All,

I recently enrolled in the full-time MBA program at Georgetown University, and have since been reading some of the discussion threads on businessweek.com for entertainment value only. I am so glad that I did not discover these posts before completing my application process.

I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that so many extraordinarily qualified MBA hopefuls cannot make confident decisions by themselves. I have read many seemingly desperate posts begging an audience of strangers to help the poster decide in which programs he should enroll. I believe thoughtful decisiveness is one of the most desirable qualities of a successful business leader. I hope that these top business programs help students develop this quality.

Additionally, it seems as though few realize that one's personal and professional qualities will ultimately have a much greater bearing on his long-term, sustained career success than will his academic affiliations.

I have also found a lot posts that battle on program classifications: Top 3, M7, Elite Eight, Top 15, Best of the Rest, etc. My gosh. Who has the time to keep up with this? It seems to be unproductive and such an unnecessary distraction. Shouldn't these intellegent go-getters spend their time fighting for something that matters?

Best of luck to all!

PS - I am curious to see if other posters berate me for making these comments. Such attacks seem prevalent within these discussion groups. I suppose that was part of the intrigue I experienced when deciding to post.

Hi there,

I too am intrigued by the rankings-lust on these boards. However, posting on these boards is not necessarily as unambiguously bad as you make it out to be. Part of what makes a good leader is one's humility to admit that you may not have all the information you need to make a decision, and then one's resourcefulness to explore all avenues - bw forums included, for some - that one feels relevant in making such decisions.

Those who post in reply, well, some may do it for entertainment, but others may also be community-minded enough to genuinely want to help others- another hallmark of a good leader.

Far from what you said, these posters are actually exhibiting 'thoughtful' (and may I add, humble and resourceful) 'decisiveness'. You may be lucky enough to have all the information you need to make your decision, but for many overseas applicants, for instance, who have not the opportunity to visit, any information they can get helps.

Good luck at Georgetown. It's a great programme, and I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself there!

I'm not going to point any fingers but it seems "odd" that people that get accepted to schools with a lower rank care less about rank (disclaimer: I'm probably going to a 15-25 ranked school as well).

I don't think these people are really asking someone else to decide for them. They're just interested in other peoples opinion before they fork out $100k+. Add that with the fact that they are probably excited as well. And let's face it once you get accepted to 2 or 3 of the top schools your going to want to have fun goofing off on a forum over working a job that your about to quit.

It's like the motorcycle thread. We all have bikes that are more than any of us can handle but we like to argue which bikes are the best for fun. All these dorks heading of to top programs have to argue about something :-)

I haven't seen a post so far for Tuck waitlist information, however, I may have overlooked. Does anyone know how the Tuck process compares to other schools? What % of waitlist applicants have traditionally been accepted? Is it really just a "soft ding" or is there a legitimate shot at getting in off of the waitlist (i.e., above a 25% chance or so)?

If there is a better post for this conversation please disclose...we can consolidate.

I'm a 2nd year at Tuck. Though I don't know the precise % of people who get in from the waitlist... I know that there is movement on the list each year. Quite a few of my classmates were initially waitlisted.

Anecdotally, most of the people I know who made it off of the waitlist were "diversity enhancing" candidates (i.e. - female, international, or ethnic minority). That said, one white male I know of made it off the waitlist...

Thanks for the insight asd!! I am half Indian, half Caucasian...however, after hearing my accent, the adcom member might remember me as 100% Texan. Therefore I am not sure how much tailwind I can ride to get off the waitlist due to the diversity I will bring to the class. Then again, being from the South at Tuck is a minority class all of its own.

I'm kind of in the same boat as you, on the R2 waitlist. When I emailed to accept my spot on the WL, the response indicated the earliest anything would happen is the end of April. From their website, deposits from applicants accepted in R2 are due April 25. However, from other conversations, I would say mid-to-late May, after R3 decisions are released is a more likely date.

Comments: 0 Stars: 0


I know, I am a student at BYU, and granted, I have NEVER lived in or been to Kansas, but since I was 11 years old and thought that Jayhawk logo was cool I have been a huge fan. It has been some rough years, and my friends have constantly made fun of me year after year as my Jayhawks have lost in the tourney but now I have the last laugh. Man, it was great to get calls and emails of congratulations instead of harassment because the Jayhawks got knocked out of the tourney. My time has come.

As far as school it is getting pretty hard to stay focused, and that is for almost everyone. What a lot of people do not understand is that when you are getting ready to finish school you are not only worried about graduation and how you are going to handle all your family coming into town. A big problem is moving, and moving can be a pain, especially if you are buying a home. I have been talking to my friends who also have bought a home and it is a pain. You have to go and find a home, which causes you to miss school, and then once you find the home you need to negotiate the price, then if you get the home you need to get insurance, the inspection done, appraisal, figuring out gas, electricity, internet, cable and etc. You get the idea, it can be a pain, and take up a lot of your time your last couple of weeks here at school. My wife actually wrote what we went through, so if you are planning on buying a home our experience might be able to help you out:
-http://searching4myself.blogspot.com/2008/04/part-1-whats-with-all-research.html
-http://searching4myself.blogspot.com/2008/04/tools-that-made-my-life-easier.html
-http://searching4myself.blogspot.com/2008/04/part-2-show-me-money.html

I am kind of lucky though because I do not currently own a home here. Some of my buddies in the programs with homes are scrambling to get their homes sold, because a lot of the homes they are going to buy are contingent on selling their current home. One of my buddies is lucky because his company, ConAgra, will buy his home from him if he doesn't sell it. That is a nice hook up.

On top of that not only are you dealing with moving and houses but your start date and vacations. Before you start your job you need to decide when you are going to begin, as well as get all the paperwork and drug tests out of the way. The most pressing concern though might be that big vacation that many of the students promised their spouses before they headed back to work. After 2 years of school this might be your last chance to go nuts, so many people are taking advantage of the break and going to places like Hawaii, Europe, Alaska and Florida. Me on the other hand I have a 4 month old son so I am just going to work, there is really no use taking the kid anywhere.

Things are pretty crazy trying to finish up school as well as everything else before we move on, and the construction on the Tanner is completing as well, which almost makes me angry because I know I will never get to use the building. The last two weeks of your MBA are insane, but the one goal I have though is to make sure I go to lunch and hang out with my friends as much as I can. I know we will all say we will write and see each other, but let's be serious, this is probably the last time I have to be around as many cool and awesome people as I am right now, so I need to be sure to take advantage of it.