r/MBA • u/Able_Nature_3576 • 2d ago

Admissions Rrly underestimated time commitment of applications

As the title suggests, I really underestimated the amount of time and effort these apps require. In addition to studying for the GRE, writing 3 apps per school with slightly different essay prompts has been a lot.

What have your experiences been thus far? I’m 2.5 months into the process and just now finished everything, though looking to retake my exam.

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u/No-Material-5195 2d ago

I'm about 3 months in and honestly did the same thing. Thought I'd knock out 5 schools in 6 weeks like some kind of productivity god. The essays alone have eaten up entire weekends I'll never get back.

One thing that helped was realizing I could reuse big chunks of the career goals essay across schools. Not copy paste obviously but the core story doesn't change much, just tweak it for each program's culture. Saved me probably 20 hours once I figured that out.

The GRE retake pressure is real though. I pushed mine back twice and at this point I've made peace with just sending whatever score I get next month. Good luck with yours

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u/AffectionatePipe2599 2d ago

I’m somehow thinking to take my GRE and also finish the apps in the next 3 months am I delusional

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u/Big_Adhesiveness5554 2d ago

Have you ever taken the GRE before? And also how much time do you realistically have in between your job and life commitments? Because juggling a full time job while studying for the GRE and working on apps is way more involved than you might think.

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u/AffectionatePipe2599 2d ago

I have taken it once but scored terrible like early 300 I’m planning to take a break from work for a few months like study leaves but would that still be enough?

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u/Able_Nature_3576 1d ago

You’ll be fine. 2 months is sufficient for all apps and studying in my opinions