What’s Your Backup Plan?

What's your plan?

You haven’t been invited to interview at the schools you’ve applied to — or worse yet, you’ve been rejected. What should you do?

If you haven’t been invited to interview at the schools you’ve applied to, don’t panic: You may still be invited. But it doesn’t hurt to have a backup plan. If you’ve been rejected, it’s time to put your backup plan into action. What’s that? You don’t have a backup plan? Don’t worry. Veritas Prep can help!

Apply to schools in Round 3

If you really want to start business school this fall you should apply to more schools in Round 3. You may have heard that the chances of being admitted in Round 3 are very low, but that’s not true at every school. And if you’re a strong candidate or have something unique to offer you may be just the person the admissions committees are looking to admit.

Expand your target school list

You probably already applied to your dream schools, so if you apply in Round 3, you may be applying to your backup schools or backups to the backups. Think hard about why you want to go to business school and figure out which other schools can meet your needs. There may be schools you haven’t even thought about applying to that could be really great fits for you. For example, if you want to go into Investment Banking, you may have applied to Wharton and Columbia, but did you apply to NYU and Cornell?

Also, consider alternate programs. Perhaps one of your dream schools offers a part-time program (Chicago Booth and Berkeley Haas do, just to name a couple). Or you could get a few more years of experience under your belt and apply to an executive MBA program or program geared towards those who are mid-career (Wharton’s EMBA program and MIT’s Sloan Fellows program are a couple of the most highly regarded). Have you thought about a one-year MBA program? Check out this article to learn more about those.

Start working on your applications for next year

If it doesn’t make sense for you to apply to schools in Round 3 or if there are no other schools you want to apply to this year, now is a great time to start working on your applications for next year. There’s no time like the present! Start by taking a hard look at yourself and the applications you submitted this year. Were they your best work? What could you have done better? Perhaps you need to build up your community involvement so you can stand out in the pool of applicants you’re competing against. You very well may have a hard time identifying what held you back from being offered admission, so a ding analysis from an admissions consultant could be very helpful. That’s when someone with deep admissions experience reviews your application materials, as well as your profile, to help you identify the possible reasons you were not admitted, as well as what you could do about them in your future applications. Don’t worry about being a reapplicant. It doesn’t hurt your chances of admission. To be successful, though, you’ll need to demonstrate how you’ve improved as an applicant since your previous application.

No one said applying to business school would be easy. Don’t let a setback keep you from pursuing your goals. If you need help with your Round 3 applications, identifying other schools that could be a great fit for you, or your applications for next year, contact Veritas Prep. Call them at 800-962-2069 or sign up for a free consultation. You can also check out their webinar: Waitlisted? Rejected? Here’s What to Do!  For more helpful information, visit their blog: https://www.veritasprep.com/blog/category/business-school/.  As always, find them on Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.


Veritas Prep LogoVeritas Prep  is the largest privately-owned test prep and admissions consulting company in the world. Since 2002, Veritas Prep has helped thousands of applicants gain admission to their dream schools using its team of experienced consultants and a personalized game plan for each client.

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