The Next Step in the MBA Application Process
For many students applying to enter business school in the autumn of 2010, there’s nothing left but to wait. Round 2 has passed, but Round 3 still beckons.
MBA aspirants ask themselves whether it is worth it to apply in the third round, because of the widespread assumption that it is a waste of time. The answer? It depends. In my last blog post I mentioned a woman who applied only to Stanford GSB in Round 3 and was accepted. She was a middle-80% candidate, that is, her stats and experience fell within the middle 80% of the GSB profile. So it can happen.
But many students are aiming for a range of schools, and not all of those MBA programs have such loft admission rates. Schools that are “ranked” below the top five can offer more opportunities, and may be the better school for you. So if you have already done the arduous prep work to submit applications to business school, and there is a program that you can see yourself attending, I say, “Why Not?” The downside is that you spend a few days rewriting and researching another program. You could learn something you hadn’t known before.
Furthermore, rankings are all over the map, especially in terms of application rates. I hear all the time about students who get accepted to a school “ranked” #7 but rejected from one “ranked” #20. Go figure.
And go for it.