Pushing the Button to Submit an MBA Application: The Final Click Is The Hardest

With three and a half hours to spare, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, opened my eyes back up, and hit the submit button. My first business school application was now complete.

The final click is always the hardest.

It’s definitely true what people say about clicking the submit button: it’s really tough to do. I had already thoroughly reviewed every single word in my application multiple times, with each iteration finding another handful of small mistakes. None of these were dealbreakers that would change the my admissions decisions, but you still want your app to be as perfect as possible. Part of me wanted to keep reviewing my essays until I had 10 minutes left on the deadline. It really helped to print the application out and use a pen to trace over my words as I read them.

I did face a few technical quirks with the online application itself. While other schools require you to upload your essays in a document format, Haas has you input your essays into the browser. One thing to note is that two words connected by a hyphen are considered one word based on their settings. There were a couple of answer fields that I didn’t initially understand, but I called the admissions office beforehand and got that all cleared up. Additionally, there was also a weird bug that occurred whenever I pasted from Word into the browser.

I feel that Haas is going to be one of my strongest apps, for the simple reason that I had time to focus on this app alone. I won’t be given that luxury next month. Additionally, based on previewing all of my MBA apps, the Haas one definitely allows you to submit the most content because of the four short answer questions. I made use of each and I feel they helped round out my candidacy.

While all apps require a lot of time, I feel the first one is always the hardest. For me, one of the most difficult parts was just trying to remember everything I’ve done. I had been involved in many volunteer organizations during these past few years, and they would often come to memory while I was filling out the form. Hopefully completing this exercise, and the fact that I also finished my resume, will speed up the process for the next round.

With Haas done, it’s now down to my final four. There have been times when I wondered whether applying to all of these schools is worth it, but I think at the end of the day, I would be more upset at myself if I didn’t at least try. With that said, I know December is going to be a rough month me.

This post is adapted from Random Wok, a blog written by Mako from Silicon Valley. You can read all of his posts at Random Wok.

Previous posts by Mako at PoetsandQuants:

Why I Want an MBA

Climbing the GMAT Mountain: 630 to 710 on a Practice Test

Do Consultants Have An Unfair Edge Over Other Applicants?

Falling Behind & Stressed Out

My New Critical Reasoning Strategy

Figuring Out My Odds of Getting Into Harvard, Stanford, Wharton

With My GMAT Classes Over, It’s Now Just Me and the Test

Making a GMAT Test Taker Feel Like A Complete Pansy

With a Month to Go Before His GMAT Test, It’s Time to Focus

Is The GMAT Really Designed To Break You?