Saturday, October 11, 2008

CitiAssist Out, so is Duke (for me)

Now with Cornell and Ross in I just have not been able to concentrate and move on with the rest of the applications. As a result, Duke is postponed to Round 2 (a big MAYBE even then). More inclined towards UNC and Notre Dame at the moment.

I feel totally drained out and not motivated enough. Plus work, other commitments, festivities and family keeping me totally occupied.

The latest buzz for international students right now is the discontinuation of the CitiAssist non cosigner loans at Ross and MIT.
My 2 cents on this:
1) The loans stand discontinued from Nov 2nd onwards. And students have been asked to apply before that. The ones disbursed will not be recalled. So I am hoping not too many students are affected by it.
2)Schools will definitely try their best to come up with alternate sources. And hopefully something should be worked out by the next academic year.Else there will be a slump in international applications which will be a huge drop for schools in terms of statistics and diversity.
3) Round 2 in tier 1 schools (esp schools that had non cosigner loans) mite see a slowdown in international applications (mostly Asian). Though total volume will still surge (US applicants and some European will make up for it)
4) A lot of potential applicants will now look at Europe and Asia.
5)One imp. input I got from Owen adcom at the World MBA fair was that their school and certain others have decided to cut down on international students to ensure that finances are available for those admitted. This till now was not really the case with tier 1 schools. But maybe they might rethink strategy.

A lot of uncertainty, a lot of if's and buts out there. Life is not very beautiful right now.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The application process is no doubt difficult, keep your head up and keep pushing! We all tend to lose motivation at times. In times like this, its usually best to take a few days off, and then get back to it. As cheesy as it sounds, watching an inspiring story (e.g. Paul Rausch's Last Lecture) can help get you going again!

Good luck!

Anonymous said...

The application process is no doubt difficult, keep your head up and keep pushing! We all tend to lose motivation at times. In times like this, its usually best to take a few days off, and then get back to it. As cheesy as it sounds, watching an inspiring story (e.g. Paul Rausch's Last Lecture) can help get you going again!

mba musings said...

Hey Jon thanks a ton for the encouragement! I just saw the last lecture again.Yes its all about the head fake.

Nitin said...

It's Dr. Randy Pausch.