Kellogg Now Has a Deferred Enrollment Program
At top MBA programs, 2020 seems to be the year that deferred enrollment programs are a must-have.
Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management has launched their Kellogg Future Leaders program, which will open a deferred admission path to graduating college seniors. The program also accepts applications from graduating master’s students with no break in their education.
Kellogg’s announcement comes close on the heels of the Haas School of Business’s decision to add a deferred enrollment option for MBA applicants.
Unlike Haas, which is piloting its program on graduating University of California, Berkeley students only, Kellogg is immediately opening the doors to students from all schools, both domestically and internationally.
Kellogg Future Leaders is also especially flexible in how much time it gives students to defer, with students expected to take somewhere between two and five years to work before beginning their MBA studies.
To attract Northwestern University undergraduates, though, Kellogg is offering one additional perk to those students: the option of not submitting GMAT or GRE scores.
Kate Smith, Kellogg’s assistant dean of admissions and financial aid, told Poets & Quants that “We’ve always aimed to bring the Kellogg spirit of creativity and innovation to our degree programs, and this new addition is a particularly exciting one for our admissions team.”
Still, Poets & Quants does suggest another reason that schools like Kellogg and Haas might be deciding to move forward with deferred enrollment options now: a recent decline in applications at top business schools.
As we’ve written about before, the combination of a recent downtick in applications coupled with record-high MBA salaries makes 2020 an exciting time to be an MBA applicant. That’s especially true if it translates into more flexible admissions options such as deferred enrollment programs.
Kellogg points out that the new Future Leaders program “secures your place in our MBA program before you graduate” while putting additional resources at students’ disposal during their deferment periods.
For graduating college seniors, whether you are at a point where it makes sense to pursue those advantages depends strongly on your current application profile and career goals.
Deferred admission isn’t right for everyone, but it can allow you to embark on your professional life with a running start and the certainty of a spot in a top MBA program.
We’re happy to use our extensive experience with the B-school application process to give you personalized feedback on what admission path might be right for you and what you can do to emphasize your unique personal brand. Just ask us for a free MBA application assessment!