Time for some MBA research. Today Angela’s talking about how to choose the right business school for you and the best MBA community for your career.
In this video, Angela Guido explains how important it is to research business schools before you apply. You’ll love Angela’s simple 3 step approach to efficient but in-depth school research. Start with MBA career opportunities. Then, look at MBA program educational resources. And then finally choose the best MBA community for you! #MBAMondays #BestSchoolForYou
Prefer to read? Here’s the transcript:
Would you buy a house without having it surveyed and doing research on the neighborhood? So why would you choose an MBA without doing research about what is the best MBA for you?
So, what’s all this about best business school fit?
In the next few posts, I'm going to talk to you about MBA research and the best business school fit for you. It's a big question that all of our clients have, because if you're applying to three schools or four schools or ten schools (you probably know my story, I applied to eight. Eight schools.), how can you possibly research all of them deeply and thoroughly? It's a question on a lot of the MBA community’s minds. Most people research business schools thinking about it in terms of “What's the bare minimum amount of information that I need to know to show the school that I know a thing or two about the school so that I can get in?”. And this is totally the backwards way to think about it. You're about to make a huge investment in your future, the biggest one you will ever make in your career, and so you need to think carefully about how to choose the right business school. An MBA can cost as much as a house. If you're going to a top U.S. school, you're going to be paying all in, 200 grand or something like that. How could you possibly consider making an investment like that without doing serious research about the product that you're buying? Let me talk you through the three critical pieces of research that everyone needs to do before they can really choose which school is right for them and therefore what to put in their essays.
What to consider when doing your MBA Research
- Number one, you need to understand which MBA career opportunities the school facilitates and therefore which schools offer the career opportunities that are best match for your goals. That's number one.
- Number two, you need to figure out what and how you're going to learn at each program and which set of offerings is the best fit for what you hope to achieve in your career.
- And then finally, the third piece of research, and this is typically the one that is the most differentiating for people, is which MBA community feels like the best fit for you. And this one is fundamentally an emotional decision. Where do you feel the best? Where do you feel the most connected? Are there MBA school clubs that appeal to you? Which school has the people that you want to associate most with over the course of the rest of your career? Go out and gather as many MBA student insights as possible because the MBA isn't just an investment in your next job, it's an investment in the community that's going to support you and help you advance throughout your entire career. So you better choose a group of people that you like, because as we all know, being happy at work is contingent upon being surrounded by people you love.
So those are the three key pieces of MBA research that you need to do as you research business schools.
Time to find the best MBA for you!
In the next three posts, I'm going to talk you through each of those key pieces of research and where to go to get the kind of information that you need to really make good decisions about the schools you're applying to. And this is really less about knowing the school that’s the right investment for you and knowing about where you're going to best be able to make your mark and therefore the best business school fit for you.
So one question that I want you to keep in the back of your mind as you're doing all of your business school research is: what am I going to contribute at this MBA program? So think about things like “Which MBA school clubs do I want to lead?”, “What initiatives do I want to start?” and “How do I want to influence my fellow classmates for MBA community development over the course of our time together?”. Always keep that question in the back of your mind because it will keep your mindset focused on you and what you can contribute. And that will keep you away from the temptation to worry that you feel like you have to prove something because everyone else is so much smarter than you. We all know how Imposter Syndrome works, but if you keep your focus on yourself and your contribution, it will give you confidence as you go through the MBA research process!
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Angela Guido
Student of Human Nature| Founder and
Chief Education Officer of Career Protocol
Additional Resources:
Check out the Ultimate Guide How to Get Into Business School: https://mbas.co/ultimateguide
Get Our Comprehensive MBA Career Report: https://mbas.co/report