[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With almost exactly a month until those Round 2 deadlines start coming fast and furious, NOW is the time to decide if you really are in good enough shape to submit a great application to your top choice MBA program.<\/p>\n
Just to give you some dates, from January 3 to the 24th some thirty schools have deadlines. Yes, 30<\/strong>! And it\u2019s those 30 schools that are all in the Top \u2013 20 (joke), so they are on everyone\u2019s list.<\/p>\n So, if you are serious about applying in Round 2, just make sure you won\u2019t be asking these questions or saying these things in the days ahead:<\/p>\n In other words, are your recommenders in place? Now this doesn\u2019t just mean that you have formally asked people to write the recommendation, it means that you have recently confirmed that they are actively writing them (maybe even with some input from you) and they are actually going to be submitted not just on time but before they head out to that exotic vacation.<\/p>\n In other words, have you done enough school specific research to make your applications credible? Can you answer the question as to why this school versus another? If you are going to just end up doing the same application for all schools, think again. Rather than completing a Round 2 application, maybe spend time scheduling your school visits for the coming spring. Rarely do things fall into place when you try to study for the GMAT while wrapping up all your applications. In fact, things generally fall apart. This highlights an important point never to be forgotten: The GMAT requires serious preparation in order to do your best. It requires not just studying but also taking practice tests over and over again. This is time consuming.<\/p>\n Similarly, the creation of a great application and essays requires a lot of serious work. It is not just the writing that is time consuming but the rewriting. If you want to write a great essay, you need a stable of people who can give you feedback based on their own experiences both writing essays, and, ideally, being in business school. Again, all of this takes time. Short of your taking the next month off from work to focus solely on your application, you just won\u2019t have the time to do a great application AND have stellar scores.<\/p>\n It is not just that nobody wants to work on the holiday; it is that your work product on the holiday can really tank. You are in a new environment. In a stressful situation. Being pulled in a million directions. Even if you have written your essays, the actual online application \u2013 and all the nit-picky answers \u2013 can be an absolute bear. Not exactly something you want to do while drunk on egg nog. Fun fact: 10 million US homes still use dial-up to connect to the internet \u2013 will this be yours?<\/p>\n What makes for a great business school essay is that it is a great essay. By this I mean that business school essays must really engage the reader right away. Make them laugh or maybe cry. Adcom readers should finish the essay feeling like they know you and understand why you want to go to business school. Such essays are rarely written under the gun. Most, in fact, are so boring that the reader can barely get through them. Such essays don\u2019t lend themselves to acceptance letters.<\/p>\n If you have either uttered, heard, or even thought any of the above phrases, then it might be time to slow things down and really consider whether Round 2 is a realistic goal for you. Given how low the acceptance rates are for those 30 schools, you need perfect to get in. And a rushed application around the holidays is simply not perfect. While December and January, have their share of (potentially) perfect nights; perfect applications are nearly impossible to find.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With almost exactly a month until those Round 2 deadlines start coming fast and furious, NOW is the time to decide if you really are in good enough shape to submit a great application to your top choice MBA program. Just to give you some dates, from January 3 to the 24th some thirty schools…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":9105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[378,387],"tags":[655,652,653,654,559,679],"class_list":["post-9104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mba","category-mbanalysis-blog","tag-business-school","tag-mba","tag-mba-admissions","tag-mba-applications","tag-mba-deadlines","tag-round-2"],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cExcuse me, Mr. Recommender, where did you say you were going from December 20 to January 8? The North Pole? Do you think you\u2019ll have internet there to submit my recommendation?\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard of it, I am just not exactly sure where it is, or how to properly spell its name.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/h5>\n
\nBy the way, it is Columbia<\/em>, not Colombia.<\/p>\n\u201cEverything will really fall into place when I retake the GMAT on January 2.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n
\u201cFamily! How about singing \u201cTwelve Days of Christmas\u201d a little softer? I\u2019m working here (at grandma\u2019s house on dial-up internet\u2026)\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great bedtime story, but not exactly something that gets people excited.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n