anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience?

shaselai,

You don’t seem to have put too much thought in to your choice of schools if the only reasons for not applying to Kellogg and Booth are because you’ve already completed the essays for two other schools. And there’s no value to be gained from asking people on a forum what schools to apply to.

straind,
the reason is that i dont want to stuff my list with too many reaches. i prefer CBS and Yale over kellogg and booth that is why i picked those 2 first.

I understand the majority of the advice is - too many schools results in less quality than fewer schools and not a more "focused" goal.

I would really listen to the folks who have gone through this process and know what they are talking about. You seem to be set on doing what you originally planned, but I would take a step back and focus on the advice you have been given. You may be underestimating the effort it takes to complete a great application. You are worried that if you "only" apply to 6 or 7 you may not get in anywhere. This is actually quite ironic but putting in 4 - 5 quality applications (and giving each school the time and respect it deserves) will more than likely yield better results than ten OK applications where you have done a lot of cutting and pasting.

Again, you asked for advice. You were given advice. What you choose to do is entirely up to you. In time you will probably realize on your own what everyone is trying to tell you now.

I thought I would attach a link to the Tuck recommendation form. I know it's not a school your interested in, but it should give you a good idea of what you'll be asking from your recommenders.

tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/csq_form.pdf

I have no doubt that you could knock out 10 schools essays and come up for great reasons for wanting to attend each one(They are all great schools so reasons shouldn’t be too hard to find!). However, you will be placing a major load on your recommenders. 10 recs is a lot to ask of someone. I think, as others suggested, you will be able to complete a more well-rounded application if you narrow it down to 7 schools. Here is where I would apply.

2 reach schools that you said you most excited about the prospect of attending
CBS
Yale

3 schools in the 10-15 range
Duke
Darden
Ross

2 Schools in the top 25
UNC
Emory(had to switch out GT for the school I did my undergrad).

Best of luck on all your apps!

Cool, about what i have in mind for first 7 schools. i looked at the tuck form - it is kinda like some other school's forms i looked at. Basically I have seen 2 types of recs - one is the form with several questions and with the grade chart while others just want traditional letters - yes both will take a bit of time but since I can't control what my recs do they probably would copy paste as much as they could (i know i would) but yeah 10 might be too much. Also, I don't know if this count for anything - I am chinese so I will be in the "overrepresented" pool and I heard from a consultant that R3+ admission is very very low for that pool so I almost have to admit R1/R2 and that will be it...

.... Having a hard time trying to understand why many folks (in this thread and several others) are getting annoyed when others don't indiscriminately take their advice? Especially when the advice being given wasn't asked for by the OP?

We all know the MBA admissions process is highly individualized compared to other grad admissions' processes. What worked for some of us or even many of us, is certainly not going to work for all of us.

shaselai, I applied to a higher-than-recommended number of schools and, moreover, at most of them, I applied to two graduate programs. I did have mixed results, partly because I might have spread myself/my recommenders a little thin, but certainly that wasn't necessarily the only reason why I may have been dinged at a few schools. Lukewarm interview in a couple of places, lower decile GPA + less WE than average for most top programs, and bad luck may have had as much to do with it as my essays/recommendations. I had three recommenders, mainly because you needed three separate recs (one academic) for public policy programs. My two primary refs clicked submit a dozen times, although public policy recs are much less involved than MBA recs.

I did rush into the application process; I started researching schools in September and took the GMAT in mid-November. It definitely was a rushed timeline but it was unavoidable. I knew I needed to start grad school this year, so I went for it. If I felt that re-applying next year was an option, perhaps I would have been more selective and more focused. But it was not and, shaselai, that might be your case as well. Though I applied with a shotgun rather than a sniper rifle, I'm certainly not disappointed with the results.

If I had to do it again, I would definitely focus on finding a fantastic fit in the low range of the business school spectrum, the "if all else fails" school that I would be 100% happy to attend, and then whittle down my reaches. I do think the more time you spend on your essays at the top programs, the better they'll be. But you have a much bigger head start than I did, and that's a huge plus. Also, I personally couldn't have found a third primary ref that would have treated me as well as the two I had. However, if it is possible for you (seems like no), that's probably the way to go.

Best of luck and don't feel discouraged if you think your situation warrants an atypical strategy. You'll also get into a top business school (hopefully, a great fit for you), just like the people that played the application game by the book.

That is true, so maybe I should try to give more constructive advice.

If you do plan to apply to multiple schools, try to get close to finishing one before moving onto another. I tried starting multiple apps at once and ended up with a lot of half finished apps.

Second thing is, I never "finish an app" in that even to the last minute I would always find ways to change stuff around, or rewrite it differently because another app made me think of something new to put in XYZ situations.

Goodluck!

The last bit of advice about doing one application at a time is very valuable. I returned from a cancelled military deployment in February of 2010. With only 1 month to get applications together for the final round, I strongly debated pushing off to apply for class of 2013. In the end, I decided that now was the time. With such a short time, I did not have the ability for campus visits and extensive "get to know the school" time. Also, without many indicators, I wasnt sure how my sub-par GPA and avg GMAT would go over. In other words, I had schools I wanted to apply to, but didnt know what range suited my profile.

