Feedback sessions are usually offered by Admissions offices for those applicants that receive a waitlist or decline but have potential within the application. Not every application office offers this opportunity, so don't feel slighted if you don't receive an invitation. Nonetheless, it doesn't hurt to ask.
From an admissions perspective, a feedback session is an opportunity to cultivate a pipeline of applicants. Let's face it - there is a limited supply of qualified candidates (unqualified...well, that's a different story). If an admissions office can help you improve on an area of your application and create a stronger candidate, it will certainly benefit them in the long run.
In preparation
Now, how do you approach this session? You should think about it like a review from a supervisor – the feedback is critical, useful and focused on making you a better applicant. Remember, it is in their best interest to make you a stronger applicant. Like an employer review, you shouldn’t be surprised by what is being said. Before the feedback session, go through your application again – hopefully since submitting it you might be able to step back a bit. Take a look at the overall message you were delivering – I’m a high performer, I’m a flexible, team-oriented person, I will be the next international entrepreneur. A high level overview will help you understand the message that the admissions office would have used as context to read the rest of your application.
Highlight what might be your pros and cons. Consider how your strengths stand out vs. your areas of development and expect to discuss these items in the session. If there happens to be something that isn’t brought up, use your list of pros/cons to help you drive the conversation. Look at your application in the context of these items:
- Undergraduate/graduate gpa
- GMAT score
- Career progression
- Goals – short and long term
- Understanding of school offerings
- “Fit” with school and culture
At the session
Before you start off the session, make sure you communicate your overall themes once again – why you want to attend b school, short/long term goals, reasons for applying to that business school. Now…ASK if this matches up with what was communicated in the application. One of the things you’ll learn in this business is that there are good applicants and then there are good applications. Understand if the committee “heard” the same themes in the application. If not, you now know another area to target.
Come with your list of questions to ask the admissions officer on each topic (you may want to prioritize since you may have limited time). Again, think of questions you would ask in a feedback review with a supervisor. What could I do to improve this piece of my application? What would an exceptional application look like? What areas of my application should I prioritize over others? Although you might be DYING to ask “what do I need to do to be accepted”, remember that this is still an opportunity to sell yourself to the admissions office. Show that you have thought through the process, been self-reflective and have thought about how to best approach this process.
Now, the reality is that you might hear some responses that you might not agree with. Again, here is your opportunity to impress the admissions committee with your level of diplomacy and tact. Instead of stating how you disagree, perhaps discuss your purpose or intent in doing “this” in your application. For example, if they advise you to remove an extracurricular involvement from your resume (which is unlikely – I’m choosing a rare example), explain your motives for including this to begin with.
A word to the wise – an excuses vs reality
Feedback in and of itself is often hard to give, but of course, it is also hard to receive. You might feel as if you have to explain away issues in your application, and this is where the applicants are separated from the new admits (a little admissions snarkiness for you). An excuse doesn’t place you at the center of the activity. It puts the accountability, the focus, and let’s just say it, the blame on another party. If you pass the buck at this stage, the admissions office is likely to extrapolate that you will pass the buck when it comes to your classes, your exams, your recruiting sessions, your interviews…you get the point. Now, an explanation will place you at the center of the issue, make you accountable, will show what you have learned from the situation and how you have come out the other end. So for example, a low gpa issue is a classic. An excuse would be – I was too quantitatively focused, I was too involved in school, my majors were really hard. Borderline excuses. An explanation would say, the coursework was tough and I didn’t allocate enough time to studying. I have since learned to plan out my time so that I can dedicate the resources where they are needed. Make sense? Again, think about this in terms of how you would talk to your boss. If they ask why something wasn’t done, would you give them a laundry list of excuses or would you step up, take ownership, and take a lesson from it.
Overall
So in essence, TRY to be as objective as possible in your own application feedback session. Take the time to review your application before hand and make sure you walk in with items to discuss. Walk in with an open mind and soak it all in. This is an opportunity for you to become a stronger applicant.
For those of you reading this, I’d love to hear your questions and comments.
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