Strategy for Dividing MBA Schools by Round
Hello hello. My plan is to apply to: Wharton, MIT Sloan, Columbia, Booth, Kellogg, and Yale (as of now, in that order).
Wharton - Stretch
Columbia (ED?), Kellogg, MIT, and Booth - I'm competitive
Yale - Strong
I'm looking for some advice as to how to split these schools up, preferably 3 in R1 and 3 in R2.
-Do some schools give off the impression that R1 is more advantageous in their eyes?
*I realise MIT has 2 Rounds as opposed to 3, so this is the kind of info I'm looking for
-Is applying to 3 per round feasible with a FT job?
What are people's experiences with dividing up their schools between rounds? Any advice as to how you would split up mine?
Please feel free to document your experience, and how you divided up your schools. Thanks!
Columbia ED gives very little advantage, so don't use it unless you're 100% certain to go - which you don't sound like you are.. (I was rejected from Columbia ED, and then WL Booth R2, and accepted Kellogg R2 w/ small scholarship).
I would say 3 per round is certainly fine. I did 2 R1 and 3 R2...Only reason I didn't do any extra R1 was because I took GMAT too late to squeeze more in.
I haven't had the chance to visit the schools (I'll be applying either next year or the year after). Definitely considering Columbia ED, but you do make a great point. Do you think you could have easily squeezed in 1 or 2 more GOOD essays in R1?
I've seen you put down Columbia multiple times on wso (most recently saying it's the worst of the m7 schools) - out of curiosity, why did you apply there early decision? Did your opinion of the school change after application?
Did you get an interview from CBS? I'm surprise how Booth and Kellogg wanted you and not the other way around.
Are you applying this year or next? If this year, you missed the round 1 window. If for next year, why not do all in Round 1? If you start in July-ish, you'll have plenty of time to submit by the end of September. Start doing your introspective now, finding your "brand" or story. Work with someone if you can't figure it out. And look at the essay prompts now, because they will be similar for the most part next year.
Would be applying in a year or two. I've read a lot about how odds of R1 and R2 are basically the same 'acceptance' wise...so I figured splitting rounds would account for more time per essay. How'd you break yours down?
I applied to 7 schools in round 1. Depending on how they go, I might be applying to another 3-4 in round 2. I may have overdid it though.
IF you have this much time indont know why you wouldn't do them all round 1. Places like mit have a significant advantage in rd1. In general there are less apps and same number of admits in rd1 so there's an advantage. The general advice online is never do more than 3 schools per rd, not sure why that is. I did 6 and felt like after 2 you've done 90% of the work and just need to reframe stories. No need to stretch it all out.
Regarding success: I was targeting top 15 with a couple top 10 reaches and a t-25 "safety" and ended up scoring a top 15 and my safety. I'm a bit curious how high I could have gone if I'd had a "proper" application process, but I doubt it would have been worth waiting another year to start my MBA.
100% agree. Once you do a few apps, you can reuse a lot of stuff and it cuts down the time you spend significantly.
I don't know how people are doing 7 in one round, I'm very interested in seeing if they were successful or not. Maybe it was over-kill, but on my three R2 apps, I worked on them pretty much every day.
I applied to five schools in the January round (CBS, Tuck, Stern, Darden, Fuqua), and the application process, relatively, wasn't that bad. As GoingGolfing said, if you give yourself time you can get them together.
The thing you can't avoid especially with FT work is interviews. You need to try and anticipate how flexible your current firm will be with you flying out for a couple of days almost every week for about a month or so.
So I am a current round 1 applicant at 5 schools and would echo the previous comments. If you get the GMAT knocked out sometime between now and April-ish (or you already have taken it) you will be able to focus on just your applications and 3-5 per round is definitely feasible. Essay prompts are released starting May-June with applications going live typically 60-90 days before the deadline.
As others have said, between now and April you should work on your "brand/story" and refine your resume. Start greasing the skids with your recommender's.
B-school apps have definitely gotten shorter with fewer essays and many of the big schools using the same recommendation questions so once you get your story down you will be cooking. Give yourself ample time though to really digest how you want to approach each.
It is worth mentioning that the GMAT truly is a good enough metric. Depending on your WE background once you hit a certain threshold on the test they are just going to put your score aside and look at the whole picture. That whole picture in my opinion carries far more weight than your GMAT.
Good luck!
"GMAT is truly good enough metric" - This is completely untrue. Every 10 point increase in gmat score increases your chance of acceptance. A sky high GMAT won't get you in by itself, but there are certainly people who got in with 770 who wouldn't have gotten in with 740.
So I am a current round 1 applicant at 5 schools and would echo the previous comments. If you get the GMAT knocked out sometime between now and April-ish (or you already have taken it) you will be able to focus on just your applications and 3-5 per round is definitely feasible. Essay prompts are released starting May-June with applications going live typically 60-90 days before the deadline.
As others have said, between now and April you should work on your "brand/story" and refine your resume. Start greasing the skids with your recommender's.
B-school apps have definitely gotten shorter with fewer essays and many of the big schools using the same recommendation questions so once you get your story down you will be cooking. Give yourself ample time though to really digest how you want to approach each.
It is worth mentioning that the GMAT truly is a good enough metric. Depending on your WE background once you hit a certain threshold on the test they are just going to put your score aside and look at the whole picture. That whole picture in my opinion carries far more weight than your GMAT.
Good luck!
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