3

Choosing the School

The decision of choosing the right business school is not easy to make but it can be simplified by the process of elimination. An MBA is a once-in-a-lifetime investment. It is, therefore, vital that you select the best possible school and, that too, one that ties in with your specific needs.

The above two reasons, though seemingly alike, are at the core of the process of making the right choice. The first reason would be dictated by the well-known objective parameters used by various publications such as BusinessWeek and U.S. News & World Report to compile their rankings of top business schools around the world. These include perceived reputation, the recruiters’ choice, starting salaries, number of jobs offered to students, the quality of education and so on. We will discuss the same in detail in Chapter 4. The second reason is much more qualitative in nature and depends mostly on your ability to judge your specific needs and expectations from an MBA programme. We will discuss these aspects of the decision-making process in this chapter.

Know Your Expectations

Before you progress any further, it is very important to answer the question: Have you found your own reason for getting an MBA degree? In Chapter 1, we discussed some of the most common reasons for getting an MBA. We suggest you to go back to Chapter 1 and go through the reasons given in it, once again. It is not important for you to conform to any of those listed; you might have your own reasons guiding you towards your goal.

Once you have a convincing reason, use it as your looking glass to determine the programmes that best suit your needs. A very simple but effective method is to write down the various reasons in their decreasing order of importance on paper. List only those factors which are important to you in specific detail. They could be anything from starting your own business in technology (and if possible, more specifically, like in IT or biotechnology), or living in the sunny weather of California or going to Harvard because your family has a history with that school and it equals prestige as well as tradition. Whatever they are, once you list them down, you will have a very clear idea of the most important factors which will then help you to arrive at a prioritized list of business schools for yourself. Keep this list with you throughout the process as a guide to avoid getting caught in the rankings game or in making a wrong decision influenced by the look of beautiful Web sites, well-designed brochures and admissions presentations.

Finally, it pays to remember that as a qualified applicant, you are an important prospective student to all good business schools. They will try their best to attract you and, in the process, all of them will appear more similar than different in their class composition, average GMAT scores and other such statistics. It is, therefore, up to you to carefully research the schools to be able to look beyond the obvious clutter of statistics and arrive at a list which fits your reasons. Once you start the search, you should embark on an iterative process. The better you understand your needs, the more relevant will be your search through the programme descriptions and student profiles to understand the intrinsic nature of the business school and its students. The better you understand the cultural differences, the more will you identify with one set and hence, will suit and modify your reasons to pursue an MBA accordingly. In the end, you will come up with very specific needs based on your personality and a list of programmes that best serve your needs, which is the intended goal of the process.

Researching the Programmes

We suggest the following methodology to be followed by prospective applicants for researching the various MBA programmes:

  1. Develop a general understanding of the various types of MBA programmes (Chapter 2) and read about the MBA programmes, school classifications and rankings, available from various sources, a few of which are BusinessWeek, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal. A discussion on them in Chapter 4 will help you understand how to use the information given in them better. A list of recommended readings is also given at the end of this chapter. However, for the sake of convenience, we recommend the above publications as they are easily available through Internet subscriptions and provide a wealth of information.
  2. Once you develop an understanding of the various programmes, we suggest that you use the list of reasons for doing an MBA compiled earlier to help you select a few schools at first glance. This selection would be governed by the strength of your reasoning as well as your conviction in them. However, you should be able to shortlist a few schools at this stage at a more general level, conforming to your expectations. We suggest writing to all the schools in this list at this stage asking for information brochures to be sent to you to help in your decision-making process.
  3. Now go through the criteria listed below to fine-tune your list of programmes. Not all the factors might be important for you but you would find that some of these would apply to your selection process and would help you refine your thoughts. A few other factors are not considered by applicants, which is a mistake because they are equally important. They include the effectiveness of career services of business school in placing its international students as well as the diversity of student body which aids significantly in the overall learning experience. You will need to consult the Web sites and brochures sent out by the schools in your preliminary list at this stage.
    1. There are some factors, which are applicable to all business schools that you need to take care about, and these are also among the first to be used for differentiation even by the institutions.

      Brand Recognition and Reputation The school should be reputed in the field that you want to specialize in or otherwise in general management. It helps to look at recruiter surveys presented by the publications mentioned earlier, to determine which schools are preferred by companies of your choice.

      Class Size Small schools are highly selective, offer a close-knit atmosphere and are preferred by students. Larger schools offer a greater selection of optional courses, expert faculty with a larger number of tenured professors, access to larger number of recruiting companies and are preferred by prospective employers.

