Which MBA Round Should You Apply In?

For MBA applicants, this is prime season for applications and essays. It can be a puzzling process as you attempt to determine which application round is best, and each business school approaches the process differently. Duke gives students almost no time in the fall term to even think about applying in round one. They don’t even wait until Labor Day, as their round one deadline was September 2^nd, 2021 and decisions came out October 14^th.

It’s no wonder MBA applicants are left wondering how quickly to prepare their applications and essays, as Duke round 1 applicants will know if they’re in before some other top business schools even have their round 1 deadlines close (for example, USC’s Marshall School of Business, as their round 1 deadline was October 15^th).

MBA ‘PILLARS’

I urge MBA applicants to think about the admissions components as having pillars: there’s the GMAT/GRE, personal statement, added supplemental essays, the application itself, letters of recommendation, transcripts and the resume. As you prepare all of the admissions ‘pillars’, MBA admissions deadlines come in waves.

The MBA application timeframes are broken into rounds with round 1 in the fall (generally speaking), round 2 in late fall/winter, and round 3 in early spring. I often chat with students who really want to be make round 1 deadlines but fear that since those have passed, round 2 just isn’t worth it.

Not true! Here are some great MBA programs with upcoming round 2 deadlines, all of which accept a decent number of candidates in round 2.

5 EXCELLENT ROUND 2 MBA PROGRAMS

*University*	*MBA Round 2 Application Deadline*	*Decision Date*
Cornell Johnson School of Business	1/5/22	3/9/22
UNC Kenan-Flagler	1/10/22	3/14/22
USC Marshall School of Business	1/5/22	3/31/22
UT Austin McCombs School of Business	1/6/22	3/24/22
Vanderbilt Owen School of Business	1/5/22	3/25/22

BENEFITS OF MBA EARLY ROUNDS

There IS a benefit to applying in round 1 OR round 2, and it’s not just because they’re the first two deadlines. It’s because most of the time, your odds of admission are higher, even if it’s just slightly higher at some programs. Before a round one deadline, it’s anyone’s game, not one single student has been accepted, not one student has snagged a seat in the class. And after round one, some are filled, yet there are many more rounds to come so plentiful spaces exist. Jump on them!

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The trick to assessing which MBA admissions round is best for you is pinpointing when your application is ready, not when it’s prepped to submit, when it’s ready. Is your GMAT in the best possible position it’s going to be and is it one you’re happy with? Does your resume reflect your strong leadership and career climb? If you’re set for a GMAT in late October and practice scores show an incline, or you’re on track to secure a promotion that could dramatically change your resume –round 2 is your friend. You also might be in a position where you’ve been prepping for the GMAT and working on applications but your essays are not yet 100% where you want them to be. That’s ok too, as that’s why round 2 exists.

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MBA ROUNDS 3 AND 4

And what about rounds 3 and, for those who offer it, round 4 (Duke, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, UVA)? It’s true that some applicants secure round 3 and round 4 acceptances. That CAN be you, as long as you have an application that shows what you are uniquely adding to the class, bearing in mind the applicants who have already been admitted in previous rounds –that’s the family you’re asking to join –they’re already seated at the table.

The good news? With MBA admissions, there are pretty much always more options for a late submission. Vanderbilt Owen has a tremendous MBA program, and their May 16^th, 2022 round 4 deadline is quite late, and yet, that round 4 exists.

MY BEST ADVICE

My best advice? Apply in MBA rounds 1 or 2 when you can, be sure you understand the difference between score optional and score blind (if the resume was optional, would you include it? Yes, you would!), and don’t panic-prep an application just to meet a particular admissions round. There’s always another cresting wave in the sea of MBA admissions deadlines, and it’s important to ensure that all of the pillars in your applications place you and your work in the best possible light.

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Dr. Kristen Willmott

Senior Private Counselor & Graduate School Admissions Director at Top Tier Admissions

A former Admissions and Financial Aid Officer for Harvard University, Kristen brings over 20 years of experience working in higher education. Kristen has a PhD in Education with a concentration in Higher Education, an M.S. in Business Management, and a B.A. in English. Her PhD dissertation won the International Susan B. Anthony Institute Dissertation Award. In her role at Harvard, Kristen oversaw admissions for 17 departments and was also responsible for distributing funding from the National Science Foundation Fellowships Program and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Student Research Fellowship Program. Kristen previously worked as a substitute K-12 teacher, as adjunct faculty at three universities in MA and NY, and as an educational researcher. Kristen recently published a book (Information Age Publishing) on faculty and tenure in academia which Stanford University Libraries featured on their recommended "Gender and Education Books" list. Kristen has written for Entrepreneur Magazine and published in journals such as the Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs and the American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal. Kristen has also been featured in and interviewed for publications such as U.S. News & World Report, the Washington Examiner, Yahoo News, and Business Insider.

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