UC Berkeley Haas Deferred MBA: Acceptance Rate, Deadlines, & How to Get In (2026)

Berkeley Haas offers almost no insight into what actually makes an Accelerated Access applicant competitive. There’s no acceptance rate, no median GMAT, no real signal beyond a checklist of requirements and deadlines. What’s missing is the part that matters: how a 21-year-old with a couple of internships and an emerging career story turns potential into a compelling, admit-worthy application. That’s the gap this piece is designed to close.

By the end, you’ll know if your profile is within range, how to approach the essays, especially the distinctive “Alive” prompt, and how to navigate Haas’s blind interview format with intention. You’ll also see how Accelerated Access compares to programs like HBS 2+2, Stanford Deferred, and Wharton Moelis, with insights grounded in practitioners who’ve actually guided applicants through the process.

What Is Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access? Eligibility, Deadlines, and Program Structure

Berkeley Haas’s Accelerated Access is its answer to the deferred MBA arms race, and it plays the game a little differently. You apply as a college senior (or final-year grad student), secure a conditional seat in the full-time MBA, then step out into the real world for two to five years before you ever set foot in a Haas classroom. It’s a hedge against uncertainty, but also a bet on your future trajectory.

That two-to-five-year window is where Haas quietly pulls ahead. Harvard Business School’s 2+2 program caps at four years. Stanford Graduate School of Business allows up to five, but effectively expects at least two. Haas, by contrast, gives you breathing room. You can test industries, pivot roles, or even extend your runway if your career gains momentum. You’re not forced into a rigid timeline just as things start to get interesting.

Eligibility is broader than most applicants assume. You must be graduating between July 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, for the current cycle, but you don't need to be a UC Berkeley student. Haas opened Accelerated Access beyond Berkeley undergrads, so students at any accredited university can apply. If you worked before undergrad (military service, gap years), you're still eligible as long as you're going directly from your degree into your first post-college role with no gap year between graduation and entering the deferral period.

Quick-reference summary:

• Application deadline: April 16, 2026
• Decision notification: June 25, 2026
• Deferral period: 2-5 years of professional work experience before matriculation
• Commitment fee: $500 non-refundable, plus nominal annual deferment fees (specific annual amount not published by Haas)
• Eligible graduation window: July 1, 2025 - September 30, 2026
• Application components: Transcripts, resume, GMAT/GMAT Focus/GRE, 2 essays, 2 letters of recommendation, online application form, invitation-only interview

All dates and requirements sourced from the official Haas Accelerated Access admissions page.

What Does a Competitive Haas Accelerated Access Applicant Look Like?

Eric Askins, executive director of full-time MBA admissions at Haas, has described the evaluation lens as "strong academic indicators paired with clarity of purpose." That framing is more revealing than it sounds. It tells you the admissions team is looking at two distinct dimensions, and strength on one does not compensate for weakness on the other.

Start with academic indicators. Haas does not publish a median GPA or GMAT score for Accelerated Access admits. The full-time Haas MBA class profile provides a directional benchmark: a median GMAT of around 730 and a median GPA of around 3.67. Deferred applicants are held to a comparable academic standard, but the evaluation is holistic. A 3.5 in chemical engineering with an upward trajectory and a strong GMAT is read differently than a 3.5 with grade inflation and no test score to anchor it. The test score matters most when the rest of the profile is borderline. A 740 won't save a scattered application narrative, but it can compensate for a less-traditional academic background.

Haas accepts the GMAT, GMAT Focus, and GRE. No preference is stated.

Now the harder dimension is the clarity of purpose. This means you can articulate why an MBA is specifically necessary for your goals, and that your goals connect logically to your academic and extracurricular experiences so far. The test isn't whether you've mapped out your career. It's whether you understand yourself well enough to know why business school is the right accelerator for where you're heading.

Backgrounds in the Accelerated Access pool span engineering, economics, computer science, liberal arts, and STEM research. You do not need to be a business major. Admitted students like Ankita Punjani (who went on to J.P. Morgan, Bain, and Stellaris post-admission) and Steven Gomez (Deloitte audit) illustrate where deferred admits end up, not where they started. The pre-admission profile that matters is intellectual coherence, not a prestigious employer line on your resume.

