Admissions Tip: Deadlines
Anyone who’s familiar with the MBA application process knows that August moves forward at an accelerated pace, and come September, entire weeks seem to disappear. To help this year’s Round One applicants avoid the classic time crunch, today’s blog post offers some basic advice on how to approach the Round One MBA deadlines at a reasonable pace.
Let’s start by taking a quick look at a handful of the earliest deadlines for the top MBA programs:
September 6: Harvard Business School
September 8: Cambridge / Judge
September 12: Duke / Fuqua
September 13: Yale SOM
September 15: London Business School
September 19: Stanford GSB, Penn / Wharton, Notre Dame / Mendoza (Early Deadline)
September 20: Northwestern / Kellogg, INSEAD
September 21: Chicago / Booth, Berkeley / Haas
September 25: MIT Sloan
September 29: Oxford / Saïd
For a full list of deadlines, check out Clear Admit’s post here.
Though some schools have yet to announce their deadlines (such as UMD Smith and UCI Merage, one can still get a sense of the lineup of R1 deadlines. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when creating your personal timeline.
Plan to be busy in August.
Yes, it can be tempting to work on one’s tan instead of one’s essays. However, many MBA applicants squander the month of August only to wake up in September and realize that they cannot make their target deadlines. If you are not bogged down by professional obligations in August, this makes for a great opportunity to devote time to working on your MBA applications in the evenings. The last weeks of summer can easily be split between résumé drafting, essay writing, recommendation coaching, GMAT prep, school research, and more.
Think carefully about the timing of the R1 MBA deadlines.
Looking at the deadlines above, it becomes clear that some deadlines may be easier to make than others. A candidate applying to Haas and London Business School could have a leisurely October when compared to someone targeting Haas, London Business School and NYU Stern (Oct. 15, 2017 Round 1 Deadline). Assuming about three weeks of research and writing for each school’s application, take a look at the deadlines and count backwards to determine a start date for each. It is entirely possible to meet back-to-back deadlines, such as Tepper and Darden, but doing so requires a well-planned schedule and consistent progress.
Consider taking some time off from work.
We realize that many MBA applicants work 70 hours per week and haven’t had a day off in months. For such applicants, a day or two out of the office can really do wonders for focus and organization. Applying to business school is a serious undertaking, and in the long term you won’t regret having given yourself enough time to prepare strong applications. Many successful candidates take a week off in early September to make the final push. It’s not a glamorous way to spend your vacation time, but an offer to attend a leading MBA program can make the sacrifice well worth it.
Get your recommenders on board early.
While some of the schools have not yet made their online applications and recommendation forms available, it’s a good idea to engage your recommenders early and inform them about the process and your timeline. Sit down with each recommender, perhaps over lunch or coffee. Present them with an outline of the deadlines and the process. It’s then a wise idea to meet again once the forms are available, and by that time many applicants are in a position to share their background materials (a résumé, career goals essays, etc.) to help their recommenders understand—and support—their message.
Happy planning!
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from Clear Admit.
Dual MBAs You Need To Know At The Paul Merage School of Business, UC Irvine
If you are thinking about pursuing an MBA or any advanced business degree, you likely have a good idea about how and why you want to further your education. If that’s the case, you’re not alone—a 2016 GMAC survey found that 71 percent of prospective MBA students already have a single industry in mind for postgraduate employment; even before applying. Yet thanks to the broad base of knowledge an MBA degree provides, just what that industry is and each desired career path can vary wildly between individuals. And sometimes, careers move in unpredictable paths. To be ready for the varying trajectories that may pass, dual MBAs may cover your bases.
VIZIO CEO To Give Commencement Speech At UC Irvine Business School
VIZIO Inc. CEO, William Wang will give the Distinguished Executive address at the UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business commencement ceremony. The ceremony will take place at the university’s Bren Events Center on June 19 at 9:30 a.m.
Wang’s journey to become the founder and CEO of the company Forbes listed as one of America’s largest Private Companies in 2016 has been far from linear. After beginning his career in tech support at a firm that sold computer monitors, Wang decided to start his own companies, Mag Innovision and Princeton Graphic Systems, with the goal to “ … build a better monitor than the IBM standard,” according to an interview in Inc. Magazine.
Almost decade later, both businesses were flailing. Around the same time, the entrepreneur survived the Singapore Airlines Flight 006 plane crash, wherein 83 passengers and crew members were killed. This trauma gave Wang a sense of clarity; within two years, he had shut down his businesses and changed industries. Wang’s move to the television industry proved fruitful. With just two employees, he started VIZIO, an HDTV company dedicated to delivering “…high performance, smarter products with the latest innovations at a significant savings…” Essentially, Wang’s team turned flat-screen TV’s into an affordably commodity, rather than a luxury for a wealthy minority.
It is appropriate that Wang, whose company began with three people and is now a leading supplier of HDTV’s, should speak at The Paul Merage School of Business. Though the school is relatively young, it has quickly earned a reputation for offering top tier education, and is now ranked in the top 10 percent of AACSB-accredited programs.
