Third Round: Do I Or Don’t I?

LATE-STAGE ISSUES

Sometimes it’s hard for a school to manage the numbers of good applicants and run out of room by the third round.  Or in the case of UNC Kenan Flagler, Round 4. (The school offers October, December, January and March rounds). Because class size is a moving target, they may have to put candidates on a waiting list. “If the class is full, we may have to waitlist candidates who might have gotten in had they applied in an earlier round,” says Alison Jesse, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the UNC Kenan Flagler Business School.

For those who are trying to plan in advance, or are international candidates trying to get visas, the uncertainty of the third round may just present too much uncertainty.  Certain schools discourage those with visa issues, but not all.  In fact, according to Stephen Sweeney, Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at Texas’ McCombs School, they are trying to make it easier for internationals to apply all rounds. “This year, we are opening our Round 3 up to international applicants and have tweaked the timing so international admitted students can complete their necessary visa requirements. We are hopeful we get great domestic and international applicants in round 3 this year.”

So do you go for it in Round 3?  If you can put together a great application, and the timing is right for you, why not?  If you are a serious candidate, you will be taken seriously. “We spend hours selecting and trying to bring in the most talented group of students,” says Kenan Flagler’s Alison Jesse. “If someone in [the latest] deadline would add special value and we have room, we are going to try and offer admission.”

Betsy Massar is founder and CEO of Master Admissions, an MBA admissions consulting firm based in California. She is a graduate of Harvard Business School, and applied there in Round 2.

DO’S AND DON’TS FOR APPLYING IN LAST ROUND

You Should Consider Applying in Round 3 If:

• You ran out of time in Round 2 and had some other target schools that interested you
• You improved your GMAT or GRE score by enough to put you within the target school’s range
• You overlooked a school and, after taking a closer look, you think you might be a good fit
• After going through the whole application process, you finally realize you are less hung up on a Top-5 ranking.
• You are looking at deferred-admit or a part-time programs

You should NOT apply Round 3 if:

• You figure you can recycle the essays that didn’t work during Rounds 1 or 2
• You are outside of the school’s 2015 class profile
• You aren’t sure what you want to do
• The thought of filling out another application gives you a rash
• You hate your job and it just occurred to you to apply to business school last week

People really do get into business school in the third round. I personally know students who have been accepted at HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, and Fuqua in the last round. Even so, business school is a big decision and a bigger commitment, so you should apply when you feel you are presenting your best, true self.