The Application Process

Kellogg interview: I spent some time in Chicago and interviewed with an adcom member on campus in their concrete fortress called the Jacobs Center. The students were cool and offered interview advice based on my wardrobe choice. It was a tougher interview than my others because the interviewer tried not to show much reaction to my answers and rather simply asked a question and would let me go off for a few minutes, taking lots of notes. She didn't seem to be too excited about my ideas and reasons for wanting to attend an MBA program, specifically Kellogg.

I've heard that some adcoms can be like this intentionally, and it's just one interviewing technique. I just prefer when I talk to someone that I get some kind of reaction out of them, positive or not. But I believe that my answers were solid and convincing, which I hope will be converted into good words to join my application file.

As for the questions, nothing new: Resume questions. Why an MBA? Why Kellogg? What's your leadership style? Give a few examples of your leadership skills. What are your long-term goals? What do you know about the program? What do you know about Chicago? There was about five minutes at the end for my questions. The whole thing took about 45 minutes. I hope they can get back to me with a decision in a similiar amount of time.

When it was done, I changed into my civilian clothes in a bathroom, and readied myself for another night out in Chicago with a luggage bag. Hey DJ! Can I store this in the booth?

Add two interview invites to the list! UCLA finally came through yesterday morning with an email, I was beginning to think that the mp3 that I had submitted that sounded more like a demo tape than an essay didn't make the cut. I mixed about 10 original songs together and voiced over overcoming challenges in music collaboration and production and how that somehow makes me an ideal b-school candidate for two minutes. If figured if I didn't get an interview out of it, I might get a gig.

Also, UT-Austin, the college that doesn't sleep, sent me an email at 4AM offering an interview to be completed on or off campus. Maybe the adcom members can't think as sharp at 6AM Texas-time? Whatever, it means a trip to Austin and probably to Piedras Negras, the home of the nacho, while I'm at it.

Current stats:

Stanford: waiting
UC-Berkeley: waiting
UCLA: Interview on 12-18
Kellogg: Interviewed
Chicago Booth: Interviewed
UW Foster: Interviewed
USC Marshall: Interview on 12-17
UT-Austin: Interview invite
Darden: Interview on 1-5
UC-Irvine: Interview on 12-16

You seem very motivated. You will be successful with your MBA application process. Also, thanks for these informative posts.

ultraeasy wrote:Add two interview invites to the list! UCLA finally came through yesterday morning with an email, I was beginning to think that the mp3 that I had submitted that sounded more like a demo tape than an essay didn't make the cut. I mixed about 10 original songs together and voiced over overcoming challenges in music collaboration and production and how that somehow makes me an ideal b-school candidate for two minutes. If figured if I didn't get an interview out of it, I might get a gig.

Also, UT-Austin, the college that doesn't sleep, sent me an email at 4AM offering an interview to be completed on or off campus. Maybe the adcom members can't think as sharp at 6AM Texas-time? Whatever, it means a trip to Austin and probably to Piedras Negras, the home of the nacho, while I'm at it.

Current stats:

Stanford: waiting
UC-Berkeley: waiting
UCLA: Interview on 12-18
Kellogg: Interviewed
Chicago Booth: Interviewed
UW Foster: Interviewed
USC Marshall: Interview on 12-17
UT-Austin: Interview invite
Darden: Interview on 1-5
UC-Irvine: Interview on 12-16

How did the interviews go?

Ultraeasy,

I was wondering how many schools you applied to were ok with a peer recommendation letter instead of a supervisor? I mean most colleges ask for 2, will they be ok if one of them is from ur peers? for eg: stanford clearly says 2 from supervisors one from peer, however darden does not make that distinction...What was ur experience?

thanks

Thanks for the words! This will be brief--typing on my phone. I haven't recieved any feedback based on my recommenders choice and suspect that I never will. I did take the optional essay to explain my choice though. It has never come up in an interview.

Four interviews in three days debrief coming soon.

Results from decision days last week:
UW- admitted!
Booth- waitlist
Kellogg- waitlist
Stanford- ding w/o interview

So now I can say I've seen it all. It's too early to make the call, but I am stoked about Foster and living in Seattle. I think it's always been my secret number one choice. More soon!

