Calling All Fall 2012 Consortium Applicants!

Highlights of MBA Tour Conference in NYC on July 23
[*] A lot of schools represented across tiers and regions. There were even international schools like INSEAD in attendance.
[*] Strong representation from Consortium schools - Ross, Johnson, Tepper, Yale SOM, Stern, Simon, UCLA,etc.
[*] Went to individual school presentations for NYU Stern, Cornell Johnson, and Yale SOM. Consortium was discussed to varying degrees at all sessions
[*] 2 hour MBA Fair was packed. The Stanford table had a crowd until the very end. Some schools (Booth, Columbia) didn't send admissions representatives, but instead used 2nd year MBA students alone. Personally, I didn't think this was very helpful because students only seemed to have knowledge about their own concentrations and interest areas. It would have been nice to have someone from admissions there to answer questions about the application process and the program in general.

The Good
[*] Cornell's presentation was by far the best of the day! Everyone who went to that session agreed. The associate admissions director, Christine, was energetic, knowledgeable, and most importantly warm and inviting. She was also truthful. When I asked her about ranking schools for Consortium applicants she was very honest in saying that they mattered....A LOT! Oh and if anyone is interested in sales and trading, there's actually a trading floor at the Johnson school! I thought that was pretty cool.
[*] The breadth of schools meant that there was something for everyone. Also, meeting the adcoms and students was a really good way to gauge that indefinable thing they call "fit." After speaking with some schools I knew immediately that the fit was NOT there.

The WTF
[*] During one school's info session applying through the Consortium was highlighted. After the adcom gave some brief details about the Consortium (who, what, how, etc?) someone raised their hand and asked, "So are Consortium applications not considered as highly since it's a common application?" The gasps, sighs, and snickers were audible. I had to make a concerted effort to fix my face as did every other minority around me.

[*] It was very obvious that many people have no clue what business school is about and how this process works. Some folks have a very strange interpretation of what business attire means. People showed up in jeans, shorts, flip flops and other egregious attire. I saw one girl in a romper, another with spaghetti straps, and one in what might have been her quincinera dress paired with a cardigan.

And that is my recap of MBA Tour NYC!