PLEASE HELP: Waitlisted and Desperate!

[triangulo14]

Hello everyone,

I have applied to 10 schools and got dinged to 9 of them and waitlisted to one.

What can or should I do to further my chances of admission?

Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[BigMo]

wait until next year and apply again

[thaiva]

I aggree wait until next year and then apply.

[thaiva]

Or on the other hand you could try and apply to a few more schools...

[Erin]

Not much you can do after the ding, except apply again. In fact, if you do try to do something, you may come across as desperate.

If you got dinged at 9/10 schools, I'd have to say your planning wasn't as good as it could have been. No offense, just hope it helps you if you apply again. Did you apply to a couple stretch schools, a couple realistic schools, and a couple safety schools?

What about the waitlisted school? If it's acceptable, you should hope for that.

[triangulo14]

Well, I meant.... how can I further my chances of getting off the waitlist at that one school?

Any advice would be helpful.

[thaiva]

There really is not alot you can do in that matter I guess the best thing is to just sit and wait and hope for the best.

[sl8d2bd1]

Originally posted by triangulo14

Well, I meant.... how can I further my chances of getting off the waitlist at that one school?

Any advice would be helpful.

Darden is forming a wait list right now, but will not prioritize the wait list until mid-May. If other schools are similar, I would advise you collect up some more material that reflects positively upon you, retake the GMAT if you think you can improve upon it, even submit a 3rd recommendation if you can find someone who can write something even stronger than before. Show that you're on a positive upswing, not falling apart. Then, when they revise the waitlist in another few weeks, you'll improve your position on it and may slide into one of the last few slots.

I agree with Erin Billy, though. If you got dinged at 90%, then you didn't do your homework on what it would take to get in. On the flip side, perhaps your career is such that it just wasn't worth it for you to pull out of the rat race unless you got into a top-10 program, and maybe you're right with your choices but just not competitive in today's MBA applicant pool (sorry - nothing personal - perhaps you just don't look good enough on paper?).

Good luck --

[Erin]

Originally posted by triangulo14

Well, I meant.... how can I further my chances of getting off the waitlist at that one school?

Any advice would be helpful.

At some schools, you would be able to contact the admissions department to find out if there's anything you can do to strengthen your application. Other schools, such as state schools (U.C. Berkeley - Haas, UCLA - Anderson, etc.), don't have much time or staff and don't really seem to care.

At the very least, you should send a personalized e-mail or letter to the school to show that you're still VERY interested.

If we knew which school, perhaps we could advise you better.

[dafir]

Well, If I were you, I would try t contact the adcom (by email). I would send a perfect email, telling them about new elements that can solidify your application and give them more reasons to accept you. While some adcoms may discourage people from contacting them, others may learn something about your motivation if you do so.

In your case, it is very likely that there is a weakness in your application (that explains the 9 rejects). If you stay silent, the weakness wouldn't disapear. On the contrary, an email to the adcom can add something positive (try t find out why you were dinged)