The upshot: if your GPA and test scores clear the credibility threshold, the competition shifts entirely to narrative. Two applicants with identical numbers will receive different outcomes based on how well one of them articulated why Haas, why an MBA, and why now.

How to Build a Competitive Haas Accelerated Access Application Without Work Experience

The most common mistake in deferred MBA applications isn’t weak academics. It’s mimicry. Applicants borrow the voice and structure of candidates with five years of experience and try to retrofit their college story into it. The result is predictable: inflated internships, generic goals, and essays that read like a simulation of a business professional rather than a reflection of a real person.

Haas designed the Accelerated Access application to catch this. The "alive essay" doesn't ask about your career. The interview is blind, with interviewers seeing only your resume. These aren't arbitrary design choices. They're structural filters that reward intellectual identity over professional accomplishment. The winning move is not to prove you're already a businessperson. It's to show Haas who you are as a thinker and where that thinking is taking you.

Reframing the Resume: From Work History to Intellectual Narrative

For a deferred applicant, your resume is not a professional history. It's a curated narrative of capability and direction. Lead with education, research, and academic projects. If your most substantive experience is a senior thesis on supply chain optimization in East African agriculture, that belongs above your summer analyst bullet points. According to Verse Gabrielle, Haas's Senior Associate Director of Accelerated Access (as shared during a ClearAdmit webinar), interviewers see only the resume before the conversation. This means your resume literally frames every question you'll be asked. Treat it as a strategic document. Every line should be something you can discuss with depth and genuine enthusiasm for two to three minutes. This framing also ensures your application aligns with how Haas evaluates candidates for its full-time MBA program, where intellectual depth and narrative coherence often matter more than conventional career signaling.

Writing Strong Post-MBA Goals Without Pretending to Be a Professional

Post-MBA goals for a 21-year-old do not need to name a specific company or role. They need to name a specific problem domain and a credible reason you're drawn to it. "I want to work in climate tech because my research on carbon capture showed me that the technical solutions exist, but the business models to scale them don't" is more credible than "I want to be a PM at Google." The first statement connects to something real in your experience. The second is a title on a business card you haven't earned. This is especially true in cohorts that include both deferred admits and early career graduate students.

A clear goals statement passes three tests. First, it connects logically to something you've already done or studied. Second, it names why an MBA, specifically, not just more education or more work experience, is the necessary accelerant. Third, it acknowledges that the specific path may evolve while the direction is stable. Haas doesn't expect you to predict your career at 21. They expect you to show the intellectual foundation that will guide your decisions.

Why Haas Principles Matter More Than Experience

Haas's four defining principles (Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, Beyond Yourself) are not decorative values on a poster in Cheit Hall. Admissions evaluates alignment with them. Deferred applicants who naturally demonstrate these through academic and extracurricular choices have a structural advantage over applicants who try to retrofit corporate anecdotes into the framework. The student who challenged a methodology in their research lab (Question the Status Quo) or co-founded a tutoring program for first-generation students (Beyond Yourself) already has the evidence. They just need to recognize that these experiences are the application, not background filler. In many cases, strong academic performance simply reinforces this alignment by showing that intellectual rigor and curiosity are already embedded in the way they approach both their studies and their broader MBA journey.

How to Approach the Haas Accelerated Access Essays (Including the "Alive" Prompt)

The Haas Accelerated Access application requires two short essays.

For the current cycle, the official prompts are:

• Essay #1 (Video Essay): “What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why?” (Here you can test your audio and video before recording. Your video essay should be 1-2 minutes long and must not exceed 2 minutes. You have two attempts to record.)
• Essay #2: “What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from Haas help you achieve those goals?” (300 words max)

These are not redundant questions. They are intentionally orthogonal. One asks who you are. The other asks where you are going.

The "Alive" essay is the one that paralyzes people, even though it shouldn't. The prompt is asking you to reveal what makes you intellectually and personally distinctive. It is not asking about your MBA ambitions. It is also not asking about your professional track record. It is asking who you are when you're fully engaged with something that matters to you.

