Admit weekends are coming!

Let’s start with the important things – we’re huge fans of Game of Thrones at Critical Square. So please forgive us our corny title – it is nothing more than a poorly executed homage to R. R. Martin and in response to the premier last night!

All joking aside, it is the season of the Admit Weekends. With R2 applications complete and decisions rendered, it’s now your turn to be the choosey one. If you’re lucky enough to have been admitted to more than one program, the difficult decision of where you’re going to spend the next two years of your life is all too real. Well, we like to help. Here are three main things you should be looking to get a good feel for while you’re visiting!

The Folks Around You

Fit is CRITICAL. It’s the MOST important thing you should be assessing. Hopefully you did a little bit of this before you applied (cough cough, school visits) but now you’re about to put $180K on the line. LIKE THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU. It’s easy to get swept away in the general excitement. And it IS exciting. You’re all accepted to this amazing school and they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at you to try and get you to commit. Socials and happy hours and amazing stats, oh my! But keep your head level and make a concerted effort to meet as many of your potential future classmates as possible. Do you like them? Are they interesting? Are they driven? This is the network you are buying. Does it seem like a great investment?

Career Enablement

You’re going to get your MBA for a reason. Whatever that reason might be, it’s the light at the end of your tunnel. Are you trying to get into consulting or investment banking? Or are you trying to start up your own company or work out in the bay area. Regardless of what your goals are, talk to students who are doing that right now. Learn about the process and figure out what support they had. What did they wish could have been improved? What were their lessons learned? What have they heard from their friends at other programs? When you hit the ground in the fall, you won’t have time to figure this out then. Make sure you’re making the right decision now!

The City

This might seem silly but it’s a really important component of the admit weekend. What do you think of the city itself? Is it a place you’d like to spend two years of your life? Does it match your personality? If you’re a big city kind of animal and you’re looking at a school in a small mid-Atlantic city, make sure you will enjoy it. The last thing you want is to get a few months into your MBA experience and realize you hate it there. So maybe extend your trip a day or two (if you can) and go exploring like Dora. Meet the locals. Check out the areas students live in.

Admit weekends are an amazing opportunity to explore the program and the city before you make a significant but exciting investment. Make the most of them. Go prepared. Good luck to you all and, as always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to let us know!

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Bhavik