Sometimes tossing out an MBA application where you have very little chance of getting in can work in your favor.
In American football, the Hail Mary is a last resort, an all-or-nothing attempt to get a score. The same approach in business school applications happens when you whip a low-probability attempt out to a school where you statistically expect to get rejected.
Why would you waste time applying to a school where you know you won’t get in?
One reason is, you never know for sure until you try. No matter how unlikely it seems on the surface, until you actually apply, you can’t know. For this reason alone, a Hail Mary can be a good way to put to bed any future questions that might arise in your mind. It’s strangely comforting to settle something as life changing as where you go to grad school. Getting in obviously settles the question much more dramatically, but not getting in also offers closure. At the very least, that rejection permanently prevents you from wasting time wondering if you should have tried.
Another reason to throw up a Hail Mary MBA application: sometimes it actually works out.
Particularly during a roaring economy, your general odds of getting in anywhere is elevated, so what might be a low-chance application attempt in an average situation, could suddenly become possible. A growing economy sends far fewer people back to grad school than an average or poor economy, so particularly when things are going well, you might consider attempting several Hail Mary MBA applications just in case one of your reach schools has some extra slots for someone with your profile. Maybe they can’t fill it with someone similar to you but with a 750 GMAT score. Or perhaps your slightly lower profile will slip through because others in your industry group are reluctant to leave their high-achieving careers.
Another advantage of the Hail Mary: You can sometimes affect your target schools’ decisions.
Simply telling other business schools that you are applying to a better school can psychologically affect the admissions decision in your favor. B-schools are highly competitive for talent. They need to fill all their seats and they get worried about not doing so. Most schools will ask you where else you are applying and when you can answer with a school which seems threatening to them (and one you would likely choose over theirs), they often step up their game and get more serious about making you an offer.
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