In the wake of the coronavirus / covid-19 pandemic, business schools are being more lenient with admissions — primarily, extending the round 3 deadlines (or adding a “round 4”) and/or allowing candidates to apply without having taken a standardzed test like the GMAT or GRE ahdead of time.
Below is our (on-going, ever-evolving) attempt to compile changes to admissions deadlines, requirements, etc. for the world’s top MBA programs. (while I am making a good-faith effort to have this be as updated as possible, please confirm for yourself via the schools’ official pages!)
| School | New / Extended Deadline | Test Score Deadline | Notes |
| Booth (University of Chicago) | 5/31/2020 | 7/1/2020 | “Extended” R3 can be submitted on a *rolling* basis; therefore, still in your best interest to submit ASAP |
| Columbia Business School | 6/1/2020 | 7/1/2020 | On a recent webinar just for admissions consultants, they said that they will NOT penalize someone for applying now and then re-applying soon after when their applications open up in the summer. |
| Darden (University of Virginia) | 7/15/2020 | 7/15/2020 | Rolling deadline, so in your best interest to submit ASAP.
Can submit high school or other standardized test score (SAT, ACT, MCAT, LSAT, etc.) |
| Fuqua (Duke) | 5/19/2020 | 5/19/2020 | Can now take the (allegedly easier?) Executive Assessment (“EA”) in lieu of the GMAT or GRE.
International students ARE elgible to apply; their hope is that their later start date will still give overseas students the ability to get a visa in time |
| Haas (UC Berkeley) | 5/4/2020 | 5/4/2020 | Decisions for this round will be given by June 4, 2020, so it does not appear to be “rolling” the way other schools’ deadlines are. |
| Harvard (2+2 only) | 6/1/2020 | 6/1/2020 | Admitted international students unable to enroll this fall will be granted deferments until next year |
| Kellogg (Northwestern) | 6/1/2020 | WAIVED | Rolling deadline, so in your best interest to submit ASAP |
| Mendoza (Notre Dame) | 5/1/2020, but rolling through 6/15/2020 | Can be skipped | Rolling deadline, so in your best interest to submit ASAP. “…applicants can submit to Mendoza’s graduate programs without a GMAT, GRE or TOEFL score. If the applicant meets the remaining criteria, the admissions staff will work with applicants on the test requirement on a case-by-case basis and to schedule online interviews.” |
| Owen (Vanderbilt) | 6/1/2020 – APPLICATION FEE WAIVED | (no need) | If you submit without a test score you may be asked to complete additional coursework.
International applicants are NO LONGER permitted to apply, due to concerns with visa procurement. |
| Ross (University of Michigan) | 5/29/2020 | Rolling deadline; explicitly stated that international students requiring visas may be at a disadvantage, given timing, so urge to apply ASAP
Application may be reviewed without a test score; however, no offers of admission will be made until they have a test score in hand. If you apply now and don’t provide a test score, they will push you to next year’s cycle. |
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| Sloan (MIT) | 6/15/2020 | If unable to take test prior to 6/15, will be given conditional acceptance, subject to achieving a certain score by a later date. | |
| Stanford | 4/2/2020 | 4/2/2020 | Does not appear to have extended deadlines, which makes sense given it low acceptance rate / large & passionate waitlist! |
| Stern | 5/1/2020 | 5/1/2020 | Rolling deadline, so in your best interest to submit ASAP. International applicants warned about visa processing times.
Not Covid specific, but Stern also accepts the EA (“Executive Assessment”), which may be an “easier” option to take. |
| Tepper (Carnegie Mellon) | 7/31/2020 | This is ROLLING admission, so even though you CAN apply through July, it’s still in your best interest to apply ASAP.
Note this!: If you apply without a test score… “Admitted candidates will be required to pass the Tepper Mathematics Prep course, attend our Math Skills Workshop, and achieve a 3.0 GPA in their first semester of the program.” |
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| Wharton (UPenn) | 4/15/2020 (regular MBA)
5/27/2020 (Advance Access deferred admissions) |
Do not need a score to submit; however, if already have a score, are asked to include it.
If offered admission, will have up until 8/10/2020 to submit a score (12/31/2020 for Advance Access admits) |
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| Yale | 4/14/2020 (“Round 3”)
5/27/2020(“Extended Round 3”) |
4/24/2020 (for R3)
5/27/2020 |
Round 3 deadline is unchanged, but you now have up to 10 days afterwards to submit a test score.
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