The strongest responses come from genuine passion. They come from something lived-in. It can be a research question you keep returning to, a creative practice you’ve refined over years, a cultural thread that shapes how you see the world, or a problem that refuses to leave you alone. This is where many applicants hesitate, trying to sound impressive instead of being specific. That instinct is exactly what dulls the essay. One standout approach: a student wrote about competitive debate, not as an activity but as a way of thinking, learning to hold opposing frameworks at once, then tying that mental habit to how they navigate ambiguity in economics research. The essay never mentioned an MBA. It didn’t have to. By the end, the reader understood how this person processes the world, which is the real signal Haas is looking for.

The most common mistake is flattening that opportunity into a résumé narrative. Applicants default to leadership roles, club president, team captain, and present them like performance reviews: bullet points, impact metrics, growth figures. It reads polished, but it misses the point, and more importantly, it makes you indistinguishable from the rest of the pool.

Expert Tip: The “Alive” essay isn’t about what you’ve done. It’s about what animates you. Treat it like a goals essay, and you’ve wasted the one prompt designed to show intellectual and personal texture. If your draft could sit comfortably on your resume, it’s not just unfinished; it’s pointed in the wrong direction.

A structural framework for the "Alive" essay

Open with a specific, sensory moment. Not a thesis statement. Not context-setting. Drop the reader into a scene or a feeling that is unmistakably yours.

1. Develop the core: what this thing is and why it matters to you. Be concrete. If it's molecular biology, describe the specific question that keeps you up at night. If it's photography, describe what you see through the viewfinder that other people miss.
2. Connect it, briefly, to how it shapes how you think, work, or see the world. This connection should be implicit, not a pivot to "and that's why I want an MBA at Haas." If the essay ends with a sentence about Haas, it has collapsed into a different essay type.

The two essays must work as a pair. The "Alive" essay reveals identity and intellectual character. The second essay demonstrates direction and fit with Haas. If both essays are about career ambition, the application has no emotional texture. If both are about personal passions, it has no professional direction. The pair must cover both dimensions.

One tactical note on word count: Even at 300 words, precision is the differentiator. Every sentence has to justify its existence. Draft beyond the limit, then cut aggressively. Essays written directly to 300 words tend to feel constrained because the writer is rationing space instead of refining ideas. Write long, then compress. That’s where clarity and sharpness emerge.

How to Get Strong Recommendations as a College Senior

Your two Haas Accelerated Access recommendation letters should come from people who can speak to your intellectual capabilities with specific examples. For a deferred applicant, that almost always means professors first, employers second.

Here's why. Askins named "strong academic indicators" as half of the evaluation lens. A professor who taught you in a 30-person seminar or supervised your research can vouch for your intellectual quality with the kind of specificity that an internship supervisor from a 10-week summer program simply cannot match. They can describe how you engaged with difficult material, how you responded to feedback on your writing, and how your thinking developed across a semester. An employer who confirms you were "a great addition to the team" during a brief internship carries less weight unless they can point to a specific contribution you made that surprised them.

The recommender hierarchy for deferred applicants:

1. A professor from a small class or a research supervisor who can describe your intellectual character with concrete anecdotes
2. An academic advisor or research PI who has worked with you closely enough to describe your curiosity and growth over time
3. An internship supervisor or employer, but only if they can speak to specific contributions, not just confirm your title

The briefing protocol gives your recommender these four things:

1. Your resume
2. A one-page summary of your goals and why you're applying to Haas specifically
3. Two to three specific examples or anecdotes you'd like them to consider mentioning (a project, a class discussion, a moment where you showed initiative or original thinking)
4. The recommendation questions or form, if available

Frame the materials explicitly: "I'm sharing this not to tell you what to write, but to make it easy for you to write something specific rather than generic." Professors write dozens of recommendation letters. The ones that read as genuine advocacy, not form letters, almost always come from recommenders who were given good raw material.

When you approach a potential recommender, say this directly: "I want to make sure you'd feel comfortable writing a strong letter. If this isn't the right fit, I completely understand, and I'd rather know now." This gives them an out. Any hesitation is your signal to find someone else.

Expert Tip: If you don't have a professor who knows you well because you took mostly large lectures and didn't visit office hours, reach out now. Schedule a meeting. Be direct: explain you're applying to a deferred MBA program, describe why, and ask if they'd be willing to write a recommendation based on your course performance and the conversation. A professor who meets with you once and is genuinely impressed by your clarity of thought will write a better letter than a professor who vaguely remembers your face from a 200-person intro course.

