Disclaimer: This post is my personal view/opinion and does not reflect the opinion of UCLA Anderon.
If I had to give any piece of advice to a potential applicant, it's this: apply in Round 1. If you're a prospective applicant, you're an early bird. If you start the application process now you can have everything wrapped up by mid-October when most of the Round 1 deadlines are.
The application process is very time-consuming (at least it was for me) so the earlier you start the better. I wanted to make sure I only went through one application cycle; I had other friends who applied in more application cycle, and I didn't want to have to do that. I wanted to give applications my all to ensure I got into a great school my first time applying.
I started applying in the summer, and as I got deeper in the process, I weighed applying in Round 1 versus applying in Round 2, and I made a decision to devote September and October to applications and finishing all of them versus drawing it out into November, December, and January. The thought of applying over Thanksgiving and Christmas was too painful for me. But that was me. I also think the advice here might be pertinent to you.
The benefits of applying in Round 1 is that you can get your decision earlier (obviously) and you have more time to factor in your significant other, to plan trips, etc. You also have more time to apply for financial aid and get your finances in order.
If you have a significant other (or Sig-O as we here at Anderson like to call them - there is even a club for them!), you can plan your move together; he or she also has more time to request a relocation from work, find another job, etc.
If I had not gotten into any schools, I may not have gone to Israel and Europe as I did because I would have wanted to keep working and accomplish more at work for the next application cycle.
That's it for now folks! Will post some more advice later. Again, this is my own view and not of UCLA Anderson.
~Dwight Asuncion '14
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