Current Student
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 462
Given Kudos: 8
Location: Silicon Valley via Russia, China, Canada and Wharton/Lauder
Concentration: Finance, International Studies (South East Asia)
Schools:Wharton/Lauder (Mandarin Chinese)
GPA: 5 out of 5
The MBA Tour: do not go.
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11 Sep 2007, 11:38
I have just returned from Beijing where I attended The MBA Tour event, and it was for the most part a disappointment because I found it too shallow. For the WHOLE event those 60 schools have managed to bring in just three MBA alums and students to talk with the crowds at their panels. One was from UC Berkeley, one - from University of San Francisco, one - from York (Schulich) University. Oh yes, NYU Stern has brought in a couple to their information table (those were useful sources of info).
Some of the school reps are so poorly prepared to answer questions, they just give you generic answers. Ivey, for instance, totally sucked! Very few schools actually sent a person who was not just trying to give out booklets and pens. Yale was great, Cornell was superb, Stern's alums were informative.
My advice: if you are busy do not go, do not waste your time. All the information you need about a school could be obtained from their website and through direct interaction with the admissions office. They can hook you up with people who would be willing to talk on the phone or correspond by email.
I will attend the Columbia's reception in Beijing next week and I hope that it will be a different experience, but no more of those "a hundred school at a time" type of events for me!
On a positive note: consider going to these mass events for one reason: you get to meet other prospective MBA's and you get to compare yourself to the rest -- could be a confidence booster/killer, but anyway will allow you to evaluate yourself better. For this, you gotta schmooooze around like crazy, and socialize with as many people as you can. Most visitors at these events are quite reserved as they are busy navigating around, so it is a great chance to practice your soft skills. I exchanged cards with quite a few people including a director of sales of LEXUS, Beijing.