business school studentsFlickr/University of Essex
The summer may be winding down, but MBA admissions season is ramping up.

By August, all of the top MBA programs have announced their deadlines and essay questions, and applicants should have a solid set of schools they plan to target.

If you're ready to start your application now, one of your first decisions is whether to try for Round 1 deadlines, which are in September and October, or aim for Round 2 in early 2017.

There are several reasons to apply in the first round, from demonstrating your strong interest and preparation to having first crack at financial aid opportunities. However, applying earlier won't necessarily increase your chances of admission.

It's true that fewer people are ready to apply in Round 1. But at the same time, those applying in the first round tend to be the most prepared applicants. These are the people who beat the GMAT months ago and prepared their recommenders in June.

Or, they might be re-applicants who have already been through the process once. In my experience, these factors tend to balance out, and so applicants should apply in the round that allows them to pull together their best possible application.

The two heavy-duty areas applicants need to focus on right now are prepping recommenders and brainstorming and drafting essays. Your letters of recommendation are one of the most important pieces of your business school application. Along with your essays, your recommendations give schools a chance to see the person beyond the numbers and résumé.

If you haven't already, notify your chosen recommenders now so you can prepare them well in advance of the application deadlines. You can't just give recommenders a month and expect them to complete everything on time. Current and recent supervisors are the best choices, because they can speak to your present-day skills, values, and work ethic, as well as future potential.

Remind each of them to focus on the attributes MBA programs are interested in: leadership, teamwork, and management potential. I advise applicants to create a recommender package that contains the instructions and deadlines for each school; a list of at least three of your strengths with supporting anecdotes; how getting your MBA will help you grow and develop expertise; and finally, a succinct description of your goals that the recommender can use as a reference.

Your recommenders want to make sure you are admitted and will welcome any assistance you can provide. Encourage each of them to submit early if possible, so you can focus on a part of the application you need to deliver — the essays.

I always advise applicants to do two things as they work on their MBA essays: Make sure to answer the question asked and spend a lot of time brainstorming up front. You would be amazed at how many applicants start to answer an essay prompt and veer off-subject entirely.

As you begin, consider putting together a "brag sheet." Write down all of the things about you that would not necessarily appear on a résumé: languages you speak, extracurricular involvements, family traditions, and more. You can mine this list for essay content.

The brainstorming phase is the same whether you have a word count of 750 or 200. First, find a theme or a couple of main point you want to convey. Consider the essay set for each MBA application as a whole, and make sure your answers don't overlap but rather build upon each other.

Before you actually write the essays, take the final step of mapping out what you'll cover in each essay. Once you include a topic in a question, check it off the master list of stories you want to cover. This way, you can make sure that a given school receives all of your key stories and that you aren't repeating yourself.

Finally, whittle away anything non-essential and make sure you avoid the passive voice. Budget time to draft and redraft, try new approaches, and carefully edit so that each line packs the maximum punch.

If you're going to apply to business school this year, do yourself a favor and ensure you have ample time to complete each part of the process. I would urge applicants to apply a few days ahead of the deadline just to ease some of the last-minute pressure, as well as congestion on the programs' servers.

Do a thorough review, hit submit, and take comfort in knowing that you did your very best.

Stacy Blackman Consulting (SBC) is a leading MBA admissions advisory with a proven track record of acceptances to the world's top MBA programs. Founded in 2001 by finance and marketing guru Stacy Sukov Blackman, SBC is the preferred admissions consulting firm recommended by The Economist. Learn more at