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The Graduate Advisor PERICLES CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL LEGAL EDUCATION WWW.PERICLES.RU [email protected] SPECIAL: THE HARVARD MYSTIQUE, SEE PAGE 8 DATE: SPRING 2015 ISSUE: #32 Working the Waiting Game: Why Many The Evolution of the Russians are being waitlisted, and What to do if MBA Application it Happens to You. Essay Why does the school care about salary expectations when admitting MBA By Marian Dent, applicants? One of the main factors in B- By Andrew Dean, Pericles. school rankings is the increase in salary that Mendelssohn, GMAT Dent holds a JD graduates get from their MBAs. So look at it Professor and & from the University this way, with Russian banks not really hiring Legal Skills of California, at the moment, and hardly any Russian Director. Pericles, Berkeley. company raising salaries (let alone raising Moscow them enough to match the almost double drop in the ruble to dollar/Euro rate), what is the MBA advisors in Moscow have noticed a chance that a Russian graduate returning to Once upon a time, not too long ago, writing distinct and rather unhappy phenomenon in work in Russia in a year or two will be able to MBA application essays was a rather Russia for this MBA admissions season: show a dollarized salary gain from what he or predictable event. Most of the questions waitlisted Russian candidates! Not all are she made before entering the MBA? B- stayed very close to the traditional favorites: waitlisted of course, but we are seeing at least schools employ some of the best financial why an MBA? Why now? Why here? And, double the usual numbers of waitlisted forecasters in the world as professors, and perhaps equally or more important, why this applicants compared to previous years. It’s a truly their crystal balls don’t have a clear school? Some schools might have some conspiracy, you say? Well, I don’t think so. outlook on that one. variation, but by and large, most of the It’s more of a reality check. Russian B-school questions were the usual old friends. applicants today are in the position that many Moreover, what happens to that Answering them was easy, and quite often an forlorn Indian subcontinent applicants have candidate if Russian/Western relations applicant could simply reuse all or part of an been in for quite some time: application deteriorate further? Schools worry that the essay from one school when writing the essays for another. numbers are up, but they are not top salary Russian graduates will be anchors weighing contenders. down their employment statistics. Most of these essays originated in the time before Internet applications, when people For years, Russian MBA candidates, Three shorter term considerations also on average applied to fewer schools. Imagine, especially those coming from the finance factor into the high number of waitlisted at this time people had to submit multiple sphere, have been golden for B-schools. Not Russian applicants this year. The first is copies of documents with the application. only were Russian candidates relatively smart sanctions. There is now a long list of Russian Instead of scanning his or her transcript, an and hard working, but Moscow banks and citizens and companies that Western applicant would have to obtain multiple, investment companies paid very high salaries individuals and companies can’t deal with, certified copies for each school. Everything, for top MBAs. Business schools admitting plus a long list of high-tech goods and from recommendations to CVs, had to be done Russian finance candidates could easily bet knowhow that can’t be passed to Russia. by hand and then sent by expensive couriers that the candidates would, if not staying in Schools aren’t exempt from these restrictions: for delivery. Applicants applied to an average Europe or the US after graduation, at least a few years ago, a U.S. college received a of 3 to 5 schools. Schools could, therefore, return to Russia with net salary gains from the highly publicized fine and a damaged realistically expect that a large percentage of time they entered B-school. applicants would, if accepted, attend the school to which they were applying. See Waitlisted, p. 4 Two articles on Harvard, See pages 6-8. As Internet applications became increasingly wide-spread, many applicants started applying to a significantly larger number of schools. Why? Well, applying was now easier. Many documents could be scanned and submitted online, greatly simplifying the application process. So applying to even ten or more schools became possible without too much work. The Internet was the great equalizer in the application process, allowing anybody to apply to Harvard, for example. The Internet also See Evolution, page 4. little more stability and predictability before tell you that they have automatically added making their decision. you, and tell you not to contact them. In that case don’t. Some advisors advocate In short then, if you have applied to B- contacting the admissions office even when school this year, you have a pretty high chance they asked you not to, but I think if they of being waitlisted, if not outright rejected and specifically said not to contact them you asked to apply again next year. should not do so, at least not immediately. If you haven’t yet applied, then your 2) Unless the school tells you not to chances of being accepted in the final contact them, and the letter gives you full application rounds are completely up in the information, try to chat/phone/Skype with air. On the one hand, the situation bodes someone in admissions to determine your real reputation when a professor accidentally badly for you, since so many Russian chances. Different schools have different passed prohibited technical information to a applicants are still under consideration. But waitlist policies. Some B-schools waitlist very group of students from Iran. Thus, on the other hand, fewer Russians already few candidates and genuinely expect that applications may be waitlisted so schools can have acceptance letters in hand, so an anyone on the waitlist stands a high chance undertake due diligence. B-schools have to outstanding candidate can be bumped ahead of being admitted. Other schools waitlist large be especially careful if they are connected to of those who are still waiting without numbers, and your chance of admission is universities with engineering or science adversely affecting the global diversity of the rather low. Unless the school told you in the departments where restricted technical data class. letter, you need to find out your chances in might become an issue. order to decide on a strategy. What to do with Waiting Time The second consideration is the increased If the waitlist letter didn’t already tell you, number of Russian applicants. For various For this part of my article, I’m going to also ask about whether you can submit reasons, both personal and political, more assume that you have already applied to all additional information to bolster your Russians want to study abroad this year. So the schools you want, and are not planning application. Ask the admissions schools have more Russian applicants to on simply submitting more applications until representatives what type of information they choose from. For the most part, schools don’t someone says “yes.” Our advisees are picky suggest, and pay attention to what they say. have any “quotas” of one nationality or and know that not just any B-school will do, Whatever they suggest, DO IT! Finally ask another, and don’t discriminate against any so I hope our readers are too. Unless you are the person you are speaking to whether he/ particular nationality. Really, they don’t. But unemployed at the moment, or likely to lose she can review your application and tell you B-schools do have to think about the diversity your job, or really need to leave the country the strongest and weakest points. of the entering class as a whole. You can’t in a hurry, don’t apply to a school you underestimate the educational benefit to wouldn’t normally want to attend simply to Plan your call to admissions about ten having an entering class that represents many be able to get in somewhere. It’s probably days after you receive the wait list notice—if different nationalities and experiences. A better to take your chances, even if it means you are contacting the admissions office school can’t call itself truly global, and waiting until next year. immediately, chances are everyone else will students won’t learn to do business globally, be trying to talk to them too, so the reps will if a large percentage of the entering class is Here’s what you do for the best chance of be too busy to spend much time with you. from one place. Plus, the people who read the getting off the waitlist and into the class: Ask for the conversation in advance so they applications are human, and there is simply a will have your application handy and be human tendency not to quickly thumbs-up 1) Carefully read the waitlist letter and prepared to talk to you. applications that look too much like others. follow the directions. Some schools want The applications that readers remember are you to contact them to “opt in” to the waitlist, Try to write down some questions in the ones that are a bit different, so the more and if so, you need to do this right away. Most advance about particular parts of your applications they read from Russian students with similar backgrounds, the less likely it is that any one will be quickly accepted.