Ultaeasy,

here's something I found on a blog regarding waitinglists..not sure what you think about this..hope this helps...
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https://uniqpath.blocked/search/label/mbaguide

Waitlist Strategy
Waitlist Process
When the admission results are announced, some people are either suprised or frustrated to find themselves on the Waitlist. After all the effort, all you get is a waitlist! Don't despair. If you are really interested in that school, there's many ways you could demonstrate that to the school and convert your waitlist entry into a admission. This is what I found out when I was trying to convert my MIT Sloan waitlist into an admit, but ultimately sent a different letter to them, because I decided to goto W.

The bschool generally wants to admits those students from the waitlist, who will accept their offer. Therefore, you have that you really want to be there.

1) Get in touch with the school and find out their waitlist process. Most schools will ask you to send an additional letter or an essay indicating your interest in the school. Some might also permit an additional recommendation letter or a reference letter from an alumni. Follow the school's guidelines.

2) Visit the school, if you haven't yet visited the school. Meet the students, professors and see what you like. Did you find a good match between your interests and what the faculty does? Or are you excited by some programs that the school has? Mention that in your letter.

3) What have you done since the admission decision? - any new projects, charity work, or anything that adds to your leadership - mention about this in your letter to the school. The school wants to know about these updates.

4) Some other interesting things that I found while reading these blogs - one student made a support group from a set of current students, whom he knew, to make a case for him and send a recommendation letter for him.

5) Be creative - the more you learn about the school, the more you could write about what impact you could have on your classmates and the school community if you were admitted to the school.

Finally, be persistent about the waitlist and interacting with the adcom. But like any other, if you don't make it, it is not the end of the world. You could apply next year with whatever you have learned through the experience, or decide to move on, to work on your goals without doing an MBA.

Thanks for the waitlist info, that's good advice. I'm just planning on sending a letter in Jan of updates and maybe a second in Feb.

Interviews:

UCLA: I met with an alum after he got off of work on a Monday. He was casually dressed and made me feel comfortable. It was the standard interview:his questions were almost all about my resume and short-term and long-term career goals and, of course, why UCLA? No trick questions or "worst weakness/failure" questions. This lasted about 45 minutes.

UT-Austin: Again, met with an alum at a starbucks across the street from UC-Berkeley. The guy was now a PHD student there. He didn't really say great things about the program and it almost seemed as if he were to try to talk me out of attending the program. He kept bringing up that if I want to work here on the West Coast, I should attend a West Coast school. But this interview was all-inclusive and he asked all the standard questions, asking for great detail for each one. We rambled our through a discussion of other business schools and his path for a record hour and 45 minutes. I left feeling like I may have let his argument persuade me to think twice about it. But maybe that was a clever interview tactic to see if I'm really eager to attend their program. We'll see.

USC: On campus in South Central Los Angeles. The neighborhood is not one that you'd live in, but accessible easy enough by car. The campus was a convincing fortress of yellow and red brick, peppered with attractive SoCal undergrads and an air of entitlement. Not really my style, except for the fashion-conscious ladies. I'm okay with those.

USC: the interview was exactly 30 minutes with an adcom member. She was a skilled interrogator and pressed for specific details with my flight school. It was practically a sales pitch to earn her Private Pilot's Certificate. She then focused on USC and what I knew of their culture and program. I took a campus tour just prior to the interview and it gave me more than enough to talk about. I highly recommend doing tours just before an interview because it will get you there on time and give a chance to relax and get to know the campus and a current student. It's made me more relaxed during the actual interview.

UC-Irvine: I arrived fashionably late (30 min) to my campus tour with a student because I took my own self-guided tour while lost in UCI's very large campus. Maybe I should have studied the map before I showed up. Probably not a big deal, the adcom member who interviewed me talked me through it on the phone and thought it was funny that I was on the complete opposite side of campus--one she had never been to. My shortened-tour revealed small, but modern, business facilities. It was housed in a dedicated building and had the normal modern amenities. The interview was the standard questions and an hour in duration. The lady was very nice and was doing a good job of selling the program, focusing on their smaller, more intimate, class and really believed that their class bonds develop stronger because of it. I finished with just enough time to make happy hour at the nearby Yard House, perhaps UCI's greatest selling point.

