It is that time of the year again. Soon I will be drafting essays, pursuing my recommenders and trying to get all the documents I will need to submit my applications next fall ready.
Luckily, I realized I wanted to do an MBA kind of soon, over a year ago, and started researching about GMAT, reading other applicants blogs and attending events hosted by several business schools. Everything so I could be ready to apply in fall 2014.
But I have realized that is not the common thing, at least not as common as I would have expected. One of the things that stroke me as surprising when meeting other fellow applicants last year was the fact that many of them hadn´t taken GMAT or TOEFL or decided to which schools they wanted to apply by mid-summer (and they wanted to apply in R1).
Of course, it is completely possible to achieve success with little time to prepare, and an early start does not guarantee a letter of admission. Nevertheless, I truly believe that anyone who intends to apply to a top business school would benefit from starting as soon as posible, for it is a very long and demanding process filled with uncertainty, and there are so many things that are out of our control. At least, every prospective applicant should get over with GMAT as soon as he realizes an MBA is what he wants to do, as GMAT is one f the main soures of stress when it comes to business school applications. That would avoid situations like not having enough time to retake if the score is not that good. I´ve seen that happening several times.
Moreover, considering the number os essays that every applicant has to write and the work that each one of them may require before being ready, it is advisable to always give yourself some extra time. Not all of as are as fast when it comes to select the best stories and putting them on paper on a compelling way. I think that there is already enough pressure without having to also rush your applications. Besides, all of us have other things to do aside from writing essays… don´t we?
Thus, I plan to start drafting my first essays some time around mid-june. I will most likely apply to four schools in the first round and considering the amount of work I will be facing this summer, the sooner the better. That will give me time to work carefully in each essay and application, and keep reseraching schools (you never know and R2 is around the corner).
I will tell you how it goes.
under prescription 
The same problem with me. I planned to apply first round, but gmat took more time than i realized.
You should always budget more time than you think you need. Re-writing essays and choosing your words widely for the application forms can take a lot more time than you expect, especially if you end up having to pivot part of the way through the process in response to new insights.
I know. Shit just happens))