Making the most of the information sessions
Very soon, the flurry of information sessions will hit the road, and applicants will get to hear from adcom members, current students and even alumni in some cases. When I started last year, I attended several information sessions, fair and special events. Initially, I would just attend these sessions and think that information was similar to what was found in the brochures. But as time went by, I picked up some tactics to get additional information that actually helped me understand the schools a lot better.
Before I get into the actual learning about information sessions, I would like to describe the different types of information sessions that I saw last year.
- Single School - The presenters are from a single school. They usually bring along students and alumni.
- Collection of Schools/ MBA Fairs - The presenters are adcom members from different schools. There may be some alumni.
- Diversity Events - The presenters are adcom members from usually from single schools. There are usually alumni/current students but the participants are usually from a particular demographic.
So here are my learning for from last year :
Read the Website:
To make the most of any information session, I would highly recommend reading the school's website. This does two things, one lets you know what information is readily available and lets you ask more pointed questions instead of asking something like - I have a 680 will I get in?
Listen Actively:
I found that once I read the websites, I was able to see which of the points were brought out the most . In the beginning, I was not very good, so I would make a list of keywords and try to keep track of the different examples that were used to describe them - both by adcom and students. This helped me get a better sense about the core values of the school, and helped me cull out the crux out of the giant marketing fud.
Targeted questioning:
Information about basic admission statistics are easy to find, but good stats are often insufficient. MBA application consists of other important ingredients, like the application itself, essays, recommendation letters, additional information . For example, questions on information about what recommender should focus on , or the type of recommending preferred. After asking these questions, I realized that I needed to shuffle around some of my recommending.
Leverage the students and alumni:
Of course asking questions is the first step, but the biggest challenge I found is that in many cases, there were several applicants and although I wanted to ask some detailed questions, it simply could not be done. I usually asked for the contact information and most students/alumni were very forthcoming. I followed up with Thank you notes and specific questions about student clubs, career opportunities etc. I either got an answer or I was referred to someone else . This allowed me to build a relationship and leverage it later in the admissions cycle especially during the interview phase. These answers also allowed me to get gauge of my potential "fit" and also helped me in crafting my essays.
Each of these tips can be applied to any of the different types of information sessions. Personally, I found the diversity events to be the most productive because the number of people attending were a lot fewer and this gave me an opportunity to ask more questions. The MBA fair was a nice way to find out different programs but I truly did not get to much from it mainly because of the volume of the applicants. That being said I do know of people who felt that the MBA fair did get them additional insights.
Best of luck 2007 applicants and enjoy the information sessions.
Before I get into the actual learning about information sessions, I would like to describe the different types of information sessions that I saw last year.
- Single School - The presenters are from a single school. They usually bring along students and alumni.
- Collection of Schools/ MBA Fairs - The presenters are adcom members from different schools. There may be some alumni.
- Diversity Events - The presenters are adcom members from usually from single schools. There are usually alumni/current students but the participants are usually from a particular demographic.
So here are my learning for from last year :
Read the Website:
To make the most of any information session, I would highly recommend reading the school's website. This does two things, one lets you know what information is readily available and lets you ask more pointed questions instead of asking something like - I have a 680 will I get in?
Listen Actively:
I found that once I read the websites, I was able to see which of the points were brought out the most . In the beginning, I was not very good, so I would make a list of keywords and try to keep track of the different examples that were used to describe them - both by adcom and students. This helped me get a better sense about the core values of the school, and helped me cull out the crux out of the giant marketing fud.
Targeted questioning:
Information about basic admission statistics are easy to find, but good stats are often insufficient. MBA application consists of other important ingredients, like the application itself, essays, recommendation letters, additional information . For example, questions on information about what recommender should focus on , or the type of recommending preferred. After asking these questions, I realized that I needed to shuffle around some of my recommending.
Leverage the students and alumni:
Of course asking questions is the first step, but the biggest challenge I found is that in many cases, there were several applicants and although I wanted to ask some detailed questions, it simply could not be done. I usually asked for the contact information and most students/alumni were very forthcoming. I followed up with Thank you notes and specific questions about student clubs, career opportunities etc. I either got an answer or I was referred to someone else . This allowed me to build a relationship and leverage it later in the admissions cycle especially during the interview phase. These answers also allowed me to get gauge of my potential "fit" and also helped me in crafting my essays.
Each of these tips can be applied to any of the different types of information sessions. Personally, I found the diversity events to be the most productive because the number of people attending were a lot fewer and this gave me an opportunity to ask more questions. The MBA fair was a nice way to find out different programs but I truly did not get to much from it mainly because of the volume of the applicants. That being said I do know of people who felt that the MBA fair did get them additional insights.
Best of luck 2007 applicants and enjoy the information sessions.
posted by FooBarMe at
7:28 PM
2 Comments:
awesome advice. real good stuff. thanks.
By
Forrest Gump, at July 17, 2006 9:52 PM
xclnt posts. But at the end of all this rocket science, you are still attending a PT MBA with a very low selectivity. Was it all that difficult ?
Sometimes, i think you make it out to be a much bigger deal than it is. I mean, Haas PT, how difficult can it be ? Every tom dick and harry goes there.
By
Anonymous, at July 21, 2006 6:02 PM
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