Alright people.

I have to say that I am feeling very good about this MBA journey so far. I have definitely been able to relax after the Foster admit. At first it was a question of whether my list was too competitive and whether I could get into any of them at all. But a waitlist from the BW's #1 and #3 schools feels pretty good. I know it's not an admit, but it means that my candidacy was considered competitive enough that they would had already accepted me if the other applicants hadn't been so outstanding, AND they may even decide to admit me if the right combination of a less-competitive Round 2, perfect application of waitlist strategy by me, and luck could change one or both into an admit.

Now I need to answer the question of what I really want, perhaps even harder to do. Seattle has been my target city to live in for the past six years. I moved to 45th and University (essentially on-campus) immediately after my undergrad. It was a shame that the flight instructor opportunities were seasonally bleak in the overcast Seattle winter, and I took my career development south to Orange County where the skies were clear and I was working 60-hour weeks right away. From there New York. From there Chicago. From there Portland. From there Uruguay. From there San Francisco. Now that I have a valid reason to return to my homeland, I feel that I should do so, even if I can get into a higher-ranked school. That's why I am secretly hoping for denials from the rest of the schools so that my decision to go to Seattle will be easier. But, if my personal history is any indication of how I will choose, I would probably delay a Seattle return if a better long-term opportunity arises.

I am a bit ahead of myself, because I need to wait until February for the decisions to all be in, and perhaps much longer for Booth and Kellogg now. And the application process isn't over. There's a Darden interview. Hopefully, there will be a Berkeley interview. Word is that they extend many domestic and local invites early in January. If by local they mean a ten-minute walk to the Haas buildings, I fit into that category.

So there is work to be done. A DC-bound flight to be caught tomorrow. An east coast crew to give high-fives to. A great campus to visit and be open to attending should we find ourselves a match too-perfect to pass up. Best of all, because of the hard work that we have all done in prep for the GMAT, the essays, the interviews, there is a satisfaction of knowing that at this exact time next year our lives will be very different in that we will have completed the most challenging semester that we've ever seen in a great MBA program and, because of this hard work, our futures will be even brighter than we could have thought possible as 1st graders looking at passing airplanes and wondering what they're all about, far from answering tough questions like "what do you want to be, when you grow up? or "what is your dream job?" Here, in our pursuit of graduate education with ideas and courage, we are all becoming dangerously close to living the answer to these elusive questions.

Good luck, ladies and gentleman. 2010 will be a good year.

Darden interview: Wow. I was blown away by Darden. This school is top-notch. UVA's grounds (always called grounds and NOT campus) are something out a storybook with rolling hills, great brick buildings and white pillars in places that hardly need them. Darden is tucked away from the undergrads on the North Grounds in a series of buildings connected by nice courtyard. Inside these buildings are anything you'd every want from student group rooms to 1800 current periodicals in their library. The whole thing looks like it was decorated by Martha Stewart, with yellow walls and white trim.

Aside of the setting, what impressed me the most were the people. It really seemed like a giant family. The students were really friendly, the faculty were friendly, and everyone just gave a vibe that they really enjoyed being there. I arrived an hour early before First Coffee, and wasn't inside of the hall for more than a minute before a first year approached me and asked if I was interviewing today. Again, wearing the suit is like wearing a sign that says "I need interview tips." He introduced me to some of the other first years who were preparing for their interviews for consulting internships. I ended up hanging with their group for a full hour before the scheduled activities began: First Coffee, grounds tour, and interview.

