Basically an info session (not at Harvard, on the west coast). Wanted to see if people think it's acceptable to have whoever's there from HBS review your resume and provide an informal critique of your chances. Or would it be better to get their business card and follow up later with a resume?
Also, does networking with adcom people ever help your application?
Any thoughts (from Anthony or anyone else)) much appreciated. Cheers.
good question i got invited to a couple of events here in NYC for Yale, UVA, and Dartmouth.
Whats the best way to play these out?
I would definitely not bring a resume and ask for "chances". There is no way that will help you. Best case scenario, you seem desperate but they forget about you. Worst case, they actually remember your name. Essays/letters/etc are an equally important part of the admissions process and, as such, your resume does not provide an adequate measure of your chances.
The only thing networking does is show your interest, which is helpful. But don't ask nonsense that you can find on their website and be mindful of others waiting to ask questions. If you have a burning, reasonable question for the person, shoot them an email later.
As for these events in general, my experience was mixed. I went to 3 of these things last fall. One was with 4 schools, like guest1655 mentioned above. I really just went to hear their shtick, drink a beer, and grab some pamphlets. There was some helpful information but mostly it was one terrible question after another from the peanut gallery. If you have done your research on b-school admissions, you really shouldn't hear much you don't already know. One asian engrish speaker was appalled that they told him his resume should be no more than a page...and that was probably the highlight.
The other event was for a single school, and it actually was quite good. I only briefly spoke with the admissions chick but the presentation really impressed me and they had some alumni their as well. But again, the benefit was what I learned, not getting a chance to somehow "impress" the adcom in 30 seconds. Signing in (and thus showing interest in the school) was probably the only real benefit from an admissions perspective.
Finally I went to one of the larger fairs, with maybe 20 schools. They had some good food and I signed in to the schools I was interested in, and left. The key at this thing was that I found out about the single school event (above).
Bottom line: go for information, ask a relevant question if you have one, but don't think that your going to lock up admission (or even help your chances to any great degree) by lurking around the school reps.
great post
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