GMAT Club Legend
Joined: 04 Jun 2007
Status:Um... what do you want to know?
Posts: 5456
Given Kudos: 14
Location: SF, CA, USA
Concentration: Technology, Entrepreneurship, Digital Media & Entertainment
Schools:UC Berkeley Haas School of Business MBA 2010
Q51 V41
GPA: 3.9 - undergrad 3.6 - grad-EE
WE 1: Social Gaming
Re: What Matters to YOU?
[#permalink]
04 Feb 2008, 17:25
I'm assuming WEMBA means Exec MBA (not sure what the "W" means)
Here's my list again and what I think they may not care about as much (and based on people from my company being sent to Sloan for the 1 year Exec MBA).
I'm also a little bit non-traditional. In order of importance:
1. Location, Location, Location. - Probably not a big deal because it's a 1 year program and the company dictates that you go to certain schools.
2. Culture, Atmosphere, Student Body (collaborative vs competitive, how liberal is it?) - Probably not important to them as the company is paying for it, most schools have very good executives and the admissions criteria does not focus on "fit" that much.
3. Is it strong (i.e. provide good education and opportunities for networking) in the programs I'm interested in (Entrepreneurship, Hi-Tech)? - This is probably still important, but mainly the company picks a few potential schools for their execs to choose from (at least that's how it works here)
4. How flexible the curriculum is. - Not really important, as it's mainly a fast, compact business training to round out already extensive experience.
5. Alumni support (quantity vs quality) - probably important.
6. Class Size - I think it's important, but the school probably limits the size for optimal learning, since companies are paying big $$.
7. Overall Ranking Tier (UE, Elite?) - Important for the company sending the execs.
8. Student Clubs - not important at all
9. How friendly and professional the adcom is. - not important at all
10. Facilities - Important, they're paying big $$ and it should be fit for an exec. =)
Hope that helps!
For me, program strength/rankings is important, but not as important as where it is and who consists of the student body. If I'm not happy at the school for 2 years, then it's not worth going to that school, no matter how highly ranked it is.