Submission Round

Waitlisted? Answers for Those Currently in MBA Purgatory 

Waitlisted? Answers for Those Currently in MBA Purgatory 

It’s that time of year again, where many MBA applicants find themselves stuck in the waitlist process. This can be a very slow and painful waiting period. Not only are you competing against everyone on the waitlist from R1, but you could also be competing against new MBA applicants applying in R2 and R3. What does waitlisted really mean?

UPDATES: The Most Important Thing To Do After You Hit Submit

UPDATES: The Most Important Thing To Do After You Hit Submit

After submitting your MBA application, the most important thing you can do is to keep engaging your target business schools. After you’ve completed all your submissions, you should still keep reaching out to your target MBA schools with substantial updates. This will make you stand out and look more competitive.

When To Hit "Submit" on Your MBA App? 

When To Hit "Submit" on Your MBA App? 

You don’t have to submit your MBA application weeks before the actual due date. If it’s rolling admissions or early decision, at Columbia or even at Tuck, then yes hit submit ASAP. If it’s rolling admissions, the earlier you submit, the sooner you will get your decision. There is a word of caution though, keep reading.

The MBA Round 2 Advantage

The MBA Round 2 Advantage

It's the time of year where I start having the "Round 2 conversation" a lot with individual clients. Basically, the idea is that Round 2 might be offering a slight advantage, based on theories of market inefficiencies and so forth.  For years, the prevailing belief is that Round 1 is the best round to apply to business school. While there is no hard-core evidence to suggest otherwise, some common sense may point to a different result.

5 Pieces of Advice for MBA Reapplicants

5 Pieces of Advice for MBA Reapplicants

The following are 5 pieces of advice that can help anyone who is going through the MBA application process for a second time.  Finding the energy, passion, and confidence to embark upon any kind of repeat journey can be tough, so we hope this proves helpful and gives you a little wind at your back. 

Applying Round 1? This Year's MBA Deadlines Are Earlier Than You Think.

Applying Round 1? This Year's MBA Deadlines Are Earlier Than You Think.

Normally, once the fireworks go off on the 4th of July, that's our signal to start digging into the apps in earnest, as "October" Round 1 deadlines are a few months away.  However, in recent years, the deadlines keep getting earlier and earlier.  I know I had to really reset my own calendar given these changes, so I figured I'd do a public service and list them out here, calling special attention to the front-loaded nature of the deadlines. 

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan in 2016/2017

5 Tips for Applying to MIT Sloan in 2016/2017

MIT Sloan is one of "those" schools - the ones that seem to slip into the nooks and crannies of the admissions process. People don't talk about Sloan as much as its elite counterparts. Nobody immediately thinks about it in terms of being a top 5 program until you start digging and realize, whoa, this program is insanely good.

In the past, we have chalked this up to its unique end-of-October deadline and equally unique two-round admissions process. We even went as far as to say that we would bet on the application quality at Sloan is far lower than on other top business school programs. Candidates would not even even start on their Sloan apps until after the October 3-16 gauntlet of deadlines and then they race to finish because they fear waiting until the "last" round.  Simply put, a lot of applicants have viewed Sloan as an after thought, and we've done our share of walking clients back from making mistakes associated with that mindset.  Well, all of that has changed.

Quick & Dirty Tips for Maximizing your Business School Visits

Quick & Dirty Tips for Maximizing your Business School Visits

Here are some quick tips for maximizing your business school visit:

Round 3 Strategies: UCLA Anderson Beckons

Round 3 Strategies: UCLA Anderson Beckons

We've been running a lot of Round 3 strategies on this space the last few weeks. Why? It is timely, obviously. But also, Round three is just so misunderstood that we find every conversation leads to new epiphanies for our clients. In turn, we pass along the broadest and most helpful of those pieces of information to the general public. Today, we're talking about a specific school that you might want to consider if you are firing off Round 3 bullets. 

What do I consider to be the critical b-school admission factors?

I taught the GMAT for about 3 years. In that time, I had the pleasure of teaching over 250 students. Along the way, I also had the privilege of helping a select few craft their admissions packages. Based on my experience and in order of importance, I present the following 8 factors I consider critical to getting into a top b-school:

  1. GMAT Score
  2. Application Essays
  3. Work Experience
  4. GPA
  5. Extracurricular Activities
  6. Recommendations
  7. Interviews
  8. Applicant Submission Round