1st Round vs 2nd Round

So as a career changer, in November 2007 I left the media research company and planned on focusing on studying for the GMAT and applying to business schools by the 2nd round deadline of most schools (usually in early to mid January). For personal reasons I was not able to devote the necessary time to these tasks in order to apply by the 2nd round. Many applicants wonder what round is best to apply in and what are the differences for each. What you will find mostly in schools' websites is that they recommend (I am generalizing here with a school that has 3 application rounds) prospective students apply once their application best and most strongly respresents them. Schools and websites also say that there is no difference between the first and second round but that the third round is the most competitive since by this time there are less seats available. Right now I'd like to put in my two cents about which round to apply to.

Something I believed and many others have also is that applying to the first and second round is the same. It seems like common sense that the earlier you apply the better your chances of gaining acceptance. However, because of what school and MBA websites say many people are led to believe that there isn't a difference between the first two rounds. First, the most important thing to remember is to not rush your application and to not try to get it in earlier than when you're ready because any slight advantage you get from submitting it early will be greatly outweighed by not putting together the best application that you can. With that being said if you can submit it in the first round at the same quality as the second round then you should do so. Seems pretty obvious right? Well the reason I say this is because there are applicants out there that "choose" to submit it in the second round when they can submit earlier. I am going to describe a scenario that applies to not most but a large percentage of applicants out there.

There is an applicant Mike B. Adams, hahaha. It's April of 2009 and he decides he's going to apply to business school in the upcoming application season. At this point he considers everything he needs to do before submitting applications; decide how he will prepare for the GMAT, prepare for the GMAT, take the GMAT, decide where he will apply, choose who will write letters of recommendation, ask those recommenders and follow up with them, write essay drafts, finalize essays, perfect resume, visit schools, prepare for interviews, and fill out online applications. When considering all of these tasks, Mike might find it easier to apply in the 2nd round since it's the same as applying in the 1st but with added time to prepare. Even if he plans on the 1st round, something might come up, such as a recommender taking longer than expected to respond, that might cause him to put off submission until the 2nd round. In any case, the fact that he's led to believe that there is no difference in rounds will lead the applicant to nonchalantly approach the difference in rounds.

Once again the most important thing to remember is to apply when you are best prepared. I'm not advocating rushing your application, that would be a HUGE mistake. But if you do have an option to choose when to apply or if you have plenty of time to prepare your application than aim for applying to the first round. Plus, in our example if Mike aims for the 1st round but then finds out in August that he needs more time to study for the GMAT then he can study more and apply in the 2nd round. If in August he feels he's reached his score potential and everything else is on track then he can go ahead and apply in the first round and reap the benefits of doing so.

So what are the benefits. In looking at how an application might play out, I'm going to come up with two versions of Mike. Let's say Mike 1.0 decides to apply for the 1st round because he has organized himself to be able to get applications submitted by October. Mike 2.0 feels that there is a lot to get done so he'll take it slow and apply in the 2nd round because the school websites say that there is no difference between the first and second round. Since I'm advocating that people submit an app only once they're sure that they cannot improve upon an application and have done their best, we're going to assume that both Mikes will be handing in the same quality of an application. The only difference will be that Mike 1.0 will be motivated to submit it in the first round instead of putting it off. Let's assign Mike's app a score of 93/100 for the sake of evaluation. Now let's say that there's a school, MBA U, that Mike is applying to and he considers it a school that he might or might not get into. In my hypothetical scenario, MBA U has a first round applicant pool that requires a score of a 93 to get into, a second round pool that requires a 93, and a third that requires a 95. (Applications are not assigned scores by admin committees. I'm using scores for ease of illustrating my point) Mike 1.0 applies in the first round. Because he does so, he receives the following benefits.

-Since his app is a 93, he might get in, might not, but he also has the possibility of getting waitlisted. If he gets waitlisted, his app will be compared to the second round pool in which he is still competitive. If Mike 2.0 applies to the 2nd round and gets waitlisted, then he will go up against a 3rd round pool that is more competitive. Some schools move waitlisted applicants from one round to another multiple times. In any case, applying in the 1st round gives you more opportunities to get looked at if you're waitlisted.
-Applying in the first round allows you to get a lot of information earlier and thus make better decisions with the additional time. You are going to wade through a lot of information; where to go, where to apply in a later round if you haven't gotten in anywhere yet, how long to wait if you've been waitlisted, what financial aid packages have been offered/are available, housing, employment arrangements, and other decisions that might pertain to your personal situation. In any case, the earlier you hear from schools the earlier you can start making some choices.

All of the above is why I think applying in the 1st round is slightly beneficial if you have a choice or the time to prepare accordingly. *One last time because of how important it is and I don't want anyone misinterpreting my advice; I advocate to apply in the the first round instead of the second only if your application cannot be improved with the extra time.