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shaselai
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 09 Jun 2010, 11:47
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I am planning on applying till I get admit and i might end up applying ~10 schools by R2 is done. I have a good mix of reaches/comp/"safe" schools and even going ED on few of them. However, a lot of the schools i wont know the decision till almost toward end of R2 so I feel like I would miss out applying in R2 if i just wait it out after R1. So I am curious if anyone had the experience or heard stories of people who did apply to a lot of schools (not hastily) and had success/failure?

thanks!
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 09 Jun 2010, 12:07
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You have good gmat score, thus you should not compensate your competitive schools with reach ones.
I know there could be some personal reason for the hurry but IMO you should be quite selective as it is going to be the biggest investment, in terms of money & time, of your life.

I wish you good luck. Keep us updated.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 10 Jun 2010, 06:43
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I'd say quality over quantity. You're better off putting together 4-5 really compelling applications (which I think is the average for most people) than hastily submitting a dozen and not getting a single admit.

Also, when you decide to apply to a specific school (and do this test for every school you apply to), always ask yourself: if this is the only school I get accepted at, would I go? Sounds really simple, but you'd be surprised how often people are not excited to go to a school that accepted them.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 10 Jun 2010, 07:30
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ariel
I'd say quality over quantity. You're better off putting together 4-5 really compelling applications (which I think is the average for most people) than hastily submitting a dozen and not getting a single admit.

Also, when you decide to apply to a specific school (and do this test for every school you apply to), always ask yourself: if this is the only school I get accepted at, would I go? Sounds really simple, but you'd be surprised how often people are not excited to go to a school that accepted them.
Show more

thanks for the reply. I don't think I am going over them hastily. The application itself is easy to fill, the essays and recs are the ones taking the most time. I do have someone helping me with essays and we do few revisions to get it right - i say at current pace maybe one school's essays per 2 weeks? On the rec. aspect I am not even sure I can "edit" them since both of the recs said they will ask for help if they need it - so if they feel they did a good job i cant really force them to give it to me to edit... I think 1 month per app is pretty decent time and that would be like 8-9 schools by R2's end. If I do 2 months per app then 5-6 i suppose.

I did do the "school test" you suggested. From my list the "lowest" school I can get into is Guizetta and if I only get into that then is great and I will have no regrets - but if i happen to get into a better school then yeah I would definitely go there. That's why i really only have 10 or so schools i want to apply to max because even though I really want to get into a b-school next year I am not gonna go too low on the list.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 10 Jun 2010, 17:05
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 04:33
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In my experience, people who apply to more than 5 or 6 schools are usually doing so at the expense of quality. The results are, with few exceptions, generally quite predictable.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 06:24
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In my experience, people who apply to more than 5 or 6 schools are usually doing so at the expense of quality. The results are, with few exceptions, generally quite predictable.
Show more

what is the suggested number of months per application though? I understand quality is key but there arent many aspects I can control(?):

1. online app - self explanatory - cant really up the quality
2. Essay - huge - have someone helping me and he's really good
3. Refs - have 2 sources. One is a PM who has done a bunch the other is a lead. The lead might be weak. Both are NOT outright saying he will give me the draft for me to see/edit. The PM i am not overly worried but lead a bit but i cant force say "give me the draft and let me edit" though.
4. visits - will start with competitive schools and reaches and go to any close by.
5. scores - just click and send
6. interviews - will need to practice and research for them but they dont happen till invite...
Current status I have gotten 2 schools essays more or less done. one app more or less done. And currently the only thing i can really do is essay since most schools dont have App and Rec up but essays are up.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 07:26
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i could barely get my recommenders to do 6 recos. asking them for 10 would have been impossible. also, i tried to visit each school before i wrote my essays and interviewed so that i would have a compelling story about why X school. so assuming you either visit or interview at the school, you're looking at 10+ trips. that is a lot. 6 schools was my perfect number (3 round 1, 3 round 2).

