Most Business Schools receive thousands of applications every year. Yet MBA programs are usually much smaller than undergraduate classes, enabling admissions officers to be more selective about the composition of each class. Top MBA programs select as few as 7% of applicants in a year, due to class size restrictions and people apply blindly to top-ranked programs.

Having recently been through the MBA admissions process myself, and having worked closely with the Admissions Officers as a member of my school’s Admission Outreach Council, I can share some insider knowledge that maybe of help.

Since U.S. schools have almost perfected the art of MBA programs, many non-U.S. schools follow the same model beginning with the admissions process itself – making most of this relevant to applications to non-U.S. schools as well.

Preparation and Research

Start Early, Plan Ahead

If you’re thinking about an MBA you’re probably working right now. If you’re still an undergrad, consider working for a few years first and gaining some valuable experience.

Planning in terms of one to two years early on in your career is never easy. Most admissions departments try to make the task a little easier by publishing deadlines (or estimates) as early as possible. You will find that even this is not sufficient considering that the routine advice is to begin 18 months ahead of your target deadline. However the previous year’s deadlines provide a good approximation.

Prepare for and Take the Tests

Just about any MBA program will ask for the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) scores, and most will ask for TOEFL or an equivalent – sometimes even if you studied in English for a significant time.

Numerous resources exist to help. A good place to start might be the U.S. – Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission where you can get counseling, refer and borrow books, and find out about tutors specializing in the exams you need to take. In addition there are online resources as well; but be more selective about these. www.mba.com is the official site for the GMAT and a good place to start, with lots of advice and free practice tests. A month or two of practice should do for the GMAT even if you’re working.

If you’re fresh out of undergrad or still in it, the good news is you’re probably better prepared for the exam than the people in the workforce whose test-taking skills are rusty.

Choosing Universities

Universities charge (a lot) for the honor of allowing you to apply. Being selective will save you money and help you focus on what you really want out of your university, your courses, and your business school experience.

Go Directly to the Source

All universities are happy to send you free brochures ahead of the next admissions cycle. The brochure for your target year may not yet be available if you’re doing research early; but so little changes between years that it will still help you to have a look at the current one to give you an idea of the school’s nature.

Do Your Research

The official www.mba.com has a school search function for research purposes. Sites like www.princetonreview.com are also well-suited to this task. Online articles and school rankings of varying quality and with varying criteria and audiences in mind are plentiful. Most lists provide careful analysis about disciplines, class sizes, costs and the like. Pick a couple of lists that are based on what you are looking for.

Criteria

Consider criteria completely outside the academic area during your research. For some people location can be important for reasons such as climate, convenience, proximity to relatives, or even future career options.

Cost is another perfectly good reason to think carefully about which schools you apply to. Universities have varying financial aid policies and degrees of generosity.

Make Your Choices

Soon you’ll have dozens of likely choices. As soon as you feel comfortable, cut the school list down to five. Yes, five! Make sure you have two top-ranked schools (not more than three), a couple of top-20 or top-50 schools that have very competitive programs or concentrations that suit you, and one ’safety school’ on your list.

Safety schools are those that you feel extremely confident about getting into, and wouldn’t mind settling for if all your other applications get lost in the mail. There is absolutely no shame in choosing to go to your safety school; but the good news is very few people ever need to since at least one other school will make an offer.

Why five? Well, it’s easy to remember. It’s also less than ten. Limiting yourself to five schools will sharpen your criteria, but also give you the flexibility to include schools that only emerge near the very end of your search.

Make Contact Early

Once you’ve settled on your top five picks, or if you’re having difficulty choosing, the last seven or so, don’t be afraid to email the Admissions Departments for information. Staff members are a lot less busy outside the main admissions cycle and willing to answer questions. Making contact at this point will get you more detailed information and might ensure you are remembered when it’s time to start reading through the piles of applications.

It goes without saying to be polite in all your communications, stick to the point, and avoid long email chains – it will be appreciated.

While You Wait for the Application

There is much you can do between taking the tests and waiting for applications to arrive.

Draft Your Resume

U.S. norms are different to what we are used to. Be extremely concise – one page is best, two at the most.

Contact Referees

Contact your choices for references early to make sure they are willing and available to devote enough time to write a solid reference.

A little coaching never hurts. Provide a few phrases or mention what particular points you would like highlighted – this helps you build up a more cohesive application.

Get Your Documents Together

If you cannot remember what year your father graduated from university, how many employees your first workplace had, or how much you paid in taxes last year, start putting that information together. Make contact with your undergraduate university as they will most likely have to send transcripts directly to your target schools. Obtain translations of non-English documents.

Create a new Email Address

You can expect a fair amount of email from universities so it’s a good idea to dedicate an email address specifically for these correspondences. Note that some companies may have policies against using company accounts for such tasks.

Figure Out Your Life

It may sound flippant, but ‘now’ is a good time for you to think hard about several things. Is this the best time in your life to take this step? Are your finances in order? Is there anything happening in the next few years that you might need to plan around, like marriage perhaps? How does business school fit into your career plan and your life plan? What exactly do you want to get out of it?

