{"id":39433,"date":"2017-10-11T13:54:30","date_gmt":"2017-10-11T20:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2017\/10\/5-reasons-to-wait-for-round-2-when-applying-to-business-school\/"},"modified":"2017-10-11T13:54:30","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11T20:54:30","slug":"5-reasons-to-wait-for-round-2-when-applying-to-business-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/5-reasons-to-wait-for-round-2-when-applying-to-business-school\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons to Wait for Round 2 When Applying to Business School"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post was written by our friends at InGenius Prep<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking about applying to business school, there are only two rounds that matter: Round 1 or Round 2. To put it bluntly, you should never apply in Round 3. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a lot of reasons to apply in Round 1. It\u2019s nice to get things done and over with early, to know whether or not you\u2019re in by the holidays, to have more time to plan (or more likely, to knock things off your bucket list), and to start making friends with your future classmates. <\/span><\/p>\n

There is also a lot of pressure for \u201ctraditional\u201d applicants to apply in Round 1. What I mean by traditional is people coming from finance or consulting backgrounds who attended strong undergraduate institutions, and have known that business school was in the short-term plan for years. In a sense, we\u2019re talking people from competitive or overrepresented pools, including international applicants. As a traditional applicant, your direct competition (other traditional applicants with similar professional and personal backgrounds) will be applying in Round 1. Because a lot of these traditional applicants will be talented, a good number of them will be accepted, therefore leaving less spots for talented traditional applicants like yourself. So, if you know you\u2019ve wanted to go to business school for years and come from a background where an MBA is part of the typical track, you should be prepared and ready to get your application in during Round 1.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this is easier said than done. It\u2019s not always possible to have the right amount of work experience, a strong GMAT score, a compelling application, a convenient break in your personal life, and everything in order come fall. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s zoom in on the reasons why Round 2 might be the best fit for you:<\/span><\/p>\n

Reasons to Wait to Apply for Round 2: <\/b><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You just started a new job 6 months ago.<\/b> In this case, you might not have had enough time to build a deep relationship with your manager, most likely resulting in a less than stellar letter of recommendation. Because letters of recommendation are an extremely important part of the process, you want to spend time building that relationship — professionally and personally. You want to prove yourself in the workspace, and you want to spend time getting to know your recommender. Go to drinks or coffee with that person, ask them questions, and position them as mentors to get them truly invested in your success. <\/span><\/li>\n
  2. A promotion (or something else impressive) is in the works.<\/b> If you\u2019re just about to get promoted, close a big deal, win an award, or achieve something else impressive that will genuinely improve your candidacy between September and early January, then wait. Improve your resume, and apply as a better qualified candidate.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. You need more time to craft your application. Crafting a compelling application always takes longer than you expect. From the <\/span>business school resum\u00e9<\/span><\/a>, to the letters of recommendation, to the essays and short answers, it\u2019s a lot of work! As a working professional, you probably haven\u2019t had to write creative or personal essays since college (and if you were an econ or STEM major, probably since your college application personal statement). Answering questions like Stanford\u2019s \u201cwhat matters most to you and why?\u201d or <\/span>Harvard\u2019s open-ended essay prompt<\/span><\/a> \u201cwhat more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy?\u201d is hard. It takes time to brainstorm creative answers, to sit down and write your <\/span>personal statement for business school<\/span><\/a>, and to go through the taxing editing process. If your application isn\u2019t ready to wow admissions officers, then wait, and keep working until it is. <\/span><\/b><\/li>\n
  4. Your GMAT score is not where you want it to be.<\/strong> If you didn\u2019t get the score you wanted the first or second time, and you think you can get a higher score, then take the time necessary to get a better score. It\u2019s okay if that means re-taking the GMAT in the fall, securing that score, then working on your applications to be ready to submit in Round 2.<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Personal reasons!<\/strong> We realize that you are human beings who have lives outside of applying to business school. Sometimes, things just happen, and that\u2019s okay. You have to make the best of whatever situation you are in, and if that means applying in Round 2, that is okay (and if this reason is concrete or sudden, you might consider bringing this up in your application). \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Obviously, there are no formulas for determining in which round you should apply. But as you make your decision, remember: never apply in Round 3. If you\u2019re applying as a traditional applicant in a competitive or overrepresented pool, plan accordingly to apply in Round 1. If you\u2019re not the above candidate or if any of the five reasons above apply, then apply in Round 2. <\/span><\/p>\n

    The post 5 Reasons to Wait for Round 2 When Applying to Business School<\/a> appeared first on Magoosh GMAT Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    This post was written by our friends at InGenius Prep. If you\u2019re thinking about applying to business school, there are only two rounds that matter: Round 1 or Round 2.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,783,243,940],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gmat","category-magoosh-blog","category-blog","category-gmat-prep-gmat","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39433","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\/133"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}