Which school for loyalty marketing?

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Which school for loyalty marketing?

by doclkk » Thu May 21, 2009 12:54 pm
Hi:

I am very interested in loyalty marketing and have considered location, career services, academics, alumni and social.

Location - I would like to be in a city or near a city. Rural doesn't really work with me, so this excludes Tuck / Johnson from my list.

Career Services: - I think all the schools I'm looking into all have excellent career services with most people employed 0-12 months of graduation.

Academics: I'm very much a discussion / case / project based person. I feel that this excludes Wharton / Harvard from my list - at least from what I've heard.

Alumni: - I believe all the schools I'm looking into have strong alumni networks so this shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Social: - I would like a school with the entire class to be social. Hopefully they are open to hang out, study together and work together. I've done the competition thing in undergrad and I don't really want to grade whore any more. I want people that want to succeed but really value the balance of school and leisure.

My shortlist for schools are Anderson / Haas / Columbia / Stern / Kellogg*

*I don't like NW's locale but I heard that its still pretty drivable and I know that Kellogg is the premier marketing school so I would like to reach for that.

As for numbers, I feel like my profile is similar to people applying to the schools I mentioned (big 4 consulting, liberal arts major from a UC, 2 years exp, 3.8 gpa, some leadership etc.) I think I've got an original story that I can tell.

I'm currently looking to visit all the schools but am worried that my list is not including an important loyalty marketing school that I just don't know about. I know that Kellogg is big on brand mgmt as is Fuqua but the marketing field I'm hoping to go into is a little more focused but they might be just as good. I heard from a friend that Harrah's recruits pretty actively from UCLA so I really like the idea of UCLA - i'm just not sure which other schools. I know Harvard came up with the idea of NPS but lecture heavy classes aren't really a good fit for me.

I feel like I'm a good match UCLA/NYU- will have to reach for Columbia/NW and Berkeley is in the middle of good match / reach. I don't really have a safety.

I know that all my application kinda sits on my scoring of the GMAT, so I'm prepping pretty hard for it and MGMAT is/has doing/done wonders.

Is there a consideration that I'm forgetting about? I really think I've done a lot of the homework necessary for researching schools and understanding my profile, but also know that my profile is both incomplete and relatively meaningless without an average GMAT score.

Thanks so much! =)

Very Warmly,

- Loyalty Marketing Guy -
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by Lisa Anderson » Thu May 21, 2009 2:03 pm
Dear Loyalty Marketing Guy,

You appear to be doing your research, so continue down the path you have started in identifying schools. You might also visit our sticky on school selection for any other tips or suggestions. I would encourage you to start looking at schools outside the top 10/15. There are many great schools in the 15-40 range with good marketing programs. Perhaps look at where companies you would like to work for recruit MBAs? Or look in cities where a cluster of companies in an industry of interest to you are? For example, many schools in the midwest have some great marketing courses and faculty as they are near the top consumer goods companies. So while they might not be in large metro areas like New York and Los Angeles, they are near Chicago, Minneapolis, and Cincinnati.

Best of luck,
Lisa
Lisa Anderson
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Stacy Blackman Consulting

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