Can i Target final round for Sep intake or Round 1 for Jan intake

Question

Hi everyone..

Ive decided to start my gmat and work towards mba seriously though ive been mulling over it for the past 3-4 years got distracted with work and pregnancy..

working currently as application analyst/scrum mastger
exp 10 years
undergrad gpa : 80%
12th and 10th 96% and 84%

planning to take my gmat in Feb/march for Jan intake.. 
looking for colleges esp in Canada rottman,sauder,york,ivey

Is it wise to target May deadline and try to cramp my applications to join Sep intake.. not every college has Jan intake so i would have to wait another year to join Sep intake if i miss this deadline

Anyone applied in the last round got admitted..

esp ppl with work exp not fresh out of college.

MBADecoder · Answer

R3 deadlines do work out for applicants, but there are some factors to consider. The biggest one is- will you need a visa to study. If the admit decision is too close to the joining date, it may not leave you with enough time to process your visa. This happens to several candidates every year.

If you don't require a visa and scholarships are not a consideration, then you could take that chance.

ARLeeConsulting · Answer

Schools definitely do admit applicants in the last round. However, it is always recommended to apply as early as possible in the application process (i.e. R1 and R2).

I get your point though. If you do not apply now, you will have to wait one more year as most of your target schools (i.e. Rotman, Sauder and Ivey) do not have a January intake. The main issue I see here is age and years of work experience. Typical age averages for those schools are 26-27 yo, and with 4-5 years of work experience. You already have 10 years of work experience, and by 2019 you'll have about 12 years. You risk that the schools may encourage you to apply to an eMBA Program. This could be a factor to consider applying for the Sep 2018 intake.

However, the previous commenter is right. We do not know whether you are an international student and will require visa. If so, definitely apply in R1 or R2 for the 2019 intake.

In short, try to apply for the Sep 2018 intake unless you are an international student.

VeritasPrepDozie · Answer

Good question...your age is the first thing that jumped out to me...and most schools will understand why you are applying at this age (pregnancy, etc.) but you will still have to make a strong case. It feels like given your age you should probably try and get your application in as soon as possible. Obviously that will largely be determined by how well your GMAT prep goes. So I would really lean on this to guide your decisions. If you can secure a competitive score then consider going with the next option if not then next cycle might make more sense especially if you think you have some upside with the GMAT

TheIvyLeagueEdge · Answer

Good comments already made. 
For more details, or for a personalized, detailed and free evaluation, feel free to connect. 
Given your profile, you would definitely benefit from Resumes that are much stronger and achievements that are fully ready by the time your scores come out. I strongly suggest having a tentative target bucket of schools (information from your mocks and the other factors) and work on your source documents until then. Then you can use them either in Mar or later in Sep, thus giving you the choice.

Can i Target final round for Sep intake or Round 1 for Jan intake

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