Secret tip for visiting MBA programs
Dr. Marlena Corcoran
The best education in the world, for you :: Contributor to Forbes.com on international business education
Are you putting together the list of #MBA programs to which you will apply this fall and planning your visits to campus? Perhaps you have lined up lunch with a current student, a class in your intended field of concentration, an appointment at the admissions office (gulp!) and a tour of campus.
While you're admiring the stunning new facilities or the ivy-covered walls, the stock market simulator or family housing, don't overlook what may seem like a sleepy corner of campus that you left behind in college: the bookstore.
Here's my tiny tip that may tilt your world.
Find the display of "Recent Books by Our Faculty."
It may be a table in the bookstore, or a shelf behind glass that proudly greets every person walking in the door of the main building at, oh, say, #Wharton.
That collection conveys at a glance what the faculty of that program thinks are hot topics in business today. These are the issues they are analyzing, and the solutions they propose.
Anything catch your eye? Is there a title that leaps out and grabs your interest?
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Is there a pattern to the research, indicating the strengths of this particular program? Are they strengths you would like to develop? This might suggest a direction for your own studies, and even for your application essays for #businessschool. Show the admissions committee that you know what matters at their program--and that these issues matter to you.
Years ago, I walked into the bookstore at #Babson and found an entire display of books by their faculty on a topic that, at the time, seemed awfully specialized to me. But I figured that if so many people teaching at the number-one-ranked business school for entrepreneurship were writing about this, I had better take home one of these books. I think the one I chose was titled simply, #businessanalytics.
Don't laugh. It was 20 years ago.
What will you find today?
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1 年Really solid advice!
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1 年Interesting tip Marlena, and possibly a good way to understand the dominant brand of that school as it exists in the minds of those beyond the campus walls.
Love this suggestion!
A former Dean of MBA Admissions on a mission to create more MBA success stories | Ranked Top 10 MBA Admissions Consultant Worldwide | MBA admissions expert & enthusiast | Founder of My MBA Path | AIGAC Member
2 年Dr. Marlena Corcoran, I wonder if it may have been a book by Tom Davenport!!! When it comes to analytics, he… mhmmm… wrote the book! (pun intended)
Organizational Psychologist | Executive Coach | Speaker| Author. I use insights from psychology to help ambitious leaders win at work and in life. Forbes Contributor | Thinkers50 Coaches50 list.
2 年Great advice Dr. Marlena Corcoran. This is how I chose my PhD program. I wanted to do a particular kind of research and I looked for faculty doing that work. I visited those schools and picked the one where the faculty member with the strongest national reputation was doing his work. No regrets.