It may be tempting to see business school as a place to expand your options while you find yourself, but an MBA is much more than a versatile credential. Having a clear idea of where you want your MBA to take you will help you figure out which programme offers the best route.
Start with a self-assessment. Understanding your strengths, needs, and goals will help you define what you’re looking for in an MBA programme. When it is time to fill in your application forms you should be able to articulate your career goals and also be ready to explain why a school is a good fit for you.
There are numerous factors to consider. Common criteria includes school quality and reputation; specific programme aspects like length, type, and location, career services and job placement statistics, curriculum; student population; and of course, cost and financing. A candidate must know about what each and every criteria has in store for them. This knowledge will help them zero in on the school that one wants to get admitted in.
Common sources of school and programme information include:
Networking
People in professional organisations and those who are doing the type of work you want to do can be your real mentors. Educators, too, can help you navigate through the process. It is essential that you talk to numerous people to get a wide outlook towards the MBA programme.
Online sources
A good place to start is mba.com,the Graduate Management Admission Council’s web portal for students. The site offers a school finder to help you find and compare programmes, information and advice on the entire process as well as the Graduate Management Admission Test, the standardised admission test for MBA programmes. Registering at the site also allows you to opt in to the Graduate Management Admission Search Service® if you want to make your information available to school recruiters who want to contact you.
Guides
Various publications offer school directories and rankings. When looking at rankings, however, be aware that each ranking organisation uses different criteria and so does each individual student.
Schools
Perhaps the best source of information about a school’s business programmes is the school itself. School websites, admissions officers, students, faculty and alumni are all worth checking out and visiting a school can give you a feel for a programme that you may not be able to get anywhere else. Also, many schools offer multiple MBA programmes—full-time, part-time, online, executive and have experts on staff who can explain the differences in and benefits of each one.
Experts recommend that you apply to one dream programme which you feel fairly certain you will get in to, and one to three others you think are a good match for your credentials. Though there are no guarantees, you can get a pretty good idea of how your credentials will stack up against other applicants by looking at a program’s most recent class profile. The statistical profile includes academic and demographic information, as well as how many applicants the school turns away. An MBA is a big investment both of yourself, and in yourself.
The article is written by Graduate Management Admission Council.