Calling All Kellogg MBA Applicants(2018 Intake) Class of 2020!

Fair points, Bee. And I do agree. I think people struggle with the fact that the AdCom comes out and says that a waiver has no impact on one's candidacy. No one takes issue with this. I think the real issue comes from applicants assuming that all admitted students will, at some point, be interviewed. When there are no reported interviews post waiver, applicants assume ding. Seems like a fair assumption given the facts.

Unless the video questions give the AdCom enough comfort over one's fit with the program...

Regardless, it all ends in 8 days.

Fair points, Bee. And I do agree. I think people struggle with the fact that the AdCom comes out and says that a waiver has no impact on one's candidacy. No one takes issue with this. I think the real issue comes from applicants assuming that all admitted students will, at some point, be interviewed. When there are no reported interviews post waiver, applicants assume ding. Seems like a fair assumption given the facts.

Unless the video questions give the AdCom enough comfort over one's fit with the program...

Regardless, it all ends in 8 days.[/quote]

If you don’t interview you are not admitted. If you get a waiver you would need to be invited to interview later on in the process to be admitted. Very few people on gmatclub receive interviews after being waived. I think this is because of most gmatclub users that receive waivers are international candidates that are more likely to be waived and the fact that admission is more difficult for international candidates. I believe this skews the perception on the number of waived candidates who then receive interviews.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

If you don’t interview you are not admitted. If you get a waiver you would need to be invited to interview later on in the process to be admitted. Very few people on gmatclub receive interviews after being waived. I think this is because of most gmatclub users that receive waivers are international candidates that are more likely to be waived and the fact that admission is more difficult for international candidates. I believe this skews the perception on the number of waived candidates who then receive interviews.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app[/quote]


So there's absolutely nobody in the history of Kellogg that got accepted after being waived and then not invited to a Skype interview? Zero?

Well, I'm domestic. In the nation's capital. I must've really botched the essays.

So there's absolutely nobody that got accepted after being waived and then not invited to a Skype interview?[/quote]

Correct. You have to interview to be admitted.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

Correct. You have to interview to be admitted.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app[/quote]


Then why is the school not up front about this? Nowhere on the website nor on the communications from the school does Kellogg talk anything about this.

In comparison, Ross has an early ding policy. Kellogg should think about something similar. Is the 'waiver' an almost PC way of saying 'ding'?

Thanks to Kellogg's lack of honesty about its admissions policy, I'm still waiting. A sort of 'hope torture'. I'm only human; I can't not wait, and not hope. A few of those waiting days freed up could have allowed me to apply to another school in R3. Alas, Kellogg still keeps me waiting, because in the very unlikely case that I get something positive from Kellogg, then I probably won't apply to another school. Do you see what I'm saying?

An early ding could have helped me shape my plans differently. Which is the whole point of Ross's early ding, to let applicants focus on other things.

If it's their way of offering an early ding and they won't come out and state as much upfront, I want nothing to do with it. I'll gladly move on. But to string people along for months after they've been invested in this process...

Ross' transparency sets them apart.

Mind you, not one reported post-waiver interview on any of these sites.

Anyone doing one of Kellogg's dual degree programs? It looks like the school has two options: Northwestern JD, MS in Design Innovation

If you're on the fence, maybe this article on the Pros and Cons of such programs can help you decide.

I don’t think Kellogg has been at all dishonest about their process. I get the frustration of waiting after getting a waiver but they clearly state the waiver process on their website. A waiver is not a ding. Their policy is that they will not read an application before an interview is completed. In some cases and interview cannot be scheduled due to logistics and minimal resources. For those candidates they give a waiver so that they can review your application. If after they review your application they are interested they will issue an interview invitation. People do get interviews after being waived. It has happened before on gmatclub in previous admissions seasons.

Again the process is clearly outlined on their website and in their communications.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

Kellogg is only interviewing roughly 20%-30% of the remaining waived candidates. Only something like 15% of candidates get waived. So it’s not that surprising that we wouldn’t have many people posting post waiver interview invites.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum

Thank you for replying to our concerns.

So the other day I did ask this question to the Ad office. Their answer was :

=============================================================================
Dear Kellogg Admissions,

I haven't heard back from you yet, but I've heard that if you aren't offered a Skype interview after the waiver, you will be denied admissions, since everyone who is admitted is in the end, interviewed before they are admitted.

Is this true?

