In an interesting post to its Admissions Blog last week, Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) implored prospective applicants to its third admissions round to get off the fence and go ahead and press submit.
Concerned that potential applicants could be dissuaded by misperceptions that their chance of being admitted is low in the final round, the Palo Alto school sought to correct the misperceptions. “Historically, we’ve found that applications follow demographic cycles more than economic cycles,” the post claimed, countering the often reported statistic that business school applications soar in times of economic hardship.
“We worry that some great people may delay applying because of these misperceptions,” the post read. Stanford GSB is particularly concerned that prospective applicants will think that there will be no spots left for those who apply in the third round. “This simply isn’t true,” the post stated.
Of course, the final round typically is smaller than the first two. But the school assures that it does admit excellent third round candidates, including its current director of MBA admissions, Derrick Bolton.
The real question to ask yourself is when you want to enroll, the school advised. If the answer is September 2009, then the time to apply is now. “If you’re admitted, great. If not, then you’re in a better position for September 2010 having already begun the self-reflection process for your first-round application,” read the post.
It does seem unlikely that Stanford GSB would devote a blog post to encouraging round three applicants if there weren’t slots to fill. As the post points out, the school can’t admit you if you don’t apply.
The deadline for third-round applications to Stanford GSB is April 8th. Good luck!
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