We will be collecting all our profile evaluations and application review responses posted at GMATClub and other forums under the MyMBAAdmit thread to provide a single resource for our readers.Rejecting offers and re-applying for the next season.kdub09
Hi all,
I just have a hypothetical question for you - if let's say, I were to apply to 5 different schools. Of those schools, my top 3 choices all rejected me, for one reason or another - however, two of my bottom-ranked choices offered admission. If I feel that I can re-apply to my top 3 choices the following year with a better chance after gaining more work experience or re-writing the GMAT or for whatever reason, would it be wise to reject my bottom 2 choice admission offers?
Would it essentially have me 'blacklisted' at those 2 schools, in the event that I do decide to re-apply the following year or later years?
And how do ad-coms generally look at re-applicants? Especially with a year's time between application and re-application? Do they automatically say "we remember this applicant from last year, we rejected them, and so why should we admit them this time around?"
Thanks!
Hi kdub,
Hypothetically, if you re-applied next year and still didn't get into your top three schools, would you want to go the schools that offered you admission this year? If yes, then making the effort to request them for deferment and offering a plausible reason for your request makes sense. If you would still like to keep your safety options, and think of these particular ones as viable safety schools to achieve your post-MBA goals, then try to defer your admission offers, while doing your best to keep your relationship intact through both your tone of communication and reasons offered for deferment.
Although AdComs do consider re-applicants, the ones offered admission are those who successfully demonstrate how they have spent the last year strengthening their profile. One of our recent clients was one who showed greater progress at work through larger projects and a promotion, quantifiable impact on the non-profit organization he was a part of, and completing a community college class in Statistics to make up for a less-than-stellar performance as an undergraduate student. If you are thinking about rejecting the bottom 2 and reapplying to your top 3, think realistically about what you can do to strengthen the different aspects of your profile - personal, academic and professional - to present a compelling story of improvement to the AdCom.
If you come to us as an reapplicant, this is what we begin with - drafting an application strategy that centers on your status as a reapplicant by focusing on the improvements. We then target and present these to the program at hand using all the components (essays, resume, recommendation letters, data forms and all supplementary materials), and add more value by tailoring your improvements to showcase your fit with the program and the relevant skills and attributes the school is most keen on.
If you have follow-up questions, go ahead and post them in the
Ask My MBA Admit thread in this forum.
Feel free to drop us a line at
mbaconsult@mymbaadmit.com. Check out our
Application Packages and Volume Discounts tailored to help with your admission needs.