The differences among rounds is a bit overblown, if you ask me.

I would just try to come up with a schedule that allows you to include some schools from each category in each round, without getting burned out. Part of this will have to do as much with the schools' individual deadlines within a round as anything else.

I would do maybe something like this:
Rd 1: Euro School 1, Yale, HBS, Columbia (in that order)
Rd 2: Booth , Kellogg, Duke, Euro School 2 (in that order)
Rd 3 (optional): Euro Schools 3 & 4

My reasoning is that--no matter how confident you are in your abilities--your application will evolve and your process will get much tighter as you progress through the first round. For that reason, you don't want to begin with your dream school. Rather, it's best to develop your application using a "backup" school. For round two, the effect is less pronounced, and I'd rather just attack my top choice immediately.

This is, of course, subject to your personal school preferences, and actual deadlines.

Also, don't dilute your candidacy by applying to too many schools. If you know deep down that you'd rather wait a year and reapply than to go to a program, you might as well save the time and money.

Finally, plans fall through. I didn't get to apply to a lot of my top schools because I simply got sick of spending all of my free time on applications. I was lucky to get into a couple of amazing programs, but I still wonder whether I would have gotten into some of my other targets.

I really think you should apply to your first chioces, then move on to others.

I focused on all applications and ended up applying to all schools in round two. I was fortunate to be accepted to all schools and had the hardest time choosing...

Here's what I would do in your situation:

ED:
Columbia-Already discussed, can help greatly

R1:
Kellogg-They have a pretty standard application that includes several essays that form a great base for the rest of your applications and can be easily molded into a variety of questions. Apply there and leverage this foundation for other applications. Also has open interview policy so provides great practice for future interviews (at your dream schools).
Duke-A little different than Kellogg's application but could do nicely to round out different essays. Also has open interview policy in October so provides great practice for future interviews (again, at your dream schools)

After these three you'll have a terrific foundation to really put together strong essays should they be needed in R2 for your other DREAM schools (HBS, Booth). I can honestly say my R2 essays were at least 3-4 times better than my R1 essays and all of them were based upon the essays I submitted R1.

I also noticed that my essays (reasoning, contents, clarity of what I wanted to convey) improved A LOT in the later rounds, compared to the first applications I sent. In my case, I applied to my two first choice schools last - because they required the GMAT to be done by the time the application was submitted. The other schools allowed results to be sent a little past application deadline. So I ended up sending IMHO the most polished essays to my top choices - and I got admitted to both.

That said, the CBS ED would probably have been my first application, for practical reasons. And I would definitely try to send in all my top choices in late R1, or alternately R2, not wait any longer.

Look here, it is a profile of gregory he was dinged from Columbia and accepted to HBS. It seems to me that I know him.

gregory

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