The 2016 Ding Report: Why Great Applicants Are Often Rejected

Ms. Oil & Gas

• 730 GMAT
• 3.8 GPA
• Undergraduate degree from a Top 20 college in India
• Work experience includes three years i operation and maintenance for an oil and gas company that is among the Top 5 in India and two years in strategic planning
• Short-term goal: To transition into management consulting
• Long-term goal: To lead a petrochemicals/chemical practice of an M/B/B firm worldwide
• “Essay revolved around being first female shop floor engineer”
• “My Booth interviewer was late for the interview and I found him pretty biased against my company. Interview lasted around 20 mins.

  My Yale interview was pretty good and the interviewer went to the extent of saying that they were looking for people like me.”

• 28-year-old female from India

Dings:

Yale—Denied after interview

Chicago—Denied after interview

Sandy’s Analysis: Phew, you got me. That is a strong profile and one you executed perfectly in terms of goals.

My guess is, and it pains me to say this, they just used your “non-Gold” schooling and company (both were silver in their minds, or bronze) to make an easy call against you versus similar people with better schooling (e.g. IIT and etc) as well as more well known global companies.

What exactly was the Booth interviewers bias against your company? Was that some personal issue interviewer had, or does company have a reputation? A 20 minute interview? Is that actual time, or did it just “seem” that cursory and dismissive?

Dunno, if behavior of interviewer was really out of bounds. That is something the school might be interested in knowing. Although, sure, why bother, your job is just to get in.

Let the school take care of its dirty laundry and slipshod interviewer selection.