bsd_lover wrote:
LBS has rounds 3 and 4 - so round 3 is not the end of the world. However, it is still more competitive than rounds 1 and 2.
baxter,
I echo what bsd_lover has remarked about the competitiveness of Stage 3 compared to Stages 1 & 2.
I was speaking with a member of the Admissions Committee last Autumn, and this committee member remarked that while Stage 2 is usually the largest stage in any admissions season, Stage 3 often ends up having
more applicants than Stage 1. Conceding that a significant number of spots (speculation on my part) have been awarded to candidates from Stages 1 & 2, and conceding that the Wait-list has swollen meaningfully from these earlier stages, it certainly implies that Stage 3 is fairly competitive.
For what it's worth, the same Admissions Committee member who spoke about the applicant pool sizes of the various stages implied that Stage 3, for some reason, is usually dominated by applicants based in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.