Calling all Kellogg Fall'08 applicants

thanks MGO and faceman.

I was just curious to see how many people were "swayed" by Kellogg after attending multiple admits. I guess I'll find out after my first one at Anderson in March and Haas in April.

The rents are too high in Evanston, so we thought we might be better off buying. After adding the property taxes, assessment fee and mortage payments , I think you spend the same amount per month on average, as on the rent. When you rent, you have to pay for utilities and parking separately. And also taking tax deductions on mortagage interest into consideration, buying seems to be a better option.

Post graduation, we plan to rent out the unit to Kellogg students and sell it after few years (once the market recovers).

If you would like, I can give you my agent's contact. She helped us find an apartment in the downtown and within our price range even though it is in a very new building.

The one thing I didnt enjoy this weekend was the financial aid talk. Its just depressing to see close to 70K on an overhead for one years cost...then again thats going to be about the same at all but a few schools (state schools).

Kry, I dont think that Kelloggs admit weekend is going to be better or worse than anyone elses. I think that really what gets people to fall head over heels for a school is the people they meet. Not just the students and faculty but most importantly the other admits who are going to be your classmates. Everyone from my future classmates and their significant others to the different deans and alums we met, everyone was great. (there were 200+ people so I didnt meet everyone but I met more folks than I can remember) I think its one of those feelings you get when you are at the school, you can see yourself there with all those people. A lot of the students who attended other events said they had a good time at all of them but none really made them feel as much at home as Kellogg. Then again they were also at Kellogg not someplace else so people who ended up someplace else may not have felt the same.

You are right though that having the first is a huge help, people form a very high expectation and really picture themselves at a school. I know one person who was canceling their trip to admit weekend to GSB because as he put it, why waste the money and vacation time since this is the perfect place for me. And a bunch people said they were withdrawing other applications were removing themselves from waitlists, or were rejecting other offers. They might have enjoyed another schools admit weekend just as much but they made their decisions this weekend. Yes there are a lot going to other weekends and waiting on decisions still but being first is definitely an advantage.

During the closing ceremonies I was at a table with my wife and three other couples, one guy was still torn and all the wives including him were pushing him on Kellogg while we were all like see what fits your needs best. I think that was the biggest difference for a lot of schools, talking with students' significant others they were saying how the kind of felt forgotten about at other admits after going to DAK. It seemed that single people were the ones who were the most undecided, the significant others all pretty much made their opinions known. I am sure Faceman would back that up.

good stuff river! I love your analysis.

Yeah, Kellogg definitely scored a few good R1 students with the DAK being so early it seems. I guess they "hate" people like me who refuse to make a decision until I attend all the admit weekends.

The observation I have is that it goes to show people will be happy at almost any of the top 20 schools, especially if they already filtered out the schools they WANT to go to when they filled out the applications (this is probably different for those who applied to all M7's without discrimination). For myself, just being admitted to Haas and Anderson first has given both schools a slight edge. If it weren't for Anderson's disorganized admissions office, they probably would have still been high on my list. Haas right now is really winning me over (to the point I'm *almost* tempted to withdraw my Kellogg application) with things like a career counseling phone talk with their career center, an upcoming alumni event, invitations to sit in some more classes and club events, as well as some other events they're planning for the admits. It makes it hard to hold out for the Kellogg decision. But don't worry, I'll hold out until Kellogg either admits me or dings me.

Focusing on the partners is probably the best decision Kellogg made. After talking to the Haas partners club, Kellogg definitely gives more "perks" to partners. I guess us single students don't have to worry as much about the "external influence", haha

I think an interesting point regarding timing of admit weekends is coming from thiss discussion. I was told that some schools (Ross, Haas, Darden) do not have multiple admitted students weekends. If this is true, I think this puts these schools at a significant disadvantage when trying to get R1 admits to matriculate.

I have to concur that DAK was a great experience. It was so nice to meet all the gmatclubbers, although I didn't get to meet a few. (mba2010 - I didn't realize that we were at that (awful) dinner at the Celtic Knot together until after we left! I was sitting on the end across the table from you, I had a conversation with your SO about the Jimmy Choo shoes! haha!)

