R2 Waiting Game Continued: Stanford GSB & HBS

Not like I need to tell anyone reading this, but Stanford GSB and HBS Class of 2011 round 2 admissions decisions will be released by April 2. Interesting that both schools chose the same date. For round 1, they were one day apart.

HBS sends an email indicating that your status has been updated. You have to log into the ApplyYourself website and access the decision through a link that will show up on the first page. Have a high-speed internet connection and your pins and passwords handy.

Stanford applicants should be waiting by their work phones beginning the afternoon of April 1 because Derrick Bolton, director of Stanford GSB Admissions, historically has called all admitted applicants before releasing the decision online. Recently, he has been calling work numbers after hours, regardless of what your preferred contact phone number is. If he is really trying to make a personal effort, why call me at work at 10PM my time when I'm not there? Why not just call my cell? Probably because he wants to get through all of the calls efficiently and that task is easier if he is leaving a 60-second voicemail rather than speaking directly to each person. My suggestion is to skip the calls, Derrick. It doesn't really add anything to get a voicemail rather than an email and it does contribute to applicants' stress levels as the calls begin to roll out.

* Just an FYI to those waiting miserably: based on the BW forums, during round 1 it seemed like calls began overseas in Asia at around 2PM PST and extended westward through the afternoon and evening of the day before the official decision notification date. Calls hit the US east coast at around 6PM PST. And to mix things up, there was plenty of geographic variation from the aforementioned around-the-globe pattern. GOOD LUCK.

4/10 UPDATE: Based on the R2 activity on the Business Week forum, it seems like Derrick called most people on their preferred numbers (including mobile numbers) and reached many accepted applicants live.