      Location Depending upon the type of programme you choose, you would want a location suited to your lifestyle and convenience. For part-time students, the location should allow easy commuting from their home as well as workplace. For full-time students, it is a choice between big city or a small town, the weather, proximity to industry clusters for choice of employment opportunities and living costs, all of which also have an implication on the quality of life. For some people, the location also needs to offer employment opportunities for their spouses, good schools for their children as well as an acceptable level of social life. One also needs to consider the location with respect to the safety offered by the neighborhood for oneself and the family. This information is best supplied by the current students attending the programme and living in or near that locality.

      Infrastructure On-campus housing that offers both dormitories and apartments, transportation for commuting to the convenience stores, parking, exercise and fitness facilities, a well-developed library, online services with exhaustive subscription to reputed journals, Wi-Fi or Internet access on the campus, computer centre and printing facilities are the typical considerations a candidate should bear in mind.

    2. The programme needs to be analysed in detail, using the points mentioned below, to understand if it offers all that you need and more, or is it more of show and less of actual substance.

      Design of Programme This has been discussed in detail in Chapter 2 during the discussion of the types of programmes, which are one-year, two-year, part-time and executive MBA. However, the number of terms offered in a year should also be considered because higher number of terms allows a greater range of courses to be taken. Besides, they have the added pressure of examinations and lack of in-depth course coverage. This decision is usually based on personal comfort level and the need for practical training or live projects in case of those who are planning to change their careers or gain advanced knowledge in specific areas. Finally, the guest lectures, lectures by visiting faculty and talks by senior executives from the industry, whether built into the programme or organized through various clubs and student bodies, are important considerations to build a relevant perspective for some students. The MBA programme at the Columbia Business School refers proudly to the accessibility of industry leaders and their involvement with the students enrolled in the programme as one of its important features.

      University Advantage A big university offers the advantage of courses offered in other departments, like the life sciences or biotechnology department, which can be taken as electives. It would greatly help a person to opt for such courses in order to build a career in a particular field. However, the business school itself is the final authority on such courses that can be taken and usually puts a limit on the total number of credits allowed.

      Joint Degrees Many business schools, especially university-led ones, like The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and Kellogg School of Management of Northwestern University, offer a dual degree option for MBA students. The preferred combinations are JD-MBA offered with the law school of the university, MBA-MD with the School of Medicine, MBA-MS with the school of engineering and MBA-MA with the faculty of arts and sciences. Further research on these programmes is left to the students who wish to pursue the same.

      International Scope Courses with relevance to international business practices, emphasis on learning a foreign language, visits to other countries and meetings with business leaders and government officials, industry-led projects and exchange programmes with other universities are the various methods by which the programme assumes international character and allows its students to take up jobs in different locations around the world. Specific MBA programmes like the one offered by the Thunderbird School of Global Management offer a degree in international business while others stress the international nature of their programme through any or all of the above offerings. Again, one needs to understand the scope and evaluate a personal fit to decide on the programme in this case.

      Curriculum Some programmes offer preparatory courses in calculus, statistics, computer proficiency and languages to help you get to pace before the programme begins. Core courses are required to be taken in most schools, but some schools allow you to opt out by taking electives and completing the credit requirements, on showing proof of proficiency in the course at some level during your studies. The advantage of compulsion comes during cases when those who know the subject well are able to lead the discussion and help others appreciate the finer points. A few programmes offer courses aimed at developing soft skills like communication, teamwork, and so on. Leadership skills and ethics are two such courses and their variants are to be found at all top business schools. One might want to look at the electives offered in greater detail in case one’s interest is towards building depth in a particular concentration or even a general management focus with an exposure to a wide variety of topics. It is also worthwhile to see if the school allows you to take enough number of credits from non-business courses with other departments at the university. Finally, the integration of live projects, guest lectures and industry exposure through visits and meetings with executives, into the curriculum makes for a far more enriching and intensive business-school experience.

