justin520 wrote:
Thanks for the advice. I was thinking of going that direction, but then I thought, "why bother?" Have you ever heard someone say, "Man, my MBA program really sucks,"? Of course if you ask someone about their opinion of their school, they are going to give a glowing review, probably along the lines of, "Well, I really liked professor X's class because he used real world examples and could relate things to us in an understandable way..blah...blah.." or something like that. How is this going to help you in the interview process or give you insight into the school that you can't glean from the website that includes student testimonials? On a detailed webiste, there are usually a few quotes from students conerning just about every aspect of the school, from clubs to activities to specific professors and programs. I suppose the value would come from the fact that you contacted a real person rather than rely completely on the website's information. I think I will go the route you suggested. Thanks again.
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:
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