MBA Handicapping: Should She Rush To Apply Now Or Wait For The Next Cycle?

This year’s MBA admissions cycle is in turmoil. And like many prospective MBA students, Priya Srinivasan is in an ideal place to seize opportunity out of the tubulence.

The 23-year-old has been working for Canada’s version of the Import Export Bank called Export Development Canada. It’s a job she landed after graduating with a degree in finance from the University of Ottawa after a four-month internship with Deloitte Consulting.

With a 710 GMAT and a 9.7 out of ten for her undergraduate grades, she’s an impressive candidate, aiming to apply in the next admissions cycle to enter a top MBA program in the fall of 2021. There are nine prominent business schools on her target list: Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Chicago Booth, Yale, Berkeley Haas, UCLA, Cornell and UT-Austin. Her goal: to work in venture capital investing in the sustainable food business.

But with the coronavirus pandemic causing schools to extend their deadlines this year, the big question is whether she should apply right now to Booth, Yale and Haas? All schools have pushed back their final deadlines in what has now emerged as a new COVID-19 Admissions Round. Booth is now giving applicants to its full-time MBA program an extra 59 days to file an app, while Yale has stretched out its 2019-2020 application season by 42 days.

In this episode of Friday’s with Sandy, HBSGuru.com founder Sandy Kreisberg weighs in on this question and her candidacy along with P&Q Founder John A. Byrne.

If you would like to participate in a future Fridays With Sandy webinar, you can contact Sandy and P&Q Founder John A Byrne here.

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