What would you do if you were approaching the business school application process and you suddenly received the opportunity to be a part of a prestigious post-graduate program prior to the MBA? Would you delay the application process for business school? Would you wait until the next year to apply to B-school? Would you walk away from the post-graduate program? I can think of many questions that might go through someone’s mind and this is precisely the situation that one of my readers describes in his email posted below.

The message below is from one of my Platinum members and is a follow up to an email that he sent me a few months ago. I really should apologize to him because I try to get back to my premium members within a couple of days, but I’ve been so busy with other things that I haven’t had a chance to do so. Now that I’ve had a chance to get to his email, I’ve tried to think through an approach for him to evaluate his decision and, hopefully, come out to a conclusion with which he is comfortable.

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JG wrote:

Hi there Marquis!!

It’s been quite a while since i last wrote you regarding my GMAT. I’ve been swamped since then. It seems that the only company that is experiencing an upturn here in Spain is Cisco, and it is not even Spanish! How is your new job? It certainly looks like i am not the only one having quite a bit to bite latelly…

During these months of juggling work, passing the TOEFL ibt (116/120 thankfully i keep getting good grades) and starting with the applications (where i still have a lot of work to put in) i have been able to injure my right shoulder while rock climbing and i will need to have surgery in it. Well, to be fair, it was quite busted up because of rugby already and it just finally gave up. Another two screws to make company to the ones that i already have on my left shoulder.

While i have more or less shortlisted already some schools i am more or less sure that they have something that makes them appealing (Stanford, Columbia, Harvard, NYU and Chicago’s Booth) there are some others that i still need to check into and see if they fit what i am looking for (Berkeley, UCLA and MIT, mainly).

This said, i have just received notice that i may have the opportunity to pursuit some executive education from the London School of Economics. It is a 150 hour program during 10 weeks between October and December. It mixes some economics and political science, which makes it quite interesting (in my opinion). While it would be partially funded by an organization from my region promoting young professionals’ development i would still need to fund an additional 7k euros (apparently the program it is worth 25k, which compared with the cost of LBS’s MBA, 50k puts some perspective into it).

Now, this is where a new couple of questions come in. After all my research, your blog… I have found that everyone agrees that the first deadline is the best to apply if you are ready to. If i am accepted there i would know late September, with enough notice to work it into my essays and CV. However, i wouldn’t have any grades from the courses yet, as i would just be starting the program.

For what i know, that school is quite prestigious, and just getting accepted is a boost to any CV. However, do you think that applying in the first round just being accepted outweights applying in the second round with some (hopefully) good grades?

I hope you don’t feel i am abusing your good faith sending you these emails, i have actually found during this process (that is in reality just starting) that i always find your opinions well thought and on point.

Best regards!!

JG

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My video response:

Applying in Round 1 or 2 with acceptance from post-grad program from Marquis Parker on Vimeo.

Key points:
- Is it better to apply in Round 1 with the London School of Economics program acceptance or in Round 2 with “hopefully” good grades?
–> Go for Round 1
—-> I believe that it’s always better to be in the first batch of applicants in order to be compared to the other people within Round 1, as opposed to applicants in both Round 1 and 2
—-> Waiting until Round 2 to apply means that you would be trying to complete the LSE program while writing several business school applications at the same time, which will be a challenge
—-> There’s no guarantee of getting good grades in the program; The benefit from waiting until Round 2 to apply may not outweigh the benefit from being a Round 1 applicant.

- Aim for Round 1 for your top three schools and Round 2 for the others
–> Leverage the LSE program acceptance in Round 1 applications and forward grades later as a supplementary submission