Good time to visit b-schools?

Agreed, thats a good plan.

Make sure to visit at least one school on a Friday since you get free beer.

Is that true? In that case I will visit every school on a Friday!

Pretty much yes. Every b-school I know has some kind of free beer garden on Friday afternoons.

It's on Thursdays at UCLA Anderson.

What do you guys think of MBA events? I didn't go to any -- none were near and I just didn't think it would be worthwhile.

But when I was visiting one of my schools, the admissions director came in to schmooze in the waiting area. Handshake and hellos all around, until he got to someone he'd met before at one of those tour events. Well then it was all kinds of blah-blah, how are you, good to see you, kisskisskiss. And I thought, HELL! I missed a chance to get some face time and make them remember me.....

What do you think?

I was too shy at those events to get any real contact, but they were helpful - I got to listen to the moronic questions other people asked, and it really really helped me know what NOT to ask, and what NOT to do. It was also incredibly helpful for my essays. I could get enough "why school X" information in a 1 hour session to fill two essays instead of 5 hours of website reading.

I agree 100%. Plus if you make an impression and you end up being interviewed by the same alumn you met at the meeting, it could be a plus.

So did you guys

1.. visit all the schools that you were applying to?
2.. visit some of the schools that you were applying to? If so, how do you decide which you want to visit and which you don't?

The reason I ask is, I was planning to visit all the schools that I was going to apply to, but that seems like a lot of money. Do you think its worth spending all the money to go visit schools?

Thanks!

1. Didn't. I wasn't really together enough to make it happen, and I didn't decide where to apply to until the last possible minute. Actually, I visited more schools I DIDN'T apply to (berkeley and stanford) because I happened to be in the Bay Area over the summer when they were doing info sessions.

2. Did. I went to Cornell a year ago, 'cause they're up the hill. Didn't go to UNC and Duke until shortly after applying, and that was for the required interview. Will probably never go to Yale as I got dinged without an interview.

I think that visiting is a good idea. You want to know what the area is like, especially if you're relocating with significant other. Familiarity with the campus and program will definitely inform your essays. I don't think the canned info sessions are all that great, but student tours and adcom face time is very helpful. Visiting also shows that you're invested.

However, time and money are issues. Visiting is good, but I will leave it to Rhyme to propose the visiting-schools-ROI-decision-matrix.

I read somewhere that f you are based in the US and not visit, the school may doubt your commitment and get yield concerns about you. For obvious reasons, this does not apply to such an extent to internationals, especially those living an ocean away.

Then there are some schools which value visits much more than others. I've heard that MIT really values visits (since adcoms will in turn travel around the world to interview). I've also heard that Tuck values visits much more (with it being isolated and all). And Darden, for eg., has campus interviews only.

Cheers. L.

One thing that I think is important to do after a class visit, is to make very detailed notes about your visit. The name of the class you sat in on, the professor who taught the class. The names of any students you spoke with, anything you remember about them, anything interesting they said.

This will all be valuable material, not just for essays, but for interviews as well. You will forget these things very quickly if you don't write them down, even though at the time you think you will remember them.

Indeed, this is good advice. 08ers, take note.

Good advise indeed. Thanks to all!

Great advice everyone!

Anyone know what one would talk to the adcom about? What questions would one ask without sounding mundane and stupid? I mean, you can ask students questions about the cirriculum, the culture, the classes, what X (insert career goal here) is all about. But to not sound "stupid" to the adcom, would you ask them about admission advice? What they look for? I'm not sure if they'll answer questions like that.

Any advice?