{"id":32866,"date":"2016-04-24T12:03:03","date_gmt":"2016-04-24T19:03:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=32866"},"modified":"2016-07-27T15:37:53","modified_gmt":"2016-07-27T22:37:53","slug":"how-many-b-schools-should-you-apply-to-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-many-b-schools-should-you-apply-to-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Many B-Schools Should You Apply To?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Not<\/a>
<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yep \u2013 this question gets one of those frustrating \u201cit depends\u201d answers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How many schools should you apply to? How do you strike the balance between too many and too few? And how do you know the exact right number for you?<\/span><\/p>\n

It Depends<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yep \u2013 this question gets one of those frustrating \u201cit depends\u201d answers. It depends on your qualifications, the schools you are aiming for, whether you are willing to tolerate the possibility of\u00a0<\/span>reapplication<\/span><\/a>\u00a0if rejected, your goals, and the people you ask. Some experts recommend applying to 3-4 schools, period \u2013 with no exceptions.\u00a0I am a little less doctrinaire, but offer the following guidelines.<\/span><\/p>\n

4 Tips for Choosing the Right Number of Schools<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> If you have 2-3 schools that support your goals, have\u00a0acceptance rates north of 30% and where you are strongly competitive, then applying to 2-3 schools total\u00a0is totally reasonable. <\/span><\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> If you can find only 2-3 schools that support your goals<\/a> and meet your needs, and no others do \u2013 \u00a0which happens rarely but it does happen! \u2013 then it would make sense to apply to those 2-3 programs and no others. <\/span><\/p>\n

3.<\/strong> If you have target schools that you are dying to attend but either competition is extremely intense (acceptance rates under 15%) and\/or your qualifications are not competitive, then you need to apply to perhaps 1-2 of these and 3-6 where you are more likely to gain admission. <\/span><\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> If you are applying to schools with acceptance rates in the 15-30% range and you are competitive but certainly not a shoo-in (and most people aren\u2019t), then it would be wise to apply to 3-6 in this range and 1-2 in the range where you are likely to be accepted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Assessing Your Goals & Qualifications<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your\u00a0<\/span>goals<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and your qualifications relative to your competition are paramount.\u00a0If you are from a group that is overrepresented in the applicant pool, like\u00a0<\/span>Indian IT males<\/span><\/a>, you may want to apply at the higher end of the ranges provided above. Please keep in mind that you don\u2019t need to apply to all schools first round. You can split the schools between first and second round deadlines. And there <\/span>are<\/span><\/i> benefits to applying to safety schools<\/a>, if they are chosen wisely.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bottom Line<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some will argue that 6-8 schools spreads the net too wide, is expensive, time-consuming, and will dilute your ability to pursue excellence in your applications. If you try to apply to so many schools within a month, I agree with those critics. If, however, you want to maximize your chances of acceptance and can spread your applications out over two rounds, then it is a reasonable option. Not a requirement. An option. Like I said, it all depends.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Best<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Linda<\/a>By\u00a0Linda Abraham<\/a>, president and founder of Accepted and co-author of the definitive book on MBA admissions,\u00a0<\/em>MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools<\/a>.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Related Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 MBA Profile Series<\/a>
\n\u2022 MBA Applicants: Start Your Engines!<\/a>
\n\u2022\u00a07 Ways to Distinguish Between Similar MBA Programs<\/a><\/p>\n

This article<\/a> originally appeared on\u00a0<\/em>blog.accepted.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Applying to a top b-school? The talented folks at Accepted have helped hundreds of applicants get accepted to their dream programs. Whether you are figuring out where apply, writing your application essays, or prepping for your interviews, we are just a call (or click) away.<\/p>\n

Contact us, and get matched up with the consultant who will help\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>get accepted<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How many schools should you apply to? How do you strike the balance between too many and too few? And how do you know the exact right number for you?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,939,775,113,243],"tags":[1048,1896,39,370,12],"class_list":["post-32866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-accepted","category-admission-consultants","category-applications","category-blog","tag-advice-for-mba-applicants","tag-mba","tag-mba-admissions","tag-mba-advice","tag-the-mba-application-process","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32866","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=32866"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32868,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32866\/revisions\/32868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}