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At most top business schools, aspiring MBAs apply in one of three application rounds: Round 1 in September, Round 2 in January, or Round 3 in March or April. As an applicant, you might be wondering when the ideal time to apply is. In this video, we explain the differences among the MBA application rounds:

Round 1 is generally considered the best time to apply for several key reasons:

• The class is wide open, and the MBA admissions officers have fresh eyes.
• Applying early indicates your interest in your target MBA program.
• If you are an overrepresented applicant (e.g., consultant, private equity analyst), or if you have a weak point in your application (e.g., a low GPA or GMAT/GRE score), getting your application in front of the admissions committee as early as possible can help you stand out.

We recommend that you apply in Round 1 if you are ready to submit your best possible application by your target school’s deadline. However, if you believe you can significantly improve your application in some way, such as boosting your test score or earning a promotion, if you had a little extra time, then applying in Round 2 is also a solid option. Similarly, if you got a bit of a late start on your application and do not want to rush, opting for Round 2 would be a prudent decision. If you would be a strong applicant in Round 1, you should still be a strong applicant in Round 2.

Round 3—or the last round at MBA programs that have more than three application rounds—is what most schools refer to as a “shaping” round. This is when the admissions committees are more targeted in their evaluations because they are looking to fill certain “holes” in the class. For example, they might say, “We need a few more countries represented” or “We usually have a higher number of women in the class, so let’s be thoughtful about balancing things in this final round.” Because most spots in the MBA class have been filled by Round 3, we generally advise against waiting until this round to submit your application. However, if you are a truly exceptional candidate or can offer a unique professional experience to the class, you could find success in Round 3.

We asked Bruce DelMonico, the assistant dean and director of admissions at the Yale School of Management, for his thoughts on applying in the different application rounds. Here is what he had to say:

“We really don’t [recommend that candidates apply in any specific round]. We model to admit the same quality of students in each round, so it’s not as though there’s an advantage to applying in one round versus another. We have three rounds, and we’re also part of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management, so we do receive applications that come in through the consortium and that are referred to us. But in terms of our three direct application rounds, like a lot of schools, we counsel people that if they can avoid the third round, they should try to do that. That’s not because it’s inherently any more difficult, but just because it’s more variable. It depends on how many people have already been accepted into the class in the first two rounds, so you just don’t know. It could be more than we were expecting, or it could be less. It’s that uncertainty that can make it more challenging. The main piece of advice we give everybody is to apply when you have your strongest application ready. Don’t rush to get it in earlier if it’s going to be less strong. And especially between Rounds 1 and 2, as I said, we model so that the quality of people we’re admitting stays constant throughout, so there’s no advantage in applying in one round versus another.”

If you have questions about your candidacy or the timing of your applications, book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants.

Each year, thousands of people apply to the top business schools. Although many of them opt to work with an MBA admissions consultant, many others do not. We at mbaMission find that this decision greatly depends on each candidate’s personal, professional, and financial circumstances. In this post, we address several common questions from applicants related to hiring an MBA admissions consultant.

What kinds of applicants typically work with MBA admissions consultants?

Applicants seek the guidance of an MBA admissions consultant for different reasons. Here at mbaMission, we commonly interact with applicants who fit at least one of the following descriptions:

•     Struggle to identify and tell their strongest story
•     Want any edge they can get
•     Would benefit from some help bringing efficiency and organization to this complex and time-consuming process
•     Need assistance in overcoming cultural or language barriers that can complicate the application process

If you find yourself relating to one (or more) of these scenarios, you might benefit from the informed guidance of a professional MBA admissions consultant.

I am confident in my MBA application, but getting the opinion of an elite professional would not hurt. Is that possible?

Although not every business school applicant will find themselves in one of the aforementioned situations, we at mbaMission believe that everyone can benefit from objective feedback and informed guidance in the competitive world of MBA admissions. Quite frankly, no one should submit a business school application that has not first been reviewed by a second set of eyes.

Are you an applicant who requires support in the following areas?

•     Compatibility and assessment advisory
•     Brainstorming for essay ideas
•     Individual essay editing
•     Resume or short answer preparation
•     Letter of recommendation advisory
•     Interview preparation
•     Waitlist guidance
•     Post-acceptance counseling
  

For all these topics, a professional MBA admissions consultant might be able to give you the insight to build your most compelling MBA application.

