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Waitlisted Candidates: Comfort and Guidance

For candidates on our summer waitlist:

First of all, thank you for your continued interest in Wharton, and for your patience for remaining on the waitlist. While your waitlist status should serve as an affirmation of the strength of your candidacy, we certainly can appreciate how trying it can be to simply wait. We hear from many waitlisted candidates who wonder if there is anything they can do to improve their chances of being admitted.

In fact, there is not—our policy is that candidates should refrain from sending additional materials, recommendations and updates. While changes to your personal situation (a promotion, professional recognition, etc.) are indeed further examples of your accomplishment, we recognize that applications are, in fact, a ‘snapshot in time’ and that many candidates are likely to experience personal and professional growth since submission. Consequently, while we applaud your accomplishment, we ask that you abstain from providing updates (we already have ascertained your potential!)

On that note: instead of being stressed over your inability to take action, please consider the positive aspects of Wharton’s policy. At Wharton, there is no need to:

Spend countless hours developing creative ways to keep in touch and “win us over.” You express your interest simply by remaining on the waitlist.
Expend additional time and resources submitting additional recommendations and other materials. These are unlikely to change your eventual decision, which is made across multiple criteria; or
Fear that those who lobby lavishly and loudest will receive preference. All waitlist candidates are given equal consideration – equity and fairness rule the day.

So what are Wharton’s waitlist policies again?

Please let us know if you would like to be removed from the Summer Waitlist by sending an email by June 1, 2008 to mba.admissions@wharton.upenn.edu, including the words "Summer Waitlist Remove" on the subject line. We fully understand if you are unable to do so due to other commitments.

The Summer Waitlist has no numerical ranking system. It is not possible to predict the availability of admission because we do not know if any matriculating students will withdraw their currently reserved place in the class.

All Summer Waitlist candidates will be considered on an ongoing basis for a spot in the class, with decisions to admit or deny off the list released every other Thursday, beginning June 12th and ending July 24th, 2008.

Any candidate still on the Waitlist after the final release of admissions on July 24th will receive an email stating that the admissions cycle has ended and that they are no longer under consideration for the Class of 2010. This same information will be reflected in their online status.

In the spirit of fairness and equity, we will not accept additional materials for inclusion in your application. In this same spirit, we do not offer another interview.

There is no point person in the office for the waitlist. All waitlist decisions are handled by the Admissions Committee.

Feedback to candidates is not offered to candidates while they are on the waitlist.

There is no rank order to the waitlist.

The chances of being admitted off the waitlist are hard to predict. Historically, the admit rate has varied from year to year and has very little correlation with the number of candidates placed on the waitlist.

Thank you in advance for honoring these guidelines.

21 May 2008 04:59 PM in Application Processing , Application Strategy | Permalink

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