Hey guys, For those of you who’ve been through the MBA application process at the top tier schools, how important was a campus visit, if at all? I’d like to visit some campuses to get a sense for what the student community and culture is like, but wasn’t sure how critical this was to the application process. Obviously the benefit to visiting campus is getting a sense of the school; the cost is time and money. Let me know how you guys weigh the costs and benefits of this. Thanks.
One benefit with visiting the schools is you may get a chance to meet the admission counselor whom you’ll interview with later.
I don’t think you could really “go wrong” at any of the top schools. I would say maybe wait and see which ones you’ve been accepted to before visiting, and then maybe using that as a way of narrowing down the list?
The previous post was predicated on my commitment to visiting certain schools, which I was able to do at nominal cost recently since I had already in the area. The remainder of my schools in question are out of my way and would require me to take at least a couple days off from work as well as airfare, hotel, and other costs. You’ll notice that the previous post was about how to make the most of a visit, while this post is about assessing the costs and benefits.
artvandalay, that’s what I was leaning towards as well. I just wasn’t sure how frequently of an occurrence it would be for someone to ask me whether or not I visited a school; and if I hadn’t visited a particular school, I’d wonder if the adcom would really care what the reason for my non-visit was. I guess I’d be concerned whether an interviewer thought I wasn’t a serious candidate if I hadn’t bothered to put in the time and effort to visit a school prior to applying…not sure if that concern is really justified, however, which is why I’m curious.
I can’t say specifically about MBAs, but I can say that campus visits generally help less at the graduate level than the undergraduate level. There are two main advantages: 1) If you meet and talk with professors that are on the admission committee, then they may recognize your name and have a good feeling about you come decision time. If your’e an awesome candidate, it won’t matter too much, but if you are somehow a borderline case, it can make a big difference. 2) When you write your application, you are in a better position to explain why THIS school is the one that you want to be (and should therefore accept you). It might help to drop the names of professors you met, though this is more helpful if you have a sense of which professors are well liked by their colleagues, and use that to select whose name to drop. Lots of people drop the names of star professors, so saying “I want to learn from Professor Greenwald” doesn’t mean all that much other than that you’ve done your research (which is better than NOT doing your research), but saying “when I talked to Professor Greenwald in your department, I got excited about X, Y, Z” means a lot more. Naturally, Professor Greenwald needs to be at the school your writing about… 
bchadwick Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I can’t say specifically about MBAs, but I can say > that campus visits generally help less at the > graduate level than the undergraduate level. > There are two main advantages: > > 1) If you meet and talk with professors that are > on the admission committee, then they may > recognize your name and have a good feeling about > you come decision time. If your’e an awesome > candidate, it won’t matter too much, but if you > are somehow a borderline case, it can make a big > difference. > > 2) When you write your application, you are in a > better position to explain why THIS school is the > one that you want to be (and should therefore > accept you). It might help to drop the names of > professors you met, though this is more helpful if > you have a sense of which professors are well > liked by their colleagues, and use that to select > whose name to drop. Lots of people drop the names > of star professors, so saying “I want to learn > from Professor Greenwald” doesn’t mean all that > much other than that you’ve done your research > (which is better than NOT doing your research), > but saying “when I talked to Professor Greenwald > in your department, I got excited about X, Y, Z” > means a lot more. > > Naturally, Professor Greenwald needs to be at the > school your writing about… I agree with point #1. I was given similar advice by someone that went through the MBA process/school. Admissions seems to have so much ‘are you a good fit’ involved, that being able to say you have visited the school and having the admissions dean meet you face to face can count more than you think and shows you are serious about this program.
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Hey guys, > > For those of you who’ve been through the MBA > application process at the top tier schools, how > important was a campus visit, if at all? I’d like > to visit some campuses to get a sense for what the > student community and culture is like, but wasn’t > sure how critical this was to the application > process. Obviously the benefit to visiting campus > is getting a sense of the school; the cost is time > and money. Let me know how you guys weigh the > costs and benefits of this. Thanks. Definitely go visit the campus. My friend made his final decision after visiting the campuses of his two top picks (UCLA and Wharton). He just didn’t like the feel of the Wharton program… the people (future classmates, faculty, some professors) there (at least those that he met) were very arrogant and snooty and he just naturally preferred the southern california lifestyle. Maybe it was his inherent bias already since he didn’t like the town of philly.
Thanks for the feedback, bchadwick and CFAdetroit. That’s helpful. I’ll try to carve out some time to visit at least a couple more campuses, just so I have a better feel for what they’re like. I have to watch my budget though, so I’ll have to pick any campus visits judiciously. adalfu, your perspectives were helpful as well – I definitely plan to visit any school that I actually get admitted to, though my current inquiry has to do with the application process itself (I haven’t actually applied or gotten admitted anywhere yet).
adalfu Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Definitely go visit the campus. My friend made > his final decision after visiting the campuses of > his two top picks (UCLA and Wharton). He just > didn’t like the feel of the Wharton program… the > people (future classmates, faculty, some > professors) there (at least those that he met) > were very arrogant and snooty and he just > naturally preferred the southern california > lifestyle. Maybe it was his inherent bias already > since he didn’t like the town of philly. You still believe your friend got into Wharton? (I kid, I kid)
Hey numi, I recently applied to five top 15 schools and was accepted at three. I am on the left coast and it is definitely expensive to go out and visit schools, especially before you even have an app in or are invited to interview. What I did to find out about the schools was reach out to students to see if they were willing to chat about the school for 30 minutes or school. I usually contacted 2 students per school - 1 in the area that I was interested in working in (for me, buy-side) and another random person (usually a chick) to get a sense for the school culture overall. The way to search out the students varies slightly by school, but go to the clubs & orgs websites for a particular school and pick out an officer from say, the finance club or the private equity club, and contact them. For the second contact, maybe pick a student ambassador, someone from the ski club, or any other random club. As an fyi for your applications, you can potentially namedrop as well. "When speaking with James Smith, Class of 2010, I learned about the value of the alumni network at School X and how the Institute in Sustainability will help me achieve my goals, etc., etc. There are naturally some schools that want you to be in love with them and promote their programs shamelessly (Columbia, NYU come to mind), while others could care less (Harvard, Wharton). Hope this helps!
I’m going to pay Bruce Greenwald a visit. “Good sir, can you give an update to your evaluation of WD-40 in your book?”
Great tips, ryguy904. Thank you for the suggestions. With respect to interviews, were any of them held in your locale, or did you always have to travel to the schools themselves?
numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Great tips, ryguy904. Thank you for the > suggestions. With respect to interviews, were any > of them held in your locale, or did you always > have to travel to the schools themselves? The schools that I interviewed with were Columbia, Duke, Cornell, Michigan, and Virginia. All of the schools except for Virginia allow you to interview from your locale. Columbia does not let you interview “on campus” if you do not live in NYC, I believe (and when you do, I think it’s with an alumni or student, not an admissions officer). It’s pretty much expected that you interview in Ithaca (for those based in the US) if you want to be considered a serious candidate at Cornell. That said you can elect to do a phone interview. I have a friend that is a 1Y student at Duke and he interviewed in Los Angeles last year with an alumni. I’ve heard that it doesn’t matter for schools such as Kellogg, Chicago, and Michigan if you interview on campus or in your locale