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COVID-19 R3 MBA Admissions - Updates (April 2020)

To help MBA applicants navigate an uncertain Round 3 admissions round resulting from COVID-19/coronavirus, we have created a live update page, highlighting top school’s responses.

Harvard

Visa Suspension and Increase in Waitlist: Since the US government suspended all visa processing services for international citizens, Harvard has shared that they would increase the number of the waitlist for R2 candidates to attract the “talented leaders from around the world” and contribute towards the overall class experience and bring a difference in the world.  

Deferred Admission: In the worst case that visa is not processed within the R3 timeline, the admission team has assured that the applicants will be offered a deferred admission, joining with the next year’s class.

Stanford

Round 3 Deadlines: Round 3 has not been postponed. It will remain as 8th April 2020 (2:00 PM Pacific Time). However, the admission team has offered flexibility in submitting test scores (GMAT, GRE) until 1st August 2020, but you will remain on the waitlist. The school has recommended that the scores be submitted by 21st May 2020. For those who are taking the GMAT exam later, the admission team has recommended that you enter 0 (zero) for the mandatory test score field and for GRE the same for all required percentile fields and 130 for the required score fields.


Note that even if you are called for an interview without a GMAT/GRE score, for acceptance, the score is mandatory.

Recommendation Letter: The school has not offered any extension to submit the recommendation letter. But if you can’t gather the letters before the deadline, they are open to accepting extensions provided the recommenders directly contact the admissions office. For such cases, you can submit the application without a recommendation letter.

Visa Delay and Deferred Admissions: For admitted international students, if the circumstances prevent them from receiving a visa on time, Stanford will defer the admission by 1 year.

Wharton

Round 3 Deadlines: 1st April to 15th April 2020


Wharton has postponed its Round 3 deadline from 1st April to 15th April 2020, giving a big relief to the hundreds of round 3 applicants targeting the penultimate round. Among the few top schools that listened to the challenging circumstances, the Wharton admissions team has also postponed the deadlines for the advance access program to May 27th,2020.

Chicago Booth

Round 3 Deadlines: 2nd April 2020 (No Change)

Chicago Booth Scholars Deferred MBA Program (New Deadline): 1st June 2020

Chicago Booth has not changed the deadline for traditional full-time MBA applicants. However, for the Scholars Deferred MBA program, the new deadline is 1st June 2020. In addition to the deadline, the applicants have a leeway of 1 month to submit the test scores. The interviews will start from May and continue throughout June until the decision is released by July 13th, 2020.

Columbia

Final Deadlines (Aug 2020 Entry): 10th April 2020 to June 1st, 2020

Columbia Business School that has a rolling admission process, has extended its final deadline to June 1st, 2020. Following the cue of other top schools, the admission team has offered a one-month extension to submit the test scores. (July 1st, 2020)

MIT

Round 3 Deadline:  9th April 2020 (No Change)

MBA Early Admissions (New Deadline): 2nd June 2020


MIT has also not changed the Round 3 deadline but moved the Early admissions to 2nd June 2020.

Kellogg

Round 3 Deadline: 8th April 2020 (No Change)

Kellogg Future Leaders: 2nd April 2020 (No Change)


The deadlines for both the Round 3 and Kellogg Future leader’s programs have remained unchanged. However, those who could not take the GMAT test could now apply without the test score can take the test and submit by May 1st. By June, you must take the test. In case you cannot, despite an admit, the admission team could defer the admission by 1 year.

Yale

Round 3 Deadline: 14th April 2020 and May 27th, 2020 (Extended)

The Yale MBA Admissions team has offered two Round 3 deadlines – the standard 14th April 2020 and the extended May 27th, 2020 deadline for those who have been affected by the Coronavirus. For test scores, the admission team is offering an additional 10 days to submit the GMAT/GRE scores.

London Business School

Round 3 Deadline: 22nd April 2020 (No Change)

The admission team has maintained the Round 3 deadlines with the provision to consider your candidacy without GMAT/GRE score if the test centers remain closed. You would be invited to offer a written statement and offer perspective about your quantitative scores in other arenas – work, undergraduate degree, and extracurricular.

Haas

Round 3 Deadline: 2nd April 2020 and May 4th, 2020 (Extended)

Haas has also opted for an extended deadline on May 4th, 2020, in addition to the standard 2nd April 2020 deadline. This decision is to accommodate the closure of testing centers. Both ETS and GMAC has announced an online version of their tests (GMAT by mid-April) and TOEFL/GRE (already available for US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Macau)

Ross

Round 3 Priority Deadline: March 30th, 2020 and May 29th, 2020 (Extended Rolling admissions)

Ross has maintained that the priority deadline for International applicants would remain as of March 30th, 2020. However, for those who couldn’t take the GMAT/GRE or TOEFL tests, the deadline would extend to May 29th, 2020. The applications after the March 30th deadline would be considered on a rolling basis. This means that if the application pool is strong, the later applicants will only be considered if they stand out, and the review would be on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Duke Fuqua

Since Duke Fuqua’s Round 3 deadline was March 11th, 2020, before COVID forced schools to close down, there are no extended deadlines. However, the school accepts applications even after the deadline on a rolling basis with the promise that you will be invited for an interview within 3-4 weeks.