Haas Accelerated Access Interview: Format, What to Expect, and How to Prepare

The Haas Accelerated Access interview is invitation-only and required for admission. But the detail that should shape your entire preparation is this: interviewers see only your resume. Not your essays, not your recommendations, not your transcript. Just the resume. This was confirmed by Verse Gabrielle, Senior Associate Director of Accelerated Access, during a ClearAdmit webinar on Haas's deferred enrollment program.

That single structural fact changes everything about how you prepare.

What "resume-only" means tactically. Every question the interviewer asks will flow from what they see on your one-page document. Which means every line on the resume must be something you can discuss fluently, with specific examples, for two to three minutes. If there's a bullet point you can't expand on with genuine depth, remove it or rewrite it. For deferred applicants, this means the resume must lead with substantive content: research projects, significant coursework, leadership roles with real responsibility, and academic achievements. A thin internship description ("Supported deal team on three transactions") that you can't unpack into a compelling story will generate a question you don't want to answer.

Gabrielle described it this way: Treat your resume like another essay. For a deferred applicant, the story your resume should tell is: here is what I study and why it fascinates me, here is how I've applied that interest outside the classroom, here is the direction I'm heading, and why an MBA accelerates it.

Three question areas to prepare for:

1. "Walk me through your resume." Prepare a two-minute narrative, not a chronological recitation. This is a story about intellectual and personal development. Start with what drew you to your field of study, highlight the two or three experiences that shaped your direction, and end with where you're heading. Practice it until it sounds conversational, not rehearsed.
2. "Why an MBA now, why commit to one before you've worked?" This is the question that trips up deferred applicants who haven't done the internal work. Your answer must demonstrate clarity of purpose without sounding scripted. Name the specific gap between where your academic training takes you and where you want to go, then explain why an MBA bridges that gap better than additional work experience alone.
3. "What do you want to contribute to the Haas community?" Ground this in Haas's four defining principles. Pick the one or two that resonate most authentically with your experience and give a specific example of how you've already demonstrated them. If you co-founded a student organization that questioned an institutional policy (Question the Status Quo) or mentored first-generation applicants through a process you'd navigated yourself (Beyond Yourself), say so.

Note: Do not prepare as if this is a job interview. Haas is not testing your consulting-case skills or your fluency with business jargon. They are assessing fit, intellectual curiosity, and self-awareness. The biggest preparation mistake for deferred applicants is over-rehearsing professional talking points they don't have deep experience behind, which reads as inauthentic within the first 30 seconds.

Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access vs. HBS 2+2, Stanford Deferred, and Wharton Moelis Advance Access

Most competitive deferred applicants apply to two or three programs simultaneously. The applications share enough structural overlap, resume, recommendations, transcripts, and test scores, that incremental effort drops significantly after you complete the first one. The variable that requires genuinely separate work is the essays. Each program asks fundamentally different questions.

If you can apply to only one, three factors should drive the choice:

Narrative alignment. Apply where your authentic story is the strongest fit for the essay prompts. If you're someone whose identity is rooted in intellectual curiosity and personal passions, Haas's "Alive" essay is built for you. If your strongest material is a leadership story with measurable impact, HBS 2+2 is the better canvas. If you're deeply introspective and your most compelling writing is about personal values, Stanford's "What Matters Most" is your essay. Forcing yourself into a prompt that doesn't fit your natural voice will produce a weaker application than writing for the program where you can be most genuinely yourself.

Deferral flexibility. Haas's 2-5 year window gives you the most room. If you're unsure whether you'll want to enroll after two years or five, that flexibility has real value.

Post-MBA career fit. Haas is strongest in tech and social impact, with deep Bay Area recruiting relationships. Stanford dominates in entrepreneurship. Wharton's finance and consulting placement is unmatched. HBS has the broadest placement across industries. Your long-term goals, even if provisional, should align with where the program places graduates.

One honest differentiator for Haas: the applicant pool is less self-selecting than at HBS or Stanford. You don't need an MBB internship or Ivy League pedigree to be competitive. Strong candidates from state schools, liberal arts colleges, and non-traditional backgrounds have a genuine path here. That's not brand flattery. It's a strategic consideration that matters if you're evaluating where your profile is most competitive.

