Wait List

Being wait-listed by your dream MBA program is hell. If you get dinged by the school, at least you can cry your heart out, curse the school, shred up anything and everything that remind you of the school and move on with your aching heart. But if you've been wait-listed, you can't move on. Instead, you get to spend the coming days or months wondering what you should do. You know logically that you should start making plan Bs but the tiny spark of hope keeps you on the leash...you pray and pray that you get in.

I know the pain first hand because I've been wait-listed myself and I've managed to beat the odds and make it in. Cool huh? :0)

In all honesty, if you've been wait-listed, you should be proud of yourself for how much you've accomplished. I know it's easy to focus on the negatives, on the fact that you didn't get admitted. But don't beat yourself up so much because the fight isn't over yet. Perhaps your profile is weaker compared to others who have been admitted and who have similar profile as you. But remember this, competition for a spot at INSEAD is fierce especially if you fall into a very competitive group, such as Indian IT group. And also, another reason why you may have been wait-listed is because the school needs to maintain certain degree of diversity within its student population. So INSEAD always keeps a small pool of students on its wait-list in order to make sure that it can always maintain the desired diversity.

You may think that there is no hope for you since you've been wait-listed but it is not true at all. In our year, after R1 deadlines, there were at least 5 of us got off the wait-list. And then more movement took place after R3 decisions were made. So there is hope for you.

At this point, you're probably wondering what I did to get admitted. Nothing. That's right. I didn't do anything. Aside from accepting a spot on the wait-list, I didn't do anything else. I didn't send updates on my profile, submit additional recommendation or retake the GMAT. I just patiently waited. Ok, maybe not so patiently but I didn't do anything. Now on the other hand, some of my fellow wait-listers sent additional recommendation letters, additional why-I-love-INSEAD letters and updates on promotions. Here is why I didn't send any updates. Because I had none to send. So my recommendation is that unless you have solid update to send, don't clog up the inbox of your admission coordinator.

Being wait-listed is no fun. There is no recipe for what you can do to move off the wait list. Admissions staff knows what types of people they need in order to round off a class. But unfortunately, we don't know what admins are looking for. So my best advice to those who have been wait listed is to 1) arrange for financing as if you've been admitted (but don't sign any loan docs until you are admitted), 2) ask yourself what would you do if you got rejected and 3) force yourself to think of something other than being wait-listed. Hopefully these three things can help you manage your stress levels and at the same time prepare you for the future.

Good luck and hang in there.