In this blog post, we break down the tasks and goals of an MBA admissions consultant so you can better understand what working with one looks like on a day-to-day basis—and ultimately determine whether hiring a consultant is the right choice for you.

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Over the last few years, we at mbaMission have seen growing interest in social impact careers among aspiring MBAs. Amid this increasing desire to make significant, positive change that solves critical social issues, business schools have responded by introducing new coursework and resources in social impact; environmental, social, and governance (ESG); and related topics. If you are seeking a purpose-driven career in sustainability, impact investing, or nonprofit management, which MBA programs are best? 

At mbaMission, I have helped countless business school candidates thoughtfully choose their target MBA programs. In this post, I share some “must consider” programs if you are interested in social impact as well as other programs that should be on your radar if you want to pursue a social impact career. 

Berkeley Haas, the Yale School of Management (SOM), Duke Fuqua, and Oxford Saïd offer robust resources that have consistently attracted socially minded applicants.  

Berkeley Haas 

Berkeley Haas has four defining principles, including “Beyond Yourself.” The school strives to not only teach management skills but also achieve societal progress through innovation, inclusion, and sustainability. Haas has some of the most robust social impact resources, all within a wider university and city known for its progressive values. 

Perusing the course catalog, you will find such courses as “Social Investing” and “Strategy and Leadership for Social Impact.” The Institute for Business & Social Impact is a leading research center offering hands-on activities including the Berkeley Board Fellows, as well as fellowships for students focused on social impact. In addition, you can build practical social impact career experience at Haas through such clubs as Net Impact and competitions including the Patagonia Case Competition, while connecting with a network of students, alumni, and faculty who are equally passionate about social impact. 

Yale School of Management

With a long-standing mission “to educate leaders for business and society,” Yale SOM is a top choice for those interested in social impact. The school’s past admits tell us it is a place where students genuinely want to make a difference. Even the first-year MBA core curriculum at Yale SOM includes content related to social and environmental issues. The school’s website presents an impressive list of elective courses related to social impact: “Financing Green Technologies,” “Inequality and Social Mobility,” and “Global Social Entrepreneurship,” to name a few. Yale SOM’s Program on Social Enterprise is the hub for social impact activities at the school. Outside the classroom, Social Impact Week is full of mission-driven programming, all led by students, and the Social Impact Consulting Club offers pro-bono consulting services to the nonprofit and public sectors. 

Duke Fuqua

The tight-knit community at —or “Team Fuqua,” as Fuquans call it—profoundly cares about using business to serve society. The school offers four concentrations related to social impact: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Energy & Environment; Leadership & Ethics; and Social Entrepreneurship. Beyond these focus areas, one of the top reasons to consider Fuqua for social impact is the school’s Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE). Through CASE, students can engage with social sector leaders at such events as the Executive Speaker Series and the Sustainable Business and Social Impact Conference. Students can also gain hands-on opportunities via such clubs as Fuqua on Board and the CASE Initiative on Impact Investing. Fuqua’s Career Management Center even has team members dedicated to social impact career development.

Oxford Saïd

Oxford Saïd is the only European school on this list. The hub of social impact at Oxford Saïd is the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, which hosts the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship and a fully funded scholarship for selected Skoll Scholars who are pursuing social entrepreneurship. A popular program within the Skoll Centre is the Impact Lab, a co-curricular opportunity that includes workshops and mentoring from alumni in impact careers.

Other MBA Programs to Consider

As mentioned earlier, many MBA programs have expanded their offerings related to social impact. So, this list would not be complete without mentioning a few more business schools to consider:

•  GSB has a Center for Social Innovation, offers personalized learning that can encompass social impact, and conducts leading research on social and environmental problems.
• HBS hosts a Social Enterprise Initiative and the Social Impact Fellowship Fund.
• Kellogg offers a Social Impact pathway for its socially minded students and fosters a community-centered mindset.
• Booth features the Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation as well as one of the country’s first social venture competitions, the Social New Venture Challenge.
• MIT Sloan’s well-regarded Sustainability Initiative manages the Sloan Social Impact Fund.
•  Michigan Ross offers a concentration in Business and Sustainability in addition to a student-run Social Venture Fund.
• Boston University’s full-time Social Impact MBA program aims to develop responsible leaders who will address social challenges.

