Are Last-Minute MBA Applications Hopeless?
I’m writing this in New York City in the spring, when the sun is shining, the pigeons are frisky, and New Yorkers are somewhat less cranky than usual. Spring also means that the GMAT and MBA crowds have thinned out a little bit. Everybody knows that peak MBA application season is in the fall and early winter; if you’re calling a GMAT tutor in April or May, you’re probably a forward-looking planner with an eye on first-round MBA deadlines in September or October.
But then there are the last-minute scramblers who defy conventional wisdom and take the GMAT in the spring. They then suffer through a frenzied, abbreviated process of applying for MBA programs’ final deadlines in April or May.
You would think that this approach is completely hopeless, right? An application sent within a few hours of a fourth-round deadline in May couldn’t possibly succeed… right?
Last-Minute MBA Acceptance is Real… Kinda
Here’s the odd thing: over the years, a significant subset of our last-second applicants have been extremely successful.
One year, I spent the morning of May 15 frantically helping two former GMAT students edit their MBA application essays – just in time for 5:00 pm deadlines on May 15. I thought that neither of them had much of a chance with last-second applications, but both students were admitted to their first-choice programs.
More recently, one of my favorite students submitted a third-round “express” application to a solid program, and managed to receive a substantial scholarship — after being waitlisted by a number of schools of comparable quality during the first two rounds.
Another of our former tutoring students was invited to apply to an Ivy League MBA program in June. He was admitted just three weeks later, and matriculated in August – just eight weeks after he STARTED writing his application.
And my all-time favorite procrastinator — Mr. L, a former actor who has been mentioned on our website before — submitted a last-minute application for a one-year accelerated MBA program. Here’s the thing: he submitted the application two weeks AFTER the final deadline… and just one week before the start of classes in early May. And guess what? Somehow, he was admitted. He was accepted to the MBA program on a Friday, boarded a plane on Sunday, and started classes on Monday.
So how on earth did these applicants do it?
For starters, relatively few of the aforementioned applicants were targeting top-10 programs. We’re talking about solid programs at the fringes of the top 30 or 50 — think George Washington University or University of Florida or Carnegie Mellon, and not usually schools like HBS or Booth. And there’s a real reason why MBA programs – especially not-quite-elite programs – might admit seemingly improbable applicants at the last minute.
Understanding MBA Yield Rates
MBA programs that are strong but not super-elite often face a great deal of unpredictability during the spring: they simply don't know how many admitted students will actually choose to attend their school, which means that these programs may (or may not) have a bunch of empty slots at the end of admissions season.
The percentage of accepted applicants who actually enroll in a given program is called “yield,” and it’s diligently tracked by all MBA programs. As you might guess, the most prestigious schools have higher yield rates. Per data from Poets and Quants, Harvard’s yield sat comfortably at 85.2% in 2020. But hey, it’s Harvard. That’s about what you would expect.
Interestingly, though, other top schools may not have the perfect yield rates that you would imagine. The COVID-strained 2020 admissions cycle saw yield rates fall across the board, including at many top 10 programs. Stanford’s yield fell from 84.2% in 2019 to just 67% in 2020. Other so-called top-10 programs had low yield rates in 2020, including Sloan (34.7%), Booth (45.8%), and Kellogg (34.5%). And for the most part, yield rates were even worse for MBA programs outside of the top 10.
Due to low yield rates, MBA programs can get pretty desperate toward the end of the admissions cycle in May or June. MBA programs often have high fixed costs, and nobody wants to have an empty chair in the classroom.
So if a particular program has several unexpected vacancies, they might be forced into what I like to call “warm body mode.” Basically, they’ll admit nearly any (reasonably qualified) warm body who can provide a tuition check — even if the very same applicant would have been rejected (or waitlisted) by the very same program during earlier application rounds.
What Yield Rate Means For Your MBA Applications
With this in mind, your brain might be buzzing with strategies for using yield rates to your advantage. “I’ll just wait until the last second, Google which top-10 program has the lowest yield rate, apply in round 4, and get in! Thanks for the awesome plan, GMAT Ninjas!”
Ah, if only it were that easy.
Just in case you were thinking that the GMAT application process wasn’t complicated enough, here’s something else to consider: yield rates change every year. But unlike acceptance rates, yields aren’t very predictable. A low-yield year might be followed by one in which nearly every student enrolls after being accepted. Random events (you know, like a global pandemic starting in 2020) can skew yield significantly in one direction or another.
The upshot is that it’s basically impossible to proactively leverage yield rates to your advantage. Instead of trying to game the system, you should focus on the bright side of this little foray into MBA admissions stats: there’s a real (but unpredictable) chance that your last-minute MBA applications will succeed.
In other words, there’s reason to have some hope if you’re submitting a last-second application, especially if you’re targeting a non-elite program. If the MBA program has already filled (or nearly filled) their class, you’re probably screwed. But if the program is in “warm body mode,” you might be in luck, even if your GMAT or GRE score is below the MBA program’s average — as was the case for Mr. L and several of the other MBA candidates we’ve successfully coached through last-minute applications.
Once you decide to submit a late application, be friendly but persistent with your calls to the admissions office. Try to make a connection with the person who answers the phone, since he or she might be able to quickly get your case in front of a key decision-maker, even if the application deadline has already passed.
Whatever you do, don’t let the admissions committee think that you applied to their program on a whim. In your phone calls, emails, and essays, do everything you can to make it clear that the MBA program is actually a top choice for you; as with any MBA application, be sure to clearly explain why you've chosen that particular program, and make sure that your essays are polished and error-free. If you have to, hire an editor or an MBA admissions consultant to ensure that your work looks professional and convincing.
If you get a little bit lucky and you play your cards right, you might be among the blessed few who receive an acceptance in the spring... giving you the right to gloat in the general direction of your friends who are just starting to study for the GMAT.