Building the Perfect Deferred MBA Shortlist | dMBA Weekly Check-In: February 10, 2025
Your shortlist of programs will be your north star, guiding you to deferred MBA success. So, which schools are on yours?
Let me ask you a question.
Do you know which Deferred MBA programs you are applying to?
If so, how did you come to this decision?
Today, I want to help you come up with what I call your Application Shortlist: a refined group of programs that closely align with your career goals, values, and aspirations.
Before that, let’s take a look at some deferred MBA admissions events to keep on your radar…
In today’s email…
On Your Radar: This week’s deferred MBA admissions events
Tip of the Week: Refine your application shortlist
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On Your Radar
Here are some of the best events coming up in the next few weeks for deferred MBA applicants like you!
Kellogg (Northwestern): Kellogg Future Leaders Virtual Information Session
When: Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM CST
Where: Virtual
Details: Please join us for a virtual information session on the Kellogg Future Leaders deferred enrollment program. Kellogg admissions team members will give an overview of the program and provide context on the application itself.
Columbia (CBS): Deferred Enrollment Program Campus Visit
When: Tuesday, February 11, 2025, 1:15 PM to 3:15 PM EST
Where: Columbia Business School - Kravis Hall, 665 W 130th St, New York, NY 10027
Details: Join us for a Deferred Enrolled Program Campus Visit at Columbia Business School! Campus Visits are a great opportunity to have your questions answered by Admissions and visit our campus in Manhattanville.
Harvard (HBS): 2+2 Alum Insights: AMA Edition
When: Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 5:00 PM to 5:45 PM EST
Where: Virtual
Details: Join Harvard Business School MBA students for an Ask Me Anything about the 2+2 program. This session will give you the opportunity to engage with students who have already been where you are and benefitted from all the 2+2 program has to offer.
Anderson (UCLA): MBA General Information Session
When: Thursday, February 13, 2025, 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM PST
Where: Virtual
Harvard (HBS): 2+2 Program Application Q&A
When: Wednesday, February 19, 2025, 12:00 PM to 12:30 PM EST
Where: Virtual
Details: If you’re a final-year undergraduate student (or master’s student) contemplating or gearing up to apply for the 2+2 program, this virtual session is for you.
Darden (UVA): Future Year Scholars Program Virtual Coffee Chat
When: Friday, February 21, 2025, 11:00 AM to 11:45 AM EST
Where: Virtual
Details: Chats are small group events for prospective students who are interested in learning more about Darden. Join Senior Associate Director of Global Recruitment, Merav Frazier, to learn more about the deferred admissions application process, what top business schools are looking for, and the value of an MBA degree.
Columbia (CBS): Virtual Deferred Enrollment Program Information Session
When: Monday, February 24, 2025, 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EST
Where: Virtual
Details: Interested in the Deferred Enrollment Program? Register for this webinar to hear from CBS admissions about the program and our application process.
Yale SOM: Silver Scholars Q&A
When: Thursday, February 27, 2025, 8:00 PM to 8:45 PM EST
Where: Virtual
Details: Join us for a live online Q&A session hosted by a Yale SOM Silver Scholars Admissions Committee member. These are small, interactive sessions where all participants are encouraged to share their audio and video, replicating the group conversation you would experience during an in-person campus visit.
Editor’s Note
Many dMBA schools offer on-campus events regularly, which I do not always include in these posts. I’ll usually highlight them here if they are deferred MBA-specific.
Looking for a full list of dMBA admissions sites?
Check out our FREE updated 2025 dMBA admissions guide here!
MBAxcel Tip of the Week: Refine your Application Shortlist.
In my experience working with Deferred MBA applicants, most people tend to fall into one of three categories:
Explorers: You have no idea which programs to apply to.
Curators: You’re interested in too many programs and don’t know which ones are worth your time.
Deciders: You know exactly which programs you want to apply to.
Do any of these feel familiar?
Regardless of which bucket you’re in, now’s as good a time as ever to refine your application shortlist.
Your Application Shortlist is a refined list of Deferred MBA programs that you are serious about applying to.
