One of the most commonly heard pieces of advice about business school admissions is that you should avoid applying in Round 3 because Round 3 admissions are especially tough.
Some people say, flat-out, that 'no one is ever admitted to the top schools in Round 3 – you'd be wasting your time to even try.'
But is the situation really that bad?
It is generally true that Round 3 admissions are more difficult than Round 1 and Round 2 admissions are. There are only a limited number of vacant class seats left by that point, the others having been allotted to admits from earlier rounds.
Having served on admissions committees
ourselves, we can attest to the fact that admissions committee members think differently about how they fill those remaining seats. You're very much aware that you have only so many seats left to fill and you become even more careful about which candidates those seats go to.
We wouldn't say that Round 3 applicants are held to higher standards than Round 1 and 2 applicants are, but their applications are usually read with especially close scrutiny.
Another difficulty that Round 3 applicants face is that the very fact of applying so late in the admissions cycle may raise questions about their motivation. It's hard for a lot of admissions committee members to read a Round 3 application without asking themselves one of two questions: 1) "If she's so serious about getting an MBA, why didn't she complete her applications earlier in the year?" or 2) "If he's so interested in getting his MBA at our school, why didn't he apply to us months ago?" (In other words, "Are we really his fall-back in case a waitlist offer doesn't come through from his top-choice schools?")
In the real world, of course, things can happen that prevent even the most focused and motivated applicants from submitting their applications by the Round 1 or 2 deadlines. You might have been working 12-hour days for weeks on end to help your employer get through a difficult quarter, or cope with a staffing shortfall, or get through some other crisis. You might have been traveling. You might have had a family crisis. It's not like you didn't want to work on your applications, but you honestly didn't have the time to complete them before the Round 2 deadlines had passed.
Admissions committees understand that things like this happen. They won't penalize you for being a late applicant –
provided you make the effort to explain your application timing. You don't need to make excuses, but you should show an awareness that you're applying late in the cycle and explain your reasons for doing so. If you don't, you risk coming across as naïve, ill-informed, or disorganized simply on the basis of the way you handled your b-school application.
As a general rule, Round 3 applicants do have less of a margin for error than Round 1 and Round 2 applicants did. Admissions committees do look at these later applications very carefully. Minor slips that earlier candidates might have gotten away with are likely to be caught and challenged. You should take extra care to make sure your Round 3 applications are carefully thought-out and meticulously prepared.
Many of the people reading this column may be thinking about whether to go forward with Round 3 applications for 2007 admissions. The answer to that question is that if you're really committed to beginning an MBA program this fall and think you can compile a strong application by the deadline, you should go for it. On the other hand, if you'd just be starting your applications from scratch, you may be better off putting your plans on hold and waiting for the 2008 admissions cycle to begin. That's especially true if you're targeting schools where re-applicants are at a disadvantage.
Even if you submit a flawless application, there is the possibility that the school you're applying to winds up taking almost no one from the third round this year. It's unusual, but it does sometimes happen. In that case, you can console yourself with the knowledge that your Round 3 applications will give you a jump start on submitting Round 1 and 2 applications for next year.
Business always involves an element of risk. That's true of b-school admissions, too. The bottom line on Round 3 applications is that if you're confident of your competitiveness as a b-school candidate and of your reasons for wanting to get an MBA now, you might want to go ahead and apply for this fall. You may well get dinged – but then again, you may be pleasantly surprised by an acceptance letter. Contrary to what some people like to say, Round 3 admissions can and do happen.
