In a post to her blog yesterday, Rose Martinelli, director of admissions and financial aid at Chicago Booth School of Business, shared some insight into her team’s round two decisions. She first expressed that overall application quality was very high. “It is obvious that many of you have spent a great deal of time researching, writing and preparing for this process, and it has been a privilege for me to read your stories,” she said.
Wishing a hearty congratulations to those who have been admitted to the Class of 2011, Martinelli went on to explain some of her team’s other decisions.
First she outlined the ways in which Chicago Booth uses its waitlist. Specifically, the waitlist serves as a means of gauging the flow of decisions, viewing the next round’s applicant pool and sizing the class appropriately. This year in particular, when the traditional patterns for students accepting offers of admissions may vary due to current economic challenges, Martinelli suggests that the waitlist may play an even greater role than usual.
“The waitlist is a very good place to be – and we believe you are a good fit/match for Booth,” Martinelli said. It is not about gauging an applicant’s interest in Chicago Booth, she continued.
For those who have been waitlisted, Martinelli encourages you to follow her office’s instructions. Feel free to send appropriate and relevant updates via email to the general admissions address, admissions@chicagobooth.edu. Please, no attachments, she continued. Send any updates in the body of an email and put “waitlist update, your name” in the subject line.
Martinelli explained that her office cannot offer feedback to waitlisted candidates. “We just don’t have the resources,” she said. So she recommended that candidates review their own application to look for areas they might like to supplement. You don’t have to send any additional materials, but if you do, be reasonable in terms of what and how much you send and how often you contact the admissions office, she advised. In terms of a timeline, her office will not begin reviewing the waitlist again until the end of April.
Of course, there’s not much Martinelli can say to ease the blow to applicants who are denied after the interview. Noting that they are some of the hardest decisions they make each year, she did stress that it’s a pure supply and demand problem. “Everyone we invite to interview is extremely talented – that’s a given,” she said. “However, each year we have more great applicants that apply than we have room to admit,” she continued.
She did mention that Chicago Booth will be hosting re-application chats over the summer months for those interested in reapplying. We’ll keep an eye out here at Clear Admit and be sure to notify our readers when those chats have been scheduled.
