Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.
Every once in a while, a concerned candidate calls us and says something like: “Star491 wrote that Wharton won’t read past the 500-word limit, but IndianaHoops09 wrote that 10% over the limit is fine. Meanwhile, WannabeTuckie says…” While some of you may be guffawing as you read this, the truth is that many people find it difficult to not read the various message boards, and some find it even more difficult to not believe everything they read there. So, at the risk of stating the obvious, message boards are completely unregulated, and the opinions expressed by the anonymous posters should be viewed skeptically. For every individual who claims to know something authoritatively, there is always another individual who claims to know that the opposite is true. Round and round we go…
So, our message is to ignore anonymous posters. Although this should be valuable advice for you now, as you complete your first round applications (ideally with your sanity intact), it will become even more valuable to you as the year progresses and many posters begin to make unsubstantiated claims about admissions statistics (offers given, GMAT scores of accepted candidates, etc.). If you tune out such noise now and simply focus on creating your best applications, you will be far better off.
Read the full article: Mission Admission: “I Heard on the Message Boards…”