University of Rochester - "priority candidate"

What is your connection to the school? Did you sumbit your GMAT score to them?

I'm not in a position to comment on whether it's common or not, but it doesn't seem like it would be (at least with higher ranking schools).

Simon-Rochester is ranked somewhere in the 30-50 range. I believe they typically prefer younger students with less experience as well.

Avernusaur,

Thank you for your answer. I believe that they received my address from GMAC. I agreed to include my data into their search tool which is available to the schools. I never submitted my GMAT score to them nor have I to any other US B-school (i only tageted Asia until now). However, I am not sure whether they got access to my score via the GMAC search. My GMAT is 640 and their average seems to be in the 670 area.

I am 31 with 5 years of experience, so I would not qualify as the younger student that you mentioned. However, I just heard from a colleague that he once got a similar invitation from Boston and that he got accepted right away.

What is your feeling about this...would it be worth to apply?

Thank you

If the program matches your career goals and you have the spare time to complete an application, go for it. It's free anyway

Rochester - Simon Placement Stats
https://www.simon.rochester.edu/why-choo ... index.aspx

I received the exact same letter as well. I'm not planning to apply to US B-schools either. However, those guys have taken the time and effort to send me an actual paper letter with a colourful brochure and stuff. This makes a nice impression; if I get dinged by my favourite European schools, I'll definitely look into this program.

Hold it there. Nice impression or not, their students are ~26 yo on average and the program is 2 years. No way.

Maybe they want to ensure to admit someone from Switzerland.
Are you a girl by any chance? all these could put you on their priority list. Like Cambridge has 110 student, but they will probably be coming from 40 different countries.

670 GMAT, never ever heard of the school until I got a nice package from them with the two magical words on it.

I'd be pretty excited if I weren't already planning to attend another school in Canada starting this fall.

Did a little research on this school, average gmat above 680, so should be a decent student body.

anyways. Is there actually any truth in this or is this simply another marketing scheme? Anyone?

I think they send a lot of these letters out. I received one last year and have a friend who also received the letter. My friend didn't apply but I did, and got waitlisted. I ended up withdrawing my application. So its no guarantee, but you might as well try since its free (That is if you like the school and everything). Good Luck!

there was an article a few months back about schools doing this in an effort to game the system. in essence, they get a lot more candidates who apply because 1) they are "priority candidates" and 2) it's free.

the applicants get a free app. the school gets to reduce their acceptance % (since more people are now applying for the same # of spots). it's a win win for everyone involved.

law schools and undergraduate schools have been doing this for some time, but i guess that b-schools are also stepping up to play the game as well.
_________________

I received the notice about becoming a "Priority Candidate" as well. I also received this from Tepper.

I didn't consider either school to begin with, but I will say, both letters prompted me to research their MBA programs. After a lot of research and speaking with students and faculty, I am probably applying to Simon this coming fall.

I guess the point of my story-
Schools also use this method to get their name out there. This is especially true for schools located outside of major metro areas (Simon is a perfect example).