Feedback
Just got done with my feedback session at Wharton and my first impression of the process was simply terrible. I have no idea why the school offers feedback sessions when they don't have the resources to support a task of this magnitude. The entire process from start to finish was a disaster and showcased Wharton at its worst.
It all started with me making a call to the Wharton admissions office for my scheduled feedback session about 5 mins before my session was to start. In the common man versus machine theme, I was instantly faced by this bodiless voice asking me to push some buttons. Being used to playing this game, I humored the system and was finally asked to wait, then asked to wait again and again for quite some time. After 20 mins of waiting I was finally transferred to the receptionist who then put me through to this snooty, my-shit-doesn't-smell and my-nose-is-in-the-air admissions committee member, who asked me who I was. When I told her my name, in her best 'you-are-a-worthless-bug' voice, she hit me with a "Do you know time it is? Your appointment was at x:xx", I was completely taken aback by her attitude, being on the West coast I had calculated the time difference in my head by subtracting 3 hours. Thinking it was I who screwed up, had to ask, "What is the time there?" and in the same voice she returns with a "it is x:xx + 15 mins".
I guess by now I was pissed, I had been on hold for 20 mins, after which I was faced by this stupid stuck up beyatch, who was reaming me for no fault of mine. But I was still polite and informed her that I did call on time but I was put on hold for 20 mins. Finally after much convincing on my part she relented, but only after ensuring that I knew she was a busy person and that she had another appointment waiting. She then proceeded to put me back on hold to get the 411 on the admissions front desk. I guess she finally decided that the delay was due to no fault of mine and she proceeded to screw her next appointment and commenced my session.
She led off by telling me what a competitive pool Wharton had and how everyone who got in was special. She then talked about my candidacy and expressed regret that this was one of the tougher feedback sessions she had to face because there was no outstanding reason to ding me. Apparently, the areas where I failed to convince the committee were:
1. Why MBA
2. Why Now
3. Why a MBA was necessary for me to achieve my goals.
Then she reiterated that I was a strong candidate but couldn't successfully distinguish myself from the crowd.
Having spent over 10 weeks of my life dedicated to the Wharton cause, I couldn't resist asking if there was anything the admissions committee particularly liked, and the voice came back in the 'beyatch' tone, "I have already gone through my feedback, there is nothing I have to add". OUCH!
Hundreds of hours, dollars and dreams invested to end up in this? I wasn't as hurt by the ding as I was by this callous attitude. The woman just did not give a damn; it seemed as if she was undertaking a particularly disgusting job that she just dint particularly want to take up. This attitude was so different from the usual sugar won’t melt in our mouth, do come and apply to Wharton the school with a heart that is usually found on S2S and the information forums. I guess all good will is targeted only towards people who yet have to pay up the 200$ admission fee.
I am surprised that Wharton doesn’t realize that while providing feedback is a good think, the attitude feedback is given speaks a lot about the culture of the school. People talking down to rejected candidates doesn’t showcase Wharton as classy, I would take a snooty HBS, which tells you as is right from day one over a friendly-to-start-with Wharton that kicks people when they are down between their legs. The funny thing is people have the audacity to complain about a negatively shaded article that appeared about Wharton in the rags recently.
Well it is over now and undoubtedly sad, but at least it is closure. In some ways I am glad it was such a bitter farewell, because I will never ever regret the one that got away, regardless of how close it was to hand.
It all started with me making a call to the Wharton admissions office for my scheduled feedback session about 5 mins before my session was to start. In the common man versus machine theme, I was instantly faced by this bodiless voice asking me to push some buttons. Being used to playing this game, I humored the system and was finally asked to wait, then asked to wait again and again for quite some time. After 20 mins of waiting I was finally transferred to the receptionist who then put me through to this snooty, my-shit-doesn't-smell and my-nose-is-in-the-air admissions committee member, who asked me who I was. When I told her my name, in her best 'you-are-a-worthless-bug' voice, she hit me with a "Do you know time it is? Your appointment was at x:xx", I was completely taken aback by her attitude, being on the West coast I had calculated the time difference in my head by subtracting 3 hours. Thinking it was I who screwed up, had to ask, "What is the time there?" and in the same voice she returns with a "it is x:xx + 15 mins".
