lepium wrote:
The thing I don't like about Haas is that is an Elite with an Ultra Elite admit rate. Need better odds? Try the other Elites. Are you confident? Aim higher.
L.
Leaving a good school like Haas out of your discussion of good schools (the three good ones outside of the M7) and not liking it only because it has an acceptance rate like and UE is not really a good reason, lepium. I am actually surprised that you would say something like that, considering your experience in the application process.
People should (ideally) apply to schools based on their quality and the fit with their future MBA plans, not their acceptance rate. Haas recent placement rate, improvements in career services, classes, resources, student support, alumni support, and networking opportunities are no worse than any other Elite, and probably only par with Ross and Tuck, even rivaling some of the M7's depending which field you look at.
Haas will never be a super financial powerhouse like Wharton, Columbia, or Chicago, nor will it gather the clout and brand name of H/S/W. But for the fields that they are good at, like general management, real estate, entrepreneurship, international business, and a few others I can't remember right now, they're right up there in the eyes of big companies (the McKinseys, Bains, Googles, Yahoos, Lehman Brothers, etc...) as any of the other 4 UEs, and this is from first hand experience being there, seeing some of the company presentations, seeing some rough hiring stats, and talking to current 2nd year students.
I know people on this forum see me as a "Haas Fanatic" with a very biased view, but I don't think the school's recent meteoric rise in the respected rankings (US News and BW) is a fluke. Objectively, they've been working on improving themselves and moving up in the Elite cluster since Tom Campbell took over in 2002, and so far have succeeded in putting themselves at the verge of breaking into the M7, along with great schools like Ross and Tuck.
With that said, I do take some offense to your "Are you confident? Aim Higher" statement. I am humbly confident about my chances at Haas, and I consider it one of the most desirable schools for me to go to for the fit in culture, curriculum, resources, and network. I don't plan on "aiming higher" at the Columbias, MITs, GSBs, HBS, and Whartons because I don't see a fit there, nor do I think an education there will benefit me. Thus to me, it's not aiming "higher" if I applied there, just because they have similar acceptance rates. By the same token, why should anyone apply to Stanford since if you're confident about going to Stanford (with a 7% rate), why not "aim higher" and apply to HBS instead? The answer is, because some of us, however few in numbers, do not see HBS as a good fit, no matter how great the school is or how much "better" the acceptance rate is compared to Stanford.
I apologize about my rant, but your comment hit a nerve that has been bothering me this entire application season. People keep on saying, "rankings do not matter as much as the fit and what you can get out of the school." Yet when it comes down to it, your simple comment pretty much tells any new GMATclubber who reads this thread that rankings is what matters. If you have the goods to get into Haas, why not apply to some other school with equal or higher admission rate instead, even though their fit might not be as good.
That may not be what you were intending, but unfortunately that is how I (and probably some others) will read it. Hope you understand where I'm coming from.
thanks, K.