Lists can look very different. From my experience speaking with other deferred MBA applicants, most people tend to apply to about 3 programs. Personally, I applied to six: HBS, Kellogg, Haas, Stanford GSB, Wharton, and Columbia (plus an extra: Boston University, my alma mater, which has an internal deferred program for BU undergrads). By no means am I telling you to apply to six programs. Honestly, I think I should have narrowed down my shortlist more.
Out of the three buckets, I was a “curator.”
I started off by casting a very wide net. I wanted to learn about almost any program. Not a bad thing to want, but when it came time to actually start applying to schools, I knew there was no way I could handle writing 9 separate applications.
A key difference between undergrad college applications and deferred MBAs is the lack of a common application.
Growing up in California, UC schools all had the same essay questions and requirements, making it super easy to apply to 9 schools at once if I wanted to. The Common Application and Coalition Application also existed for most private (and some other public) schools.
With deferred MBA programs, every school has widely different requirements. While you’ll see the same common themes across applications (e.g., answering the core question of why you want an MBA), essay prompts are worded differently and look for different aspects (e.g., Stanford generally looks for more openness and vulnerability, while Harvard seeks an applicant who presents as buttoned up and more traditional. This is a huge generalization, so take this with a grain of salt).
That’s why it’s incredibly difficult to put your best foot forward if you’re applying to too many schools.
Don’t spread yourself thin: think like a business person! Not to get corny, but being a business leader is all about making strategic trade-offs. So, how can you shorten your list?
Culture first.
Any top business school will give you pretty much the same thing: a strong network with some of the smartest people in the world and a strong leadership foundation. The main difference between the MBA programs themselves is the culture.
I won’t go into detail about each school’s culture here, but I’ll use my own decisions as a personal example. One of the main reasons I chose to commit to the Kellogg Future Leaders program was their strong collaborative environment. Countless times, whether I was speaking to current students, faculty, staff, or even alums who were over 30 years out of business school, they all told me the same thing: Kellogg students are high-impact, low-ego individuals. Above all, that resonated with me: I wanted to be surrounded by positive, collaborative leaders.
Every school has its cultural strength. Some may be perfect for you, while others will not. Take this into consideration as you attend events and speak with alums: what’s the vibe? Do you like the people you’re speaking to? First impressions aren’t everything, but they do speak volumes.
Take primary industries into consideration.
You may not know exactly what you want to do with your business degree yet, but perhaps you have some good ideas. Additionally, some deferred MBA programs tend to accept more applicants of certain backgrounds. For example, HBS 2+2 admissions favors applicants who are planning to work in “underrepresented industries and functions, such as operating companies, entrepreneurship, and technically-demanding roles,” according to their admissions page.
As a student living in Boston, I took advantage of my location and walked across the river to Cambridge to visit MIT Sloan one Friday morning. I quickly realized during my admissions visit that this would not be a good fit for me. Let me be clear: this is not a knock against Sloan’s culture or academic rigor. The deciding factor for me was that I wasn’t an engineer. The main differentiator for Sloan is its mathematical and technical approach to business education, and that, personally, was not what I was looking for in an MBA.
What are you looking to do after your MBA? If you want to work on Wall Street, Columbia is an exceptional choice. For marketing, Kellogg is the best. Tech startups? That’s probably Stanford. Again, I’m being incredibly general here, but as you start to explore different MBA programs, certain factors like this will start to become apparent.
All things considered, let’s break it down:
If you’re an “explorer,” do your research.
Sometimes, making a decision about which school to apply to is purely geographical: maybe you’re from Virginia, so you’d prefer to go to Darden. But besides this context, challenge yourself to understand which programs are the best fit for you. Start with culture, and then consider primary industry.
If you’re a “curator,” deepen your understanding.
The best way to “vibe check” whether a school is right for you is to talk to people in those communities. Reach out to connections on LinkedIn, or even try cold messaging students. Many schools have lists of student ambassadors whose job it is to respond to applicants like you. Take advantage of those opportunities to learn and make connections.
If you’re a “decider,” validate your decisions.
Are you applying to a program simply because it’s convenient? Are you now realizing your shortlist is too long? Use this opportunity to refine your list and be confident that you’re applying to the programs that are best for you.
Postscript.
Where are you in your application shortlist journey? Are you looking for more guidance? Let me know in the comments or shoot me a message!
Have a great week.