I guess by now I was pissed, I had been on hold for 20 mins, after which I was faced by this stupid stuck up beyatch, who was reaming me for no fault of mine. But I was still polite and informed her that I did call on time but I was put on hold for 20 mins. Finally after much convincing on my part she relented, but only after ensuring that I knew she was a busy person and that she had another appointment waiting. She then proceeded to put me back on hold to get the 411 on the admissions front desk. I guess she finally decided that the delay was due to no fault of mine and she proceeded to screw her next appointment and commenced my session.
She led off by telling me what a competitive pool Wharton had and how everyone who got in was special. She then talked about my candidacy and expressed regret that this was one of the tougher feedback sessions she had to face because there was no outstanding reason to ding me. Apparently, the areas where I failed to convince the committee were:
1. Why MBA
2. Why Now
3. Why a MBA was necessary for me to achieve my goals.
Then she reiterated that I was a strong candidate but couldn't successfully distinguish myself from the crowd.
Having spent over 10 weeks of my life dedicated to the Wharton cause, I couldn't resist asking if there was anything the admissions committee particularly liked, and the voice came back in the 'beyatch' tone, "I have already gone through my feedback, there is nothing I have to add". OUCH!
Hundreds of hours, dollars and dreams invested to end up in this? I wasn't as hurt by the ding as I was by this callous attitude. The woman just did not give a damn; it seemed as if she was undertaking a particularly disgusting job that she just dint particularly want to take up. This attitude was so different from the usual sugar won’t melt in our mouth, do come and apply to Wharton the school with a heart that is usually found on S2S and the information forums. I guess all good will is targeted only towards people who yet have to pay up the 200$ admission fee.
I am surprised that Wharton doesn’t realize that while providing feedback is a good think, the attitude feedback is given speaks a lot about the culture of the school. People talking down to rejected candidates doesn’t showcase Wharton as classy, I would take a snooty HBS, which tells you as is right from day one over a friendly-to-start-with Wharton that kicks people when they are down between their legs. The funny thing is people have the audacity to complain about a negatively shaded article that appeared about Wharton in the rags recently.
Well it is over now and undoubtedly sad, but at least it is closure. In some ways I am glad it was such a bitter farewell, because I will never ever regret the one that got away, regardless of how close it was to hand.
14 Comments:
that sounds really bad.
i am sure u must be pissed off !
but i am not sure how much the behaviour of the adcom-member reflects on the school. i would think that she is indeed frustrated doing her job, and wharton needs to place someone better in her place. definitely some scope for improvement in the process exists.
After having seen the dedication and commitment of the Wharton adcom and others on S2S (especially Alex Brown, FF, summitcounty, now Mike Cronim, etc), I feel this experience of yours is a one off case.Maybe there is something more to the tone of your note which has not been explained here. It is totally inappropriate to say that Wharton does sweet talk for the sake of $200. You will not find such a helpful adcom, answering queries at 4.30 AM in the morning, having all-night chats on the night before the admit decisions, having weekly chat sessions, maintaining an admissions blog which gives upto date status of the information which application status, etc, in any other b-school. Wharton does not need to do all this unless they really care for the applicants.
Is this note of yours a case of sour grapes??
Maybe you did not deserve to be in Wharton after all. Good luck to you in life!
Anon: if you're going to accuse someone of 'sour grapes', have the guts to at least log in rather than being completely anonymous.
man... that sounds like it was really harsh. sorry you had to go through that. the adcom member that did my feedback session (it seems like forever ago now) was very professional and helpful. this sounds like what happened with my feedback for another school.