Thank you
=============================================================================

Hi -,

Thank you for reaching out. The interview is only one component of the admissions process and does not serve as an indicator for admission or not. Please note that each file is given a thorough review, and if we feel an interview would be helpful in further assessing a candidate or would aid in rendering a decision, we will contact the applicant to schedule a Skype interview. However, we cannot provide information as to if or when a candidate may receive an invitation for a Skype interview.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Best,

Bobby Ganzer
Interview Coordinator
===========================================================================

To me, this sounds like one of two things :

1. Either a post-waiver interview is given only when the candidate is on the borderline. Some waived candidates may be accepted without a Skype interview.

2. Yes, of course if you don't get a post-waiver Skype interview invite, you're dinged, but we're not going to tell you that it is this way, for some reason you don't need to know.


Am I stupid and not getting something, or is gmatclub making presumptions that the school can't confirm, or is gmatclub correct and Kellogg lacks the directness to tell candidates they're dinged, and doesn't really care that they are waiting? Is Evanston a particularly PC neighborhood? I have co-workers who went to Northwestern but they don't seem that opaque.

My contention is if you're correct, the school is not being transparent enough.

This reply sounds more like a CYA reply...

I think they aren’t telling you that you are dinged because it is school policy to not release decisions before the decision date. This should not be interpreted to mean that everyone with a waiver is dinged. People who are waived can be invited to interview after their application has been reviewed. It happens. It has happened on gmatclub before on several occasions.

The problem is that gmat club is just a small sample of the applicant pool and only 15% of all applicants get waived. Of that 15% of applicants only a percentage will get post waiver interviews because not everyone who is waived is someone that Kellogg is interested in admitting. Just because we don’t see any here or on clear admit does not mean that no one got one because there are 5,000+ applicants per year but only 400 or so that actually use gmatclub. The likelihood of being a subset of that 15% when less than 10% of applicants are on here is very low.

I also don’t want you to have false hope and think that you can be admitted without an interview. You have to interview to be admitted just like every other mba program.

This isn’t a lack of transparency or opaqueness...if you get a waiver the interview process is the same as with other schools. They review your app they contact you if interested. You actually have more knowledge about your candidacy than others that interviewed because an interview without a waiver gives no indicator of interest and 80% of interviewees will end up being dinged. They are waiting just like you.

TLDR: to be very frank just because you didn’t get a post waiver interview does not mean that everyone with a waiver did not get an interview. It may just mean that they are not interested and I don’t think that it’s fair to blast the school because of that, especially since after you get a waiver the process is very similar to other mba programs.


Sent from my iPhone using GMAT Club Forum mobile app

As applicants stressing over applications and getting invested in schools and keeping up hope I can understand a desire for the schools to be transparent and ease our minds. However, there is a lot we don't know about the admissions process behind the scenes and many schools probably want to have maximum flexibility. Possibly waived applications were being discussed and decisions on Skype interviews or rejection as recent as last week or even this week. GMATClub and ClearAdmit and the other websites may not be giving us a good idea of how recent post-waiver interview invites have been sent. Other schools (like Haas) extend invites up until even a day or two before the deadline. Most school admission seasons have been described as insanely hectic and admission officers are working until the very end. They probably have setting the notification deadline down to a science and they likely are using all of that time. We don't know Kellogg's internal process and it may be a good thing they take extra time to evaluate applications for those who are waived (if that's what is happening).

RedAlertMBA your profile tracker says you applied to Ross and Kellogg. If those are indeed the only two schools you applied to then yes comparing Ross and Kellogg it might seem like Kellogg is less cut and dry, but a number of other schools have processes that are big giant black boxes and cause a lot of uncertainty/anxiety trying to figure out interview invites work and when there still is a chance/chances are slim. If someone receives a waiver then the process becomes a lot similar to what many other schools are like.

I do not understand the obsession with interview invites at Kellogg. If you consider any other college they do not even tell you if the interview is waived or anything, and sends you a ding mail directly. In case of Kellogg, at least you are getting info about interview being waved. You are getting something compared to nothing from other colleges. So, why so much talk of transparency. What would you rather prefer?

Lets admit it - no college is transparent about their admission process and move on with it. At least kellogg gives you a heads up about the impending ding through interview waiver.

I try not to enforce arguments here but

- other schools do nothing but funnel through interviews, so it's 100% clear that you won't get accepted without getting invited to interview
- Kellogg doesn't do that (on paper), so they interview almost everyone except those given a waiver
- And then they still don't admit that post-waiver things are the same with other schools -- Skype interview works as a funnel