Graduate Blog / Graduate Admissions

New Student Welcome Day

Welcome to Welcome Day!

Many of you who have recently received notice that you have been admitted to Babson (congrats!) have also received an invitation to our New Student Welcome Day on February 29. Candidates sometimes call us confused about what to expect at Welcome Day, who to expect, and whether it is mandatory to attend. Only you can decide whether or not you can afford the time and expense to come visit Babson for a day. But should you? From my point of view, the answer is a resounding, “Of course!”

What to expect? Once you arrive at the Babson Executive Conference Center, where we host our event, you will become engaged by a schedule organized with you in mind. Need a little advice on housing options? Coming with a spouse or partner? Have a few questions about supplemental loans? Those questions will be addressed at the pre-sessions schedule before lunch.

Welcome Day officially starts with lunch at 11:45, when you can expect to be sitting at a table of 8 with your future classmates.  Although BECC serves extraordinary buffet lunches, the food is not the main attraction (despite the distraction of chocolate bread pudding)—it is your luncheon companions, your fellow future classmates at your table. To round out your table and spice up the information exchange, you may be sitting with a member of the Admissions staff, a faculty member, a current student, an associate dean, or even Dean Tadepalli himself!

After lunch, you can expect a fast-paced program that introduces you to the academic and co-curricular aspects of the full-time MBA program. Dean Tadepalli moderates a faculty panel that touches on the quality of our academic program, the classroom experience, and the relationships our Babson faculty have with their students. Following that faculty panel, representatives from the Graduate Programs and Students Affairs group illustrate why sitting by yourself for 12 or 18 months is not the norm at Babson. Being a Babson student means taking action and getting involved, and this presentation will show you how many ways that can happen.

The Welcome Day ends with two important opportunities. First, we don’t think a Welcome Day would be satisfying unless you had a chance to talk with current students and recent alums privately, to really learn about their experiences. Isn’t the chance to ask your deepest and wildest questions tempting enough for you to attend? Second, we end the day with a closing reception, so that you can enjoy time with the new friends and connections you have made. Knowing that is your intention, we keep the closing remarks brief and the food and drink plentiful.

The main reason to come to the Welcome Day is to be in the great company of your prospective fellow classmates. By now, you have consumed and possibly memorized our published profile of the class that entered last year. But by attending Welcome Day, you get a jump on knowing those stats before we calculate them. You’ll be seated at a lunch table with people who come from your neighborhood, or from across the country, or across the world. You’ll learn how many people share your interest in social entrepreneurship, or finance, or who attended the same undergraduate college you did. You will see that you are not the only one who ____________ (fill in the blank). You will see that you are actually one of many who think Babson is right place to start thinking, doing, and creating.

Come to Welcome Day. Please RSVP soon.  And if you attended in January, I invite you to add your comments.

Good luck. Think big.

Best, Barbara