If you would like help identifying which schools would be the best fit for you, or if you have questions about your competitiveness at any of these programs, we invite you to sign up for a free 30-minute consultation with one of our mbaMission admissions experts.

We at mbaMission often tell candidates, “You cannot turn a bad idea into a good essay.” We insist on taking our clients through a lengthy brainstorming process—starting with a thorough questionnaire—to discover the stories that make them distinct. As you uncover your stories, consider each one from as many different angles as possible. Doing so will not only help ensure you understand the various “weapons in your arsenal” but also provide you with maximum flexibility, considering that MBA admissions committees ask questions that vary dramatically from school to school.

For example, an experience coaching a baseball team at an underfunded high school may have multiple dimensions, such as the following:

• Creatively motivating an underachieving team and changing attitudes, despite losses

• Initiating and leading fund-raising efforts so that each player could afford proper equipment

• Mentoring struggling players and seeing an improvement in their on-field performance

• Helping a player deal with a family issue off the field

• Recruiting other coaches and then working to improve a team’s on-field performance

These are just a few of the stories that could be gleaned through brainstorming, proving that considering your experiences from various angles can help you discover multiple unique approaches to your essays.

In addition, many MBA candidates—whether they work as bankers or lawyers, in internal corporate finance or corporate strategy—feel they must tell a “deal story” in their application essays. Although discussing a deal can be a good idea, what is vital is showing your distinct impact on the deal in question. You are the central character, not the deal. A straightforward story about how you dutifully completed your work and steadily supported others as a deal became a reality will not likely be very compelling. Further, the important thing is that the admissions committee gain insight into your personality, not your spreadsheets.

Ask yourself the following questions to ensure your story is truly about you:

• What did you do that was beyond expectations for your role? Did you grow into additional responsibilities at a crucial time?

• Did any particular interactions take place in which you used your personality to change the dynamic, thereby ensuring the deal’s progress or success?

• Did you need to take a principled stand at any moment or speak out on behalf of a needful party?

• Did you help others overcome any corporate or international cultural barriers?

These questions can get you started, but the point remains: do not simply offer any deal; instead, provide insight into your deal.

We often hear MBA applicants ask some form of the following question: “Do I need a 750 GMAT score to get into a top MBA program?” Although a 750 can certainly be helpful, it is not a prerequisite. We wanted to dispel this myth and put some who believe it at ease. Here are a few simple reasons why this is just not true:

1. The average is lower. Average GMAT scores at the top MBA programs range from approximately 700 to 730. Clearly, if the high end of the GMAT average range is 730, the schools cannot expect applicants to have a 750. That would mean that every applicant would be above average, which is not possible. Still, if a candidate’s score falls below the average, this generally places a greater burden on the other components of the individual’s application—so, for example, maybe their work experience would need to be stronger than that of other applicants, or maybe their extracurriculars would need to stand out even more. The bottom line is that mathematically speaking, many people have a GMAT score below 750.
2. Too few applicants have a 750 or higher. The top MBA programs accept thousands of applicants each application season. Only approximately 2% of GMAT test takers earn scores of 750 or higher, and some are earned by people who do not ultimately apply to business school at all, do not apply to any of the leading schools, take the test only to become GMAT instructors, pursue an EMBA or part-time MBA instead, are rejected because other aspects of their profile render them uncompetitive… and the list goes on. Basically, the top MBA programs do not receive applications from enough applicants with 750s to entirely populate their incoming class, as evidenced by the schools’ mid-80% GMAT ranges, which are typically 660–760.
3. All schools accept the GRE. Applicants do not really even need to take the GMAT anymore. Of course, if you do take the GMAT, you should strive to achieve the highest score possible. However, if the GMAT is not even required, you obviously would not need to score a 750 to be accepted.

We want to be unequivocal: 750 is a great GMAT score, and anyone who earns that score should be delighted. However, if you do not fare as well on the exam, you should still be quite hopeful and keep a positive mindset, because the admissions process is holistic.