CHOOSING AN MBA: five practical suggestions
KATE JILLINGS
Get on campus, schmooze current students online and think about MBA Jobs: five tips for selecting an MBA program!
To lay my cards on the table straight up: I haven’t done an MBA myself. But please keep reading!
I did apply to Harvard Business School at the wise old age of 23 and hurriedly sat my GMAT following a surreal holiday trying to cram in test-prep whilst bussing around Albania and Macedonia.
Those of you familiar with the roads in the South of Albania ten years ago will appreciate they’re not conducive to serious revision.
I won’t bore you with the details, other than to say I was rejected
1 Go and visit the campus.
I know this might be pricey but in the context of how much you could end up spending on your MBA, it’s a small price to pay to breathe the air and to imagine yourself in situ for a year (or two).
When you visit, make the most of your time. Schedule lots of meetings and coffees – with staff, professors, current students and local residents. Get a range of perspectives on the school and try to figure out if it feels ‘right’ for you.
Obviously this process is less relevant if you’re applying for a part-time, executive or remote MBA – where you’ll place a lower weighting on the specific campus location. But even so, nothing beats doing a recce in person.
from Harvard (rightly so) and stayed put in my very stimulating job at pharma company GlaxoSmithKline.
Various twists and turns in my career meant I never got around to grad school applications again. But instead I was lucky enough to embark on a venture four years ago that’s thrown me into the heart of the MBA community.
I launched BusinessBecause. com, the network for the business school world, along with two other (non-MBAs!) in 2009. Our mission has been to connect people before, during and after b-school, on an online network that functions a bit like LinkedIn.
We also energetically churn out daily business school news and
2
source interesting MBA jobs – a constant flow of content that keeps our international members happy (and means we rarely rest).
As you can imagine, I’ve encountered my fair share of MBAs! We have 22,000 registered members on BusinessBecause, 150,000+ monthly visitors to the site and I’ve personally visited the campuses of more than 80 schools globally.
Every week I’m in contact with b-school staff, professors, current students, applicants, alumni and employers. So, without any bias about a particular school or type of program, here are my five honest and heartfelt (and common-sense!) suggestions for those choosing an MBA:
Schmooze some current students and recent alums
Most MBAs will be happy to offer advice based on their experiences, assuming you ask sensible questions and don’t waste their time. Connect with current MBAs (on LinkedIn, BusinessBecause or via the school) to find out why they chose the program, the highs & lows and their advice for you as an applicant.
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