yale is my #2...anything wrong with this picture? I got a 720 on the gmat - nothing special, just checking the box

I'm planning on applying to 5 schools via the Consortium

Outlaw and Senator, you make very good points and I encourage you to take a closer look at the implications of my post because it's not inconsistent with anything you're saying. It's impossible to accurately generalize about all schools in the Consortium because of the different priorities that schools have in admissions. But you're making a big mistake if you don't try maximize your potential as an applicant by taking into account all available information. I provided some general information, which like all general information, is inapplicable in certain circumstances. I intentionally didn't make any recommendations about how to rank schools; I suggested only that the higher you rank a school, the better your chances of acceptance and a fellowship as to that particular school. That is to say only that holding all else equal your chances of getting in and getting a fellowship at X school are better if you rank them 1 than if you rank them 5. If we're talking logic, the upshot of that isn't that you're more likely to get admission and fellowships at your higher ranked schools than at your lower ranked schools. Nor is it that you have no chance at schools you rank lower. Thank you guys for pointing out potential misinterpretations and good luck to you both.

Don't think we were encouraging people to not take all information into account. At this point, HOPEFULLY the majority of people's pre-app research is done. If you took 5 minutes right now and ranked your schools based on where you want to go from greatest to least given what you know and what your gut is telling you, it is probably more effective than spending hours/days/weeks developing an over complicated ranking strategy and likely will get to the same conclusion.

Your logic as mentioned above still holds, but that is completely out of the candidates control. What we do control is our rankings and the quality of our app. Spend the time on the app and the rankings are what they are for each person.

I reiterate, ranking strategy was intentionally absent from my post. In fact, you and Senator provided advice about rankings, as quoted. I'm not quite sure where you guys thought I want applicants to spend weeks developing a complicated strategy or try to outsmart adcoms, but if that's your takeaway you missed the point entirely.