For deeper comparisons, see Leland's guides on the HBS 2+2 program, Booth's deferred MBA program, MIT Sloan's deferred admission, Yale SOM's deferred program, and Wharton deferred MBA program.

What Happens After Admission: Deferral Conditions, Community, and Matriculation

An Accelerated Access offer is conditional. Haas publishes six binding terms, and understanding what each one means in practice matters more than just knowing they exist.

1. No material grade deviation from current academic standing. Haas doesn't define a specific GPA threshold. But a senior admitted with a 3.7 who graduates with a 3.2 after a disastrous final semester should expect questions. The safe approach: maintain performance through graduation and notify Haas proactively if circumstances change. Don't let senioritis become a risk factor.
2. Minimum 2 years, maximum 5 years of professional work experience. This is the deferral window. You cannot enroll after one year, and you forfeit the offer after five. The flexibility is genuine, but you must be employed for the duration.
3. Employment that enhances your leadership profile and prepares you for Haas's mission-driven community. Haas interprets "leadership-enhancing" broadly. Consulting, banking, tech, startups, nonprofits, government, all have been held by Haas deferred admits during their deferral periods. The criterion is increasing responsibility and professional growth, not a specific industry or title. Haas is checking that you're building toward the MBA, not running out the clock.
4. Conduct aligned with the university's standards. Straightforward. Don't do anything that would get you expelled if you were enrolled.
5. Required annual check-ins with the admissions team. These are relational, not evaluative in a pass/fail sense. Haas uses them to keep you connected to the program and to confirm your career development is on track. Think of them as an annual conversation, not a performance review.
6. Fee schedule adherence. The $500 non-refundable commitment fee is due upon acceptance. Nominal annual deferment fees follow (Haas does not publish the specific amount).

All conditions sourced from the official Haas Accelerated Access admissions page.

During the deferral period, you'll join a Slack community of other deferred admits and have access to Haas programming designed to keep you engaged. When you're ready to enroll, notify Haas at least one year before your desired Fall start. Preliminary conversations typically happen September through December of the year before you intend to matriculate. A secondary review is conducted at that point, and you become eligible for scholarships and financial aid then, not at the time of initial admission.

Your Haas Accelerated Access Application Timeline: A Month-by-Month Plan

You probably discovered this program recently. That's fine. Six to ten weeks before the April 16 deadline is enough time to submit a strong application if you're focused and disciplined about sequencing. Here's how to work backward from the deadline.

Late January / February (8-10 weeks out)

Take a diagnostic GMAT or GRE if you haven't already. If you have a score you're confident in, move on. If not, register for an exam date no later than mid-March to leave time for score delivery. Identify your two recommenders and reach out to them this week. Don't wait. Professors have their own deadlines and competing requests. Begin reading about Haas's four defining principles and the Accelerated Access program structure. You're building the foundation for your essays.

March (4-6 weeks out)

Complete your test if it's still outstanding. Send your recommender briefing materials: resume, one-page goals summary, two to three specific anecdotes, and the recommendation form. Draft both essays. Start with the "Alive" essay because it requires more introspection and more revision cycles than the goals essay. Most first drafts need to be torn down and rebuilt. That's normal; plan for it. Request official transcripts from your university.

Early-Mid April (1-3 weeks out)

Finalize essays with at least two rounds of revision, ideally reviewed by someone with MBA admissions knowledge. Confirm your recommenders have submitted. Complete the online application form. Submit everything at least three to five days before April 16 to avoid portal crashes and technical issues. The single-deadline structure means there is no second chance if something goes wrong at 11:58 p.m.

Note: If you're applying to multiple deferred programs, your resume, recommendations, transcripts, and test scores transfer across applications with minimal additional effort. The essays do not. Haas's "Alive" essay is entirely Haas-specific. HBS 2+2 essays focus on leadership and impact. Stanford asks "What Matters Most to You and Why?" Each requires a separate draft process. Budget your time accordingly and prioritize the program where your narrative fits most naturally.

Get Expert Eyes on Your Haas Application Before You Submit

If you’ve read this far, you already know the Haas Deferred MBA Program isn’t won on checkboxes. It’s won on how clearly you can connect your thinking across academic disciplines to a direction that actually makes sense and how convincingly that story lands with the admissions committee.

