How to Make an Effective Business School Application

Applying to the right business school at the right time can go a long way in cementing yourself in the right MBA course. 

Where to start? Know the business schools you want

An MBA is one of the biggest investments, in time, effort and money, you are likely to make, so it’s essential to pick the program that is exactly right for you. Start by finding out about the overall business school experience, ideally by talking to people – friends, colleagues, school alumni – who have been through it. What were the pluses and minuses? How has it benefited their career? How will it fit with your personal circumstances? What do they wish they’d known before setting off along the path to an MBA? Next, you will need to decide on which location, which program and which school is going to be right for you. Use QS Scorecard, a personalized business school ranking tool based on your individual aims, abilities and circumstances to help you narrow down your choices.

All schools have websites packed with useful information. However there is no substitute for meeting admissions officers and alumni face-to-face. So, if your budget doesn’t stretch to visiting campuses around the globe, attend a major business school fair such as the QS World MBA Tour, which visits over forty countries every year.

The ideal time to apply to a business school

Despite the claims from certain schools that there is no ideal time to apply, the majority of schools admit that timing can play an important role. Some schools use what they call a rolling admission process - receiving and reviewing dossiers throughout the academic year. They accept or reject the dossiers as they are reviewed and provide a response within four to six weeks of reception.

The majority of schools use ‘rounds’ of application, typically November, January and March for a September class start. At this stage they collect together all the interesting dossiers and decide whether you are in, out, or placed on a waiting list. These decisions are typically made by an Admissions Committee, made up of admissions officers, professors, and students. But before decisions are made, applications are checked, to make sure that they are complete. If any elements of your file are missing, you can expect the file to sit on a desk and start to collect dust. Being organized at this stage is crucial, to make sure that both you and your recommenders have provided the school with all they need to make a decision.

So which deadline should you aim for? The bottom line has to be to apply to a school when you have a great dossier ready. If meeting the November deadline means a poorly prepared GMAT test, with hurried essays that lack definition and impact, you’d be better waiting for the next round. If, however, you are preparing well ahead of the game and feel that your dossier is as strong as it could be, apply early.

The explanation lies in the numbers game. A top school may receive over 5,000 applications a year for 500 program places. For the first round deadline in November, all 500 places are typically available (perhaps a small handful of places have already been filled by students with deferrals or exceptional circumstances). The Admissions Committee then starts to offer places to the best candidates, and by the time you reach the second round deadline in January there may be 300 or so places left (my figures are purely illustrative). Continue to the third round deadline in March, and you may be left with only 80 to 150 places still to be filled. Also, bear in mind that many schools receive huge numbers of applications in the last 24 hours before the final deadline – at a time when there are only a handful of places left. It makes your chances of success very slim indeed.