Calling Chicago GSB 2008 applicants

makes sense!

No no no no!

Here's how things typically work in admissions at a school - GSB or not. Applicants come in. Often, they'll be segregated by last name or some other simple element. They are placed in bins, literally - plastic bins - and might be assigned as simply as "You do A - D". In other cases they might be assigned with some other purpose. For instance, if you come from an international school, generally, the person familiar with international schools (eg the one who knows what a second high honors is) will do a first read. At the GSB, its a bit different, the first read is from a student. It should already be clear that with such a process, its basically impossible for oder to be retained. Still not convinced? There's another key factor.

People are generally asked to read a certain number of apps per week - a target figure. That might be 20 apps a week for a student volunteer. It might be 150 for a full time dedicated person. It might be 50 for someone dedicated 50%. In cases of really high volume, they might even bring out some outside help to read things. ( I dont know if hte GSB does this, I know other schools do). The number of applications read each week by each person is going to differ. So you might be number 50 in a stack of 100 and get read in the first week, and you might be number 50 in a stack of 100 and get read in the second or third week! In other words , not only is the stack split in various different ways - but the same position in two stacks might even play out differently!

Making it more complex, the first read is by a student. The second is by an admissions individual. So now you've got to consider the "read rate" and deadlines of two different people. If you happen to get a fast student reader, even if you happen to be on the bottom of the pile and happen to get a fast 2nd reader -- you might be read very quickly. Conversely, you might get read by a part time student and a half-time adcom - in which case, you might take a long time!

Think of it like a deck of cards. They randomly split the deck, shuffle it, put it back together - not one - not twice - but three times or more. The order in which your app is read is basically random - and as a result, the order in which interviews come out is basically random too.

In other words, the order really, honestly, truly doesn't matter.

I guess we will see.

I was only kidding around earlier nyrberg. Rhyme is absolutely right. Be patient, you profile looks very strong. I'd be very surprised if you didn't get an interview. Good luck.

There are basically two types of people:

1) OH NO! I'M A BANKER. THERE ARE A MILLION OF ME, I'LL NEVER GET IN. I DON'T STAND OUT!

2) OH NO! IM NOT A BANKER! I'M SO UNTRADITIONAL, THEY'LL NEVER ADMIT ME!

Don't worry.... You can be as untraditional as you like! Heck, I even have an ex pastry chef in my class

Hey Rhyme,

Thanks for the post. It does a lot to ease my anxiety certainly.

The way I see it, if a school is your top choice, it's like having a crush on the school.
Every little hint (giving attention to other applicants and not you) means more than it actually is.
We all overanalyze the situation and lose more sleep than we actually should.
Attending GSB Live totally made me fall in love with GSB and indeed it's nerve wrecking to not get an invite when other people keep posting.

Thanks again for your post, it helps bigtime

Nups

There is a third type :

3) OH NO! I'M OF INDIAN EXTRACTION AND I WORK IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. I MAY AS WELL FORGET ABOUT IT!

Lolz... how can we forget that pool

I think us IT workers of all nationalities worry.

I was a bit bored so I rearranged this. I have retained adcx's unbridled pangs of joy, which he felt after refreshing his browser for 42,318th time on the 30th of Jan. Note that almost all of these decisions were made for people who submitted before the 9th of Jan - pointing to the perhaps the practice of "first come, first processed" at Chicago.

R2 applicants
adcxaway - Submitted 01/08 Invited to interview! WOOHOOO!
bherronp - Submitted 12/30 Invited to interview
bsd_lover - Submitted 01/06 Invited to interview
nervousgmat - Submitted 12/31 Invited to interview
vchhaochharia - Submitted 12/25 Invited to interview
CerealsMBA - Submitted 01/09 Invited to interview
JDMBA - submitted, Invited to interview
ncprasad - Submitted 01/09
Dosa_don - Submitted 01/09
hsampath - Submitted 01/08
max125 - Submitted 01/08
mNeo - Submitted 01/09
pandeyrav - Submitted 01/09
robinantony - Submitted 01/09
trojan812 - Submitted 01/07
tsaditya - Submitted 01/08
bkk145 - Submitted 01/09
KingKREEP - Submitted 01/09
helg - Submitted 01/09
gregspirited - Submitted 01/09
Audio - Submitted 01/09
ryguy904 - submitted 01/09
nick_sun - Submitted UNK
Poochandi - Submitted 01/09
vishalsuri
wallspotter - submitted -01/09
svrider - Submitted 01/09
saurabh357 - submitted 01/09
sudden - submitted 1/8
swedenr09 - submitted 1/9
ujjib - submitted 1/9
nyrberg - Submitted 01/09
Prodigy- Submitted 01/08
nupurgupt - Submitted 01/09

added myself!

Where???

unbridled pangs of joy? you make this sound like a mills & boon book.....

My God, the floodgates have really opened! Congrats on all the invites guys! I hope I get mine soon...

My heartiest congratulations to those who got the interview invites!! adcxaway & bsd_lover, you guys will rock!!!!

Thanks bee together we'll represent Asia Pacific in Chicago - while u do the same in HBS

bsd and adc, it makes my day to hear that you guys got an interview invite from Chicago. Now knock 'em dead in the interview!