That’s the part most applicants get wrong.

If you want a second set of eyes that will push your thinking, tighten your narrative, and make sure your application reflects what Berkeley Haas MBA is actually evaluating, work with Leland’s Deferred MBA Expert Coaches. You can also join our free events to hear directly from coaches and successful applicants about what actually works.

Read these next:

• Top 10 Deferred MBA (2+2) Programs in the US (2026)
• Top 25 1-Year MBA Programs in 2026 (Online & USA Rankings)
• 10 Essential Tips for a Successful MBA Application
• MBA Financial Aid: How to Pay for Business School
• Leland and Admit.Me Access Team Up to Provide Top-Tier MBA Application Support to Access Fellows

FAQs

What is the acceptance rate for Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access?

• Haas does not publish an acceptance rate for the Accelerated Access program. Unlike HBS 2+2, which has disclosed approximate rates in the 10-12% range, Haas has kept this figure private since the program launched in 2020. What we know from admissions leadership is the evaluation lens: "strong academic indicators paired with clarity of purpose." Your GPA and test scores need to clear a credibility threshold, but the narrative strength of your essays, recommendations, and interview carries significant weight in the final decision.

What are the Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access essay prompts?

• The application requires two essays. The most distinctive is the video “Alive” essay, which asks: “What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why?” It is explicitly personal and not about career goals or MBA ambitions. The second essay focuses on your short-term and long-term career goals and how a Haas MBA will help you achieve them

What GMAT score do I need for the Berkeley Haas deferred MBA?

• There’s no minimum GMAT for the Berkeley Haas School of Business deferred MBA. Aim around 730 as a benchmark based on the full-time MBA median. Haas accepts the GMAT, GMAT Focus, and GRE. For deferred applicants, the test score matters most when the rest of the profile is borderline. A strong score compensates for a less-traditional academic background, but it cannot substitute for a weak application narrative.

When is the Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access deadline?

• The 2026 application deadline is April 16, 2026, with admission decisions released on June 25, 2026. There is a single deadline, not the multi-round structure used for the traditional Haas full-time MBA. All applicants are evaluated in one pool. Submit at least three to five days early to avoid technical issues.

How does Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access compare to HBS 2+2?

• The biggest structural differences are deferral flexibility and application emphasis. Haas offers a 2-5 year deferral window (the widest among top programs), while HBS 2+2 allows 2-4 years. Haas's "Alive" essay rewards intellectual identity and personal passion; HBS 2+2 essays focus on leadership and career vision. Haas's interview is blind (resume-only); HBS uses a post-application reflection-based format. Most competitive applicants apply to both, since the applications share enough structural overlap that incremental effort is manageable, though the essays require entirely separate preparation.

How do I prepare for the Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access interview?

• The interview is invitation-only, and interviewers see only your resume. Structure your resume to frame the conversation: lead with substantive content (research, academic projects, significant extracurriculars) rather than thin internship descriptions. Prepare to walk through your resume as a narrative, not a list. Expect questions about why you want an MBA before you've worked, what you want to contribute to Haas, and what drives your intellectual curiosity. Do not prepare as if this is a job interview. Haas is assessing fit, self-awareness, and intellectual energy.

Can I apply to Berkeley Haas Accelerated Access and HBS 2+2 at the same time?

• Yes. There is no restriction on simultaneous applications to multiple deferred programs, and most competitive applicants apply to two or three. Common components (resume, recommendations, transcripts, test scores) reduce incremental effort. The key variable is essays: each program's prompts require genuinely different approaches, so budget time for separate drafts. Recommenders can typically submit similar letters to multiple programs with minor adjustments.

What happens during the Haas Accelerated Access deferral period?

• After accepting your offer and paying the $500 non-refundable commitment fee (plus nominal annual deferment fees), you must maintain employment that enhances your leadership profile. Haas interprets this broadly across consulting, tech, finance, startups, nonprofits, and other fields. Annual check-ins with the admissions team are required, and you'll join a Slack community of other deferred admits. When you're ready to enroll (within 2-5 years), notify Haas at least one year before your desired Fall start, typically beginning the conversation in September-December of the prior year. A secondary review is conducted at matriculation, and you become eligible for scholarships and financial aid at that point.