Late First Round or Early Second Round?

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm applying to the top 10 schools and I figure to have everything ready by the beginning of October, which is the end of Round 1 deadlines. Also, I'm probably at the borderline of admission for those schools (3.1 GPA, 760 GMAT, 4 years consulting experience). My question is, would I be better off sending at the end of Round 1 or sending at the beginning of Round 2?

Thanks for any insight!

brp4h · Answer

I don’t think it matters whether you’re at the beginning of the round or the end. If you can have your stuff together and done to the best of your ability by the R1 deadline, I’d apply then. If not, wait until R2.

asimov · Answer

If the school you are applying to doesn't have rolling admissions, all of the applications gets reviewed pretty much after the deadline. As far as slots available in R1 and R2, they are very similar, so you'll have roughly equal chance of acceptance. The typical advice is to submit the applications when you think it's the best application you can present in the given time.

The advantage to applying in R1 is that you'll get feedback on your application process. So for example, you don't get interview invites, it may be a good time to either work harder on the remaining apps or apply for lower ranked schools. Alternatively, if you get invites to all of your R1 schools, you may want to consider applying to some reach schools.

Byau · Answer

Thank you for your response. If a school does have rolling admissions, what impact do the rounds have? For instance, I am interested in applying to Columbia. I see that they have rolling admissions, but they also have rounds. What's the ideal method of attack in this case?

krussell · Answer

The ideal method of attack is applying as early as possible. There is way less applicants in R1 for any school. Rolling admissions only sweeten the pot, because a bunch of Steve Jobs could have been in your round while the next one is filled with lackluster candidates. Think of it as 4 chances to apply as opposed to 3.

Late First Round or Early Second Round?

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