{"id":52016,"date":"2021-05-24T12:11:38","date_gmt":"2021-05-24T19:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/2021\/05\/how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school-2\/"},"modified":"2021-05-24T12:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-05-24T19:11:38","slug":"how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/how-much-time-does-it-take-to-apply-to-b-school-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How Much Time Does It Take to Apply to B-School?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A question we often hear this time of year is \u201cwhen should I start working on my MBA applications if I\u2019m applying in the fall?\u201d It seems so far away\u2026<\/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 devote to putting together a well-researched and well-crafted application package has a strong correlation with your outcome. On average, our clients start working with us five months before the deadlines (and some start a whole year in advance).<\/p>\n

The top MBA programs typically release their applications in June. Ideally, you start in the spring and tackle the \u2018low hanging fruit\u2019 before this happens. By \u2018low hanging fruit\u2019, we mean taking the GMAT\/GRE, researching schools<\/a>, talking to alums and current students, crafting your MBA resume<\/a>, and solidifying your post-MBA career goals<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Essay Writing is a Beast, But It Is Critically Important<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Getting a head start in the spring allows you to hit the ground running and be efficient with the essay writing process, which is really where the heavy lifting comes in. On average, we see applicants writing 10-20 drafts of their essays for the top MBA programs. Our double admits this past year (those who got into HBS and Stanford) wrote a minimum of 12 drafts of each essay (the max was 27 in case you were wondering).<\/p>\n

Why does it take so long? Because iteration is a critical part of making your applications, especially your essays, as good as they can possibly be. When we work with clients, we\u2019ll often begin by brainstorming potential material and then iterating a few times on a high-level outline. This \u2018prewriting\u2019 process can easily span a week or two, which takes us to the beginning of July. If you plan to write a minimum of ten drafts (which you should) and are also juggling a full-time job, it\u2019s easy to see how the timeline can close in on you. Especially if you are applying to a handful of schools!<\/p>\n

Clients are often skeptical that they will write 10-20 drafts of an essay, so here\u2019s a general example of how that might play out. Draft one 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 generally fits within the word limit. Draft four is about shuffling the flow of the essay so that the reader can \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 a powerful ending. 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 \u2013 it\u2019s critical.<\/p>\n

So, What Does an Ideal Timeline Look Like? <\/strong><\/h4>\n

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

Below is the timeline that we generally recommend for a Round 1 applicant.<\/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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/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":"

A question we often hear this time of year is \u201cwhen should I start working on my MBA applications if I\u2019m applying in the fall?\u201d It seems so far away\u2026…<\/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-52016","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\/52016","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=52016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}