Here are some quick tips for maximizing your business school visit:
Make sure you schedule a classroom visit through the admissions office. A student will lead you around and make introductions for you.
Plan them before the fall, if you can and if tours are available this late in the school year.
Make sure you stop by the admissions office to introduce yourself.
Have a couple of canned questions ready to ask members of the admissions committee, current MBA students or alumni. Also, have a working definition of your post-MBA goals as this is likely to come up in conversation.
Make sure you have the name(s) of the person(s) you want to speak to. Most likely there is a receptionist in the office directing traffic.
Make the convo brief (as you just dropped by), just make sure they put your face with your app.
It does not have to be JFK speech. Keep it simple - something like "just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I have enjoyed my class visit with Joe Blow and in Prof. Bobby Sue's Organizational Behavior class" or "I am actively following your posts on the Bweek forums (for example)".
Tell them that you are applying R1/R2/R3 and that you applying because of X, Y and Z. This is your chance to drop some in-depth knowledge about their program in order to impress them while briefly stating how it pertains to your experiences.
You are basically setting up a 2nd encounter if they come out to your home city for a tour event. Then you go to the tour event again and reintroduce yourself and say you met them before in their respective admissions office.
Do not try and plan 2 school visits in one day. You'll never make it across town.
Wear business casual (dark pants and a blue or white shirt for males), no excessive jewelry or old spice perfume.
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