Round 2 vs Round 3

[Cdeneo]

Hi Stacy, Amy,

I am in a dilemma and would like your advice on the same.

I am looking at two top 10 programs that I would really like to get into but each are for two different terms/start dates -

School 1: I plan to apply to this program for the Spring 2009 start (Round 1 deadline: March'08). I should know if I got accepted or not by end of May 2008.

School 2: I plan to apply to this program for the Fall 2008 start (Round 2 deadline: Jan'08) and should know if I got accepted or not by end of March 2008.

The issue I face is the following:
School 1 will let me know by end of May 2008 if I got in or not.

School 2's decision will come out by end of March 2008 and I need to get back to them in a month's time. So essentially, I would need to get back to school 2 if accepted before I know if I got into my School 1 choice

I am contemplating if it makes sense to apply in round 3 for my School 2 choice (Round 3 deadline: end of Feb) since the decision for round 3 applications for School 2 will come out at the same time as my School 1 decision (end of May 2008).

My only concern with doing a round 3 application is that I might have a tougher chance getting in since the school might have already accepted enough people from my profile (engineer, working in the software field, etc).

I would be equally happy to get in to my School 2 choice if I have a better shot in Round 2 vs Round 3.

I would really appreciate if you could advice the best route to take in this situation and throw some light on Round 2 vs Round 3 applications.

Thanks!

Best Regards,
Cdeneo

[Amy]

Hi Cdeneo,

For most US schools, round 3 is not a great idea. The round gets much, much more competitive because most applicants have applied and been admitted by the time round 3 rolls around. I would avoid round 3 if at all possible.

If you are admitted to school 2 and accept that offer of admission, you will send them a deposit to hold your space in the class. If you end up not attending, they will keep your deposit, but other than that, it's your choice.

Good luck!

Amy

[Cdeneo]

Thanks Amy for your guidance with this.

I had one more related question - how about applying to schools in Europe for round 3, does the same apply to European business schools as well?

I am looking at applying to London Business School for round 3 - would it get much tougher in round 3 there as it does for top US schools?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,
Cdeneo