For some reason, Thanksgiving weekend in America tends to signal the beginning of the rush toward second-round business school application deadlines. Many candidates who are just contemplating their MBA applications tend to call us and ask, \u201cHow many schools can I apply to at this stage?\u201d or \u201cAm I too late to start my applications for Round 2 now?\u201d Unfortunately, there is no clear-cut answer to these questions.<\/p>\n
First and foremost, the answer is \u201cquality before speed.\u201d As a candidate, you are far better off\u00a0completing applications to three schools with 100% of your effort than to five schools with 60% effort. MBA admissions offices will notice sloppy mistakes, and they will weigh the fact that you did not show consideration in your application and thus may not really care all that much about their program.<\/p>\n
One thing some candidates forget or do not realize\u00a0is that they do\u00a0not need to commit to a specific number of schools up front. Most often, we suggest that candidates master one application and then apply what they have\u00a0learned to the next. Generally, attacking five schools simultaneously can be problematic, but if you make significant progress on your application for one school and then launch into the next, you can do so with the confidence that you will be completing each with a degree of excellence.<\/p>\n
The number of target schools varies for each candidate, depending on\u00a0his or her\u00a0professional and personal schedules, written communication abilities, risk profiles, ambitions, etc. You should approach your applications methodically, recognize what is realistic and then work aggressively\u2014but not haphazardly\u2014toward your ends.<\/p>\n