MBA Podcaster Blog

Maybe you’ve been busy at work. Maybe you’ve been busy at home. For whatever reason, you’ve missed the round one and two deadlines at the business schools that you’ve been considering. 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.

The common element between schools is that they all accept applicants in round three. But every school is different in their approach to round three applications. The spectrum runs the gamut from rolling admissions (no deadline) to very competitive as in very few spaces are available to round three applicants. I recently spoke to three admissions directors and start with the later.

Soojin Kwon Koh is the Director of Admissions for the Ross School at the University of Michigan. She warns that at Ross, round three is very competitive.

"Round three is a really small round and it is for those people who realize at the last minute ‘you know maybe I do want to go to school this fall’ and so it’s a really small percentage of apps that come in that round. We don’t reserve a certain number or percentage of slots for round three applicants, but by the time we’re reviewing round three apps, our class is pretty much, um, substantially full."

At the University of Florida’s full-time MBA programs, it’s always a good time to apply. Alex Sevilla, is the Assistant Dean & Director say they never close out a class as it relates to size.

"What that means for us is that deadlines are important, they are especially important as it relates to scholarship consideration. The earlier somebody applies, it is far more likely they will be considered for some type of scholarship funding, but our philosophy is we’re looking for the absolute best candidates and when those candidates apply, if they meet all of those criteria, then we’re willing to look at them.... If very highly qualified candidates apply late, then it’s in our best interest and it certainly makes sense for the rest of the cohorts to bring in the individuals and we have the space to do that."

Also it worth to note that full-time programs are different from Executive MBA programs or part-time programs. Robert Wagner, the Interim Director Graduate Admissions Babson College, F.W. Olin School of Business, says it is very common for working professionals to apply late.

"It’s certainly a lot different than the full-time application process. We work with candidates almost as close as we can get to the enrollment stage. Sometimes they’re applying late because they have so many things going on in their lives. Again, if they’re a good quality candidate, that’s not going to be an issue. We do want to make sure that the timing is right so they are going to get off on the right foot and hit the ground running when the program starts."

Learn more of what our admissions directors 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; and
Graham Richmond, Co-founder and Director, Clear Admit.