EssaySnark

  • about
  • contact
  • help
  • sign up
  • login
CLICK FOR MORE!
  • Essay Questions
    • Harvard
    • Stanford
    • Wharton
    • Chicago Booth
    • Kellogg
    • MIT Sloan
    • Tuck
    • NYU Stern
    • Columbia
    • Yale SOM
    • Berkeley Haas
    • UVA Darden
    • Duke Fuqua
    • Michigan Ross
    • UCLA Anderson
    • Cornell
  • Strategy Guides
    • MBA Reapplicant Guide
    • Pitching Entrepreneurship as Your Post-MBA Career
    • Applying to European Business Schools
    • School-Specific MBA Application Guides
      • Harvard 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Stanford 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Wharton 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Kellogg 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Chicago Booth 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • Columbia 2022 MBA Strategy Guide
      • *MORE SCHOOL-SPECIFIC GUIDES HERE*
  • MBA Consulting
    • Free essay reviews
    • What stage are you in?
    • Military MBA
    • Testimonials & Reviews
  • My SnarkCenter
    • My Strategy Guides
    • My Favorite Posts

($) Choosing between top-ranked MBA programs

February 7, 2019 by EssaySnark Leave a Comment

We started on this topic yesterday with our Bschool is what you make of it post.

Today we’ll give a few practical tips specific to those who are tormenting themselves over which school to choose.

We mentioned Welcome Weekend yesterday which is an obvious excellent resource and opportunity — but there can be a showstopper there: Sometimes two schools’ welcome weekends occur on the same dates!

Several years back, we did a study of this problem internally, because it truly sucks. The whole point of the Welcome Weekend is to give admits more information to make decisions on. It’s also for bonding, and culture, and getting your MBA experience going, since you worked towards this goal for like years and now that you’re admitted, you may as well begin, right? From the schools’ perspective, it’s really about closing the deal. From their side, you’ve switched roles completely. Originally you were begging them to admit you, now they’re (semi)begging you to say yes. Welcome Weekend is where they try to improve their yield, where they get as many of their admits to actually enroll.

But how can applicants decide when their schools have their admit weekends on the same weekend?

So we looked at the calendar and mapped out the schedules and we realized that it wasn’t their fault. When you have so many schools and a limited number of weekends, it’s inevitable that some will conflict. That was one call-out-the-adcoms post that we ended up not publishing.

If there’s a schedule conflict on Welcome Weekends, we suggest attending the school you’re NOT currently thinking of choosing, just to give them a shot and validate the decision. Or, if even the idea of going to that school’s Welcome Weekend feels like a turnoff, based on the opportunity cost of missing out on the weekend at the school you’re leaning towards, then that right there can be your answer! You can think through which school’s weekend you would rather attend, and if you feel FOMO about not going to one of them, then maybe that school is the school that your heart is tugging you towards.

So smetimes the schedule does not cooperate, but even if Welcome Weekends conflict, you can still visit both schools in the coming weeks if you haven’t done so yet — or even if you have, you can visit again, as an admit, to see what more you can experience there now that you are on the other side of the fence. Coming into a school as a buyer as you are now is very very different than coming into it as a seller as you were before, where you were hoping and praying for someone to say yes. Now, the tables are turned and the schools that have accepted you are (you may have noticed) falling over themselves to convince you to take their offer. It’s likely to provide a different experience to get back on campus again in the new position of admit instead of applicant. We encourage this before making a final decision.

On a practical level, school choice also needs to consider post-MBA opportunities, and geography. For example, if you want to be in the Bay Area after bschool and only one of your schools is in California, then that school is the obvious choice. Overall school location also matters in the opposite direction. If you got into Haas, yet you’ve never visited the city of Berkeley before, then DEFINITELY do that before choosing that school. The City of Berkeley is an acquired taste; it can be a turn-off to some people. Or, if you’ve never lived somewhere cold, then perhaps the recent polar vortex and news of record-breaking winter in the Midwest has given you pause. It gets cold in, say, North Carolina, but nothing like what Chicago has experienced of late.

