- Spring and summer of your application season is for research, test-taking, and application strategy and development
- September and October—Round 1 deadlines
- Early January—Round 2 deadlines
- Late March/early April—Round 3 deadlines. Spring deadlines are ideal for deferred MBA admissions for college seniors and part-time and EMBA programs.
Are you planning to apply to business school in the fall? Once you’ve decided to pursue an MBA, your work is cut out for you. MBA applicants must fit studying for the GMAT or GRE and developing essays with other personal and professional commitments. That’s where an MBA timeline comes into play.
Having a game plan for completing the admissions components within a schedule means you won’t deal with undue stress and sleepless nights. The best way to do this is to put together your MBA application timeline months before your target deadlines.
Are you curious about your chances of getting into a top B-school? Contact us to talk strategy with a free 15-minute advising session with an SBC Principal Consultant.
MBA Timeline: Getting Started
Early spring of your MBA application season is when we recommend starting the research on schools, finding the right fit, estimating admit odds, checking application requirements, and learning what each program has to offer.
“Attend as many admissions sessions and events as you can to get to know the program better and hear from the MBA admissions team, who may provide updates on their requirements given current times,” advises Stacy Blackman consultant Sherry, who has been with SBC for more than a decade after a tenure at Duke Fuqua Admissions.
“Talk to current students and/or recent alumni to become more familiar with the program. Hear their stories, and discuss your short and long-term goals to determine if they are realistic based on their knowledge of the program,” she adds.
Spring is also the time to check the average reported statistics online to calibrate and bolster your academic record. But know there’s always a range with respect to test scores and GPA for every MBA program.
Listen to B-Schooled Podcast #108: Strengthening Your Quant Profile
How Much Time for Test Prep?
MBA hopefuls often ask how far in advance before applying should they take the GRE or GMAT. Also, how much time should they spend on test prep? Our clients usually need 3-4 months for test preparation, depending on how much time they have to study if they’re still working.
Test scores are one variable that allows us to rank potential MBA programs into reach versus reasonable categories. So, we prefer to have several diagnostic test scores or even the actual test score—ideally not later than two months before the application deadlines. Get the test done early to optimize your efforts and to decide whether to engage an MBA admissions consultant.
In an ideal world, separating your test prep from your essays/applications work allows you to focus fully on each and helps minimize the stress of trying to do everything simultaneously as deadlines loom.
Test scores are good for up to five years. When thinking about your MBA timeline, the earlier you start studying and secure a satisfactory score, the better. Keep in mind that there often is some overlap between studying and working on applications.
“Depending upon your goals, I usually advise taking 3-4 months to prepare for the GMAT or the GRE (EA preparation can often be done in less time). Studying a bit each night throughout the week will help you to retain your learnings,” SBC’s Director of Test Prep Anthony Ritz notes.
The weekends are a great time for practice tests or more intensive studying. Candidates shooting for top scores usually study around 100-150 hours.
“But remember, quality is better than quantity. Work to understand each problem and why you got it right or wrong,” he adds. “The goal is to study productively—not just to do a lot of practice problems!”
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What to Know About the Different Application Rounds
By now, you know that business schools have two or more application deadlines, or rounds, by which candidates need to submit their application materials. So, does that mean there’s an optimal time to apply?
Round 1 takes place in the fall, either September or October, whereas Round 2 takes place in early January. Round 3, meanwhile, hits in March or April. Some schools have slight differences, such as Early Action deadlines. For top US full-time MBA programs, we almost always encourage candidates to apply in rounds 1 or 2. That’s because there are simply fewer spots open in round 3.
That said, round 3 is perfectly acceptable for some MBA program types. This includes part-time and EMBA programs, EU-based programs, as well as some lower-ranked full-time, two-year US MBA programs. College seniors applying for deferred MBA admissions programs are almost always aiming for spring deadlines (late March and early April).
How to Submit a Quality Application On Time
To achieve this goal, frontloading tasks is a key tool of a successful MBA timeline. Our best admit outcomes are from clients who have plenty of lead time before MBA deadlines to assemble thoughtful and high-quality application materials.
We need a minimum of four weeks prior to deadlines. But it’s ideal to have 2-6 months of lead time before application deadlines. Most of our clients begin work with us on an average of 4-5 months prior to the deadlines.
One of our HBS admit clients emphasized that the application process is a journey. “One thing that helped give me an extra boost of confidence to apply was telling myself that even just the application process itself was a tremendous growth opportunity—a chance to reflect and figure out my future goals,” she said.
“And it truly was a fantastic experience. I feel like a more self-aware person now than before I applied.”
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Stacy Blackman Consulting offers multiple services to meet your MBA application needs. From our All-In Partnership to test and interview prep, essay editing, resume review, and much more, we’ve got you covered! Contact us today for a free 15-minute advising session to talk strategy with a Principal SBC consultant.
Here’s a snapshot of the caliber of expertise on our SBC team.
Ashley
Ashley is a former MBA Admissions Board Member for Harvard Business School (HBS), where she interviewed and evaluated thousands of business school applicants for over a six year tenure. Ashley holds an MBA from HBS.
During her HBS years, Ashley was the Sports Editor for the Harbus and a member of the B-School Blades Ice Hockey Team. After HBS, she worked in Marketing at the Gillette Company on Male and Female shaving ...
