Now the waiting... (Status Update 3/17)

GPA actually means more than some of us think I believe. Certainly a high GPA is not requisite for a high GMAT score... but to look at it another way, it could tell the adcom that "This dude didn't work at all in college, got his stuff together for his MBA (har har), and put in the effort for a 700." At least that's what I hope they'll think.

Does anybody know when the official notifications were supposed to go out last year? I see a lot of February notifications for last year, but this year the websites say notifications start March.

Hi everyone, I've just finished applying to all my schools in the area of Organizational Behavior, it's been a LONG process.

My profile:
undergrad Univ Toronto GPA: 3.5 (Final 2 Years))
grad Univ Toronto GPA: 3.7
GRE: 1470 (96v, 90q)
Research Experience: 3 years
Industry Experience: 2 years

Samplling of Schools:
Columbia Univ (Business)
Univ Chicago (Business)
Univ California - Berkeley (Haas)
Univ Michigan - Ann Arbor (Ross)
UCLA (Anderson)
Univ Illinois - Urbana Champaign (Psych)
Cornell Univ (ILR)
Univ Toronto - (Rotman)
Univ Minnesota - Twin Cities (Carlson - IRC)

Anyone else out there waiting to hear from the schools? It'll be nice to wait with a community of ppl. I actually received an acceptance from Minnesota a few days ago - found that very comforting.

Kumbaya, do you think your trip to visit the profs will increase your chances at admission?

gheffo - congrats! It must be real good to secure an offer this early.

Anyway, it seems like we are hearing good news pretty early this year.

gheffo:

I have no idea if it will have any substantial impact. However I've quite a few PhD students tell me that generally it's a good idea, since if you can make a good impression that will be one more thing in your application that makes you stand out from the hundreds (or thousands in NYU's case, lol) of other PhD applicants. Although not all profs serve or participation in the admissions process, at least you're showing interest and being more proactive in your application process.

good luck to u all!!!
and congratulations!
I am still waiting for the offer.
I have applied more than twenty schools because i dont have a master's degree. But i have some publications(empirical research) and some knowledge of advanced maths. And I am good at learning maths. Hope this could compensate my weakness.

butttttttttttttttttttt, still no contacts from the school. upset.....

3.5 undergrad - Michigan State
Econ and Accounting BA
18 months experience in IT
3 years in Corporate

610 on the GMAT (don't have the details here)

Sent in apps for accounting Ph.D programs.
Applied to

UT Austin
U Chicago
Northwestern
Rochester U
Ohio State
U Michigan
Michigan State
Arizona State
U Colorado
Washington U

I won't be surprised if I don't get in anywhere. This was my first try with the GMAT, doing self prep. Choked on the math for time, and need to work on my Verbal all together.

For those who are curious: UPenn and Northwestern have sent out their decisions for Fall 2008.

This is very crushing, first week of decision releases and denied by both...

I just checked online, was denied by Kellogg as well.

Slight update on stuff I found out after trolling the Internet the past week for any information:

Columbia apparently notified their interviewees mid-February, and seem to wait until the last day of February to send out acceptance notices. No idea what it means for us that didn't get any interviews... uggh... I'm REALLY hoping they accept people without interviews... but looking at their single-digit class sizes, I'm beginning to lose hope...

Cornell has already sent out their first batch of acceptances, with more going out this week.

OSU has also accepted a batch people.

CUNY is interviewing these few weeks.

kumbaya;

I am getting really sad watching you get dinged. you have a strong profile, and YOU HAVE ACTUAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCE AND PUBS!

This does not bode well for me; I will be applying to schools in 2009 and maybe, *maybe* I will have a conference proceeding by then. my profile is very similar to yours (although my undergrad
school was no wehere near as prestigious as NYU) I plan on applying to many of the same schools as you (nyu, cornell, columbia, baruch, michigan (ross) U maryland, OSU, smeal)

what is your discipline?

