MBA Master Checklist Template

MBA Master Checklist: [Your name, programme type and target intake]

The end-to-end task list for an MBA, from the first "should I?" to six months into the first job after graduation. Every task has an ID, an owner, a due date relative to your programme start date T, the programme variants it applies to (two-year full-time, one-year full-time, executive MBA), the template that does the work and a status. It is the companion of mba/mba-journey-roadmap: the roadmap explains the stages and gates, this checklist makes sure nothing in them is forgotten. It is for applicants, admitted students and current students, and for the mentors or coaches who review their progress. Source basis: the admissions, preparation and programme steps common to leading international MBA programmes, with test, loan and accreditation facts checked on the official GMAC, ETS, US Department of Education and AACSB pages in October 2026. Replace every [bracketed] value and every row marked Example. This is a planning aid, not admissions, legal or financial advice, and it is not affiliated with any school.

Contents

1. Document control
2. How the checklist works
3. Converting due dates
4. S1 Decide
5. S2 Test
6. S3 Apply
7. S4 Interview and decide
8. S5 Pre-MBA
9. S6 Core year
10. S7 Summer internship
11. S8 Second year
12. S9 Graduation
13. S10 First job
14. Variant-only tasks
15. Progress summary
16. Dated facts behind the checklist
17. Quality checklist
18. Common mistakes
19. Sources and further reading
20. Revision history
21. Standard and licence note

Document control

How the checklist works

IDs. Each task has a stage prefix and a number: DEC (decide), TST (test), APP (apply), INT (interview and decide), PRE (pre-MBA), CORE (core year), SUM (summer internship), Y2 (second year), GRD (graduation), JOB (first job), and VAR for tasks that exist only in one variant. Numbers are stable: if you add a task, give it the next free number rather than renumbering.

Owner. Who has to act: Me (you), Rec (a recommender), Emp (your employer, mainly for executive MBA sponsorship and time off), Sch (the school: admissions, registrar, career centre, financial aid), Men (a mentor, coach or trusted reviewer). A task owned by someone else still needs you to chase it; the Owner column tells you who you are waiting for.

Due (T). Months relative to the programme start T. T-12 means twelve months before the first day; T+9 means nine months after it. Where a task is tied to a school deadline, the due date is written relative to that deadline, for example "D-8w" for eight weeks before the application deadline of that round.

Variant. All = every variant. 2Y = two-year full-time, 1Y = one-year full-time, EM = executive MBA. The windows assume the two-year variant; the conversion table shifts them for 1Y and EM.

Template. The template in this library that holds the work. Slugs are written as in the template gallery, for example mba/mba-resume.

Status. Not started, In progress, Done, Waiting, N/A. Add a date when you set Done or N/A.

Converting due dates

To convert a month offset into a date in Excel or a compatible spreadsheet, put T in cell B1 and the offset (for example -12) in A2:

=EDATE($B$1, A2) returns the date the same day of the month, A2 months from T.

For week offsets from a deadline in cell C1: =C1 - 7*8 for D-8w.

Example with T = 2028-08-21 (two-year variant):

Always let the formula compute dates: converting by hand is the commonest source of off-by-one-year errors.

S1 Decide

S2 Test

S3 Apply

S4 Interview and decide

S5 Pre-MBA

S6 Core year

S7 Summer internship

S8 Second year

S9 Graduation

S10 First job

Variant-only tasks

Progress summary

Row counts in this template as published (computed by counting the ID rows in each table):

Variant-only also holds 3 one-year rows (VAR-01 to VAR-03). Rows that apply to each variant: 2Y 123, 1Y 114, EM 105.

Your own status count (fill monthly):

Excel, with the Status column in G2:G135: =COUNTIF(G2:G135, "Done*") counts Done rows, =COUNTIF(G2:G135, "N/A*") counts N/A rows.

Dated facts behind the checklist

• Tests. As of October 2026 the GMAT Focus Edition has three 45-minute sections (Quantitative Reasoning, Verbal Reasoning, Data Insights) and a total score of 205 to 805 (mba.com, gmac.com); the GRE General Test takes about 1 hour 58 minutes (ets.org/gre); the Executive Assessment takes about 90 minutes with a total of 100 to 200 (mba.com). Check retake rules and score validity on the same pages before you set TST-06.
• English tests. Since 21 January 2026 TOEFL iBT reports a 1 to 6 band score, with a comparable 0 to 120 score during a two-year transition (ets.org/toefl). Schools may state minimums on either scale; TST-09 asks you to check.
• Rounds. Many US programmes use an early September Round 1, an early January Round 2 and a spring Round 3; Example: several leading US programmes set Round 1 deadlines of 8 or 9 September 2026 for the 2026 to 2027 cycle. Other programmes use rolling admission or several intakes. Use each school's official page.
• US federal graduate loans. For new borrowers from 1 July 2026, Grad PLUS is not available and graduate (non-professional) students face an annual limit of USD 20,500 and an aggregate of USD 100,000 in unsubsidised Direct Loans, within a USD 257,500 lifetime limit, with an interim exception for some continuing borrowers (US Department of Education, studentaid.gov and fsapartners.ed.gov). Check before you rely on it; this is not financial advice.
• AI policies. Schools publish different rules on generative AI in applications, and some ask for a disclosure. APP-03 and APP-17 exist because the rule is per school and per cycle.
• Visas. Student visa, internship work authorisation and post-study work rules change and some are under litigation. PRE-12, SUM-08 and GRD-04 point to official government sources only.

Quality checklist

• T and variant are set; rows outside the variant are N/A with a reason.
• Every Due (T) value is converted with a formula, not by hand.
• Every round deadline (D) is copied from the school's official page with the check date.
• Every task owned by someone else has a chase date.
• No row is deleted; skipped rows are N/A with a reason.
• Each stage's gate row is recorded before the next stage's tasks are marked Done.
• The progress summary is filled for the current month.
• Every dated fact relied on was re-checked this cycle.
• The checklist matches the journey roadmap version named in Document control.

Common mistakes

Sources and further reading

• Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). GMAT Focus Edition and Executive Assessment pages, https://www.mba.com and https://www.gmac.com (checked 2026-10-28).
• Educational Testing Service (ETS). GRE General Test structure, https://www.ets.org/gre; TOEFL iBT scores, https://www.ets.org/toefl (checked 2026-10-28).
• US Department of Education, Federal Student Aid. Loan limit changes effective 1 July 2026, https://studentaid.gov and https://fsapartners.ed.gov (checked 2026-10-28).
• AACSB International, https://www.aacsb.edu; EFMD Global (EQUIS), https://www.efmdglobal.org; Association of MBAs, https://www.associationofmbas.com, for accreditation checks in DEC-06.
• Each school's own admissions, financial aid, registrar and career centre pages.
• Gawande, A. (2009). The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right. Metropolitan Books, on why short, explicit checklists reduce omissions in complex work.

Revision history

Standard and licence note

Structure aligned with the admissions, preparation and programme steps common to leading international MBA programmes, with test, loan and accreditation facts checked on official GMAC, ETS, US Department of Education and AACSB pages in October 2026. The task list, IDs, timings and examples are original. No school, test owner or accreditor has endorsed this template and it is not affiliated with any of them. Check the current official pages before you rely on any date. Template licence: MIT.