Top Ten Recruitment Tips for Babson MBA Candidates
I’ve been out for a little summer hiatus–GMAC conference, days off–but now, I’m jumping back in to address a topic that’s important to me, as well as to my staff and all candidates for an MBA in 2013: the recruitment season.
Along with my other B-school colleagues, we at Babson Grad Admissions engage in tours, fairs, and forums around the country and around the world. I am going to use my blog in the upcoming months to highlight different locations and events we will be hosting or participating in. I’ll also be walking through the Babson admissions process, providing tips and advice on how to be a stellar applicant. So today’s post is just the appetizer on a full menu of admissions help coming your way soon.
Top Ten Tips for Becoming an Informed Babson MBA Candidate
1. Do your research. Now is the time to spend your lunch hour or Saturday morning visiting mba.com, U.S.News & World Report, Financial Times rankings, BusinessWeek rankings etc.
2. Develop your own criteria for what is important in a business school. Why take the advice of a magazine when you can create your own spreadsheet on what you want or need in your future school?
3. Develop a list of the schools you want to investigate further, either virtually, at a forum, or in person.
4. Create good questions! Good questions are not questions that can be answered by reading a school’s website; that is your job. Good questions spring from good research. E.g for Babson: I see that Babson has a commitment to social entrepreneurship and even has a center devoted to it, the Lewis Institute. Can you tell me more about how students interact with the Lewis Institute once they are enrolled?*
5. Sign up for at least one large scale forum or fair (Kaplan, QS, MBA Tour –I’m not endorsing any, just suggesting).
6. Visit the calendar of events for the schools on your list (remember tip 3?)
7. Sign up for and attend at least one in-person event on the campus and one virtual. Make sure an actual class is one of those events.
8. Talk to students and alumni. My staff and I are thrilled to connect you to as many Babson community members as you would like to speak to.
9. Talk about your plans and schools with your support network, your personal board of directors, your peeps, your mom, your gym partner–whomever it is whose opinions, support, and experience you value and trust.
And #10: As we say at Babson: Action trumps everything. Start now. MBA events begin to heat up in August in a city near you.
More advice and tips on the process to come. Good luck. I’ll see you on the road at or at events at the Babson Wellesley, Boston, and San Francisco campuses.
Good luck. Think big.
Best, Barbara
*A prize of unspeakable value to the person who finds me at a Babson event and asks me this question!