How Srijan got rejected by Duke, but accepted into a higher ranked B-school, MIT SLOAN?

A lot of you waste a significant amount of time after getting the first rejection of the season. Some of you even consider dropping a year right after the second rejection, and I want to share a very recent turnaround I saw with an applicant who really thought the things are over. He even reached out to me asking- WHAT IS NOT WORKING IN THE PROFILE?

Srijan, GMAT 750 + ENTREPRENEURSHIP, got waitlisted by Duke (without an interview) very recently. While he was invited for an interview by MIT, Duke Fuqua chose to hang him out to dry without even having a conversation with him. If Duke chose to put him on a waitlist without an interview, it is very likely going to be a reject. However, I am glad that yesterday he got admitted to MIT Sloan Two-year full-time MBA Program.

His first thought was- “How can a higher-ranked School find me good enough to speak with me, and a lower Ranked school choose to not even talk to me?”

My Response- You see schools staggered in RANKS, and you see those names arranged in an order. This way of seeing the schools in layers of ranks is for YOU. This is your view of looking at them. However, someone sitting in the admissions committee of Duke Fuqua does not keep Rod Garcia’s( MIT Admissions Director) thought process in mind while evaluating your contribution essay or your 25 random points essay. Very different things matter to these programs, and it is absolutely okay for them to respond differently to your applications.

A lot of you get surprised by the irony of the results, and I wanted to share this note with you to make you understand that – GAME IS NOT OVER Unless the LAST School has said NO to you as well- Do not – DO NOT Let rejections, waitlists, bad news in the middle of the season bother you for too long while you are in the middle of the application season. Everyone hates getting rejected or waitlisted or not getting invited for an interview. However, you cannot afford to sulk in Nov, Dec, Jan, and Feb. If you want to sulk, do it after the season is completely over, and you are done for the year.

I have seen tonnes of stories since the inception of PythaGURUS in 2008 when the first result wasn’t favorable but there was a home run in the pipeline. You have got to focus, and convince ONE PERSON across the schools to take you.

Have a fantastic application cycle!