Cram or Defer?

As deadlines approach and the holidays barrel down on you like a freight train, it’s time to ask yourself: should I cram my applications or defer?

Preparing b-school applications is hard work. Like anything worthwhile, it always takes longer to do something right than you think it will take. But soon you may be faced with the unavoidable decision to rush through and finish by the round two deadlines, or defer to a later round.

Round three is considered to be the hardest one in which to find success.

Not only are most of the seats in top programs full by the third round, the few students they are looking for typically require a specific set of profile attributes. Essentially, this means your odds of fitting into what they are seeking is diminished. Of course you can throw caution to the wind and give it a try…after all, if you get rejected, you’d be reapplying again next year anyway, which in theory is the same as deferring. Or is it?

Deferring to round three might beg the question: should I defer to next year?

A reapplication is not the same thing as a first-time application. Some schools give extra consideration to reapplicants, but most will require a pretty substantial explanation for why you application is better next year. Sometimes, this is a tougher sell than applying for the first time, but with an additional year of work experience.

But enough about putting things off.

How about the other option, that is, to cram-and-jam to finish everything for round two. This could be a winning approach if you can pull things together and submit something of real quality. The standard advice is, it’s better to defer than to submit something less than your best effort. The real reason for this advice, is because once you submit garbage, it’s always there, and will be pulled up again if you end up reapplying to that school. Submitting a b-school application is akin to posting something on social media. Once it’s out there, it’s out there forever. But if your core profile is strong and you check carefully for mistakes, why not suck it up and get something submitted. Sacrificing a little sanity over the holidays might just be worth it to get into the school of your dreams.