The Art of The Round Three Application

With the heavy round two deadlines over, the round three season has kicked into gear. Applicants are now racing to complete by April and March deadlines for what is the lightest of all the application rounds. Some schools, such as the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, have a final deadline as early as March 1. Other schools, such as Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School, boast a final deadline as late as April 23 (see below for deadlines and notification dates for the top 20 MBA programs).

Some admission consultants say round three can be the most difficult round in which to apply. The reason: the vast majority of seats for the incoming classes already are taken. Many business schools tend to use the third round, along with their wait list, to fill in a class, trying to get the best possible balance of diversity. Generally, someone who is applying from a country that is underrepresented in the applicant pool wouldn’t suffer from the typical round three disadvantage. The same can sometimes hold true for nontraditional candidates with excellent GMAT scores and academic records. That’s because such candidates can “round out” the class.

A free one-hour webinar entitled “The Art of the Round Three Application,” will be hosted by Jon Frank, a Harvard Business School MBA and co-founder of Precision Essay, on Jan. 24th at 8:30 p.m. EST. The webinar will cover the ins and outs of Round Three, from the hard numbers to the best strategies for getting a highly coveted R3 admission. Frank will also  open up the floor for some questions from attendees. Attendance is free, though you need to register right here.

Meantime, here’s the lowdown on the round three application deadlines for the top 20 business schools:

Harvard Business School

Deadline: April 10

Notification: May 17

Stanford GSB

Deadline: April 4

Notification: May 16

Chicago Booth

Deadline: March 5

Notification: May 8

Wharton

Deadline: March 5

Notification: May 8

Columbia

Deadline: April 11

Notification: Within 12 weeks

Kellogg

Deadline: April 5

Notification: May 14

Tuck

Deadline: April 2

Notification: May 11

Berkeley

Deadline: March 7

Notification: May 17

Duke

Deadline: March 8

Notification: May 4

Virginia

Deadline: April 4

Notification: May 16

Michigan

Deadline: March 1

Notification: May 15

Cornell

Deadline: March 14

Notification: May 1

Yale

Deadline: April 12

Notification: May 17

NYU Stern

Deadline: March 15

Notification: June 1

UCLA

Deadline: April 18

Notification: June 6

Carnegie Mellon

Deadline: April 23

Notification: May 25

UNC

Deadline: March 16

Notification: April 30

Texas-Austin

Deadline: March 26

Notification: May 14

Emory

Deadline: March 9

Notification: April 18

DON’T MISS: UNDERSTANDING THE MBA ADMISSIONS CYCLE or CREATING YOUR BRAND TO GET TO A YES