Once again, Harvard Business School hit the start button on the 2022-2023 MBA application season, posting a first-round cutoff for applications to its Class of 2025 for Sept. 7. And with the Harvard announcement, other school deadlines are tumbling in (we will update this list as soon as more schools disclose their new deadline dates).

For applicants to HBS, there is one rather substantial change. The school placed a 900-word limit on the single essay required of all MBA applicants. Previously, candidates could write as long or as short as they liked to the question: “As we review your application, what more would you like us to know as we consider your candidacy for the Harvard Business School MBA program?”

Chad Losee, managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, said the change occurred due to feedback from candidates. “We have heard from some applicants that, without a word limit, sometimes questions (and stress) arise about the ‘right’ word length,” he wrote in a blog post. “We hope that including a limit provides applicants with a little more direction and eliminates the stress about how much is too much to write.”

‘This admissions season offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get into a top MBA’ 

Generally, that’s the kind of tweak that most business schools are making as their new applications and deadlines go live for the students who will enter their programs in the fall of 2023. It promises to be one of the more fascinating MBA application seasons. Many believe that this year could the best chance in a generation to get into an M7 business school like Harvard, Stanford GSB, Wharton, MIT, Columbia, Booth, or Kellogg, particularly for either U.S. domestic candidates or those from Europe……

The reason: Many schools are witnessing double-digit declines in applications from domestic applicants who are finding plenty of job opportunities in a robust, though uncertain, economy. Employers have been aggressive in offering promotions and pay increases to keep their young professional talent from running off to graduate school.

“We believe the upcoming admissions season of 2022/23 to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” believes Matt Symonds, a co-founder of Fortina Admissions. “While round 1 application volume will likely be down unless you are an Indian male engineer, a recession in the second half of the year will see round 2 picking up again. But the MBA admissions offices of Boston, Palo Alto and Philadelphia can only work with what they have in front of them at any given time, and will still look to fill half of next year’s class in round 1 with the lower volumes they are likely to receive. Instead of a one in 10 chance at HBS, your admissions odds may be considerably better.”

Important MBA admissions advice: Apply early in Rounds 1 or 2

In general, it’s best to apply in round one or round two because fewer classroom seats are already taken in those rounds. Later deadlines are not only more competitive; they are often used by admission officers to “craft” a class and fill seats with students to increase the overall diversity of the class. Stanford Graduate School of Business also points out that the earlier round one and two deadlines provide prospective students with “ample time to complete any recommended quantitative preparation prior to arrival on campus; access to the on-campus housing lottery including Stanford GSB Residences; additional time to complete the visa application process, and the opportunity to attend Admit Weekend (there is no Admit Weekend for Round 3).”

Many schools that have made MBA admissions either test optional or are granting test waivers are expected to continue those policies. That is already true at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. “This is the third application cycle in which Darden has offered text flexibility,” points out Dawna Clarke, senior assistant dean of admissions. “Our test waiver policy is an acknowledgement that not all stellar applicants are equally stellar standardized test-takers. I’m proud that we have broadened our admissions criteria to be inclusive of other indicators of academic preparedness.”

In addition to its continuation of test waivers, Darden also is extending a range of what it calls “test flexibility options,” allowing applicants to submit a range of test scores. In a continued effort to ensure standardized test scores are not an impediment to pursuing an MBA, Darden accepts standardized tests including the GMAT, GRE, MCAT, LSAT and the Executive Assessment.

How successful applicants gained their admits

All of these top schools are highly selective. They reject for admission the vast majority of candidates who apply. And sometimes the odds of acceptance from a self-selecting pool of high achievers can be daunting. Last year, for example. the top ten MBA programs in the U.S. received 57,975 applications and admitted 9,484 candidates for an acceptance rate of just 18.4% (see ‘The Window’ Closes: Acceptance Rates At The Top 50 U.S. MBA Programs).

So what’s the most important factor that contributed to an acceptance at a top school? We asked members of the Class of 2022 what gave them an edge in gaining their admit letters (see We Asked MBAs How They Got Into Top Schools. Here’s What They Told Us). While the answers were as varied as the students’, several common themes emerged. One was doing due diligence on each school targeted by the applicant. “I made sure I knew those programs like the back of my hand,” says Sam Buck who graduated in the Class of 2022 from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. “I could rattle off the names of professors I wanted to do research with, clubs I hoped to join, and classes I couldn’t wait to take. I didn’t select the schools I applied to based on rankings; I selected them based on fit.”

Luke Elder took a similar approach in applying to Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. “I took a deep dive into Kellogg’s professors, course catalog, extracurriculars, and more to give myself a real-life picture of Kellogg as well as to understand the types of prospective students that Kellogg was interested in admitting,” he says.

An asterisk indicates an estimate based on last year’s dates because the school has not formally announced a date for when it will notify applicants of interview invites.

An asterisk indicates an estimate based on last year’s dates because the school has not formally announced a date for when it will notify applicants of interview invites.

An asterisk indicates an estimate based on last year’s dates because the school has not formally announced a date for when it will notify applicants of interview invites.