As a result of these unknowns, I took the shotgun approach and applied to 7 schools in one round hoping that I would get in somewhere. When I started I had no concept of how much work each application would be and thought the oft mentioned "Cut and Paste" approach would be sufficient. I quickly began to realize the scale of the task I had undertaken. I spent every night working on essays according to my timeline that allowed no room for any interference. The result of my first app was a jumbled mess of trying to write generic essays for later use. It cost me an extra week to re-write and tailor to the specific school. If doing many apps, ensure your focus is committed to one at a time to prevent the crossing over of concepts and specifics.

As also stated, the recommendations also posed a huge problem. None of my former managers would be willing to write 7 recs with only 4 weeks notice. I had to farm out my recs to multiple qualified yet few optimal recommenders in order to meet each schools requirement. Again, the result met the minimum, but did not put my best foot forward.

So all my applications were submitted on time and the temporary relief was soon replaced with anxiety awaiting interview invites. As they started to roll in, I had no ability to travel to each school partly because of time off work, partly because several interview dates conflicted. Did this show lack of commitment? I dont know, but if you apply to many schools, be prepared to commit to travel and campus visits in order to ensure fit with the program.

Then came decisions and I discovered 2 things.
1. Am I really willing to attend this school now that I have been admitted?
2. I really wish I would have focused more on a few top choices and maybe I would have gotten in (rather than waitlisted).

For me, it worked out as I was admitted to the school I had hoped all along, yet it could have ended very different for me. I would take the advice of everyone so far and do the prep work to narrow your choices. Sure, I understand a couple of apps are thrown out there to see what happens (wishful thinking), but I would say 7 should be the max number of apps for anyone. And I would strongly discourage tackling more than 4 in any given round.

thanks for the advices coakleym,gobruin and grantchap. Coakleym, it seems you had success and got into Stern which is very cool . The reason i seemed "stubborn" i guess is because I thought I had a good chance to go all the way since i started early and my recs already agreed to do up to 10 recs. But I will "take my sweet time" with my top 7 to make it the best I can. I think I will wait on further applications until I hear back from my EDs in nov-dec. If the EDs are all dings then I think I might do 1-2 more from jan-feb for a last ditch effort.

I also like the advice about changing the app in case new info comes up. But when is a good time to submit an application though? Isn't it first come first serve so it's better to submit after finish?
thanks

the only advantage you gain from submitting "early" is avoiding the anxiety of worrying about whether the system will crash you into the next round before it accepts your application (been there). and i would say, to avoid that, all you really need to do is submit at least an hour before the deadline. its better to use any time to review your application and essays looking for any mistakes, inconsistencies or errors (makes you feel better). in fact, the more time you have before the deadline to put your "finished" essays aside and review them later, the easier it is to do this effectively. and no, its not a first come, first serve basis style in the admissions office generally speaking - at least not when it comes to getting a place in the class for the round.

.

I applied to 7 schools and honestly it was not that bad. I was along with two kids under 5 because my husband was deployed, so really the only time I had for applications was late in the evenings and I called in sick to work twice to give myself a full day with no interuptions.

In hindsight I still would have applied to as many but I might have applied to some different schools than the ones I chose. Looking back a few of the schools I applied to I didnt really want to attend but were "convenient" for personal reasons. There are also schools that I didnt apply to that I really really thought would have been a good fit.

dcdevil, did you do 7 in the same round? 7 overall wudn't be too uncommon, but in the same round that wud be quite a feat!

I did 5 round 2 and 2 round 3...What I am trying to tell the original poster is that 7 is fine but really think about the 7 you choose and make sure they are right for you from all aspects. I didnt do that.

User - as far as a timeline, I had originally intended to submit everything round 1. When I didn't get the GMAT where I wanted it by October 1st, I simply pushed my mostly completed applications to round 2. I had all 7 of my applications finished a few days before the deadlines, dotted all the I's, submitted a day or two early while I was on vacation, and treated myself to a $250 bottle of wine. It might or might not improve the product, but it sure lowered the stress level.

I'm not a big fan of the free-advice "timelines" for applications posted in here - everyone works at different speeds and has different things going on in their lives. What is universally true, however, is giving your recommenders AT LEAST a month to do your recs, and making it as easy as possible for them. Get the forms online. Think of a few things you would like them to highlight, and let the recommenders know what they are. Try and hold their hand as much as possible in the process. My take on recommendations is that they should compliment and enhance the things you wrote about in your essays - so get working on the essay themes and selections early.

Don't do the Consortium if you are just looking to cut your effort - it doesn't help that much, and it is not designed as a shortcut for the overextended.

I wouldn't recommend spreading yourself thin over so many applications. I think you have a better chance of getting into your top choice programs by turning fewer but really good applications.

Definitely focus on preparing outstanding applications, rather than on preparing lots of applications. Don't sacrifice quality for number. Include some safety schools as well as reach schools. Take a hard look at the schools you'd like to apply to and decide if some of them are more Round-sensitive than others. Hope it goes well for you!