EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • BIPOC Program
    • Testimonials & Reviews
    • Guest Posts
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts
    • Discounts & Offers

“But when can I *really* get started?”

April 9, 2014 by EssaySnark - Discusses Harvard, Columbia 3 Comments

We have so many eager beaver Brave Supplicants around here right now! Which is great. We did a series of posts last week about some steps you can take to get started now.

Truly, it’s not too early to begin laying the foundation for what your application strategy will be.

It is, however, too early to begin actually working on your apps.

The bschools tend to change their questions from year to year – at least, many of them do. Stanford has kept their app largely the same for like three years now. That doesn’t mean they’ll kept it the same again this year.

If you want to know when you can REALLY start working on your applications for a Round 1/Fall submission, well… the answer is, not yet.

You theoretically could begin writing essays for your target school based on the existing-season’s questions. But we don’t recommend that you do that.

Questions are likely to change – they are ESPECIALLY likely to change in this coming season.

Why?

Because lots of them changed quite radically in the past season.

And because we don’t think all of those changes were necessarily to the respective school’s benefit.

Bschool adcoms tend to move in packs. The herd mentality definitely is in evidence among this crowd.

What happened a few years back, when Harvard cut the number of essays that they require?

Well, what happened is, many other schools started cutting the number of essays in their apps.

What happens when Harvard asks essay questions about accomplishments and failures?

Suddenly essays about accomplishments and failures pop up in other schools’ apps.

It’s not like Harvard is the only one calling the shots – and it’s not like all the schools will follow Harvard off a cliff. After all, Harvard did something quite dramatic this past season with its one-essay/no-limits app. That open-ended question did not get replicated at other schools. But it did cause many other schools to make some dramatic changes to their application requirements.

And we believe that at least a few of these changes could get rolled back this year.

Shorter-length essays may get loosened up again. Essay limits could expand somewhat. And questions will (hopefully!) be re-evaluated so that they can generate answers from applicants that are more useful to the adcom who must wade through them.

Many changes are here to stay – it’s unlikely we’re going to go back to the days of four essays per school. But we do think that the schools will be, at minimum, tweaking – and maybe doing more major adjustments to what they ask you applicants to produce.

This means, you would be prudent to sit tight and not worry about actually tackling the application quite yet.

So back to the question: When can you really  get started?

Well, Harvard Business School tends to be the first one out of the gate with its new application each year. This happens as soon as early May in some cycles; a couple years, it didn’t happen until the end of May, but they’re usually quicker to release than that. UPDATE 4/14/14: Harvard announced on their blog that they plan to release the Class of 2017 essay and recommender questions in early June.

The other early-out school is Columbia Business School. They have an Early Decision and a January Term application that both open very early, often right on the heels of Harvard (sometimes Columbia comes out a little sooner).

After that, there’s a lull before other schools start getting their acts together. Late June tends to be when the bulk of the schools release their questions. Also remember that many schools release questions before they open up their applications, and unfortunately sometimes things change in between one event and the next – Kellogg in particularly had some glitches this past year due to the rollout of two major changes to their process simultaneously.

So sometimes it actually works out better to wait a tiny bit.

This doesn’t mean that you need to sit on your hands… and it also isn’t that long to wait till you can actually dig in. We STRONGLY encourage you to get started on your actual essays as soon as the schools release their questions. The terms “procrastination” and “Brave Supplicant” are practically synonymous. It’s great that many of you are ready to go! You’ll be in much better shape if you start as soon as you can. It’s an arduous process ahead. You’re motivated now – what a great place to be! In a few short weeks you can be up to your eyeballs in writing.


You may also be interested in:

  • “How do I start working with you EssaySnark?” (February 2013)
  • What you can do right now (April 2012)
  • When do schools release essay questions? (March 2012)

Filed Under: planning your strategy Bschools: Harvard, Columbia

« Previous: ($) Couples applying for an MBA together (part 2)
Next: A quick summary of the Columbia Early Decision option »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Here's what others have said about this:

  1. Tcho says

    April 10, 2014 at 12:07 am

    are you going to release the results of your favorite b school essay poll?

    Reply
    • essaysnark says

      April 10, 2014 at 9:08 pm

      Thanks for the reminder! Had been meaning to, but keep getting great questions from the peanut gallery to respond to instead. Hoping to circle back to that soon! But no surprises… Duke came out strong yet again. 🙂

      Reply
      • TCho says

        April 11, 2014 at 4:59 am

        Nice. I liked Duke’s essay as well. The one I disliked the most were Kellogg’s.

        Kind of miss the Sloan cover letter option. Call me crazy. Lol

        Reply

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for the 'Snark via email

Enter your address to get weekday blahg posts by email.

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Rd 1: Sept. 6
    in 4 weeks
  • Harvard Round 1: Sept. 7
    in 4 weeks
  • Wharton Rd 1: Sept. 7
    in 4 weeks
  • Duke Early Action: Sept. 7
    in 4 weeks
  • Darden Early Action: Sept. 8
    in 4 weeks
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   

Brave Supplicants' latest reviews on The 'Snark


2020-21 r1 candidate
Apr 19, 2021
 by 2020-21 r1 candidate on Waitlist Assist
Please get this if you have the resources!

I would recommend EssaySnark to every waitlisted candidate! I was waitlisted by one of HSW in R1 this... Read more

hopeful
Feb 11, 2021
 by hopeful on MBA Interview Prep: Custom Practice Questions
Helpful

Just wanted to say thank you for these questions! A lot of them were really tailored to my profile, ... Read more

George
Apr 10, 2020
 by George on EssaySnark
Great Starting Point

I thought getting over the GRE/GMAT hurdle was fairly straightforward--disciplined study then test execution... Read more






Not sure where to begin with EssaySnark?
Our Snark Selector
will tell you!



   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2022 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy

Where should you start with EssaySnark?

Which EssaySnark service is right for you? Answer a few questions to find out!

This field must be set to Everyone - then in the Settings -> HTML -> After Fields screen there's JavaScript to hide it.
Sending