In our previous articles, we have explored the 8-steps about how you should start thinking about your MBA applications for the top B-Schools. We also shared with you the 3 distinct steps of our process - finding your key strengths, crafting your career story, and discovering your short and long-term goals.
The next step in this process comes down one of the most important aspects of your application: Choosing the right B-Schools.
One of the biggest mistakes that candidates commit while applying for their MBA or MIM programs is to rely solely on 1 factor - rankings. Often, a lot of students get caught in the web of rankings, not realising that the ideal program for them might not be the one at the top of the table.
Talk to school alumni - find out more about life at campus. Find societies and events organized by the school which are of interest to you.
We are going to share a few steps of how you can save yourself from committing the same mistake.
First and foremost, identify the different parameters that are important to you - of course, the ranking of a school is important, but there are many other criteria such as the location, average gmat, tuition fees, availability of scholarships, and even the job placement scenario at the school. You can have other criteria in your list as well - whichever suits you best. This will help you create an initial list of schools which you might be interested in.
The next step would be to start researching these schools. By the time you start this process, you should have a good idea about what your goals are. If you don’t know your goals, then do check out our previous articles on how to figure out your short and long term goals.
When it comes to researching the schools - in today’s age - start with social media. Almost all schools nowadays are very active on social media and post a lot of information, pictures and even admission tips! Make sure you follow all of the schools you are interested in.
Try to find the different qualities valued by the schools. This will help you determine whether you actually fit at a particular school or not!
Talk to alumni - find out more about life at campus. Find societies and events organized by the school which are of interest to you.
Finally, figure out the courses which will help you gain the skills that you need to achieve your short term goals. For example: if you want to specialize in operations management, look for the offerings that are available at the school concerning ops management. Maybe they have a major available for this topic, or maybe they have very high-achieving faculty.
Once you have done this detailed research, you will gain an amazing clarity on 2 things -
Which schools fit you best, and you should apply to?
You will have extremely clear reasons about why you want to pursue your MBA at a particular school - which is a very important question to answer for your essays!
So, this is all from us when it comes to choosing your b-schools.