Kumbaya - it looks like you have an MBA from a school in Taiwan? I was under the impression that some schools won't accept you if you already have have the degree.

westsider: My MBA degree should have no influence on my PhD application. Most PhD programs go as far as saying it's not taken into consideration, although I've heard people close with adcoms say sometimes a straight 4.0 is slightly helpful if undergrad grades were bad (as in my case).

anonymousegmat: I'm applying to the Management/OB track in all of the universities. I'm beginning to look at my own application package a lot more critically in light of the recent rejections. I think I have a few failings (I'm comparing myself to the Columbia Fall 2007 entrants, since that's where I really want to go, and I actually got the opportunity to talk to one of the Fall 2006 entrants):

a: Low GMAT. Yes, 700 is good, but not great. Columbia's average for Fall 2007 admissions was in the 740s (!!!). Fall 2006 was 720, sigh... in a few years it just might climb to 800.
b: Low (read: horrible) undergrad GPA. What can I say... I went to NYU, but pissed away four years of potentially high quality education.
c: MBA. 4.0... which means very little compared to somebody else who graduated (Summa) Cum Laude from college. Not to mention it's from a foreign university, whittling it down even more. And it's an MBA, we all know all you need to do is do well on "group work" to get a 4.0 in an MBA
d: Rather esoteric research interests stated in my LOI. My plan is to focus on cross cultural organization studies. Looking at most universities, I'll be extremely lucky to find ONE professor in the entire business school who does research in that area (compared to, say, finance), which is what I did: find one professor in the department, and apply to said department. The problem is most people I've seen who apply or are admitted in this field tend to be very, VERY good... I'm talking (Summa) Cum Laude, GMAT 800 good.

My advice: do VERY WELL on your GMATs... I know we all say it's not the be all and end all of our applications, but when UPenn/NYU/Columbia/Cornell are posting GMAT averages that seem to increase every year...

LOI: It's nice to be specific, just make sure you already have a professor in mind when you write it, lol. Just remember, too specific, and maybe only one professor will really be interested in taking you in, and even then you'll be competing with a very specific set of people who just might be better (or to look at it another way, you'll be competing with people who maybe the professor has already met and liked well enough to admit instead of you).

Slight update:

Just got off a phone interview with Baruch. The coordinator couldn't say for other programs, but Baruch itself has received 25%-30% more applicants than what would be considered "regular". Ouch. Also, apparently NYC AdComs think anybody who's applied to one school in the NYC area is generally considered to have applied to the Big Four (Columbia, NYU, Baruch, Rutgers) in the area.

Interview went quite well, none of the usual "Why a PhD?" questions, it did seem more like an informal chat you might hear between new students.

Pointers:

1) Have questions! They'll ask if you have questions, and it's nice to have something ready on your lips. I guess it would show that you've actually given this some thought?
2) A little alcohol 10 minutes before the interview does wonders... calms the nerves.
3) They're calling, that means somebody has seen your application and likes you, it's up to YOU to not screw up! (Stolen from Hitch). I was pretty much told as much by the coordinator ("The professor was VERY EXCITED about your application!").

Now I'm going to go sleep off the adrenaline high and second helping of scotch I poured after I hung up...

Has anybody started hearing, or know anybody else who might have heard, anything from NYU or Columbia? Supposedly they release their decisions right about now...

Status update in first post. Unless something big and significant comes up, looks like I'm headed to Baruch.

On a whim, hobbit, if you're looking, do you know how common it is for students to hook up with professors in other programs and transfer in their second year?

dont think it is very common -- and depends on the school you first enter. of course it may be be a phone call away if you want to transfer from Stanford to MIT.

Kumbaya,

I think the chance of transfer is there IF your advisor moves from your current sch to another sch AND you have her in your committee AND she is willing to take you in. This also depend on whether she can call the shots immediately at the new place. E.g. is she a full prof or appointed to a chaired position, etc.?

Otherwise, from your post, it sounds like you are talking about applying again for next Fall intake. Basically everything start afresh. The issue is between now and then, have things changed much such that it justifies a different outcome (assuming you are apply to the same programs again)?

And you have to think about whether the profs in your 1st year sch are willing to give you a strong LOR. If they mess up your LOR, you are screwed. If you don't get at least 1 LOR from the current sch, it just looks weird. Either way, you are in a poor position.

My opinion: don't go to a place which you don't think you will stay. don't think about reapplying (to the same program) in your 1st/2nd year. If you want to reapply to another program, look at why you didn't get in this year and strengthen the weaknesses in the meantime.