How many business schools should you apply to? As in most cases, the answer is, it depends.
Choosing which schools you will apply to is hard enough, but how do you decide how many schools to apply to? It’s not an easy question and it should be guided in part on the strength of your overall application profile.
Your profile characteristics define how likely it is that you will be accepted, so the more challenged you are in core areas such as GMAT score, GPA, strength of undergraduate institution, work experience and overall general interest, the more schools you should be targeting.
Everyone should have a backup plan.
Even the most highly qualified business school applicant will apply to more than one school. No matter how well you think you fit with your dream school, you can bet they reject dozens of perfectly qualified applicants each year. The irony is, those qualified enough to get into the M7 schools are smart enough to apply to several of them. Will it cost you some time and money? Yes. Will is save you some headaches? Most definitely.
Don’t be discouraged by the extra time and expense of applying to several schools.
It is in the exercise of doing so that will probably strengthen your overall approach to the application process in general. Sharpening your application skills by working on a handful of top schools will also help increase your odds of getting in. Make sure to defer submitting your schools until you have all the applications done if you can, since you may learn something in subsequent backup schools that you want to circle back and add into your dream school package.
Applying to at least three schools is a must.
If you have a bullet-proof profile with a great GMAT score, great work recommendations and a winsome personality, you still need to target at least three schools if not for any other reason than you can use the fact you have applied “elsewhere” to potentially strengthen your scholarship offer at your target school. B-schools, like MBA students, are competitive, and do not like to lose a candidate to the competition when they really want you to come to them.
If your profile is weak, consider 6-10 schools.
This sounds like a lot, but within this batch will be a handful of schools in the “safety” category, where you would be happy attending if you had to, but may not be your top choice. Getting accepted anywhere is a real confidence booster, so even if you spread out your applications over several months and several rounds, receiving those offer letters will put wind in your sails. Good Luck!
For information on how we can guide your business school application process, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com or go to http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/contact