Kerry
Kerry is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
During her 5+ year tenure at HBS, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a wide range of backgrounds across the globe. She also led marketing and outreach efforts focused on increasing diversity and inclusion, ran the Summer Venture in Management Program (SVMP), and launched the 2+2 Program during her time in Admissions.
Kerry holds a B.A. from Bates College and ...
Pauline
A former associate director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Pauline served on the HBS MBA Admissions Board full-time for four years. She evaluated and interviewed HBS applicants, both on-campus and globally.
Pauline's career has included sales and marketing management roles with Coca-Cola, Gillette, Procter & Gamble, and IBM. For over 10 years, Pauline has expertly guided MBA applicants, and her clients h ...
Geri
Geri is a former member of the Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS).
In her 7 year tenure in HBS Admissions, she read and evaluated hundreds of applications and interviewed MBA candidates from a diverse set of academic, geographic, and employment backgrounds. Geri also traveled globally representing the school at outreach events in order to raise awareness for women and international students. In additio ...
Laura
Laura comes from the MBA Admissions Board at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is an HBS MBA alumnus. In her HBS Admissions role, she evaluated and interviewed hundreds of business school candidates, including internationals, women, military and other applicant pools, for five years.
Prior to her time as a student at HBS, Laura began her career in advertising and marketing in Chicago at Leo Burnett where she worked on th ...
Andrea
Andrea served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Harvard Business School (HBS) for over five years. In this role, she provided strategic direction for student yield-management activities and also served as a full member of the admissions committee.
In 2007, Andrea launched the new 2+2 Program at Harvard Business School – a program targeted at college junior applicants to Harvard Business School. Andrea has also served as a Career Coach for Harvard Business School for both cu ...
Jennifer
Jennifer served as Admissions Officer at the Stanford (GSB) for five years. She holds an MBA from Stanford (GSB) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Jennifer has over 15 years experience in guiding applicants through the increasingly competitive admissions process into top MBA programs. Having read thousands and thousands of essays and applications while at Stanford (GSB) Admiss ...
Erin K.
Erin served in key roles in MBA Admissions--as Director at Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and Assistant Director at Stanford's Graduate School of Business (GSB).
Erin served on the admissions committee at each school and has read thousands of applications in her career. At Haas, she served for seven years in roles that encompassed evaluation, outreach, and diversity and inclusion. During her tenure in Admissions at GSB, she was responsible for candidate evaluation, applicant outreach, ...
Susie
Susie comes from the Admissions Office of the Stanford Graduate School of Business where she reviewed and evaluated hundreds of prospective students’ applications. She holds an MBA from Stanford’s GSB and a BA from Stanford in Economics.
Prior to advising MBA applicants, Susie held a variety of roles over a 15-year period in capital markets, finance, and real estate, including as partner in one of the nation’s most innovative finance and real estate investment organizations. In that r ...
Dione
Dione holds an MBA degree from Stanford Business School (GSB) and a BA degree from Stanford University, where she double majored in Economics and Communication with concentrations in journalism and sociology. Dione has served as an Admissions reader and member of the Minority Admissions Advisory Committee at Stanford.
Dione is an accomplished and respected advocate and thought leader on education and diversity. She is ...
Anthony
Anthony served as the Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he dedicated over 10 years of expertise.
During his time as a Wharton Admissions Officer, he read and reviewed thousands of applications and helped bring in a class of 800+ students a year. Anthony has traveled both domestically and internationally to recruit a ...
Meghan
Meghan served as the Associate Director of Admissions and Marketing at the Wharton MBA’s Lauder Institute, a joint degree program combining the Wharton MBA with an MA in International Studies.
In her role on the Wharton MBA admissions committee, Meghan advised domestic and international applicants; conducted interviews and information sessions domestically and overseas in Asia, Central and South America, and Europe; and evaluated applicants for admission to the program. Meghan also managed ...
Amy
Amy comes from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where she was Associate Director. Amy devoted 12 years at the Wharton School, working closely with MBA students and supporting the admissions team.
During her tenure at Wharton, Amy served as a trusted adviser to prospective applicants as well as admitted and matriculated students. She conducted admissions chats with applicants early in the admissions ...
Ally
Ally brings six years of admissions experience to the SBC team, most recently as an Assistant Director of Admission for the full-time MBA program at Columbia Business School (CBS).
During her time at Columbia, Ally was responsible for reviewing applications, planning recruitment events, and interviewing candidates for both the full-time MBA program and the Executive MBA program. She traveled both internationally and dome ...
Erin B.
Erin has over seven years of experience working across major institutions, including University of Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School, and NYU's Stern School of Business.
At Columbia Business School, Erin was an Assistant Director of Admissions where she evaluated applications for both the full time and executive MBA programs, sat on the admissions and merit scholarship committees and advised applicants on which program might be the best fit for them based on their work experience and pro ...
Emma
Emma comes from the MBA Admissions Office at Columbia Business School (CBS), where she was Associate Director.
Emma conducted dozens of interviews each cycle for the MBA and EMBA programs, as well as coordinating the alumni ambassador interview program. She read and evaluated hundreds of applications each cycle, delivered information sessions to audiences across the globe, and advised countless waitlisted applicants.</sp ...
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