How Did You Select Which Schools To Apply To?

Question

Hi all,

I'm in the very beginning stages of applying to b-school (I'm aiming for Fall 2008 admissions). 

Right now, I'm trying to narrow down the schools I want to apply to.  HOW DID YOU DECIDE WHICH SCHOOLS YOU WERE GOING TO APPLY TO?  

I want a school that has a good marketing (particularly international marketing/business) program. Since I think I'm just an average application (OK GMAT, great GPA, OK work experience, good community service), I'm aiming for schools in the top 25-30 range. 

Any tips on how to find schools that will suit my interests? Thanks a mil.

necromonger · Answer

Had to be a world class 1 year general management program. That alone narrowed my choice to just 2 schools ;)

darren1010 · Answer

Let me guess: Cornell and Emory? :-D

My experience was that:ranking, news, websites, gmatclub :-D

, speak to representatives, send some emails and visit to see if they are really responsive and nice (the best in this was Indiana University, the worst was George Washington, so that I dropped that school out immediately even though there were a scholarship for vietnamese in that school. People there were very absolutely arrogant and unfriendly, and I obviously didn't want to spend 2 years there) The visit may be the best experiences. Through the visit, I regconized how great were Emory, Notre Dame, Indiana, Purude etc, that you may not know just by reading view book.

gmatmba · Answer

necromonger is going for INSEAD from what I read...

rampup82: Thunderbird has a good international program, you may want to check that out.

necromonger · Answer

darren,

tch..tch..so US centric ;) well from all my research - only 2 1 year general mgmt programs are truly world class and can compare with the top 5 US schools, and those are INSEAD are IMD. Cornell/Kellogg have 1 year programs but they either have prior business pre-requisites or are only for people with other advanced degrees etc.

INSEAD seems very good, and IMD is close second though the problem with IMD is that the intake is just 90 people per year compared to 450 per intake for INSEAD. So it's a tough go.

pradeepbhatt0401 · Answer

factored in interest and need for scolarship. Targeted 10 schools spread over 20 - 40 with 3 dream, 5 realistic and 2 safety.

milkyway · Answer

I think that you first need to choose an educational institution, and then study its specific requirements.

Regenerate · Answer

Step 1: Get a list of the top 40 schools.
Step 2: Starting at the top, flip a coin. Heads and they stay on the list; tails and they're gone.
Step 3: Go to the 2nd one on the list and continue through the list one time, and end up with 20 schools (+/- 2 or 3)
Step 4: Start at the top again, flipping away ... heads they stay, tails they're gone. End up with 10 schools (+/- 2-4)
Step 5: Start at the top again, flipping away ... heads they stay, tails they're gone. Any school remaining gets an invitation from me for them to ask me to send them lots of money (i.e, an application).

****************

PS -- Actually, I didn't do that. But, the process that some people go through feels about this random...fwiw.

PPS -- Bringing a bit of order to a chaotic system = a good day's work.

How Did You Select Which Schools To Apply To?

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