Welcome to F1GMAT's Ask Atul Jose series. I am Atul Jose.
Q) Today's question is from an International MBA applicant who had applied for Round 2 - got accepted to a tier 2 MBA program with a $40000 scholarship, was rejected at Wharton but hasn't applied to MIT or Stanford, or other top programs. He wants to know whether applying for Round 3 is a good strategy. The person is from the Oil & Gas industry with a recent promotion, non-existent extracurricular, prefers internship opportunities, and therefore 2-year MBA programs.
The answer here is a little tricky because one - how desperate are you to get into an MBA program this year itself. I know from experience that even those who have done exceptionally well in the Oil & Gas industry are looking to switch industry as most of you know that it is a dying industry that will be replaced by renewable in the next 10-15 years. Also, even for Senior Engineers, most of the work involves traveling to a remote location and working there for months on end. So from a desperation point of view, I get it.
Now let us look at the hurdles.
1. Competition vs. Available Seats
For Round 3, the competition is low compared to Round 1 and Round 2 for a traditional applicant. But the available seats are also in the 15 to 20% range. Anyone from software engineers, IB professionals, marketing person, will be considered coming from a traditional application pool. I would recommend them to consider Round 1. Those who are from non-profit, government, oil & gas, or other niche industries target Round 3.
2. Visa Processing Time
Visa processing takes anywhere from 1-2 months. So if you are applying for Round 3, it becomes too close with the orientation week. Unless your story is so compelling that the admissions team is willing to go through the discomfort, I would recommend international applicants to check what the school has specifically highlighted on the deadlines page or the FAQ page. If they have explicitly discouraged you from applying for Round 3, it doesn't make sense to take a step on the contrary.
3. Promotion
What has changed from Round 1 and now. A lot of promotions are announced just before Q4 and become official by January - a time when the Round 2 deadlines have been completed. So if your profile reads completely different with a promotion, it makes sense to target top schools in Round 3. The promotion should not just be in the title. It should also give you the opportunity to manage a team of more than three-person. In a way, the promotion is a validation that you are Managerial material.
4. Lack of Extra-Curricular
The lack of extracurricular is a big deterrent to your MBA admission Chances. Although Oil & Gas has an unusual work schedule with continuous work on-site with 1-2 month break, utilizing the available time for contributing towards the community is a big admission factor. If you have no extracurricular, your chances of getting into a top US school go down drastically.
I would recommend expanding your search to UK & Europe, build extracurricular experience in case you want to target Round 1, and take help from consultants like us so that your strengths are positioned appropriately for the essays, resume, and recommendation letters.
I am Atul Jose. See you in the next #AskAtulJose series
