calling all wash(olin) applicants 2011

My application status, which I submitted on March 1 deadline, says that it is in review with the admissions committee, How long after this does the interview invitation come?

Hey, I have a question for the thread... what do you all think, olin with a 50% scholarship or north Carolina with no money??

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Who here is going to the admitted students weekend April 1-2? Is anyone here worried that Olin's ranking may start to slip? I know it's ranked 20th in USNews, but I heard that USNews isn't an accurate b-school ranking.

First, I wouldn't put that much stock into any ranking. It is all very fluid, and if one pick a school because they are #21 in USNews vs. a #25 in USNews, they are pretty moronic, IMHO. Once you get down to the 18-30 range in USNews, it really comes down to things like what do you want to do, where do you want to work post-MBA, etc., and how much the MBA will cost you financially. That being said, IMHO USNews is pretty accurate as far as rankings of US schools go. You can look at some other rankings and you can see examples of schools that shouldn't be ranked anywhere near where they are, which hit at the credibility of the rankings. For instance, one has SMU in top 20. Now, i'm not knocking SMU. It is a good school and not bad if you want to stay in Texas, but to put it in the top 20 is laughable at best. Other rankings tend to do a good job at ranking non-US programs, but then just doesn't seem to make any sense in the US rankings. Financial Times is like that. Their Euro rankings are pretty good, but US is sort of a joke.

Now, as for Olin, keep in mind that all of Wash U graduate programs rank well. Heck, the b school is one of the lowest ranking programs coming in at #20. Might Olin be #24, or #19 or whatever next year? Sure. Will it matter to you? Nope. It isn't going anywhere.

i didn't mean to imply that the change from 19 to 20 or even to 25 or so would matter at all, but olin is kind of new to the T20 in USNews and isn't ranked nearly as high in any of the other rankings I've seen. I guess what I meant to ask is: "Is Olin's ranking as a top 25 program accurate? (or is it just a fluke that will soon be corrected over the next few years)"

It's difficult to say that any ranking is empirically accurate, as they all rely on some pieces of data that are very subjective or vague. However, you can hardly say that Olin is new to top 25 consideration. Someone (with a bit more initiative than I) did an aggregate of Businessweek's rankings over the past 20 years, and WashU came in #22.
This link has some of the data that would be used in such a calculation:
https://www.businessweek.com/interactive ... us_08.html

Olin did fall a ways in 2010 BW ranking, but many would highly question several of the schools placed ahead, SMU already mentioned as example.

Thanks for the discussion on rankings. Is there anyone else here that is into Olin and one other school and trying to decide? I'm pursuing Marketing and Entrep., but Wash U doesn't seem to have a reputation one way or another.

Thoughts?

Im in at kelly too.....having a very hard time deciding, Kelly has the edge for a couple reasons right now:
better for career changers.
more highly regarded over all
more fun than Olin

But the Washington name is very strong....not so much in MBA circles though.

When I tell friends where i got in, they congratulate me on WashU and wish me luck! like its soooo obvious.

We here know that is not the case.


Where else are you in?

I'm in at Kelley and Carnegie Mellon as well and plan to attend all three welcome weekends. I feel like you don't know the school until you've seen it first hand.

I'm pursuing Marketing/Entrep. and moving from B2B technology to consumer technology. CMU would seem like the obvious choice, but there are other factors in play and marketing is stronger at Kelley and Olin IMO.

JH, Are you visiting both schools?

yea...going to olin next weekend the kelly the weekend after.

im WL at CMU....i would be gone like the wind if i get in there by some stroke of luck, I am interested in consulting/marketing

sorry to hear that! You never know what will happen so def. pursue it and send them some updates.

One of the toughest things for me is that I'm coming from California and want to return here at some point. So CMU and Wash U appeal to me more as national brands, but Kelley is recognized for their Marketing program...the question for me is, how wide spread is this recognition?

I think you must be hanging out in different circle than me Most of my friends think that Wash U is in D.C. Of course that doesn't detract from the quality of of Wash U, but unless a person knows someone that went to Wash U, is from St. Louis, or is an education ranking junkie, most just don't know Wash U from other schools.

As for Kelley vs. Olin, I certainly think that outside of St. Louis Kelley would have as much weight (if they are familiar with both programs) or more than Olin (if they aren't familiar with Olin).

Cheers,
Tom

I am also going to hit both admit weekends (Kelley, WashU), and decide from there. Very tough decision, so I'm hoping that one will become a lot more appealing once I actually visit and get a feel for the culture.

JH, I've gotten the same thing. I have family in StL and rest of Midwest. When I've told them my choices, they're just shocked I am even still considering anywhere besides WashU. However, in the Southwest, I do have to clarify where exactly WashU is, so the brand probably is a bit more regional than Kelley.

hey...just a quick question to all.

i applied on the march 1 deadline and have not heard back from them. typically how long do they take to invite for interview? Olin is my only hope after being rejected from 3 other safe(2 i thought was safe schools)

I am worried since the march 1 deadline notification is on april 15th and its already end of march!

mbaseek, that's interesting. People in California generally aren't familiar with either school, but Wash U. does trigger a little more prestige if they've heard of it. However, that largely has to do with IU's weaker undergrad reputation. There was an article recently published where Law Firms ranked Law Schools based on reputation. I would be curious to see the same study for business schools.

One suggestion to those deciding between two schools:

Besides my visits, I plan to examine the curriculum and the 2-year schedule of elective classes. I'll identify a number of electives that will help my career goals to make sure that there are sufficient courses to support my plans. I feel like it will be easy to eliminate a program if I find that their elective curriculum does not accommodate my academic and career ambitions.

They already have this One of the metrics that is part of USNews ranking is "Recruiter assessment score".

These are the recruiter scores for the schools that finished in the top 25 of the overall rankings (the rankings that were released last week).

1. Stanford 4.6
2. Northwestern 4.5
Pennsylvania 4.5
Harvard 4.5
5. Chicago 4.4
MIT 4.4
7. Columbia 4.3
8. Dartmouth 4.2
9. Cornel 4.1
UVA 4.1
Duke 4.1
UC-Berkeley 4.1
13. Michigan 4.0
Yale 4.0
15. NYU 4.0
16. UNC 3.9
UCLA 3.9
18. UT 3.7
Indiana3.7
20. CMU 3.6
21. Wash U 3.5
Emory 3.5
USC 3.5
Minnesota 3.5
25. Georgetown 3.4

Thanks thm. Unfortunately the results do not make my decision easier! All three schools are within .2 of each other. Good chart though...may be more relevant for someone else