About Your Admission Strategy

We’ve gathered up the information, and now comes the fun part, we’re going to develop our admissions strategy. So all of the schools that we’re looking at for the example used rolling admissions. And honestly, that will probably be the case for you too

Slide 1: Developing the Strategy

So we've gathered up the information, and now comes the fun part, we're going to develop our admissions strategy. So all of the schools that we're looking at for the example used rolling admissions. And honestly, that will probably be the case for you too. And we're going to develop our strategy around that timeline piece. 

Slide 2: Program Information

So the first thing we need to do is write the programs in order of preference. So we're going to go through the different strategies based on the rankings that you give the schools. 

Slide 3: First Order of Preference

  • 1st choice – Groningen
  • 2nd choice – NHL
  • 3rd choice – TBS
  • 4th choice – AAU

So if your first choice is Groningen, and your second choice is NHL, you're going to apply to both, and you're going to stop there. You're not going to apply to Toulouse Business School, or AAU, because you have a school, NHL, that you will definitely get into. So why would you apply to these other schools, if a program that you prefer, NHL, is a sure thing. Now you're going to apply to Groningen as well, because that’s your first choice. You won't know about Groningen until July, so you would apply to NHL as well. You'll get your acceptance, you'll accept NHL. And then you withdraw your acceptance if you get into Groningen. There aren't fees involved in most countries for accepting a spot. It's not like you have to pay a deposit or something. So you should absolutely be fine there. 

Slide 4: Second Order of Preference

  • 1st choice – Groningen
  • 2nd choice – TBS
  • 3rd choice – AAU
  • 4th choice – NHL

So if your first choice is Groningen, your second choice is Toulouse Business School, your third is AAU, and your fourth is NHL. So again, you're going to apply to Groningen, knowing that you won't know until July. Now if you remember, Toulouse Business School, they let you know, I think it was — it said on our sheet four weeks after the test. So you're going to apply to Toulouse Business School, and see whether you get in or not. Since AAU also has rolling admissions, there's no reason to apply at AAU, unless you don't get in Toulouse Business School. 

So you applied to Toulouse Business School when their admissions process opens. You go through the admissions process. You wait until you have a decision. If it's yes, then you stop there. It's just like NHL Stenden, you have Toulouse Business School in your backpocket in case you don't get the AP scores needed for your first choice. If you don't get into Toulouse Business School, then you move down to AAU. Again, this is more of a sure thing than Toulouse Business School, but not a done deal. So again, you wait until you have a decision from them on the off chance that it's a no. Then you go to NHL, which you know you'll have. 

So again, there you're applying to four schools, but probably not because odds are you're going to get into TBS or AAU in that example. And there's no reason to apply to more until you know you need to apply to more, if that makes any sense at all.

Slide 5: Third Order of Preference

  • 1st choice – NHL
  • 2nd choice – TBS
  • 3rd choice – AAU
  • 4th choice – Groningen

So if your first choice is NHL Stenden, I don't care what the other schools are on the other order. if your first choice is NHL Stenden, that's the only one you're going to apply to because you know you're going to get in. Why would you apply to other schools, if you know you're going to get in to your first choice? So there you go, you apply, you're in. Done. 

Slide 6: Fourth Order of Preference

  • 1st choice – TBS (or AAU)
  • 2nd choice – AAU (or TBS)
  • 3rd choice – NHL
  • 4th choice – Groningen

So if your first choice is Toulouse Business School or AAU, because these are the ones that you know aren't a sure thing, you're going to apply to that school, wait until you have a decision. If it's no, go on to the next school, and from there. In this example, you wouldn't be applying to Groningen at all because there is a school above Groningen in your rankings, in your order of preference, in which you're in for a sure thing. 

Now the only way this strategy would need modification is if any of these schools had one of those sorts of benefits that we talked about for applying earlier, like a housing list. If any of these schools were in a place where housing is difficult, and that you can get on a housing list when you apply, you'd want to move that school up and apply on the earlier side of things. Otherwise, if there's no kind of secondary benefit to applying earlier, this is the strategy you'll use all along. It would very rarely have you apply to a max of four schools. But more likely than not, it will be one or two, and possibly three, but one or two is certainly sufficient in most cases.