The Election is Over – Time to Get Moving on Round 2 Applications

You have approximately two months before the round two MBA application deadlines. So it’s time to un-glue yourself from the news, excuse yourself from the continued debates, and focus your attention on your own future – business school.

With the holidays coming-up, round two deadlines sneak up on most people faster than they think. Taking the GMAT is only step one: writing the essays, getting your resume into MBA format, prepping your recommenders, and continuing to learn about the schools in order to present a competitive application comprises the majority of the application process. Our clients typically go through 5-6 drafts of their resumes, 8-10 drafts of each school’s essay sets, and then there’s the process of getting feedback from a variety of different informed parties – alums, co-workers, former adcom, etc.

So, what does this mean for you? The good news is that you still have some time. If you are able to dedicate at least 8 hours per week over the next few weeks, most applicants should be able to crank out 4-6 applications before the round 2 deadlines. How? Below is a sample timeline that you can use to ensure that you stay on track. In addition, here are a few tips for getting started and ensuring that you are efficient with limited time:

A few tips:

Formulate your “story” first: ensure that you are solid on how you’ll describe your experience to date, why you want an MBA, and what you plan to do with said MBA before you start to write your essays. Run this by people who know what they are talking about – alums of the schools you are interested in, coworkers, and friends and family who know what your plan is. Ensure that your story makes sense and is concrete and specific enough to really paint a picture of who you are. It may seem like a lot of work up front but I promise that it saves you time in the long run and will help ensure that you have a cohesive application aligned on one, solid theme. Get more out of your resume: putting your resume in business school format (eg. lead with accomplishments not tasks) has another use – helping you determine how you’ll describe your background in a way that makes sense to a broader audience by obliterating jargon and not making assumptions about what the reader knows. Ensure that your resume and your essays describe your background in similar terms. Give your recommenders a deadline: whether your recommenders are willing to share their letters with your or not, give them a deadline that’s before the actual deadline (just in case). This way you’ll have time in the event that you have a last minute surprise to deal with, which unfortunately we see all too often.Aim to be finished one week ahead of time:plan to not procrastinate. This way if something interrupts your plan, you have time to adjust. This time of year there are plenty of distractions – build in some cushion.

If you need help, contact us! With our unique 360 degree process, we can provide you with the perspecitves you need: an experienced consultant who is an M7 graduate, former M7 admissions committee members, and alumni interviewers from the top schools.