      Learning Experience Teaching methods vary between schools. Harvard and Darden have been known to favour predominant use of the case method while schools like Chicago are more tuned towards lectures, projects and class discussions. Most schools, however, use a combination approach of all these methods. Teaching quality is a reflection of the experience of the faculty and their involvement in research which allows them to share new information with students and sometimes even involve students in some of the ongoing projects. Most schools allow students’ feedback on the teaching skills of the faculty, and decisions like tenure and promotion of the faculty are affected by the quality of this feedback. Some schools, like Kellogg, allow for student initiatives and involvement in improvement of existing course structure and even introduction of new courses. Top schools typically involve substantial workload and it is higher at those involving case-based teaching, simply because looking up the background material is left to students and is not factored in the teaching schedules. Eighty-hour work weeks are common in the first year in most business schools, also because people take time to get used to the culture and to settle down. It is comparatively relaxed in the second year as electives are suited according to need and allow for an easier pace. A difference exists between those with good pre-skills such as quantitative skills and others, the so-called ‘poets’, who struggle to find their feet in such courses. Hence, one needs to analyse one’s strengths carefully before choosing a programme which is intensive on quantitative skills and requires a basic level to do well in classes. Lastly, a smaller class size would allow you more time to air your views and get more time with professors. Larger class size allows greater interaction between students and hence, more scope of learning from others’ experiences and helps to develop a stronger personality as they vie for airtime to present their views on any topic. Most students prefer small to medium-sized classes for the opportunity it offers to interact more frequently in classes.

    3. Understanding and taking into account the importance of your suitability to the culture and the people of the business school of your choice can make a huge difference between two thoroughly enjoyable years leading to career success and great relationships; and two years spent wondering what made you do what you are doing and wondering about the higher purpose of life.

      Faculty It is difficult to expect all universities to be loaded with Nobel laureates. Stanford and Chicago boast of 3 each among current faculty. It is even more difficult to find a professor who is able to manage high-quality research and lots of publications in journals of international repute; consulting assignments with leading industrial concerns in his/her area of expertise; and spending time with students engaged in intellectual discussions and clarifying their doubts regarding the course-work. Desirable as it may be, students should be realistic in their expectations and understand that with star faculty, they would get considerably less time to interact. Hence, one should never base a decision of attending any particular school because of a few noted researchers, for if it is not possible for you to enroll for their classes due to any reason, then the purpose of joining the school will get defeated. You should discuss the situation with the current students in any school and take their feedback with regard to accessibility of the faculty as well as their teaching prowess. Also look at the faculty to student ratio of your choice schools because the lower the ratio, the better are the chances of frequent interactions with faculty as well as close friendly relations like those fostered by smaller schools, like Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. We advise applicants to make the effort and not completely rely on the published statistics on Web sites and brochures.

      Students This is the single most important factor for you to consider, in our opinion, when selecting any particular school. You learn more outside the classes during discussions with your fellow students, who come from all walks of life and all types of professional backgrounds, than during the lectures. It is important to consider if your background fits when applying for a technology-oriented school like Krannert School of Management at Purdue University or Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, for you might find it difficult to adjust to the technical discussions compared to those with a technology background who feel at ease during classes and outside them. If you are from a liberal arts background, generalist programmes such as Duke might be a much better fit with a higher proportion of ‘poets’. The more diverse the student body, the higher the experiential learning during the course of the programme and, hence, you must look at the percentage of women, minorities and international students along with the countries they represent. Their average age, GMAT scores and number of years of work experience is indicative of whether the person next to you in the class would be able to add to your knowledge or not. Pay close attention to the nature of coursework at school. If it involves teamwork and you prefer to work alone, then you might not be a good fit for such a programme. Some schools foster competition between students through relative grading, forced curve grading and grade availability to prospective employers. Others prefer to cultivate a feeling of competitive excellence through case discussions, while maintaining grade non-disclosure policies to alleviate the fear of students. You need to feel at ease with other students to get the maximum benefits in the long run, for these people would be in your network and you would end up helping each other years after passing out from the school. Hence, it is very important to feel at home with the predominant student body culture of your choice school.

      Alumni As a future alumni, it is really important to understand the dynamics of the alumni relations as maintained by the institute for it can be a source of immense competitive advantage, such as that claimed by Harvard Business School. It is not just enough for a B-school to have a large alumni base, it is also important to maintain active interaction with them, for they can serve as guides and mentors for students during their studies as well as career search and be links to prospective employers or can be employers themselves. To judge the effectiveness of alumni relations of any school, look at the money raised by them, the percentage of alumni who donate and their active participation in mentoring current students. Tuck, for instance, has an alumni giving-rate upwards of 60 per cent, more than the twice of any other top B-school.

      Staff The career services centre at any school is managed by staff personnel at the school as are the administration and other related departments. It might be worthwhile to consider staff responsiveness as well as dedication to helping students at your choice schools before making a decision. It might help you avoid a lot of frustration at a later stage, when you might be caught up in bureaucratic hassles which might make it difficult for you to effectively manage your job search or affect you in any other manner. This information is again best collected from the experiences of current students at any given school. BusinessWeek uses it as one of the factors in their ranking criteria and you might be able to get more information by a close look at the results.

