Since I got my good news from Ross, I have been really flooded with questions about my waitlist strategy. My waitlist strategy has been simple:

Get to know the school more… Make sure the school understands that you are a genuinely interested candidate. Bring out the passion for the school. And above all – Don’t fake but be genuinely interested…

I was waitlisted by both Haas and Ross and before I elaborate, let me re-iterate some things:

It is absolutely necessary to address application weaknesses like low GMAT scores, bad Grades and weaknesses in application. That brings you at par with most of the applicant pool that you are in. What I mention here is things that I did over and above that.

First let me go over the general stuff. When I was waitlisted, the biggest bone-of-contention was if to write GMAT again or not. Having my GPA in the higher range (3.8+) and with 4 yrs of experience, I decided a GMAT score (710) which was bang on the median and mean of the schools that I was applying was good enough. I decided to focus on strengthening my application.For Ross, here is what I did…

Step 0 – Read this!

I think everyone who has been waitlisted should read these 2 posts by speedywithchicken:

Waitlist Victory Part 1

Waitlist Victory Part 2

Step 1 – Before my Interview

Though I had finished my application, I attended the Ross Information Session in Bangalore. That was one of the smartest things I did as most other activities happened as a result of that. At the session I interviewed some alumni and the associate director of admissions for my blog and had a very close interaction with the group. As a result:

  • I mentioned to the associate director of admissions some ideas I had about how the school can help prospective students. She went back to Ann Arbor and connected me to the Office of Marketing Communications with whom I had close interactions through the winter. I was thrilled by the warmth and seriousness with which they took my ideas.
  • A lucky break – One of the alumni whom I interviewed that day for my blog turned out to be my interviewer :)

During this time I continued my interaction with current students at Ross (both Yr 1 & 2).

Step 2 – After my interview when I was waitlisted

  • I conveyed the result to my interviewer who gave me his assessment of my candidature and provided me with tips to improve my standing.
  • From self-assessment (which was later cemented by my interviewer), I came to the conclusion that the extra-curricular/ outside-of-work aspect of my application was not strong. Through the winter I worked towards improving it.
  • Another thing which I did (not because I was waitlisted) was to look at my pain-points as an applicant and go back to the school to suggest a way to mitigate it for others. My discussions on this with the Office of Marketing Communications at Ross, led to the Discover Ross software.

Step 3 – My updates

I structured my updates into 3 mails to the AdCom.

  1. Professional Achievements – I talked about some leadership initiatives at work, my role in closing of a major deal for the team and my recognition at work as a ‘valuable contributor’ to the team. I also talked about some of the ideas that I had concieved and implemented and what results they generated.
  2. Interactions with the Ross Community – This mail spoke about my interactions at the Ross Information Sessions, the subsequent work with Office of Marketing Communications at Ross, the discussions that followed and the initiatives that were born out of it. I also included the download and usage statistics of the “Discover Ross” software and what my vision was for the same. I also mentioned the interactions that I had with the Ross community and how much I loved it and felt involved.
  3. Personal Update – This included my out-of-work activities, and my personal achievements. I mentioned: My blog and the traffic I was generating and how it was featured by clearadmit.com, stacy blackman consulting.. etc. I also mentioned about a business idea that me and a friend was working on involving our passion for music  and some other stuff like my winning the most innovative hack at Yahoo Hackday, travelling to Singapore and learning Spanish.
  4. Additional Recommendation – I send in another additional recommendation from a current student is a close friend since my college days. She spoke about my passion for my school (Manipal) and the stuff that I was doing as an alumni to help the school. She also spoke about what she thought about my fit at Ross.

As I said earlier, my profile may not be that of a super-over-achiever, but I believe it was my genuine interest and involvement in the school that resulted in an admit. So much for my waitlist strategy. All the best to all who are waitlisted (by Ross or by other schools). Be passionate, be positive and the result will come…