These are just some of the obvious/not-obvious points to be considering when you’re trying to figure out where to spend the next two years of your life. We have a gazillion more posts about this in the “Deciding on a school” category here on the blahg, and anyone we’ve worked with in the past is invited to share their dilemma opportunity with us on the School Targets of My SnarkCenter and we’re happy to give whatever input we can. Or, this situation is a perfect fit for our Private Consult service, which is super inexpensive and a great way to run a situation past the ‘Snark to get some ideas and reactions.

In the end, it’s all about YOU and as we said before, bschool is what you make of it. There truly are no wrong decisions in this case!! But making any decision can be grueling since it seems that the stakes are so high. We get it, and we’re here to help if we can!!

Filed Under: deciding on a school (multiple offers)

« Previous: A smattering of interview tips
Next: Study smart! »

So who the heck is EssaySnark, anyway?!

We're the snarky experts in MBA admissions!

Sometimes amused and often appalled by what candidates write in their MBA applications to top bschools, EssaySnark created this little blahg to share common mistakes. Learn from them and avoid making admissions directors laugh (or want to hurl) when they read your essays. If you are hoping to have your essay reviewed anonymously on the blahg for free, submit it for consideration.

Want EssaySnark's personal assistance with your MBA applications? Start with our menu of consulting services and please read the Help FAQ to learn how we operate. Still have questions after doing all that? Email Team EssaySnark at gethelpnow at essaysnark dot com.

Good luck on your apps, Brave Supplicant!

Tell us what you think. Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up for the 'Snark via email

Enter your address to get weekday blahg posts by email.

UPCOMING MBA APP DEADLINES

  • INSEAD Jan '24 intake Rd 1
    in 1 month, 1 week, 2 days
  • INSEAD Round 4
    in 1 month, 1 week, 2 days
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 2
    in 2 months, 2 weeks, 6 days
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 3
    in 4 months, 4 weeks, 1 day
  • INSEAD Jan '24 Intake Rd 4
    in 6 months, 1 week, 3 days
   
   

CLASS OF 2025 MBA APPLICATION STRATEGY GUIDES

From a former BSer:
"love the guide books!"




    The 2022 Stanford MBA Application Guide - for "what matters most" in your MBA application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Stanford GSB for the Class of 2025
   
    The 2022 Harvard MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Harvard Business School!
   
  The 2022 Wharton MBA Application Guide - even more advice on how to get to a win with those essays!
SnarkStrategies Guide for The Wharton School - with clear guidance for the 2022 essays!
   
  The 2022-2023 Columbia MBA Application Guide
SnarkStrategies Guide for Columbia Business School for 2022-2023 applications
   
    The 2022 MIT Essay Guide covers the org chart, the cover letter and 'introduce yourself' video, plus the new optional short-answer question on "the world you come from" -- and everything else you need to know!
SnarkStrategies Guide for MIT Sloan MBA - totally revised for the Class of 2025!
   
    The 2022 Kellogg Essay Guide - with a full methodology to identify your 'lasting impact' and your 'values'
SnarkStrategies Guide for Kellogg MBA - revised for 2022!
   
    The 2022 UVA Darden MBA Application Guide gives insights on the essays, Early Action, the possibility of a test waiver, and everything else going on here!
SnarkStrategies Guide for the Darden MBA - updated for the Class of 2025 requirements!
   
   
The Yale SOM MBA Application Guide for Class of 2025 candidates!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Yale SOM - updated for 2022
   
    The 2022 Berkeley-Haas MBA Application Guide - updated for the Class of 2025 application!
SnarkStrategies Guide for Berkeley Haas - refreshed and updated, with brainstorming exercises and structured maps to help you focus your stories!
   
    The 2022-2023 NYU Stern MBA Application Guide that covers the essays, the EQ Endorsement and test strategies!
SnarkStrategies Guide for NYU - discusses your requirements for the Class of 2025 essays!
       
   
   
Get started now - without doing any work! The Comprehensive Profile Review will help you start your strategy for your MBA applications.


EssaySnark® is a registered trademark. All content copyright © 2010–2023 Snarkolicious Press · Privacy Policy