Step Two: Select Worthy Schools for Courtship

Not only are business school applications time consuming and stress inducing, but they will also leave your wallet quite a bit lighter. In my personal approach I selected about 10 programs from the top 15 schools and made an Excel grid noting items that were important to me as I went through my research. I am a pretty visual person and seeing all the facts laid out in front of me at the end of the day really helped me decide which schools I wanted to focus on and which ones to eliminate. Here are a few pointers you might find useful:

1. How many applications are too many?

This is a personal choice. If you start early then you have more time. If you are like me and wait until the very last moment (I didn't start on my Columbia essays until middle of September and they were all due October 12th) you definitely do not want to overload yourself. Think quality over quantity. One really good application package might get you in, whereas 5 so-so ones are guaranteed to waste your time and money.

2. Revise your school selection list after you take the GMAT.

If you do better then expected, why not re-visit your list and add one or two programs you thought were possibly out of reach before?

3. Stay away from safety schools.

When taking two years of your life and paying $200K to get an MBA you want to make sure you attend a program you are actually passionate about. Last thing you want is to be miserable for two years because you settled for something less then what you wanted. Think about your future classmates, would you want to have in your study group someone who doesn't really want to be there?

4. What matters to you the most?

This was part of my Excel grid and of course will be different for each person. A few things to consider are:

Location - international vs. United States / East Coast vs. West Coast / urban vs. Suburban

Housing - on campus vs. off campus / community vs. commuter school

Classes - case study vs. lecture / core classes vs. electives

Program Strengths - finance vs marketing vs entrepreneurship

Specific Concentrations - biotech vs international development vs technology, are there enough electives offered in your desired field?

Environment - competitive vs team oriented

Recruiters - know who comes to campus, especially if you have a few companies in mind that you want to work for

Alumni Network - find out how active the alumni community is in the area you hope to settle down and how many alumns there are in the field you hope to pursue

Clubs - if there is a specific one you want to join, look to see if the school has it

Semester Abroad - look into the different options each school offers if you are interested in participating

Significant Other Programs - some schools are more family friendly then others

Costs - some programs are better known for giving more financial aid then others, state schools are a cheaper alternative for in-state residents, also living costs are very different between New York City and Ann Arbor

Career Services - if you have a specific city you want to work in after graduation, how connected is the career services office to the companies in that location? What exactly are the services they provide?

There can be many other factors to look into but the key is to rank them all according to your preferences and see how each of your school selections fit the criteria. I have been wanting to live in New York for as long as I can remember and had absolutely no desire to live in suburbia (did that whole thing during undergrad). I also knew that I wanted to come back to the Bay Area and looked into the West Coast Society Club as well as the Bay Area Alumni Chapter. In addition, I found out that because of the Haas-Columbia Executive MBA program as a Columbia Full Time Student I would have full use of the Haas Career Services Center when looking for internships and jobs. Playing in a few other factors it was pretty easy to isolate CBS as my number one choice.

5. Find a good fit.

I think it is extremely important to feel like you belong amongst your classmates. You should be critical and select the schools as you would a job. Coming into an interview you surely would notice the atmosphere at an office and picture yourself working there. I have declined a few job offers simply because I did not feel a connection with the people at the companies, nor with their corporate culture. Attend information sessions, get in touch with student ambassadors, and if you can, definitely visit the campus and sit in on a few classes. Granted you might have a bad experience with one person, but try to imagine yourself in the environment.

This goes back to my point about safety schools, but make sure you really want to attend the programs you are applying to for reasons other then their rankings and prestige.