I had an idea that I would be totally into the Kellogg experience before DAK, but by the end I was definitely drinking that Kellogg Kool-Aid. Everyone was right - you definitely get a "feeling" that you belong and you love it, or you're just not into it. I'm still going to go to the Chicago GSB admit weekend in a few weeks, but I doubt it'll change my mind. Even more than that, if they offer the fellowship that I'm up for, I still think I'll go with Kellogg. There's no price you (or I, I guess) can put on going where you feel like you're at home. My undergrad experience was the exact opposite - I spent four years at a great school but I never felt like I belonged. Having had that experience, I can tell you that you should always go where you "fit."

reading your experiences, i am all sold out to kellogg. Now only if kellogg gave me an admit everything would fall in place

Oh crap! I never made that connection How did you?

On the Kellogg Financial Aid form, it asks: " IRAs/Roth IRAs/retirement plans "

Do I have to assume 401k? Cuz its not like I'm going to liquidate my 401k to pay for grad school??

Ya they want 401Ks. I asked about that and they consider 25% of that available for use (12.5% if you are married). At least thats how I understood the meaning of the retirement part when I had that question answered. You can double check and see what they tell you. I dont think I used the word 401k since mine is similar but different. We will see how the aid thing works out. My wife and I have sizeable retirement investments and you are right there is no way I am selling any of that. Oh for liquid assets, they consider 50% available (25% for married couples). Though she did tell me to use values similar to whats on the FAFSA, so if you sell a car or house between those times I wouldnt use higher values on the Kellogg forms. Use numbers that are the same or lower than on the fed forms. Also account for moving costs, first and last/security on an apartment, travel expenses to school, and anything like that. Even if you dont end up spending 3k moving, you probably can be safe claiming you are going to.

Cfamiami told me - and then it all made sense, you're from SanFran, your SO said he was staying in SanFran... Anyways, I'm sure we'll have a chance to mix it up again at the Celtic Knot in the fall (and hopefully order something else!).

Yes - I included my 401K in there. I talked to the financial aid people at DAK about why they consider our retirement savings for financial aid, and they said it's to a give them a better "financial picture." They're going to consider 25% of retirement savings as contributable income. I told them that under no uncertain terms that I will not liquidate my 401K, and that I think it's kind of ridiculous to consider that money as income that they're technically not allowed to touch. They said that they don't expect us to touch that money. So then I asked why in the world does it matter to them then, and they couldn't give me an answer. By the way, there were TWO finaid people in the office talking me at the same time, because one (and then the other) couldn't understand my questions about that and other things. I wasn't terribly impressed, which was unfortunate because everything else about Kellogg was pretty great. But I think that's not just limited to Kellogg, or b-school in general.

Yes, I would definitely back that up. For me, it was between Kellogg and Stern. Setting the two schools completely equal, we decided we'd rather live in the Chicago area that in NYC. We've been to NYC a million times, but Chicago is something completely new for us. That, combined with how much I liked all the people I met at DAK and how well Kellogg treats 'significant others,' made the decision fairly simple for me.

I would, however, echo what other people said who attended DAK - the financial aid presentation was weak. This was disappointing, but not surprising. My fiance goes to a top Ivy League grad school and the fin-aid people don't really have their act together.

I hope they don't actually expect people to "contribute" using their 401K money... we can't even take that out without some penalties, right?

Looks like Kellogg won't have the financial aid stuff ready until after DAK II eh?

First admit on BW was reported... the flood gates are open!

in fact 2 admits reported on BW. Come on Kellogg make me happy !!

Does that mean it will be difficult getting a full loan at Kellogg? Esp for international students?

You can get financial aid up to the full estimated costs. It is just the KIND of loans that change. For the most part, I'm going to end up with 8.5% interest rates.

Ah okay, thats something I never really understood. Tuck asks to hand them your tax report of 2007 by March 1st. I havent done that one yet, as I am still waiting for some papers from a insurer which will help me reduce my tax load.

So, in order to qualify for loans provided by Tuck I will have to file that, correct?

Sorry to ask this here, but maybe the concept itself is new to other internationals as well. Thanks.

IF floodgates=open THEN mental_state=nervous