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You're quite welcome! Well, I will say this - applying R2 and getting dinged and then re-applying R1 next year isn't the position you want to find yourself in. Because at that point, you have ~6 months of time between the two to really improve your profile. THAT SAID - R2 isn't a bad round. Is it as ideal as R1? No, but only marginally so. R2 sees more applications with fewer slots open but if you're a strong candidate, then there is no issue worth concern between the two. To be honest, you're in the camp where R1 or R2 won't matter - if you're ready to go now and, more importantly, you and your recommenders have the bandwidth to put forward a great set of apps, then R2 could make sense. If you don't have the time (given the holidays, etc.) then maybe R1 would be a better call from a personal standpoint.

Have a great Thanksgiving holiday and if you want to talk it out with someone, I'm happy to help you figure out what's right for you. You can always sign up for a free consultation here and we'll take it from there!

Cheers,

Bhavik

Hi,

To begin with you have almost perfect profile for a B-school applicant. You have very bright chances with your GMAT, Work Ex and Extra-circular activities. Regarding GPA, I believe your grades are not bad and they won't make much difference to your application provided you have 3+ yrs of work ex. Focus on developing a high quality application for the top 5. The competition there is fierce and you need to differentiate yourself by highlighting your achievements and strengths in very good light.

For essays and analysis you may visit https://bit.ly/173Drf8

Hope that helps!

Cheers!
Neha Singh

You have a very strong profile if your greatest concern is getting a 4.2/5.0 from the best engineering program (MIT) and in a difficult major (Biological Engineering).

To answer a later question, applying round 2 with a strong application will not hurt you if you decide again to apply round 1 next year. But the application needs to be strong (and not rushed).

Concentrate on the applications and good luck!!!!

Nitpicking here... but as an alumnus, I'm obligated to point out that the best bio/biomed engineering program is in Johns Hopkins University, not MIT. Although, that's literally the only engineering major where MIT doesn't dominate Hopkins =).

And fwiw, I also think your profile is very, very strong. Although, 1 month may be too short for filling out applications to the five of the most selective schools in the world; I would vote for holding off until next year, or only going for 1 or 2 institutes in R2 with extremely strong applications.

Great catch. I was thinking MIT as the best engineering program, and in difficult major Biological Engineering, but wrote quickly.

I re-edited my initial comment to reflect this.

Thanks,