December is a key time when the MBA admissions application timeline moves from a jog to a sprint for many applicants. We work with many students who target the round 1 (September and October) MBA deadlines, but there are just as many who use the fall term to perfect their GMAT scores and qualitative elements of their applications to then finalize stellar round 2 MBA applications.
Between now and mid-January, most round 2 deadlines for the top 30+ MBA programs will have come to a close and we know that if you’re an MBA applicant, you already have your calendar set for the following.
SOME ROUND 2 MBA APPLICATION DEADLINES
1/3/20: London Business School, Rice
1/5/20: Carnegie Mellon, Indiana, USC
1/6/20: Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, UMichigan, UNC, UVA, Vanderbilt
1/7/20: Notre Dame, UChicago, UPenn Wharton, UT Austin, Yale
1/8/20: Cornell (round 3), IESE, Northwestern, UCLA
1/9/20: UC Berkeley, Stanford
1/15/20: INSEAD, NYU Stern
1/21/20: MIT
Whew! 28 top MBA application deadlines in 18 days. It’s tight. Our round 2 deadline advice is to view any deadline as having a “preferred (AKA required) submission date of 7 days prior.” That’s especially true of anything in the first week or so of January, post holidays/New Year’s. Application websites are known to flood, crash or go “down for needed updates”. As an applicant, you have the right to call the MBA admissions office to pose questions about troubles with your application OR to check in if you’ve received zero confirmation that it was received. You can’t do that if the site is down or if you’ve saved your submission until 11:55pm the night it’s due.
ROUND 2 MBA DEADLINE EXAMPLE
Applying to London Business School’s MBA program? It’s going to run like clockwork and it’s set up to do so. Don’t submit at 10pm (London time!) the night of Jan. 3rd —submit by Dec. 27th! As their site notes, it’s a tight timeline that they run, so you do the same on your end.
Date we advise you submit: Dec 27
Date of application deadline: Jan. 3
Interview decisions sent out: Feb. 6
Interviews held: Mid Feb. to early March.
You’ll know if you’re in by: March 31.
See? Just 3 months and it is all over! Most summer internships are not even that fast so plan accordingly!
USE YOUR TIME WISELY
Use your upcoming holiday and weekend breaks to get ahead with final resume edits, essay writing, GMAT prep (as that first week of December is a very popular time for a final GMAT exam since Thanksgiving break studying is prime time for many), plan out your final school list, squeeze in any campus visits, attend/present at academic/field conferences to boost your resume and sign up for a grad level course over the winter term. You’ll hear back by mid-March for most round two deadlines, so maximize your time in December and then in under three months you’ll know the life-changing campus and city you’re potentially moving to this August! Let us help you ensure that campus is the one you’re dreaming of –we’d love to help out.
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