Anxiety Builds Over Early HBS Deadline

Kreisberg thinks that for some applicants, the essay could be weighed more heavily in HBS’ admission decisions. “Some people who actually have a real adversity story or an exotic story about growing up in Antarctica, can use the essay to pound that home,” he says. “Some folks are using the essay for one-offs, what I learned at Google in the six months I lasted there, and that can help a bit, if you are smart, self-deprecating in the way that Ivy types like you to be, and actually have a strong other story, and solid stats. I do not yet know anyone who is not handing in any essay, but believe me, in 90 percent of the cases I am aware of, the impact of that would be Zilch to positive. ”

In her blog post, Leopold also told applicants to encourage recommenders to submit before Monday. “It’s not mission-critical, but it will probably make for a somewhat better weekend for you,” she wrote. “If recommenders are having trouble getting in gear on Monday by noon, we’re ready for it. We will keep the system open a while longer for them.”

She also offered some advice for the fill-in-the-blank information on the online application. “I know it’s hard for every single scenario to be captured in the format presented. Try not to worry too much about what-to-fit-where-when-it’s-not-exactly-what-you-want-to-tell-us. I mean school majors, extra-curriculars, employment roles and timelines. We’ll figure it out from your resume and if we can’t, we’ll contact you.”

2013-2014 MBA Application Deadlines For Top Business Schools

School	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Deadline
UC-Berkeley (Haas)	10/16/13	01/08/14	03/12/14	11:59 pm PST
Chicago (Booth)	10/03/13	01/08/14	04/03/14	5:00 pm CST
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	10/07/13	01/02/14	03/15/14	11:59 pm EST
Columbia Business School	10/02/13	04/09/14		11:59 pm EST
Cornell (Johnson)	10/02/13	12/04/13	02/12/14	1:59 pm EST
Dartmouth (Tuck)	10/09/13	11/06/13	01/03/14	5:00 pm EST
Duke (Fuqua)	09/18/13	10/21/13	01/06/14	11:59 pm EST
Harvard Business School	09/16/13	01/06/14	04/07/14	Noon EST
INSEAD	10/02/13	11/27/13	04/11/14	23:59 pm CET
Indiana (Kelley)	10/15/13	01/05/14	03/01/14	11:59 pm EST
London Business School	10/04/13	03/01/14	02/28/14	5:00 pm GMT
Michigan (Ross)	10/01/13	01/02/14	03/03/14	11:59 pm EST
MIT (Sloan)	09/24/13	01/07/14		3:00 pm EST
Northwestern (Kellogg)	10/16/13	01/07/14	04/02/14	11:59 pm CST
NYU (Stern)	10/15/13	11/15/13	01/15/14	11:59 pm EST
Stanford GSB	10/02/13	01/08/14	04/02/14	5:00 pm PST
Texas-Austin (McCombs)	10/15/13	01/21/14	03/25/14	11:59 pm CST
UCLA (Anderson)	10/22/13	01/07/14	04/15/14	11:59 pm PST
UNC (Kenan-Flagler)	10/18/13	12/09/13	01/13/14	5:00 pm EST
USC (Marshall)	10/15/13	01/10/14	04/15/14	11:59 pm PST
Virginia (Darden)	10/15/13	01/07/14	03/27/14	5:00 pm EST
Oxford (Said)	07/19/13	09/13/13	10/31/13	11:59 GMT
Wharton	10/01/13	01/07/14	03/27/14	5:00 pm EST
Yale School of Management	09/25/13	01/09/14	04/24/14	5:00 pm EST