{"id":7500,"date":"2011-06-23T09:00:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=7500"},"modified":"2011-06-13T08:54:50","modified_gmt":"2011-06-13T16:54:50","slug":"5-tips-for-business-school-campus-visits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/5-tips-for-business-school-campus-visits\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Tips for Business School Campus Visits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Guide<\/a>While visiting prospective business schools isn\u2019t necessary, seeing a school in person can definitely help you get a better feel for the program's culture. At some schools (often smaller ones), expressing your interest via a campus visit might marginally increase your chances of admission. And visiting the campus of any business school will almost certainly help improve your application: you'll gain knowledge about the specific program to draw from when answering the inevitable essay question: \"Why Business School X?\"<\/p>\n

If you don't have the time or money to visit business schools, don't worry too much about it -- it's still possible to get a good sense of business schools from their websites and\/or talking to alums and current students.<\/p>\n

If you have the time, funds, and inclination to visit b-school campuses, however, here are a few things to keep in mind.<\/p>\n

1) Visit while school is in session.<\/h3>\n

Sure, seeing a b-school campus in person will give you some sense of the school\u2019s setting and size. But the most important part of your campus visit involves meeting people: talking to students and professors, sitting in on classes, and observing the general routine of the students. You won\u2019t be able to do any of these things if you visit the campus during school breaks. If the schools you\u2019re interested in don\u2019t have summer sessions, then your best bet is probably to wait until the fall.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re set on visiting campus, but can only make it during school breaks, then by all means make the trek -- but realize that you won\u2019t necessarily be getting a complete picture of the school. See if you can talk to an alumni or current student in your area to supplement your visit.<\/p>\n

2) Supplement the official info session with your own \u201cresearch.\u201d<\/h3>\n

You should definitely take advantage of any information sessions, class meetings, or student meetings facilitated by the admissions office on your visit (check out the school\u2019s website to see what\u2019s available). However, be sure to conduct your own research too. The students affiliated with the admissions office are likely some of the most satisfied, positive students at the school -- which doesn\u2019t mean that they won\u2019t be honest about their experiences, but might mean that they\u2019re not the best people to talk to if you\u2019re looking for a diversity of perspectives.<\/p>\n

If you have any friends, acquaintances, or former co-workers who now attend the business school you\u2019re looking at, be sure to get in touch with them ahead of time to talk to them about their experiences. Don\u2019t know anyone at the school? Strike up a conversation with students at one of the school\u2019s social hubs (the dining hall, a student lounge... ). If you\u2019re interested in a certain area of business -- say, luxury marketing -- you might ask the admissions office to put you in touch with students who head up the school\u2019s Luxury Marketing club.<\/p>\n

3) Sit in on a class.<\/h3>\n

This one might not always be possible, but make sure you take advantage of the opportunity if it\u2019s available to you. Ask the admissions office for more information on arranging class visits. If you are able to sit in on a class, be sure to strike up conversations with the other students and even the professor if possible. If the school has a policy against class visitors at certain times of the year, see if you can set up a meeting with a professor instead.<\/p>\n

4) Be polite.<\/h3>\n

This one seems like a no-brainer, but we\u2019ll say it anyway: be courteous to everyone you encounter on your campus visit. Not only is it the right thing to do, but being pushy or rude to the admissions office staff or tour guide certainly won\u2019t help your chances of admission.<\/p>\n

4) Don\u2019t be afraid to ask \u201csoft\u201d questions.<\/h3>\n

Questions about quality of life, housing, culture, and social activities are just as important as those about classes and job placement statistics. You\u2019re considering spending two years of your life in this place: you want to make sure that it will be fulfilling and suitable to your lifestyle on more than just a professional level. If you\u2019re married with kids, seek out a student in a similar situation to answer your questions about the program\u2019s family-friendly factor; same goes if you\u2019re single and want to make sure that they\u2019ll be enough bar nights to fill your social calendar!<\/p>\n

5) Explore the entire campus and surrounding areas.<\/h3>\n

In addition to taking a tour of the b-school campus, be sure to get a broader look at the school and the surrounding area. Again -- you could be spending two full years of your life at this place! Though you\u2019ll definitely be in the b-school building(s) a lot, chances are that you\u2019ll also spend your time elsewhere. Ask a current student to recommend somewhere off-campus to grab dinner so that you can check out the surrounding area, and be sure to investigate public transportation options if that\u2019s important to you. Ask questions about living arrangements; if there\u2019s student housing, see if you can take a tour of a typical apartment. Like getting outdoors? Ask about nearby hiking trails, beaches, or parks and swing by for a visit if possible.<\/p>\n

The bottom line: Like many things in life, business school campus visits are what you make of them. Don\u2019t be pushy, but take advantage of every opportunity to get a deeper understanding of the school; it\u2019ll help you when writing your applications and if you get in, it\u2019ll help you decide whether it\u2019s really the right school for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While visiting prospective business schools isn\u2019t necessary, seeing a school in person can definitely help you get a better feel for the program’s culture. At some schools (often smaller ones),…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,113,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-applications","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7501,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7500\/revisions\/7501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}