Visiting Business Schools - Yay or Nay?

So earlier this week I received a message from a blog reader asking the questions below.  I responded to the reader but also wanted to post this on my blog because I think it's very important.


1.  How important do you think the visit is to the schools?
2.  Do you think schools care if you visit?
3.  Do you think that if I visit in January after deadlines, those schools that like for prospective students to visit would weigh this visit the same as if I had visited before my application was sent in or do you think they wont even consider my visit when evaluating my profile?


There were some other questions mixed in there but you get the idea right?  So yeah let me start from the beginning...


The way that I think about school visits is not from the perspective of "Oh what will the schools think of me visiting?"  it's more from the perspective of "Oh...can I see myself at school X with student at school X for two years and enjoy myself?"  That's how I go into every school visit.  I don't care too much whether or not the school "cares" if I visit because I care.  I'm grateful to have the opportunity to visit all of the schools that I'm interested in and I believe that it's VERY IMPORTANT to visit if you're able to.


I have visited Tuck, Yale, NYU, Cornell, HBS, and soon to be Michigan and hopefully Haas.  I have definitely written off two schools from that list after my visit.  Other schools I have moved up and moved down in my own personal Consortium ranking.  


When you visit a school you can just get a sense of the atmosphere and if you would like to be associated with those people for the rest of your life.  Sure I reach out to students prior to visiting (One school resulted in a bad experience just from doing that) but I really get a sense for the school during the times when there are no prospective events going on.  So for instance having attended many diversity conferences and such, when we have free time for like 15/20 minutes or so, I'll just sit and observe the current students and how they interact with one another.  Or I will walk around campus by myself and also observe how people interact with one another.


During class visits, I don't pay attention to what the professor is saying as much as I observe what the current students are doing during the class.  Usually during the classes you're sitting in the back of the class and if students are allowed computers, you can see if they are looking at the proper materials or on facebook and instant messenger.  I'm not saying that I would write off a school simply because of this fact, but it gives you a sense of the level of engagement at each school.  I have seen different situations at different schools, and they stick out in my head.  Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that any student who has a laptop open and is on facebook is a bad student or whatever, but in my opinion it does affect the class, in some way shape or form.


Do I think schools care if you visit?  Hhmmm... some schools yes and other schools no.  I know some schools track all of the interaction you have with the school whether it be an information session or an email to an admissions committee member.  I know this for a fact and from my observations it seems to be the smaller schools (one in particular and no it's not Dartmouth) that does this because they have the time to do so.  


Sure you can visit during the admitted students weekends after you're admitted, but at that point how do you know you chose the right school to apply to in the first place?  I mean I literally struck a high ranking school off my list after I visited.  I walked away from the visit saying to myself "I would not enjoy being here with these students for 2 years."  Was that a hard conclusion to arrive at?  Hhmmm...after the visit no it was not.  Prior to the visit I would not have even thought of doing it.  


Another benefit of visiting the schools is that you learn a great deal about the school that you cannot learn from a website or a brochure.  All of the schools say that they're collaborative..they all have student groups... most all have sections...  all top schools have great recruitment placement etc etc... So to me it's funny when they all say "oh make your essays different" and yet all of the information they put out there about themselves is the same.  


Sure from school to school there may be 1/2 things different about each program, but if all of the applicants are trying to make their essays sound different, they're going to hone in on those 1 or 2 things.  By visiting schools prior to applying you learn all of the little nuances that make each school different.  I will not go into detail what I've learned from each school, but I can guarantee you that my essays will be very tailored to my experiences with each school.  It may come down to me being able to reference something that I experienced or realized while visiting, but those "little" differences make it all worth it in the end.  


Plus I like meeting new people so school visits excite me.  If you've been following my journey from the beginning you'll remember that I didn't know anyone who was getting an MBA when I began this process.  Now I have friends on Facebook... current students cell phone numbers...email addresses...linkedin profiles....etc etc, whom I can contact should I have any questions regarding their schools....insider questions at that.  And since I've built up a rapport with them I can ask them very candid questions if need be.  I mean when I was up at Tuck just recently I contacted a couple people just to catch up with them because I remember when they were first years!  When I was at the Reaching Out Conference in LA last month, I ran into someone whom I met back in October of 2009 who gave me some great information about NYU.  These interactions are priceless and would not come about if I did not visit schools.  You can only get so close to someone via email so being able to meet them in person is a "good look."

