Ask The Admission Concierge
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27 May 2020, 09:12
If you are among the lucky ones who received several admission offers from their top choices, congrats! With so many options and uncertainty surrounding this fall how do make sure you select the right program?
Chances are, if you did your due diligence during the application process you've already made the connections below.. if not, now is the right time!
Here are a few steps we recommend you take before you make your final decision.
1. Connect with current students and reach out to potential classmates.
Current students are more likely than anyone else to share a candid opinion on a school’s culture and environment and whether the program is positioned to help you reach your career goals. If you haven’t done so already during the application process now is a good time to make these connections.
If you have the option to network with other admitted students (via Facebook groups for example) use this opportunity to learn about their backgrounds and career goals to assess your fit in the program.
You would be surprised how these interactions can potentially steer you in a completely different direction!
2. Schedule a phone call with career services.
Reach out to your schools’ career services and ask about placement and recruiting events. Find out which companies are recruiting on campus or virtually. You can also ask for career statistics from the latest employment reports to assess post-MBA opportunities to help you make a final decision. Another option is to use LinkedIn to look up recent grads and identify where they landed post-MBA.
3 Research location and alumni network
Location can be an important factor depending on your post-MBA target industry, if you are hoping to pursue a career in Banking staying close to NYC might be your best option. If you are aiming for a career in Tech, then the West Coast is a better fit… or Houston for the Oil & Gas industry. Location doesn’t matter as much for careers in consulting or management where the options are broader, you want however to make sure that your target company recruits in your school.
Consider the alumni network as well, where is the network concentrated? Which industry are they working in? Reach out and ask them about how their MBA has helped boost their careers.
4 Consider financial implication.
If you received multiple scholarship offers you might be tempted to just accept the highest offer, especially if you are deciding between two schools within the same tier. This is when doing a little extra research can pay off in the long run. Before you make a decision consider the short- and long-term career options you are seeking, and which school offers the highest ROI.
Another factor to take into consideration: scholarships are negotiable (in most cases). You need to proceed with caution here! if you want to learn more about the art of negotiating your scholarship award check out our article on the topic.
The four steps outlined in this blog post can help you make the right choice if you’ve been accepted to multiple MBA programs. Remember that this could be one of the most important decisions you’ll make in your career, it is worth spending a little extra time making these connections.
Have more questions about the MBA admission offers? Visit our Facebook page to leave us a question and we will get back to you!