ayl9899 wrote:
well, I feel I've stayed in my field/position too long and another year, would feel like a waste as I don't see any significant room for improvement within the year.
And as I'll most likely be applying to several of the same schools next year, if I wait, that I plan on applying to now. I don't really see any point in not applying....
Unless of course, theres a good chance I can get into a much better school than the ones I listed with my current stats.
If you plan on doing nothing to change your odds between now and then - then I suppose there is little point in not applying now. Keep in mind thought that if you apply now and get rejected you will be considered a re-applicant if you apply again. This means that you only write one update essay to them ("What have you done since...." kind of stufF). This is good because you have a bit less work but bad because if your other essays were unconvincing or poor you can't do anything to change those.
If on the other hand you spend the next six months researching schools, maybe trying the GMAT one more time, talking to alumni, volunteering in some kind of leadership role with an extracurricular, etc... you can impact your profile and impact your odds. If you dont want to do all this work - and mind you - it is a lot ot work -- then I suppose your odds would not dramatically change.
I come back to the simple rule many students told me: R3 works if you are an exceptional candidate across the board - high GPA, high GMAT, great WE, etc -- it doesn't otherwise. Personally - and this is just
me - I wouldnt waste my time trying to rush a R3 application out the door, knowing that the already low (~20%) odds are probably even more unreasonable in R3 (~10% ?). But thats just me.