{"id":45149,"date":"2019-04-02T11:01:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T18:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2019\/04\/how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school\/"},"modified":"2019-04-02T11:01:08","modified_gmt":"2019-04-02T18:01:08","slug":"how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Time Does it Take to Apply to B-School?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week we presented to a large bank\u2019s analyst class, and one of the first questions we were asked was \u201cwhen should I start working on my applications if I\u2019m applying in the fall?\u201d It seems so far away…<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not! You can guess where we\u2019re going with this. The answer is that you need to start right now. Seriously, the amount of time you give yourself to put together a really strong pitch, presentation and overall application package has a very strong positive correlation with your potential for success. Last year, on average, our clients started working with us five months before the deadline (and some started a whole year in advance).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how this works: if you start now, you can tackle all of the \u201clow hanging fruit\u201d before the applications are released in the summer. You can take the GMAT or GRE, research and visit schools, talk to alums and current students, get your resume in MBA application condition, identify and start prepping your recommenders, research and refine your career goals, and get your story in solid condition. If you need a starting point, here\u2019s a link to our Comparison of the Top MBA Programs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you tackle all of that before the applications come out over the summer, then you can really hit the ground running and be efficient with the essay writing process, which is the heavy lifting aspect of this process. On average, we see applicants writing 10-20 drafts of their essays for the top programs. Our double admits this past year (people who got into HBS and Stanford) wrote a minimum of 12 drafts of each essay (the max was 27 in case you\u2019re wondering).<\/p>\n

Why does it take so long? Because iteration is actually part of the process of making your applications, especially your essays, as good as they can possibly be. Here\u2019s a general example. Draft one of an essay is where you take a shot at one of the themes you had in mind. Draft two is about taking that story or theme up a level so that you are focusing on one clear idea. Draft three is refining that content so that it\u2019s going to fit within the word limit. Draft four is about shuffling the flow of the essay so that the reader can more easily \u201cskim\u201d and still understand the power of what you\u2019re trying to say. Draft five incorporates more of your feelings and the \u201cwhy\u201d behind the stories in the essay. Draft six incorporates comments that your colleagues gave you about how you\u2019re coming across. Draft seven is where you refine the way that you explained your key stories to make them more \u201cto the point\u201d. Draft eight is where you add on a powerful ending that helps explain your overall motivations. And so on, and so on. This process varies by person, but in general, plan on the essay writing phase taking 25+ hours per school. Don\u2019t rush this – it\u2019s critical.<\/p>\n

So back to our main point: if you know that heavy lift is coming, plan for it. Start now and trust me, you\u2019ll be glad you did. You\u2019ll feel more prepared and more confident when you finally hit the submit button in the fall.<\/p>\n

Below is the timeline that we generally recommend (showing round 1 as a proxy).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And as always, reach out to us with any questions! We are still taking clients for round 1 and round 2 of this year\u2019s application cycle. You can request a free initial consultation with one of our MBA admissions consultants by completing the form located here: https:\/\/vantagepointmba.com\/free-consultation\/<\/a><\/p>\n

The post How Much Time Does it Take to Apply to B-School?<\/a> appeared first on Vantage Point MBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week we presented to a large bank\u2019s analyst class, and one of the first questions we were asked was \u201cwhen should I start working on my applications if I\u2019m…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":167,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1955,775,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-vantage-point-mba","category-admission-consultants","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45149","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\/167"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}