>>>>"Do you know time it is? Your appointment was at x:xx", >>>>
When I had my feedback session with Wharton last year (for Class of 2006), I had to hear the same line above (no fault of mine. I too was kept on hold for 15 min). The moment i got to the person, I apologized for the delay. I tried to explain in a nutshell, but he cut me short. In fact he told me he cant offer me feedback now becoz of other appointments...and I had to almost double request/ profusely apologize of sorts to him!!
But his 'nose-up-in-the-air' tone was there throughout....that made me so uncomfy! Though I don't know if this can be generalized...
PS: I'll shoot you a mail on IBM T43 queries...don't wanna hijack ur comments section.
Mr anonymous, you suck.
Aregon, thanks for the post. I think it's clear that Wharton needs to work on the feedback portion of the application process. A lot!
EuroMBA, my name is Lord of the Rings. Does it make a difference? That's not my real name, but on the other hand, Aregon is not a real name either and nor is EuroMBA. I don't maintain a blog, and I don't have a blogspot account. So there's no way I can log on.
Aregon expressed his views and so did I. I don't think there is anything wrong in what I have said in my first paragraph. It is extremely wrong to generalize and say that a school sucks just because of one incident. To quote an article from PhillyMag and saying that those who were defending it were doing wrong as a part of this post speaks volumes about the attitude of this blogger.
It sounds like the committee had no good reason to reject you. You were a solid candidate. And you're still going to a great school.
It also sounds like the woman who gave your feedback needs to consider either taking a vacation or finding a less stressful line of work. Regardless, isn't the customer always right? She should have acted more professionally. Shame on her.
I too dont have a bloggger a/c and still awaiting my feedback. But when I called to schedule my feedback, I was def. spoken to in a condescending tone and I am a WL dude who got dinged after that. When I wanted to double check the time and telephone no, what I got was " You listen to me carefully" and boy was that in a condescending tone or what. So I am not sure if its a one off thing and cheers to aregon for bring this forth.
It seems that Wharton could do a better job selecting the appropriate people to give feedback--telling a person he or she simply wasn't as good as other candidates can't be very pleasant or easy--and I think it's great that you've posted this so that concerned Wharton students and alumni can forward your message directly to the school.
That said, however, I hope you will realize that you sound extremely bitter in your post. The caustic tone only dilutes the strength of your message.
Disclaimer: Wharton admit, not matriculating. Don't have a blog account. Not the same as previous anonymous posters.
I think I'd get pretty irritated dealing with 4000 type-A rejects who want point-by-point breakdowns of the admissions decision. Lots of people are good, but not good enough. No one wants to hear that he's not good enough; is that why you're so bitter?
Anonymous -
You must be new to the MBA admissions game; is that why you're so stupid?
A ridiculous percentage of people who apply to Wharton are "good enough." There are a lot of variables at play in the admissions process. Getting accepted or rejected has less to do with "quality" and more to do with how one markets oneself and the desire by the school to build a diverse class.
Schools make mistakes in who they accept and deny. If you were accepted at Wharton, then you're an excellent illustration of the kind of error an admissions committee can make.
Also, I think it's pretty shitty of you to try to kick someone when he's down. Did it make you feel better about yourself? Did it give your dirty little ego the boost it so desperately craved?
You're pathetic.
Aregon, Sorry about that experience but now you have Cornell to look forward to and enjoy.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I appreciate the support, I am real sorry that this behavior I reported is more widespread than I had expected. I was in two minds (after I had time to cool off) whether to leave the post out there or delete it.
My biggest fear was off it coming across as bitter sour grapes as compared to a genuine complain into something that needs to be handled better. I am sorry that my message has been slightly diluted by my personal grievances, but I was typing it as I saw it, and boy was I pissed.
I would have deleted the post but for other comments that reflected a pattern of snooty behavior. Then I felt I had to leave the post as is, on the off chance that Thomas Caleel or one of the other decision making members of the admissions committee see it and can take remedial action.
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