Darden

Round 3 Deadline: 6th April 2020 and 15th July 2020 (Extended Rolling admissions)

Darden has not changed the Round 3 deadlines. However, to accommodate the disruption in GMAT/GRE testing, pursuing recommendation letters, and the overall schedule, the admissions team, has announced an extended rolling admission that would last till 15th July 2020. Darden expects the applicants to submit the essays by the original deadline and extend the submission of other elements of the application by 15th July 2020.

About the Author 

Atul Jose - Founding Consultant F1GMAT

I am Atul Jose - the Founding Consultant at F1GMAT.

Over the past 15 years, I have helped MBA applicants gain admissions to Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Chicago Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, Haas, Yale, NYU Stern, Ross, Duke Fuqua, Darden, Tuck, IMD, London Business School, INSEAD, IE, IESE, HEC Paris, McCombs, Tepper, and schools in the top 30 global MBA ranking. 

I offer end-to-end Admissions Consulting and editing services – Career Planning, Application Essay Editing & Review, Recommendation Letter Editing, Interview Prep, assistance in finding funds and Scholarship Essay & Cover letter editing. See my Full Bio.

Contact me for support in school selection, career planning, essay strategy, narrative advice, essay editing, interview preparation, scholarship essay editing and guiding supervisors with recommendation letter guideline documents

I am also the Author of the Winning MBA Essay Guide, covering 16+ top MBA programs with 240+ Sample Essays that I have updated every year since 2013 (11+ years. Phew!!)

I am an Admissions consultant who writes and edits Essays every year. And it is not easy to write good essays. 

Contact me for any questions about MBA or Master's application. I would be happy to answer them all 

Winning MBA Essay Guide - A Complete Guide for M7 and Top 15 MBA Application Essays 


F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay guide will teach you how to transform your essay into a life journey with trials and tribulations that will move the admission team.

+ Over 245 Sample Essays (Read Previews of F1GMAT's Winning MBA Essay Guide Sample Essays here)

+ Top 15 MBA Programs (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia, Booth, MIT, Kellogg, Yale, Haas, Darden, INSEAD, LBS, NYU Stern, Tuck, Duke Fuqua, Ross)
+ The Art of Storytelling 
+ Leadership Narratives
+ Review Tips
+ Persuasion Strategies
+ The Secret to "unleashing" your unique voice
+ How to prepare and present for the Video Essay
+ How to write about your Strengths
+ How to write about your Weaknesses
 
 

Want to try the individual school Essay Guides before upgrading to the Winning MBA Essay Guide? Try below.

F1GMAT's Essay Guides

  • Harvard MBA Essay Guide (20 Sample Essays)

    Growth-Oriented Essay: Curiosity can be seen in many ways. Please share an example of how you have demonstrated curiosity and how that has influenced your growth. (up to 250 words) 

    Example #1: Persistence Narrative 
    Background Information: The applicant – a design and music talent, shares her journey through several setbacks. She attributes curiosity to her growth.  
    Curiosity: Philosophy  
    Curiosity (Explained): Curiosity as a philosophy is tough to translate into a narrative unless you are from the creative industry or your contributions had an influence on a solution or an initiative.  
    MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to capture the humanity of the applicant and her influence in music instead of just highlighting how she overcame multiple roadblocks to gain attention as a designer.  
    Theme: Persistence  
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Life Starts at NO (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example) 