Thinking about these questions, without necessarily forcing yourself to come up with answers, will help you focus and write your essays.

Pick Your Application Round

Schools organize their admissions in stages, usually three or more. Examples of deadlines for the Class of 2011 at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) and Harvard Business School (HBS) are:

This format is not just designed for your convenience; getting your application in at different points says several things about you to the admissions officers, so be strategic about picking your target round for each school.

First Round

If there are any universities you absolutely want to go to with no reservations whatsoever, consider applying in the first round. This is very early in the admissions cycle so you need to have all your ducks lined up.

The rewards are that you’re competing against a much smaller pool of applicants, and Admissions Officers have more time to examine your application; they are starting with an empty classroom to fill; you are sending a clear signal that this is where you want to study; and you will hear back early from the universities.

Second Round

Waiting for the second round helps you put more time into your research; gives you time to receive your test scores if you didn’t take them early enough or retook them; leaves you more time to get your application, essays and references in order; and perhaps leaves you time to hear back from some first-round choices.

As you can see, there aren’t a lot of reasons to wait for the second round if you’re absolutely sure you’re ready to apply to your top-choice universities in round one. This is also the most common time for everyone to apply, meaning many more applications to be examined, and a wider pool to be compared against. Several seats might have already been filled during the first round, and the Admissions Officers aren’t sure as to how badly you want to get in – despite what your essays say.

Third and Later Rounds

There’s a procrastinator in all of us, and there are always perfectly good reasons why you may miss the first two rounds. Your scores may not have arrived yet, your former boss hasn’t got around to writing a recommendation yet, or perhaps this was one of the universities you had somehow missed in your earlier research. Later rounds also give you the opportunity to hedge your bets with your first-round applications – the deadlines for responses from most universities are unlikely to overlap with anyone else’s later rounds.

However there are potential drawbacks to waiting. Some universities, in some years, nearly fill their capacities in the first two rounds. You are again competing with everyone else who waited for this round, for fewer seats than before.

By now Admissions Officers have filled most of the seats in their classrooms and can afford to be picky, holding out for the outstanding individual who they feel will be the cherry on their cake. You most likely waited for this round for a reason – you’re not that keen on this university anyway – and Admissions Officers have a sixth sense for this. Finally, many Admissions Officers must surely experience essay fatigue after reading their umpteenth “What Matters Most, and Why” essay – is your essay really strong enough to make them sit up and pay attention?

Interestingly, you might stand a small chance of hitting the jackpot in later rounds. Theories persist that Admissions Officers set themselves rough quotas in different categories. These might include age, work experience, undergraduate degree, social background, country, ethnicity and gender. The theory goes that as the admissions cycle draws to an end, officials start looking for individuals to fill the particular “buckets” that remain unfilled. If your application ticks the right boxes, the theorists say you’ll be laughing all the way to the orientation sessions.

Most admissions officers hotly deny such theories (perhaps with potential lawsuits in mind), but this might be some small comfort for those willing to gamble, or with few other choices remaining.

Don’t be Afraid to Skip a Cycle

If your application is simply not coming together, or you missed a target round you were dead set on making, all is not lost. Most Admissions Departments advise students that the best round to apply in is the one you are ready in. If you are not happy with any part of your application or with the choices remaining to you, think hard about waiting out the rest of the current cycle and starting fresh next year.

Yes, you will be one year older. Yes, you put a lot of effort in for this year, some of which cannot be salvaged for applying to even the same universities next year. It’s always hard to walk away from sunk costs, but there are still several reasons to skip the current cycle.

You can give yourself more time to apply in the round you want. Most of your test scores will still be valid next year. You also have another year to think about whether you really want to drop out of the workforce for as long as your course would take. Having gone through the process once, you are better prepared for the next time around, with at least one less thing to worry about – taking exams.

The Application

The first step is to figure out which applications you want to submit in which rounds. Applications may vary significantly in the amount of effort required, so it pays to glance through them before setting them up in the order in which you plan to tackle them.

Go for the Easy Wins

All applications have some common questions asking for basic biographical information. It pays to have some answers pre-written somewhere so all you need to do is copy and paste, making adjustments as necessary.

Cut and Paste Essays at Your Own Peril

Essays are a totally different proposition to basic information fields. Every Admissions Department tries to set itself apart by thinking up new and creative topics for their questions. You would do much better to write to the topic at hand, rather than try to twist the topics to fit your prefabricated essays – particularly because the word limits are usually extremely tight.

Any hint of taking shortcuts or using filler text is sure to work against you. Imagine the reaction of a Harvard admissions officer reading the phrase “Stanford is my top choice for several reasons…”

Honesty is the Best Policy

Admissions Officers back up a nose for dishonesty with serious research. Though most schools operate under honor codes that place great trust on the applicant, audits do take place and some markers are just impossible to hide. Specialist agencies exist that can verify documents and information provided.

The risk that some white lie might be investigated and cast doubt on your entire application is just not worth the effort that goes into the application. Have the confidence in yourself that you can easily set yourself apart from the crowd by carefully highlighting your own merits.

The author J. Charitha Ratwatte (Junior) is entering the second year of his MBA program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, California.