hle078 wrote:
hey all, i was admitted in round 2 and really wanted to attend the welcome weekend but i was unable to make it down to DC. can someone who attended the weekend share a little something about it? impressions, likes, dislikes? i'm still undecided on gtown...
Hey hle,
I just got back from Welcome Weekend, and also entered it very undecided. While I am still not 100% sold on my decision, the weekend helped to provide an enormous amount of clarity about the program. I'm sure your concerns are the same as mine (rankings, job placements, strength of alumni network), so I hope this info helps, as I really tried to get all I could from the weekend.
Areas of Note
The People: Awesome all around.
Students: Both the admitted class and the current students. I could really see my self working with the other people there and having an awesome social life. Everyone was professional throughout the day, but cool to have a few beers with at the happy hour afterwards.
Faculty: The faculty that participated in the weekend were great. The professor who ran the mock class was very animated and engaging, and those that played a part in the faculty panel seemed very strong. The one caveat, a second-year student told me that they bring out the faculty A-team for Welcome Weekend. He did say that for the most part he liked his instructors, but most of the best ones play a role in Welcome Weekend.
Leadership/Staff: The new dean seems like he has a solid plan in place to raise the profile of the school (more on this below).
The Location
The facility: The building is awesome. Lots of natural light, nice case rooms and plenty of communal and private meeting space.
The campus: Georgetown has a sweet campus, classic college feel.
Georgetown area/D.C.: It's in an awesome neighborhood in a great town. Walking distance to plenty of shops, restaurants, bars, etc. Only downside is it's pricey.
The Plan For The Future
While I'd hardly say they were open about their weaknesses, if you were paying attention, you could tell that they understand their deficiencies and are really working on them. Every area that I think we would agree are weaknesses they have addressed by bringing in someone with an impressive background to head that department. Several of the career service advisers have been hired in the past two years and have a decade+ experience in their industry. The new alumni involvement chair is a recent hire from Cornell-Johnson, and the new dean has ample experience as Asst Dean at HBS. Each of these people struck me as very dedicated to raising the profile of the school. (
Career Services
This was an area that exceeded my expectations, but it depends on your industry. The school seems to place well in IB and brand management. Students I talked to were going to work for Goldman, Citi, Unilever, AMEX and other great companies in awesome capacities. However, if you're interested in consulting, the school doesn't seem to place well with McKinsey and BCG, but they claim to be getting a foothold at Bain. They also place excellently at the 2nd tier firms. As someone interested in brand management, I was thrilled to speak with a 2nd year who is going into a market strategy position at AMEX that sounds ideal for me. They also have great connections with Deloitte and Johnson & Johnson as well a huge number of alumni at the World Bank.
The career office seems great by the way too. They had breakout sessions by industry with career advisers, and the adviser in the CPG session seemed awesome and dedicated. It also looks like there are ample resources for preparing for case interviews, plenty of career fair options for companies that don't recruit on campus, and a good set of companies that do recruit on campus.
Alumni Network
In all honesty, this is my biggest concern with the program. Someone asked about the strength of the network in a panel session with alumni, and even they were candid that the program is young (30 years old) has a small class, and henceforth has a smaller alumni network. The school stressed the strength of the overall alumni network, but that seemed to offer more value in the public sector than private based on my conversations.
That said it's another area that appears to be improving. The new alumni relations woman seems sharp and one of the alumni on the panel noted how he and his peers are doing their part. He noted that when he arrived at Volkswagon (where he is director of credit services) he was the first McDonough MBA, but he has since hired 6 or 8 (I forget the exact number)
I believe that the network is growing, but at the end of the day they are going to put out 1/3 as many alumni each year as many other schools. This was never explicit, but I get the impression that alumni have not been previously very involved, but they have a plan of attack to get them involved.
Class Size
The flip side of that coin is the small class size seems to enrich the on-campus experience. As I talked to various students, they all really seemed to know each other. Even at the student org fair, those that were less involved with the weekend seemed to know everyone. They all also seemed to have stories about the accessibility of faculty. This also goes back to the people. They seems to have a great community.
All-in-all, this was an extremely valuable weekend that gave me tons of information about the program. While I would say it was an extremely positive experience, I'm leaning towards not matriculating at the moment (pending an upcoming visit to other schools). I'm only 24, I have strong stats, and I think there are a number of things I can do improve my profile over the next year or two to get into my top choices (Columbia and Kellogg). I could definitely see this program being a top 15 school 10 years down the road, but it isn't quite there yet. However if I was 27 and dead set on going to B-School this year, I would feel pretty damn good about McDonough and the prospects it offers.
Obviously the decision is your own, but hopefully this information helps. If I were you I would also reach out to the admissions office and try to get in touch with some students in your field and get their perspective. The best part of the weekend was talking with students and other admitted students, so do whatever you can if you can't make it to campus.
If you have any more questions feel free to message me.
17 Mar 2013, 15:24
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