The No-BS Guide to Business School Admissions:

MBA Admissions: How To Get Off the Waitlist

You spent the last six months, not to mention the last six years, preparing to go to business school. Now it's December, you log on to check your application status, and staring you back in the face is the most perplexing of three possibilities: You were neither accepted nor rejected, but WAIT-LISTED! You just entered admissions limbo - the place where all great candidacies go to sit and wait for further judgment. Psychologically, it's almost worse than rejection: You don't know whether to pack your bags and plan your pre-MBA summer in Ibiza or play the waiting game. (Never play the waiting game, no matter what the waitlist letter says. Even when the waitlist notification letter says, "Don't call us, we'll call you.")

At least when you're rejected, it's like dealing with death: It is what it is, and you eventually come to some sense of acceptance about it. You get to heal, you get to dust yourself off, and you move on, in this case to the next school.

So what does being waitlisted signify? I see waitlisted candidates create all kinds of meanings for their waitlisted status. The most common - and most incorrect - is that they weren't good enough. And even if they were to get accepted from the waitlist, they think they're a second choice, an also-ran.

Here's the deal about waitlists: Being waitlisted means you were qualified and worthy. But there was one element that was lacking or in question. What that element is directly relates to how you get yourself off the waitlist. There's no one-size-fits-all recipe.

Actions You Can Take to Get Off the Waitlist

Waitlisted candidates can choose from a variety of actions designed to add some fire to their candidacy. Not all of these actions are appropriate for everybody. See the three profiles in the following sections to determine which of the following actions are right for you.

1. UNDERSTAND YOUR WAITLIST STATUS. There are two kinds of waitlists. The opt-out waitlist means that a school automatically puts you on its waitlist unless you tell them to remove you. The opt-in waitlist requires that you accept a position on the list, usually within a certain time frame. Always accept a waitlist offer, even if you're not sure what you want to do. You can always withdraw later.
2. IMMEDIATELY ASK FOR AN APPLICATION REVIEW. Some MBA programs, like Cornell's Johnson School, will give you feedback as to why you were waitlisted. They may even make speci?c suggestions for how you can improve your chances of getting off the waitlist and into the incoming class. (I have known Columbia to ask people to raise their GMAT thirty points, for example, for automatic entry.) If your school offers reviews, the waitlist letter will say so. If it specifically tells you not to contact them, don't ask. If the school is unclear, or if you get an obviously personalized waitlist noti?cation from a specific individual, feel free to ask for feedback.
3. WRITE AN UPDATE LETTER. You only write a single update letter - they don't need to be noticed every time your boss says "good job." Submit your letter via email three to four weeks after getting waitlisted. If you were waitlisted as a first-round applicant, send your update letter in about four weeks before the second-round decision-announcement date, as many waitlisted first-round candidates are actively considered as second-round candidates as well.
4. GET A NEW RECOMMENDATION. Unless the school specifically asks that you do not send in a new recommendation, you'll want to take this step. If you applied to a school that requires three recs, like Harvard and Stanford, you've already got a third rec "in the can" you could use for any school that originally required only two recs.
5. GET LETTERS OF SUPPORT (see page 64). Now is when letters of support are most effective - an additional voice to weigh in now that the school has already judged you worthy.
6. TAKE CLASSES. If your GPA is low, that probably factored heavily into why you weren't a clear admit. Immediately sign up for a couple of community college classes at night—and get As - to prove you've got the intellectual ability as well as the discipline to do well in a rigorous quantitative curriculum. The four best classes to choose from are any kind of accounting, microeconomics, calculus, or statistics.
7. RETAKE THE GMAT. Let them know your plans in your update letter — including the date you intend to take the test - and send them the result in a "ping" email (described later). If you've already got a 700-plus GMAT, or at least an 80 percentile quant score, raising your score further won't likely help. If you were waitlisted with less than a 680 GMAT, raising it to at least 680 may dramatically increase your chances of getting off the waitlist. If you were waitlisted at a very competitive school with less than a 680 GMAT, chances are the school really liked you - they simply have concerns about your score. Raising that score removes the most likely reason you were waitlisted rather than accepted outright.
8. VISIT THE CAMPUS AND VISIT AGAIN. No matter why you've been waitlisted, you should get yourself to campus ASAP. Ask to see an admissions officer; include this request in your update letter. Many schools will be happy to accommodate you; for the ones that won't, camp out in the admissions office and ambush someone. Seriously - that has worked for many of our candidates in the past! Tell them you were in town on business and you simply wanted to put a face to the name. Don't spend more than five minutes with an admission officer unless they invite you to stay longer.
9. PING THE COMMITTEE. Your first contact will be your update letter, and you'll continue to ping the committee after that with a brief note. Send a brief note to your waitlist manager (if you were assigned one) or to the director of admissions expressing your continued interest in the school, willingness to provide further information, or anything else you feel is appropriate. "Ping" emails should go out about once every three weeks. When decision time comes, it is your name they will remember.

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About the Authors

Evan Forster, a former journalist, is founder of Forster-Thomas Inc., the premier MBA consulting firm serving b-school candidates from leading Wall Street investment banks as well as foreign candidates from Beijing to Brazil. He has spoken at such leading institutions as Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital, and Morgan Stanley. He also volunteers as a college advisor to Chess-in-the-Schools, a nonprofit organization that reaches 3,000 inner-city public school students.

David Thomas is an award-winning journalist and Internet program producer. A graduate of Northwestern University's prestigious Medill Graduate School of Journalism, he has interviewed such well-known players in the financial sector as Lou Dobbs, Richard Grasso, James Grant, and Henry Blodgett.

Evan's full bio on forsterthomas.com
David's full bio on forsterthomas.com

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