    4. Career prospects at any school are also important to be analysed. Some factors that influence them are:
      • Recognition of the brand value of a school as one providing top-quality talent to the industry which attracts top employers to hire graduates year after year from the same school.
      • Quality of students and their pre-MBA backgrounds, which provide a good network option to aid in your search and helps you to get in touch with prospective employers.
      • Well-known faculty and their involvement in consulting assignments with industrial concerns of repute, which might be interested in hiring the graduates of the programme.
      • A strong and active alumni network maintained by the school.
      • An efficient career services department at the school which helps students in developing résumés, mastering interview techniques, negotiating salary and benefits package with employers, tapping the alumni database relating to different sectors and making information readily available on past trends on hiring by companies, which are regular visitors to the school. This can also be known by seeing which schools are rated high by recruiters for a well-managed recruiting process.
      • Geographical location of a school allowing for a higher interaction with prospective employers (such as Stanford being based in the heart of the Silicon Valley).

      However, everyone—the students, alumni and the career services department personnel—agree that in any given year for any given school, the maximum number of job offers emerge by the efforts made by the students themselves with the aid of networks and active search through the job listings given out by major employers. Keep this factor in mind, which differentiates these business schools from the likes of the Indian Institutes of Management where campus recruitment is the norm. Some of the top schools do offer opportunities for campus recruitment but they are limited in number as well as dictated by the perceived specialization, such as finance for Wharton.

  4. You should now look at the final list of programmes that you have with you, which fit best with your most compelling needs to get an MBA. We hope that the analysis presented earlier would have helped you in the process of fine-tuning your list to contain only those schools which, if admitted, you would be sure of attending. At this stage, we recommend the following:
    • Speak to the alumni of the school, working or living near you. The names of these people can be easily obtained by contacting the respective schools.
    • Read all the articles available in various publications and on the Internet on the various schools in your list.
    • Write to student organizations and clubs pertaining to your interests in these schools. It will help you to get in touch with a few current students who would be able to give you an insider’s perspective and answer various questions that you might have about the programme as well as career opportunities.
    • Check the Web sites of your preferred employers and check if they are hiring at your choice schools. Some employers like Mckinsey have special staff members dedicated to specific schools. This would take a lot of effort and hard work, but you would come out pretty sure about your chances of working with a particular employer hiring at the school of your choice.
  5. If you have the resources, we suggest you visit the campus of the schools of your choice and get a feel of the culture, student body and academic environment of the place. However, given the hassles in getting visitor’s visa and the significant cost of such travel, this is a discretionary option. The Internet and publications, like this book, are resources intended to make the decision-making process much simpler and easier on the pocket.

The Importance of ‘Fit’

The above discussion must have impressed upon you the various factors needed to be considered when making the decision of which business school to attend. On a closer look, you would realize that all we have said above is that it is you who need to figure out what matters most to you and look for the same amongst the various programmes. The ‘fit’ factor needs to be over-emphasized here. It is the most important criteria to make the decision which would take up two of the most productive years of your life (opportunity cost) and a significant investment of your personal resources. It is more difficult for those who will attend school with their families and hence need to find an atmosphere conducive to the well-being of their loved ones. All programmes might offer a good degree, but would all fulfill your specific needs, focus on your development and ensure a state of general well-being? That is the key question to which one should seek relevant answers and also avoid getting caught in the trap of great selling stories and brand-name presentations. You would benefit most from the place where you will be happy and will have fun, where you will ‘fit’ in.

How Many Applications to Send?

All the effort made till this point to get that list of schools ready is your answer to the simple question in the heading to this portion of the text. A good candidate typically would consider between five to eight schools based on his/her requirements. The divide between the applications is such that generally two applications are made to ‘safe’ schools, another two to four applications go to ‘reach’ schools and one or two applications are made to the ‘dream’ schools. You would be sure of an admission at ‘safe’ schools with your GPA, GMAT and work experience profiles being much above the average of the class. At a ‘reach’ school, your application would be competitive as your profile would be similar to the class average. Dream schools are worth taking a shot at even though your profile might not match up to the class average because everything depends on the execution of your application and a well-developed application might land that coveted admission into your pocket. It is always better to apply to a cross-section of business schools so as to maximize your chances of getting an admission as well as to utilize every possible opportunity of making it to a good school. The factors that should be considered are:

  1. The choice of schools in your list: If you have a strong profile, then applying to only the top five schools might be a good idea. However, if you are sure that you want to start the programme in the coming session then it’s better to apply to some reach and safe schools along with the dream ones.
  2. Quality of applications: It is important to devote time to each of your applications to have a realistic chance of making it through to a programme at a good business school. If you start early, you can prepare a framework which might help you through the entire process and do justice to five to six schools. Bear in mind that most applicants need to complete the entire process while working full-time.
  3. Cost of applications: Applications require a fee to be submitted along with them and it might become prohibitive to apply to a large number of schools. Atop-rung school has an application fee upwards of USD 200 these days.
  4. The start date: The timing of your decision to apply will have a bearing on the number of applications that you can make to the schools of your choice. The deadlines may have passed for some of the top schools or you may only be able to squeeze through round three, which might not necessarily be the best idea.

