As an MBA aspirant, you have checked the websites of various business schools, looked at the rankings, the application process and the funding & scholarship options but still feel the need to know more before making the final commitment.
Don’t worry. Just hop on to an MBA tour, events held across the world in the next couple of months, where you get to meet admission representatives. You get a chance to ask questions, clear your doubts, know more about the schools and programs, express your interest and also gain insights to be included in the application essays.
Among the three major events are the QS World MBA Tour, the Access MBA Tour and The MBA Tour and The MBA Tour from July to October. Attending these events will put you in direct touch with the admission officials, allowing for assessing the various programs offered by different schools and make an informed choice.
Besides the one-to-one face-to-face meetings, question and answer sessions and presentations form part of the events. The admission officers are able to assess your abilities and tell you if an MBA is needed to achieve your career goals and in some cases if the decision to enrol could be put off for a later date.
For the admission officials also, it is an opportunity to get to know the candidates at an early stage. Gareth Howells, executive director of MBA/MiF/early career programs at London Business School (LBS) is quoted by BusinessBecause as saying that when they have select the best 460 students a year, it is “important that we get to know them and that they get to know us” to ensure the right fit.
According to admission officials, those candidates who ask questions about scholarships and other information already available on the website, leave a poor impression. Instead, you could seek more information about the school’s strengths, career outcomes and program details.
But then, you cannot hope to just walk into the conference, impress the officials and get a seat. The Tour is also not an admission test.
You need to make some serious preparations. The first thing is to take your resume and if possible, your business card.
You may also need to make an elevator pitch, a five-to-10-minute speech on who you are and why you want to enrol for MBA.
Researching the schools prior to the event is necessary. The tour website will have a list of schools at least a fortnight before the event. Go through the information provided by the schools, including fees and scholarships.
According to admission officials, those candidates who ask questions about scholarships and other information already available on the website, leave a poor impression. Instead, you could seek more information about the school’s strengths, career outcomes and program details.
If you have a specific question not found in any website or article, it shows you have done some due diligence and you may be able to include the answer in your admission essay, Forbes quotes Judith Silverman Hodara, former Head of MBA Admissions at Wharton, as saying.
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Take care to dress professionally, adopt a friendly demeanour and be considerate at all times to fellow applicants and admission officers. While talking with the officials listen carefully to pick up information that may be of value.
On arrival at the venue, instead of just going to the stalls of the target schools, take a walk around and you may come across interesting possibilities. It will also be good to have some generic questions that can be asked at the presentations and panels to garner more information.
Also, talk to the school alumni to get a first-hand information about the school and its culture. Ask for a business card or e-mail address of the admission officials to end a thank you note later.
The event is to facilitate you in finding out more about the programs and schools and not about whether you would get admission with a 700 plus GMAT score. You should try and assess if you would be able to meet the demands of the program and whether a particular school is the right fit for you.