safety schools

($) A Stanford applicant case study: Avoidable mistakes

October 21, 2019 by EssaySnark - Discusses Stanford GSB, Duke Fuqua

Reblahgging because based on some profiles and BSers we’ve seen, this may be useful again!! We got an essay submitted for a freebie review last November and we spent a day reviewing it for everyone right before Round 2 (Stanford “What matters most and why?”) (tl;dr: getting rejected from Stanford is no indication of...

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($) MIT and NYU are not safety schools

January 4, 2019 by EssaySnark - Discusses MIT Sloan, NYU Stern

But they do happen to be schools with Round 2 deadlines in the future. Does that mean you should apply? It would be in our self-interest to say YES! APPLY! Because then we could try and sell you the need for some consulting services to increase your chances of success. But that’s pretty distasteful don’t...

($) “Why don’t you ever talk about my school?”

March 24, 2016 by EssaySnark

In Round 2 we worked with a Brave Supplicant who had executed on a well-rounded strategy, with a small handful of three applications so that they could focus and do the work needed to produce a quality job on each (and also because there wasn’t much time from when they began), with one stretch school,...

($) When your safety school is actually a stretch school.

March 8, 2016 by EssaySnark

This is another one of those EssaySnark posts that’s going to come across to some of you as a little harsh. But it’s again something we see happen All. The. Time. It goes like this: BSer applies to a handful of schools. A common combo is something like Wharton, Duke, and UNC. Without even having...

($) Reality Check Part 2: Prudent and practical advice for all active MBA applicants

November 19, 2015 by EssaySnark

We turned into DepressingSnark yesterday when talking about the true implications for you of how hypercompetitive things are this year and today is a continuation yet focused even more on the practical. Today we’re giving advice about WHAT YOU SHOULD BE DOING in response to this new reality. It’s a crazy situation when we’re seeing...

($) “How many apps should I be doing?” – Round 2 Edition

November 2, 2015 by EssaySnark

A common trait of procrastinators is, they’re optimists. In fact, it’s one theory behind why certain people are chronically late; they’re just overly optimistic on how long it will take them to get where they need to go. It’s not that they’re bad people. They just have trouble dealing with reality, in this one certain...

“I’m so excited! I got into my safety school!”

August 5, 2015 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

…said no BSer, ever. The whole idea of “safety school” is, to EssaySnark, totally demoralizing and depressing. Look at it like this: If you are not excited about going to a particular business school, and are only applying there because you are lacking confidence in your chances to such an extent that you’re willing to […]

($) stretch schools

October 9, 2012 by EssaySnark

We left you hanging a few weeks ago after a discussion of the myth of SAFETY SCHOOLS. Now we’ll finally make good on our promise to talk about STRETCH SCHOOLS. It will probably come as no surprise to you that EssaySnark thinks “stretch schools” are a myth, too. Or not so much a “myth” —...

($) stretch schools and safety schools

September 7, 2012 by EssaySnark

There’s this soul-crushing concept bandied about out there in MBA admissions land: the SAFETY SCHOOL. You’re applying to some cream-of-the-crop brand name bschools and you want to hedge your bets, so you’re going to toss in a school at the opposite end of the rankings spectrum for good measure – just to make sure you...