News, advice and resources for business school applicants

Interview Insights from Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth Admissions Directors

Nov 18, 2008 | 0 comments

In a post to the Stanford Graduate School of Business Admissions blog last week, Director of Admissions Derrick Bolton shed some light on the timing of interview invitations. “Please be assured that your likelihood of admission bears no relationship to when you receive your interview invitation,” he wrote. “The timing of your invitation simply depends on when we review your file.”

And as for the order in which Stanford GSB reviews applications, there is no pattern, Bolton said. Interviews for Round 1 applicants start as soon as possible after the application deadline, which is typically early November, and continue through mid-January.

“We expect to send Round 1 interview invitations pretty regularly, every business day or so, through mid December,” he said. During the school’s winter shutdown, December 22nd through January 5th, the admissions committee is still reading applications “feverishly,” but invites get bundled and go out every few days instead of every day. 

According to Bolton, he hopes to send almost all Round 1 invitations out by mid-January, but some will likely go out later. And some applicants may be asked to join the waitlist without an interview, he added. But the timing of your invite does not have any bearing on your likelihood of admission, he repeated. “No matter when you receive your invitation to interview, you have the same chance of admission as any other candidate.”

In a blog post of her own, Rose Martinelli of the Chicago Booth School of Business shared a little about interviews at that school. Not a lot of detail here – her post was devoted primarily to the school’s new name and its generous benefactor – but she did reveal that more than 250 applicants were headed to campus this week to interview and that she has been enjoying meeting them all.

That’s all we have for today, but we’ll keep the updates coming as often as we can. And don’t forget, you can share your own interview experiences with fellow anxious applicants on the Clear Admit Wiki and read what others have to say about theirs as well.

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