Hi,

Unfortunately, I did not get into the schools I was hoping to get into this past year. I am taking the course to boost my GMAT score and want to re-apply to the same schools next year (assuming I get my score high enough). Next year I will be 31. My questions are: do the schools evaluate re-applicants any differently than first-timers? Also, I know I am a few years above the average age but I want to know if that impacts my application at all. Thank you for your help.

In short, no. The only cost are the fees and time you spend on the reapplication. There's enough reapplicants in the pool (and also enough that get in) that it's no longer a real factor.

As for how schools evaluate reapplicants, it depends on the school. Some schools (HBS, Stanford) ask you to submit an entirely new written application, some will get you to re-write most of the essays (Wharton, Kellogg), and others may only ask for 1 essay. The trend though seems to be getting reapplicants to re-write most of the essays. A rule of thumb is that the more essays you have to write for the reapplication, the less likely they will refer to your prior year's application (adcoms simply don't have time nor are they willing to spend double the time evaluating a reapplicant compared to a first-time applicant).

Alex Chu
alex@mbaapply.com
www.mbaapply.com
http://mbaapply.blogspot.com