Most of the leading business schools are set to close the 2016-17 admissions season with deadlines starting in September with Harvard Business School (HBS) among the early birds, having set its round one deadline on September 7, two days earlier than last year’s cut off date.
Cambridge Judge Business School has set the deadline on September 9 along with Said Business School of Oxford University. Judge has also set the interview date on October 24.
Yale’s School of Management inched up its first deadline by two days as well to September 14. Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business has put it on September 21 as also the London School of Business (LBS). MIT Sloan has a September 15 deadline and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School on September 27.
Meanwhile, Columbia Business School has a rolling decisions schedule with an early decision deadline of October 5 where applicants have to agree that once accepted they will attend Columbia and withdraw their applications from other schools.
All those planning to apply for a merit fellowship at Columbia will have to submit their applications by January 4, 2017. The school also offers a January entry, an option availed of by about 30% of its full-time MBA students. The deadline for the January 2017 intake is October 5 this year.
Business schools take about two or three months to process an application and convey the decision. Thus, at HBS, candidates will get a decision only on December 7.
Unlike most schools that follow three rounds of application deadlines, Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business has four rounds, starting with an early action date of October 5 and a final deadline on April 4.
Emory University’s Goizueta School, which offers both one-year and a two-year MBA program, also has four deadlines. The first round ends on October 14, round two on November 22 and round three on January 4. The fourth and final deadline is March 10.
Along with the different application deadlines, candidates have to mindful of their interview dates. At Kellogg School of Management, round 1 applicants are to schedule their admission interview two days after the first round deadline of September 21. Kellogg follows a system of interviewing every applicant unlike most other schools who call candidates for interviews only after reviewing the applications.
EARLIEST DEADLINES AT TOP SCHOOLS FOR 2016-2017
| School | Deadline | Decision | Essay Release |
| Harvard Business School | Sept. 7, 2016 | Dec. 7, 2016 | Yes |
| Cambridge (Judge) | Sept. 9, 2016 (Stage 1) | Oct. 24, 2016 (Interview Date) | Yes |
| Oxford (Said) | Sept. 9, 2016 | Oct. 14, 2016 | Yes |
| Duke (Fuqua) | Sept. 13, 2016 (Early Action) | Oct. 20, 2016 | Yes |
| Yale SOM | Sept. 14, 2016 | Dec. 6, 2016 | Yes |
| MIT (Sloan) | Sept. 15, 2016 | Dec. 19, 2016 | Yes |
| Cornell (Johnson) | Sept. 15, 2016 (One-Year MBA Early Action) | Oct. 10, 2016 (Initial Notification / Rolling Admissions) | No |
| Stanford GSB | Sept. 21, 2016 | December, 2016 | Yes |
| Northwestern (Kellogg) | Sept. 21, 2016 | 14-Dec-16 | Yes |
| London Business School | Sept. 21, 2016 | 13-Nov-16 | Yes |
| Chicago (Booth) | Sept. 22, 2016 | Dec. 8, 2016 | Yes |
| Pennsylvania (Wharton) | Sept. 27, 2016 | Dec. 17, 2016 | Yes |
| Notre Dame (Mendoza) | Sept. 27, 2016 (Early Decision) | Nov. 11, 2016 | Yes |
| UC-Berkeley (Haas) | Sept. 29, 2016 | Dec. 15, 2016 | Yes |
| Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) | Oct. 2, 2016 | Dec. 14, 2016 | Yes |
| Michigan (Ross) | Oct. 3, 2016 | Dec. 16, 2016 | Yes |
| IESE Business School | Oct. 4, 2016 | Nov. 25, 2016 | Yes |
| Virginia (Darden) | Oct. 4, 2016 | NA | Yes |
| Columbia Business School | Oct. 5, 2016 (Early Decision & Jan. ’17) | Rolling Admissions | Yes |
| Dartmouth (Tuck) | Oct. 5, 2016 (Early Action) | Dec. 16, 2016 | Yes |
| Cornell (Johnson) | Oct. 5, 2016 | Nov. 15, 2016 (Initial Notification/Rolling Admissions) | No |
| Rice (Jones) | Oct. 5, 2016 | Dec. 15, 2016 | Yes |
| UCLA (Anderson) | Oct. 6, 2016 | Dec. 15, 2016 | Yes |
| Georgetown (McDonough)< | Oct. 10, 2016 | Dec. 20, 2016 | Yes |
| Texas-Austin (McCombs) | Oct. 11, 2016 | Dec. 20, 2016 | Yes |
| Duke (Fuqua) | Oct. 13, 2016 (Round 1) | Dec. 16, 2016 | Yes |
| UNC (Kenan-Flagler) | Oct. 14, 2016 | Dec. 12, 2016 | Yes |
| Emory (Goizueta) | Oct. 14, 2016 | Dec. 1, 2016 | Yes |
| NYU (Stern) | Oct. 15, 2016 | Dec. 15, 2016 | Yes |
| Indiana (Kelley) | Oct. 15, 2016 (Early Round) | Dec. 20, 2016 | Yes |
| Univ. of Washington (Foster) | Oct. 15, 2016 | Dec. 15, 2016 | Yes |
| USC (Marshall) | Oct. 15, 2016 | Dec. 31, 2016 | Yes |
| Indian School of Business | Oct. 15, 2016 | Dec. 5, 2016 | Yes |
| Southern Methodist (Cox) | Oct. 17, 2016 | Rolling Admissions | Yes |
| INSEAD | Oct. 21, 2016 (Sept. ’17 Intake) | Nov. 25, 2016 | Yes |
| Cambridge (Judge) | Oct. 21, 2016 (Round 2) | Dec. 5, 2016 (Interview Date) | Yes |
| Vanderbilt (Owen) | Oct. 24, 2016 | Dec. 9, 2016 | Yes |
| Oxford (Said) | Oct. 28, 2016 (Stage 2) | Dec. 9, 2016 | Yes |
| Babson College (Olin) | Oct. 31, 2016 | Dec. 16, 2016 | Yes |
| Notre Dame (Mendoza) | Nov. 1, 2016 (Round 1) | Dec. 16, 2016 | Yes |
| Dartmouth (Tuck) | Nov. 2, 2016 (November Round) | Feb. 10, 2017 | Yes |
Source: Business school websites * For September of 2016 intake
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