Join us for Smart High School Course Planning on 2/5 at 8 pm EST. Space is limited, register today!
Join us for Smart High School Course Planning on 2/5 at 8 pm EST. Space is limited, register today!
You are choosing to go to business school to advance your career and an MBA has the potential to take you there. But of the dozens of programs, how do you figure out which is right for you – and how do you demonstrate interest to standout from the crowd?
Luckily for you, most MBA programs travel as part of fairs, so there is an opportunity for you to get to know these business schools better and meet admissions officers. Knowing your strategy and your way around these fairs is the key to a positive experience and helping yourself stand out from fellow applicants.
MBA fairs are similar to the ones you may have experienced in the past, whether college or career fairs. The goal is to bring MBA programs together to provide you (the applicant) with details and an understanding of what your options are. Before you attend a fair, determine what you want to get out of it. Are you at the point where you are ready to submit (or have already submitted) your application? Or are you simply trying to gather information and see what options there are? If you are going for the latter, the experience will undoubtedly be less stressful but still very useful for information gathering.
The admissions officers at fairs are there to answer your questions, tell you more about their programs and to gauge applicants that they feel are a good fit. If you are looking to stand out, be sure to research the programs attending and come with background knowledge of why they are a good match. It will impress the admissions officers and show them that you have more interest than others who simply write their email addresses and phone numbers on the sign-up sheet.
Prepare a ninety-second introduction of yourself and your MBA interests and goals. Admissions representatives often have to make snap judgments of the hundreds of applicants they meet at fairs, and you will not have a lot of face-to-face contact with them due to time constraints. This will give you an opportunity to grab their attention, stand out and show them that you are interested and know about their program.
Make sure you take the admissions officer’s business card and followup with an email or handwritten note. Admissions officers do take demonstrated interest into consideration when making decisions, so the more you can put yourself on their radar (within reason, of course), the better off you will be!
