What is a deferred MBA, and who is it for?

A deferred MBA is designed for college seniors and master’s students in their last year of study who are seeking to secure admission to an MBA program 2-5 years before starting. Of importance is that applicants applying to the deferred MBA programs are planning an underrepresented career pathway before joining – a career that does not involve being a consultant for the deferred period, for example. Instead, successful deferred applicants have planned a level of career risk they would not take without securing a seat at an MBA program in advance.

 

Which Schools offer Deferred MBA Programs?

Currently, there are a total of 13 business schools that offer deferred enrollment, including:

• The Wharton School – Moelis Advanced Access

• Booth School of Business – Scholars Program

• Stanford Graduate School of Business – Deferred Enrollment

• Kellogg Business School – Kellogg Future Leaders

• Harvard Business School (HBS) – 2 + 2

• MIT Sloan School of Business –Early Admission

• Yale SOM – Silver Scholars

• Columbia Business School (CBS) – Deferred Enrollment

• Berkeley Haas – Accelerated Access

• UVA Darden Business School – Future Year Scholars

• CMU Tepper School of Business – Future Business Leaders

• Emory Goizueta Business School – Early Admission

• IESE Business School – Young Talent Path

    

Each school has its own nuanced approach to deferred enrollment, some having a 3-year structure to the deferred MBA, like Yale SOM, and others only accept undergraduates in the program, like Tepper. Evaluate your eligibility before diving into the program offers to save time and energy.

 

What makes for a Successful Deferred MBA Program Candidate?

While admission to top-ranked MBA programs is competitive, securing a seat in a deferred program is much more challenging because demand is higher than available seats. Admission teams at top-ranked business schools review candidates holistically, which means that no single element of a profile determines admission. Rather, admission is determined by combining character traits, achievements, impact, goals, and intellectual prowess. Therefore, a successful deferred MBA candidate is someone who can showcase a history of being a high achiever through past actions that demonstrate impact and resilience with a future focus emphasizing an interest in transforming the business of a sector or field.

 

Tip: Whether you are considering a deferred MBA next cycle or future cycles, it's important that you prepare early to succeed in a competitive pool of applicants targeting deferred MBA programs.

 

What do I need to prepare to succeed in a Deferred MBA program?

Any applicant considering a deferred MBA must integrate three very important components of their profile: goals, academics, and experiences.

Goals:

A critical component of business school admission is goals – after all, admission is based on an alignment between the applicant’s goals and the school’s ability to support that vision. Unlike traditional MBAs, Deferred MBA admission teams expect the applicants to take risks before starting their MBA journey. Therefore, not only do you require a North Star, the guiding principles influencing your decision to pursue an MBA, but you require a pre-MBA risk you are imagining taking that will allow you to develop nuanced skills further assisting you on your goals.  For example, imagine you are seeking to influence the direction of renewable energy, and ultimately you want to be the CEO of a renewable company. To get there, you ideally want to be exposed to a start-up revolutionizing the space, but it’s a risky move (after all, many startups fail). If you have future MBA aspirations, you may not take the risk. Given that admission teams want applicants with diverse experiences, and if all else aligns, they are comfortable making a bet early.  

 

Tip: As you plan out your application, consider your ultimate goal and how securing a seat at an MBA program through deferred enrollment gives you the career flexibility you need.

 

Academics/GMAT/GRE Scores:

Business schools are academic institutions. Therefore, academic performance matters, particularly for deferred applicants that do not have a career history to substantiate their academic performance. Most schools expect the deferred applicants’ academic performance to fall around the MBA class profile (~3.6/4.0 and ~730 GMAT averages). However, some schools expect deferred MBA candidates to have even higher academic performance, like MIT Sloan, which boasts a 3.88 Median GPA with a 750 Median GMAT. If you fall below these averages, particularly with the GPA, you will need an above-average GMAT/GRE to be competitive.

 

Tip: If you are planning a deferred MBA in the future, then consider focusing on academics as well as enrolling in grade-bearing certificates, like HBS CORe, that can help bolster your candidacy.

  

Experiences:

There are three ways to showcase a high-achiever personality and impact: extracurricular experiences (these are activities on campus, like professional clubs, affinity clubs, etc.), volunteer work beyond your campus life (something that matters to your that you are involved in the community, for example, mentoring students in need), and internships that you complete during your summer holidays. Each of these plays a different role in your application.

The extracurricular activities allow you to demonstrate direct leadership skills and impact, given that most club activities are student-run. Consider your leadership roles and how you have impacted your community. Particular emphasis should be placed on how the activities you spearheaded have impacted the community you are a part of.

While you typically demonstrate less-leadership skills in community involvement, volunteering for something that matters to you can demonstrate your commitment to the cause, particularly if that cause is directly related to your long-term goals. Consider your volunteer engagements and how those have impacted the greater community. Perhaps you were a mentor to High School students or volunteered at a shelter. What impact have you made or can you make as you prepare your applications, and how does it tie to your future goals?

Finally, the internships demonstrate that you are committed to building professional skills in a given area of interest. Although many imagine that as an intern, they have little opportunity to demonstrate impact, the reality is that interns can still impact a project, for example, in how they solve the challenges they face and how they can be of value to the organization that has hired them.  

 

Tip: If you are currently an intern or planning your summer internship, look for ways you can be of impact and focus on delivering outcomes above expectations.

 

Gaining admission to the Deferred MBA programs is much more challenging than a traditional MBA applicant with 5 years of work experience, but it’s not impossible with the right experiences and mindset. The detailed outlines in this article can help anchor your preparation for a higher ROI on your deferred MBA enrollment.