Comparing schools and courses

Now that I have to take my decision, I thought of listing down factors to consider to make decision when there are offers from more than one school and course.



There are two parts to this - school and the course and they both go hand in hand.



First step is to prioritize what is more important of the following and decide accordingly



1. Career aspirations - Do you want to work or go for further education

2. Methodology - More handson or more theory

3. Region of work - where do you want to work

4. Region of comfort - where do you have more friends, place familiarity etc

5. Food habits - availability of particular food choices specially if you're vegetarian

6. Social life - Do you want more community involvement or are happier on your own

7. Party life - Do you like to go out in the evening a lot

8. Commute - Are you okay with walking or have to take a bus or need a car

9. Reputation of the university

10. Reputation of School

11. Reputation of course

12. Peer group - Too many people or too less

13. Accommodation preferences - Do you want a hostel or are ok looking for something by yourself

These are just some I was able to think now... There can be lot specially if you have a family. Btw, most of the b schools have spouse community which has a lot more fun. If your spouse is working or if you have kids of school going age well u got to think a lot more.

An easy way to shortlist schools is to begin with your main focus. If it's finances then look for tuition, cost of living, scholarships available etc. If it's job security then region, ranking and placement data is important. If location then you know how to begin and so you begin with first cut.
Next comes your chances - typically everyone will say aim for 1-2 top ends, 3-4 wit fairly good chances and 1-2 sure shots. The problem is u never know where things go wrong or where they might click. In my case my sure shots dint work out either and i know of mor such stories. I also k ow people who were discouraged from applying to a school cuz it was out of his league and he made it through quite easily. My take on this is you know what you want, listen to your heart and then use some brains to self analyze your capability. When on doubt - outsource!

Let me go back to the shortlisting of school and course. There are times we are lost in the glamor of going to a top ten or twenty ranked b-school that we either not make it or fight it out at each stage - loans, school work, peer pressure, job hunt and then loan payback. You may sometimes find a lesser known school with great faculty n placements n less expensive too smwhere in lower ranks.

Similarly in glamor of MBA you might forget that all you care for is to get into a particular organization or field of work n miss out on looking at other courses that can take u same place. Like cfa for finance professionals, crm courses, ms courses on project management, SPHR for HR professionals. I'm sure there is a lot more out there in the market that we're not very familiar with.

My big tip on selecting school - know what you want to do, your studying is means to get somewhre MBA should not be the end goal!

Ohhh n also don't be a conformist, do wht u feel is right for u... Good luck!