The interview was in the admissions office with a senior adcom member. It was the best one yet. They didn't ask any questions! Their philosophy is to just get you comfortable and let you talk about yourself and your goals. She told me to grab a coffee and snack if I wanted (the admissions office is well-stocked) and sat me down in her office and told me about herself and job and why she loves Darden and said "Now just explain in any order you'd like about your past in regards to school, career, and what brings you here today. You have one hour." It's not like I recited a 60-min prepared speech at this time, I actually had no idea that this is how Darden likes to conduct interviews. But I just started talking about schools, my love for world travel, challenge, and airplanes, filling in with stories that fit to answer other school's direct questions (e.g. tell me about a time you had a moral dilemma.). She was very skilled at keeping the conversation going by asking probing questions to expand my stories and would fill in with reasons why Darden would be a good place for me to pursue my education. So we were both trying to sell ourselves to each other, a welcome change from stricter adcoms. She even said during the interview that she thought I would be a great fit here on campus and we spent about ten minutes at the end talking about micro breweries, swing dancing and where I could get the best plate of nachos in Charlottesville. The hour went by fast and comfortably. Anyone getting an invite here, don't stress! They are almost too nice.

After the interview, they invited the four people interviewing that day to go to lunch on campus with one adcom, and three faculty members, including the head of the Entrepreneurship program. This was a more formal lunch, with place settings and table service AND courtesy of Darden. At least I know that I got a meal from my app fee. But it was a great opportunity to get direct answers about the program and find out what it is like from the faculty's perspective.

I am sold on this place, but it is on the wrong side of the country. If accepted, I might not care and have that "transformative" experience that they are talking about, and return to the West Coast two years later.

Apply here.

Well after reading that last post, you have me sold on Darden! I am REALLY looking forward to visiting!

What are your thoughts on the case method?

USC: On campus in South Central Los Angeles. The neighborhood is not one that you'd live in, but accessible easy enough by car. The campus was a convincing fortress of yellow and red brick, peppered with attractive SoCal undergrads and an air of entitlement. Not really my style, except for the fashion-conscious ladies.

Haha Im sold on Marshall..Anything about the interview?..I know its not in the top 20 on Buss Week..A couple of things I read on your post will make me change my stratergy..For eg: the Austin Alum emphasized that if you plan to live on the West coast you are better off going to school there as the opportunities will be more..Not sure how much truth is in this statement

Darden is great. If you plan to live on the East Coast, it would make a lot of sense to go here. And the name is getting more national, too. The faculty told me that they were consistently in the top 10 rankings for a long time but recently slipped because of the percentage of faculty dedicated to research had slipped, but that they were correcting that and should bounce back in a few years. But they remain high in the things that matter to me: high placement, high alumni involvement (the highest, I was told) and great reputation.

The case method will be more challenging than the traditional lecture style that we are all used to, but I think it is a very effective approach. They start each class with a "cold call" to one of the students who then has to come to the front of the class and lead the diagnosis of a new and unfamiliar case. I suspect students are then very motivated to stay on top of their studies and get comfortable and secure with their ideas very quickly. They have a ton of youtube videos talking about it. I am in favor of the method.

As for USC, the interview was really basic. And short. So I guess it would be better to prepare your four or five best stories (selling points) and try to tell them right away so you don't run out of time. And there is a lot of truth with alumni location correlating with school location. The UT Austin alum was in San Fran now, but said that around 70% of his class stayed in Texas. So that will have a big impact on recruiting and alum support after you graduate. That's why I applied to mostly schools within an hour's drive to the Pacific Ocean. But, a great program is a great program, so with the skills you would learn in class, as long as you are savvy enough to land an interview in the city and company of your choice, with or without help from your school, an off-location MBA program will do the trick, too.

Surprise call from Texas: admitted! They said that merit scholarship notifications would happen later in the month, which would definitely make a difference for me personally. This is the one school that I didn't have time to visit. I know the city of Austin is great, and would be a fun place to go for a few years and maybe even stay! But I think I would have to go down for a class visit soon to get a better idea of my fit.

Stanford: Denied w/o interview
UC-Berkeley: waiting
UCLA: Interviewed
Kellogg: Waitlist
Chicago Booth: Waitlist
UW Foster: Admitted
USC Marshall: Interviewed
UT-Austin: Admitted
Darden: Interviewed
UC-Irvine: Interviewed

Now I'm excited to hear back from UCLA, their notification is on Wednesday. Crossing fingers.