Contacting student ambassadors

Are you serious? Think about the fact that you're about to dish out a ton of money for a product that you don't know a lot about. For instance, if you're buying a car, maybe it's nice to look at the Chevrolet website and see what the company says about the car, but don't you want to talk to the people who actually drive the car and get an objective perspective?

If you're only reading the websites, then you're basically just reading the carefully crafted marketing materials. It's been my experience that students have no problem leveling and telling you straight up what they like and dislike.

You have a point, but I'm not talking about contacting a regular student. I'm talking about contacting a student ambassador. I think that these people are made ambassadors for a reason. The school isn't going to give you the contact information of a student that is going to disparage the school, am I right?

I'm not sure how they go about picking these people. I imagine they select people that are personable, and at least respectable if not exceptional students.

The students I spoke with gave me some great insights, and lots of random anecdotes that I was able to use in interviews. Your interest in a school seems much more sincere if you can manage to weave these sorts of things into an interview. For instance:

INTERVIEWER: Why are you interested in our school specifically?
YOU: Well, I'm interested in advertising and I know Kellog has the preeminent blah blah blah...and also for reasons X, Y, and Z, and the students I spoke with were all very enthusiastic about the travel program, in fact one of them told me that when they were travelling to England they met Richard Branson face-to-face, which is unbelievable, but I know that these are the sorts of amazing opportunities I could look forward to at a great school like Kellogg...

Dropping an anecdote like that will (1) Show that you took the time to reach out to students (2) Show that you are personable (3) Will make you a more memorable interview because you're talking about something interesting instead of saying, "I have great quant skills, your school will help me make them even better, I love numbers, I'm a robot" (4) It will show that you have "awareness" or "maturity," you're able to recognize that b-school is more than just classes and placement statistics, you will come across as someone who is genuinely excited about the b-school experience.

Your initial questions with an ambassador might not yield much, but if you follow up with them and probe to get some interesting stories/insights.

Don't buy it all hook line and sinker. Some people drink the koolaid, some don't. Inevitably, someone who is a student ambassador is going to have drunk the koolaid.

The value,as already suggested, isnt so much in getting a truly honest perspective on the school - as you point out, who's going to say "this place sucks, i work too hard" - but the value in comes in being able to drop tidbits into your interviews and essays. Little anecdotal meaningless truths that show your research and desire to attend, in a way that I'd venture, 80 % of candidates cannot or do not.

For a true perspective on the schools value and whether or not it was worth it - ask alumni. Just call the school and ask for contact info for a local alumn, or just go search for the alumni pages and, more often than not, the local city president or whatever has public contact info. I did this for Darden and spoke to two people... one told me it was "Worse than IB" and another told me "Don't go, its too harsh." No student ambassador would ever have said that - but those are not details I could use in my interviews.

Student ambassador type people = interview and essay fodder (it doesnt even matter what they talk about.)
Alumni = reality check

IF all else fails, this is fun:
https://www.kongregate.com/games/FreeWor ... tricman2hs

I've heard a lot of people say that Darden is really gruelling. Wonder why that is. Has anybody heard anything positive about that school?

mmm, koolaid

Uhm, Dave Barry lives in that town I think.

There's a really cool sustainable farm nearby, and it sells a lot of its produce to local restaurants. The farm was discussed at length in Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," a totally cool book.

So awesome produce and someone who's famous for being kind of funny. Awesome, sign me up for Darden.

Ok, so I have composed a short list of questions:

What have you enjoyed most here?
Is there any advice you might have for an applicant?
Hindsight is 20 20. What would you say is the one thing you wish you had known your first year here? (asked of 2nd years)
(courtesy of Rhyme)

In your opinion，who was the most memorable speaker to speak at X school and why？
What was your favorite class and why？
Favorite professor？
Did you participate in （University's signature program）？ If so，what was your experience？
In your opinion, what have you gained from attending X school that you could not gain anywhere else?
What is your opinion of the Finance department? If applicable, what has been your experience?(my post MBA goal is corporate finance)


So, too many questions? Not enough? What do you all think? Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

Those are great questions, those should yield some really interesting responses.

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