Wharton and MIT Application Deadlines

As schools start to release their application deadlines and decision dates, it's a relief to know that the schools I'm applying are probably going to have reasonably comfortable breaks between their R1 deadlines. At least I probably won't have to rush for 2 submissions in the same week! So far Wharton and MIT have released their Fall 2006 application dates.

Wharton
Round 1:
Deadline - Oct 13, 2005
Decision - Dec 22, 2005

Round 2:
Deadline - Jan 5, 2006
Decision - Mar 16, 2006

Round 3:
Deadline - Mar 2, 2006
Decision - May 18, 2006

MIT
Round 1:
Deadline - Nov 2, 2005
Decision - Jan 30, 2006

Round 2
Deadline - Jan 11, 2006
Decision - Apr 3, 2006

No news yet for Tuck and Chicago, but going by last year's dates, R1 will be around Nov 12 for Chicago (Jan 21 decision) and Dec 1 for Tuck (Feb 15 decision). Tuck also has an early action round with a deadline around Oct 18 and decisions out by Dec 17, but the deposit needs to be in by Jan 7, which is before I'll even hear from the other schools (with the exception of Wharton). So for now, I'll go with the December round.

Looks like I'll be sending out my applications in the following order:

1. Wharton - October 13
2. MIT - November 2
3. Chicago - Early to mid November
4. Tuck - Early December
   

Wharton essays should be out by mid July and MIT's in August, so that's hopefully enough time to work on both before submitting the first app. Conventional wisdom says don't work on your 1st choice school first, but it looks like I don't have a choice if I want to target R1. I truly hope first time's the charm!