Is anyone else planning on a class visit?

If you're really interested in a school, a school/class visit is almost mandatory.

I visited Cornell -- great school, but it really is in the middle of nowhere. I was disappointed that the student guides were first years with all of 4 weeks under their belt. I think I knew more about the school than they did. Great facilities. Some bad news, some good stuff. Don't really want to post here.

Also, the other visitors that day seemed greatly under-prepared than me (not to brag or anything), which puts most of us gmatclubbers in good shape.

NYU -- early October.

official class visits to mit and chicago next week. i will try to get wharton in the next week

Hey Kid,

Have lined up a bunch of class visits.........but have no clue on how to prepare for them - can you please give some tips. As in are you referring to having general information about the school and appliaction process or did you prepare for the particular "class" you attended........by finding out abt the prof. an reading up some papers sort of thing.

I have had two different class visit experiences: one was sit in the back of the room and don't say a word, and the other was join in on the case study discussion. So, be ready to either be quiet for 90 minutes or throw in a couple of your own perspectives (not to the point where you are drowning out the actual students). If you can get an agenda or case study for the particular session you are attending, then that is highly recommended. Ultimately, I think for most class visits you are not expected to participate nor prepare for the lecture or case study. One last thing, class visits, to me, are great for essay material.

hey sangoman,

i didn't really prepare for the class visit, per se. I know GMATT73 wrote something quick about shotgun class visits.

But I suggest you get to know the program solid from their website. It is amazing how much wealth of information there actually is. As for the classes, I just sat in the back and listened. The first class was boring. The second class was awesome. Some schools welcome participation, some do not allow (columbia).

I think the best part of a school visit is not what you get out of it, but the school knowing that you visited. It doesn't hurt to physically see where you might spend the next two years of your life.

In terms of being prepared, I wouldn't worry so much about the class. The chances that you will really have to be involved are very slim, and not being prepared won't hurt your admittance chances. You'd have to make a major @ss of yourself for it to get back to the adcom.

But do be prepared for the visit. If you can get face-time with admissions people, that's good. If you have good questions for them, that's good. You want to see smart, interested, and together to everyone you meet. And by being prepared, you'll get more out of the visit. What matters to you? What do you need to know about the school?

I visited Cornell about a year before applying - it was a very early visit, and it was so I could learn about b-school in general. The visit wasn't to learn about Cornell, and I didn't learn much that would help me in that department. But later, when I went as part of the application process, I had a lot of questions ready to go, so that I could make a more informed decision later.

Be prepared to meet a range. There are first year students that are appallingly unaware of whats going on. Some first year yesterday sent an email to a group of us telling us what TNDC is..... Thats pretty sad - its like someone at Harvard asking "Where are the non case courses?" or something. Well, ok, maybe not that bad, but its pretty bad. Get used to people having a wide wide variety of knowledge -- both students and applicants.

What's "TNDC?"

Anyway, class visits are nearly mandatory for top schools that you really want to max your chance of getting into. I'm visiting Haas twice (they offer 2 classes for visit), Stanford probably twice, and UCLA once (the other time they're not in session, so technically twice).

I need to start a new thread on good questions to ask adcoms...

TNDC

Thursday Night Drinking Club. Basically, an excuse for 100 or 200 students to converge on a single bar and take it over. In your case, you are excused for not knowing ... but I'd expect a first year student to know that by now

At HBS you don't need to prepare for class, actually you won't have the case in advance nor be allowed to speak during the class. Just pay attention to what's going on and take down a few notes if you feel like it.

Big NO-NOs

- Cell phones.
- Laptops.
- Leaving before class ends or arriving late.
- Disrupting the class in any other way (such as being noisy).

L.

I'd say: Don't participate should be a general rule at any school. Even if you think you have a really good point. A lot of profs grade on class participation and no students want to hear the a-type applicant eat up class time with what is likely not that good of a point in the first place.

What about asking the professor a question or two after class is over. Obviously if students are lined up to talk to the prof you wouldn't want to be rude take up any of the time from the paying customers. I don't know if its the same as undergrad where students typically immediately file out of the room, but if it is and you have a valid question to ask the prof is this acceptable?

Sure, I think as long as you are not taking time from the students, its perfectly reasonable to go introduce yourself to the prof. Generally, I would just thank them for their time, letting me sit in, express some level of interest in the material they covered and shake hands. That said, if you really do have a question, you should be able to ask it too... as long as its a legitimate one (dont just ask to ask).

I am a bit confused...how do class visits help with essays exactly?

Imagine you are writing an essay where you state: I want to go to school X, because I love the case method. But you've never witnessed such a class. You'll struggle to express why you like it.

Or imagine that one of the main reasons why you want to attend school Y is that you love their groupwork culture. But you've never visited nor talked to students or alumni. You would not know that school Y is expanding their facilities to build more meeting rooms for students, for eg.

L.

"I want to go to school X because it's the highest rated school I think I have a shot at!"

Sometimes, honesty is NOT the best policy.