Organizing the MBA Applications Process

After accumulating years of experience, I have a developed a number of ideas on how to organize your business school applications calendar. While everyone’s approach will differ slightly, here is an overview I use that has worked well for clients.

1) One MBA application at a time. I recommend that you finish, or become close to finishing, one business school application before working on a second one. If you start working on multiple applications at the same time, you will end up repeating some of the work you do.

2) Recycle essays. Although each essay needs to be customized to the MBA program and to the question being asked, if you are asked why you want your MBA multiple times, there is no reason why you need to significantly change the answer each time. Additionally, one great example from your experiences can be applied to several essays across applications. As an example, one application’s leadership essay can be repositioned as another school’s “what are you most passionate about?” essay.

3) Look at your application as a whole. Don’t worry too much about a single essay until you can view it in the context of your entire business school application. You may have some very strong individual essays, but your total story may not be very clear. I often suggest to clients that they map out the subjects of each of their essays for a given application before writing the first essay. Once you have written out the topics, you can confirm that all important stories are being told and that the set of essays presents the story you want told.

4) Consider later rounds. Depending on circumstances, expecting to have all of your applications submitted in round 1 may be very difficult. You should always value quality over timing.

5) Get ready to work. Don’t be worried if this applications process is not easy. Take your time and be ready to work through several essay drafts. It is a very unique individual who does not face challenges when dealing with the MBA applications process.

For more robust guidance on your MBA application essays, check out the Stacy Blackman Consulting Essay Guide Series – school specific guides with essay tips, sample essays, information on what your target schools value and more.

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