Our Best Advice for Completing the Round 1 MBA Application

With just a couple of weeks until the MBA program’s Round 1 application deadline, I want to check in with a few general thoughts and some specific resources from the admissions team to help you through the process. Our aim is to make the process as transparent and accessible as possible. From our Application Guide to our previously recorded webinars and upcoming live events with members of the Admissions Committee, we’ve developed content aimed to support you at every step of your application process.

Before sharing those resources, I want to highlight a couple of the biggest pieces of advice about the process more generally. If you’ve attended a recent event, you’ve likely heard this guidance already, but I believe it bears repeating. First, don’t overthink things. You want to be thoughtful in your application, but don’t tie yourself into knots trying to analyze the implications of each question and prompt. We try to be clear, simple, and straightforward in the questions we ask, so we hope you will approach them in that same spirit.

On a related note, don’t try to predict what you think the Admissions Committee is looking for and don’t try to fit a mold you think will help your application “stand out.” There’s no mold—we are intentionally looking to bring in a diverse class, and we therefore seek broad perspectives across a range of professional experiences, fields of study, extracurricular activities, and other dimensions that represent your unique story. Anything important to you is important to us!

In addition to this general guidance, we have resources to help you as you work on specific portions of the application. Be sure to:

Check out our Application Guide, which is designed to break down every aspect of our application, explain why we ask specific questions, and provide insight into what the Admissions Committee is looking for. In addition to our written advice, we recently updated the Application Guide with brief videos from Assistant Dean Laurel Grodman and me. Whether you prefer to consume the Application Guide via video or text, we’ve got you covered. Below are a few select videos; you can find many more in the full Application Guide.

Essay: Sharing what matters to you

Test Scores: One piece of a larger picture

Work experience: Showcasing your achievements

Explore two of our recently recorded events. Some of you may already have seen two large webinars we recently hosted in advance of the Round 1 deadline: Inside the Application, Literally and Our Best Application Advice. These webinars are meant to complement each other and assist in slightly different ways with your application process. You can watch the videos in their entirety or use the chapter descriptions to jump to specific application components.

• Inside the Application, Literally: Assistant Dean Laurel Grodman walks you through the 2024-2025 application (in fact, she literally opens the application and explains each element), sheds light on our reasons for asking for certain pieces of information, and offers advice on how best to answer the questions.
• Our Best Application Advice: As the title suggests (we don’t like to bury the lede), Laurel and I share our best advice about approaching the application process generally. We also discuss specific application areas about which we tend to receive the most questions.

Attend upcoming events with the Admissions Committee. Prefer to ask your question live? We understand that desire, and that’s why we’ll be hosting a number of informal virtual sessions with members of the Admissions Committee over the next few weeks. Join a general Admissions Q&A for broader questions on the school or admissions process, attend my final Office Hours event before the Round 1 deadline, or join a Round 1 Application Q&A to get your last-minute questions answered before you hit “submit.”

We hope you find these resources helpful. As a final thought, I would note that the MBA process is a highly reflective journey. We hope that when you complete the process, you will have a better understanding of yourself and your motivations for this next step in your career than you did previously. Along the way, know that the admissions team is here to assist you. We look forward to receiving your application and learning more about you. Should you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out. Best of luck with your application!