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($) How the schools are adapting to coronavirus and what it means for you: MBA Round 2 decisions

March 24, 2020 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

As we discussed yesterday, many schools are extending deadlines for Round 3. If you’re an active Round 2 candidate, you’re also likely to see some impact from coronavirus.

While few have announced Round 2 admit decisions so far, it’s highly likely that they will be more generous in the time they allow accepted applicants to pay deposits and commit to matriculating at their school. A lot of colleges have been announcing an extra month for high school seniors to decide — though other colleges have intentionally kept their original deposit schedule in place.

If a bschool gives you more time to decide whether to accept their offer, does that really help you?

It’s a nice gesture, but it could be only prolonging the agony.

In our experience, the hardest part of the process for many BSers is the final one, where they have to actually decide on which school they’re going to attend.

Having multiple offers may seem like a wonderful thing when you’re outside the process.

But even in a normal year, getting admitted to more than one school can be tremendously stressful. It’s your LIFE that you’re deciding on, in the most high-stakes way possible.

And this year?

Gah!!

If you get accepted to multiple schools, then not only do you need to evaluate the financial aid packages that they offer, and whether School X without money is better than School Y with a scholarship, but you also have to figure out if the school you’re leaning towards will even have an on-campus class when August rolls around.

The admissions teams are gearing up to answer those questions as best they can before they start these admissions phone calls in the next week or so, but in most cases, they’re not actually going to be able to answer things very definitively.

You can expect to get questions from the admissions person about your situation and whether you’re still planning on going to bschool this year. They may try to feel out how likely it is for you to accept their offer, by inquiring about your current situation, whether you’ll be able to continue working at your job, or if you’ve even been laid off already, which some people unfortunately have. They’ll be taking notes on whatever you share with them, so that they can try to gain some visibility into the direction that the class will take and who might end up depositing or who probably will not.

And, they will definitely be using the waitlist. A lot.

There will be lots and lots and lots of you offered a spot on the waitlist in Round 2. Some schools have been massively overusing the waitlist in recent years. This year? It’s going to be through the roof.

If you got to the interview stage then there is a very strong chance that you’re going to be waitlisted. The schools might extend a few more offers than they normally would, because their models are just not that useful right now and they might want to hedge their bets in having more confirmed admits than usually rather than less. So the odds could be slightly better that you get in outright at many schools.

And 100% for sure, the odds are high that many people will be asked to hang out on the waitlist, instead of the school cutting them loose completely.

If you end up collecting a string of waitlists and no outright offers, then that’s going to S-U-C-K because you won’t be able to make any decisions at all on your life until most likely middle of June. That’s our prediction of the earliest that any school would be able to start issuing offers to their waitlisted candidates. Could happen by end of May, but it’s just going to be too murky all the way around for these schools to make concrete calls on those they have kept waiting in the wings.

If you end up accepted at any school that you really like, but waitlisted at one or two others, then our advice is to take the offer that you have in hand, and don’t try to play the odds with the waitlisted programs. That’s just our opinion, sight-unseen, without having looked at your profile or understanding the schools. If you can stomach the uncertainty, then sure, you could hang out on the waitlist elsewhere to see what happens. But we believe it may be tough to get in from the waitlist this year, as a general rule, since there will be so many others on the waitlist with you.

As we said up top, it’s very likely that many schools will give you more time to make your final decision if you were accepted during the regular Round 2 cycle (not, though, if you’re accepted under the extended/rolling coronavirus rounds that many schools have announced). So, if School A accepts you, and School B waitlists you, then you probably will have some breathing room before you need to make a decision on School A and pay a deposit. And, even if the school does not have a formal policy of extending their deposit date, you could call them up and ask for an extension. It is almost guaranteed that schools will be flexible on this in the current year. Their willingness to be flexible could even extend to possibly refunding deposits if you decide not to go to school at all this year. Or, as we mentioned in a previous post, they are likely to consider a request to defer to next year, which typically would have been refused outright.

So much is changing. We’ll do our best to share insights and impact and consequences for how these changes might affect you in your MBA ambitions. And feel free to leave questions in any post if you have a situation you want input on.

Stay safe, BSer!

 
 

Coronavirus and the MBA

  • Coronavirus and scholarship opportunities
  • When will business schools reopen for on-campus instruction?
  • Coronavirus: Standardized testing and Round 3 apps
  • Coronavirus and You: What if you’re graduating this Spring 2020?

 
 

EssaySnark’s Guide to Getting Off the Waitlist
EssaySnark's  Guide to Getting Off the Waitlist

 
 
Hopefully though, this is the one you need!! The Accepted Student’s Guide! What you need to know after you get admitted to business school
EssaySnark's Admitted Student's MBA Readiness and Celebration Guide
 
 

Filed Under: coronavirus, deciding on a school (multiple offers), waitlist/deferred decision Tagged With: predictions

« Previous: ($) How the schools are adapting to coronavirus and what it means for you: Standardized testing and Round 3 apps
Next: A study in contrasts: Round 3 coronavirus changes in MBA admissions at Darden and Tuck »

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From a BSer January 2020:
"love the guide books!"


CLASS OF 2023 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

     
    The 2020 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2023 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2020-2021 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the main essay, the EQ Endorsement and Pick Six!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2023 essays!
   
    The 2020-2021 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2020-2021 applications
   
    The 2020 Harvard MBA Application Guide - completely overhauled and updated for the coronavirus era!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
    The 2020-2021 Duke Essay Guide - covers the 25 Random Things essay and all the rest too!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Duke Fuqua - up to date for the current season!
   
    The 2020-2021 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the contacts for two references, and additional tips for the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2023!
   
    The 2020-2021 Tuck Essay Guide has been refreshed with latest insights and advice for your essays about "investing generously" and "why Tuck"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Dartmouth Tuck MBA - completely overhauled for 2020, to help you demonstrate how you are nice, aware, etc stuff!
   
    The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2023 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2020-2021
   
    The 2020-2021 Chicago Booth MBA Application Guide - ready to go to support your Class of 2023 essay strategy!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Chicago Booth for this year's MBA app!
   
    The 2020 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with new tips for 2020!
   
    The 2020 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values' -- plus tips on 2020 world events and applicability to your essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - updated and revised for the new realities of 2020!    
      The 2020 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2023
   
    The 2020-2021 UCLA Anderson MBA Application Guide - updated for Class of 2023 on "impact"!
SnarkStrategies Guide for 
UCLA
   
   

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What were we snarking about at this time in past years?

  • 2020: Becoming your future self
  • 2019: What's going on with Fuqua?
  • 2019: ($) What we've seen with a few "bad MBA interview" situations
  • 2018: Good luck today if you're hoping for Harvard!
  • 2018: Just a reminder...
  • 2017: Just in case you are growing impatient....
  • 2017: What matters most is integrity.
  • 2016: Preparing for bschool (and interviews, and sorta life in general)
  • 2014: Now that your apps are in: Who had the best essay questions?
  • 2013: And the award for Worst MBA Essays goes to...
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