Congratulations on getting your Round 1 application in. The September 9 deadline has passed, and this is the first weekend on the other side of it. Simply making it through that long preparation is an achievement in itself.
This piece covers what to do with that weekend. It is easy to let your guard down once the deadline is behind you, but how you use these two days shapes the interview phase.
Save your submitted application as a PDF
First, save every submitted application as a PDF and keep it within reach.
This matters most if you applied to several schools — save a copy for each one, without gaps. A few weeks after submitting, you will be surprised how little you remember about which school got which content. "I'm pretty sure I wrote it this way" is almost always slightly wrong.
In an interview, questions generally come from an interviewer who has your submitted application in front of them. Your resume, of course, but also what you wrote for "Why our school?" and the story you told about your career goals. They are asking questions having read all of it. Not remembering what you yourself wrote is fatal.
This is essential to embodying the "consistent application" this column keeps coming back to. If what you wrote in your essays and what you say in the interview do not line up, neither one gets believed. Save the PDF right after submitting, and read it again before the interview. That alone avoids a long list of mistakes.
Start interview prep now
Now that the deadline is behind you, carry that momentum straight into interview preparation this weekend.
You may be thinking you still have three weeks. Do the arithmetic, though, and there is less time than it feels like. It varies by school, but the earliest invitations arrive in early October, with the interview itself a week later.
Even practicing twice a week from today, you can fit in eight sessions at most. Factor in your own work schedule and the availability of counselors or acquaintances, and three or four is the realistic number.
If you asked whether three or four sessions are enough for a non-native speaker facing an MBA interview in English for the first time, the honest answer is no. That is exactly why this first weekend after the deadline matters. Most of your competition has relaxed now that they are "done" — use these two days to lock down your schedule through to the interview.
Mock interviews with a counselor, practice with an MBA graduate you know, AI-assisted interview drills — the method does not matter. Get as many sessions as you can into the calendar now. If you later feel you have had enough, you can simply cancel. There is no risk in holding the slots.
If Round 2 holds your target school — talk to current students
If your target school sits in Round 2, keep your essay preparation moving in parallel. And there is one thing here I want to press.
Make time for coffee chats with current students.
Advice from counselors and people you know is genuinely useful. But that information is often dated, or carries that individual's particular bias. Program priorities and interview patterns shift year to year. "That's how it was last year" does not guarantee this year.
From my own experience: I had two counselors at the time, and both advised me to build a story about returning home and contributing in my own country. In reality, the program I was applying to had a corporate sponsor, and the school preferred essays about what you wanted to do at that sponsor company, regardless of nationality.
I only learned this while talking to current students as interview preparation, after submitting Round 2. I was rejected from that program at the written stage. Had I spoken with current students earlier, I might have corrected the direction of my essays.
A counselor's perspective matters. But relying on it alone is a risk. Aim to speak with at least three different current students. One person pulls you toward their individual experience; three reveal the pattern they share.
This first weekend decides it
Looking back, what to do with this weekend is simple.
- Save your submitted files as PDFs so you can reread them before the interview
- Lock in your interview practice schedule right now
- If Round 2 holds your target school, book coffee chats with current students
None of it is difficult. But the relief of "I'm done" turns this weekend into pure rest for a lot of people. Rather than scrambling once the invitation arrives, be in a state where preparation started before it did. That difference sometimes decides the outcome.
Use Gradigo to keep your application progress on track. Make interview prep and essay work visible, and move through both with a plan.