    Example #2: International Community Building 
    Background Information: The applicant, a Machine Learning (ML) entrepreneur specializing in healthcare diagnostics, shares how his curiosity to learn other ML algorithms’ evolution in diagnosing Alzheimer’s, cancer, and heart disease transformed his platform into a global community. 
    MBA Essay Strategy: I wanted to show the applicant’s contributions in diagnostic from 2020 to 2024 by citing two events. Such examples build credibility instead of engagements that were recent. The evolution of the platform from an AI development community to a community for discussing the application of AI in diagnostics is captured through a ‘curiosity’ angle.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Growth through Collaboration (AI in Healthcare) (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #3: Culture
    Background Information: The applicant, an Entrepreneur from India narrates his first entrepreneurial experience – facilitating exchange of stamps in the late 1990s.
    Theme: Culture
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Instead of addressing the biases in the investor community that could turn preachy, I wanted to focus on the applicant and his entrepreneurial journey by citing two entrepreneurial experiences – a platform(club) for stamp collection and his Grocery delivery App.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – The American Dream (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #4: Addiction
    Background Information: The applicant – a beneficiary of the foster home system, captures the sacrifice his adopted grandparents made to save him from a path of addiction. Paying it back through early intervention among teenagers and community engagement is the curiosity narrative.
    Theme: Addiction
    MBA Essay Strategy:  My strategy is to capture a gratitude narrative in the first one-third of the essay to demonstrate motivation for starting the venture and dedicate the latter part of the essay to the unique solution
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Drug Addiction and Gaming (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #5: Scarcity
    Background Information: The applicant, an education major, recognizes that 70% of all students in Kenya don’t have a computer. The curiosity that drives him to pivot from one solution to another is the growth narrative.
    Theme: Innovation
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Often, innovation is captured with a ‘hero’ narrative where the applicant is the sole originator of an idea. I wanted to break that cliché and include a person from whom the applicant learned to use a concept called ‘scaffolding.’
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Scarcity (Growth-Oriented HBS Essay Example)

    Example #6: FinTech
    Background Information: The applicant captures a vulnerable moment of a beneficiary to compare his journey of side hustle before a technology giant noticed his talent. Although cryptocurrency is not a flavor for the year, capture niches where innovation is still happening. 
    Theme: Education, Child Welfare
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Empathizing with a techno solution is tough without a strong backstory around the beneficiary. For the essay, I wanted to clearly establish the beneficiary – Rami, before the applicant narrates the similarities to his journey and finally shares the solution that emerged from his curiosity.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – FinTech as a Tool for Good (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #7: Learning from the best
    Background Information: The applicant – a Remote Engineer in the Oil and Gas industry, reflects on a value that has helped her learn from the best regardless of her geographical limitations.
    Theme: Learning
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The effectiveness of the case-study method depends on the assumption that peers in a Harvard MBA class will help elevate your learning experience. For the essay, I have highlighted the applicant’s recognition of this value proposition with three examples.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Learning from the Best (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #8: Military & Search for IMPACT
    Background Information: The most common narrative for US military applicants is to quote 9/11 and the reaction your immediate family had while watching the events unfold. The horrifying moment is captured as a motivation to join the Military. On digging deeper, most applicants would share that their motivations were diverse.
    Theme: Career Choice
    MBA Essay Strategy:  I wanted to quickly highlight that the applicant had the choice of entering any industry. One achievement to demonstrate his curiosity that I shared in the first half is the invention of a game. Since the game is mentioned in the resume and verifiable through search, I didn’t quote the name. By clearly highlighting the person’s curiosity and career options, the family legacy is used as a factor in joining the military.
    Read: Harvard MBA Curiosity Essay – Career Choice after a Military Career (Growth-Oriented HBS MBA Essay Example)
     
    Leadership-Focused Essay: What experiences have shaped who you are, how you invest in others, and what kind of leader you want to become? (up to 250 words)

