Calling all MIT Sloan Fall 2011 Applicants!

Roll call updated.

All - please check to see if you're listed on the pg 1 roll call. If not, please respond to this post with what round you intend to apply. Thanks.

Hi fellow applicants!

I'm striving to decide wheter to apply for Sloan. As you guys can see on my profile, which is listed below, I scored a Q44 on the GMAT. Two people told me that is very hard to get into Sloan with this grade. Hence, I ask your oppinion about the 44 dilema and if you know someone who was succesful with such a "low" grade.

- Male, 33, Brazilian, Engineer
- 7 year experience in the Telecom industry
- Ugrad GPA (while at University of Maryland) 3.4/4.0. Then got transfered to a Brazilian top-tier school where I got a 6.6/10.0
- Grad GPA 2.7/3.0 --> Currently ranked#1 in the class
- GMAT: 690 (Q44 V40)

Target Schools:

Booth
MIT
Berkeley
Kellogg
Tuck
Ross
Duke

Thanks!!!!

brz

Hi brz,

Welcome. Firstoff, If you haven't already done so, I think you could benefit from reaching out to some of the admissions consultants that offer profile evaluations here on GmatClub. Here's the link:

admission-consultants-124/

Regarding your low quant score, I'm in the same boat and suffer from a low overall/quant score, even lower than yours. Having said that, adcoms do take into consideration your undergrad GPA and major. Engineering students are obviously going to be able to handle the quant portion of MBA curriculum. I studied Finance so hopefully my theory holds true

Ultimately, if you feel the rest of your profile will warrant a second look from adcoms, I'd say go for it. Especially if (like me) MIT is your dream school. You'll never know if you don't try, right? Without even knowing someone personally, I'm sure in the past few years, more than a handful of lucky guys and girls with a 'low quant score' have gained admission. Why not you? (and me! haha)

Dodger my friend,

Your words gave me hope! I’ll definitely ask one of the consultants to clear my doubt. I’m very very inclined to give it a shot even though I’m standing right on the border line. I’m currently brainstorming about a way to mitigate the 44. Do you know something about a 70%ile threshold for the quant and verbal sections? I think I heard someone from Sloan mentioning it on my Campus visit.

I wish you good luck.

brz

why you don't retake GMAT and get q 47+ ? anyway you've scored 690 so there's no harm giving one more try.

Not sure about any 70% threshold.

Are you thinking of applying R1 or R2? Depending on your answer, your time might be better spent working on essays versus studying and attempting the GMAT again. Assuming R2, unless you know exactly what went wrong and you can improve on that 690 drastically w/minimal prep, I'd spend that time concentrating on essays for Sloan and any other R2 schools you're applying to.

Roger
Please add me to R2. Thanks

Posted from my mobile device

Done.

On a side note -

Would everyone agree the threads are a lot quieter this year than previous years? Just under 4 weeks away from R1 deadline for MIT and only 22 people applying on GC? It's not entirely clear based on last year's MIT roll call, but it looks like there were anywhere between 53 and 69 R1 applicants. Wonder if app volume will be down this year...

It's certainly looking that way. business-school-applications-sputter-99082.html#p763676

I wonder ... could gmatclub traffic have declined more severely than the expected drop in 2011's app volume?

Dodger man,

Count on me for R1! Unfortunately my agenda won't let me write strong essays and study for a new attempt. Consequently, I’ll focus my efforts on the written material.

I’ve got this strong feeling that something good is going to happen – it was enough to motivate me to accept the challenge.

Good luck to you. If you don't mind me asking, will Sloan be the only R1 application? You have 4 weeks to turn around 3 essays and a cover letter, which should be doable if you're work/personal life allows it.

I'm heading to starbucks after work today to crank out another draft. Time to pump some "Eye of the Tiger" in the ol' iPod.

Roger, I had a question. It looks like Sloan only has 2 rounds. So if one applies in R1 and is accepted, is he or she given a deadline to accept? In other words, do these schools have a timeline by which the applicants have to respond? Can we wait until we hear from others?

Even though I like Burning Heart better, Eye of the Tiger lyrics are more appealing – especially now.

Man, I’m done with all other applications. Sloan will be the last one. I’m delivering all the packs in R1.

Turn up this Survivor thing…..

Yes, R1 applicants who are accepted by Jan 31 must respond by Mar 25. R2 applicants hear back by Apr 4 and must respond by May 27.

Link to the MIT Sloan page with timelines:
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/admissions/dates.php

Congrats on finishing your other apps, and again, best of luck for Sloan.

I was at Sloan yesterday, so I'll share some of the information that was confirmed.

Word/Line Limits
Essays and Resume: As long as it fits on one page with reasonable margins/font, you're good. No one is counting the exact number of lines or words in your document. Keep the overage as low as possible, but don't sacrifice the quality of your message to cut 5 words out of an essay.

Interviews
Your interviewer is your advocate; they have chosen you because they think you're a good candidate. He/she will be using the interview to help strengthen your case for admission. This person will have read your entire application, so if they don't talk about one of your favorite essays, it's because they didn't have any questions. From what I gathered, the MIT Sloan interview is used to fill in the gaps and help you present the strongest case possible for admission. Unfortunately, they also mentioned that the interviewer is likely to ask for NEW examples that aren't covered in your essays. I know that we've all worked really hard to polish three unique examples already, but you'll have to think of some more if you're invited to interview.

R1 vs. R2
I believe this has been previously discussed, but I'll add it here for another data point. MIT admits the same number of students in both rounds, but they receive twice as many applications in R2 as they do in R1. If you're application is ready to go, your odds are statistically far better in R1. The admissions officer did caveat this fact by stating that a strong application will succeed in either round, but who knows what they consider a strong application to be.

Biomedical Enterprise Dual-Degree On Hold
Apparently, MIT is working with Harvard on a new arrangement for this dual-degree. In the meantime, the program has been put on hold for 1 year. It was unclear as to whether the program would be available for the Class of 2013.

Fun Fact
MIT Sloan is awesome and E62 is really nice.