Needless to say, I think that if you can visit a school, you should!  Now that I've written that, I'm going to go back to editing one of my essays.  From now until Sunday I plan to get all of my first drafts completed and then send them off for review.  Then it's back to GMAT time!!!!!


Oh I do want to write a post about what to wear to business school visits too!  Cuz lord knows I have seen some funny attire.... really... a flannel shirt and jeans?  yeah I won't go into that one!!


Cheers!

In the Zone...with Everyone Else!

So yeah sure whatever I just made a post a couple of hours ago, but today is a new day technically speaking. As deadlines approach I've noticed that everyone around me in this Pre-MBA bubble has his or her head down and is barreling through the process.  It's interesting to take a step back and see where people are in the process... people I now consider friends!  I don't know what I would have done had I not started this blog.  I think ::crossing fingers:: that some of the people I've met this past year will be attending school with me next year.  You know who you are!

I just read through my google reader where I see everyone elses updates about their journey's and we're all either juggling GMAT prep and essays, or just essays, tracking down recommenders, visiting schools, reaching out to everyone we know at each school.

It's definitely nice to see that I am not the only one going through this.  Even though I will be neglecting my friends for another month and a half, at least I can seek refuge and solace in other peoples stories.  Just as you guys send me kind messages wishing me the best with my studies, I love seeing updates about progress that everyone is making.  It's like we're all in it together albeit competiting against one another, but there's a bond we share going through this process.

Just think guys... this is all a right of pasage!  Everyone who has gone to a top b-school has endured this process.  If they can do it... so can we!  It's funny because after I do a round of studying or take an exam, there are two people I usually call and one that I email.  I always call or text Brandon and I text my friend Jessica!  We all know the pain.  So if anyone is following my blog and is embarking upon this arduous journey, I say to you - FIND OTHER PEOPLE IN YOUR SITUATION!  They will keep you sane!  You'll have someone to vent to on a Friday night when you're in studying and your friends are out partying.  The conversation will go something like this:

Me - "this damn exam is going to be the bane of my existence!"
Other person - "OMG I KNOW... I just did ______ and _____ and scored a ___ but I'm not too worried because last night when I did _____ i realized that I just need to ______!"
Me - "Yeah... when I did _____  it was so easy!  But then I got to ______ and I had no idea what to do!"
Other person - "Did you hear about _____ they scored a _____ and they used ____ Tutor at $X/hour"
Me - "Wow that's great!  My tutor said ______... so it'll be interesting to see what happens to ______"
Other person - "Are you going to the ______ event on Saturday?"
Me - "Yeah I registered for it a while ago.. do you need the link?  I'll send it to you!"
Other person - "Yeah I do thanks!  I was too busy doing my essay for ______ and totally forgot about the ______ event this Saturday!"
Me - "Ok I'll talk to you tomorrow on gchat we both need to go study some more!"

I just can't wait until the week when admissions decisions begin to go out!  I'm going to reference this post when it does come.  That will be an exciting time and I have already envisioned how that will play out.  I just know there will be a lot of text messaging when people start getting phone calls!

Today I walked into my colleagues office.  She graduated from the McCombs School of Business.  I walked into her office and said "APPLYING TO BUSINESS SCHOOL IS A TOUGH PROCESS" and she just started laughing.  She agreed with me but said that it was the best two years of her life!  I can't wait until I can say that.  We talked for about 10 minutes and she walked me through the day she got the call from McCombs informing her of her acceptance.  She said she jumped up and down on her couch!  I can only imagine what that felt like.  It was another good motivator!

So this post is for everyone out there going through what I'm going through!  LET'S KEEP OUR BLINDERS ON... HEADS DOWN..... AND ROCK THIS _____  ;-)

My benadryl is kicking in right now so I am going to sleep!  Tomorrow I'll update my blog with a link to our Bloomingdales.com Friends and Family  Coupon for anyone who wants to go shopping!  ;-)

No Update Re: Tuck, Cornell, or NYU Diversity Conferences