Well, it’s pretty much September 1st, and the deadlines start in October, so I don’t feel that I am fully able to wait before getting started on applications and strategies. There are a few elements that need to be included in my strategy:

  1. Safety – I need to make sure that I get in somewhere.
  2. Pacing – I don’t want to burn out myself or my referees.
  3. Grouping – I want to receive admission results that compare to each other together.
  4. Quality – Every application should be top-notch, or I shouldn’t bother with it.

In order to submit a quality application, I figure that I need to write 5 essays at 4 hours each, spend three hours with the online form, spend two hours preparing and two hours communicating with each of my referees, spend two hours tweaking my resume as needed, and three hours pulling everything together. This works out to roughly 35-40 hours per application… no wonder this is starting to feel like a full time job!! 

At 40 hours per application, I think that 2 apps in a month is my maximum. Or, to think of it another way, the deadlines should ideally come at least two weeks apart. Fortunately, I think that the number of hours per application should decrease as I start to have a little library of essays and answers from previous applications to pull from. 

This analysis makes it easy to determine how many schools to apply to in each round. Since Round One basically goes from October 2 – November 5, I think that I only have time for three quality submissions in Round One. Round Two covers Dec 5 – Jan 9 and could allow for another three submissions. The Canadian schools typically have later deadlines and could be submitted after I get Round One feedback (Feb 1 – Mar 15). 

In summary, I am looking at six American schools and then Canadian schools as backup if I’m not getting acceptance letters.

So the last part is the grouping. Here is an idea I just had that seems reasonable:

  • Round One: Shoot For the Moon… HBS, Yale SOM and Stanford GSB
  • Round Two: Good Non-Profit Schools… Kellogg, Haas, one other
  • Late Round Two: Canadian Schools… Rotman, Schulich, McGill

I like this grouping because I feel that I will be able to compare decisions against those that are likely to arrive around the same time. I should be able to accept any early decisions without wanting to wait for a later one and hopefully stop applying when that happy day arrives. 

I also like this because I can now stop floundering and start focusing on Round One. My trip to Boston will still be useful for information gathering, but the only decision that I need to make there is who will be my Round Two schools.