A large chunk of prospective business school attendees don’t want to land a brand-new job or make a daring career change. Instead, these applicants are looking to increase their standing in their current industries, recent data show.
Of nearly 12,000 prospective business school students surveyed, 34 percent want to go to business school to enhance their careers, according to an April report from the Graduate Management Admission Council.
[Create an MBA short list by asking these questions.]
“A lot of the people who want to stay in their industry are people who are in consulting or in finance,” says Chioma Isiadinso, co-founder and CEO of Expartus, which helps prospective business school students get into school. Career enhancers can also be found focusing on health care and brand management, business school experts say.
Business school applicants who want a graduate program that will strengthen their footing in a market where they’ve already worked should look for certain traits when researching schools.
A school’s employer report statistics is one telling bit of data that prospective students should look at, says Jennifer Barba, associate director of admissions at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management. These reports can show which industries graduates go into, what types of jobs they have and what type of background they had before business school, among other information.
But before students don a cap and gown, they spend hours in class. And applicants should carefully research what is taught when deciding which schools to pursue, experts say.
[Make sure you’re not getting an MBA for the wrong reason.]
“Some schools are more rigid than others in their curriculum,” says Isiadinso, who previously worked in admissions for Harvard Business School.
Prospective students should speak with admissions officers to find out if their school’s curriculum requires students to take several core classes when they start, or if they allow students to almost immediately select classes based on their interests, she says.
At the School of Business at University of Wisconsin–Madison, MBA students choose a specialization, such as arts administration or real estate. They can immediately dive into classes that are of interest to them, says Blair Sanford, assistant dean for the full-time MBA program at the school.
“They have a strong set of electives,” she says. Students take one elective related to their specialty in their first semester and two in their second semester, she says. The second year of their MBA program is largely devoted to specializations and electives.
[Learn how to choose a concentration as an MBA student.]
When speaking with an admissions staff member, it’s important to ask questions that get at the heart of a school’s curriculum and culture, and that can’t be answered with a quick visit to the school’s website.
If an applicant asks about something that the school already discusses in-depth online, for example, “It kind of shows that they haven’t done their homework,” Isiadinso says.
A school might have independent research opportunities that let students work more closely with faculty, for example, and allow students to learn about areas of business that are more in line with their career interests.
Applicants can ask, Isiadinso says, “What kinds of projects are available?” or “What is the process of students connecting with faculty or faculty choosing students?”
What happens outside of class can also give career enhancers opportunities to further their knowledge in an industry they already enjoy, experts say.
“Look at the different types of conferences that are being hosted on campus,” says Barba. “We have conferences on campus, especially in the spring semester, almost every weekend.” Students and professors come together to host conferences on topics such as sustainability or venture capitalism and private equity, she says.
MIT also offers treks, which are industry-specific trips. The management consulting club might put together a trip to visit top consulting firms, for example, she says.
Often the best way to learn if a school will be a good fit for career enhancers is to visit the school and speak with current students, experts say.
Isiadinso suggests asking: “What types of resources were you able to leverage or take advantage of while you were here to enhance your career?” “What were the frustrations that you had, if any, in terms of being able to focus quickly in your areas of interest, curriculum wise?” Or: “How challenging is it to do an independent study?”
Webinars and off-campus admissions events can also give prospective students a chance to interact with admissions staff who can discuss day-to-day life at school, but these activities may not be as satisfying as it would be to sit in on a class at the school applicants hope to attend.
“One of the things we all struggle with in admissions is we put on these road shows, we have great websites, but it’s hard to sort of deliver on what the culture is like, what the community is like, unless you’re actually on campus,” says Barba.
Searching for a business school? Get our complete rankings of Best Business Schools.
More from U.S. News
4 Ways to Get Financially Ready for Business School
Impress, Engage B-School Recruiters on Social Media
MBA Programs Where Most Students Get Jobs
Career Enhancers Pursue an MBA to Move Up originally appeared on usnews.com