    Example #9: Small Business Values
    Background Information: The applicant - a second-generation Asian American, is familiar with the values of fiscal conservatism, building relationships, and understanding the daily struggles of the community through his family’s department store.
    Theme: Customer-Centric
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The applicant’s role in developing an App for the store is highlighted in the essay at a crucial part of the narrative so that the essay is not all about his father. I have also humanized the journey – by sharing how upset the father was when the revenues fell by 40%. The essay is about the transformation in the applicant’s value from a person chasing productivity and optimization technique to someone who is truly thinking about the customers. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Small Business Values (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #10: Breaking Away from Family Business
    Background Information: A unique challenge that applicants whose parents are public figures or CXOs of businesses or entrepreneurs are the pressure to live up to the parent’s standards or milestones. For the leadership narrative, the burden of legacy is established before the narrative addresses his leadership principles.
    Theme: Authenticity  
    MBA Essay Strategy:  For the essay, I want to capture an entrepreneur’s journey to rise above his entrepreneur father’s image. But I didn’t want to make the entire essay about this complex dynamics. The narrative is around the applicant’s focus on customers and surrounding with teams who keeps him grounded. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Breaking Away from Family Business(Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #11: Creativity and Communication 
    Background Information: When the overall percentage of users with internet access is 62% in South Africa and the inequality accentuated by the rural and urban divide, the applicant endured the lack of digital infrastructure, and spending close to 22% of the family income on gaining relevant information on schools, global exams, and financial assistance. 
    Theme: Creativity, Communication
    MBA Essay Strategy:  The strategy is to share why the applicant values no distraction in a child’s home for optimum education experience. Then I highlight the many roadblocks the applicant’s non-profit faced in receiving fee waiver for their cooperative run ISP.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Non-Profit (Telecom) (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #12: Mental Health
    Background Information: The applicant like most didn’t pay much attention to the mental health epidemic until tragedy hit home.
    Theme: Communication, Innovation
    MBA Essay Strategy:  A question we frequently get from applicants is whether they should cite tragedy in the family as a motivation for a venture or a non-profit initiative. As long as you don’t linger too much on the tragedy and offer a balanced narrative, there are no restrictions on leveraging unique stories from your life. 
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Mental Health (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #13: Trauma, Healing & Finding Authentic Self
    Background Information: The applicant narrates the absurdity of war in the narrative about the duties in Kabul, and the trauma. Instead of wallowing in on the horror, the applicant takes what makes military applicants strong and guides unprivileged children build life and leadership skills.
    Theme: Resilience
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Capturing PTSD in an essay, the healing process, and the cues that helped the applicant are too sacred to be shared in a Harvard MBA application essay. However, with the right motivation and narrative arcs, you can capture the essence of your journey without sharing the darkest secrets. That is what I did by merging two stories – the horrors of the war with a non-profit engagement.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Military & PTSD (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #14: Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra
    Background Information: In this narrative, the applicant captures Peru’s Silver mining boom of 2006. The growth experienced in her father’s business shifted the family’s economic status to a new stratosphere. Through the changing economic and family dynamics, the applicant finds her voice in a unique way, initially to record her unheard voice but later as one of the youngest subject matter experts in mining and commodities.  
    Theme: Failure
    MBA Essay Strategy:  For the essay, the strategy is to show how life’s unpredictability is a blessing. By narrating two setback events, the essay demonstrates the applicant’s resilience and her acknowledgment of people who made a comeback possible.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – Addiction, Setback and Leadership Mantra (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Example #15: War, Immigration and Starting Over Again
    Background Information: Despite a raging war in Syria, the family of the applicant was unblemished by the chaos. The strategic government assets near the applicant’s house would have made the region an easy target, but it was not. The calmness of her journey is shattered in one event. From the privileges of a cocooned life, the applicant is forced to think about survival, her sister’s future, and her future in the US. The second half of the narrative captures the change that was forced on her. 
    Theme: Gratitude, Resilience
    MBA Essay Strategy:  I consciously chose not to start the essay with a dialogue or trauma. Two lines are allocated to set up the narrative before the trauma event.
    Read: Harvard MBA Leadership Essay – War, Immigration and Starting Over Again (Leadership-Focused HBS MBA Essay Example)

    Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay: Please reflect on how your experiences have influenced your career choices and aspirations and the impact you will have on the businesses, organizations, and communities you plan to serve. (up to 300 words)

    Example #16: Creative or Finance
    Background Information: The applicant starts the narrative with the origin of her talents. The unbridled enthusiasm receives a reality check when in high school, the applicant’s father has a conversation with her about academics. While the applicant picked up her quant skills, she was reaching over 50,000 loyal fans, and her videos captured 1 million views. 
    Theme: Passion, Talent
    MBA Essay Strategy:  Capturing vulnerability is the toughest part for Harvard MBA applicants. For this essay example, I have captured the applicant’s uncertainty about career choice throughout the essay. Here the goal is to show vulnerability in the career choice essay while for leadership and growth essay, I could capture one example each from creative and PE industry respectively to balance the narrative. So don’t follow this example without a strategy.  
    Read: Harvard MBA Business-Minded Essay – Creative or Finance (Business-Minded HBS MBA Essay Example)

  • Stanford MBA Essay Guide (24 Sample Essays)
  • Columbia MBA Essay Guide (21 Sample Essays)
  • Wharton MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • INSEAD MBA Essay Guide (19 Sample Essays)
  • Darden MBA Essay Guide  (21 Sample Essays) 
  • Yale SOM MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • Tuck MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays)
  • Haas MBA Essay Guide (18 Sample Essays)
  • NYU Stern MBA Essay Guide (15 Sample Essays + 6 Examples - Visual Essay)
  • LBS MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Essays)
  • MIT Sloan MBA Essay Guide (6 Sample Cover Letters + 3 Sample Video Statement Scripts + 3 Sample Optional Essays)
  • Kellogg MBA Essay Guide (11 Sample Essays)
  • Chicago Booth MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)
  • Ross MBA Essay Guide (31 Sample Essays)
  • Duke Fuqua MBA Essay Guide (10 Sample Essays + Two 25 Random Things Samples)
  • Cambridge MBA Essay Guide (12 Sample Essays)

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