Find Zen While You Stay on the Waitlist
If you were a Round 1 applicant this season, over the past few weeks, you might have received great news, upsetting news, or a mix of both—otherwise known as placement on the waitlist.
First of all, the waitlist is encouraging feedback. It means you are qualified to attend the program, and your application and profile interest the AdCom. Unfortunately, they couldn’t immediately offer you a place in the class.
“We do not place someone on the waitlist if we cannot picture them thriving in our community,” Steve Thompson, senior director of full-time admissions at Kellogg School of Management, tells US News & World Report.
No matter the reason, the waitlist is still a tough place to be. So, try to stay calm and adopt a zen mindset. This will help you accept what is while making any changes within your power.
Did you know SBC offers hourly consulting services that you can tap into for your waitlist strategy? Contact us ASAP if you’d like to learn how we can help!
Will I get in?
There is almost no way to know if you will get admitted off the waitlist. It certainly does happen, yet you have little information about the waitlist’s ranking, how many people are on the waitlist, or whether the school will reach the yield they are looking for with regular applicants.
Therefore, remaining on the waitlist requires comfort with ambiguity. Hopefully, you were admitted to another school and can decide whether to stay in limbo.
Should I stay on the waitlist?
The decision to stay on the waitlist depends on your interest in that MBA program. Evaluate how well the program aligns with your career goals, such as the industries or functions its graduates typically enter and the strength of its alumni network in your field of interest.
Additionally, consider the program’s ranking and reputation in your chosen area. For example, a school with a top-ranked finance or technology track may be worth the wait if these areas are pivotal to your future plans. Weigh these factors against your other options and personal timeline to make an informed choice about staying on the waitlist.
If it is your top choice, you may be willing to remain on the list until school begins, especially if you are willing to move quickly and give up a deposit on a school that has offered you admission.
If the waitlisting program is not your first choice, or you would like to settle your MBA plans before school starts, you may decide to remove your name from the list. Doing so promptly is a considerate move that allows someone else a chance at their MBA dream.
Can I improve my chances of admission off the waitlist?
The number one rule of waitlists is to follow directions. The school has provided instructions about how to handle the waitlist process. Follow these directions to avoid negatively impacting your standing with the admissions committee.
If the school tells you that no additional materials are required, you should not submit any under any circumstances. Disregarding this instruction can negatively impact your standing with the admissions committee.
Applicants who send unsolicited materials might raise concerns about their ability to adhere to program guidelines. Others have unintentionally diluted the strength of their original application by submitting redundant or unnecessary updates. To avoid such pitfalls, trust the process and focus on demonstrating your interest and fit in the ways explicitly permitted by the school.
If the MBA program does provide the option of submitting additional materials, apply a consistent application strategy to the task. The AdCom may welcome letters of recommendation, improved GMAT scores, or other essays/letters from you.
Carefully consider your strengths and weaknesses and whether the following would be beneficial in your situation:
Supplemental Letter
Have you recently received a job promotion, accomplished a personal goal, or completed an academic class with a high grade? For instance, one SBC client successfully transitioned from a managerial role to a director position shortly after applying, and their supplemental letter highlighting this promotion helped them secure a spot.
Another example involves a candidate who completed a challenging certification course and submitted an update letter demonstrating their enhanced analytical skills and commitment to professional growth. If you’ve achieved something comparable, consider writing a supplemental letter. Keep your update concise, factual, and aligned with the qualities that the program values most.
Be sure to focus on achievements demonstrating growth in leadership, collaboration, or your unique value to the program. Avoid overloading your letter with too many updates—prioritize quality over quantity.
Supplemental Recommendation
A supplemental recommendation may add information about you to strengthen your position on the waitlist. The best recommenders for this scenario are those who can provide fresh, impactful insights into your character, work ethic, or achievements.
Ideally, this could be another direct supervisor who knows your professional capabilities. Or perhaps you know an alum of the MBA program who can vouch for your fit within the school’s culture. Their perspective can reinforce your candidacy by addressing specific gaps or adding a unique angle to your application.
If you are involved in an extracurricular activity, know someone associated with the school, or can use a letter to enhance a part of your application, this may be the right direction. For example, a recommender could address a perceived weakness in your profile, such as limited international experience, by highlighting your adaptability and cross-cultural collaboration skills.
Ensure your additional recommendation is brief, focused, and adds important information to your overall profile. It should complement, not repeat, the content of your original application materials.
New GMAT/GRE Score, Transcripts
Factual information like improved GMAT/GRE scores or transcripts from successful business-related classes could go a long way toward bolstering your chances. If you’ve retaken the GMAT or GRE and achieved a higher score, submit these results promptly. Similarly, completing a finance or data analytics course with top marks could demonstrate your readiness for rigorous MBA coursework and your commitment to self-improvement.
Maintain Momentum as You Stay on the Waitlist
Staying on the waitlist can feel passive, but it doesn’t have to be. Use this time productively. Continue engaging in professional development opportunities, volunteer work, or leadership roles at your current job. If the admissions committee re-evaluates your application, demonstrating ongoing growth and achievement can make you a more attractive candidate.
Additionally, stay connected to the school. Attend webinars and networking events, or contact current students and alums. Expressing your genuine interest and commitment to the program reinforces your enthusiasm and determination to join their community. However, be mindful not to overdo it—maintain professionalism and respect the admissions team’s guidelines.
While waitlist standing is frustrating, it is a positive sign about your application. Statistics from some top programs show that many waitlisted candidates eventually gain admission. Consider this: applicants who remain on the waitlist sometimes receive an admission offer from their dream B-school just weeks before classes start, all because they demonstrated continued interest and shared a key career achievement.
Let this be a reminder that patience and strategic effort can yield results. In the end, you may receive final admission from your chosen program. In the meantime, do yoga, meditate, and run–whatever you can to maintain your inner peace as you await a formal decision.
***
Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs. From our All-In Partnership to interview prep, essay editing, resume review, and much more, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS. During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
×Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally. Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
×Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years. Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
×Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee. In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
×Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
×Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB). Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
×Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics. Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
×Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford. Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
×Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise. During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
×Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies. In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
×Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team. During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
×Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS). During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
×Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director. Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants. ×
Dana
Dana served as Assistant Director of Admissions at Columbia Business School for the Full-Time MBA program and has over 10 years of experience working in higher education. Known as a scrupulous file reader, Dana reviewed countless applications and assisted in rendering final decisions for the Admissions Committee at CBS. While leading information sessions at Columbia and on the road, Dana met and advised myriad applicants� ...
×Holly
Holly worked as a member of the NYU Stern MBA Admissions team for seven years and holds an MBA from NYU Stern. In her tenure as Director of NYU MBA Admissions, Holly worked closely with admissions teams from Columbia, Michigan Ross, UVA Darden, Cornell Johnson, Berkeley Haas, Yale SOM, and Duke Fuqua on recruiting events domestically and internationally. On the NYU Stern admissions committee, Holly conducted interviews, planned and hosted events, and trained staff on reading and interviewi ...
×Mark
Mark has been working in global higher education for nearly ten years, focusing on MBA Admissions at European programs including Oxford Said Business School and London Business School (LBS). At the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, Mark was the Associate Director of MBA Recruitment, leading the recruitment of all applicants to the Oxford MBA and 1+1 MBA programs. In this role, Mark advised countless MBA applic ...
×
