Last Minute Applicants: To Be or Not To Be?

Round one and two deadlines have past and round three deadlines are creeping up fast. You’re trying to decide whether you should apply in round three or wait until next year. I’ve been working on an upcoming MBA Podcaster show titled “Last Minute Applicants: How to Submit a Successful Late Round Three Application.” In the podcast, we’ll explore some of the different attitudes schools have toward round three as well as give advice on how to navigate the waters and complete your application on time. I’ll be keeping you posted along the way with blog updates.

Should you or shouldn’t you? Should you apply or should you wait? Graham Richmond is the Co-founder and Director of Clear Admit. He is somewhat of a traditionalist when it comes to giving advice about applying in round three.

“First piece of advice is apply early. The second piece of advice is if you’re at the point where all that’s left is the last round for the school, I think you should seriously consider about applying early the next cycle. Literally wait a year, wait six months to apply but wait a year to start your education essentially, because again, your odds of getting in are so slim if we’re dealing with top programs that often it makes sense to really reassess that a round three or round four app is what you really want to do.”

Given steep odds and the advice that people give against applying late, Richmond recognizes that there are legitimate reasons for applying late and says that you need to consider the perspective of the admissions directors.

“They’re assembling a class and they probably have people from different backgrounds already in that class and so you need to show them how you’re going to meet some unmet need. What is it about your candidacy that will help them complete the puzzle which is their class.”

Learn more of what Richmond and the other guests have to say about round three applications in our upcoming show that will be in a couple of weeks. Other guests on the show include:

• Jedd Gold, a late applicant who successfully was admitted to (and graduated) UCLA’s Anderson School of Business;
• Kofi Kankam, Co-founder & Director, Admit Advantage;
• Soojin Kwon Koh, Director of Admissions for the Ross School at the University of Michigan;
• Alex Sevilla Assistant Dean & Director, Hough Graduate School of Busienss and Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida; and
• Robert Wagner, Interim Director Graduate Admissions Babson College, F.W. Olin School of Business.