from a strategic perspective, if you're adding more and more schools that are lower in ranking then applying to 10 schools might work. but applying to uber competitive schools when your quality of app is diminishing due to the sheer number of applications will not be a good strategy.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 08:12
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i could barely get my recommenders to do 6 recos. asking them for 10 would have been impossible. also, i tried to visit each school before i wrote my essays and interviewed so that i would have a compelling story about why X school. so assuming you either visit or interview at the school, you're looking at 10+ trips. that is a lot. 6 schools was my perfect number (3 round 1, 3 round 2).

from a strategic perspective, if you're adding more and more schools that are lower in ranking then applying to 10 schools might work. but applying to uber competitive schools when your quality of app is diminishing due to the sheer number of applications will not be a good strategy.
Show more


ah i see your point about recs. But are the letters a lot of work though? I am assuming recs are like essays where the first few are widely different and a lot of time needed to be put into it but there will also be a lot of overlaps? I dont think my recs will decide to screw me over mid way and stop with the recs... The trips are going to be tiring as well - i might opt out of visiting schools that are further away and try to visit their MBA Fairs in nearby cities to make up for it. i am in the process of putting up a spreadsheet with visit time possibilities and tours etc, but a lot of schedules are not up yet so it is hard for me to gauge it. For schools here is my list - its got a couple of reaches but i think the majority is competitive... :

R1:
CBS
Yale
Fuqua
Kenan
Guizetta

The rest (no particular order):
McDonough
tepper
darden
ross
kellog
johnson
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 10:30
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Hi shaselai, how are you applying ED to multiple schools? Isn't ED by definition that you can only apply for 1 school?
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 11 Jun 2010, 11:39
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Hi shaselai, how are you applying ED to multiple schools? Isn't ED by definition that you can only apply for 1 school?
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Well some schools dont have binding agreement. Columbia for example has a binding agreement and makes you pay 6k upon acceptance - i heard under extraneous circumstances one can opt out but any fees paid are gone. I heard from consultants that people applying multiple ED is not uncommon and the penalty not that severe since the chances of getting into all EDs is not the high...
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? Updated on: 13 Jun 2010, 12:59
Originally posted by sausagenpeppers on 12 Jun 2010, 07:23.
Last edited by sausagenpeppers on 13 Jun 2010, 12:59, edited 1 time in total.
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I think how many schools a person is able to apply to depends on the individual. If you don’t have a family, an 80hr a week job, or tons of outside activities you are capable of applying to more schools than someone that does.

I know someone who applied to 10 schools and ended up at MIT(got into 8) and another who applied to 10 and only got into 2 that he wasn’t that excited about. I’ve also seen people struggle to complete 3 apps.

Good news is you have an early start on your applications. Just remember not to sacrifice quantity for quality and treat every app like it’s the only school you are applying. And if you feel like it’s going to be much for you or your recommenders don’t be afraid to cut back.

Best of Luck.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 08:30
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sausagenpeppers
I think how many schools a person is able to apply to depends on the individual. If you don’t have a family, an 80hr a week job, or tons of outside activities you are capable of applying to more schools than someone that does.

I know someone who applied to 10 schools and ended up MIT(got into 8) and another who applied to 10 and only got into 2 that he wasn’t that excited about. I’ve also seen people struggle to complete 3 apps.

Good news is you have an early start on your applications. Just remember not to sacrifice quantity for quality and treat every app like it’s the only school you are applying. And if you feel like it’s going to be much for you or your recommenders don’t be afraid to cut back.

Best of Luck.
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thanks sausagenpeppers. I probably fall into the middle group of people you describe. I dont have a family and i really really want to get the heck out of this city - it is boring as hell. I do do some extracurricular stuff like tutoring, some clubs etc. but i probably have more time than someone who has a family though.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 11:07
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I applied to six between January and mid-March, and I was mentally drained by the last one.

The reference works takes a lot of time. They basically write similar responses to your essay responses (4 or 5 questions requring a 200-1,000 word response). If you give them too many and they just do a find/replace on your essay and miss one, that application is killed. It's one thing for you to accidentally forgot to take Kellogg off an application to Fuqua, but if they do it, you're application looks way worse.

