Advice for Class of 2013 Applicants

I agree with this.

Wow...what an unreal thread!

Working on shortlisting 6 schools that fit my profile and spinning good "stories" as to why I am a good fit. Kind of late to try strengthening up ECs, etc IMHO.

Count me in as a 2013 hopeful.

I'll be reappying to one school (ding w/ interview) and adding another 4 to my list.

I'm very concerned about work experience and letters of rec. I left my last job in October 2009 – the company moved offices, I had just gotten married in September and I wasn’t about to move with them. I got a new job that seemed like a great opportunity, but after 4 months is certainly not what I expected. So this year’s drama will revolve around “Will I get a decent letter of rec?” and “How will I spin this new job?”

Hi Guys,

I will also be applying for Class of 2013.

My aim is to apply 6 schools at R1, and another 6 at R2 depending on the outcome of R1.
As I spend most of my time for CFA study until Jun, I wont be able to do anything for the applications until then.
I plan to start studying for GMAT in Jun, and take it end of August.
Plan is writing the essays in Jun-Jul-Aug, visiting a couple schools in Jun.

What do you think?
Is it manageable?

Hi alobar00,

My personal advice would be to 'assess' your plan before adopting it.

I would take a full length practice GMAT asap so you see where you are scoring. If you are in the range where you feel like with just two months of practice you can push your score to where it needs to be, then your GMAT plan may be feasible. Whatever you do, do NOT underestimate that test.

With the apps, 12 is a lot, but if you feel that all 12 schools match your career goals and you fit in all of them and would go to anyone of them, and each and every single school is the right school for you, applying to that many is a decision you will make for yourself.

For the caliber of schools you are targeting, you want to put in the BEST applications possible... meaning you are not submitting 12 of the same applications, you are spending substantial time on each one and giving each school the respect it deserves. Visiting is not mandatory, but boy does it help.

Do you really believe you can write quality essays while studying for the GMAT in two months? You are applying alongside folks who have spent months and months (even years) researching programs, visiting schools, articulating their reasons for the degree, speaking to students and alumni and writing essays. Can you put in the BEST application you are capable of in that amount of time?

Again, questions you will have to answer for yourself.

Oh Yes. Another Class of 2013 -er here.

I've been reading Calling all [Insert School Name] Class of 2012 forums with such excitements even though I couldn't figure out why I am excited

2nd GMAT in a few days, and hopefully I can get on the essays ASAP.

Still pondering about buying the "privilege" of getting my app looked at by HBS adcom.

Gonna spend summer in Cali like winter in Ithaca.

+1. Looking for Class of 2013 Admit.

Gave my GMAT last week, not too happy with the score, redoing the GMAT sometime in June.

Completed a school visit of MIT and HBS last week as well. Loveddd the schools.

Good luck with the Essay writing. I am planning to start early - sometime in June, so lets see. Hopefully I can keep a track of my goals.

For those who are considering admission consultants, please keep us posted if you approach any consultants and if you got any major benefit.

Another Class of 2013 here. I won't be able to start my GMAT studying until late May as my work load is just a bit too much at the moment (grad student). However I started researching schools over a year ago (even visited a few). Now that I'm in the Northeast working on my MA, I can travel to a few schools that I have my eye on. In fact, I'll be at the "Lunch with Tuck" event on May 14th, then back to Ithaca to study for a final on May 18 I've also started to keep running notes on essay ideas as they come (usually while reading Gmatclub).

As for what I'll be doing over the summer, I have an internship lined up with a real estate development company out in Los Angeles, although I've been thinking about interning with a smaller local company that does affordable/sustainable housing development, which is more closely aligned to what I want to do. My EC's are completely lacking. Aside from being an active member in some clubs (one for almost 15 years...I'm 27), I don't have anything all that special. I think it's probably too late to worry about that now.

Does anyone know how many recommendations on average schools require? 2 or 3? I'd guess Stanford/Harvard probably require 3, but what about the rest? For grad school almost all schools required 3 recommendations, however for some reason I thought b-schools required fewer.

looking back at when this thread was started (sept '09 ish?) I realized how overly eager I was about applications...and not that thats necessarily a bad thing either. I was really stoked because I had just taken the GMAT and was even considering throwing in a R2 app for 2010 matriculation, but eventually realized how hurried that would be.

I also realize now that, compared to 6 months ago, I definitely was not ready to apply to bschool. I've gotten a TON of great experience at work and none of that would have occurred if I had bschools constantly on the mind or scrambled to join 10 different volunteer groups to increase my extracurricular aspect of the app. in fact, my head/stress/waistline would be alot better off if i hadn't thought about bschools at all until now. anyway, class of 2013 (or Fall '11 entrance) is starting to become the main point of discussion on the forum so its interesting to see how I am becoming the "subject" of which I once looked enviously upon last year. And right now I'm not envious at all because writing essays is a pain!!

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