MBA Admissions Tip: Considering the Campus
There are many factors that go into deciding whether to apply to a specific school, one of which is the physical place where you’ll be spending 1-2 years. Whether speaking with current students or touring the campus for yourself, it’s helpful to approach these information-gathering experiences with as clear a sense of what matters to you as possible.
Factors to consider about a business school’s campus:
1. Facilities
Are state-of-the-art classrooms and impressive new architecture a priority for you? Would you prefer a school that is headquartered in a single building to one spread over a larger campus? What about use of technology in teaching? If any of these factors are of significant importance and could tip the balance between schools on your list of target programs, you’ll want to do this sort of research up front.
If you decide to visit your target schools’ campuses yourself, we’d recommend that you take pictures or write up your thoughts after the fact while your impression is still fresh in your mind.
2. Surroundings
In addition to the campus itself, you’ll want to allow yourself some time to ask about and explore the larger city, town or rural location. Where do students live, eat and socialize? What is the cost of living? How do they get from place to place (parking or public transit may be an issue)? Are you interested in an active night life, or a wholesome place to raise a family? While considerations of academics and post-graduation career prospects generally take priority, you will be spending two years of your life in business school, and these more subtle factors can often tip the balance in favor of a certain program when all other elements are more or less equal.
3. Atmosphere
Along with the campus and its location comes a certain culture or climate. Are students generally competitive or collaborative? Do students tend to socialize before or after class, or do they go their separate ways? How closely knit are learning teams, sections, clusters and cohorts, and what are the relationships among them? How strong are the bonds among classmates, and the ties between past and present students? This questions point to the often elusive issue of “fit.” The pervasive atmosphere that informs interactions among your peers will undoubtedly make a significant impact on your business school experience, so it’s important to get a sense of this by speaking with current students and/or visiting the school.
MBA Admissions Academy
Episode 1: How to choose target schools for application
MBA Applywire
1. Diversity: I am an Indian Male.
2. Acads: I have a BTech-Mtech dual degree from an IIT (got admit here with like 99.9 percentile in 1M+ students).
BTech GPA is 7.3/10, which is improved to 9/10 in MTech. I am using optional essays to explain the lower acads in BTech. My MTech GPA and then GMAT Focus 745(Q90, V88) shows an upward trajectory, which should be helpful.
3. Work: I have 5 years of software development experience in a big european tech company.
4. Leadership: I don't have a formal title for leadership in work. But a lot of leadership without authority and my letters of recommendations from current and previous supervisors can vouch for that.
5. Why MBA: Trying to build something on my own exposed gaps which MBA would help me fix. I have a strong thread going on with my childhood, college, extra curricular and with what I tried to built. Post-MBA goal of Product Management role in tech would build on top of my skills I gain at MBA to help me move in the direction of tech leadership which is my long term goal.
6. Inclination: Schools which have good tech recruitment for PM role, help build leadership skills for my long term goals, have good alumni network in tech and PM roles, and lastly a collaborative community that I would prefer. I would prefer to get scholarships because of tight finances.
7. Definitely applying in R1: Kellogg, Haas, Ross, Tuck, Fuqua, MIT Sloan
8. Not sure about: Harvard (Not sure about fit), Stanford (low selection chances + 0 scholarships hopes), London Business School (keeping because of visa situation), Cornell (Tech is good but will it help for my long term goal), McCombs (Not T15 ), UCLA (Not T15)
Please help me choose right schools and strategy for fit + scholarships based on my inclinations mentioned in point 6 above.
I want to apply for a Part Time MBA because work is giving Tuition Assistance next year. Already have a decent salary with a consulting position.
Since I'm not leaving the Philadelphia area, I'm generally only considering part time programs in the area.
How does my profile look for Full time and Part Time however?
CPA, masters degree (3.5 gpa), 1.5 years of local non profit board experience, 615 gmat focus. Promoted to senior associate after 2 years at big 4.
Looking for an honest assessment of whether M7 schools are realistic for me, or if I should focus more on T10/T15 given my GPA.
I'm a South Asian applicant who graduated from the top business school in my country with a 3.44 GPA. My GPA was dragged down by some weaker semesters early on, but I was above 3.6 throughout my last two years and showed a pretty strong upward trend academically. A lot of the early struggles were related to ADHD, which wasn't diagnosed until later during university.
I also have a 334 GRE (169Q, 165V).
Career wise, I spent 2 years at a research agency where I was fast-tracked to a leadership role, and the last 4 years at a Fortune 500 FMCG in consumer insights. My current company relocated me from my home country to their Tokyo office, where I've been working for the past 2 years, so I do have international experience and exposure to global stakeholders.
Outside of work, I volunteer as a freelance consultant for an NGO back home, helping them secure international grants and design vocational tech courses.
My post MBA goal is to pivot into strategy consulting in the US.
One thing I'm unsure about: I was diagnosed with ADHD during university and have been on medication since. Is this something worth mentioning in the optional essay to explain the GPA, or would it be better not to bring it up at all?
Would appreciate any thoughts on:
Whether M7 is a realistic target
How much my GPA hurts relative to the GRE
Whether the international transfer to Japan adds meaningful value
Whether mentioning ADHD is advisable
7 years of SWE at Big Tech
US undergrad with CS & Math major at Top 10 schools
330 (162 V, 168 Q)
Asian Female. Worked and lived in Asia, US, and London. I have various startup experiences (from internship and my side project).
Short-term: I want to pivot into PE or Infrastructure funds on tech/energy.
Long-term: I have family business on energy and power plants in Asia, which I want to expand into investment and operating platform on energy with technology.
Questions:
- I am thinking these 4 schools as round 1 (or maybe 1 more) and thinking part-time as round 2. Any change of programs/additional school recommendation?
- I know this is rather a hard career pivot and because I don't have previous experience on my family business nor finance, it is hard to weave in or show adcoms that I am serious. Thinking about previous startup experiences as the way to connect the dots. Any preference or advices on candidates for family business but without the family business background?