plausible deniability: It's All In How You Look At It

March 23, 2007

It's All In How You Look At It

More lurking on the Business Week forums - A round 2 LBS applicant received a waitlist notification with a twist:

... if you are not removed from the Waiting List this year you are guaranteed a place in the class beginning in August 2008 (MBA 2010). This variation on the standard waitlist decision is only offered in a very small number of cases.

I for one think this is a great approach for the school to take - much better than the stream of we-still-can't-take-you-off-of-the-waitlist-but-please-hang-tight-you're-on-a-shortlist e-mails I received last year.

The responses from the forum seem a bit confused by the message - probably because connotations of being lumped in the dreaded limbo of the waiting list. What they don't realize though, is that the message is telling the applicant that he's been accepted. There's just a more flexible time frame associated with it.

About two years ago, I was in the situation where I had applied to LBS as my number one school as well as a backup school just in case. My backup school came through, as expected, and so did LBS... sort of. I was waitlisted. It was an interesting few months. I was just waiting and waiting for LBS to tell me I had been moved off of the waitlist but at the same time I had to make sure that I kept my options open for my backup school. Also operating in my mind was a self imposed a rule that that was to be the last year that I'd be applying for b-school - I'd attend whichever option worked out. The final outcome was personal urgency and stress - I really couldn't do anything but wait.

Having a notification like the one above is fantastic because all of the uncertainties about what to do and what options may or may not work out are gone. All the information one needs to make a decision for this round of applications is right there. As well, if that applicant decides to go to LBS, how often is it that anyone knows that no matter what he does from now till he attends class, that b-school thing has been settled already? It's potentially over a year of complete freedom from real world career responsibilities. Not too shabby a place to be.

Labels: MBA

Posted at 3:13 PM
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Agreed. That's very innovative of LBS. Definitely eliminates the dreaded limbo for waitlisted applicants.

Posted by -tvu
23/3/07 4:52 PM

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It's All In How You Look At It