blitz85 wrote:
1) How many schools should I apply to in round 2 to have the highest chance of getting through? (e.g 4 of the top 10 + 2 of ranked 10-20 etc)
2) Are there any significant disadvantages of applying in Round 2? What rough proportion of students are admitted in 1 vs. 2? Do any of the top schools seriously penalise you for applying in round 2?
3) Should I apply to 1 school (that's all the time I have) in round 1 itself? If I get admitted to this school, can I delay my acceptance while I apply to other schools in round 2?
4) How tough is 2010 going to be to get into a top 10 b-school (versus last 2-3 years)?
Hope someone can shed light on the above. Thanks a lot!!
1) GMAT score of 700 isn't the only factor considered into admissions but if you want extra time to spend more time on other parts of your applications - you SHOULD STILL consider applying to few schools in R1. It will allow you to have enough practice in writing essays and etc. My advice is apply to few schools that you consider as safety schools. This way, you can get a sense of where you stand as an applicant and acquire experience in applying to bschools.
Then save your top choices for R2 and also consider SURE safety schools for R3 in case all the schools from R1 and R2 end up with dings or WL's. (This is just a precaution)
There's no such thing as coming up with optimum number of schools to apply to in order to achieve "highest chance of getting through." If you end up creating an attractive package of bschool applications, you should stand a good chance. Only 2nd and 3rd tier bschools will accept an applicant for high GMAT, GPA and other statistics.
2) I think this depends on schools but whether it's R1 or R2, it really doesn't make much of a difference in my opinion. For example, a lot of qualified applicants who ended up in Top 5 programs got rejected from Columbia ED or MIT R1 last year. A fellow applicant ended up at Wharton when he/she was dinged at Yale. Another applicant didn't get into Tuck but he/she got into Kellogg and Booth. Another got dinged everywhere in R1 and R2 but got into HBS and Wharton in R3. You see, it all depends on the applicant and the school.
3) Read my answer to question #1
4) In any given year, there's only limited supply of "ideal" applicants that top 10 bschools look for and rest of the applicants are borderline applicants. If you craft a great application package for any bschool, you will stand a good chance.
Again, all this is just my opinion based on my observation of fellow applicants (and myself) from last year.