Yes, Virginia, you can lobby your way off HBS, Stanford, and Wharton Waitlist–sometimes
Friday, April 8th, 2011Hey Sandy, what’s your take on sending out letters of support/recommendation after being waitlisted? I know ad com states that they don’t want to be contacted. However, what’s the best way to continue to show interest? ThanksFrom calling the main number and this article, I think it’s a no-no: http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2010/03/ … -is-a-test
I dont want to get into a pee-wee contest w. other consultants in the blog section of this Forum or article cited above, but if you really want to destroy some myths about B Schools and Wait Lists, here goes.
1. There are no rules: DO NOT PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT THEY TELL YOU, OR WHAT ADCOM HEADS SAY WHEN GIVING INTERVIEWS, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO SAY, DISREGARD OUR INSTRUCTIONS. ditto kids like the bold lad above, who, gasp!, called the MAIN number: “Hello, this is Joe Blow the WL kid, and unlike the shy sucker other kids on the WL, I am so bold as to call you, and, of course, since you dont know me from Adam, you will give me the inside scoop about the WL. Here’s my question, honey (I like to charm them on the phone), the letter I got said not to contact you, but, you know, sweetie, just between cutie-pie you and me and fence post, I mean is that for all the fellas out there who are not as charming as lil’ ol me, or is there some secret way to get off the WL for smooth-as-silk types like me, who also has the Spauldings to like call you’ll???? What’s that, honeybun? There ain’t no way???? Now that is not just the guff you tell all the boys, is it sweetie??? IT AINT, well, dang me, ok darlin’ one mo’ time, and now I am putting a cherry on top of what I am saying, Aint there some sugar WL for rascals like me? You know the one you dont show all the boys, just those with a big grin and shiny blue eyes like me. There is not!!!! Now, cupcake, you are breaking my heart . . . .but I know what you are doing, three is the charm, right, so I gotta make a cute little puppy dog and beg three times, aint that right Flower-belle? . . . . .etc ”
2. As to H/S/W ALL OF WHICH HAVE NOMINAL DO-NOT-CONTACT US RULES, there is not much you can do for yourself, that much I agree with, but there are things OTHERS can do for you, [ including alums, current students, and esp. any bigshots or influentials you work for or who know your work, esp. if they also, ahem, hire jerks fr. those very same schools. HAVE THEM CALL THE ADCOM OR THE DEAN AND PUT SOME SKIN IN THE GAME FOR YOU.
3. duh, gee Sandy, how do you know this?
4. Because I have seen it work MANY MANY MANY times –that is how. Some percent of WL admits will have bigshots or other influentials call for them. And sometimes (not always) those kids get in.
NOW–do I know if those kids who had bigshots or other influenetials call for them would have gotten in anyway without the call? No, how could I? And since some kids had folks make calls for them and did not get off WL, doesnt that prove that calls dont mean much? NOT NECESSARILY. IT DEPENDS ON THE CALL. THE CALLER. WHAT WAS SAID, AND QUITE FRANKLY, A BIT OF LUCK. THERE IS SUCH A THING AS TELEPHONE KARMA. I have feedback fr. MANY MANY calls made to HSW deans and adcoms, and sometimes people strike it lucky, and sometimes not. And as much as I love Her Royal Highness, like many potentates, somedays she pouts and somedays she smiles. Royalty is like that.
5. Sandy, you are bugging me, this goes against all the flap-doodle on other sites, and what the schools say themselves? That is because, secretly, YOU DONT WANT TO DO ANYTHING and YOU WANT TO HEAR THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!
6. Sandy, I dont know any bigshots or influentials. Well, don’t despair, most people get off WL by in fact doing nothing, so all is not lost. The number of kids who can lobby their way off WL is about ~10pct of WL admits each year. Soooooooooo, consider the WL about as ‘fair’ as most things in the admissions game, and more fair than life and death in 99 pct of the places on earth. But use your noodle. If you are adcom, and some head of PE shop, or fellow dean, or big charity dude, or demi-celebrity calls you and makes a strong case for X, who gives a frig, make the bigshot happy. People actually like to do favors for bigshots, it makes them feel more important.
