The Daily Stat: The Fourth Great MBA Applicant Interviewed on a Given Day Is Less Likely to Get a High Score

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser. HOME   |   BLOGS   |   THE MAGAZINE   |   BOOKS   |   AUTHORS   |   STORE RSS   |   Mobile JANUARY 28, 2013 The Fourth Great MBA Applicant Interviewed on a Given Day Is Less Likely to Get a High Score MBA applicants may be at a disadvantage if they interview on a day when several others have already received positive evaluations, say Uri Simonsohn of The Wharton School and Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School. In a study of more than 9,000 MBA interviews, the researchers found that for any of several possible reasons, including people's tendency to underestimate the presence of "streaks" in random sequences, interviewers who have given high scores to a number of candidates in a given day seem reluctant to give a similarly high score to a subsequent candidate. As the average score of the day's previous applicants increased by 1 standard deviation, the expected score for the next applicant dropped by about 0.075 of a standard deviation. To counteract such a decrease, an applicant would need 30 more points on the GMAT, the researchers say. Source: Daily Horizons: Evidence of Narrow Bracketing in Judgment from 10 Years of M.B.A. Admissions Interviews Share Today's Stat: FEATURED PRODUCT HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across Ebook Now Available Are your working relationships working against you? To achieve your goals and get ahead, you need to rally people behind you and your ideas. But how do you do that when you lack formal authority? Or when you have a boss who gets in your way? Or when you're juggling others' needs at the expense of your own? By managing up, down, and across the organization. Your success depends on it, whether you're a young professional or an experienced leader. The HBR Guide to Managing Up and Across will help you advance your agenda—and your career—with smarter networking, build relationships, persuade decision makers, collaborate more effectively and much more. ADVERTISEMENT Follow the Stat: BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations HBR Guide to Better Business Writing HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done PREVIOUS STATS Google Discovers the Optimal Lunch-Line Waiting Time If You're a Specialist, You're a Victim of Bias Why You Should Emphasize Your Potential Rather Than Your Achievement on Your CV A Fishy Smell Makes People More Suspicious Social Exclusion Makes People Value Money More Airlines Discount Tickets That Are Bought on Weekends Telecommuters Are More Productive on Creative Tasks, Less on Dull Ones Fertility Rates Decline in Europe as Economy Lags Do You Think of Time as Proceeding Left to Right or Right to Left? Big Rise in MBAs Makes the Degree Less Exclusive Introducing Mobile ManageMentor Powered by the proven content of Harvard ManageMentor™ iTunes >> Android >> UNSUBSCRIBE   |   UPDATE YOUR PROFILE   |   MORE EMAIL NEWSLETTERS   |   PRIVACY POLICY Was this email forwarded to you? If so, sign up to start receiving your own copy. ABOUT THIS MAILING LIST You have received this message because you subscribed to the "The Daily Stat" email newsletter from Harvard Business Review. If at any point you wish to remove yourself from this list, change your email address, or sign up for other email newsletters and alerts, please visit the Harvard Business Review Email Newsletter Preference Center. OPT OUT If you do not wish to receive any email messages from Harvard Business Review, click here. ADVERTISE WITH HBR This enewsletter is read by thousands of decision makers every day. Learn more about connecting your brand with this audience. Copyright © 2013 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing | 60 Harvard Way | Boston, MA 02163 Customer Service: 800-545-7685 (+1-617-783-7600 outside the U.S. and Canada)