These are tough packages. Every schools makes them assuming they're the only school you're applying to. They want you to think through your application for weeks and months, not cross them off a to-do list of applications.

Also, remember a lot of these places charge $250 per application. If you do ten, and only get into one, you just pissed away $2,250 on nothing and have to come up with a $2,000 deposit in three weeks for school.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 12:42
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tuck20xx
i could barely get my recommenders to do 6 recos. asking them for 10 would have been impossible. also, i tried to visit each school before i wrote my essays and interviewed so that i would have a compelling story about why X school. so assuming you either visit or interview at the school, you're looking at 10+ trips. that is a lot. 6 schools was my perfect number (3 round 1, 3 round 2).

from a strategic perspective, if you're adding more and more schools that are lower in ranking then applying to 10 schools might work. but applying to uber competitive schools when your quality of app is diminishing due to the sheer number of applications will not be a good strategy.


ah i see your point about recs. But are the letters a lot of work though? I am assuming recs are like essays where the first few are widely different and a lot of time needed to be put into it but there will also be a lot of overlaps? I dont think my recs will decide to screw me over mid way and stop with the recs... The trips are going to be tiring as well - i might opt out of visiting schools that are further away and try to visit their MBA Fairs in nearby cities to make up for it. i am in the process of putting up a spreadsheet with visit time possibilities and tours etc, but a lot of schedules are not up yet so it is hard for me to gauge it. For schools here is my list - its got a couple of reaches but i think the majority is competitive... :

R1:
CBS
Yale
Fuqua
Kenan
Guizetta

The rest (no particular order):
McDonough
tepper
darden
ross
kellog
johnson
Show more

A couple of random thoughts here:

- You seem to have made up your mind about applying to a whole bunch of schools, regardless of the advice people have here.
- It's "Goizueta", not Guizetta. The name is Basque.
- It's not so hard to write 3 essays per school, or whatever, in large part because you're extremely enthusiastic about the subject. Your recommenders have their own lives to worry about and they're going to think it's a drag to "retouch" the same letter 10 different times, do 10 logins, etc. I know my recommenders well and am not looking forward to asking them to resend the same thing, 3-6 times, across one or two rounds.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 13:16
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shaselai
tuck20xx
i could barely get my recommenders to do 6 recos. asking them for 10 would have been impossible. also, i tried to visit each school before i wrote my essays and interviewed so that i would have a compelling story about why X school. so assuming you either visit or interview at the school, you're looking at 10+ trips. that is a lot. 6 schools was my perfect number (3 round 1, 3 round 2).

from a strategic perspective, if you're adding more and more schools that are lower in ranking then applying to 10 schools might work. but applying to uber competitive schools when your quality of app is diminishing due to the sheer number of applications will not be a good strategy.


ah i see your point about recs. But are the letters a lot of work though? I am assuming recs are like essays where the first few are widely different and a lot of time needed to be put into it but there will also be a lot of overlaps? I dont think my recs will decide to screw me over mid way and stop with the recs... The trips are going to be tiring as well - i might opt out of visiting schools that are further away and try to visit their MBA Fairs in nearby cities to make up for it. i am in the process of putting up a spreadsheet with visit time possibilities and tours etc, but a lot of schedules are not up yet so it is hard for me to gauge it. For schools here is my list - its got a couple of reaches but i think the majority is competitive... :

R1:
CBS
Yale
Fuqua
Kenan
Guizetta

The rest (no particular order):
McDonough
tepper
darden
ross
kellog
johnson

A couple of random thoughts here:

- You seem to have made up your mind about applying to a whole bunch of schools, regardless of the advice people have here.
- It's "Goizueta", not Guizetta. The name is Basque.
- It's not so hard to write 3 essays per school, or whatever, in large part because you're extremely enthusiastic about the subject. Your recommenders have their own lives to worry about and they're going to think it's a drag to "retouch" the same letter 10 different times, do 10 logins, etc. I know my recommenders well and am not looking forward to asking them to resend the same thing, 3-6 times, across one or two rounds.
Show more

I would suggest finding a third recommender to cut the load down a little. Again, make sure quality is your greatest concern. So if you don't have a third person you feel confident in, don't ask for their rec.

