An unexpected turn of events

About one year ago to the date, I began my quest to join the class of 2011 at one of four top MBA programs in the country. Over the next 11 and 1/2 months, I watched my grad school dream turn into a nightmare as the global economic crisis caused a 30% surge in b-school applications and made a typically difficult application process next to impossible. As spring rolled around my 100+ hours of essay writing was worth exactly three rejection letters (from institutions that will remain nameless) and one wait list offer from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business. As one might expect, I was completely crushed by this turn of events. Two of the programs didn't even bother offering me interviews. Everything I had worked for over the past 10 years seemed to be worthless (including BS and MS engineering degrees from a top university, a GMAT score in the 98th percentile, and 4 years of work experience at a top management consulting firm). My entire graduate school plan was hanging by a shoestring at UVA and I dreaded having to repeat this gut wrenching process again in the fall.

I loathed the idea of accepting defeat this way. I didn't give up multiple VT home football games in the fall writing applications to be turned down by a handful of automated emails. So in late March I decided to try and make the best of my wait list offer at UVA (I'm sure there's a Winston Churchill saying I could quote here, but seriously, I'm just not that lame). I started sending my contact in the Darden admissions office (her name is Wendy) regular updates on everything I did since my application was submitted in January. If I had a new management experience on my project, I wrote Wendy. If I led a firm activity or extra engagement, I wrote Wendy. If I got an award, I wrote Wendy. If I had a significant role in a community service activity, I wrote Wendy. I even convinced one of my coworkers to send in an additional letter of recommendation touting my accomplishments and abilities. By the time July rolled around I was averaging an email to Wendy every three to four weeks (I seriously believe that any more than this frequency would have killed my candidacy). I was patient, enthusiastic, and hopeful, but I also fully expected to reapply the following year.

On the morning of July 21st, I received a rather odd email from Wendy explaining that a spot may or may not come available over the next few weeks, but she didn't know if or when this would happen. Wendy asked if I would still be interested in a spot if it were to materialize. That afternoon I replied and said that I would certainly accept an offer if it came by the end of the month, otherwise I looked forward to reapplying to the program in the fall. Less than 60 seconds after sending this email, I received a phone call from Sara Neher, the Darden director of admissions. Of course, my iPhone froze up as I tried to answer the call, so she left me a message to call her back (Steve Jobs, you really gotta fix this problem!). I called Sara back immediately and she informed me that I was to be extended an offer for admissions. Later that afternoon Wendy sent me a congratulatory email stating that my persistent contact with the admissions department and the professionalism shown in my correspondence more or less sealed the deal for my acceptance. I look forward to joining the Darden program later this month and truly believe that the path I took to get there will cause me to savor the experience even more.

I guess the point of this post is it gives you a basic blueprint for getting into b-school off the wait list (be persistent, be courteous, be professional, and don't give up). You could probably also claim this is blueprint for success in just about any challenge in life, so maybe I just learned my first lesson a few months early. We'll see...

P.S. I obviously see the irony in going to UVA for business school after receiving undergraduate and graduate degrees from Virginia Tech. I'm sure I'll explore this situation in a new post within the next few months...