Look at the ****bags at Monitor, they were falling over themselves to do a favor for a war crimminal, and it was NOT JUST THE MONEY!!!! (altho sure . . . .), it also made them feel good that they had reached a position where they could influence things. I mean NO ONE REALLY CARES who gets in off WL (except you of course), so WHY NOT DO A FAVOR, it dont cost you anything, anyone on the WL is by def. already OK, and you never know when you may need a little favor yourself, but mostly, it just feels good in some deep, selfish, primal way, that as adcom you can help out a bigshot or influential . . . you dont feel cheap or used or dirty, you feel pride, altho it is not the kind of pride you ever talk about or can share. It is deep inside your head, along w. other really secret, deep, personal, and often ‘unseemly’ stuff.
2. As to H/S/W ALL OF WHICH HAVE NOMINAL DO-NOT-CONTACT US RULES, there is not much you can do for yourself, that much I agree with, but there are things OTHERS can do for you, [ including alums, current students, and esp. any bigshots or influentials you work for or who know your work, esp. if they also, ahem, hire jerks fr. those very same schools. HAVE THEM CALL THE ADCOM OR THE DEAN AND PUT SOME SKIN IN THE GAME FOR YOU.
3. duh, gee Sandy, how do you know this?
4. Because I have seen it work MANY MANY MANY times –that is how. Some percent of WL admits will have bigshots or other influentials call for them. And sometimes (not always) those kids get in.
NOW–do I know if those kids who had bigshots or other influenetials call for them would have gotten in anyway without the call? No, how could I? And since some kids had folks make calls for them and did not get off WL, doesnt that prove that calls dont mean much? NOT NECESSARILY. IT DEPENDS ON THE CALL. THE CALLER. WHAT WAS SAID, AND QUITE FRANKLY, A BIT OF LUCK. THERE IS SUCH A THING AS TELEPHONE KARMA. I have feedback fr. MANY MANY calls made to HSW deans and adcoms, and sometimes people strike it lucky, and sometimes not. And as much as I love Her Royal Highness, like many potentates, somedays she pouts and somedays she smiles. Royalty is like that.
5. Sandy, you are bugging me, this goes against all the flap-doodle on other sites, and what the schools say themselves? That is because, secretly, YOU DONT WANT TO DO ANYTHING and YOU WANT TO HEAR THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO!
6. Sandy, I dont know any bigshots or influentials. Well, don’t despair, most people get off WL by in fact doing nothing, so all is not lost. The number of kids who can lobby their way off WL is about ~10pct of WL admits each year. Soooooooooo, consider the WL about as ‘fair’ as most things in the admissions game, and more fair than life and death in 99 pct of the places on earth. But use your noodle. If you are adcom, and some head of PE shop, or fellow dean, or big charity dude, or demi-celebrity calls you and makes a strong case for X, who gives a frig, make the bigshot happy. People actually like to do favors for bigshots, it makes them feel more important.
Look at the ****bags at Monitor, they were falling over themselves to do a favor for a war crimminal, and it was NOT JUST THE MONEY!!!! (altho sure . . . .), it also made them feel good that they had reached a position where they could influence things. I mean NO ONE REALLY CARES who gets in off WL (except you of course), so WHY NOT DO A FAVOR, it dont cost you anything, anyone on the WL is by def. already OK, and you never know when you may need a little favor yourself, but mostly, it just feels good in some deep, selfish, primal way, that as adcom you can help out a bigshot or influential . . . you dont feel cheap or used or dirty, you feel pride, altho it is not the kind of pride you ever talk about or can share. It is deep inside your head, along w. other really secret, deep, personal, and often ‘unseemly’ stuff.
7. In my experience, most WL kids do TOO LITTLE and not too much. Can contacting adcom work against you, sure, anything can work against you, you need to play it right, like you need to play everything right in a game w.out rules by using smarts, savvy, and shrewd judgment. But make no doubt about it, this is a test that is more impt than ANY test you will take in B school. Again, if you absolutely dont know anyone, dont super fret, most folks get off WL at HSW by waiting, but if you do . . . .well,
OK end of today’s sermon.
OK end of today’s sermon.
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