The year is off to a roaring start---is this also the year you get into b-school? Depends on how you manage your time.
A year sounds like a long time, but when you are juggling a career and personal demands as well as an application run at the top b-schools, it’s going to fly by. Not only are good time management skills a critical thing to master for business school itself, you can put the same skills to good use now as you are applying.
Start now by budgeting scheduled time on the calendar for working on your applications.
Yes, this means now, even before applications are even close to being released. Why? Because there is a lot more to MBA applications than just essay writing. For every hour spent actually writing an essay, you should have put 10 hours into preparation. Often, this prep time is far more difficult to schedule than the writing itself, but be disciplined. Schedule an hour or two each week dedicated to the mental processing and planning of your application run. Just deciding on where to apply can mean dozens of hours of research online and through talking with others. What gets scheduled, gets done.
Tracking down all the required documentation can be very time consuming as well.
Especially if you attended more than one college or university, you will be shocked at how much time it takes to obtain simple, certified copies of your transcripts, all of which are required for an MBA application. Then there’s the GMAT. Taking prep classes, scheduling tests and following up should all be planned like it’s your job. A good rule of thumb is to add on one extra hour of prep each month as your MBA deadline approaches. Yes that means by October, you’ll be spending as much as 10 hours per week working on your applications. This assumes of course that you will be trying for at least 6-7 schools, which is a good number considering how competitive things have become.
Know that if you start now working b-school planning into your weekly routine, you will feel far less overwhelmed when applications are released this summer.
To find out more about your options and how we can guide your business school application process, email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com or contact us via http://www.amerasiaconsulting.com/contact