The Points to Remember While Making the Decision

Summary of the above discussion on the selection process to apply for choosing your ‘type’ of business school is given here.

  1. Start early: If you wish to attend business school in fall 2009, we suggest that you start the process in March 2008.
  2. Know your reasons: Understand the reasons for doing an MBA and be as specific as possible. Write them down.
  3. Shortlist schools: Based on your reasons, select the schools that best ‘fit’ your needs and your personality.
  4. Use rankings carefully: Do not read too much into the rankings. Look at past trends and collectives to identify programmes high in prestige as well as those best suited for your requirements.
  5. Information about schools: Use brochures, Web sites, information sessions with admissions staff and news articles as a means to gather information about schools and substantiate the knowledge by checking with current students. Do not draw hasty conclusions.
  6. Be flexible: As you go through the process and understand it better, your reasons to do an MBA might change through your exposure to the information. This should lead to a change in your criteria for assessing the schools and should lead to a change in the final list of schools. Be open-minded and flexible about the process as it is an iterative one.
  7. Make efforts: Find out about the career services department at your choice schools and compare their efficiency as well as track record at helping international students. Look at your preferred recruiters to see where they are headed for prospective employees.
  8. Find the best fit: The top rankings, the best faculty and the brand value become inconsequential if you are not happy and comfortable with the culture of the programme that you are attending. Look at fellow students, curriculum, class profile, and so on, to make an informed choice about your ability to become a part of the culture of the place.

The final decision about how many and which schools to apply to, rests with you. Our recommendation is to make an informed choice, keeping in mind factors which are important to you from a long-term perspective. The immediate or short-term gains of attending a low-ranked, cost-effective programme vis-à-vis enrolling at a top-ranked programme are lost in the medium term itself, as you realize that this is one degree which travels with you and speaks more about you than the person introducing you at a conference of business leaders. Plan to spend these two years at a place which will provide you the maximum return on your investment in terms of jobs, brand value, alumni network and a great life on the campus. As we said earlier, look for the proverbial ‘fit’ and go with it.

Recommended Readings for Further Information

  • Richard Montauk, How to Get into Top MBA Programmes
  • Omari Bouknight and Scott Schrum, Your MBA Gameplan
  • Alan Mendonca and Matt Symonds, ABC of Getting the MBA Admission Edge
  • Alex Chu, The MBA Field Guide
  • George Bickerstaffe, Which MBA?
  • John A Byrne, Business Week’s Guide to the Best Business Schools
  • Godfrey Golzen, The Official MBA Handbook

Recommended Web Sites

The Internet is a storehouse of information but one needs to learn to use it well. Be sure of the source of information so that you get a complete and accurate picture of the admissions process as well as the various programmes. Given below is a list of some Internet Web sites which provide the most reliable information related to MBA programmes.

Discussion Forums

Various discussion boards are active on numerous chat-rooms, a feature provided by many Web sites, where prospective applicants, current students and admissions officers interact on a regular basis. However, one needs to be careful regarding the use of information presented in these forums. Most of the times, the information reflects subjective views, which might not relate to actual facts, but still give vital information. These forums have been known to create panic situations with regard to the admissions process and most recently, have been used as a means to communicate a method to access admissions information posted by various schools at www.applyyourself.com, before the formal announcement by the schools. This led to a well-publicized controversy, details of which can be easily obtained. We, therefore, advise a cautious use of, both, judgment and restraint in using this particular resource. The most popular forums amongst the student community are listed below:

Student Blogs

Blogging is the new-age mantra for MBA wannabes. You may or may not know the identity of the blogger but quite a few people have written extensive guidelines for applications to business schools on their blogs. You can access most of the business school-related blogs through http://mbaleague.blogspot.com, which is a list of all the current blogs relating to applicants or current students at business schools around the world. Again, judgment as well as restraint is required to be exercised, since the blog would predominantly contain the views and experiences of the writer which might not necessarily be related to actual facts in all cases.

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