{"id":2441,"date":"2010-02-22T12:00:11","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T20:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=2441"},"modified":"2010-02-23T12:32:08","modified_gmt":"2010-02-23T20:32:08","slug":"what-mba-programs-should-you-apply-to-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/what-mba-programs-should-you-apply-to-next-season\/","title":{"rendered":"What MBA Programs Should You Apply To Next Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s late February, already in the ebb of the current MBA admissions season.\u00a0 As such, it\u2019s the perfect time for people considering applying next season to break out of hibernation and start tackling a part of the process that is often shortchanged: school selection.<\/p>\n<p>In ten-plus years of MBA admissions consulting I have found that a large percentage of otherwise highly capable and focused people basically wing it when it comes to this list.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just applying to all the top ten.\u201d\u00a0 Top ten according to what source?\u00a0 \u201cI realize now [after R2 deadlines have passed] I was overreaching.\u00a0 Are there any good schools I can still apply to?\u201d\u00a0 Probably.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m applying to H\/S\/W, with Duke as my safety.\u201d\u00a0 Duke as your safety?\u00a0\u00a0 By starting to plan your list of prospective schools now, you can avoid these and similar problems (yes, these responses are all problems).<\/p>\n<p>By taking a thoughtful, systematic approach to school selection, you will save time, money, and effort (even if you expend more of all initially).\u00a0 You will save precious energy for the applications.\u00a0 You will be able to start planning school visits and recommendations, two things that often get tangled up when approached in the heat of the application season.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next month I will present a series of blog posts providing tips and approaches to developing a solid list of schools.\u00a0 Each person\u2019s needs are unique, and there is no one formula that works for everyone, so it will be less a step-by-step process than a guide showing what questions to ask yourself, how to answer them, and make decisions accordingly.\u00a0 We\u2019ll cover assessing your profile; determining your needs, wants, and dislikes; the role of rankings; how many schools to apply to; and other topics.\u00a0 We\u2019ll also provide examples.<\/p>\n<p>Ready?\u00a0 Here are a couple of things you can and should do right now to get started on the school selection process for next season:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Capture on paper or whatever electronic medium you prefer those random thoughts that have been floating around in your head, e.g., \u201ctop 10\u201d; \u201cfriendly to older applicants\u201d; \u201cstrong quant focus\u201d; \u201cneed to be able to fly home to my ailing mother in an hour.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Read blogs of MBA students not just at schools you\u2019re already interested in but from a wider array, to get a subjective feel for different programs and your responses to them (pay attention to your responses!).<\/li>\n<li>If possible talk to MBA students and ask them about their school selection process; what went well and what proved difficult or problematic; what they would do differently.<\/li>\n<li>Visit schools now!\u00a0 Visit schools you know you are interested in (you can always re-visit later), schools you might be interested in, even schools on the margins.\u00a0 It\u2019s the perfect time: schools are in session, you\u2019re not pressed by the application process yet, and it\u2019s close enough to application time for your insights to be relevant if you discuss them in essays.\u00a0 Take advantage of any travel you may do for business or pleasure to schedule a visit, rather than trying to cram everything in the fall \u2013 a time when you\u2019ll be even busier than usual with applications plus work.\u00a0 Moreover, visiting now gives you time to digest and reflect on the experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\"> By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/aboutus\/editors.aspx?editorid=3\">Cindy Tokumitsu<\/a>, co-author of <\/span><\/em><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/aboutus\/editors.aspx?editorid=3\">The <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/aboutus\/editors.aspx?editorid=3\">Finance Professional\u2019s Guide to MBA Success<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\">, <\/span><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/accepted.squarespace.com\/display\/admin\/Where%20Should%20You%20Apply%20BLOG%201%20v2.doc\">The Consultants\u2019 Guide to MBA Admission<\/a><\/span><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\">, T<\/span><span style=\"color: black\" lang=\"EN\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/Ecommerce\/mba\/EMBAEssay.aspx%20\">he EMBA Edge<\/a>,<em> and author of numerous MBA articles and the free, email mini-course,<\/em><a title=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/embaadmissionscourse.aspx\" href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/embaadmissionscourse.aspx\" target=\"_blank\"><em> \"Ace the EMBA.\"<\/em><\/a><em> <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000\"><em><span style=\"color: #181818\"><span style=\"font-style: normal\"><strong>Related Resources:<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/applicationwebinar.aspx\">Best Practices for MBA Admissions Webinar<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accepted.com\/mba\/rankingreport.pdf\">MBA Ranking Report<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s late February, already in the ebb of the current MBA admissions season.\u00a0 As such, it\u2019s the perfect time for people considering applying next season to break out of hibernation&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[95,1894,32,49,39,48,36],"class_list":["post-2441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","tag-duke-fuqua","tag-gmat","tag-gpa","tag-harvard-hbs","tag-mba-admissions","tag-stanford-gsb","tag-wharton","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2443,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441\/revisions\/2443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}