Stanford Moves Up Round One Deadline

Following the lead of the Harvard Business School, Stanford’s Graduate School of Business has moved its round one deadline for MBA applicants nine days forward, the earliest ever. The new early bird deadline is Oct. 3, with notification no later than Dec. 12.

Stanford’s admissions deadline change follows a decision by Harvard last month to push up its first round deadline by nine days to Sept. 24th, the earliest the school has ever closed the gates on early applicants. Previously, Harvard’s first round deadline was Oct. 3, the new Stanford date. Stanford’s first round last year ended Oct. 12.

Stanford said that deadlines for its other two application rounds for the 2012-2013 admissions season will be closer to last year’s dates. The new round two deadline will be Jan. 9, 2013, two days earlier than last year, while its final round three deadline has been set for April 3, 2013, just a day earlier.

As reported earlier, Stanford also eliminated one of four required essays from its application this year. The change, made quietly without an announcement on the school’s website, is largely incremental and not as significant as the alternations in Harvard’s admissions process. On May 22, Harvard announced that it cut in half its required essays for all applicants to two from four and then added a third essay for applicants who are invited to interview. That essay is required within 24 hours of the interview.

Applicants who get their applications in for Stanford’s second round deadline will be notified by March 27, while those who file by the third round will hear from admissions by May 15. The school said applications and letters of reference in each of its three rounds are due by 5 p.m., Pacific Time.

DON’T MISS: STANFORD DROPS AN ESSAY FROM NEW APPLICATION or BEHIND HARVARD’S BIG ADMISSION CHANGES