EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • BIPOC Program
    • Testimonials & Reviews
    • Guest Posts
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts
    • Discounts & Offers

What if you’ve collected more rejections than invitations?

October 28, 2020 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

We’re now at about the halfway point for Round 1 and many of you have seen lots of activity on your applications! We’re hearing of plenty of interview invitations coming in, and lots of excited and nervous Brave Supplicants who are gearing up to make a solid Zoompression.

(We’ve got an MBA Interview Prep Guide if you’re looking for info on how to prepare!)

For others of you though, instead of the good-news status-update emails where you find out you’re moving forward at the school you’ve applied to,

As we cautioned a month ago, right before Harvard issued its interview invites, getting rejected from certain schools is not really meaningful.

As in: You can’t extrapolate anything from the outcome of being turned down by Harvard Business School.

Other schools, though, if you get the “early release” news in mid-season, well yeah. That outcome does in fact give you useful information about the state of your app. If you’re turned down by a school like Darden or Duke that has an early action round, where the decision comes back to you quickly, then that gives meaningful input that you can take to heart: There is something wrong either with your profile, or with the pitch.

If it’s the profile, well you’re in luck! We’re still early enough in the season that you can take action on that! If it’s a low GPA: You can take action! If it’s a low standardized test: Again, take action!

If you’re reasonably certain that your academics and test scores are solid enough to at least make it to the interview stage, then that means it’s the essays, resume, or recommendations that were the cause of the downfall — and again, the answer is, take action! Resumes can be overhauled. Essays can be approached differently. Recommenders can be offered support.

And of course there are dozens if not hundreds of posts on the EssaySnark blahg in each of those categories for the perusing — the search box at the top of the righthand menu of the main page, and the categories dropdown below it, can help you find what you’re looking for based on topic or keyword or school.

What if your app has been turned down from a school like Columbia or Booth?

Schools at that tier are giving you incredible information in a “no thanks” decision. Obviously we would much rather hear about you moving to an interview at these places!! But, if you have already suffered the blow of being turned away at one of these schools, then this is where an opportunity lies. For starters, it’s highly likely that the essays were not a strong point of the application, and even sight-unseen, we can predict that there would be room for improvement in the way you approach your essay writing project for the Round 2 schools that you’re targeting. If Columbia or Booth have said no to you, then a common reason is that the goals were not well defined. If that was an issue for you, then fixing that now can improve your chances at many other schools that you might be thinking of for Round 2 — including places like Ross or Tuck or NYU.

As much as it hurts to get rejected, you actually did yourself a real favor by applying in Round 1. Having an early rejection from a top school at this point in the season means you’re able to step back and evaluate what the problems could be. It truly and totally sucks to have an app rejected, so we’re not trying to say that it’s a good thing. But, it is a good thing that you’re now in a position to do things differently for the rest of the season, and potentially see different outcomes in Round 2.

 

* * *

 

Want our take on what may have been the issues with your Round 1 application? Our Post-Mortem Application Review is a detailed assessment of the entirety of one of your apps, head to toe, to identify where the problems were, so you can regroup and restrategize, and have a new go at things for the remainder of the admissions season. If you’ve been turned down by HBS, then it might be useful to get that rejected app reviewed. However, much more utilitarian would be a reject analysis for schools like Booth, Columbia, Duke, INSEAD, or for rejections that won’t come till later, places like Kellogg or Yale. The Post Mortem could be valuable for you regardless of which school’s app you want evaluated, but if you’ve unfortunately gotten multiple rejections already, then certain ones can be more revealing in terms of what we can offer as feedback that is more applicable to improving your chances at other schools you’re tackling from here.

Filed Under: rejection

« Previous: ($) What GRE score is considered competitive this year?
Next: There will never be another moment in time like this one. »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for the 'Snark via email

Enter your address to get weekday blahg posts by email.

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Rd 1: Sept. 6
    in 4 weeks
  • Harvard Round 1: Sept. 7
    in 4 weeks
  • Wharton Rd 1: Sept. 7
    in 1 month, 0 weeks
  • Duke Early Action: Sept. 7
    in 1 month, 0 weeks
  • Darden Early Action: Sept. 8
    in 1 month, 0 weeks
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   

Brave Supplicants' latest reviews on The 'Snark


2020-21 r1 candidate
Apr 19, 2021
 by 2020-21 r1 candidate on Waitlist Assist
Please get this if you have the resources!

I would recommend EssaySnark to every waitlisted candidate! I was waitlisted by one of HSW in R1 this... Read more

hopeful
Feb 11, 2021
 by hopeful on MBA Interview Prep: Custom Practice Questions
Helpful

Just wanted to say thank you for these questions! A lot of them were really tailored to my profile, ... Read more

George
Apr 10, 2020
 by George on EssaySnark
Great Starting Point

I thought getting over the GRE/GMAT hurdle was fairly straightforward--disciplined study then test execution... Read more






Not sure where to begin with EssaySnark?
Our Snark Selector
will tell you!



   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2022 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy

Where should you start with EssaySnark?

Which EssaySnark service is right for you? Answer a few questions to find out!

This field must be set to Everyone - then in the Settings -> HTML -> After Fields screen there's JavaScript to hide it.
Sending