ADMITS FROM INDIA: Pre MBA Meetup

Dear All,

I am an applicant from India and having been admitted at the Tuck School of Business, will be joining many of you in attending business school in the US this fall.

We often hear how B School is all about networking but no one (atleast I haven't heard) tries to do something about it before we actually reach the US. The only level of networking is typically between B School admits at the same school. I can't fathom why I wouldn't want to establish contact with, say, admits at HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Darden, Kellogg etc. as well. This can have multiple benefits:

- Support while in the US. Eg: say you go to school in Boston, and are visiting Chicago for a recruiting trip/generally. You will know someone at Kellogg/Booth who you could reach out to and possibly meet for a drink. Discuss B School life, Bollywood, recruitment, and what not
- Longer term networking - Let's face it. Business school only prepares us for the life ahead, but the first job out of B School isn't the one you will stick to forever, neither is it representative of your full leadership potential. As all of us (Class of 2015) become more senior in our careers, we would want to be in the company of other successful people. Being in touch with those who hold high potential to succeed in the future is hence a good start we can all make today
- Support while relocating - we are all going to the US, but will not stay there forever. Some will come back to India soon, others may move to different countries. Again, knowing someone you could email/ping for help while moving would be a potentially good contact to have
- Support in long term career planning - Last, but not the least, you can always refer to this meetup when trying to get in touch with someone who is at a firm you are planning to apply at. Of course, you may already have alumni working at that organization whom you could reach out to, but this adds more eggs to your basket

... and there could be enough reasons to hold such an event. General networking, socializing, discussing the anxiety of the overall process, etc.

What I'm thinking about doing is organizing a cocktail session in major Indian cities (Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore) where admits from business schools - not limited to US schools, the mention of US above was more as a placeholder - can come for an evening of networking. I plan to limit the size of the event, else the whole purpose of networking will be defeated. Maybe 30-40 students in total in each city. I also plan to collect data about those who attend the event in each city (basic stuff like personal email, phone, photograph, school you are attending - optional data such as linkedin profile link, facebook profile link etc.), make a PDF of that, and distribute it to anyone who attends the meetup in any city. This means although you meet X students in Mumbai, you will receive info on 3X students including those from Delhi, Bangalore and elsewhere.

Of course these are all initial thoughts. There is privacy to be managed etc. which I will think more on. To gain critical mass, those who are interested to meet and indicate on GmatClub, will be requested to spread the word in the FB groups of their respective schools.

What do you think? Thought? Suggestions?

Of course is someone wants to help me organize all this, I am happy to form a team or so.

Look forward to comments. Cheers!