Another school you might want to look at is Wash U(Olin) instead of Georgetown. They don't require any written recomendations. It's a pretty good school(US News 19) and the lack of recs could be of great benefit to you.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 13:43
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it took me a bit to find a 2nd rec just because it is quite "dangerous" to ask anyone else in my current job - the whole place prob know about this if i ask the other 2-3 possible sources... My mind is semi made up on the 10 but i will take a look at Olin - i passed on it first because of the location since my relatives are all east coast and there are plenty of good east coast schools here.

With the recs - i really have no control on one guy since he is email contact and he is kinda busy but he was enthusiastic about it so I hope he can keep it up for ~10. The other guy who is from same company i think i can ask/beg for him to do 10 :). But then again what extra do they really need to do besides copy paste and replace? takes maybe 10 mins? spanning out the 10 recs in 7-8 months i dont think it is that much to ask?

My main goal is to create as many quality apps as i can. I know 90% that if I were to reapply next year my app package will be almost the same - the job here does not have much room on leadership or advancement at all so another year is not gonna make me look better.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 14:44
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If you pick your schools right, you don't need to do so many apps. Why did you pick all of the schools that you did? I can't really even find a common thread. If you are going to do that many, you'd better be starting now. A lot of people only do four or five and are starting now. I really would let your recommenders know ahead of time that you're planning to do ten and it would be common courtesy to phrase it in such a way that they don't mind saying no. That is really a lot to do and if the end comes and they don't have them done, you'll be stressing.
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 12 Jun 2010, 18:12
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highhopes
If you pick your schools right, you don't need to do so many apps. Why did you pick all of the schools that you did? I can't really even find a common thread. If you are going to do that many, you'd better be starting now. A lot of people only do four or five and are starting now. I really would let your recommenders know ahead of time that you're planning to do ten and it would be common courtesy to phrase it in such a way that they don't mind saying no. That is really a lot to do and if the end comes and they don't have them done, you'll be stressing.
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i totally understand your point of view but reducing down to 5-6 doesnt increase my chances. There's no guarantee even if one does everything right right? I did tell my sources that i will be applying many schools and one said ok the other one i asked but havent heard back yet. I have started already - done with 2 schools essays and 1 schools online app. Now all i can do is doing essays since online apps are not available right now - plus those are easy to do... the problem for me is that next year with my current job is not gonna make my eligibility any better unless i get 720+ on my gmat so might as well applying as many as i can...
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RonMexico
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anyone who applied to a lot of schools can share experience? 13 Jun 2010, 02:36
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Shaseli,

As someone who applied to 7 schools myself (3 via the consortium common application), I think 10 is a bit much for most people (definitely me). I don't have all the answers, and I completely understand the "I'll go to the best school that takes me" mentality, but a BIG part of my application process was doing reasearch, talking to alumni, visiting campuses and "knowing" the schools. I can honestly say that I would have happily attended any school that I applied to and was impressed with all of them. The key thing that helped me was that every application I did was done independent of the others - no cut-and-paste. Can you give that much thought and commitment to ten different schools?

I do not mean any offense, but I get the vibe that you are trying to apply to nearly every school ranked #10-20 on the USNWR rankings and are hoping that one of them bites. Your ten schools have little in common other than their place in the aforementioned list. If you take the time to really "know" the schools you are applying to beyond the rankings or what people online say about them, you will probably narrow your list down significantly. Relating the school to your life and your career goals is probably as important as your GMAT score, and you simply cannot cut-and-paste a Yale essay for a CBS essay - the ADCOM will smell that BS a mile away.

I think it is great that you are getting serious early and you are realistic about "target" schools - my advice is settle for no more than 7, learn everything you can about those schools (especially by talking to alumni and students), and do every application and their essays independent of the others. You will turn in quality work that comes from an honest place, and it will probably show.
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