MBA Admissions Timeline

The road to your MBA can be complex and sometimes confusing. To help keep you on track, here's a calendar of what b-school applicants should be doing, and when.

January - February

Don't Forget: The Round II deadlines for many of the top b-schools fall in early January. MIT - Sloan's Round II deadline is its final application deadline for the year.

GMAT:

• If you're a 2011 applicant, start thinking about scheduling the GMAT for this summer. That way you'll get your scores back in time to factor your test performance into your school selection. You'll also leave yourself plenty of time to retake the test if you aren't happy with your first score. For information on registering for and scheduling a test, visit the GMAC's website (www.mba.com). You are also cordially invited to review our GMAT prep section.

• Not sure whether you need a GMAT prep course? Call us at 703.242.5885 to discuss your situation. We're here to help you!

School and Program Selection:

• If you're a 2010 applicant, you should already have been working from a well-defined list of your target schools. If you were disappointed with your Round I application outcomes, you might want to expand that list now to include some additional safety schools for Round 2 and even Round 3. That said, don't apply to any school that you wouldn't genuinely want to attend. You'd probably be wasting your time and money on the application, anyway. Nothing biases an admissions committee against an applicant more than a palpable lack of enthusiasm for their school. The number of schools you ultimately decide to apply to will depend upon how high you rank a safety school and the time and resources you have to work on applications.

• Make plans to visit schools by this spring at the very latest, especially any that you have an active application at. If you're going to have an admissions interview, try to combine your school visit with an on-campus interview.

• If you're a 2011 applicant, start thinking about what kind of program you want to apply for: full-time, part-time, or EMBA. If EMBA or part-time programs seem like a good fit for you, look into whether your employer will help pay for your tuition or otherwise support your studies. Make sure you understand what you would be expected to do in return. Most employers will ask you to commit to continue working for them for a minimum number of years.

Academics:

• Winter and spring are good times to take courses for an alternative transcript that can help mitigate a low GMAT score and/or a low undergraduate GPA. Try to find at least one course with an instructor who would be willing to write a letter of recommendation for you.

Extracurriculars:

• Think about what you do outside of work. Will those activities support your case for b-school admission? Would you benefit from increasing your level of commitment, or by getting involved in additional groups or activities? (If you are applying for admission this coming fall, however, beware of the perception of expediency that might arise if you begin new commitments now.)

Applications:

• Keep track of which schools you are applying to, in which rounds. Make sure that you will be able to meet the necessary deadlines while still leaving yourself enough time to prepare applications that clearly demonstrate a good fit with each school. Most likely, this will require considerable customization from one application to the next. Keep in mind the different tradeoffs at each school between applying early or applying with a more complete application.

• Continue working on your story themes and developing your most potent 'wow' factors.

• Take a moment to review your resume. Does anything need to be updated? Should any old items be taken out? In only rare instances should it exceed 2 pages and, more likely than not, it should be kept to one page. Could an admissions officer quickly skim your resume and understand the feasibility of your post-MBA career goals? Did you succinctly highlight your career progression? Remember that the target audience for this resume is likely far different than the recruiting audience for your industry. Accordingly, be sure your resume is prepared in accordance with a business school admission friendly format.

• Touch base with your recommenders. Will you benefit from an additional, optional recommendation to substantiate a story theme or 'wow' factor, highlight your strengths, or, possibly, mitigate your weaknesses? Can your selected recommenders discuss your candidacy in adequate detail? Advise your recommenders on which points they need to make to best compliment your story. Writing up the points that you want them to discuss is often a good starting point.

Our MBA Admissions Timeline page will be updated on March 2.

Do you have questions about any of the items you see here? Please call us at +1 703.242.5885 or email us if you do. Our consultants can help you with school selection, application strategies, application and interview preparation, and all other aspects of the business school admissions process.

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