Private Reception Invitations?

I have to agree with Cheet. It depends on the event to be honest. Some of the higher ranked schools get so much attention that even at private receptions it is hard to make an impression on the adcom without coming off as inconsiderate and overly aggressive. Especially because most of the interaction comes more from the alumni than the adcoms.

I believe I was able to make an impression at bigger events, namely mba fairs, when I stayed at the table with the adcoms for an hour or more straight. Of course you have to be respectful to other students which means you have to wait your turn to talk and let others talk.

At one event I waited 45 minutes at the Johnson (Cornell) booth to talk to the adcom. I spent the time talking to 2 alumni and until the event was ending. The adcom came over and personally thanked me by name (I didn't have a name tag) for being patient and we brief talked. I followed up with an email thanking her for her time and advice the next day. I also did this at Tepper.

I'm not advocating this as a ploy. I was generally interested in learning about the schools and showing my interest. Always follow up with an email afterwards and you will get remembered. This is harder for the higher ranked schools as they travel all over and meet thousands of potential applicants so they are less likely to remember you.

I didn't attend a single event with an adcom from Ross. So take those invitations with a grain of salt. Yeah it feels good to feel wanted but they definitely are marketing themselves to potential applicants with good gmat scores as well. Go for yourself because it is hard to make an impression plus your application is likely a whole hell of a lot more important than how well you interacted with an adcom for 2 hours 3 months before applying. They may get a feeling about you but at this stage they don't even know who is going to apply so why try to figure out which candidate is good when they know nothing about you.